Craigs 365:2011

Fin

Craig McAteer — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:53:55 +0000

The END, Fin, Finito.

The pic a day for 2011 has come to an end, 365 pictures of random stuff.

My camera will now be getting sent off for a clean (long overdue) and a service.

I might do one a month on an as and when basis but we’ll see.

It’s been a pleasure to share a year in my life with you, and it’s really pleasant to look back at and see what I’ve been up to, where I’ve been and of course some of the people I’ve met along the way.

May I wish everyone a happy new year and if you’re starting a 366 (leap year this year) – good luck, you’ll enjoy it.

Broom

Craig McAteer — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:21:22 +0000

Out for a blast with Arthur in his MG and we’re along the M20 before you can say it’s quite nippy.

Self portrait

Craig McAteer — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:18:57 +0000

I suppose a self portrait of the camera that’s been taking all the photos for this 365 was to be expected.

So here it is in it’s glory.

It’ll be getting sent off to have the sensor cleaned properly soon now that my 365 is almost finished.

Zooming bawbles

Craig McAteer — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:18:00 +0000

Christmas Bawbles with a bit of zoom.

It flies

Craig McAteer — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:15:59 +0000

Oh yes, the Christmas present flies.

I did require the services of my wife to fly one handed the helicopter whilst I took the picture.

She did well.

Choices, choices, choices

Craig McAteer — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:13:54 +0000

It's Boxing Day so it's a very relaxed day - so relaxed that there's nothing to do and all day to do it.

So what better way than to chill out with a couple of lovely drams.

Merry Christmas

Craig McAteer — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 20:11:17 +0000

It's Christmas day and I shop this specifically for a forum I'm on which was to sum up Christmas day.

Lots of food, presents and good company.

Merry Christmas.

Oh hello.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:10:01 +0000

Next door neighbours dog, Tinkerbell, pops over the top of the fence to check out Billy (the trainee guide dog that's staying with us at the moment).

View, what view

Craig McAteer — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:08:44 +0000

Walking the dog at the top of Detling hill and the rain is heading our way - blocking out what view there was there.

Just lovely

Craig McAteer — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:07:07 +0000

A trip out this morning and I pass Aylesford which is a lovely little village about 4 miles from home.

Oh hell

Craig McAteer — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:02:57 +0000

Sad day - it's time to go into the office to get some things sorted out.   

Considering I'm off work until early January it's a bit of a hardship to do a round trip of 100 miles just to sort out some minor problems.

Alls well as it's all sorted and I'm back home.

Schnapps will do fine.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:01:07 +0000

Cooking dinner for my wife.  Chicken and Cashew nuts.

The recipe calls for a dash of sherry - I didn't fancy that so grabbed a bottle of Apple Schnapps which must be the same thing.

To be honest - it tasted quite nice and I'll have to make it again.

RIP Jack.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:00:05 +0000

A sad day in the house today.

It's the funeral of Jack Thain who sadly passed away last week at the young age of 73.

After coming home from the funeral in Aberdeen there's only one thing to do - toast his health with a good dram.

Jack - RIP.

Fry up.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Out drinking the night before and there's only one thing for it in the morning.

A proper fry up - bacon, black pudding, scrambled eggs and beans all washed down with a cup of tea.

Mmmmmm

The bridge to nowhere.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:57:41 +0000

Out and about with Billy the dog we head over the bridge linking mainland Kent to the Isle of Sheppey.

This is the new bridge that eases traffic flow to/from the island.

What a drip.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:56:43 +0000

A dripping tap caught my ear so what better for todays pic of the day was to capture the drip as it made its way towards the sink.

A new life.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:55:33 +0000

It's a new life on the planet.

Alexander has made his appearance to friends Wendy and Luc.

He was the bump photograph from a couple of days back.   Here he's two days old holding onto Wendys hand.

Sparkly tree.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:54:25 +0000

Buying a job lot of sparklers a couple of months back leaves me with a pile of them unused.

Thought I'd go all festive and create a non-existing christmas tree.

Lovely little church.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:53:21 +0000

Did a photoshoot for a friend which involves getting the layout of some of the churches in my neck of the woods.

This is the lovely little church of St Margarets at Barming.   Known locally as the lovely little church in the countryside.

Bear in a reindeer suit.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:51:52 +0000

Yes, it's the cliched Christmas shot.   The tree has been purchased and put up.

Mrs crmcatee likes bears so it only makes sense that some of the bawbles contain bears.   

This one however is a bear in a raindeers outfit  

Merry Christmas

It’ll be here tomorrow by hook or crook.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:50:57 +0000

11 days overdue and heading to hospital tomorrow morning unless the baby makes an appearance by that time.   

Wendy struggles on and is looking forward to her crash diet tomorrow.

Update :  Baby Alexander made an arrival the next morning.  Both doing well.

Caught in a trap.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:49:50 +0000

In the end of day sunlight, a leaf which has been caught in a spiders web ends up dangling from the fence post which it's been blown against.

It’s finished.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:48:53 +0000

Okay so it's taken me something like three years but I've had time this trip home to start and finish off a hand built cabinet that encases the sink in the downstairs toilet.

All done, and I'm pleased with the end result.   More importantly, my wife is too.

Now if I could find a bit of skirting board to finish off the walls

Reading material

Craig McAteer — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:47:59 +0000

Okay so perhaps I should stop impulse buying but this was too good not to accept.

A 'small' collection of National Geographic magazines from the 1930's to present date including maps, records and the index.

Just got to find a place to put them which more than likely means making some purpose built shelves to put them on in the study.

Toasty.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:46:49 +0000

It's getting chilly so it's time for the fire to be lit.

Nothing better to get it going than throw on some old fir cones.

Mooove over.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:45:47 +0000

A left over from Moovember my beard that I chose to grow gets removed in stages.

Catch a falling star.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:44:34 +0000

Messing about this evening.

Quite a few 30 second exposures which are then mashed together into a single image.

The spinning ones are the stars, the straight dotted ones are planes heading towards mainland Europe.

I quite like this, to be honest, the photo is pretty garbage but I think it's something I'll enjoy messing about with.

I’m on fire…

Craig McAteer — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:43:30 +0000

Courtesy of one my colleagues in Calgary he's spoke about it for long enough and now he's finally got me a bottle.

I've tasted it, it's hot from the cinnamon, but I believe it'll be a lovely dram when it's really cold outside.

Cheers Robert.

He likes his running.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:42:26 +0000

Billy, the trainee guide dog, gets his free run on Saturday.

Seems to like running about but doesn't stray too far away from me when walking.

His tongue seems to be too large for his body though.

Meet Billy the trainee Guide Dog.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:40:45 +0000

Arrived home and this is part of the face that met me.

This is Trainee guide dog Billy.   He's going to stay with us for about three months until he goes to his new owner.

He's lovely but needs to be take out of his shell a little.

Time to climb into the tube thing again.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:26:24 +0000

He's travelling again so it's pick up a coffee and grab a seat.

This happens to be in Raleigh, North Carolina but as I've found out it could be any airport in the world.

Senate

Craig McAteer — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Popped into Raleigh for a couple of hours.

This is the senate house in the state capital house in North Carolina.

A lovely building with lots of interesting architecture.

Elvis is in the building

Craig McAteer — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:23:31 +0000

Elvis is calling.

Not really but it made me chuckle every time he did call.

Down to Raleigh, North Carolina for a couple of days to do a factory acceptance test and this is one of the many dead celebrities who made calls over the two days.

Hooley blowing

Craig McAteer — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:21:42 +0000

Blowing a hooley in Calgary.

The trees were straight at the start of the day, although one of the large pine/fir trees has came down, blocking the owners vehicle in the driveway and just missing both the house and the vehicle.

A handy thing

Craig McAteer — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:20:23 +0000

Handily printed on the pavements in Calgary is the street name is imprinted in the concrete that makes up the walkways.

I'm guessing this is when you've had a night on the drink in town and you're crawling home, you don't need to look up and see where you are.

Mmmm

Craig McAteer — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:19:17 +0000

Out and about in Calgary and I come across a patisserie which looked lovely so popped inside and purchased some macarons for afternoon coffee.

I'll just say they were lovely.

Oh oh.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:18:08 +0000

It's a flight into Calgary and straight to the bar to meet up with some colleagues.

However the evening started off okay and then turned into several rounds of shots of varying descriptions.

In the background - Robert smiles as if he knows this round was coming.

Oooo Shiny bits

Craig McAteer — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:16:44 +0000

Standing proud in the site, one small section of the installation shines in the winter sun.

Lots of scaffold still to come down on it - but it's just about there.

But is it Art ?

Craig McAteer — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:15:25 +0000

Modern Artwork or a Pipeline feedback loop - you decide.

It is actually a piece of pipework for the site which has yet to be installed.

Helping the sun get up

Craig McAteer — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:13:54 +0000

One of the many site cranes helps both frame and slightly distort the sun.

Brrrrr

Craig McAteer — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:26:21 +0000

It’s 9:30am, minus 28 and the sun’s just getting up to warm up the site.

Since I normally write these at the end of the day I can confirm it didn’t get any warmer all day :)

Happy Anniversary Dear

Craig McAteer — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:23:41 +0000

Yes, I know you’re supposed to spend your anniversary with your wife. However there’s a small problem; the 5,000 miles that’s currently between us so I do the next best thing.

Coffee, Donuts and Muffins for the folks in the office to celebrate.

Left to right : Jenna, Barry, Russ, Geoff, Mick, Corey, Walid, Wael. Otherwise known as the Kearl Taliban.

Studio Shoot

Craig McAteer — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:22:01 +0000

6:30 am and the guys are still putting the large load bay onto one of the mining trucks.

Did I say these were huge – that’s a big pair of steps at the rear diff.

What the buck.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:19:50 +0000

Coming back down from the Radio tower area, a buck white tailed deer decides to walk past me and then vanishes into the woods.

Nice to see wildlife that close up – especially that size.

Line up, line up.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:16:23 +0000

Storage onsite means that there’s lots of these 40ft containiners scattered about all over the place.

Lined up and looking like large Christmas presents in the snow, they’re waiting to be opened and reveal what goodies they contain.

Hardy

Craig McAteer — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:10:54 +0000

It’s amazing how hardy nature can be.

It’s minus 15, the colour has gone from all the wild grass but the stalks are standing even when they’re covered in ice and snow.

Fresh dump

Craig McAteer — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:09:15 +0000

It’s a fresh dump of snow through the night so it seems like a good idea to get the truck into a position for a shoot whilst I was out and about.

No colour in the sky whatsoever, just more snow to come.

Brrrr

Craig McAteer — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:07:12 +0000

It seems Winter is starting to arrive on site.

Icicles, only about a foot or so long have started to be created dangling off some of the buildings.

Having said that, it was about -8 today so they’re not going to be going away any stage in the near future.

Oh oh.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:03:31 +0000

Looks like I’ve found the printer driver for the large 42″ printer in the office.

People seem to like my panorama’s of the site so I sent a large job (2gb) to it and waited for it to do it’s stuff.

We hung it on the wall and then slice one off when people want one.

We’ve since found a roll of photograde paper so we loaded it up with that and then sent the job again and with with the assistance of Geoff we’ve cut and sliced them up.

Ski jump

Craig McAteer — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:02:06 +0000

The business end of the site.

It may look like the construction of a new ride for Disney, but it’s not. Trust me.

And when the sun comes up.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:50:04 +0000

9:30am and the sun’s just rising, whilst the Moon decides it’s had enough for the day.

The snow covered moonscape that is the project site looks industrially lovely at this time of the day.

Snows here

Craig McAteer — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:33:38 +0000

Well the snow has arrived this morning and there’s plenty of it still in the sky about to drop.

This is the road comign down from the radio tower. Pretty bad picture when the sky is almost the same colour as the ground but I haven’t had time to get a decent picture of anything.

Moose Loose

Craig McAteer — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:18:39 +0000

There's a moose loose about this hoose.

Not actually but these two Moose strolled along the edge of site.

The Mother, wary of what we were doing parked up kept a beady eye on us whilst the calf just seems to wander about, no straying too far from the Mother.

