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Thoughts 31/5/24

How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

There are two ways at approaching this. Are we referring to unplugging from technology or unplugging from life when things start to get on top of you?

In technology apart from using WordPress as I am using currently for this blogging thing, I don’t use any other social platform apart from Twitter or “X” or whatever it is known as now to keep tabs on some groups I follow. I don’t partake in posting on it, it’s a vile, filth filled platform of hate that you only have to log into to witness. I don’t really need it to be honest and can delete it and feel no loss, and the world in my eyes becomes a better place. This is where social media falls down, the low life element of society now has a platform to spread its questionable ideology.

So technology in this aspect can just be deleted. In fact I’ve just this minute deleted Twitter so that’s a positive move, no antisocial media to worry about. Ignorance is sometimes bliss.

However the second aspect of when things start to get on top of you will differ from person to person. Personally for me as I have stated in the past, my job role bleeds over into my private life quite literally and I have now put measures in place to stop that. Previously I was available 24hrs, believe me you cannot do that and enjoy a healthy balance in life. You must stop and make immediate changes.

Work phone goes on when I start work and off at the end of the day. The business has been informed not to contact me via my private phone or email. All company WhatsApp groups have been deleted, I will find out what’s happened when I book on. All overtime shifts have been refused.

Result: my home life has improved, I’m a better person to be around and my priorities have been realigned. I’m resting better, my mood has improved and I’m starting to enjoy a life with my loved ones that I was in danger of jeopardising.

Work to live, don’t live to work.

Shine bright people.

Thoughts 18/5/24

How do you balance work and home life?

I must admit that I’ve not been very good at this for years but now I’m a strict advocate of separating the two. Every new year resolution used to be “ I’m going to work to live not live to work” but I soon ended up dropping that mantra.

So what changed?

Quite simply i just decided thats it, its all got to stop. Im paid for an 8 or 12 hour day nothing more and why should i give them more? They were taking over my life in return for no good will or recognition and i was just working myself into an early grave. How was that fair to my family?

Just a few simple changes:

I came off all work related WhatsApp groups
I left work social media platforms
Added a simple footer to my emails stating that when I’m off I’m off and I’ll reply on my return
Work phone goes off when i leave the depot, and doesn’t go back on until my return
I manage peoples expectations now, explaining that I’m entitled to uninterrupted time away with my family

It really is as simple as that. I sometimes sign on to be hit with issues that have occurred in my absence but thats just how it used to be and I’m now not wasting precious time at home worrying about work related issues.

It really is that easy. Go on change your work outlook and enjoy your life. Time is precious, don’t have regrets, give your family the easiest gift you can give them…

Your time and attention. They deserve it.

Have a great day.

The best laid plans and all that…Pt2

I’m referring you back to this blog entry I wrote on the 10th March The best laid plans and all that…

Here I was complaining about the weather due to a garden project I was undertaking and the time frame my wife has kindly put on it.

It was being severely hampered by the weather and on the odd occasional day I was able to do bits but the time scale was moving ever closer.

Well I finally managed to get the digging complete with a couple of inches more of mud removed and made as level as possible before more rain moved in.

Then I had an 800kg bag of MOT type one sub base layer delivered and this went down in a few hours and I was then able to hire a wacker plate to get it down nice and solid and even all over. I’ve put a wooden edge in as well that will eventually have some bare root Hornbeam hedging put in alongside it to form a softer border.

But it rained again for days 🤷‍♂️

In the meantime myself and the wife went to a local garden centre and got an absolute bargain with the pavers, these were delivered the next day and I was able to place them roughly where I wanted them to be before cementing. Then guess what? Yes you are right it has rained pretty much from the 28th March right up to a few days ago the 11th April.

We’ve had some sun the last couple of days and the surface of the garden has dried off a bit. The patio area has dried off quite considerably so on the 14th April I was finally able to get all the pavers cemented into position, I was able to do a first rough cut of the grass and generally have a little tidy up. There was an awkward period when the works supervisor (Alfie, our dog and head of security) intervened and decided to sit on a paver I was cementing, but talks took place and strike action was avoided when a chewy treat was supplied.

