A Cloudy Doune

I've begun to look again at the many (1200 or so) photos I managed to capture whilst in Doune (it is in north west Scotland) for a week last June. I had an initial look at the photos in early July, just after returning home and posted some images as a result here. So here are some more photos from that very enjoyable trip.

Think I'm beginning to see a common theme here - landscapes with clouds. Cloudscapes ?  I was there with a group of other photographers who were more interested in the local wildlife - the birds, dolphins and even some whales. We found a flock of puffins one morning. Thought they were disappointly small, with lots of flapping wings and very little actual flying. Unfortunately for me, I had become used to seeing large (40cm by 50 cm) images of these birds at my local photographic society, so to see how small they were in real life was surprising  Anyways the nearest I got to photographing the "wildlife" was some cattle - you may just about see some in one of the above photos.

Suppose the next step would be to do some reasearch and identify the clouds, you know ... cumulus, nimbus or whatever. Perhaps that is a task to undertake during the upcoming winter.

Night Carnival 2011

I didn't go to the Notting Hill Carnival this year, for a variety of reasons - apart from anything else (the possibility of riots didn't exactly encourage me to attend) -  my ears are recovering from both last and the previous year's Carnival. Maybe I'm getting old. But Carnival is definitely LOUD, and I wonder if the hearing of any of the performers is adversely affected.

Anyway, I did make it to the Night Carnival, which is part of the Thames Festival, held a couple of weeks later, in September. Its an annual event also, and I've before and noticed that some of the performers from Notting Hill turn up at Night Carnival but with a lot less decibels. It kicks off around 7ish in the evening , as its getting dark, and the participants/performers carry lanterns and torches it can be spectacular.

This year the rain at the beginning didn't help, and the route had been reversed from previous years - now starting behind the Royal Festival Hall , crossing the Thames byway of Blackfriars Bridge, and then turning upstream to Embankment.

Some performers taking the steps down from Waterloo Bridge prior to taking  part.

Not a Sign of the Times

I seem to be seeing signs all over the place,  to include in my signs photographic project. I went into central London the other morning to photograph some locations there and kept on seeing some signs, some printed, and some written. And what a lovely autumnal morning it was too.

I can read English, but nor the other languages underneath the "more seats" and arrow. I wonder if  there is an accurate translation.

 I don't suppose many younger people today recognise the handset logo for what it is.

I didn't try the coffee, perhaps I should have. I know the location, another day, maybe.

There were no blue road surfaces here, as there were outside the Tate, as in a previuos post here. This was on a lamppost.

This message was scrawled on the pavement near the north/Westminster side of Lambeth Bridge. It is a bit of a hike from there to South Quay.  Did the intended recipient actually read this message, and was the writer found ?