Spare tyres

Craig McAteer — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:17:27 +0000

The fifth and sixth wheels of the Cat's are piled up awaiting their installation while they're getting commissioned.

It's like a huge tyre wall.

I've included my POS F150 for scale.

Batman symbol

Craig McAteer — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:15:57 +0000

The sun sets above one of the trailer offices at site.   

However the reflection on the cloud base above is almost like a Batman searchlight.

Lovely to watch it slowly fade away.

Grassy things

Craig McAteer — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:14:58 +0000

A trip as usual up to the Radio Tower has these grasses growing by the treeline on the road the passes the mine area to the road.

Lifting stuff

Craig McAteer — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:13:39 +0000

Stuck in the office yet again today but did have a chance to get out on site for a quick visit.

There's tons of this stuff going on all over the place, this is just one small section of the work area.

Late riser

Craig McAteer — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 01:57:38 +0000

9am, middle of Alberta and the sun is just starting to wake up.

It's a cold day and it's a expected to be a high of minus 6.

Trial between two.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:56:05 +0000

Day one on site and I get my new Blackberry.

I'm used to the Iphone (on the left) and so far I'm finding the usability of the Blackberry a pretty poor user experience.

Blue reflection

Craig McAteer — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:55:00 +0000

Grabbed this shot just as I left the hotel heading for the Airport to head to site.

Adjacent to the Calgary Tower the reflections of the setting sun lighting the building adjacent to this mirrored one.

Around about way.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:53:33 +0000

Enroute to Heathrow to catch a flight to Canada and there's a huge 20 mile tailback on the most direct route round the M25.

So an alternative albeit longer route is round the other way of the M25 but no we decided to go through the centre of London.

I grabbed this shot as we were waiting for the lights to turn right and head into towards Trafalgar Square.

Scary men

Craig McAteer — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:51:43 +0000

Trick or treat.

The neighbours kid comes knocking on the door with some of her friends.

No Neighbours

Craig McAteer — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 01:50:31 +0000

Located in Rye, Kent these doors lead quite obviously to the same house.

Unlike the one just up the road which is opposite the pub, which is called again obviously ' the house opposite'

Yeoman

Craig McAteer — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:49:18 +0000

Popped over to my lock up to pick up some bits and this is just down from it.

Stoneacre, a 15th Century yeomans house and now a National Trust property which you can view.

Autumn is here.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:30:08 +0000

It's Autumn time again and the tree's are dropping their colourful loads into the garden.

Leaves, berries and horse chesnuts are littering the garden.  

Some lovely colours.

New World Record

Craig McAteer — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:27:13 +0000

My new world record for mileage on a tank of diesel.

I normally run about 300 - 330 miles before filling.   The light normally comes on about 340 miles but it's been on for the last twenty miles.    

I'll have to figure out which fuel I used to get this tank and use it again.      390 miles !!!!   It's starting to look economical for journeys.

Gold or Coal

Craig McAteer — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:25:57 +0000

It's not looking like it's going to be a nice day.

However looking out the window it gave me the ideal opportunity for todays picture of the day.

Whos glass is this.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:24:05 +0000

Had some friends round for dinner this evening and it's time for the special glasses to come out and be filled a couple of times.

Any clues to whom the male attendees were

A poignant moment in history.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:17:17 +0000

A purchase of yesterday resulted in a couple of these which had to get an airing today.

Issued by the National Geographic Magazine in August 1965, this one has the recording of Winston Churchills Funeral.

Has a lovely sound to it.

Like a plague.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:14:00 +0000

A bunch of these little fellas paid my garden a visit today.     There must have been about twenty of them on the door.   

Obviously living in the nature reserve out the back and it's time to move on.

I wish it was real

Craig McAteer — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:12:12 +0000

Another sample of the fools gold I've found on site.

This one has a lovely seam running through it and really only glistens in the sunlight.

Twice the eyesore

Craig McAteer — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:10:17 +0000

One of the ugliest buildings in town, plonked into a prominent position overlooking the river is the Travelodge motel.

With very limited parking spaces it seems pretty pointless.

Even the reflection doesn't help it.

Childhood memories

Craig McAteer — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:07:39 +0000

A birthday gift from my niece, a big box of sweets, most of which I've not had since I was a kid.

Wham bars, sherbert dips, blackjacks, bubblegum and a pletora of others goodies.

Jukebox

Craig McAteer — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:12:30 +0000

Suddenly found myself looking to buy a jukebox.   It needs a bit of work and general tidying up but it's a potential.

I don't really need one but it would be kind of nice.

Should I tell the wife ?

Seems pointless

Craig McAteer — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:08:54 +0000

My neighbour is having some work done on her house.

This seemingly involves cleaning the roof tiles.   Personally I can't see the point in cleaning the tiles;  it's just going to stand out like a sore thumb when everyone elses has blended in and weathered.

Big Day.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:07:02 +0000

It's the big day.  My Birthday and what better way to celebrate than getting a bottle of bubbly open and partially drunk before we head out for a meal.

P.s.  I finished the rest when we came home.

Tired dog.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:05:07 +0000

Jess, an ageing Chocolate Lab of some 15 years finds long walks hard going so their owners have got hold of a doggyride trolley for her.

She seems quite at home in it.

Tasty

Craig McAteer — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:03:44 +0000

Got the opportunity to take the car into a proper studio to shoot some shots of it.

The Blue I believe does reflect nicely.

I'd love to spend some serious amount of time in there

From Girders

Craig McAteer — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:27:06 +0000

One of the joys of being north for a period of time (and taking the truck) means that I can stock up on proper Irn Bru in glass bottles.

I dont know why but it tastes so much better out of glass bottles.

I took a case back with me.

Invites in the post

Craig McAteer — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:24:55 +0000

I needed something to be the front image for the wedding pictures I took.

The invite for the wedding was the ideal thing.

Cove Bay

Craig McAteer — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:23:31 +0000

A visit to Cove Bay harbour, near Aberdeen and the weather is lovely.

An old fishing village, it's still used for things like lobster potting but definitely small scale.

A lovely place.

Mmmm Pi

Craig McAteer — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:22:16 +0000

Well I really do like it.

So I thought it would brighten up the lid of my Mac.

Pie    mmmmmmm

The big Day

Craig McAteer — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:20:57 +0000

The main reason for being in Aberdeenshire for a week.

The marriage of Rebecca Vinall to Jamie Mayo.

A cracking day and this is one of the shots taken from the back of the church at the Chapel of Garrioch.  

Lovely day and they make a lovely couple.

Nice Bar

Craig McAteer — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 13:19:32 +0000

A few days away and this is one of the bars in the hotel I'm confronted with.

A nice selection of whisky.   Pricey, but nice.

The Pittodrie House Hotel, near the Chapel of Garrioch is a lovely little hotel.   But take money if you're set on drinking a lot.

1987 Revisited

Craig McAteer — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:19:24 +0000

It's finally been opened.   It's been round the world and now it's in my belly.

Tonight was the opening of the 24 year old whiskey that was bottled to commemorate the rugby world cup being in New Zealand.

Lovely it is too.

Responsible for my good looks

Craig McAteer — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:16:07 +0000

Arriving into Aberdeen, first port of call is into my parents house for a cup of tea.

Upon leaving, they stand in the door way for todays pic of the day.

Strangely enough it reminds me of a photography I have of my Grandma and Grandad from my Dad's side that I have.

Lots of pictures

Craig McAteer — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:14:06 +0000

Messing about with a helmet cam, I decide that I'll see how it operates on a timelapse basis on a small journey 2/3rds of the journey from the bottom of the UK to the North East of Scotland.

I've decided that this is the best spot for it, suckered on the window so we'll see how it goes.  

It should be taking a picture once every three seconds for about 10 hours.

Derriere

Craig McAteer — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:33:55 +0000

OOoo  blast from the past.  Haven't bought one of these for about 30 years,  

Returned home today and through the post comes a brand new 7" single, so it had to be played.

It's from Derriere - a great sounding band from Brighton, they're the one with the great female voice up front.

Hand baggage only

Craig McAteer — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:29:12 +0000

Can you travel with too many laptops ?

It does cause fun when passing through customs - do you have a laptop, no, I've got three.   

Two business ones and one that's a personal one - can you guess which one is mine.

Backbone

Craig McAteer — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:27:32 +0000

One of the better sculptures in downtown Calgary - especially since the painted cows are split all over the place.

Like a huge skeletal backbone it rises and sinks in and out of the pavement.

Home away from home

Craig McAteer — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:26:08 +0000

In reality, my desk at site.    With a lovely view of another Atco trailer across the way.

Hopefully by the time I go back in November; I may be in that other trailer and have a lovely view of a laydown yard.

Sailship piledrivers

Craig McAteer — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 05:11:33 +0000

Another early morning ad the sun comes up behind the two piledrivers which have been working outside my office for the last week.

They look like a couple of sail boats working their way along the horizon.

Early morning reflections

Craig McAteer — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:08:59 +0000

Early morning yet again.

Suns just coming up and there’s a lovely reflection in the pool of water that I’ve been eyeing up for a couple of weeks.

Every other time I’ve seen it there’s been ripples in it from the wind / heat.

Not this morning – a nice reflection of the radio tower.

A dirty smile

Craig McAteer — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:31:33 +0000

Is my truck filthy ?

Had to be done really.   It was calling out for some gentle graffiti.

Not the Olympics

Craig McAteer — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:30:07 +0000

Loking at replacing a couple of the cars and the four rings is currently one of the choices.

Mmmmmm do we, don't we.

Get the fire brigade, get the fire brigade

Craig McAteer — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:56:00 +0000

Onsite fire trucks seem to like large bumpers.   

You could quite happily sleep on this one without falling off.   The WARN winch looks tiny on it.

Moonscape

Craig McAteer — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 01:54:43 +0000

Early morning at site - and the weather station outside my office makes a nice back drop for what turned out to be a lovely sunrise. 

The Moon above the rising sun was lovely.

I hate winter

Craig McAteer — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 01:53:04 +0000

Jenna, who normally is a petite lady who works in the office decides to try on her winter clothing gear gear (or some of it anyway).

She's unable to bend down to pick anything up.  If she does get down, she can't get back up.  

Oh - she hates winter and will probably just wear this in the office

Back to school

Craig McAteer — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 01:50:55 +0000

It's training time at work so it's into the class to be taught in how to fall legally.    Well when I say fall - I mean the course was actually fall protection.  Part of the criteria for high working on site.

I passed.

Bugs Life

Craig McAteer — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:09:09 +0000

Friend for the day is this fella,  he / she's a Giant Water Bug.

They give a nasty bite with their pincers.   Native of Alberta.

The guys about 50mm long so he's obviously fully grown.

To shave or not to shave

Craig McAteer — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:04:24 +0000

After the last week or so I haven't been shaving and ended up with some serious stubble.

I've decided it's time for it to come off so half way through I thought - aha - pic of the day.

Galaxy Man

Craig McAteer — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:46:31 +0000

It seems I've changed jobs.

All because I took some Galaxy Chocolate in for the admin assistants and it seems they like it.

I'll leave the name plate there - I know who the culprit is and I may have to force them to eat a whole bar in one go next trip.

Safety first.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:45:10 +0000

After some visitors came to site last week I'm left with some safety glasses on my spare desk.

What to do with them.   I think a set may be liberated for use with the Cobra

Dig this.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:43:57 +0000

Well the little shovel is complete and almost ready to take a short trip.

It's big, but not as big as the electric one which is a few weeks away yet.

It's evil looking and I wouldn't want to mess with it.

That's a F150 truck that's at the back of it.

Another cracking morning.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 01:42:43 +0000

Grabbed this one as we entered site early one morning (just after 6am.)

I must take my tripod in with me one trip as the mornings are just gorgeous.

It’s grainy as it was shot at iso 6400 handheld.

Smiley :)

Craig McAteer — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:55:19 +0000

My wife was giving me into trouble about not uploading the last couple of days photographs due to lack of time.

So I thought this would put a smile on her face.

What’s behind is not important.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:51:59 +0000

A 100Km trip up to a pump house and a distinct lack of wildlife that was near enough to photograph means you get this.

