The big news this week was as mentioned, the storms that were forecast well in advance, and due to hit yesterday (Tuesday). We were warned of heavy and potentially violent thunderstorms with weeks/months/years worth of rain likely to fall in a couple of minutes.
Now I love a good thunderstorm I must admit, so was quite looking forward to this one and sure enough, come yesterday morning, there was change, and a feeling of expectancy and foreboding in the air (or was that just me and my enthusiasm?) as a very feisty hot wind blew up sending litter and leaves rattling and rustling down the pavements as I eagerly rode out on the Marin looking to immerse myself in the weather. Initially, the forecasts had told of heavy rain in my neighbourhood by 10 am, but come the morning itself, that estimate was pushed back to lunchtime. Now I say immerse myself, but I was actually in wuss mode, and set off without any waterproof clothing, and fully intended to get home before the rain came.
Blue skies and sunny weather as Tregassow Lane lies ahead, but not shown in this darned fuzzy upload here, was a hot and feisty, trouser and bouffant ruffling, wind.
Initially the sun was out and the sky a lovely bright blue, but it was also fiercely humid and when exposed to the blustery wind, like standing in front of a giant hair dryer - it was marvelous! As I said, I do love a good old meteorological tear up, but especially that sense of foreboding ahead of an approaching storm. Other folk just go about their business without giving it much thought of course, it's just me and my over active imagination I expect, but knowing there's a big storm coming makes for a sense of slight unease in me - will it be a really bad one that tests my enthusiasm by actually scaring the crap out of me? How hard is it going to rain and will I make it home before it does? I also like the sweet whiff of Ozone as the storm draws near and the freshness in the air after it has passed. I make them into a bit of an event then really, a bit of a thrill, but I've always been filled with awe and wonder when the sky lights up with potentially destructive and deadly lightning flashes, and deafening, house rattling, cracks, splits and explosive rumbles of thunder.
Less than a mile into the short ride and my first stop for a photo, and an attempt to capture the wind blowing about. 1/10th sec at f16 and ISO 100 should do the trick, but the bike draws attention away from the vegetation.
Okay then, time to get in amongst the greenery and shoot through the edge of the agitated hedge. 1/6th sec at f13 this time. Both shots saw the built in ND filter used to slow the shutter speed, along with the self timer to reduce shutter finger vibration, and of course, the camera was on the tripod.
Moving on I stopped again in another gateway for more photos. No more attempts at capturing the wind now, just bike in the countryside shots. The top photo of these three just shows the sky starting to change as the weather turns.
For these I fished out the 450D and the ultra wide angle Sigma. I ought to use the DSLR more actually, as it does a better job regarding the dynamic range and not blowing out the skies than the compact, but operator failure is also a factor there of course!
Then I checked around to see if anyone was about, whizzed the bike into the field, lobbed the 55-250mm zoom on and got a couple more bikey shots before an angry farmer could appear armed with a shotgun and telling me to beggar off.
The big frustration is trying to capture all those weather related feelings in a photograph! Well, it's beyond me I admit that, so I don't even try ( I did get some shots of lightning forks long ago on 35mm but haven't tried since) but I did try to capture the wind by parking the bike in amongst some crops and including part of the hedge in a shot or two to enable some movement to be seen. I had a bit of a photo blitz in a couple of gateways as it turned out, taking loads of shots, even deploying the 450D for a rare outing, so I came home with a ton of very similar photos, but it was all most enjoyable. I had a great sense of feeling alive while being out and about on my ride I must admit, the weather and atmosphere was all very invigorating!
Back breaking work going on in the fields at the top of Tregassow Lane at Trehane Barton, and it must've been hot work too. The ever stiffening wind was blowing only hot air and doing nothing to cool things down.
Ah now here we go... things are starting to look a bit tasty. This is looking in the same general direction (South) as the first photo in this post, but the bright blue skies have been replaced by a hazy, malevolent looking, all enveloping, fug.
So what of the storm? Well I made it home without getting wet, quickly had a shower (which was a pain racked one as my back was giving me bother by now, I must've ricked it at some point) and quickly set about editing the photos before having to turn off the computer and unplug everything - yeah I'm old school like my parents, but if this storm was going to be anything like the Met Office promised, exploding TVs and Routers and mullered PCs would be a real possibility.
I kept one ear and half an eye open for the advancing storm, and it certainly got a bit dark, well, very dark actually, but other than a couple of distant rumbles and a light smattering of rain that barely wetted the tarmac outside, nothing happened. It got lighter again and soon turned into a lovely, sunny,afternoon. Weather radar online showed some parts of the country, and indeed, this county, were getting a proper battering, but where I am, once again, all was pretty much business as usual. Down West at Coverack the storm hit really hard, sending cascades of water rushing down the streams and into the sea, knocking down walls, ripping up the road and all sorts. A couple of miles away from there though it stayed dry, so the hot spots were very localised it seems. Oh well, while I don't want floods and damage, and those affected by the storm have my sympathies, I do feel very disappointed to have missed out. What a let down! Oh well, there's always next time.
Meanwhile, in other news, my day was made however by a hairy arsed visitor late last night in the shape of 'my' Badger making a noisy appearance just before I went to bed. I have been aware that something has been coming into my back garden under the side gate for some while, and I thought it was most likely a Hedgehog, but the other night I heard a rumpus out on the patio and went to investigate. Well actually, I thought it was a pesky cat and went to give it a blast up the bum with an old washing up bottle filled with water that I keep by the back door. So I flicked on the light, opened the door, squirty assault bottle in hand, only to see a low slung hairy thing looking back at me. 'Blimey' I thought, 'a Badger'. 'Shit' thought the Badger looking up at me, 'it's one of those upright things' and he took off into the darkness pronto.
Excuse the crappy photos, and also all my junk in the background. This patio is up three steps from the garden, so Miladdo there is quite bold, and he was quite unbothered by me turning on the light this time and opening the door.
I had a cracked egg in my box of eggs, so had left it out in that bowl for him. He took the egg and ate it most noisily (shocking table manners these Badgers) on the first step down. A quick check around to see if there was any more food to be had, a look up at me as if to say 'is that it big nose? Nothing more for me you tightwad?' and off he bundled.
Since then I've been leaving a few tasty treats out for him, and they have usually all gone come morning, but last night I heard a commotion again and this time carefully opened the back door, camera in hand, and was able to spend an all too short minute or so watching the Badger rooting about. At one point he looked straight up at me, but carried on rummaging unperturbed before deciding there was no more food to be had, and off he went noisily across the garden. What a magical few moments they were! I know Badgers are a bit controversial, and many folk would happily see it shot or clubbed to death, and livestock owners do have a point, but I'm a soppy git and an animal lover so these encounters have been very exciting I must admit, and hope I get many more.
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