Pig Sty Avenue

Molly Full Face , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . I got some photos back from the shop today - that's the second roll from the Chinon. I love this photo. AND I've just noticed: there is a family resemblence beginning to show. Poor bairn.

Garys' own stencil , originally uploaded by mafleen .

Molly Unsure of Her Cousin Jennifer , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . The plan was to put the Olympus compact in a drawer for a while. Then my niece called round this morning and I got this nice snapshot. And now Herself's decided to start using it. I hope she gets to like photography, and that politely blank look will go from her face when I'm blethering on about it. This morning was mostly for drafting the first biggish assignment for the MA. My brain was hurting after a few hours so I went out to take some photos of the setting sun and the snow, using up the second roll in the Chinon.

I've got my Dad's Chinon, Brendadada's Nikon, and I'm expecting to get my old Nikon back from Clare on thursday. And there's my trusty Olympus P&S, and my Sony low res. I need to get out and get clicking. But that's easier said than done, this weather, with a small baby.

Snow's forecast for Eastern England today. We've already had hailsones. I hope it does snow. I've got a lend of Brendadada 's Nikon F-601 , and heavy snow would give me a good excuse to get out with the camera. "A good excuse", forsooth! Herself bought me that book Jarrovians for Christmas. (Any local readers can get a copy at the Baltic , it seems). The back-story is, Vince Rea's a local artist (he did the Jarrow Marchers' sculptures at the Metro station and outside Morrisons); he was formerly the director of the town's Bede Gallery, and whilst that gallery was being refurbished in 1978, he made a photographic study of the people of Jarrow. Most of the photos are indoors, a lot of them in pubs. There's no technical information in the book, which is a pity. But I'd say most of the photos were taken on very fast black and white film without a flash. My main criticism would be that there's too much depth of field on most of the...

Three Women Xmas Day II , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . That's our neighbour, Julie, who came to us for Christmas dinner, Herself and of course Molly, enjoying her first Christmas. No, really she did seem to enjoy herself, smiling a lot. After dinner, Julie went home and we went to my sister's house, and all the family was there. A lovely day altogether. Now it's Boxing Day. Since Molly arrived I've not done much serious drinking, and this is the first hangover in ages. Ugh.

Yesterday was Christmas shopping, and getting vegetables from the allotment. Then a Flickrmeet, with Brenda , Adam , Kate , Bronwyn , Ceris (who made me a xmas card which I've mislaid, so I hope I've remembered her name correctly), and Topsy , who had been doing things with the Pig Sty Avenue name; (which is nice, making the Avenue feel like a bit of performance art... or something). Disgusted by the capitalist exploitation of Christmas, we've been trying to avoid it for years. This year, there's some sort of resolution: celebrate it, avoid the hype. So we've got a wee lemon tree I grew from seed a couple of years ago, with a star on it to be our Christmas tree. We can keep the tree and celebrate it each year and it can grow with Molly. And as this is really the marking of the solstice, a lemon tree - with the colour of its fruit and association with sunshine, - feels right. Anyhow. Now is the time, when all the shopping's done, and a dinner to prepare. ...

or maybe this one?

I'll come back in a bit. Met Topsy Qur'et at the Flickrmeet the other night, and learned that there was a mutual intrigue about one anothers virtual names, and that he'd done some art on the theme of Pig Sty Avenue (below). I'm honoured, so I've gotten his ok to adapt it as an icon. I've more to write, but I've a Christmas dinner to prepare, so more later, probably.

PIG STY stencil , originally uploaded by Topsy Qur'et . I'll explain these photos later.

Working on the Pig Sty , originally uploaded by Topsy Qur'et .

