Paul’s blog

Flickr is becoming very addictive. Very addictive. So much so that I have my own flickr press badge. OK this is just the latest fad floating around the flickr community but its very existence proves the dedication of the community.

Flickr enables me to post my pictures to the WWW. There is nothing special in that in itself but I can chose if these photographs are for viewing by the public, friends or family. I can post the photos in themed groups with similar pictures, and have discussions with the group members. The best part is that people can comment on individual pictures, and vice versa. I can mark my favourite photos, and vice versa. Finally I can keep a fanatical eye on what my top 100 most viewed photos are from my collection. Brilliant!

I must admit I was quite surprised to find my flickr badge was so popular with the viewing public (over 450 at the time of writing). My previous best was a pathetic 20 views. Initially I had no idea why it was so popular, then I came across the flickr blog post entitled Can I see some ID? and noticed my ugly mug on it. For this I apologise to the flickr community

Évi and I spent the weekend walking. On Saturday we drove to Ivinghoe to walk up to the beacon and around the surrounding area. We ended up in the Rose and Crown, Ivinghoe and had a decent pub lunch there. The good part was we arrived past two when they stopped serving food, but I asked anyway and we had food no problems. Before returning to the car we took a short detour to look around the Pitstone windmill (National Trust). Next I drove up to Whipsnide to look at the Tree Cathedral (National Trust) before returning home. In the evening we at last caught the latest Star Wars film - Return of the Sith at the cinema.

On Sunday I drove to Brill near the Oxfordshire border for our usual Sunday walk. It was a nice walk, taking over 2 hours. The best part was how much the weather improved during the walk. At the end of the walk we went to The Pheasant pub for a pub lunch, we both decided on the beef Sunday roast option (which at over £10 I deemed a little pricey). We both found the beef to be undercooked. I knew when I made comment on it the usual rebuttal would ensue, i.e. this is how it is meant to be. Also this is how their customers like it. The beef on the surface looked great, especially after a two-hour walk, but once you got beneath the surface it looked raw. This could be dangerous, especially for a pregnant lady, as their food should be well prepared. At least we got a free dessert from the episode.

We spent last Sunday enjoying the good weather which has decided to grace this country at last. We first went on a walk around Cadmore End, walking towards Studley Green. The walk took around two and a half hours. The best part was the number of foxgloves we saw coming into bloom, in a couple of weeks time it will be very impressive.

Next we drove to Wet Wycombe, and after a quick refreshment stop at the garden centre, went to the National Trust owned West Wycombe Park. For a change the house was open and the weather was good, so I took the opportunity to take a few snaps.

After we drove up West Wycombe hill to take in the view and hopefully get an ice cream. Typically there was no ice cream van there! Still I got to go up the church tower to admire the views, and again take a few snaps.

Overall a good day, and we managed to get a bit of a tan too.

It seems that ‘Broadband and Internet advisor’ is no more. I must be a bit of a Jonah as each time I subscribe to an Internet magazine that publication ceases to be within a year! Hopefully my subsription will be switched to .net which I buy anyway.

I noticed today that my site is not validating properly due to the ‘Back the Bid’ button I have put on my homepage. It shouldn’t be too much a problem to get it validating OK. If I can get Google and Flickr to talk the true language of the web, then this shouldn’t be a problem. I will endeavour to fix it tonight.

On Sunday Évi and I went to Chinnor to ride the Steam train to Princes Risborough and back. It was a pleasant trip where I indulged in a cream tea whilst travelling the Icknield line.

Next we travelled to Thame to have a look around, then stopped at the Windmill at Lacey Green before returning home.