I’ve ordered an 800kg bag of pea shingle to finish the job so I’m hopeful the time scale will be met. it was a good day.

This morning the 15th we have had torrential rain, hailstones and a thunderstorm, woo am I pleased I got that cementing done yesterday, you bet I am. I just hope it had time to cure to a state where the down pour hasn’t affected it too much. I’ll check it out later, and I’ll just have to refrain from using the pavers for another 48hrs or so.

Note: I’ve just checked and the cement has set nicely, I’ll leave it another day and it should be all good 👍 we now await the pea shingles arrival.

Fast forward to the 17th after yet more rain has fallen and I now have 800kg bag of pea shingle occupying part of my driveway. I have ordered far too much, however it means I will be able to prioritise a couple of other garden projects that I have recently put on the back burner.

Guess what? More rain but I’m not giving up until these stones are in place.

A couple of hours later I’ve put the shingle in place, first a layer that I’ve then stamped down and then another layer on top to bring it all up to level across all the pavers. I must admit it has come up quite well.

I’ve finished it off with a small circular paver for the wife’s stone toadstool that has been a feature in any garden we have occupied since we first met, as well as some decorative fencing and lighting with 15 newly planted Hornbeam hedgerow plants. I have a vision of having a nice hedgerow line down here within the next couple of years as well as being a natural source of drainage for the this part of the garden, that naturally gets very wet due to neighbouring gardens being concrete wastelands.

Hornbeam hedgerow and decorative fencing

I’m very pleased with the result, it’s on time and the wife is now off my back, and she’s very happy, phew 😥

Thanks for following this little project, stay safe and stay happy.

The best laid plans and all that…

It’s just gone four in the morning, the birds are awakening and I’m stuck in an office in Leicestershire awaiting my next call out of this long night shift.

Despite weather reports being favourable it has been heaving down with rain for the past few hours , and it doesn’t look as if it’s going to let off at any time today.

This is pretty much a post about gardening, another activity I like to get involved in, and at the moment I have a project underway that was pretty much weather dependent.

I have begun the digging out of a small part of the garden in preparation for laying a small patio area. Our garden is pretty much clay based under the grass and to be honest as a result of that drainage is not brilliant. We never used to have issues with drainage due to there being 12 trees in situ that the previous owner had planted, he never looked after them and they became diseased. These sucked every bit of moisture from the garden and never gave us any issues with pooling water.

Fast forward a couple of years and those trees had to be removed due to the aforementioned disease, right down to the roots. Now during the normal British rain season ( most of the year ) we have pools developing around the garden. We are replanting a number of smaller trees but it’s going to be some time before they are drinking the quantities of rain water we usually get here in the East Midlands.

I chose this week to do my digging as it was forecast to be the driest week in a while and there was a sufficient chance of me getting all the digging done and getting the sub base in place before any inclement weather arrived.

I sit here this morning cursing so called weather forecasts.

I have been doing work between night shifts spreading it out and was so pleased with progress thus far. I removed all turf yesterday and today started digging out to about 15 c/m and started to level the area out. All excess soil was being spread around the flower beds of the front and rear garden so nothing was going to waste at all.

I stopped work on the garden at about 4 pm yesterday, well happy with progress telling the wife I had about another 2 days of work to do on levelling before we could start to get the sub base in place and compacted prior to paving, hopefully the job would be completed by next Sunday.

That’s not going to happen.

Looking at my security camera in the garden I can see that the patio area has now taken on the look of a pond and later today I half expect to see a couple of ducks taking residence.

The moral of this story is , weather forecasts don’t work. It’s not yet an art despite all the technological advances over the years.

Check progress here: The best laid plans and all that…Pt2

And don’t tell the wife when the job will be finished as she’s now got me tied to that timescale and I know now that is not going to be achieved.

I am a fool

Stay happy people. You are so special.

Olympus 35 ECR – complete

I have processed the roll of Kentmere 100 at home today, it’s currently drying in the shower and I’m really pleased with what I’ve seen so far. The carriage of the camera is working well with even spacing, exposures look promising and no sign of fogging proving the new light seals are good.