Go to the allotment, get two of the lemon trees from the greenhouse (one's a present, the other's to be an unusual Christmas tree); get the sprouts, cabbage, turnip and parsnips for Christmas dinner. Go to Town, presents and wrapping paper, quick Flickrmeet. Tidy house, hoover, all that. Then tomorrow, go to Jarrow collect the capon, cook the capon, prepare the other bits of the dinner.... So, busy, but if you leave Christmas until the last minute, it's actually quite good fun. You know, like in the old films: they always do the shopping on Christmas Eve. It's a holiday: it's to be enjoyed.

Saving Up For a New Guitar , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . ...Whereas I'm saving up for a camera. Jessops are doing the D50 + 18-70mm lens for £584. They said they would match the price of any shop in a 20 mile radius. They might match the price of internet or mail order, but they'd need a print out or a catalogue, and it wouldn't be guaranteed, they'd 'have to make a couple of phone calls'. Next I went to Jacobs, who said that Jessops were doing 'silly prices' and there's no way they could match that price. I asked if they could give any advice about pricing, best time to buy and so on, and the man said that the price of DSLRs changed from day to day. But, he said, February would probably be a good time. This lad gets money for practising his hobby in public. Doubt there's any cash in being a photo-busker.

Superchou at the Baltic , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . My first efforts with the Chinon are a big disappointment. Blurred and shakey and misconceived. The quality of the development is really low: less pixels than the Olympus compact, I'd say, so I can't resucue much from them with post-processing. Bugger.

I wanted to go to the fireworks tonight, take the auld Chinon along and get some photos. But the end of my first term for the MA is approaching (end of January), and I've a lot of work to do, so instead I've been analysing learner dictionary entries , which is no more nor less fun than it sounds. On the subject of the Chinon, I put my first film into the chemists in Jarrow on Thursday, then went full of anticipation to collect the CD yesterday... And the bloody shop has half day closing Saturday. I muttered some very rude words. Still, never mind. I finish early Tuesday, so I'll give myself the afternoon off studying to look at the photos and probably do a wee bit of post processing. The Which Camera decision is now made, finally. There's a discussion with Brendadada here . It's to be the D70 with the 18-70mm lens - though I'll go for the D50 with that lens if it works out cheaper. And then I'm going to try to take photos like Tony Ray-Jones did....

Alexander was 18 on Tuesday, and to celebrate, we went to see The Pogues last night. It's a remarkable happenstance that I was a big fan in the early 80s, and that he's stumbled onto them in the last year or so and loves their music too. (I notice Al's blog's gone quiet - he's been busy studying, learning to play the banjo and now he's distracted by a really clever synthesiser his mam's gotten him for his 18th). It was a fantastic night. They were supported by The Dropkick Murphys , who were great - and finished their set with The Worker's Song , which Dick Gaughan used to do. I had been a bit sceptical about who would be in The Pogues' line up, but they were all there - it was a bit like meeting someone you knew years ago: they've aged but are essentially the same. Shane McGowan looks like shit, of course, but he never missed a beat. It was a great night.

I can't remember if I linked to this when he started it. But I am now , anyway.

cafe at morrisons , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . This was Molly's first time in a public eating place. Not that she was more than barely aware of it. She seems to be in suspended animation when we're out and she's in the pram. Mind you, this cafe at Morrison's supermarket in Jarrow is shite. You've to help yourself to drinks as you shuffle along. An old lady asked me to get her Diet Coke, because she was 'half sighted'. Then she complained that I hadn't filled it right to the top. The aisles were too narrow for a pram, and I was worried some other half-sighted auld wifie would dunch into the pram and spill hot tea over her.

I saw one of these wee gems in the Marie Curie charity shop in Jarrow today. Only £9.99, which I'm sure is a bargain... Was tempted, but all my pennies are going digital.

Stevie-B's started a new blog, Empty Blog . Be warned! He uses the C word. A lot.

Here's another video I made tonight , this time crossing the Tyne on the metro, coming home from work. Like film noir with a bit of colour. Atmospheric or crap? Won't win any Oscars, no doubt.

