Insects

Warm summer sleeping with the window open invites a lot of insects, and it is another reason I emigrated.

I cannot wait till the temperature coming down a bit, and the insect starting to hibernate again.

Holiday Planning

I take a lot of effort in planning my holidays.  I am planning on going home in Spring and I may take Sarah.

At first, I thought I would carry on as a normal visit, but then, I must take Sarah to do all touristy things.  To be fair, I have not been to many of these places for many years, it would be a good opportunity for me to look around.

It was not long before I came up with a short list, and I already got a good frame work.  We just need to decide on the flights.  It is only 7 months away!

Digital Cameras II

I have two very cheap cameras, and they do what I needed, mostly.

My Fuji Finepix E500 has a good wide lens, good low ISO, decent aperture, super macro, perfect for landscape, and portraits and objects.  It is old model with only 400M pixel, but it is more than sufficient.

My GE X500 has a good lens range, good zoom, panorama mode, albeit slow and poor colour, it does most of everything I need including sports, animal and most importantly it was very cheap.

Digital Cameras

Many of my friends has got DSLR, and many of them has grown out of using DSLR, particularly those beginners.  Yan is the latest victim of the marketing ploy.

Yan asked if she should get a DSLR, a tiny frame DSLR.  I again advised against it.  I suggested high-end prosumer instead, as always.

Most people don't evaluate their usage, and just wanted a quick fix-all camera.  Why would Yan need a high aperture when she is mostly taking picture of landscape.  Why would Carol need a wide angle when she does mostly take sports and portraits.  Why do people buy expensive camera that are not good for either.

Gravlax

We went to Kro Bar for lunch.  Kro Bar is meant to be a Danish restaurant, and it serves Gravlax.

Sarah wanted Gravlax, but I mentioned how Gravlax was originally part-fermented, so Sarah opted for smoked salmon instead.

When I looked up Gravlax again, apparently, modern Graxlav is no longer fermented.  Sara

Hardcastle Crags

I previously refused to drive up to Heptenstall due to the gradient and cobble stones.  We parked up at Heptenstall, had a look at the quaint village.  While we were in Heptenstall, I saw many cars, vans few up the hill and the cobbles.

Sarah got a nice quiche for lunch, and we walked to Hardcastle Crags.  The Hardcastle Crags is much bigger than Creswell Crags.  We took an off track path down the crags, and I insisted on taking a proper path and road on the ways back.
If we go again, we will park closer to the Crags.

Todmorden

There is Todmorden, then there is Todmorden.  Just like when I took Verity to Todmorden to pick up Ash, I did not expect there was a Todmorden over the Todmorden at the fog-covered Todmorden.

So Sarah and I went to Todmorden, and had a walk by the Bridestones.  It was only a few minutes from civilization and looks very rural.

It does look nice on a nice day.