I’m yet to run the negatives through the scanner, still waiting for them to dry but when they do I will post a gallery here. Gallery – Olympus 35 ECR trial roll

The camera in my eyes is now in good working condition, all that I did with it has proven beneficial and I’m adding this into my personal collection.

I’ve now packed it in a bag with all the air extracted and a couple of silica bags to stop any potential moisture. I do this to all the cameras I store for their protection and to save me having to go through the whole process of maintaining them again.

I’ve enjoyed this little project and am now happy to say….

Job done 👍

Chemistry….

I have used many brands of film processing chemicals over the years, mixing batches of over 500 litres right down to the smaller amounts used with Patterson tanks for home processing and that’s where I am today.

For the next few films I process at home I will be using a set of chemicals I’ve not really used before however I have heard some good things about them so I’m willing to give them a try. If it doesn’t work I can always default to my previous plan of using my old reliable setup I’ve used in the past.

Thinking of processing your own film? Check this link below at Digital truth to see process times for all kinds of films in all kinds of developers – it’s an incredible source of information for photographers of all abilities.

Digital truth – Massive Dev Chart

I batch mix my fixer a litre at a time as it stores well in collapsible bottles and I should be able to do a good few films and reuse the chemicals, you just need to monitor the time it takes for the fixer to clear the film as this indicates if it needs replacing or not. General rule of thumb is it should clear almost instantly on fresh chemicals, however give it at least 4 minutes to clear the film, and as the time increases to take between 8 – 10 minutes to achieve the same result, then it’s probably worth mixing a new batch. Disposal of spent chemicals should always be done responsibly following local guidelines.

I’m not too concerned if the new setup doesn’t get the desired results, I’m using some old film to test the old cameras I’ve fixed, so I’m happy to go back and reshoot some pictures if I have to, it’s a classic case of suck it and see.

The developer I will be using is Bellini Hydrofen, (comparable to Kodak D76 or Ilford ID11) I mix this as and when needed in quantities of around 300ml (for a single 35mm film) as it doesn’t store, and needs to be used on the day as such. I don’t usually use a stop bath as such I just use some water. I will also be using their photo flow as a uniform drying solution but to be honest this isn’t really necessary.

The fixer I will be making in a 1L batch is Adox Adofix P, it’s a simple enough mix so I’ll quickly go through it with you.

Developer

Mix is 1-39 so if I need 300ml I just divide that figure by 40 (300 / 40 = 7.5) so I know I need 7.5ml of solution and then just top up to 300ml with water in the measuring jug. Simple – that’s the developer made. Just ensure it’s at 20 degrees centigrade temperature wise.

Stop bath

Simple, just water – let’s move on

Fixer

Again this is easy. I have a pouch of powder to make 1L of solution. Put approx 700ml of water at a temperature between 20-26 degrees Celsius in your measuring jug, mix in the powder and when this has dissolved just top up with water to the 1L mark. Simple – then decant into your storage bottle and the job is done.

So that’s the chemistry done, now to put it all into action to process the first film I have used to test a recent camera I have worked on. The camera is the Olympus 35 ECR and the film will be a roll of Kentmere 100 B/W that expired about 4 years ago. I will cover this in a later post. Thanks for browsing my ramblings 👍

Olympus 35-ECR ready to test.

Batteries – check
Film – check
All lights, switches and gauges working – check

The little Olympus I’ve been working on is now ready to be tested. It’s all working as well as I can see and has new battery adaptors and a new light seal around the camera. Has been cleaned as best as I can however now is the time to give it a proper run out. I have a roll of Kentmere 100asa B/W film that expired about 3-4 years ago so hopefully I’ll get something from this barring disaster.

Going to be in Sunbury on Thames for a few days so I’m hoping I can get some nice pictures of the Thames and surrounding areas.

When I get back I’ll develop the film at home and scan it myself for results. Fingers crossed 🤞 it all performs ok, if not then it’s back to the drawing board.

Here we go…. Wish me luck 🍀

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