Term has ended and I'm managing to get a lot of studying done at work. I've deliberately chosen a topic which has some relevance to the work I do. It's about the way students use a digilab for pronunciation practice. I've been getting a lot of academic articles printed; (not very green I know, but to read actively one needs paper and a pen - a computer monitor just won't cut the mustard). So that means rather a lot of reading the next few days, followed by rather a lot of writing. I've stopped using my compact digital (except for a video I did yesterday for the Jarrow & Hebburn blog ). I've started using the Chinon again, to get my hand in using an SLR. Also, it's primitiveness will, hopefully, discipline my eye for the D50's appearance, which should be next spring. Molly's 9lb 9oz now - she was weighed yesterday at the local baby clinic, which is set up in the local community centre. Herself went, I was at work; she said she felt r...

Need to write 4000 words over the next couple of weeks. Details here . Am trying to avoid Flickr; unsuccesfully.

siena_p2 (passeggiata) , originally uploaded by Pay No Mind . I've been looking through the Nikon D50 group on Flickr. There are a lot of good photos there, but this lad's are exceptional. Here's what he said in response to an enquiry about a similar, but B&W photo: "All of the shots in my Italy set are with the kit lens. Most are handheld. This particular shot was with the camera sitting on a table. I found the kit lens a little soft. But the camera itself is fantastic. I picked up the 50mm 1.8D for a hundred bucks. It's super sharp." Well, that's it. Decision made. It's a D50.

, originally uploaded by Ten Directions . See what I mean? I'll leave the subject now. Honest injun.

Honest, this is the last time I'll blether on about this subject for a while. Really. The Nikon D50 is nearly £200 quid cheaper than the D70. And it's got the same lens interchangeability. And here's the clincher: look at these test results : the D50 has significantly less noise at high ISO than it's more expensive relation. So that's the decision made. Barring some unforeseen financial calamity putting an unavoidable call on the saving-up-for-a-camera fund, I should be able to buy the blighter early in the spring. Until then, I'll try to leave the subject alone.

Little and Large Low Res , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . I got these two lads on the metro with the little DSC2770 camera, half cut on the way back from the funeral. I don't know why I find them so appealing. I spent a bit of time with the blur tool in PhotoShop to give an artificial DoF.

... there's also the Olympus E500 . The users' pool on Flickr is not a great inspiration. Whereas the Nikon D70 group is a very lively one, with a lot of most excellent pictures. There's a point where a practical decision will also be a cultural or even an emotional one. My first proper camera, twenty-odd years ago, was a Nikon EM. (The circumstances in which I lost touch with that are a whole other story). So history and peer pressure are leading me towards the Nikon just now.

Brendadada , no less, has weighed in to the Pig Sty Camera debate. We're getting down to the wire now. It's between the Canon EOS 350D and the Nikon D70, and here's a very useful side by side comparison she's put me on to. Hmm. The Nikon's a wee bit heavier and bigger, which is a negative for me... But this interchangeability with most other Nikon lenses is very persuasive, with the opportunity to borrow your pals' lenses for particular tasks... And if the price comes down in the new year, which seems likely, it's coming into my price range. Oh yes. As for the pocketability angle. As I said, the bigger size of the Nikon is a negative. But to take pictures of people, I'm just going to have to deploy a whole load of interpersonal techniques to put them at ease. And there are other things I want to photo: spiders in their webs, dewdrops on railings, sunday morning football, dog races, motion blurred metros and aeroplanes and cars on the Tyne t...

I'm a little pumpkin , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . I took this one today. Cute, eh? She seems to change every day. And she's a wonderful model. I can snap away and take twenty photos, and each one will be different. Gorgeous.

Wake , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue .

