I don’t really do arty / landscapey stuff any more but I know a few who do. Sites like this one, selling art to corporate types[/url] are a good place to start. I have a mate who makes a couple of hundred a month from this site alone.

I guess it’s a numbers game – if you’re signed up with enough similar sites, it might start bringing in an income.

Another mate, Kris Dutson, landscape photographer extrordanaire[/url] makes a full time occupation out of selling at craft fairs, getting work published in mags and so on. But by thunder he works hard!

I have an old and very dear friend who runs his own succesful business, has a lovely wife and three very well brought up kids and who also happens to be a smack addict.

He’s a very together guy – much more so than I’ll ever be. His life though is filled with the constant hassles of having to score – he has to deal with all kinds of unsavory types and runs the constant risk of getting arrested obviously, which would be utterly devestating for him as he seems to buy large amounts infrequently, rather than small amounts daily.

Yes he has a choice – he says he’s self-medicating, and it’s certainly true that he used to be a bit of a miserable bugger very depressed before he started using and seems happy and well adjusted now.

I’ve seen guys on £3 grand bikes stop to discuss an 8″ drop (really). So you’re both better riders FWIW.

Damn! I’m actually gritting my teeth reading some of this… Which leads me nicely onto +1 for toothache.

Had an abcess many years ago and eventually, when the left side of my face had a tennis ball sized lump on it, I packed myself off to the emergency dentist. He did his level best (evil sadist with murderer’s hands and big, greasy beard).

He managed to get half the tooth out and left the remaining spiky bits sticking up into my swollen gum. The pain was truly exquisite. He reckoned nothing more could be done until the swelling went down and sent me home.

After a few hours of sitting with my head in my hands, rocking back and forth and moaning, I got my Swiss Army knife out, sterilised the spike on the back with a lighter and set to work. It only took ten minutes to remove the shards of tooth. Very nearly passed out more than once, but within half an hour, the swelling was almost gone, the bleeding had stopped and pain levels were back to a gentle throb, rather than screaming agony. I could certainly cut off my own arm if it was trapped under a boulder 🙂

A Scotsman in exile here in Englandshire – and I’ve no excuse for being awake at this time of night / day. Considering (seriously) a relocation to NZ right now. The wife has lots of friends out there and I like the pretty scenery 🙂

Nevr mind goats’ tethering points – me and my mate found a goat’s head by the cenotaph near Banchory-Devenick just outside Aberdeen.

My mate’s aunty lived nearby in the woods and whilst we sat and eat drop-scones, cooked on her hot griddle (no jokes please) she told us about the local witches’ coven 😯

Loads of it still going on – chanting and nakedness and all sorts. Might have to go back with the camera…

Yup – good internal (on site) search function, everything above – especially the P&P prices. Paypal integration is always welcome. I love ‘hover-over’ info boxes. This TV guide[/url] does it very well.

If I’ve searched for something, I hate to have 10 items per page, spread over 20 pages…. Why not just have two long pages? OK it’ll take longer to load (maybe more so if there are lots of images) but I’d rather wait an extra 10 seconds than have to locate the tiny ‘next’ arrow using by laptop’s mousepad. Think that’s it 🙂

What do you sell BTW?

Your overtake approaching the brickworks was probably niave (sic). Little old lady may realise she’s going the wrong way and decide to turn in the entrance, or perhaps she’s going to pick up her son from work etc.

CK response;

You’ve mis-read again, the little old lady had no problems with the overtake, it was a guy coming opposite miles ahead. It’s not niave to expect people to operate reasonably on the road and drive accordingly.

I made this point too, but it got lost in the hinterlands of page two, and I suggested she may be taking a packed lunch to her son…

Perhaps the guy in the van anticipated that LOL (little Old Lady) might do exactly as above and was concerned that a) you would be forced onto his side of the road, or b) you might be involved in a collision with LOL which might then involve him.

And that’s why I reiterate that I’m very wary of overtaking anywhere near a junction of any kind. Really not having a go either – I wasn’t there.

spacemonkey – Member

fourcrossjohn

Did he win?

So far, yes, I think. Haven’t re-visited the thread for a while, but he did put the agressor on his erse in round one. Ding ding!!

fourcrossjohn 🙂

Given that this seems to have become somewhere to air pet grievances, I shall add mine 🙂

Tailgating, obviously. I just flip my mirror up these days – that way, all the stress dissipates very quickly.

