Sunday, October 29, 2006
The North Sea
Having the clocks go back last night didn't mean getting an extra hour of sleep for me. In fact it meant I lost an hour. I kept Laura up till well after ten in the hope it might make a difference to her rising time. It never. She rose at the same time, which because of the clocks going back, meant I lost an hour, where she seemed to be totally unaffected.
I long for the day when she discovers the luxury of a lie in. Then I'll gladly be the volunteer who wakes her up. An extra hour in bed these days means a whole lot more than it used to.
I walked round to the shops with her early and got a few messages and the Sunday papers. The Scotland on Sunday was giving away a free book about ghosts in Scotland and the News of the World had an article written in it by my pal who works on the paper. It was an interview with Madness' lead singer, Suggs, that I was lucky enough to be sent the transcript and copy for last week. It had been heavily cut by the time it got to print, but it's very exciting to see the build up to December's tour beginning in earnest.
In the afternoon we all headed out to Portobello beach for the Poolside Poetry book cover photo shoot. My normal photographer was unavailable and it was too nice a day to risk leaving it any longer to get the shots, so Gail borrowed her father's digital camera and off we went.
I knew I would be able to make the scene look more summery using PC software post-shoot, but we still needed clear skies and for me to wear shorts and t-shirt. So I stripped on the beach in front of people wrapped up in heavy coats and scarves and got into the water. The North Sea. In Scotland. Late October. I checked the temperature over the east of the country when I got home. It was around 10 degrees - so God knows what the water temperature was.
It was bloody freezing. I mean really cold! Before long I could hardly feel my feet and after about an hour in the water we had got all the shots I think we would require, but the bottom half of my legs felt as though they were missing. Looking back I should have wore my shades but forgot to take them, nevertheless, the pictures came out well and I spent much of the evening manipulating them and narrowing the selection down.
I did a final run through on On A Monday Morning. I'm very happy with it now and am thankful to the editor at Wildchild for her suggestions. As she suggested, I think I'll re-send it to her. It's a non-paying market, but I like their production.
Had to take a Syndol to combat a major headache that came on and fell asleep on the couch for half an hour while it took effect. Then when I felt a bit better I had some tea and worked on Slick. Not long to go now!
I long for the day when she discovers the luxury of a lie in. Then I'll gladly be the volunteer who wakes her up. An extra hour in bed these days means a whole lot more than it used to.
I walked round to the shops with her early and got a few messages and the Sunday papers. The Scotland on Sunday was giving away a free book about ghosts in Scotland and the News of the World had an article written in it by my pal who works on the paper. It was an interview with Madness' lead singer, Suggs, that I was lucky enough to be sent the transcript and copy for last week. It had been heavily cut by the time it got to print, but it's very exciting to see the build up to December's tour beginning in earnest.
In the afternoon we all headed out to Portobello beach for the Poolside Poetry book cover photo shoot. My normal photographer was unavailable and it was too nice a day to risk leaving it any longer to get the shots, so Gail borrowed her father's digital camera and off we went.
I knew I would be able to make the scene look more summery using PC software post-shoot, but we still needed clear skies and for me to wear shorts and t-shirt. So I stripped on the beach in front of people wrapped up in heavy coats and scarves and got into the water. The North Sea. In Scotland. Late October. I checked the temperature over the east of the country when I got home. It was around 10 degrees - so God knows what the water temperature was.
It was bloody freezing. I mean really cold! Before long I could hardly feel my feet and after about an hour in the water we had got all the shots I think we would require, but the bottom half of my legs felt as though they were missing. Looking back I should have wore my shades but forgot to take them, nevertheless, the pictures came out well and I spent much of the evening manipulating them and narrowing the selection down.
I did a final run through on On A Monday Morning. I'm very happy with it now and am thankful to the editor at Wildchild for her suggestions. As she suggested, I think I'll re-send it to her. It's a non-paying market, but I like their production.
Had to take a Syndol to combat a major headache that came on and fell asleep on the couch for half an hour while it took effect. Then when I felt a bit better I had some tea and worked on Slick. Not long to go now!
Colin 12:10 pm