The funeral was at the crematorium on the West road, so I got the metro and then the bus up there. I met Ian, who has gone bald since we last saw each other, back in Barcelona years ago, when he had dreadlocks. There was a good turn out, well over a hundred people. I didn't realise Jim knew so many people. It was a humanist 'service' led by a woman I didn't know, and who talked about Jim and his life - she was very good, but as Ian said later, rather like a politician, 'with all the pauses in the right places'. There was stifled laughter when she spoke about Jim's garden and love of cooking with herbs... And we realised this was a coded reference to his love of a certain herb which he smoked. At the end, everybody shuffled out, and that's when it hit me, we were leaving poor Jim in that cold place, in that box, to be cremated. Then to a lad's house for coffee, and then to Jim's local, the Travellers in Brunswick Village. Exchanged phone ...

I posted a few weeks ago about a friend who was ill. He died last Saturday. The funeral's tomorrow. I'm going to miss him. Suddenly, someone's gone. And you realise how precious their wee pleasures were: having a pint of beer, rolling a herbal cigarette, shouting at the eedjits on the telly. All no more. We've to remember that, and enjoy every lovely minute of our lives, because any time now, 'click', you're remembered only.

Yesterday morning, the phone went at 5.30am. I leapt up, fearing some family calamity, but there was no-one there. 1471 gave an 08-something number, which when dialled came up a BT SMS something or other. I was more than a trifle pissed off and couldn't get back to sleep. Last night was another bad night with Molly up, and dreams about a Canon EOS 1D , for God's sake; have you seen the price of the bugger? That's a professional camera... unless we win the Lottery. It was one of those unfathomable, confused dreams that leaves you drained and disoriented. So I'm cream crackered today. Term's more or less over, though, so I've been quietly getting on with researching about self access to learning, more details over on the studious blog over the next few days, if anybody's arsed. Molly went for her jabs this morning, and Herself and I kept in touch with developments over the phone. She had them in both legs, apparently, and screamed blue murder with re...

Jacobs Camera Shop , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . ...where I go to play with the cameras, and the nice people never tell me to "buy one or piss off."

More thanks to Factobrunt for his observations on the Pig Sty Camera Question. He's got the clincher, too, with his remarks about ISO. An SLR can have a relatively high ISO, which means I can take pics in poor(ish) light with no flash. I want to be able to do that to take relatively unobtrusive pictures, like this one. Now the only question is which DSLR? The Canon EOS 350 is used by a lot of people on Flickr, including my mate Sam . There's a new Olympus out in the same price range. Speaking of price, as we've a new baby and I've got a part time job, I can't dash out and buy something this expensive just now. So for the first time since childhood I'm Saving Up. No need for snap decisions, therefore, and a bit of fun making the decision meanwhile.

Many thanks to John and Factobrunt for their comments. Both have highlighted the dilemma. On the one hand, the pocketability of a compact, on the other the quality of an SLR. To get the best of both worlds, this Leica caught my eye. I mean, just the whole idea of using a Leica has glamour. The detail that appeals is being able to set the shutter speed and aperture manually... Any more comments?

supermoll , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . Here's a happy picture for a Sunday.

It's our first anniversary. Perhaps because we're so pre-occupied with Molly, we both nearly forgot! But I'm off to have a bath and cook us dinner, so no more blogging the noo.

I think about photography too much. My Olympus Camedia C-310 has been a great friend and has taken a lot of good photos and a handful of very good ones. I'd decided to get an SLR, something like the Canon 350D perhaps. I want to be able to manually set speed and aperture settings, get appropriate depth of field, motion blur or freeze frame and all that jazz. And then my attention was drawn to cameras like the Olympus MJU 800 , which has 8 megapixels - that's as many as SLRs like the Canon. And it's about half the price. What you'd be paying for with an SLR is adjustability and a far better lens. Apart from the price there's the issue of What Kind of Photos do I want to take? See, what I'm thinking, apart from people snapping away at parties and on their holidays, nobody is going to be recording our lives, now, in this town. A local artist, Vince Rea, took a load of pictures of the people of Jarrow in the mid 70s, and you can get a book of the collectio...

tired molly 2 , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . We think she has a touch of colic: happy one minute, crying the next.

the point , originally uploaded by Superchou . Superchou passed briefly through Newcastle on her way from Edinburgh to France and took some wonderful pictures . From left to right there's me, Brenda , Adam , and Sam . That's an awful lot of links, but you know how it is with bloggers, mentioning them without a link is almost an insult. And when I linked to Superchou's "wonderful pictures" I was linking to the Flickr blog, where a photo she took of besuited salesmen in pink chairs on the millenium bridge taken at the same time as this one was posted. In the wee world of Flickr, that's a serious compliment.