A view of the dust trail we left behind us on the track.

Birch

Craig McAteer — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:50:42 +0000

A line of silver birch tree’s on the edge of the site stand proud reflecting the mornings sunlight.

Tonka

Craig McAteer — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:48:56 +0000

oh oh.

It’s the big trucks again, but this time the first four are lined up.

I do like these – especially with my engineers hat on.

The Moon Crane

Craig McAteer — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 02:00:20 +0000

It's another early morning shot I'm afraid.  

Arrived at site just as the sun was coming up and the moon was giving a lovely show as if it was suspended from the crane.

These boots were made for walking.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 01:58:30 +0000

They look like they've had a hard life - but in reality they've only been onsite for three weeks since new.

They're getting comfier - but I'm waiting on the snow to come.

Morning has broken.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 01:13:45 +0000

Enroute to site in the morning and the sun comes up.  Managed to grab this shot through the window.

this is what it looks like at about 6am.

ISO ramped right up hence the grainyness.

Truck line up.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:11:49 +0000

It's nice when you get the big boys lined up for a shoot.

Pity, the fourth one wasn't completed yet.   Having said that there is going to be 14 of the beasts.

James Bond Movie Set

Craig McAteer — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:09:50 +0000

Like something out of a James Bond movie set. 

Blofeld is constructing a major production site in the middle of nowhere.

A very busy place, with thousands of people onsite.

Cobra Replacement

Craig McAteer — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:09:57 +0000

Well the some of the big boys are in town.

Paid a visit for a look around them to see what's what about them.

They're impressive.  No correction, they bloody impressive.    I'm 5'11 and these things dwarf me.    

I've included beside the tyre a 5'11 fat bloke for scale.

I wonder if this could be a suitable replacement for the Cobra.

Climbing the tower

Craig McAteer — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:14:57 +0000

It's work time and there's two guys at the top of this tower about to mount the first of four antenas for a radio installation on site.

Lovely day but the sun's beating down and it must be 30 deg C.

They're up there tomorrow again to get the other three done.

The Tower

Craig McAteer — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:13:42 +0000

It's Calgary yet again and another view from the hotel room of the impressive Calgary Tower.

One of these days I will have to get up it.

Early in the morning the sun, not quite up but I am due to time zone differences.

North, to Greenland

Craig McAteer — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:12:39 +0000

It's time to go back to Canada so as normal we fly over Iceland and Greenland.    

This is the south tip of Greenland at the point where a couple of glaciers reach the sea and start to break off into icebergs.

Yuma

Craig McAteer — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 11:11:44 +0000

A visiting Guide Dog in training came to stay for a couple of days.   

This is Yuma.

She's lovely and very obedient but she does seem to like water as I found out when I took her for a walk round the nature reserve.

From small acorns

Craig McAteer — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:10:45 +0000

It's that time in the UK where new seedlings are dropping off of their trees and landing in peoples gardens in an attempt to produce even more trees.

These acorns have made there way onto the lawn but they won't be producing any more trees as they've now been minced up by the lawn mower.

Hide and seek

Craig McAteer — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:09:52 +0000

Anyone would think that this spider didn't want it's picture taken.   Not only did it keep itself upside down whilst it ran across its web but it then hid below this leaf and wouldn't come out.

Typical camera shyness.

Dog Gone!

Craig McAteer — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:08:23 +0000

A visit with Sam next door to Dungeness sees us at the minature railway which terminates there.

As we walked along the platform this dog looked out of the window.

20 years in a box or two.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:41:16 +0000

It’s a sad day – I’ve cleared my desk and the stuff I’ve gathered over the past 20 years in various offices.

I’m amazed that after a major clear out I managed to get it into just 5 archive boxes.

Whom am I kidding – it’s a great day and hopefully the last day I have to go into office since I’ve got a new role in Canada.

Rose hip

Craig McAteer — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:38:38 +0000

Bright red and so obvious in the green foliage these rose hips became todays subject of choice for my pic a day.

I promise I’ll do better tomorrow.

Tudor elegance.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:37:13 +0000

Slap bang in the middle of Canterbury there runs quite a few river runs.

This lovely cottage overhangs one of them where they begin one of the punting tours of the rivers.

Traditional English build and characteristic of the tudor reign this building has obviously been there for quite a few years.

And then the sun went down.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:35:32 +0000

It’s just after 8pm and the sun is starting to go down.

The neighbours roof line makes a nice siloutte with the sun going down behind it.

Let us in.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:34:36 +0000

Patches on the left and Tink (erbell) on the right seem to be looking in on the street party we’re having and are kind of upset that they’re not getting into play.

Having said that they seemed to be acting as bouncers keeping unwanted folks and cats out

Go faster turbo…….

Craig McAteer — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:11:16 +0000

Yes – yet again, there’s something up with the Landrover – the existing turbo’s bearing is on it’s way out and squeals like a pig when there’s enough pressure and it’s under load.

The replacement has turned up will more than likely be fitted tomorrow if it’s dry as it’s currently lashing down with rain.

1987

Craig McAteer — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:08:00 +0000

A purchase I made way back in March has finally made the long journey home.

Bought in New Zealand, I got it delivered to Brisbane where I was in and out of regularly on business. However I didn’t go back to Brisbane and instead went to Singapore. I tried to get a colleague to take it to me there – but by the time he got there, I had went back to the UK. So plan C was to get him to take it to France where I would meet him in Calais at a factory visit. When he got there, I had gone to Calgary.

So I got him to take it home with him to Houston and I would get someone to take it to Calgary, which they did.

I passed through Calgary yesterday. so picked up the well travelled bottle in it’s original travel case.

It’s now home where it should be and I’m looking forward to opening it when the World Cup Rugby starts.

Pick a seat, any seat.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:06:31 +0000

Not saying that my Canadian North flight from Edmonton to Calgary was busy but this was as busy as it got.

A total of 10 of us returning to Calgary meant that we had one member of staff between three of us.

OPP area

Craig McAteer — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:04:47 +0000

An overview of section of the project I’m on at the moment.

It may look like a sloped rollercoaster but it’ll be used to transport oil sands towards the mixing area to be pumped up the pipelines to the production plant where the oil will be extracted.

Enroute to site

Craig McAteer — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:02:33 +0000

Enroute to work this morning, this little fella jumped out of the bushes and made his way to half way across the road.

We pulled up and he retreated to the bushline, and stared at us.

As we moved off he headed into the bushes again.

Big Tonka Toys

Craig McAteer — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 01:53:48 +0000

OOoo the big boys have arrived onsite.

These are the 400 ton Cat mining trucks.    The guys have built these and in the last two days dropped the buckets onto the back of them.

They're huge - about the height of a three storey house.

I like big boys toys.

Lineup

Craig McAteer — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:52:14 +0000

Another limited day for photos so I'm stuck in the camp with todays photo.

Some of the day shift are finished and line their trucks up at the back doors to the accommodation.

It’s a long way

Craig McAteer — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 01:50:48 +0000

Limited scope for pictures today (due to security) so I'm left with taking a picture of the corridor to my room.

There are about 150 of these corridors in the camp and about 3-4000 people in the camp.

Young life

Craig McAteer — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 01:49:10 +0000

I've moved to site now and the swallows that during my last trip were coming and going it seems they've had a couple of chicks.

In total they've had 5 but one was still staying in the nest.

I'm glad there's wildlife like this about 20 feet where thousands of people pass through the doorway each day.

Luckily - the day after they've fled the nest and are not to be seen in the camp.

Stephens Avenue, Calgary

Craig McAteer — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 01:19:33 +0000

Overview of Stephen Avenue from the hotel room.

Playing about with a tilt-shift process to see how it comes out. I feel it does give that miniature feeling about it.

Air Canada

Craig McAteer — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:17:50 +0000

I'm off travelling again so it's first time on an international Air Canada flight (I've done national flights previously).

Settled into my seat and grabbed my picture of the day whilst we were loading at Heathrow.

Review :  Seats are comfy, lots of leg space, but the entertainment system is as clunky as a a clunky thing.   I dont want to watch bloody adverts each time I switch channels and start viewing different things.

Trying to smash his head in.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 01:16:29 +0000

Messing about in the living room and there's a buzzing at the patio doors.

Mr Dragonfly was trying to get back out.

Managed to pick him up for about 10 seconds before he would fly off and crash into the window again.

I'd pick him up, he's crash; I'd pick him up; he'd crash. I opened the door and let him out, but not before getting his picture.

G4 / Camel Trophy lineup

Craig McAteer — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 01:15:07 +0000

The demonstration line up of the Camel Trophy and G4 vehicles at the LRM Landrover Max Show at Stoneleigh.

zzzzzzzzzzz

Craig McAteer — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:13:52 +0000

Wooluf, the lovely pet dog of Tig and Trish catches up with some snoozing during what has been a busy week for him.

Ooo dials

Craig McAteer — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:12:24 +0000

The cockpit layout of one of the greatest planes currently still flying.

The Vulcan bomber.

Nuf said.

New Discovery

Craig McAteer — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:10:18 +0000

New Discovery spotted on the streets of the UK Out and about in my Landrover and I come across this parked at the side of the road with two tst engineers inside working on the laptop. As soon as the camera comes up from my passenger seat they’re off.

The new Landrover Discovery LR5 judging by the panel layout and the fuel filler position.

Lovely, just lovely

Craig McAteer — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:25:46 +0000

Continued exploring of the lovely countryside where I’m staying for about a week and there are lovely scenes like this just round the corner from where yesterdays photo was taken.

Quant English Countryside

Craig McAteer — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:23:46 +0000

Out and about in the lovely countryside near Coventry.  This is in the lovely quant village of Stoneleigh.

Annoyingly given all the character of the village, they're missing the heart of the village.  A village pub - there was a social club but that was closed.

Bzzzz

Craig McAteer — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:22:00 +0000

A wasp decides to walk its way up the living room curtains.

It’s into the evening and I still hadn’t taken my photo of the day so this was an ideal opportunity.

In the end we let it out the window to fly away

Six hours on the BBQ

Craig McAteer — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:33:03 +0000

Take one simple pork shoulder.
Rub it with a mix of spices.
Leave it for the rubs to engrain themselves for a day.
Put it on the BBQ.
Using indirect heat cook it for six hours at 300 Deg.

This is what it looks like having rested for 30 minutes.

Lets just say it was lovely.

New head

Craig McAteer — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:32:46 +0000

My truck has returned after overheating a couple of weeks ago.

Only one problem – it needed a new cylinder head and let’s just say it’s not exactly cheap to change it out.

It’s running as good as a good un now though.

This is the old head – and the valve that’s leaking as well as the bow is on the other side.

At least I’ve got a big heavy aluminium head to do something with.

Cameras on bikes

Craig McAteer — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:28:46 +0000

My continued messing about with cameras on bikes has led to this.

It’s amazing how much movement there is on the bike even going 10 MPH and trying to get a slow shutter speed.

Having said that – you’re always wary of your camera deciding to bounce it’s way down the street when it falls off the bike

Fly away

Craig McAteer — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:26:02 +0000

Almost the end of the day and I haven’t taken a shot yet.
Then out of the corner of my eye I spied a house fly.
That’ll do, so on with the macro lens and I’m off.

I have no idea what the little white string is in it’s mouth – I’m guessing a bit of fluff.

Something missing from this

Craig McAteer — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:29:38 +0000

There’s something missing from this picture.

A slight problem with the Landrover last weekend – it overheated on the way back from a quick 250 mile journey.

So the heads been taken off and checked. It’s failed the pressurisation test and there’s a 0.3mm bow in the alignment.

So a new head’s been ordered which should be here today to be fitted.

Scooby Snack

Craig McAteer — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:13:27 +0000

Looks like this heat we’re having at the moment are having a major effect on the creatures in the garden.

Just a pity that the ladybird won’t get to see any more of it as it’s become a snack for Mr Garden Spider.

Bzzzzzzz

Craig McAteer — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:22:57 +0000

The bee’s in the local nature reserve have been busy.

This is one of the many frames to be processed to give us the local honey – which is lovely.

