Following our trip a couple of years ago, thirteen of us returned to Center Parcs last weekend for a heady mix of sport, fresh air and moderate drinking (in some cases). Terrible spelling and slightly American fakery notwithstanding, Center Parcs is a fantastic place for a weekend. We managed to fit in a high-ropes course, badminton, squash, archery, table tennis, swimming, cycle rides, board games and, just occasionally, sleep.
Here are the highlights:
We had a group meeting last week, in Switzerland 🙂
My parents have bought me a lovely new lens for Christmas, a Minolta 100mm macro built back in 1985! Playing with the hamster sounded like a good way to give it a test.
Slightly drunken photos here, luckily I left my camera safely put away after dinner 🙂
Davy was a trooper – feeling rought but he still managed to supply 5 bottles of (excellent) wine. Thank you!
Four years after my visit as an undergrad, I returned to Burnham Ovary Staithe last weekend to demonstrate on the Norfolk field trip. I think I learned possibly more this time, especially having to teach as we went round. Due to the vast quantities of mud involved, I took my first digital camera with me, the venerable Fuji Finepix A340. It is still rubbish, the zoom is still broken and it’s restricted to only one setting, but it forced me to try and be creative with it. Looking back I’m not sure which set are better, though last time I did have the advantage that it wasn’t freezing cold and raining lots of the time – turns out cold, wet fingers are less keen to take pictures than warm muddy ones.
Some photos from our pre-term holiday in Greece. I can certainly recommend the island of Lefkada (a.k.a. Lefkas) as it is pretty, relaxed and easy to get around with a car (as long as you can avoid the local drivers). We got a cracking late deal on flights and a villa, with a great pool.
Round two for the Bennett wedding, this time in the Ukraine! We had a fantastic weekend, if massively hectic, involving jetskis, caviar, a-capella Take That, private jets, concerts, cruises and borscht. Irina’s parents pulled out all the stops to make us feel welcome and we had a truly fantastic time. It’s a shame the weekend didn’t last longer, although we were so wiped out after just four days that we went to Greece to recover (more on that later). These photos are a mere taster.
I took these a while back, when the weather was still pretending that it was summer time. I’d just bought my 50 mm lens, and this was a great chance to try it out. For £100 (thank you Taiwanese exchange rates) I think it’s a bargain. While it’s very plasticky, this does make it extremely light and (relatively) unobtrusive, and the large aperture means you can use it inside without the flash.
Exactly what it says on the tin – Andy and Irina are Mr and Mrs Bennett. It was awesome. Here are my photos.
Photos of rocks and scenery to follow soonly, in the mean time here are the holiday snaps.
