57 Today

June 15, 2023

Phew, what are scorcher. I am getting too old for traipsing through the countryside in this heat. But, a deadline is a deadline, and so, having acquired permission from the landowner, I travelled out to take some pics of the old RAF barracks hidden away in the private woods next to Swansea Airport . No writing tonight. Time to chill and enjoy being 57...

I think every single woodland has one of these hanging in them somewhere. Fairwood woodland was no different lol #blairwitch

A Night down Gower

June 14, 2023

With the deadline for Remnants of War looming, I nipped down to Gower and my old playground of Salthouse Point, Crofty and toddling around a few other sites I needed to photograph for the book.

Afterwards, we spent a good few hours down Oxwich Bay, hoping to spot the biolescence plankton that has been reported there lately. No show tonight though and our lighter broke trying to light a fire. But the weather was warm, the water cool and my phone managed to get some atmospheric pics thanks to Tata Steel's blast furnace kicking off in the distance. Venus and Mars looked beautiful and were in the sky a fair while too. We also saw something bigger than a dolphin splashing in the sea for a good few minutes and saw a large meteor explode in the early evening sky. It was over in a flash though, to quick for a foto :( . 'Twas a lovely night. And it's great to see so many people's fascination with nature keeping them up all night. Got home with soggy feet around three in the morning. 💗🙆

Mars and Jupiter

Me watching the planets from Oxwich Bay. Pic by Stell.

Loughor

 June 13, 2023

Today's plan, on day 4 of my birthday week away from the office, is to spend the day writing and researching before heading out to Loughor to photograph more remnants of WW2...

Update. Disappointed to discover that the looped wall I wanted to photograph in Lough has now been knocked down and replaced with more modern brick wall :(

CHILLED

June 11. 23

Bedridden

June 13, 2023

Bedridden with the worse hay fever of of my life. Still, a deadline is a deadline and I'm trying my best to work through the 😭 and🥺 and constant sneezing...

Remnants of War Reveal

 Saturday, June 3, 2023

Today's task is to make sense of all my research notes...

That done,  spent the evening with Photoshop, editing this image of a now destroyed WW2 building that was located near my old family home in Crofty.

And, busy bee as I have been of late, here's the reveal of the proposed cover for Remnants of War:

 June 2, 2023

Sabotage

June 1, 2023

A morning writing session sabotaged by fudjcat:

 

 

 

In the end I had to relocate outside away from furry intrusions lol:

Fairwood

 Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Took the day off work for a photo-shoot of my exploration of the land around Swansea Airport. Found numerous reminders of the old WW2 RAF base that was once situated here too. If you want details of what you are looking at, you will have to wait a month for the publication of Explore Gower - Remnants of War. Thank's to L8 for the company (and sorry about the bog I led us into). Oh, we also heard a cuckoo!

Graveyard Rendezvous

My first GNS zines. These make for fascinating reading.

Last Day

Monday, May 29, 2023

Last day of our 1st holiday of the year. I've ticked everything off on my To Do list for May so today is just a day for chilling and acclimatising myself to the thought of returning to the office tomorrow. Still, I'm off again soon enough for a day-long reccy of somewhere I have long since wanted to explore - watch this space...

Sabat 2

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Time for book 14 of my 2023 GNSathon. After my enjoyment of Sabat 1, I though I had to stay with the man for his next dark adventure:

A Lazy Reading Kind of Day

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Guy N Smith's Sabat has rapidly become my favourite GNS book.

Hiding Interest

Friday, May 26, 2023

Pottering about in the garden, adding hidden interest for those with exploring fingers...

 

Wind Turbine Roundup

 I don't know why people hate wind turbines. These majestic constructions are stunning, and I have always enjoyed visiting them.

Last nights sunset visit to the local wind farm was a success but the photos do not show just how chilly it was out there. As for today's tasks, the sunniest week of the year so far will no doubt draw me into the garden again, where I hope to get a good chunk of reading done. This evening's task/is to continue to trawl through my terribly messy files for suitable images for RoW. Anyway, time to crack on...

Reading Sabat / Watching Wind Turbines

May 25,2023

A fairly quiet day yesterday - the first half of which was spent undertaking a big spring clean of the house. I spent the rest of the day reading and digging out my photographs of the old WW2 radar station up on Rhossili Downs, which I shall be working on today for the RoW book. I have plans for this evening. Heading out to grab some sunset shots of something most people seem to hate but which I am particularly fond of. More of that tomorrow though...

My GNS Collection

May 24, 2023

My Guy N Smith collection of books, manuscripts, interviews and reviews.  

I've started reading my 13th Guy N Smith book of 2023: Sabat - Graveyard Vultures. 

RoW Progress

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

 This week's shoot for RoW has now been completed. The introduction has also been written. I've also added more photographic content to the book. Gower WW2 remains covered in my new Gower book so far include those found at Clyne, Whiteford Sands, Swansea Bay and the watchtower out on the Burry Estuary near Weobley Castle. Oh, and I also finished another GNS book! I haven't yet decided on what the next book will be on this years GNSathon...