Happy Birthday George!

Last month it was my pal George's birthday. To celebrate she ventured up to London for the day, and Stuart and I were invited to meet her, and her partner John, for for a slap up meal! The plan was to head to Breddos Tacos @ Trip Kitchen, but before we got there, as we were meeting on the Southbank, I wanted to try some oysters. Therefore our first stop was The Bloody Oyster which was parked outside the Royal Festival Hall.

Now I have had oysters once before, years ago at a work Christmas party where I was drunk enough to think they were a good idea. I think it's safe to say they didn't go down too well but that was years ago and I figured, as oysters seem to be the trendy food at the moment it was time for me to try them again. Plus it meant I got to sit on a double decker bus, and everyone knows I love a good bus. Only three out of our party of four wanted to try the the little molluscs snacks, which was good luck as there were three clams per portion. We placed our order for one portion of fresh oysters, and one portion of deep fried oysters and then headed upstairs with our prosecco for a bit of people watching. 

It didn't take long for our oysters to arrive, they were fresh after all. Now of the three of our group that ordered the oysters only one person (John) was brave enough to actually try the fresh oyster. They smelled like the sea and looked like flemmy blogs of snot, and in all honesty I cannot see what all the fuss is about. They were not appetising at all. Then our deep fried oysters arrived. All three of us were daring enough to try this one, and whilst it was okay it was nothing to write home about. The coating and the little dollop of mayo on the top was just enough to hide it's snotty consistency.    

I was glad we tried them however as it now means I can safely say I do not like oysters and need never have them again. George wasn't too keen on them either!

Finally we could head for some real tasty morsels. It took a little longer for us to get to Breddos, as it is in the depths of Shoreditch, and the overground was down that weekend (thanks TFL) but it was worth the wait. After jumping off the replacement bus service and a short wander down some back streets we found the restaurant, snuggled under a bridge.

We were quickly seated and proceeded to order almost everything off the menu. Now, although I'll take photos of oysters I only took one guacamole shot at Breddos, and this was because I was far too busy eating and getting my fingers covered in sticky goodness to get my camera out. 

My personal favourites were the beef tacos, and the business cocktail, although the corn on the cob should get a special mention too. One word about the other cocktails - most of them are made of tequila without much of a mixer, so one I ordered tasted just like petrol, far too strong for me. I mean I still drank it though, it just meant I had to have an extra cocktail afterwards to take away the taste of the last!

It was a really fun evening with great food and even better company, a suitable celebration for George's birthday, I hope! With one last order or beef tacos, dessert (not worth it, have more tacos or another cocktail instead) the only thing left for us to do was try and take a group selfie outside!

Dogs!

Unfortunately I don't currently have any pets, living in London, in rented accommodation with a full time job isn't really the best situation for owning any, so I'm always glad when I get to play with someone else's pets. In this case, whilst we were visiting the Island, I got to spend time with my Mum's dogs. She has two staffies called Magic and Rocky who are about 5 years old. They are extremely gentle, playful and very photogenic

I also thought they would give me a little opportunity to practice my photography, but before he could start modelling Rocky had to have his belly rubbed.

Although I don't think Rocky and Magic classify as proper wildlife, (you know, for my wildlife photography ambition) it was still lots of fun trying to get good photos of animals that wouldn't stay still, and in Magic's case, just wanted to play fetch.

Later that day I got to watch Magic and Rocky do something called 'Flyball'. This is where they run down an aisle, jumping over hurdles to grab a ball and return to the beginning. It's quite fun to watch, and the dogs seem to love it.

It was also a great opportunity to see lots of other types of dogs and got me thinking about what breed would I'd like when I do, one day, get my own dog.

I think it might be obvious that I was slightly taken by this gorgeous collie spaniel cross, she was so beautiful, soft and very friendly. So what do you think, do I have a career in pet photography calling?

Oh Starry Night

One of the things that I miss most living in London is the stars. There's so much light pollution you're lucky to see a couple even on the clearest night. The Isle of Wight however is a whole different story. As we were heading back from the cinema one evening I decided to play around with my camera and see what I could capture. At first it was too early, and with plenty of street lamps turned on, it meant we couldn't see any stars at all. 

After heading into Ventnor and waiting for it to get darker the sky was truly sparkling. Now I didn't have a tripod with me, and I am still trying to figure out shutter speed and aperture and all that jazz so the photos aren't as amazing as I'd like but hopefully they'll give you a good idea.

Then I headed inside to see what I could see from the upstairs window. 

It's almost enough to make me want to go camping and spend the whole night under the stars...almost.

A walk up the Downs

I've just returned home after a few days down on the Isle of Wight catching up with family and friends and thought I should share a few photos with you. The island is beautiful in the summer and so relaxing. I loved the novelty of not having to listen to the constant noise of traffic which I can hear now as I type in my living room. And all the fresh air! We went on some lovely countryside walks one of which was up the downs!

I'm not sure why they are called the Downs as you have to walk up a bloody great hill to start with! But before I show you some views from the top I'm first going to bore you with some shots I took on the way up of the local wildlife.

After spending time with the bigger animals we decided to look and see what we could find with my macro lens.

Finally we made it to the top, and I wasn't taking so many photos just to break up the walk up the hill - honest! The views were well worth the climb however, we had the sea to one side, and seemingly endless countryside to the other.

We carried on walking and taking photos until we finally came to my favourite view.

And there is was, arguably the best view on the Isle of Wight, the whole of the South West coast of the island in sight, with Portsmouth in the background. 

And with that we headed back down the downs for some fish and chips!