I quite like the idea of playing with panoramas, and I’ve already learned a lot from my first efforts. 1. Get the bloody tripod level. 2. Don’t use a ball head. 3. Spend a lot of time figuring out the average exposure, remembering that if you go from shooting into the sun to away from the sun there is one hell of a difference in exposure. 4. Pick a subject that does not have a lot of fast moving objects. 5 Once you have cracked rules 1 to 4, break them. Here is a view of Rhossilli / Llangenneth beach.

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Congratulations to Tom (Thomas Connick) and his girlfriend Nia, who have both gained a place in Cardiff University. Tom is to study Geology (following in his mother’s footsteps) and Nia has “the brain for maths” according to Tom, and she is to study engineering. Well done both – work hard, but have fun too!

Happy Birthday Clair! My baby girl is 33! God, that makes me feel old. Save me some cake Clairy! Lots of love Dad & Carol

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It was with some degree of sadness that I resigned from the Swansea Unit of the MVS last night. In part this was a result of having so many commitments, the photography in particular is taking up an increasing amount of my time, and I recognise the importance of having quality time with Carol when she is not buried in work. On the other hand, I have not been happy with the structure of the unit for some time, and feel that it lacks direction and a proper framework.

I will miss the camaraderie and the opportunities to get out to sea, however I hope that I do not entirely lose touch with some good friends.

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Carol has the misfortune to work for a local Health Authority here in Wales. It is over-laden with management, much as I experienced when working for Social Services. My experience of senior management is that they are self-protecting and grossly out of touch with practice at grass-roots level. One of the tacks they employ in order to cover their own backs is to create a plethora of rules and dictates. One of the most absurd I remember from my years in Social Services followed an incident when one employee left his spectacles on a window-sill in summer, which resulted in a small fire. Prior to the days of e-mail, over 3000 letters were sent out to staff warning then of the imminent dangers of starting fires with their specs. Well, Carol has returned from a month off – she was recuperating from an operation – and has had the distinct pleasure of wading through hundreds of e-mails. Despite the urgency of many of the requests, the world did not come to an end in her absence.To get to the “Swine Flu” issue, the instruction has gone out to 130+ OT’s (Occupational Therapists) – and probably many hundreds of other disciplines – that they must telephone in each morning by 9:15, to one lonely secretary, advising her that they do NOT have Swine Flu and are fit for work. Hmm? What arsehole thought this one up? Wouldn’t it have been better for someone to ring from home to report that they DID have Swine Flu? It’s about time some of these over paid clowns got out of their ivory towers and got back in touch with the real world. Thank God I’m out of it!

Anybody else got some good examples of bureaucracy at its best?

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The journey begins -

Well, it happened! Despite the inevitable problems associated with large family gatherings – we managed to pull it off. And what’s more it was a great success. The biggest set-back was that Jim’s wife Phyllis had a serious car accident the day before. Thankfully modern car technology saved her life, but she sustained injuries to her arm, chest and back. Hopefully she is recovering well in Cork hospital. I’ll update this as soon as I get more news.

It was an impossible task that we set ourselves, with such a large family spread across the globe. However, the turnout was better than I had anticipated, and it seems that a good time was had by all. We even had a guest appearance by Richard Lloyd from Australia – so it was good that they were represented in some way at least.

My special thanks to Paula and Hilary for all the work they have put in in order to make this weekend such a roaring success. Also, Mike Jones and Cecil, plus major input from Nonie, who together have worked to produce an amazing copy of the family tree. I believe Mike was putting in excess of 370 family members onto the role call so far, and still growing! Mike also was collating a pictorial family history – which is truly mind-blowing. Rumour has it that this might eventually become a book. The family tree extended to 26 A4 pages. Here are a couple of images which demonstrate the difficulty of showing this to family members, – taken at Paula’s house.

Viewing the family photos -

The clan gathers…

I agree that this is not a very good photo (but the beer was flowing by this time!) – however, Maureen claims that she does not look like her mother Alice [Lala]. Here is the proof kid!

The Wise Ones -

Some of the Ford contingent -

While the younger element took refuge in the TV room -

The weekend sees a hive of activity around Ballyporeen, not least at Paula & Udo’s house at The Rock. Here are a couple of shots that hopefully capture some of the atmosphere -

Even the jobs that have been put off for a long time get done!

Outside the view from The Rock remains tranquil…

While inside the party begins

OK, from this point I will freely admit that things went decidedly downhill ! The censor has just kicked in, and I am still waiting for some outstanding blackmail money to be sent! Here is just a little taste of the rest of the evening/next morning. A small hard-core of us did see the dawn – and some even saw the next day’s dawn. For those of you trying to identify the people involved -not all were relatives – but some great new friends. By way of explanation for some of the shots, someone (in their drunken wisdom) decided that it would be a good idea for everybody to have tattoos – with a permanent marker pen. Hmmm? A wise move..

As an addendum to this, Phyllis is making good progress and we hope that she is out of hospital soon. It must also be reported that the “hard core” saw their way through a third night and greeted yet another dawn!

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Just adding in a few belated photographs of Tom’s 18th. At least, these are the only sober photographs of his 18th. When are you taking your old-man and me out for a drink then Tom? Happy Birthday mate!

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