I’ll get it through the strainer this evening and get it into a jar already for breakfast toast. MMmmmm

Tick tock

Craig McAteer — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:19:24 +0000

The battery in one of my watches needed replacing so it’s off into town to get a replacement.

This is one of the eight screws holding the back plate on.

To say it’s small is an understatement. Here it is next to a pencil tip.

Abandon Ship

Craig McAteer — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:54:52 +0000

Abandon Ship. Last place in the raft race the guys from 36th Regiment Engineering Workshop abandon ship prior to crossing the finish line.

Not exactly a great advert for their technical skills coming in last place.

At least it looks like they had fun.

Toris’ big day

Craig McAteer — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:18:10 +0000

It’s Toris’ big day today as she heads out to get married to Dan this afternoon.

This is as Tori and her father left the house heading for the car.

Martin who seems to be looking forward to the day. At least he’s remembered his speech.

She looks lovely and has cracking shoes on..

Faster, faster.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:56:08 +0000

Oh no – fat bloke on a bike.

Decided to mess about on the bike this afternoon and opted to shoot a wide angle shot as I went down the street.

I believe I’ll have to get something more rigid to support the camera.

Buster is thirsty

Craig McAteer — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:52:17 +0000

ime to water the vegetables that are growing in the garden.

Only one problem – Buster (the guide dog) likes to drink water when you’re pouring it out of the watering can.

Unfortunately – having stayed with us for an extended period of time he should be going back to his owner tomorrow. At least the vegetables will get all the water tomorrow.

This is a knife.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:50:42 +0000

My neighbour came in with a gift today for me.

He seemingly saw it in the shop and thought it had my name on it.

He’s a good man. It’s a great set although the knife could do with a sharpen.

Oversize packaging

Craig McAteer — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:47:05 +0000

Ordered a couple of music items from your local internet shopping place – two guesses.

Anyway – one vinyl LP and one CD come shipped from Amazon in a box which looks like it could hold a large DVD player- this had my wife wondering what I had ordered as it was so huge.

Regardless it turned upsafe and well and I’d recommend getting the Caro Emerald record to anyone

Back in time.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:43:50 +0000

A lovely day out in the Kent countryside so we took, my Mum and Dad, Buster and Bonnie the guide dogs down to the Spa Valley Heritage railway for a run down to Eridge.

A short if what lovely little journey on old carriages to the end of the line and back to Tunbridge Wells.

Multiple birthday BBQ

Craig McAteer — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 17:41:22 +0000

We held a BBQ at our house on Saturday, primarily because my Mum and Dad were down, alternatively because it was the four peoples pictured birthdays within days of each other.

Left to right : My Dad’s (today), My Mum (last Tuesday), Pat (Next Week) and Arthur (Friday).

Much food, beer and merriment was had – including everyone playing with gliders (see yesterdays picture) to recreate the dog battles that happened off the English coast during the war.

Going down well – all over Kent, just like the Luftwaffe.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:38:24 +0000

A purchase on Ebay leads to a heap of polystyrene gliders turning up at the house.

Only one thing to do – my Mum and Dad to test them out by having some flight distance competitions.

P.s. The Spitfire won. Again.

End of term school disco

Craig McAteer — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:01:59 +0000

Next door neighbours son Sam has his end of school disco (I hate prom). It was a James Bond theme so he’s tuxed up.
His request and vehicle of choice was mine. It’s been pouring rain for the last two hours just prior to going heading out and then it stops just in time to get him to school.
He was over the moon when we pulled into the car park and one of his mates was there to see him arrive in true James Bond style.

Label them up

Craig McAteer — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:59:12 +0000

My wife asked me to label up the vegetables that she’s growing in the pots outside in the garden.
So I did. :) She says’ I’m mad.

Use safety sandals

Craig McAteer — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:02:39 +0000

One of the joys of my parents visiting is that my Dad really likes painting the fence for some obscure reasons.
So I’ve kitted him out in a fire retardant overalls, leather gloves, hat for the sun and of course some safety sandals.
He’s doing a grand job and should be finished tomorrow.

My mouse has died

Craig McAteer — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:57:16 +0000

My computer mouse has died.

Well not actually my computer mouse, but a mouse which unfortunately got caught in the trap from yesterdays picture.

Rather than just a picture of a dead mouse I thought I would put some FUN back into funeral and had some fun with it.

Oh oh

Craig McAteer — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 14:55:57 +0000

One of the problems of living next to a nature reserve is we occassionally get a visit by all sorts of wildlife – generally they confine themselves to the garden but occasionally some will venture inside.

This time its the turn of mice to venture into the loft and garage of the house.

Well the trap is set and awaiting its first victim.

A decent piece of Galaxy chocolate and it’s good to go.

Time for a brew

Craig McAteer — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:32:01 +0000

Popped up to the LRO show at Billing to see whats what.

It poured with rain and shortened our stay – when we headed back to the car park we decided to brew up a couple of cups of coffee on the perculator I keep in the back.

Just what was needed.

Hover bover

Craig McAteer — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:28:12 +0000

It’s sunny, so it’s into the garden today to see whats crawling or flying.

This hover fly slowed down and landed on a flower thats in a bush of unknown name in the garden.

Scooby Doo

Craig McAteer — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:33:24 +0000

Shopping trolley or worthwhile feature ?

Out for a run in this today, it’s the Subaru Impreza GB270 special. Nice motor and one of those where you would have to constantly check the speedo.

It makes progress. Swiftly.

Bloody useless for a big load of shopping though.

24 hours of being monitored

Craig McAteer — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:28:45 +0000

4 hours after getting fitted with a portable heart monitor it’s time for the sensors to come off.

Annoyingly – it’s been just long enough from when they first started testing my ticker and had to shave my chest so the sensors would stick that the hairs had a chance to grow back. Yesterdays fitting meant one thing – they were going to shave the bits they shaved the last time.

Oh yes – and they’re bloody sore when you take them off.

The machine that goes ping

Craig McAteer — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:41:14 +0000

Off to the hospital today for a scan and check up from the waist up to see if they can find out what caused me to smash my face onto the floor a few weeks back when I passed out.
This was the machine that did the ultrasound scan and ECG all in one.

I was disappointed when it didn’t go ‘Ping’. It did however did make some lovely gurgling sounds which I take it to mean that it was the blood pumping round my heart.

Have to wait a wee while to see what the results are though.

Guess which car I took to the office today

Craig McAteer — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:32:57 +0000

t’s a lovely day so it’s time to go into the office to hand in my expenses.

Can you guess what car I took. Certainly stands out when abandonded in amongst the Euroboxes.

Yoof of today.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 20:28:04 +0000

Myself and Buster (the guide dog) had a stroll up to have a look at the Penenden Heath summer fete / fair.

Came across a couple of the neighbours sons all dressed like chavs, shirts off, underwear showing and beer in hand.

The Yoofof today huh !

Rust proofing

Craig McAteer — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:31:46 +0000

ime for some routine maintenance on the Landrover.

First job was to remove the tank guard and then it’s take the grinder and wirebrush to the chassis and get rid of any rust spots, then the first coat is with a very heavy zinc coated paint (from Bilt Hamber).

Rain stopped play 1/3rd of the way through the painting so I may continue tomorrow.

Time to die. Again.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:27:51 +0000

My PS3 has been over at a friends house for the last four weeks (since Le Mans) and I finally got time to go and pick it up yesterday.

What better that get it up and running is to play a game of Call of Duty online with some randoms.

Oh and as usual, I died a lot.

Older than me.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:25:30 +0000

A piece of rock I picked up from site a week or so ago.

It’s from the Oil Sands area of Alberta and is just full of minature shells.

The view is about 1 inch across.

Time to feed the pig

Craig McAteer — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:57:34 +0000

Tidying up the money scattered about the house, they all have their homes and the pound coins end up in piggy bank.

PNG Pig as he is known likes to eat pound coins.

In the garden

Craig McAteer — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:55:50 +0000

Limited time today so it was quickly into the garden to take a shot of something.
It happened to be this flower, who’s name I must look up and document.
It sits in the middle of a large bush so I think it’s a bit of a rogue flower, albeit a nice one.

Mmmmm Pie

Craig McAteer — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:15:05 +0000

Nice to return home after a couple of weeks of travel to something that makes you feel like home.
My wife had made a Steak and Guinness pie from a cook book I bought a couple of months ago in New Zealand.
It was lovely.

Nice view with a couple of planks on your feet

Craig McAteer — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 20:12:03 +0000

View from the second highest ski jump at the Olympic Park in Calgary.

Very pleasant to walk about and see what was used during a very busy and memorable olympic games.

Might have to pop back here in the winter and see them being used.

What – no ice !!

Craig McAteer — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 12:09:47 +0000

A short visit to Lake Louise in Banff National Park.

Every time I’ve seen it previously I’ve been able to walk on it as it’s been covered in ice so it was a pleasant surprise to see it like this – I also didn’t expect the amount of tourists who come to see it.

Lovely, If you’re going to visit it – I’d get there earlier in the morning when there is likely to be spaces in the car park – oh and don’t go at the weekend when it’s heaving.

Up in front of the crowd

Craig McAteer — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:06:21 +0000

An unsuspecting girl becomes one of the stars of the Canada day shows held in Calgary, June 1st 2011.

The magician giving a show on Princes Island, Calgary as part of the Canada Day celebrations.

All for the kids but very amusing for the adults.

It was a great day out.

Reedy’s taking us to the zoo tomorrow.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:55:31 +0000

Today actually.

A company trip to the zoo late in the evening so there’s very little animals still out and about.

The hippo was, thankfully.

Another night of drinking

Craig McAteer — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:54:02 +0000

Oh oh – we’re out drinking. Again. This time to a new bar called Wurst in Calgary. Lots of German food, and more importantly German beer.

Here we have Orla sampling Phil’s litre stein of Warsteiner

Return for the beer.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:51:52 +0000

After last Tuesday visit to Craft brewhouse and our attempt to sample as many of their beers as possible we return to continue ticking them off the list.

This is the overview of the bar area.

Oh and we made a very good dent in the remaining beers

Scooby snacks

Craig McAteer — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:49:58 +0000

t’s donut day in the office, so the speciality bakery makes their normal delivery.

Scrummy. By the way, I had the lemon one on the second row.

Dirty trucker

Craig McAteer — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 04:29:36 +0000

This is what you get when you’re pushing for several hundred miles a huge load for an oil sands project.

I think it may need a power washing, or two.

Desk not big enough

Craig McAteer — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 04:28:32 +0000

What do you do when your desk isn’t large enough to capture the status of pilings for a project.

That’s right – you use the wall.

The cup contains pins for marking the status of the pilings.

Tonka Toys

Craig McAteer — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 04:26:41 +0000

One of the small trucks we have at site currently helping with the construction of the new site.

These small ones are only capable of carrying 195 tons, the new ones (when they come) will be capable of 400 tons!.

This is also one of the few self portraits of the fat bloke with the camera

The writing is on the wall

Craig McAteer — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:25:12 +0000

On the walk to work in the morning I’ve passed this but there’s always been a car parked in front of it.

It’s done on the outside wall of the Art Central (inside the windows).

Just in time.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 04:23:48 +0000

Nothing like having been travelling and built up a pile of clothes that need cleaning.

Being able to drop it in a bag in the morning and have it back, clean and hung up in the wardrober in the afternoon in time to go out with a clean shirt is excellent.

No sore head

Craig McAteer — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 04:21:52 +0000

Visited a relatively new bar in Calgary last night (Craft) which had 100 beers on draft.

We did our best to get through them between a couple of us (we got to 54). After paying the bill they even let me stroll behind the bar to take some pics for my pics of the day.

Many thanks to Ashley who served us tirelessly.

Not a blank wall.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 04:20:32 +0000

Downtown Calgary, strolling about and there’s alternative graffiti which provides an interesting look on what would otherwise be a plain wall.

Provides a bit of historical link to why the town is built. I like it.

The tower

Craig McAteer — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 16:06:23 +0000

Sunday so it’s walkabout time downtown.

This is the Calgary Tower viewed from Centre Street.

There’s just a tad of HDR in this one.

Wooluf

Craig McAteer — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:03:07 +0000

One of the many impressive creatures that ‘live’ in the Bass Pro Shops all over the place.