Garry and Molly I , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . Herself's brother gave her a wee webcam, and we used it whilst I was in Libya and we'd have Yahoo chat's most nights: it was a bit like being at home, seeing her there, our sitting room in the background. Anyhow, after I got home we weren't using the webcam. Then she remembered that it takes still photos too, and bingo! A new craze: low resolution photography. Watch this space!

On Sunday I went to church. Yes, you read that correctly. I went to church to see the priest about getting Molly baptised. Herself had rang to find out the procedure, and he said, rather pointedly, that he’d see us after mass. Hmm. We had thought to go all three of us, but the rain was torrential so I shouldered the parental responsibility and toddled up to the local church, that of St Joseph the Worker, on my little ownsome. I’ve not been to mass for … well, decades - but for the occasional Christmas, wedding or funeral. It was slightly more informal than it used to be, with altar girls, and children generally being involved. I noticed one woman, thirtyish, with her jeans’ waistband half way down her arse and a fluorescent turquoise thong on view, which is the fashion no doubt, but wouldn’t lead to pious thoughts if you were in the pew behind her during the prayers. I didn’t even attempt to join in with the hymns. In Jarrow a combination of Irish immigration, intermarriage ...

This is the John Marley building, where I work a couple of days a week. It's in Benwell, Newcastle, and I believe it was once a school. I wonder how many of its pupils appreciated the wonderful architecture? Not many of the vicious little bastards, I bet. I wrote a post at work - in this very building, but the computer system there has crashed. I'll blog it in a day or two. Meanwhile, I'll post some pictures.

Jarrow Jesus , originally uploaded by vee8 .

Do you have permission to take photographs? , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . The weather was changeable so we went to the pedestrian tunnel. Brenda (left foreground) had bought two remote controlled flying saucers, and we were having a gas photographing them in the eerie surrounds of the tunnel. Then this arsehole turned up and asked the above question - Brenda's on the phone trying to get permission. We couldn't take him seriously because he wouldn't give us his name or show any ID - really he was just a miserable bastard freaked out by people doing something a wee bit unexpected. Twat. He went away and told us to vacate the tunne, via the PA system . Sad man. I don't know why I adjusted the colour of this photo so bizarrely. That's Sam to the right, and Oliver's behind Brenda - not hiding or anything.

We had great fun. Pics to follow.

To the optician this morning, not before time. The clearest indication you're getting older, once you're past 40, is the deterioration in the old peepers. Hmm. I chose those glasses which have little holes at the end of the legs so you can put a string in them, and hang them around your neck [sighs]. I pick them up on Saturday morning. Saturday is also the day of the Jarrow and Hebburn Flickrmeet, at the Ben Lomond, 1.00pm. Thank God for Molly to keep us young. And the allotment. I had a pint with the old man today and laid some plans for the spring. And tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll move some more stuff from my old allotment. Weather permitting! Snow's forecast. Meanwhile, here's a link to a video of a fat bloke dancing with a tiny baby! It's silent, but I can tell you, they're dancing to Watch That Man , by David Bowie. Tell you what, I'll put that track on the podcast, when I get around to doing it.

mydailycommute , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . That was on the way to work yesterday. Mostly, the metro is very good. But once in a way, it isn't. Yesterday was one of those days.

