What a waste

Whilst living in Gloucester, I fell in love with a derelict building.

I walked past it, to and from work, every single day for nearly two years and always envisaged owning it and turning it into a dance studio. I'm not a dancer, but I just knew it would have been perfect. The windows were huge, floor to ceiling with nice roundy tops on them, perfect for letting the light in. There were nice floors inside (if you looked carefully through the windows you could see them). There was a nice staircase too, leading from the street down to the building.

Then there came a sad day when a notice went up outside saying that it was to be demolished, to make way for redevelopment. 

I was absolutely gutted. 

So, with my trusty vintage camera, I decided to document the destruction . . . 

My lovely building

The first corner is knocked down

The end of the building fastly disappearing

Half way 

Damn you little Digger Man!

The final piece

 I didn't manage to get a photo when the land was completely cleared, but it just wasn't the same.

This took place at the end of March and I've been away from Gloucester for nearly 7 months, not entirely sure whether the redevelopment of the site has even begun yet. Such a shame, I wish they'd waited until I'd left before getting rid of this amazing building.

Life in 35mm . . .

One thing I enjoy in life is photography. 

Last year I found the fun of film photography, and spent countless pennies on developing those little 35mm bundles of joy. There was a stage where I went through nearly a film a week, until I realised it was getting quite expensive, especially when Jessops decided to charge me a different price each time, despite having the same service (!?!)

Blossom in Richmond Park, London

I was given a fisheye camera by my sister last christmas, and it had its first grand outing on a family holiday to France. It was late January, so we enjoyed some time out in the snow, and playing with the neighbours daschunds (ahh my god they're so cute!)

One of my favourite things about film photography is the anticipation of what the photo will look like once developed. Will it be in focus, blurred, or have a scratch over it? Another fun thing is when you've had a film in the camera for so long, that you forget what you've actually taken photo's of. Its always a surprise to get the pictures back and think 'wow, I forgot I took that'.

After trawling the internet for hints and tips, I heard that using expired films worked really well for enhanced colours, and that 'old fashioned' look. Team this with a retro camera which belonged to my mum in the late 70's-80's and I got some pretty interesting photo's.

Me and my old cat Guido with an old school colour flash, and a set of run down warehouses by the docks in Gloucester.

The Fisheye came to loads of different places with me last year, trips back home to Wensleydale, visits with friends to the playpark and the safari park, around my house and even on the way to work. 

Guido has thumbs!

 

 

On a trip to London in March, the weather was absolutely beautiful. Bearing in mind that the camera I was using was at least 30 years old, and the film about 10, I was so pleased with my photo's; the colours were so vibrant and I must say I've never seen blossom look so pretty. 

I'm slowly working my way through three different films on three different cameras, so trying to take at least one with me when I go out about my business! I took my fisheye to practice a few weeks ago, god knows what those pics will look like. I guess I'll have to wait and see :-D

Well, this evening took a bit of a detour in the fact that skating WAS open! A last minute offer of a lift down there was quickly snapped up, and we were there just before 7, I would get an hour at least, so I had to make the most of it.

I don't think I've ever got ready so fast, so fast that I forgot to do the velcro up on one skate, oops!

Anyway, like I said, I was determined to make the most of it, so I made sure I pushed to get in some fast laps. Of course I had a little play around as well :-)

Luckily there's still time to Mary Poppins it up . . .

Where's Mary Poppins when I need her?

So, being denied the right to skate caused a major sad face tonight. I had my bag packed ready and everything :-(

However, it may have come as a blessing in disguise as my bedroom NEEDS SORTING!

Time to get everything in its rightful place and reinstate my crafty room. Currently neither of my desks can be used because they are covered in stuff. Nothing in particular, just generic stuff. Once I get them sorted the one in my bedroom will be for drawing, Lego and techy stuff, the one in my crafty room will be for sewing and (once I get all my tools) jewellery making, thanks to the guidance of the Tatty Devine book I got for christmas :-)

Its also about time I treat myself to sleeping in the middle of the bed, not on 'my' side anymore. Due to being messy, I rarely see the other side of my big bed as its always under a pile of, yep you guessed it, more 'stuff'. It's times like this I wish I could click my fingers and have everything tidy itself away.

Note to self: Must refrain from tweeting until bedroom is looking acceptable!

YAY, Wednesdays are back to normal!!

Just back from CTRV training, and boy am I glad its back on!

Back to that excited feeling from being challenged, from encouragement, and from being able to laugh at myself. My internal me is jumping up and down and clapping giddily with excitement whilst Holly is telling us what we'll be doing, but I think I keep it cool on the outside by just having a big grin and eyes as wide as saucers!