This wolf meets you face on as you go up the stairs in the one in Calgary.

There are whole packs of stuffed animals throughout the store.

Vulgar

Craig McAteer — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:03:35 +0000

Yes – it’s a bloody safety case for a banana.

A work colleague had one of these in the office today and two of us had never seen one before – a protective case for your banana. Novel idea if you put your food in a rucksack and cycle to work.

Pool Shark

Craig McAteer — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:01:52 +0000

Night out with some of the Amec folks who are working a part of the project I’m on at the moment.

We were in the Garage bar in Eau Claire area of Calgary where it turns out that Andrea is a bit of a pool shark.

Feet into the HDR world

Craig McAteer — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 02:30:36 +0000

Into town (Calgary) today. Thought the combination of old and new here was very pleasant.

Since I’ve never used or tried some of the HDR stuff thought I see how bad it could be if I left it to photoshop to abuse it. This is how bad it gets.

The Bank looked lovely if somewhat plain.

Time for a drinkie

Craig McAteer — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 02:28:27 +0000

Arrived in Calgary this morning at stupid O’clock. So after a day in the office it’s off to the pub for a some drinkies.

Oh oh – he’s travelling again.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:00:32 +0000

Oh oh, he’s off travelling again. Instead of down under he’s off to Canuckistan, Calgary to be specific but since the flights were busy it’s via Vancouver.

Ah well at least I’ll get there this evening about midnight in time for some meetings tomorrow morning.

Why not start as you mean to go on – it’s Gordons and Tonic.

Mmmmmm baking

Craig McAteer — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:01:41 +0000

Sunday afternoon and my wife has been baking this morning as she does most Sundays.

This afternoons delight is a huge pile of pancakes all served up with strawberry jam. Just what you need to watch a damp and very wet Canadian Grand Prix

Greatest race in the world – today

Craig McAteer — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 08:46:20 +0000

It’s the day of the greatest race in the world – the Le Mans 24 hours.

We’re round at a friends house where we’ve got it on the telly outside, we’re having a BBQ and a time of writing this – Audi have had two serious incidents with their cars although their third is currently leading the race.

Expect a rough head

Craig McAteer — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:08:41 +0000

Got a neighbour coming over this evening – he’s recently got into drinking what he calls whisky. (Ballantines).

He’s coming over to discover the delight that is the Malt whisky world.

What better way that to lay them out in a Scotland Map approach to show where they come from.

Okay so Highland Park, is a little close to Invernessshire but I don’t have a room large enough to show it exactly to scale.

I expect a rough head tomorrow.

As cute as a cute thing at a cute festival.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:59:16 +0000

t’s always nice to go into the Guide Dog office when dropping off or picking up the dog that’s boarding with us.

There are normally lots of other dogs there, but last week a new appearance has everyone ooohing and aaahing.

Naylor, the Guide Dog puppy will be staying with Loiuse for the initial part of his training.

If this was a dog dating site his entry would read : Seven weeks old, not scared of anything or anyone, likes biting and eating own bed. Enjoys cuddles.

Self Portrait

Craig McAteer — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:29:56 +0000

I do love this logo on the remote for an amplifier I’ve got.

It’s almost like it’s a self portrait

Into the void

Craig McAteer — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:30:50 +0000

othing better than being first onto the Eurotunnel, a large tunnel and the temptation to accelerate.

I may have done that just a little.

I can see the light

Craig McAteer — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:26:55 +0000

Spent a couple of days in Calais at a Fibre Optic Manufacturer doing some factory acceptance test for a piece of cable that’s required for a job I’m doing at the moment.

Two days of Chromatic Dispersion, attenuation, polarisation mode dispersion and OTDR testing and we’re good to go.

Round and round

Craig McAteer — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 18:55:15 +0000

Just what I needed – another bike in the garge. Picked up a new mountain bike today in a hope to get out and about more often and get some excercise.
We’ll see especially given the amount of time I’m going to be away for the rest of this year.

Mmmm Soup

Craig McAteer — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:51:04 +0000

It’s Saturday, it’s lunch time and it’s sunny.
So it’s off to the kitchen to rustle up a bowl of my wifes Roasted Butternut Squash and sweet potato soup.
Lovely it was.

It locks !!

Craig McAteer — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:49:11 +0000

Well I eventually got the central locking fixed on my Landrover – with it being unlocked for the last 7 months.
The diagnostics (yellow lead) was saying it was the passenger sill switch. There isn’t a passenger sill switch there is a switch in the actuator on the drivers door, but nothing on the passengers.

It seems the cause of the problem was an interlink between the keylock and the actual lock.

Remove it (I don’t have a key anyway) and it’s fixed. Woohoo.

Pleased to have it back

Craig McAteer — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:52:24 +0000

My plaything has been in getting serviced and checked out for the last week.
It came back today and is running as sweet as a nut and the weathers looking good for this weekend so it may get used and abused.

Rusty bolts

Craig McAteer — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:49:41 +0000

Doing some work on the Landrover and as always some stubborn nut and bolt.
This one was one of many that had decided to stick themselves together.

About 20mm in size the bolt wasnt going anywhere and I’d already ground down the grinder wheel.
So out with the bolt splitter it was and they made short work of getting the stubborn nuts off.

A friend returns

Craig McAteer — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:46:05 +0000

Buster, the guide dog who left our home a couple of weeks ago is unfortunately back with us for a wee while.
Sadly it seems his new owner is in hospital getting some treatment so he’s returned to somewhere he knows well.
It seems his new owner has given him a comfort toy in the form of a teddy bear which he seems is quite attracted to. Hope his new owner returns to full health shortly as whilst he’s got a mate at the moment he does seem very quiet.

Biker bitch

Craig McAteer — Mon, 30 May 2011 16:49:49 +0000

Had a friend drop in past today and instead of her normal mode of transport she’s taken the decision to get a motorbike.

Beer BBQ

Craig McAteer — Sun, 29 May 2011 08:14:30 +0000

BBQ Today so it was time for some beer orientated food. So it was BeerCan Chickent, covered in a Beer marinade, my wife also made some beer bread.
Excellent it was.

Rustproof – stage 1

Craig McAteer — Sat, 28 May 2011 08:12:26 +0000

It’s time to rustproof the Landrover Chassis
This normally consist of
A: park it on the grass
B: Crawl underneath inserting the nozzle from a can of Dynax S-50 and work your way along the chassis putting it the small holes in the chassis and the squirt and withdraw.
C: Repeat until the dynax oozes out the other holes.

2 Litres of spray is normally enough to the whole of the 110 chassis.

Next step is to do the outside of it.

I’ve got a cold coming on

Craig McAteer — Fri, 27 May 2011 17:36:55 +0000

I’ve got a cold coming on – and having had a sore throat this week there’s only one thing for it.
Use Highland Park for medicinal reasons and enjoy one of the best Scottish delicacies – a Tunnocks Tea Cake. Only problem is – you can never just have one of either of them.

Rat look

Craig McAteer — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:39:54 +0000

A classic Chevrolet pickup that looks like it hasn’t been touched up from a bodywork perspective point of view since it was made.

Lots of character and patina throughout the whole vehicle.

Colin R.I.P.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:06:28 +0000

It’s a sad day today.
One of my neighbours passed away last Monday after losing his fight with Cancer.
Today was his funeral. The service was lovely and the speeches by his brother and daughter were personal and from the heart.

Colin, you will be missed.

I raise my glass at you.

Spring is in the air

Craig McAteer — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:09:59 +0000

It’s spring time and the Canadian geese have been busy and have a total of six youngsters.
They’re getting big now and keen to be fed when you turn up at the pond.

Oh no.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:45:05 +0000

With my face hurting over the last week or so, the Bowmore has been helping with my recovery by tacking away the aches and pains around my jaw and nose.

However it’s finished now and my face is still aching a little bit. Purely for medicinal reasons.

Fear not reader, as there’s plenty of others in the cupboard.

And there was.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 22 May 2011 17:20:34 +0000

Out for a walk on the Isle of Sheppey and we came across this sign on a track beside the beach.
A couple of hundred yards further on, there was the council sign post saying clothes were optional from this point onwards.
It was blowing a hooly and a couple of brave souls had their wind breaks up to stop the wind from giving their skin goosebumps.

Reculver Church

Craig McAteer — Sat, 21 May 2011 17:03:11 +0000

Reculver Church on the North Kent Coast.

On a outcrop now overlooking a large windfarm it’s a pleasant place and realistically you probably wouldn’t spend more than half and hour or so here.

A minor touch of B&W filter on it to bring out the texture in the building.

Lollipops

Craig McAteer — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:12:16 +0000

A large bag of these arrived today from my brother Graham. I’ve been a good boy at the hospital and doctors so I’ve got some lollipops.

One of them may have been licked to death whilst I did the BBQ this evening.

Thanks Graham..

What – no marshmallows

Craig McAteer — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:32:33 +0000

t’s a bit chilly this evening so what’s better than throwing some logs onto the fire put and putting a match to it. Toasty, toasty, toasty. Now if only my wife had some marshmallows it would be heaven.

It’s a small step for a dog but a large step for a guide dog.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:20:23 +0000

Buster leaves us this morning to head out and become a proper guide dog. He’ll be at a new home this evening in Tunbridge Wells. We believe he’s off to a woman.

He’s been a lovely fella and seems to have enjoyed his stay with us. He’s got lots of character and loves his bum being scratched.

Good luck Buster – hope you enjoy yourself and your new home we hope we may come across you again.

Self Portrait

Craig McAteer — Tue, 17 May 2011 19:26:18 +0000

After yesterdays incident, this is what it looks like today.

It seems that the wooden plinth and the bathroom scales won this argument.

My face aches a little today, my eyes are feeling like they want to close and thats evident by the bruising that’s pushing my eyelids down from the nose outwards. My nose is tender and is heavily grazed.

My forehead has a huge graze about three inches long.

I’ve had better days.

Murder on the bathroom floor

Craig McAteer — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:34:22 +0000

Had a slight problem today – basically passed out and then came round as soon as my pretty face (so my Mum tells me) had smashed it’s way along this wooden plinth and into the bathroom scales.

Lots of blood, lots of pain and a trip to the hospital later I have multiple lacerations, a huge gouge where my glasses pushed their way into the bridge of my nose, I’ve got multiple appointments with the doctor/nurses and a need for new glasses.

Oh and yes, – it bloody hurts.

Tower of London at Night

Craig McAteer — Sun, 15 May 2011 16:51:21 +0000

During the Moonwalk I took the opportunity to take some other photographs – this one of the Tower of London is almost like this straight out of the camera. NO HDR, no wild processing just a spooky evening.

Moonwalk 2011, London

Craig McAteer — Sat, 14 May 2011 16:46:06 +0000

The girls (Caroline, Andrea, Gail and Sarah) at the start of the MoonWalk 2011, London.

They completed it in a very reasonable time – under 8 hours.

Respect.

Jess

Craig McAteer — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:35:42 +0000

Down at the nature reserve again – lovely afternoon.

Met Rachel and her dog Jess. Jess had an interest in getting in for a swim I believe but was content watching the toad spawn and ducks.

Unlike Buster !

Summer is here

Craig McAteer — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:46:05 +0000

Summer is here.

The wild flowers in the meadow have started to spring out. The fences that were put up last year to keep the rabbits out have worked and the meadow is starting to turn into a field of colour.

Lovely, just lovely.

Light me up.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:39:50 +0000

There’s nothing like listening to a nice record with the lights down low and the glow from the valve amplifier coming from the corner.

Get orf my land !

Craig McAteer — Tue, 10 May 2011 18:12:13 +0000

One good thing about it being chick season is that the ducks and moorhens on the pond are very protective.
This one was being chased by a moorhen as it got just a tad close to it’s brood.
May have to go back and get some more shots.

Dragonfly

Craig McAteer — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:35:50 +0000

Popped in past the garden for about two minutes.

This blue dragon fly settled onto a leaf on one of our bushes.

Grabbed the camera and then set about trying to get into a decent shooting position for him without disturbing him.

10 seconds later – he’s gone.