This is a picture of Fellgate Metro station I took this morning. Today was foggy for the first time this autumn - if it is still autumn, it feels like winter now. A strange thing: it was foggy in Jarrow, and in Benwell (in the west of Newcastle) where I was working today, but not in the City Centre, which I had to travel through. Weather's great though, especially when you're fairly new to a job and need a topic for conversation. It's the consensus that we're in for a very severe winter . People seem delighted at the prospect. Herself had a slight calamity when the breast pump broke this afternoon (thus the heading), so I went to Boots on the way home and got a replacement; ( Avent this time). The bottle feeding has been going very well, but it's been a bit fraught the last few days: perhaps we were using the wrong sort of teat, and I blame that little bastard, Tippee. It took Molly nearly half an hour to settle for me tonight, (whilst Herself was a having a...

I've taken the Flickrbadge from the sidebar there. Flickr, and particularly the DMU group have become rather addicitive. Perhaps it's the need for peer group approval, a transference from the days when I used to spend evenings (and many's the afternoon, actually) in the pub. It's all harmless fun, of course, but mostly futile. I have learned a lot about taking photos, but need to spend some time putting it into practice. Also a podcast. This audacity software looks rather daunting, so it'll take me a bit of time to get the hang of it, no doubt. It'll be a right laugh. I'm going to put it together under the name of the Pig Sty Avenue Podcasting Corporation. Friday was given over to studying - well, not actually studying, more getting a programme of study together for the next couple of months, principally deciding what I'm going to do for the Methodology assignment, which is to be completed by late January. I need to get cracking with a lot of r...

Molly's First Bus Journey , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . I know it's not a great photo per se, but it records Molly's first expedition on public transport. The three of us took the bus into Jarrow today and did a bit of shopping. She slept most of the time.

Hang on... I think I've lost a fiver , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue .

Here's another creation tonight: Chop up several rashers of bacon, fry for a few minutes in a wok. While that's doing take twenty or so brussel sprouts, remove the outer leaves and roughly chop. Stir fry the sprouts with the bacon for five minutes or so, and then add to a pyrex dish, cover with a few ounces of blue cheese, sprinkle on oregano, and bake in a preheated oven (gas mark two) for a few minutes (until the cheese begins to melt). Bingo! We had it with fried rice, but you could have it with spuds or chips or whatever. It would work well enough without the bacon for non-carnivores. Herself doesn't much like sprouts, but she loved this. All three of us have been under-the-weather the last twenty four hours: we were worried it might be 'flu, but it's passed now. Strange.

...here's a less spooky version: I've been playing around with photoshop: there's an awful lot to learn there. I did have a purist view about photos, reinforced by some of the overprocessed shite one sees on Flickr. But now I think post-processing's fine if it's well-enough done. It's not easy though. I realised yesterday that I've been spending a lot of time thinking about creation: how to make interesting 48 second, silent videos of Molly or of Jarrow or Hebburn. Or looking around me to see what would make a good photo, always thinking of the light, of a composition, looking for incongruity and colours and patterns. It's not that I'm suddenly an Artist or anything, it's just that creativity has begun to feature in my life. And that's because of the internet and digital technology. Presumably, many people around the world are undergoing similar processes, looking at the world in aesthetic terms. Surely, that's A Good Thing?

spooky eye molly , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . Crazy, eh? Like something from a horror film or agitprop against nuclear weapons... That's our Molly. A supermodel, a star, a trouper. She's away tonight into the big cot - out of the moses basket. AND it's the first time she's gone to bed before us... She's through in the bedroom now, sleeping, and we're in the sitting room, and it feels a bit odd. The health visitor paid her last scheduled visit for a while today, and Molly weighed in at 8lb 8oz! That's two pounds she's put on in five and a half weeks. Not bad, eh? Mind you, she's breastfeeding 18 hours a day. And the last three nights I've given her expressed milk from a bottle. Each night it's gotten easier, and tonight was a breeze - as if she's got the idea now, that getting fed by her Dad is a different though comparable experience. PS Herself's going apeshit about this photo. That's a mother for yo...

