Demolition of Brighton Terrace.

Geoff Inglis attaches a cable to the roof beam

Started scanning the box of negatives. Struck treasure almost immediately.

3 strips of the demolition of the top set of cottages in Brighton Terrace. This was undertaken in the summer of 1967 when Clevedon Council, owners of the properties, had the site cleared .There might be more - I have already seen a pic on 35mm film strip so who knows what has survived in the box.
These pix were taken with the Mamaiyaflex 33 so that gives me a firm date for the camera change over from the Agiflex 3. Although It might have been earlier that that. 

Windows galore

Hartree's house. 

Jane told me that this house has been smartened up with new windows.
Made me realise that I had lost the original pic when my hard drive went.Thinking about it this morning I remembered that I had a copy on my PowerPoint show 'Keep One Eye Open' so I copied it over to my JPG folder. 

Recipe

Busy nearly all morning scanning negatives, managed to do over 50.

I didn't want to take a long time cooking so I compromised with soup. That will hold me until teatime.

Thought out and polished an idea.

Take one cup-a-soup (Tomato and Veg in this instance) sachet, instead of 1/3 pint boiling water make it 1/2 pint.

Take around 100 grams of brawn, 

about 6 small new potatoes from a Lidls tin.

Put all the items into the blender.

Boil a kettle and pour off 1/2 pint  into the blender.

Blend well making sure the potatoes and brawn are well reduced. This makes a nourishing thick soup. Also the additions to the boiling water reduce the heat to a temperature that means it can be eaten immediately.

Total time eating and all 15 minutes at most. 

Cost 75 to 80p. Enough potatoes left in tin, to boil for tea/supper meal  with a Chicken Kiev, or maybe a couple of Richmond sausages baked in the oven.

 

Have I been afflicted?

Just as I thought I was beginning to show progress with my scanning I found I was running short of slide holding pages.
I knew I had some in a filing cabinet so looked them out.

Underneath what did I find? A cardboard box of assorted negatives that has been there for over 30 years. 
I reckon they weigh around 6 or 7 pounds. I feel like a child who was sleeping in a typical Victorian bedroom with illustrated text and mottoes in frames on the wall. Intimidating texts that threaten, and cause worries when read.
One of them says "Be sure your sins will find you out"
That is the one that has caught me. My sin was the sin of 'putting off' I reckon that will keep me scanning for a good six months.

Dying for a P?

Came across this one as I was scanning negs.

Couldn't resist scanning it and posting.

Can't remember where it was that I took this shot, but wherever it was, it is now a JPG in my computer files.

Another lot scanned. 

Taken about 40 years ago

Finished scanning another batch of negatives. 35mm and also 6x6 taken with my Agiflex 3 and some with the Mamiyafled 33.

Went through two folders and selected around 700 to save as JPG's.

Gradually getting through them, now I have another load of colour slides to start, Thank God for my Epson 4870. I can set up 12 slides and pick them one at a tiime thanks to the large bed. A film scanner runs around the £1,000 mark now. A 35mm film and print scanner is cheaper but won't take 6x6 or 6x9's the 4870 is even provided with a 5x4 carrier.

How many water voles did they kill off? 

The old Somerset Rivers Board at work 

Came on some 35mm negatives never printed while scanning to JPG's.

I made me wonder how many miles of rhines and sub-rhines the board worked like this.

What chance did the water vole population have against a drag line.

Also made me wonder if the Environment Agency still use the same system.

If they do - Good-bye water voles, - just another wild life that mankind has wiped out.

This pic shows clearly the difference of 'before' and 'after'.
In the old days a crew would work along a river or rhine bed slubbing out. Now it is all machine done. A machine has no conscience but the men who empower the use of them should have.

Caught at last

Light Pacific Braunton at Yatton 

A little bit impatient and I was cut off before i could fill the frame. 12 pix per second is OK but the limit of 17 frames in the 'take' restricts a bit.

If she runs again next week I MUST wait until I start taking. Last time with Nunney Castle it worked out just right.

How well I remember that day 

Digging it out

I came back from my milk round to the Horlicks Dairy depot in Old Street to find the workmen digging like mad.

The Land Yeo ran open through the yard except for the bridge to allow entry.

At long last the company had decided that it would be best if it were culverted. The first section to be done was to the upstream side of the yard.

The work crew dug too close, and lo and behold : --

The end wall of the goods room slid down the bank into the river. Found the negatives on the scanning session. I always carried a camera with me when I was working, I developed the film but never printed the negs. It is too difficult to black out the flat successfully. Have a whole series taken through the days the work was going on.. 

Found a negative of one of my godsons. Back in the early days of photography I used to use a light setup for portraits. Then I found that flash with an umbrella gave a good modelling light although I did not get a back light.
Over-run bulbs didn't last long while flash would go on with no problems.
I had a Mecablitz that normally used a small accumulator but also has a mains connection. Used to do a lot of baby pix with that and my old Pentax S3 and the f1.8 85mm Pentax lens. 
Ilford Panf  film and Beutler developer was a good combination.

Surprised myself 

The winter of 83 I think

Looking through another folder of around 600 negatives I came upon one of the snow in - I think - 1983. Could have been later but not a lot. It was so bad for a few days that I had to haul a bread crate up and down a couple of the side roads with an assortment of the milk wanted for delivery.

Marine Hill was not too bad because the bus ran along there and cleard it a bit. Copse Road, Seavale and Leagrove were the worst. Not a lot of through traffic to break it up. Couldn't do Chapel hill and had to go all the way round via Old Church Road and Elton Road to get to the Sixways. Forgot that I took these and it was a surprise to find them. 

Severn Valley visit 30 years ago.

Complication

Simplicity 

I can remember I got a lot of micky taking from John and Robin because I took a pic of a little diesel shunting loco cab interior.

I wanted to emphasize the easyness of driving a shunter like that and the number of controls on a steam loco.

Must have been at least 30 years ago - I wonder what the next stuff to turn up will be.

How Many More?

British Rail standard class loco 

Came upon a photo book with around 80 pix from Severn Valley and I expect some from West Somerset. I reckon I took them around 30 years ago, when I went up there with friends while I was on one of the week-offs from the milk round.

No good to leave them so I started scanning them into JPG's. I am keeping them in a separate folder until I finish doing it. Then I can post whichever on to Flickr and Morguefile with the correct tags.

My Epson 4870 is certainly earning its cost even if there is no financial return from them.

Thank goodness for the rain.

Nunney Castle with the Torbay Express

Never though I would welcome rain in the summer but at last there is steam allowed once more. No fire risk after the rain of the last week.

Raining occasionally this morning so I wore my Dryzabone to shelter the camera under it. Might as well get some use out of it even if I did get it secondhand on Ebay. Best £75 I ever spent I reckon. I must try to get a hood to snap onto it for the rugby season.

I was a bit more patient too and waited a little longer. 17 pix with the last 3 with only part of the loco on them. 

800 ISO and took at 1500 th at f3.5. Best shot I have taken so far using the rapid 12 x. 

Busy - -  Busy - - - Busy  

What a find 

Getting towards the end of the planning applications and found the plan submitted (660) for the original Picture House that was built. Later it was added to and turned into the present Curzon Cinema.

Uncle Cecil Lane was foreman carpenter on the crew that did the alteration.

Took a bit of cleaning up from the original scanned negative.

but I reckon it was worth the effort. There was an earlier application (618) that showed the building as being parrallel with Old Church Road not at right angles.