Tonight we practiced our one footed glides, clockwise skating (with very pretty crossovers- athankyou!), we had a little bash at hip whips in a paceline, and then we played some games. I know what you're thinking, a school gym full of a bunch of twentysomethings playing games . . . ? Yeah, stick in the mud and chariot races on skates are chuffing great fun!! Think I need to work on my 'agility' because I'm quite good at 'untagging' folks stuck in the mud, but not quite nimble enough to avoid being tagged. Goddamit I need to learn transitions, and toes stops, and fast! Think I might need to make myself a little checklist, because the past couple of trips to skating I've not really pushed myself, only slightly. I want to learn!! 

Hopefully Skate Central will be open tomorrow, if it's not I might have a very sad face! 

Aaargh, I want to go skating again, I don't want to go to bed!

Cheer up Chuck

After spending some time over the weekend with a very broken hearted friend of mine, I decided I needed to cheer her up somehow. Since we're both experiencing the same issues I thought about what would make me happy, and decided to do it for her.

I grabbed some spare material and threads I had lying around and whipped up this little gem.

With a little bit of concentration I had it up together in a couple of hours (it would have been quicker had I not been distracted by 'The Return to Oz'!!)

It went in the post to her yesterday, so hopefully it should have arrived today. It cheered me up just making it, and the prospect of it cheering her up is quite exciting :-)

Thinking I might end up making a few more of these if people ask nicely :-)

Goodbye 2011

Being back at my parents for Christmas was brilliant. I had a fantastic collection of presents, that suited me to a T, but it was whilst washing decades of dirt off the old Lego on Christmas Day, I thought I'd look back and reflect on my 2011.

If you had asked for my opinion on 2011 six months ago, I would have told you that it was my worst year ever. At the bottom of a big pit of doom and gloom I didnt think my year would get any better, and thought that nothing else worse would have any effect on me. I'd become used to having a rubbish time, what difference would another ounce of crap have on me.

Ask me now what 2011 means to me, and I'll confidently tell you that it was the year that I found out who I really was, and it's probably the best year I've ever had. That sounds quite morbid, but I mean that its been the best year for making decisions and learning lessons. Its been difficult but extremely valuable.

May 2011 saw the messy end of a 7 year relationship. I made the difficult decision to hand in my notice and begin the process of moving up to Sheffield.

June 2011 saw me packing those 7 years into the back of a transit van. Saying goodbye to my job, my friends, the family I had been accepted into, and my cat; I cant say anything was worse than that. Driving away from my life I had created was punishment that I didnt deserve. But being typically British, and with my Land Girl spirit, I kept calm and carried on.

July 2011 saw me getting a new job and making new friends. Unfortunately my old life continued to return to haunt me, prolonging the grieving process.

August through to October was really just a blur, all sorts of nonsense bouncing around, trying to settle into a new way of life, trying to get to grips with reality and make sense of everything. On the flip side, I was taken under the wing of so many wonderful people, and made to feel extremely welcome and appreciated, and accepted for being myself. I started to feel a sense of purpose, and finally I had the chance to be me again.

October 2011 I found a lifeline. Something to keep me busy, to give me focus, and that has opened doors to a whole new chapter in my life . . . Roller Derby. Sunday 9th October 2011 was the the final home bout of the year for Sheffield Steel Rollergirls and it was the turning point in my life when I decided I needed make a difference. It was at that point I made the executive decision to stop trying to fill the 'relationship' gap, and do something productive instead.

Despite being told there weren't any spaces available to join SSRG, the following week I took my skates to the local skate rink and, as they say, the rest is history. No, seriously, you can read all about it in my previous blogs :-) The past 3 months have gone by in a whirl of wheels, disco lights, pasta,  Chesterfield Twisted Roller Vixens, progression, and making new friends every week. With the help of my family, friends and new team mates, the end of 2011 has taken a sweet turn, and has provided me a taster for what 2012 has to offer.

Today is the final day of 2011, and I have decided that 2012 is going to be MY year. I, like so many others, have dreams and ambitions . . . the difference is that I intend on making mine reality. Despite wanting to do and learn other things, my one main aim for 2012 is to pass my Minimum Skills for roller derby, anything beyond that I will see as a bonus. This year I have learnt just how important it is to be in control of your own life and happiness. If I hadn't been brave and made the life changing decisions I made this year, I would definitely not be in a happy place right now.

So now I'm going to sad tata 2011, what a rollercoaster! Oh and 2012, you'd better watch out, because the real Becky Kirby is back in the game. Time to enjoy the balls off the next 365 days!