Here's a link to the video . Notice how neither the star nor the director know quite what they're doing for the first twenty seconds, and then it all gets going.

"Maybe I should get a domain and just pay for a few hundred MBs of space..?" I was thinking on the Metro this morning. But Sam and The Apologist have stopped any such tomfoolery with their helpful suggestions, the one for videos and the other regarding podcasts. Thanks lads. I've already opened an account with youtube , and, inshallah, I'll upload 48 seconds of Molly's antics later. Feedburner isn't podcast hosting as such, but it puts you well on the road, and in particular gives a link to a free download of audacity , which looks like a programme on which you can put together all the necessary audio for a podcast - which will be splendid if it does what it says on the tin.

I listened to a podcast yesterday, [no link, no pack-drill], and it was fucking dreadful. And it made me think: I could do tons better than that. It'd be a right laugh, like Desert Island Discs without that Sue fucking Lawley. So I've downloaded some free software (link if it works) and I'll get a wee mic tomorrow and I'll draw up a play list and do the fucking podcast. This afternoon I made a video of Molly with my compact digital. It's nice. I've spent a couple of hours now trying to find a way of hosting it, and even set up a free website here , only to ascertain that the free account doesn't support MOV files (or MP3s for when I get the podcast together). If anyone knows of a free way to do that, let me know please. (I wasted a lot of time with Putfile and Streamload, too).

That was a troublesome night, last night: Molls was up, more or less, from about 2am. She woke up properly at 9am, and has been feeding on and off ever since. She doesn't nap much during the day. I managed to keep her mind off feeding for half an hour just now so that Herself could have a bath. Hmm. But the thing is, if you make up your mind that there's nothing to be done about it, that you can't really go out for a newspaper, or get a bath, or have a meal when you want, that every minute is wrapped around this wee person's needs, then: it's cool. Everything swings around Molly, and if we get a few minutes at something else, well, that's a bonus. It's more fun when the sun doesn't shine outside, being cabined-up like this. Cosy. Mind you, there's still an external life. I'm going to have to join a local University library to do some studying, because our flat's too small for a baby AND an MA. Next week, that'll be. It'll f...

18th century molly detail , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . She has a look here, doesn't she? It reminds me of a detail from a Dutch master... or something.

Alexander and Molly , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue .

That wine I started a while back has turned to vinegar. Well, that answered questions I was asking myself back then, viz., 'Do we get vinegar flies around here?' And, 'Are all these little flies vinegar flies?' The fuckers. I thought I was being a clever recycler, not buying proper air-locks and using the old plastic-and-lacky-band method. Ah well, another step up another learning curve. Anybody need three gallons of white wine vinegar and two gallons of the impossibly exotic strawberry wine vinegar? It's been a 'business day', dealing with officials and filling out forms. Don't get me started! Alex came over tonight. He gave me the Aphonic CD (he's been in touch with them and they sent him several copies). I thoroughly approve of this new trend of bands getting their work known over the internet, by-passing (initially at least) the poisonous attentions of the music industry. Come to think of it, some of the people in that business are rat...

My metro to work this morning stopped just outside Pelaw, and slunk around between there and Heworth for nearly forty minutes. There was an announcement that a train was in Gateshead station waiting for an ambulance, so some poor sod must have been taken ill. I mean, nobody wants to get ill, anytime, anywhere, but on a rush hour metro, oh my God! At lunchtime, went to meet Superchou , who was en-route from Edinburgh to her granny in France. There'd been a bit of a mix up with the times, so it was all a bit breathless. It's cool when your virtual life overlaps however briefly with your real one. Come to think of it, unless virtual friendships can become real ones, this is all somewhat pointless. I also met Sam and Adam for the first time; as they are local, of course, I'll see them again. All of this socialising is due to the tirelessness of Brendadada .

First Smile for the Camera , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . Gorgeous, isn't she?

amongst leeks , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . she's_a_sprite was flummoxed by the concept of leeks. Do they call them something else in America?