Up up and away

Craig McAteer — Sun, 08 May 2011 03:50:59 +0000

Out walking Buster (the guide dog) at the top of the hill near our house and it was a bit blowy and the gliders were flying at Thurnam hill near Maidstone.

They seemed to stay up forever.

I can hear the Germans

Craig McAteer — Sat, 07 May 2011 01:29:25 +0000

Located on the Kent Coast, this concrete structure was used during World War II as a listening device to listen to advancing German aircraft as a crude form of early radar.

Amazingly they worked well. There are a few left scattered along the coast – here at Folkestone and also down at Dungeness.

Speeding in the street.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:50:35 +0000

Filling in a morning with my Nephew.

Nice day so it’s out with some clamps and mess about with the truck on the road outside.

Not bad for a first attempt but I feel some modifications coming on

A Thank you.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:49:18 +0000

A walk into the nature reserve and I see they’ve put up a thank you notice to my wife and I for contributing to the upkeep and installation of a decent pathway down into the reserve.

Bob – In Space

Craig McAteer — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:46:59 +0000

Bob, in space.
Messing about with my nephew and showing him how to do some studio stuff we attached the snoot to one of the lights and this is what we’re left with.

The days the lines came

Craig McAteer — Mon, 02 May 2011 17:44:48 +0000

The day the lines came.

The council have chosen stupidly to paint yellow lines along the length of our road.

This is about a year or so after they painted lines on the next street along.

The reason they’re painting the lines – students from the school at the bottom of the estate don’t have any parking spaces so they’re parking on legal streets.

The council are trying to fix the lack of spaces by moving the parking limitations further and further away from the school.

Idiots.

Rye, Kent

Craig McAteer — Sun, 01 May 2011 17:43:25 +0000

A weekend out and about – this time it’s down to Rye where this lovely little windmill sits just a small distance from the main gathering point in the town.

Black faces all round

Craig McAteer — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 17:39:49 +0000

A day up at the Sweeps Festival at Rochester.

Lovely weather, lovely folks, lovely day in all.

Some great characters including this fella.

Thank you

Craig McAteer — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:01:17 +0000

As a thank you for shooting Mark and Kates wedding they gave me something really special.

A 1977 Highland Park Whisky.

I’ll have to save this for a special occasion.

After wedding BBQ

Craig McAteer — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:59:06 +0000

After yesterdays wedding we had all the neighbours round for a BBQ on what was the Royal Wedding day.

The BBQ was racked first with Ribs, then with sausages, and then with burgers, then with chicken.

Lovely.

Bestman Nigel

Craig McAteer — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:56:30 +0000

Attended Mark and Kates wedding to take the pictures for them.

This is one of the Best Man – Nigel, late in the evening.

No processing – straight out the camera like this.

Lemon Tree Hairdressing

Craig McAteer — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:54:54 +0000

Got asked to take some pictures for a hairdressers website.

This is one of the staff members – Abby

Back to work.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:04:46 +0000

Four days off and a bank holiday weekend means it was a lovely long break.Unfortunately it also means that it’s back to work today.A slow start but I eventually got there.

Yes, she really is that small.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 18:57:02 +0000

Popped over to a mates at the weekend and met their new dog. Lily is just under 6 weeks old and likes biting your feet.

Beercan Chicken

Craig McAteer — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 07:10:43 +0000

Weathers lovely so it’s fire up the BBQ time.

Todays choice is beercan chicken. We decided to give a can of Guinness the chance to see how it performs. Got to admit – it was lovely and moist and I prefer it to the can of John Smiths.

You hum it I’ll play it.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 04:36:02 +0000

Well it’s a complete random today.

One of my neighbours offered one of my other neighbours sons a piano she had in her house. Only one problem it had to be moved. That was one of the many jobs today.

We had a tune on the street and then moved it across the road and into it’s new home next door.

Oh yes he’s obedient.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:40:14 +0000

Oh yes – guide dogs are well behaved.

No Buster – don’t go in the water. Blow the whistle to recall him – it’s too hot a day and he’s straight into the pond to cool down.

Obedient – no, cool oh yes.

Bad dog.

Yes – it’s another day

Craig McAteer — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:37:41 +0000

The pathway in my local nature reserve.
The railings have recently been installed with the assistance of donations from local residents.I’ve made my contribution and hopefully something should be happening to the path shortly.

70-200

Craig McAteer — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 23:40:54 +0000

Out testing my new 70-200 which arrived this morning.
Had a walk round Vinters Park Natures Reserve (lovely place if you get the chance) and spied this goose perched on one leg.

First BBQ of the year.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:25:17 +0000

Bangers and Mash and it’s a nice evening.
One thing to do – fire up the barbie and cook the sausages on the first BBQ of the year.

French sausages, a couple of rashers of bacon and it’s yum yum.

£4 !!!!! C’mon Boris, your taking the michael.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:46:33 +0000

We decided to head up to London to do a nice lunch.

So off to the Malmaison Hotel near the Barbican.

It was a choice of a photo of the tube arriving into Barbican or a picture of my steak that I had for lunch. I thought I’d be good to you and give you the tube.

Can’t believe how much the tube is now though – last time I travelled on it (probably two years ago)- it was £1.50 for a single – todays price was £4.00 !!!!!

Folks coming in for the olympics had better be prepared unless Boris is going to make the tubes free during the Olympics – now that would be a good thing.

Bloody alarm

Craig McAteer — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 02:37:00 +0000

The central locking/alarm on the Landrover has been playing up for a while and I’ve never been at home to investigate what’s going wrong. Well I had some time today to diagnose the problem.

It transpires that according to my diagnostic tool – the ECU is telling me that the Passenger Sill lock isn’t functioning correctly. So I’ve stripped down the door and checked out whats what. Strangely enough, there isn’t a sill switch. So I’ve dug out the wiring diagrams to check – yup, even on there there’s no sill switch wired in.

So I’ve wasted a couple of hours looking for something that’s not there.

Oh and it’s still not fixed.

Hunting Wabbits

Craig McAteer — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:06:36 +0000

Okay not exactly for hunting Wabbits.

In the garage today and moving some bits and pieces and came across these from a while ago.I had planned to use them in a project I was messing about with but never got round to it.Now that I’ve found them again I may have to set about the project again.

Lift Music

Craig McAteer — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:08:51 +0000

It’s been months since I’ve listened to any music properly so this afternoon was a good time to get the system going again.

Ladies and Gentlemen, take your seats as the show is about to commence.

We’ll be starting this afternoons performance with a loudish version of Pink Floyds – Dark Side of the Moon on an original master recording.

I’m sure many more tracks will be played this afternoon.

2 hours of hard work

Craig McAteer — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:38:16 +0000

People say I don’t work and just travel the world.

Well here’s and example of my work. Having been out for a run in it about four weeks ago I got caught in the rain and never got the chance to clean it before I left for Singapore.

Well folks – this is two hours work – the car is immaculate, been polished, the engine bay is spic and span and it’s now tucked back up in the garage possibly heading out over the weekend for a blast and the wasting of more fuel.

Buster the guide dog

Craig McAteer — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:34:38 +0000

Arrived home today to be greeted by the welcome, if somewhat sleepy face of Buster, our latest guide dog.

He seems to have settled in nicely. Having arrived only last week he’s at home now and is currently fast asleep at my feet.

Blasting on the Sheikh Zayed Highway

Craig McAteer — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 23:32:25 +0000

Popped in past Dubai for a beer or two and something to eat on my way home.

Dropped in past Saluki Motorsport to catch up and ended up going for a passenger ride in the QT Wildcat they have there.

Impressive – I like it – it’s almost civilised (for a road going race car).

This one goes all the way up to Eleven.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:11:49 +0000

It’s been a day of elevens.

It’s the 11th April, on the 11th Year of the 21st Century having checked out of the hotel for my early morning trip to the airport even the lift stops at the 11th floor to let someone out.

Strangely enough – even my hotel bill when I checked out started with an 11.

Okay I’ll be honest, I’ve been dashing about like a mad thing and this seemed like a good excuse for a photograph, but it’s all true.

Tesco or Sainsburys just doesn’t have the same feel

Craig McAteer — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:55:11 +0000

Buying fish has never been this interesting in a long while. Tesco’s just doesn’t have the same appeal.

In the basement of the central shopping market in Chinatown there’s a whole food store.

Get down there and spy the strange looking fish, the turtles, the frogs and a variety of other aquatic life that will end up on someones plate this evening.

The fish sellers are friendly even if some of them are a little underdressed for ‘western’ buying protocol.

Feed me Seymour, Feed me.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 11:03:13 +0000

It’s Saturday so it’s off to the Jurong Bird Park to use the last of my tri-ticket that I bought about three weeks ago.
These fellas were interested in the food I had bought for them.
When they bite, the small ones nibble, the larger ones hurt like hell :) One actually drew blood but I’m not a girl so I’m not going to complain about it.
A cracking day out – and one I’d like to do again with my wife as I think she would love the colours and noises.
If you’re going – take something like a 70-200 (as fast as possible) and a normal (24-70) and you’ll be fine.

Trashy Fashion

Craig McAteer — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:48:00 +0000

It’s fashion night in Orchard Road.
Some really nice stuff, some really trashy stuff (I mean who wears a bow-tie with a pair of shorts).
No flash to hand so its ramp up the ISO and shoot hand held at ISO 6400.
Most of the stuff the men are wearing here I would wear (obviously not the womens stuff).

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Craig McAteer — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:44:57 +0000

Busy day at the office so all I can grab is a picture of my dinner tonight.
I’ve been trying to get for a steak again since about the first week I was here. Tonight I’ve managed it. Back to the steak house I found at the end of Orchard Road. Let’s be frank – it’s not exactly cheap for Singapore, but the steak is gorgeous – Fillet Mignon and a pint of Cobra. Mmmmmm

Shop till you drop.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:38:57 +0000

Late night walkabout in Orchard Road, Singapore.
This is the entrance to the underground world that is the shopping nirvana of the underground world of shops in Orchard Road. You’lleasily get lost there. If you know someone called Hwee Teng Chan, you’re in good hands – she knows the location of every shop in great detail in ION, Orchard Road and every other shopping plaza in Singapore as well as quite a few in Houston.
I must shoot this again when I’ve got my tripod with me rather than using the waste bin.

Me no read newspapers

Craig McAteer — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:35:27 +0000

Every day, the Marriott hotel deliver me a newspaper to my room in a snazzy little newspaper holder.

This holder hangs on a hook on the outside of the door. Every day I’ve been taking them in, taking them out of their bag and putting them in the bin, unread. Until a couple of days ago – I took it out of the bag and put it on the unit, unread.
I’ve now got a nice collection of them and they continue to grow.
I might have a couple of the bags – as they’re just the right size for carrying a bottle of wine.
I thought they would take hint that I don’t read newspapers, but no. Not yet. We’ll see if they’re still collecting when I check out.

Spices from all over the place.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:23:22 +0000

Shopping again McAteer, are you mad.

Yes – spices from all over India and specially those that are used in Indian cooking.

Shopping, I hate shopping

Craig McAteer — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 10:16:16 +0000

It’s Sunday morning, about 11am and this is the typical state of Lucky Plaza in Singapore.

It seems to be full of Phillipino maids who get the day off and take the opportunity to meet up with their freinds, and join the many queues of people at the money transfer kiosks to I take it send money home to their family at home.

Busy busy busy. Did I tell you, I hate shopping.

I’m watching you.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 10:15:02 +0000

Off to the Singapore Zoo today (using the second third of my multipass).

Cracking day out, lots of close encounters like these fellas and his mates.

View from above

Craig McAteer — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:48:51 +0000

It’s a typically busy day so no much time to get out and about.

The lift stopped on the way to the room today at the 3rd floor and it looked like a good view so after I was finished doing what I was doing with work I shot back down and took the image.

Friday April 1st. Done.

See – I do occasionally wear something other than shorts to work.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:44:01 +0000

Yes – I admit it my normal work attire is a pair of shorts and a t-shirt or shirt.

I’ve had to go into a office for a change so I packed the right stuff. Trousers, nice shirt, clean polished shoes and some cuff links. Unfortunately - it’s 35 degrees so I’m sweating like an alcoholic at a brewery open day.

