And finally, one last picture which I snapped today — a very cheeky looking Aude:

We’re having something of an Indian summer here. I thought I had done the last of the yardwork for the season, but the lawn was looking a little shaggy and untidy, so I decided to mow it again in what I hope will be the last time of the season. Still, I really shouldn’t complain — aside from a fairly miserable, rainy August we’ve had a beautiful summer over here. It’s just a shame that the rainy, miserable August happened to coincide with the two weeks I took off between jobs. And now that it’s sunny outside, I’m always stuck in the office!

We’ve got a very quiet weekend planned. Both Aude and I were tired last night, so we escaped across the street for dinner at the Goods Shed, the restaurant in the farmer’s market across the street. Their daily changing menu is sourced from the market, and the food’s normally very good. I discovered their BYOB policy as I was ordering, so I ran across the street to grab a bottle of St. Emilion that had been laying on my shelf for a while. It was a great way to wash down a couple of steaks.

The sunny weather lent itself to a walk, so it was a perfect excuse to take my camera out and snap a few shots to test my new lens (see the other blog posts for the results). Tonight is probably a quiet evening in — although I may get do some industrial-strength cooking as our neighbour has just had surgery, so I thought it would be nice to take something over so she doesn’t have to do any cooking for a few days.

So far, Sunday plans call for sleeping in, doing a little laundry, and not much else. It’s what weekends are all about.

On an unrelated note, I’ve finally had time to upload the pictures from Francois & Gratiane’s Wedding and Joan & Joey’s visit. Check them out if you haven’t seen them already!

A few more pictures of Canterbury:

The Blind Dog pub, one of our local haunts in Canterbury

Sitting in front of the pub, could this actually be the Blind Dog? He was certainly the Deaf Dog, as he seemed to take no notice of me snapping his picture.

Apparently, loose women are nothing new to Canterbury.

Always the sign of a good neighbourhood.

Another excuse to take my new lens out for a test drive — a walk around Canterbury to take photos of some of the buildings around here. At least it will give everyone a feel for where I live, if you haven’t been here yourself.

I’ve decided to make an investment in the lenses for my camera. Initially, I thought I wanted a high-quality zoom lens, but after reading an article entitled The Forgotten Lens by Gary Voth, I changed my mind. I decided to buy a 35mm lens (equivalent to a 50mm lens on a film camera) and change my approach to photography. Instead of using a zoom lens, I’ll be zooming with my feet for a little while.

I bought a lens from a retiring professional off eBay, and took it out today to take some test shots. I’m really pleased with it — the image quality is great, really contrasty and with well-saturated colours; I love being able to shoot indoors without a flash; and the control of the depth-of-field is fantastic. I know every pro will tell you this ad nauseum, but it really is the quality of lenses that makes all the difference. Here are some of my very quick test shots, largely unretouched in Photoshop (autolevels, crop, image size is all I did to these)

I just looked back to my first entry on this blog, just over a year ago, and what an amazing journey it’s been. Three jobs with three companies. Travel to Thailand, USA, France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Reunion Islands, Mauritius. Nearly Malaysia and Alaska. A new house. One (careless) prang of the car. Nearly 25,000 miles around the M25. Countless birthday parties, dinner parties, and other celebrations. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Friends coming, and sadly, even more friends going.

I never kept a diary when I was younger, which is a shame. It’s amazing how much you forget. But you cover a lot of ground almost without noticing.

I don’t know if anyone else has enjoyed or appreciated my blog. But reading back over the past year, I’m glad I’ve maintained it — if only to remind myself where I’ve been.

Imagine the story it will tell ten years from now.

Just a quick note to say bon voyage to our world travellers, Sandro and Virginie, who are taking six months to travel around the world.

Sandro and Virginie looking smug about their trip

While they may look smug about their trip, and on the face of it I am very jealous, I’m sure I’ll feel less jealous when they’ve both got a case of Delhi Belly in the middle of Asia without a flush toilet or toilet paper for 700 miles.

They’ve threatened to start a blog like mine — we’re anxiously awaiting news of their travels!