the great outdoors!
After enjoying the rather more fast-paced and frantic delights of London life this time last week and meeting some charming and interesting new companions in the process, this week I am taking it at an altogether more relaxed pace, although I was compelled (in the nicest way possible) to work up something of a sweat in the company of a particularly enthusiastic caller yesterday (and am fast beginning to realise that I may have what is colloquially termed as ‘a bit of a thing’ about cufflinks, and the accompanying proper shirts).
As you may see from my rather more candid than usual picture this week, I have been fortunate indeed to have been afforded the opportunity to happily bask in the warm sunshine during not only one but two picnicking excursions to the beautiful local countryside over the early part of the week, and have bravely tackled forest mud, thistles, brambles and nettles (as well as an unfeasibly huge wasp in a log pile) in the name of art, or at least a new and different set of pictures for my soon-to-be-reorganised Gallery pages. I must offer my many thanks to the kind gentleman who not only provided said picnic, but gallantly took said pictures whilst I concentrated on both languidly posing sans vêtements without getting humiliatingly and painfully sunburned and carefully keeping watch for unwary passers by; a minibus full of earnestly-dressed hillwalkers would have been a decidedly unfortunate and annoying diversion, but our luck held and we had our wonderful hilltop spot and its panoramic views completely to ourselves (not counting the wasp).
I am finding myself becoming increasingly bored and weary of seeing set after set of meticulously planned, perfectly staged, costumed and made-up studio pictures however flawless they are, and am hoping that some visitors to my site may share my view and will be pleased to see some au naturel ‘amateur’ snapshots lit only by the sun (although I must admit to carefully retouching not only a few of the usual (and unavoidable) clothing marks, but also the war wounds amassed during my outing the day before, when my companion and I had our leisurely ramble through some truly stunning and tranquil woodland to our lakeside picnicking destination, encountering along the way some killer nettles, although thanks to some well thought out pre-picnic squashing down we managed to avoid being stung on any parts which would have adversely affected the postprandial activities). The remainder of the pictures will be making their debut soon, as well as some brand new ones of the more usual insect-free, be-corsetted and glamorous ilk from my lovely new camera, for those who, like me, have time for both kinds.
As far as London goes, I was sadly forced to return home earlier than I had planned last Saturday evening following an unexpected cancellation and subsequently a morning of desperately scouring Laterooms for another hotel – unfortunately everything I could find in a sensible location with suitable facilities, and below the £200 a night bracket was booked solid, and as the prospect of forlornly wandering London’s streets with my suitcase (or worse, having to stay at the Royal Scot Travellodge) until my proposed departure on Sunday morning was too much to bear. With this in mind I apologise again to the unfortunate and disappointed would-be callers on whom I had to cancel, but all is not lost and I am arranging another four day visit at the start of next month – watch this space!
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