Oh and when I say I packed, I mean my wife packed. :)

Time for a meet up

Craig McAteer — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:07:32 +0000

A meeting with old friends.
Time to meet up with Wai-Cheow, Eileen and Hwee-Teng for a Korean meal (they didn’t want to do Japanese for fear of radiation poisioning so a Korean BBQ it was.

Nice to catch up.

A snazzy police station.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:06:06 +0000

The Police station in Singapore which has been transformed and redecorated into the arts council building.

There are also blue and green windows elsewhere.

Table for one please.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:10:09 +0000

The joys of a traveller.

Yes, gone are the days that I used to sit down and dig out my book.
Now it’s a pint of beer and a quick game of Angry birds.

What a stupid question for the UK Census

Craig McAteer — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 03:27:43 +0000

It’s the UK Census for 2011 today. Question 17 is so bloody stupid. I was thinking about putting a big cock in it but decided against it.

My ancestors who ever they are will be glad to know that I’m currently listed as Religion : Jedi.

Is someone watching me in bed ?

Craig McAteer — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:13:43 +0000

Paid a visit to the Merlion Hotel in Singapore.

This is the five star room – lovely views, lovely furnishings but you get the feeling someone is watching what you’re doing in bed.

It could only be one place.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:31:35 +0000

Oh oh – he’s on expenses.

Yes – it’s a visit to Raffles Hotel in Singapore, the home of the infamous Singapore Sling.

I’ve got to admit it’s a lovely taste if you like the freshness – and even better if they forget to add one or two to your bill
Check it out and don’t be afraid of the prices – it’s on the list of things to do in the world before you die. Admittingly I’ve done it a couple of times now and each has been lovely.

Typical work travel day. Busy as hell

Craig McAteer — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:54:27 +0000

It’s a busy day so tonights photo is from the pool of the Marriott hotel whilst I sip my second pint of Tiger beer.
I think at the weekend I may venture into the pool at least dip my feet in it. We’ll see.

Home. For the next couple of weeks

Craig McAteer — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:44:41 +0000

Yes, he’s off travelling again. This is my home for the next three weeks or so.

22nd Floor with a nice view (it would be really nice if they cleaned the windows a bit).

Todays transport

Craig McAteer — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:41:41 +0000

Todays vehicle of choice makes it’s arrival at Heathrow Terminal 3.

The Emirates Airbus A380. Very nice it is too.

Tick tock

Craig McAteer — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:27:21 +0000

It’s time to get things ready for another trip.

One of the first things to get sorted out is my watch.
Taking a close up shows how much abuse it gets – it’s filth and is covered in scratches.

Sonic. The hedgehog.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 18:07:06 +0000

He’s timid and certainly doesn’t like the sound of a camera shutter. Good job I wasn’t using the flash. ISO6400 in a darkly lit room.
He’ll be released in a couple of weeks to fend for himself having been rescued as a tiny bundle in the snow on my mates driveway. He’s now about four or five times the size he was when found.

Out wasting fuel.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:09:45 +0000

It’s a lovely day in the UK today and I’ve not been out in the car for what feels like months and it probably is. So filled with petrol I headed out to waste the petrol and drive with no particular place to go.
Lovely it was too.

Gold Nugget

Craig McAteer — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:52:53 +0000

A gold nugget we found on our holidays in a river in New Zealand.
Before you get too excited and start asking to borrow some dosh off the nugget – you’ll notice the stem that the nugget is supported on.Well that’s the smallest surgery needle I could fine – the stem of that is about 0.5mm thick – you can see on the right handside of the nugget where I’ve pierced it to hold the gold.

Oh oh my phone’s gone all pirate on me.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:09:40 +0000

Decided to play about with the Iphone and it’s now been hacked to let me explore what I can do with it.

I’ll no doubt put it back to normal shortly but for a while it’s something to do. As if I didn’t have enough to do at this present moment and time :)

Return to sender

Craig McAteer — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:07:21 +0000

This is the amount of post we returned to after a month away.

Our neighbour kindly sorted it for us into the two logical piles she thought we would need – essential and junk. The Junk is on the right and went straight into the bin.

The end of the holiday

Craig McAteer — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:44:14 +0000

Well it seems all good things must come to a close.

We depart Auckland after a month in New Zealand to return to the UK and whatever the weather holds for us there.

We picked these up from the Qantas desk in Auckland this morning so thought we’d end the trip with a shot of our tickets home. Obligatory coffee and cake just out of shot. :)

My own building

Craig McAteer — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 05:58:45 +0000

Downtown Central Auckland.
Woohoo a building with my name on it. It must be mine.
There’s also a jam with my name on it and I’ve tried it on a scone – lush.

Alfred Hitchcock

Craig McAteer — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 05:55:03 +0000

Flying overhead at the Miranda bird sanctuary.
Firstly I’m not a twitcher so I’ve got no idea what they were – but there were enough of them. And they made a lot of noise.
Anyway – they’re birds if you hadn’t already guessed.

Thar’s gold in them hills. Well there was.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 01:42:55 +0000

The old heritage gold battery located near Waikino, North Island, New Zealand.
An interesting place and lots of opportunities for photographs with the battery tanks now gone and just the concrete structure and some rusting tank bases remaining in place.
The cafe just across the river is also worth stopping at (and old train station which is still used as tourist trips for 6Km up the track). They do nice warm scones there

Going down.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:28:31 +0000

Waitomo GlowWorm Caves.
Having done the tour nearest the visitor centre I was severely miffed when arriving at the cave entrance to be confronted with a No Photography sign. Okay I can see the reason for no flash photography – but I hadn’t planned on using flash.

However when enquiring at the desk the second tour (RuaKuri) which is about a 5 minute journey away allowed photography except when there was blue lights (due to boaters below in the caves).A much better tour – if you want to photograph caves – this is the one for you don’t waste your time or money on the other if you want to take away photographs.

Mt Egmont

Craig McAteer — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:03:39 +0000

A nice view if ever there was one.

Art Deco again – are you crazy McAteer!

Craig McAteer — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 05:37:53 +0000

Well not quite. This one comes with a twist.

Town Centre, Wanganui, West Coast, North Island, New Zealand.

The life of a honey bee is never still

Craig McAteer — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:39:29 +0000

Wellingtons Botanical Garden. We really went to see the flowers but the honey bee’s were busy collecting.

Got this little fella as he departed to the next flower.

Oi Fritz, over here.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:39:46 +0000

A classic WW1 fighter plane.

Part of the display at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre (they don’t like to be called a Museum) near Blenheim, South Island, New Zealand.

Cleared for take off.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 04:03:09 +0000

Stopped off at Kaikoura for breakfast and whilst it was pouring with rain I watched these fellas get airbourne from their little hideout.

Pity it was raining really hard – it would have been a nice picture.

What is it about old car yards.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 04:52:42 +0000

I seem to be drawn to them. This one is on the main road heading out of Greymouth towards the Lewis Pass. He must have had about 12 Austins in various guises of repair / deconstruction.

I like old cars.

The ultimate car accessory

Craig McAteer — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 04:22:22 +0000

The new car accessory.

A must have for Subaru drivers – you’re very own Kea to watch the road behind you.

Came across these on Arthurs Pass – quite friendly and this one had obviously been tagged previously – his mate – who jumped on the roof wasn’t tagged.

Coffee Bears

Craig McAteer — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 04:20:27 +0000

The coffee served up by the corner cafe in Geraldine brings a smile to the face.

Two little bears, one of whom is armless accompany your tea / coffee.

Unfortunately – the two bears were harmed in the making of this picture. One slowly got nibbled like a piranha would eat their prey – the other one lost his head completely and then went for a swim in my coffee.

None of your traditional letter boxes here

Craig McAteer — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:07:11 +0000

Post boxes of every description in this street near Queenstown.

Old Computers, microwaves, beer kegs and even an old coffee machine can function as a post box.

One off the bucket list

Craig McAteer — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:02:35 +0000

He’s 72 years old, walks with the aid of a walking stick and the day before he ends his holiday in New Zealand, him and his 69 year old mate decide to tick one off their bucket list.

So at the Bungy up on the mountain – they wander to the end and half expecting them to just topple over gently I’m shocked when he almost takes a run up and dives off the platform.

My hat goes off to you.

No selective colouring in this photo

Craig McAteer — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 18:58:26 +0000

Yes – it was that colour. The werewere kōkako (Entoloma hochstetteri).

Came across it during a walk in the rain forest

Morning on the Glacier, the afternoon at the beach.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 04:37:57 +0000

Exploring the Fox Glacier this morning then we headed off to Gillespies Beach for an explore.

There is tons of washed up logs, sticks, tree trunks everything the sea could wash up – it has.

I built this pile.. :)

Mount Cook from the room

Craig McAteer — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 08:51:59 +0000

Okay so it’s outside the room but the views the same from inside.

Came back from dinner and the sun had set but it was still shining on Mount Cook. Quick – get the camera. This was taken about 9:15pm and it’s Saturday night so I’ve had some drinkies

The little trail you can see from the peak of Mount Cook is a star as it starts to pass.

South Island, here we come

Craig McAteer — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:34:07 +0000

Up relatively early and ready for the off. Stayed overnight in Wellington, not far from the Interislander so we didn’t have to far to travel to get on the boat.

Anyway – it was a lovely journey, the sun was shining, the sea was calm and the scenery was wonderful.

Tui’s.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:29:43 +0000

Stopped in past this place enroute to Wellington. Unfortunately I was driving so it was a cappucino for me and a cup of tea for Smudge.

Their Yeah Right adverts are good and the beers also quite pleasant.

Gannet, Gannet, Gannet, Gannet

Craig McAteer — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:58:15 +0000

Okay, sorry that should read rabbit but the tunes been in my head today having spent a couple of hours at the Gannet Colony near Clifton Station, just outside Hastings / Napier in NZ.

They stink like hell – don’t even think about having a picnic whilst your there.

The trip along the beach was fun though.

Christchurch, you can rebuild

Craig McAteer — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:02:28 +0000

Ironically, on our travels we arrive in Napier, the day that Christchurch is hit with a massive earthquake.

Napier – a town that had to rebuild itself in the 1930′s after a quake struck the town and wiped it basically out. They chose to rebuild in the style of the time – Art Deco and lovely it is too.

Admitingly some of the new advertising hoardings have taken over some of the features but most of the upper parts remain unscathed.

This is from central Napier.

The Geysir that wasn’t

Craig McAteer — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:50:53 +0000

The Geyser that didn’t blow.

Popped into Te Puia in Rotorua to see the Geyser today. We stood there watching and waiting for an hour and it didn’t go off. We walked about the site seeing the mud pools and various other thermal pieces, it still didn’t go off.

We walked round the Maori houses and meeting place hut, it still didn’t go off. By the time we left (probably some two and a half hours later it still hadn’t gone off. So much for their ‘erupts on average once or twice an hour’. By this measure it’s dormant now. Comparing this to the original Geysir site in Iceland it’s not a patch on it – there you can see it coming up every couple of minutes and you get to see the bubble as it exposes itself. We felt let down. Maybe it’ll go off with a fury like never before but when we visited – it didn’t.

The Kiwi in the Kiwi house didn’t materialise either.

Cambridge, New Zealand not UK.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 05:11:17 +0000

A lovely little town and one you should visit even if it’s just to stop and have a coffee and cake (just like we did).

This lovely little church (St Andrews) is on the main road coming in from the north. We purposely went back to photograph it.

Hunau Falls, Auckland

Craig McAteer — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 02:47:18 +0000

A short trip south of Auckland, you’ll come across Hunua Falls. Lovely little place – but from the car park take the left hand walkway and once across the river turn right. This will save you walking through the river to get to the other side.

The lookout point on the upper track – isn’t really a look out as you have to see through the tree leaves to see the falls.

Started to get buys just after lunchtime.

Maraetai Beach, Auckland

Craig McAteer — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 01:59:55 +0000

Out and about on the first day in NZ.

Lovely beach, lovely cafe, lovely fish and chips.

It’s not King George V.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:59:13 +0000

But it was pleasant.

