Harry's Blog

So yes, there have been few updates on the site recently. That's because our family has been busy moving - which has also left little time for photography.

But this afternoon I went for a brief stroll around our new village and my eyes were drawn to this barn. The brooding clouds combined with the strong lines in the landscape made this an obvious subject for a photograph.

You wouldn't believe the hassle we've had since moving house trying to get broadband.

Yes we now live in quite a rural location. But we're on a new build estate that apparently has superb cabling around it to enable fast internet access.

So what happened to our order for Broadband?

• BT cancelled our first two orders without telling me.
• Order three I was assured would be fine as they'd remove a tag on our line. This didn't happen.
• Another phone call to BT and the tag was removed. We ordered broadband again.
• We got a phonecall saying we couldn't have broadband at all at this location.

Now when I switch on my wireless here all I can see are about ten BT home hubs. So someone at BT has no idea what's going on here. The village seems to be in some records black hole for the company. It was the location of an experiment to bring broadband to rural areas a few years ago and clearly someone didn't tell the rest of BT.

Anyway we wonder what the heck to do next. I've already been working several weeks on dial up and it's driving me mental. We consider actually moving house again.

Read more »

This is a public service announcement.

Nicki & Andy we hope you read this. Jo has lost all your contact details. We don't seem to have your address, nor the right phone numbers stored in the mobile.

And all emails are bouncing back from you over some sort of security issue.

Happy Birthday Rosie and please do get in touch. Jo's mobile number is one you have already.

Don't worry - we haven't disappeared. The lack of updates is down to two things. One being so busy unpacking and moving from London to Dorset and secondly because I'm stuck on dial-up right now.

Yes dial-up. Which isn't so great when my job relies on me having a fast and reliable internet connection.

BT has cocked up three times in trying to sort out a broadband order for me. This is in part due to where we live, the broadband in the village being something of an experiment, but now it seems things might be working.

But not until March 31st, which means three more weeks of trying to work via dialup, or driving ten miles to my wonderfully understanding in-laws who do have broadband.

Read more »

If I squint I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. While we may not be tucked up in our new house tonight we hope to be tomorrow. It's not been plain sailing (but it never is sailing up a tunnel if one is mixing metaphors) but things are coming together.

Over the last couple of days we packed up the house and our belongings are now sat in a truck somewhere in West London. Tomorrow they'll head west to join us over here.

The last few weeks have not been without their stresses. Being flooded out of one's home is never a happy event. Being flooded and then coping with two small children and a pregnant wife is even more stressful.

In that time we've had to find somewhere else to live, pack and move. And with the added problem that we've lost so much stuff in the flood we're going to be without many items in our new place until the insurance coughs up.

Over the next few days I hope we'll get settled into our new house. Then I can do the normal worrying one does with a pregnant wife who won't take it easy and two mad toddlers. Somehow it'll seem like a rest.

I read on El Reg today that the BBC has actually received complaints about the Cbeebies presenter Cerrie Burnell.

Why?

Because Cerrie was born without the lower half of her right arm and some precious parents believed this upset their kids.

Which is stupid because kids are strange fickle things. My son is currently terrified, and I really do mean terrified, of the pop-up tractor in a book I bought him yesterday. I haven't written a complaint to the publisher.

I think the parents complaining about Cerrie Burnell really should be ashamed of themselves. They have an ideal opportunity of discussing the subject of disability with their children and instead sought to complain about the girl's appearance.

Read more »

Sunday was the sixteenth anniversary of my mother's death. I find it hard to believe that sixteen years have passed since that awful day. I think about her every day and still miss her so much.

She had a huge influence on my life, her sense of commitment to family and right and wrong has always stayed with me. She was always one to support the underdog, the downtrodden and help those in need. While many pay lipservice to the ideals of being a Christian she was one of those rare people who lived a life based on love.

I can't claim to come close to matching her goodness, but I do try in my own small way, to live in a way that would make her proud of me. Much of the time I know I fail completely. But I try.

I have spent half my life apart from her now which doesn't seem at all fair really does it? To lose a parent when you are young is a life-changing event, you are never the same afterwards.

I never used Auto ISO on my 40D, it wasn't very well implemented. The camera would tend to stick between very conservative settings and only used a small range of the available ISO settings anyway.

However I have used Auto ISO on my Canon EOS 50D in the last week and am really pleased with it. My camera gets two uses - 1, as a creative tool, 2, as a way of snapping the usual family pictures one does when out and about.

The second mode, armed with a Sigma 18-200mm DC OS, the Auto ISO has been really useful. We took the kids to Westbay harbour (in Dorset) and there were plenty of changes of subject and lighting that made the Auto ISO rather useful - especially with a slow-ish lens which has big changes of widest aperture.

What impressed me most was that the 50D tried to keep the ISO as low as possible rather than just pumping it up to 800 or 1600 and leaving it there. Taking some pictures of the children playing outside as the sun set had the camera trying ISO 100 when possible and only one 1600 shot. And as most 50D users have actually discovered, in good light ISO 1600 pictures look fantastic.

So yes, colour me impressed. I've definitely had a change of heart where Auto ISO is concerned. And while not a feature I'd use when composing more creative shots - when in "walkaround" mode it works very well indeed.

You probably won't want to watch this video if you're easily offended by the word "fuck" or have no sense of humour.

Life got even weirder at 3am this morning. So for the moment I'm making all posts about recent events for members only.

Outside both the front and back of our house are piles of wreckage, the many expensive belongings destroyed by the flood of last Friday.

This has been a very difficult few days for us. Both in terms of seeing our home wrecked and our plans for the months ahead thrown into confusion. It's also been very hard because of another event unfolding in our family has shocked us to the core.

But back to the flood and of course our priority is for our children. They are safely being looked after in Dorset where they will no doubt stay never to return to this bit of West London.

Read more »

I popped into the Kingston branch of Jessops yesterday and saw that the Canon 50D Body Only was listed for £950.

That's £130 more than I paid for mine a month or so ago.

I understand the gap between the Yen and Pound is resulting in prices of bodies and lenses go up over here but at these prices who on earth is going to buy?

So they say, bad luck comes in threes.

And the flood was just the first one.

Been a bit of a crappy day all round really.

But now we've had our three horrible things today maybe we can actually have a good night's sleep.

I got up at 7am this morning and saw the street outside our house completely flooded. So I thought I'd go take a look so wandered down stairs in my bare feet. And there in the dark I stepped into several inches of water in our hallway.

It seems a nearby water main had burst. The fire brigade made an appearance at the top of our street but never bothered coming to our door despite me making a call to 999 to say we were trapped in the house by a rising flood and we had small children.

Finally somewhere someone got the water turned off and eventually the drains coped.

Right now our whole downstairs is awash with water and mud. In the lounge it didn't get higher than three or four inches, so TV and consoles are okay. But I think my guitar amp is done for as is our furniture, our new hoover, our white goods and lots of furniture.

Read more »