Gary8345’s blog

What kind of camera(s) do you own?

I don't know why I felt the need to answer this!!!! I own an Olympus E-500 camera, which I think in the States is an Olympus Evolt. Its my first DSLR and I have had it over a year now, and love using it. However, I am getting tempted to change to Canon, only because of the price of the extra lenses.

Yes, I went to play bingo!!! It is big business here, and they must make fortunes from it. The bingo club we go to has a huge scoreboard, and tells you how many people are playing, the total stake, and the winnings. It doesn't take a genius to work out they make £200 a game!!! Wow.

We were invited to the bingo a few weeks ago by our friends Jilly and Keith. They go quite often, but only on the cheaper nights. It works out around £8 for an evening out. However, you get a bonus if you happen to win, and last night I did......before you all get too excited, I won £30. I was quite pleased, as it basically paid for our night out. We are going again on Friday!!!

Not too sure why I tried, but I discovered that I can now post to VOX from work. That should make life easier, and I am sure will encourage me to post more. It seems I broke my promise last time to post more, and again, I'm not too sure why I have not posted more often.

So much has happened since I last posted:

1. Football:

Chelsea lost the European Champion's League semi-final to Liverpool, on penalties. Both teams one their home games 1-0, and we should and could have one by more in our home game. It was a shame to lose in the Semi Final again, that is the third time in four years now.

We also ran out of steam in our race for the Premiership, and in our last 5 games looked very tired. We ended up two wins behind Manchester United. I have a feeling our loss in Europe took a lot out of our players.

The first FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium. The FA Cup final is like the English version of the American’s Superbowl. We were playing Manchester United, and this time we took the trophy. The game apparently was a little bit boring for the neutral, but for some reason I couldn’t see that. Maybe it was the rose tinted glasses I was wearing. The new stadium is fantastic, and although massively over budget and two years late, I think it was all worth it.

2.   Tips From The Tip Floor Bruges Get Together:

This was a brilliant weekend, towards the end of April. Kavey did us proud with the organising. The hotel was fantastic, the food was brilliant, and the company out of this World. Everyone gets along so well. There were lots of photography opportunities, check http://www.flickr.com/photos/gary8345/sets/72157600161749773/. Plenty of eating opportunities, and finally lots of beer drinking. Although to be fair, not as much as you would expect!!!!

3.   Tips From The Tip Floor Colchester Zoo Get Together:

For ages, Alan has been suggesting a get together at Colchester Zoo. Finally, the day arrived. It was just a shame that the weather did not co-operate. It was a little chilly and damp as well. However, 10 photographers still had a good time walking around the zoo. Again there are plenty of pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gary8345/sets/72157600213801021/

4.   Camera Club:

You may remember an earlier post where I was complaining about the judging at my local camera club. Last week, it was time for the annual colour print trophy. My picture:

Cross Processed Lamp

managed to get 20/20…….however, it still came second. I was really pleased, although it would have been nice to have come first and won a trophy. However, congratulations to Jacqui who came first. Her picture was of a human statue taken at Covent Garden in London.

5.   Movies:

I think since I last posted, I have been to the movies twice.

"Spiderman 3" – well for me you can’t go wrong with this franchise. I was a spiderman fan from a kid, and it was the only comic I used to make sure I had every week.

"28 Weeks Later" - the sequel to "28 days later", where the UK has been infected with a plague that turns people in to zombies. Apparently it takes 28 weeks for the virus to clear. I really enjoyed this film, although I’m not normally into horror/zombie films. The film is set in London, and follows two children who are reunited with their Father. He ran away from their family home thinking that their Mother was dead. Well, it turns out the Mother never died, and is in fact a carrier of the disease. What ensues is a chase around London, as the virus spreads again. This film must have had something, as even one of my pet hates never bothered me. They had to get to the new Wembley Stadium to get a helicopter out of the UK, and the journey they took to get there, was amazing. If you know the geography of London, you will understand what I mean when you watch it. That said, the film had me gripped, and interested in the main characters.

6.   Work:

Has been a pain, and quite stressful of late. Lovely!!!

I think that is about it. Oh, apart from an accident I had in the car. No damage to any human, but the car needs to be repaired. A new front bumper and the air bags need re-setting. I managed to hit someone who was driving on the wrong side of the road to by pass a queue of traffic to park outside a take-away shop. The car is going to go into the garage tomorrow for repairs.

Well, I just could not afford the time or money to follow Chelsea in Spain, so instead I went to watch the game with my Dad on TV.

The number of times the commentator said "no English team has won in Valencia", was amazing, and it looked like this statistic was going to continue, when Valencia made it 1-0 in the first half. However, we still had every confidence that we were going to score, afterall its now 18 games since anyone has beaten us.

In the second half, our head coach, Jose Mourinho, made a tactical change, and changed the teams formation by bringing on Joe Cole. Until his injury earlier in the season, he was one of England's best players. Anyway, this change worked wonders, and within 10 minutes, a goal from Andrey Schevchenko made it 1-1. One more goal for Chelsea, would put us through to the semi final.

I must admit, this second half performance was one of the best I have seen from Chelsea away from home, although they left it very late before getting that all important winning goal.....the last minute Michael Essien picks the ball up on our right, runs towards the penalty area, and lets fly a shot.....GOAL!!!!!!!!

I don't think I can stand the excitement, or should that be anxiety of these late shows. However, roll on the semi final. That means we are through to two semi finals now, and second in the Premiership, and we have already won one trophy this season....could it be possible to win four???

I popped back to London to see my beloved Chelsea. Another 1-0 win, and again against Tottenham. I am so lucky, Chelsea have a great record against Tottenham. They have only won twice against us in 38 attempts now. Why is it good for me? Well, all my Mum's family are Tottenham fans. When Tottenham have won, my mobile phone goes mad, but they are lucky, that I don't gloat back!!!