Nothing Ever Happens!



Been wanting to do a decent job on this song for ages and my sister and singing partner will crucify me for putting my stamp on the song before she can have a crack at it but couldn't resist a solo version (sorry Jane!)

New lens and 'Goodbye Girl'

I loved the band Squeeze, they were were a huge influence on me in my younger days and whilst I may well be biased, on repeat listening their music doesn't seem to age with time. I believe Glen Tillbrook and Chris Difford are still touring as a duo doing the occasional festival but their hay days with the band (including of course Jools Holland on keyboards) are long gone .... they don't get enough credit for my mind, so in my small way here's an attempt to revive a few memories - first of a couple of Squeeze songs, this is 'Goodbye Girl'

Hope you enjoyed that ... not 100% faithful to the original and that ending with a brief snatch of  'American Pie' just kinda happened and it sounded ok so stuck with it!

Second Squeeze song comming soon .... just deciding which one to cover!

Ok, on to things photographic and good and bad news. Bad news is that my trusty Tamron 200-500ml lens seems to have stopped working with my camera body (Canon 550d), something to do with a communication error between lens and camera ... might be sheer coincidence but this problem seems to have developed since I mounted another recently purchased lens - another Tamron (18-200).

Currently scouring the internet forums for possible fixes but no joy so far.

Good news is that the new lens is fab! Took it out and about the other day and took some pics in Antigny (a nearby small village with a semi famous Lantern des Morte, more of that later) and then in and around Montmorillon.

These are the Antigny pics.

The first 2 feature the Lantern des Morte (Lantern of the Dead) which is situated in the middle of the village. There are several similar small towers across the middle of France and although this one is perhaps not the most attractive of its type it is certainly one of the oldest - 12th Century. The origins and purpose of these constructions are not entirely clear but most common wisdom suggests that these were used to light medieval burial grounds. They all have entrances at the bottom and an opening at the top so that lanterns could be hauled up to shine a light on the dead. Most are situated on or near old burial grounds but not all, giving rise to another school of thought which suggest that over time Lantern des Morte is actually a mis-pronunciation and that these are actually Lanterns of the Moors - reflecting some kind of Moorish history and meaning. Like I say, its not clear but some of them are very fine looking and I like the element of mystery surrounding them!

Later on in the day I took advantage of the great light and took another stroll around Montmorillon. I've taken similar pics before but with my canon powershot but think these are much better.

The first 2 are of the Eglise de Notre Dame, with the second one 'artfully' hidden!

Here id a fairly typical view of the 13th Century bridge LeVieux Pont

Here we see a view of one half of Montmorillon from the top of the the Cite de Ecrit.

















And lastly here is the 'very difficult to find any information on' statue of the Virgin Mary with Child - I don't think it's that old and certainly the base looks 18th Century. Any comments re this statue's history would be very welcome as I drew many blanks when attempting to research!

Breton Horses

Have to say that I'm never been a huge fan of horses and less so since one stamped on my now departed Jack Russell dog (Rest in Peace, Benny boy). Very probably I'm being totally unfair to one of man's greatest allies in the animal world; donkeys aside, they are without doubt very graceful and intelligent creatures. They have loomed large in many of our endeavours, from the Greek myths to the dubious conquering of the Wild West. They have graced the the silver screen, theatre and pantomime like no other animal before them and without 'Horse' we'd be bereft of such treasures as the Grand National, Royal Ascot, the Kentucky Derby, Trooping of the Guard, Betting Shops, Horse of the Year show, Princess Anne and Gypsies (ah ... not all bad then!)

Anyway, I digress .... (equinely of horse!), and whilst on the subject I will be posting the best horse song I can find very soon ... oops digressing even more! Ok on to main subject .... I was strolling around finding a few new walks and found myself around the the village of Lathus. Quite nice, usual fields and rolling countryside ( not many birds) ... when I came across these gorgeous and very inquisitive Breton Horses. Took lots of pics and here are the best along with  a single, rather sad looking Shetland Pony that was sharing the same field.

Now then, all of these horses (there were 4 in all, including the Shetland) would insist on getting right up close to me and nudging me, probably thinking I had food .... but that's just it, my 'bete noir' about horses. Friendly and useful they may be but they have huge heads and hooves that pack a punch and I don't like that sort of thing getting too close and bearing down on me!

'Hold you in my Arms' Ray LeMontagne

Took so long to get this song right but I love it and glad I persevered! Its a beautiful song, one of Ray LeMontagne's best with his usual strong lyrics. As with many songs the words are open to interpretation but the song really chimed with how I've been feeling recently ... I wont go on, I do that enough in the clip!

Thawing river and a trick Raptor!

Although the River Gartempe is still well and truly frozen over in parts, especially around Saulge, the relatively mild temperatures have induced some kind of thaw and  it's been good to throw off my second duvet of a night! I walked down by the river yesterday morning and took a few pictures of the river 'defrosting'  - wrong lens with me to be honest but a few came out ok and this one in particular seems to capture the re-emergence of flowing water from the cold ice.

A bit further along the river bank I disturbed  what I thought was a Hen Harrier,which proceeded to ghost across a field (they're always flying away from me!) and then settled on a tree branch some 200 meters away. At that distance any lens is going to be tested and whilst these couple of pics won't win any prizes with the full 500ml zoom, it does reveal that this is in fact not a Hen Harrier at all but a very pale phase Eurasian Buzzard!

Impossible Goshawk!

Scanning the fields above Saulge for a pair of Hen Harriers I'd seen earlier from afar and hoping to at last get some decent photographs of these wonderful birds I came across a falcon flying straight at me. I had to be darn quick and switch from binoculars to camera .... was never set and the focusing was rubbish but fired of a couple of shots anyway.

To my surprise, when I downloaded the pics on to my laptop to have a look I'd somehow captured 2 completely different birds! The 2nd is obviously a Kestrel but the first? No way can I be sure and Sparrowhawks are common around here but could this really be my first Goshawk in France?

Truth is I'll probably never know .... and still no idea how I managed to snap 2 raptors in the space of 10 seconds, maybe one was chasing the other?!!

'You've got to hide your love away'

 If you're a Beatles purist, you'll probably hate this - my take on 'You've got to hide your love away'