Fingers of light
Saturday 2nd October at 17:35 local time
Half an hour to go until sunset with rain in the middle distance and a container vessel passing by through fingers of light behind.
Steve
Misa’s name day in lockdown
Wednesday 29th September 2021
In the Czech Republic, each day of the year corresponds to a personal name (or several names). People celebrate their nameday (svátek or dated jmeniny) on the date corresponding to their own given name. Name days are commonly of less importance than birthdays.
You will find Michael’s name in the calendar today so we had to celebrate our Misa’s (Misa is diminutive of Michael) nameday. He completely forgotten about this Czech tradition so when a parcel bought this morning via UBER eats arrived and we presented him with two big Nutellas, he was very surprised. When a smoked salmon sandwich arrived, again via UBER eats, at lunch time, it was a double whammy. Having a German cinnamon bun for after school as a treat was a bonus.
UBER eats to the rescue in lockdown.
He enjoyed his day with all his surprises and Emi with daddy Steve tagged along with all the goodies.
He is looking forward to have Nutella pancakes soon.
Minced chicken or minced skin?
23. September 2021
Lockdown in Sri Lanka continues and I am relating fully on online shopping. I tried to order minced chicken from a recommended source and when it arrived and I defrosted it, I could not help myself to gag and wanted to vomit at the site of it. I usually buy lean minced chicken from a supermarket, but this product looked like 50% skin and 50% meat. I spend about 20 minutes carefully removing the white bits to extract pure meat, but I aborted the activity, thrown everything in the bin (what a waste) and cooked a vegetarian meal.
Time for a portrait
I needed a new business photo taking at short notice, so enlisted Misa as my photographer whilst I was on the other side of the lens.
He took this smartphone picture of his composition to show me before focusing and pressing the shutter. My studio lighting equipment is all in the UK, but helped by a floor-to-ceiling window to flood the scene with soft light the result still turned out well for the purpose required.
Thanks, Miso!
Steve
When a lockdown, isn’t
Like most hotels, the Shangri-La isn’t yet open to what the staff call ‘outsiders’ (non-residents) but we have a friend who lives in one of the apartments, so fed up with being inside since we returned to Colombo we walked there today to meet him for a drink and some pizza and cake. The lockdown is still technically in force and with the vast majority of hotels, restaurants and shops still closed, but unofficially it is no longer fully enforced; over the past few days the roads have started to get busy again, only the absence of all public transport and rush hour gridlock indicating anything different. There is a political game being played out but sadly the small traders don’t seem to get a look-in and getting school kids back to the classroom doesn’t figure in the importance of things.
We walked from home, passing a military police roadblock on the way. Nobody was being stopped for questioning about the essential nature of their journey and we were quite literally waved through, and with a smile. Most surreal, but lovely to be outside for the duration of the two walks and have somewhere to go. A sense of purpose.
Steve
Friday Sunset
Eleven minutes after sunset on Friday, what a magnificent way this was to draw to a close a very long and intense week and look forwards to the weekend.
The image is unedited apart from a very subtle lift to the surf that was otherwise lost in darkness; in real life it was every bit as spectacular as here.
Steve
A splash of colour
With Colombo still in lockdown I didn\’t expect to do any bird photography for a while more, but just a few days after we\’d arrived back home from our summer travels Rennie called from the kitchen to say that she could see some parrots clinging to scaffolding locating holes a long way up in the wall of the building opposite and I might want to grab a camera.
The window I needed to open was extremely stiff and I risked disturbing the birds, so as soon as I had a crack big enough to aim my 100-400 lens through I considered myself fortunate to have one parrot in my field of view.
Against the grey of the wall and buffeted under a foreboding sky by the onset of a squall, they brought life and vibrant colour to an otherwise monochrome scene.
Steve
Happy Chatter
With the prevailing situation meaning such little physical interaction outside the four of us as a family, it is important to recognise a balancing act for the children and letting them communicate with their friends both locally and afar when perhaps we might prefer the laptop lids were closed.
This morning was one such occasion, the quiet of our home broken by the calming rhythm of the waves outside and happy chatter in to microphones.
Steve
Oil
With the Sri Lankan economy in dire straits and the press talking about Ceylon Petroleum Corporation being forbidden to spend Rupees to buy Dollars, to buy oil, and racking up such astronomical debt as a result that suppliers don\’t want to do business, we wonder what storm might lie ahead.
I saw a parallel in the heavy rain at sunset last Monday, heading towards an oil tanker passing from the Middle East and with a heavy storm to arrive shortly afterwards. With another tanker passing by and then turning away as if to snub Sri Lanka, too.
Steve
Waiting for business
With what the government call \’quarantine curfew\’ still in force – in essence only those engaged in essential services are allowed to leave home – the streets were deserted when I took these two photographs. The day was a scorcher, and the patient tuk tuk driver would have been grateful for the shade afforded by the roof.
Steve