On the list of 101 whiskies to try before you die, there is listed the Johnny Walker Blue Label King George V. On the list of whiskies on the flight from Bangkok to Sydney there was listed Johnny Walker Blue Label so I enquired of the steward. She did what any proper steward did – she brought me the bottle to firstly check over and then secondly to sample. Nice it was too.

Anyway – a fairly grainy picture but then it was stupid O’clock in the morning and I was pushing the camera in the dark to pick it out. ISO 6400 if you’re interested.

One night in Bangkok

Craig McAteer — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:18:02 +0000

Here for one night only and a morning so it’s off to the Grand Palace.

Lots of touts as expected but you get your tickets in past the main gate – not outside as some folks were pointing – and I’m sure he wanted me to pay him to be our tour guide also. Sorry fella, we’ve got two and a half hours to get round the palace and I’m able to follow a map.

It’s a lovely place – but busy. If you’re going – learn to use compensation on your camera as annoyingly they didn’t point all the buildings in the direction the sun is coming from and you’ll spend most of your time looking up.

You can never have too much clutter on your dash.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:53:04 +0000

The taxi in from the airport to Bangkok. Driven by Mr Lee (he’s touting for business and you can call him on (085 2130429) He’ll explain why the train is bad for his business, and that all the taxi’s outside the hotels are run by the Mafia. He does have a certain knack with the accelerator, it’s on it’s off and then it’s on again. Nothing inbetween.

Valentines Day

Craig McAteer — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:12:28 +0000

So how romantic could I be.

We’re both drinking champers in the Champagne Lounge in BA’s First Class lounge heading to Bangkok enroute to Auckland for a month or so.

We’ll have good drink, good food, a comfy bed and hopefully some new movies.

Packed and ready to go.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 17:29:28 +0000

All packed and ready to go back down under but this time to NZ.

Home for four days from Brisbane and then it’s down under again.

Springs here !

Craig McAteer — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 08:51:48 +0000

Out for a walk with Skipper (the current trainee guide dog) and we start to see Daffodils popping through and these Snow Drops.

Doesn’t feel like spring.

Oh oh – the Landrover needs fixing

Craig McAteer — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:49:04 +0000

The obligatory cup of tea when fixing the Landrover.

This time it was trying to locate a fault with the alarm, it was unsuccessful so I expect another attempt shortly and another cup of tea.

Another year of motoring. :)

Craig McAteer — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:38:18 +0000

Well it’s MOT time for the car. Off into the pouring rain to the MOT garage where I get a nice chat and a cup of coffee to compensate for being fairly wet. It’s worth while – a certificate to run about again legally in the UK. Woohoo.

Oh happy days.

Breakfast time in Dubai airport

Craig McAteer — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 02:45:21 +0000

One of the few joys of international travel is that you can have whatever you want at whatever time of day it is as your body clock is generally in sync with where you’ve come from.

It’s 5am in Dubai and 11am in Brisbane so I fancy a snack instead of breakfast. Step forward Mr Berry Tart.

The Road to nowhere

Craig McAteer — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 02:40:45 +0000

Time to leave Brisbane for a while.

Enroute to the lounge the airport is generally quiet at this time of night (apart from a flight going to New Caledonia) and since this one was empty it seemed like a nice shot.

Megan and Tracys View

Craig McAteer — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:40:24 +0000

Last night in Brisbane for a while and I get the offer of the view from Megan and Tracy’s rooftop view.

So I shoot a panorama and this one as todays shot.

Oh and dinner and wine thrown in. Thank you.

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè

Craig McAteer — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 06:35:35 +0000

Chinese New Year (Rabbit) a couple of days ago so I headed up towards Chinatown in Brisbane primarily to get a coffee but it seems there was still some activities going on.

The Mayor was there but the best bit for me was these Chinese Tigers, leaping all over the stand about six feet in the air. Impressive.

Waiting for dinner

Craig McAteer — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 04:15:45 +0000

About the size of my hand and hanging in the air waiting for dinner to come along.

Pause for reflection

Craig McAteer — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 10:03:38 +0000

The pool area at the Marriott Hotel, Brisbane.

Sun setting behind the churches on the left. Might have to shoot this one again.

Story Bridge, Brisbane

Craig McAteer — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:35:34 +0000

Heading back from dinner thought I’d try the high ISO setting on the camera. ISO 6400 hand held.

These shoes were made for walking

Craig McAteer — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:05:52 +0000

Having just recently got these resoled and heeled they’re like new shoes again.

Room with a view.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:08:36 +0000

Since I’m actually here to work it finding time to get out and shoot something that’s going to be my problem during the week. I’ve just came back from the office and heading out to dinner so it’s rush rush rush.

Anyway the view from my room in Brisbane.

Empty the pocket time.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 07:13:09 +0000

I wondered why my pocket was bulging and it wasn’t what you think it was. It’s full of bloody coins that weigh a tonne.

Anyway – back to the hotel room and emptied my pocket.

Up early again

Craig McAteer — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 23:02:21 +0000

Jet lag is a bitch. Having said that it means your awake at stupid O’clock in the morning and can see the moon coming over the Story Bridge in Brisbane a couple of hours before the sun comes up.

Lovely.

What’s wrong with this picture.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:02:51 +0000

Shocking to see that the Carpentaria Navigation boat keeled over in the dry dock when it got flooded during the floods in Brisbane during Jan 2011.

Ooooo I likey this a lot.

Craig McAteer — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:08:43 +0000

Since my seat in Business Class was broken I got upgraded to First Class on Emirates.

A nice 1.5m x 2.5M square ‘suite’ complete with privacy doors and you’re own little mini bar.

I like this. A lot.

Taken just as we crossed over Uluru (Ayers Rock).

Shop till you drop

Craig McAteer — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:32:07 +0000

Overlooking the Dubai Duty Free shopping area.

Travellers passing through, seeking a bargain and of course thinking about buying a lottery ticket for one of the many cars that are raffled here every so often.

Oh Oh – he’s travelling again.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:20:23 +0000

Oh Oh – he’s left the comfort of home and has headed out on his commute.

10,500 miles to go. First stop the Emirates Lounge at Gatwick where the first stop is a glass of bubbly and some nuts.

Great Chieftain o’ the puddin-race!

Craig McAteer — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:06:28 +0000

Well it could only really be one photograph on this special Scottish Day.

Some Haggis, neeps and tatties all washed down with a nice Bowmore. :)

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang’s my arm.

Scrummy..

Big day for Mercer

Craig McAteer — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:12:06 +0000

Mercer, a guide dog in training who’s been with us for the last three months is taking the big step into the outside world and goes to start working with his new owner this morning.

He’s been lovely and Skipper, another guide dog in training who’s also staying with us at the moment will miss him tonight.

This is him leaving the house this morning to go to school and meet his new owner.

Enjoy yourself Mercer.

It’s in or it’s out.

Craig McAteer — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 11:27:41 +0000

Primarily because one of the guys on a forum I’m on questioned if all of my pictures were going to have a lot of things out of focus.

Film is dead. Long live digital.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 13:27:42 +0000

Out for a walk with the dogs I came across a discarded disposable camera complete with the film ripped out.

I would say it was done on purpose – it would have bounced if just dropped not smashed into the mess it is.

Up above

Craig McAteer — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:31:00 +0000

Since I’d been messing about in ‘the lab’ yesterday this was primarily my view.

Looking down on my tripod.

Pigs in Space

Craig McAteer — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:21:57 +0000

Not really. Just some clear oil dropped with the aid of a syringe onto a tray of water with a book with a bright cover located underneath.

I did like the way the surface tension of the small drop was pushing against the surface tension of the larger drop just before the two drops merged.

Maidstone town centre – 1890′s to 2011.

Craig McAteer — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:59:39 +0000

Came across an old B&W picture on the web of Maidstone town centre and wondered how much it had changed so popped into town to photograph the High Street and align the two pictures.

It was a hard job as instead of the horses and carts the only thing that seemed to come up there was bloody buses.

Anyway – the left hand side is 2011, the right hand side (and far more interesting side) is 1890′s.

Annoyingly I’ve also discovered the photo which has been hand tinted to provide a little bit of colour.

You hum it, I’ll strum it.

Craig McAteer — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:03:16 +0000

Actually picked up the guitar at lunchtime today to bash out a garbage tune. Probably spent more time setting up the camera than I did playing the thing. Ah well – L.A. Woman will have to wait a while longer.

Jaws

Craig McAteer — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:58:31 +0000

Like little Piranhas, these little fellas seemingly eat any dead skin on your feet.

Since I never took my camera with me (doh!) I borrowed the lady who owned the shops and took a photograph with it. That was about 10 days ago and she still hasn’t sent me the pictures, I’m glad I took this one on my phone.

It’ll do until a better one turns up.

Skipper doesn’t like spending in the pen

Craig McAteer — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:49:28 +0000

Skipper (a trainee guide dog) doesn’t like to spend in the pen. He goes in, then reaches out to the top of the pen and then stares at you as if saying – let me out. He was a good boy about two minutes after this shot was taken. He decided that he would really like to have a pee in the pen.

Knife Edge

Craig McAteer — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 13:14:35 +0000

Well the blunt as a blunt thing from a couple of days ago has been sharpened to be as sharp as a sharp thing. Slices paper easily and I could probably have a shave with it if I wanted to.

To the eye it looks smooth – get it under the macro lens and it’s anything but smooth.

Grandmas Fountain pen

Craig McAteer — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:21:53 +0000

This pen belonged to my Aberdeen Grandma. I received it upon her death 30 or so years ago. Last nights job was to clean it and return it to its primary function for writing. There really was only one thing I could write when it was topped up with ink.

Messing about with lasers

Craig McAteer — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:57:15 +0000

Laser, Joss sticks what can go wrong.

Dials

Craig McAteer — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:07:41 +0000

The dash layout of the Cobra. Almost a smiley face.

As blunt as a blunt thing

Craig McAteer — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:36:13 +0000

A knife edge (showing approximately 15mm of a 80mm blade) which is as blunt as a blunt thing. It was made by my mate Dave for my Christmas but part of the folklore about knifes is that you have to sharpen the knife yourself once you get it. So whilst at his place at Christmas I used his knife sharpening tools which I didn’t get on with and will sharpen it properly some time in the future.

So expect to see a second image once that has been done.

When I say as blunt as a blunt thing – I mean it’ll still cut your finger off but it’s not as sharp as it should be.

A chart showing which Ferrero Rochers I like and dislike.

Craig McAteer — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:39:38 +0000

Left over from the Christmas fair – it’s easy to see which ones I don’t like.

Bit chilly this morning

Craig McAteer — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:23:18 +0000

Some ice crystals on the rear tyre of my Landrover.

A lovely place to go for a picnic.

Craig McAteer — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:21:54 +0000

Dungeness, The End of the Earth. It certainly felt like that today. Huge breakers, the wind blowing a hooly. At least the cafe was open.

Mercer after a hard day at Guide Dog school

Craig McAteer — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:13:46 +0000

Mercer assumes his normal position after a hard day at Guide Dog school. Asleep in front of the fire.

Number 41 in the book.

Craig McAteer — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:54:22 +0000

A Glenfiddich 18 year old. Very pleasant it is too. I’m not normally a fan of a Fiddich, but for this I’ll make an exception.

Push the button

Craig McAteer — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:51:43 +0000

An old Nokia phone, Selected number 5 since this is the 5th January.

Which one to play ?

Craig McAteer — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:41:58 +0000

PIck me, Pick me, pick me.. Jack Johnson is prominent however I fear it may be the Howling Wolf Sessions which gets played

The planning has commenced

Craig McAteer — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:06:19 +0000

With just over a month to go until our trip to New Zealand we thought we’d better crack on and get planning what we want to see, where we want to go and possibly try and sort out some logistics.

The maps and books have been out and we’ve got the first draft of where we’re going.

January 2

Craig McAteer — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 11:29:47 +0000

Car meet in Kent. Amazing to think my friend Liz was conceived in the back of one of these many years ago.

Clean Car

Craig McAteer — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:59:38 +0000

Car cleaned and ready for the car meet tomorrow morning.