Sunday 26 January 2014

And it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained!

Just because I'm not taking part in a 365 photo-a-day project, I'm still taking photos. Okay, not as religiously as last year but my camera is always with me so if something photogenic catches my eye, I'm ready. Several of my friends have been engaging in a dry January. I didn’t undertake such an endeavour though I think I've only had one glass of Malbec when our team got together for the last time for perhaps a year. Spanish EM is off travelling to Colombia for three weeks and before she returns, MZ will be on maternity leave, awaiting the arrival of her daughter. We had other events to celebrate too as we'd been estastic about our purple-suited CEO finally showing his true colours and disappearing out of our lives forever.

There was a single bottle of my favourite mixed fruit cider when we congregated at AM's pub, the New Rose. How I managed to make it last until the wee small hours is a mystery, even for me, I really am a cheap date!

So alcohol-wide my January has been pretty dry despite not taking a pledge, but weather-wide it's been the exact opposite. We haven't suffered as much in London as in other parts of the country but the drenching has still been of biblical proportions. Short of gathering two of every animal and peering at a blueprint for a large wooden boat, preparations had to be made for every excursion. Like many I've managed to mislay various umbrellas whilst out and about so I supplemented my burgeoning collection with a couple of replacements.

I very much prefer automatic umbrellas, it sounds like I'm to precious to fiddle with the little notch to open the umbrella but I think it's the frisson of accomplishment that pressing a button and having such a dramatic reaction can cause. I believe it stems from my childhood obsession with the Avengers. I really wanted to be just like Emma Peel . What was not to love, the racy leather catsuits, the high kicking, and the no-nonsense independent take-no-prisoners attitude. The little flicks in the corner of her eyes (probably where I got it from) and more importantly, her wit, intelligence and also artistic flare. She was my role model, she was no damsel in distress and totally capable of holding her own in any situation. And because of her I yearned to be a spy when I get up. Armed with my Usborne book of Spying, I was constantly working on my disguises, laying traps around the house and practising subterfuge. Sadly all my preppatory prepubescent spy craft didn't define my final career, but that little push of a button transports me back to those promising days and is oh so practical too.

There's been a plethora of umbrella toting opportunities this month and when I'm not being drowned I was managed to take the odd photograph of those moments after the rain.

My favourite is the reflection of our house in a raindrop poised on the point of a leaf. All these photographs needed the addition of closeup filters to focus of the miniature droplets of water and the crystal ball effect on the surroundings. The light quality is different in each photo but the common theme is rain. Hopefully next month I can get a new inspiration.

 

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