And my favourite, as alluded to by stumpy^^^. Folk who drive at 70 on the straights, then slow down to 20 at the slightest sign of a corner. This is particularly applicable to the windy, narrow roads on the west coast of Scotland, where the corners can go on for several miles – they crawl along through the twists and turns doing 20, when 40 or even 50 would be perfectly safe, then the second the road straightens up, their foot is down, they move to the middle of the road and they’re glaring at you in their mirror.

You can be stuck behind this brand of twit for hours sometimes.

I realise that the above description may make it sound like I’m sitting 10 feet behind their rear bumper, hissing in fury. And yes, after 60 miles of this torture, I probably am!! And just for the record, it’s always tourists in hire / foreign cars, not locals (I usually get out of the locals’ way sharpish!).

I generally won’t overtake anywhere near a junction – people do forget to indicate – a lot of drivers seem to be in a dream half the time. I know it’s unlikely a little old lady is going to enter a brickworks / industrial estate, but what if sh’e taking a packed lunch to her son and likes to take corners at 40 / almost overshoots her turn off? Unlikely but perfectly possible.

racist

Well I grew up there (11-28) and am very glad I did. BBSB talks about chips but to me it sounds like he must have one sooo-ore shoulder… You do sound a bit bitter TBH.

It does lack culture, compared to the likes of Edinburgh – there’s a stuffy gallery which does occasionally get the odd interesting exhibition going and a few arts centres but nothing of any interest really. The main theatre reckons it’s doing well if it gets ‘Blood Brothers’ to come.

On the plus side though, it is a good night out if you go to the right places with the right people. There’s also a thriving live music scene and I have to disagree and say that there are now a few really good eateries. Also, even as a kid, you could be out on your bike and within 10 minutes you’re into some glorious countryside. If you have a car, you’re spoilt for choice.

My Dad lives in Saltoun Hall. Get orf my (dad’s) laaaand 🙂

Seriously though (he does) and I keep meaning to take the bike down to visit. Not landed gentry BTW, just a modestly sized apartment in the hall.

Looks like a cracking day out and a good ride BTW!!

More icing sugar required – maybe a stiffer whisk to prevent runniness 🙂 I’ll drink anything but can’t tolerate drippy icing 👿

And if I medicine you, you’ll fink a bwain tumor was a birfday pwesent.

Anything built on a Native American graveyard would want thinking about… (watching Amytiville (sp?)).

So sorry that fell through G – also hope he gets a happy home very soon…

Poor dog – we’ll have him. NE England. We look after lots of dogs but only one permanent resident. Please get in touch – email in profile.

That’s the website online and under construction. If you get a mo, please have a quick look – feedback welcome!

The logo will be redone when I get five minutes. Free shoots still available if you want one – email in profile. Hope this isn’t getting too close to stealth-advertising….!

Oh – addy as above or clicky here;

dog / lifestyle portraiture[/url]

momo – Member
Thanks, I’m on patches at the moment and they are taking the edges off the cravings, the biggest problem is the habitual urges I’m getting, I’m looking longingly at the clock every hour and thinking I should be going out for a smoke now. Feels very odd to have sat at my desk for most of the day!

Haha! I went to my local garage to pick up my car. Gary the mechanic was standing outside in the rain, doing nothing and looking a bit uncomfortable. I asked him why he was standing out in the rain and he explained he was having a fag break. I asked him why he wasn’t smoking and he told me he’d given up the week before 🙂

True story!

I’m currently on the massive, horse-pill sized, Morrisons own brand NRT 2mg lozenges. Again. They do take away the urge to smash things up, but are a bit pointless really – I always just end up addicted to pills instead of tabs. I do feel better for being off the tabs though – sense of smell returning, horrible wet wheeze gone, dog doesn’t back away from my smoky fingers…

Hmmm. Read The Digital Fortress whilst waiting for the rain to stop on a recent outdoors job and it’s shit.*

The Picture of Dorian Gray narrated by David Brown (again, from Audible) is also very good. His voice suits the book to a tee.

*Italics implemented whilst trying to think of another word for ‘shit’. Nothing came to mind.

Just bought a 2TB Buffalo external HD from dabs.com

Came to £72 including shipping and arrived in two days. Seems fine so far – did a fair amount of homework (i.e., googling) before parting with me hard earned. Would link to it, but dabs site seems to be undergoing maintenance…

Up ’til now, most of my (many and varied) drives have been Seagate and Verbatim. They’ve been fine too. Some of the older (five year old) Seagates are getting a bit noisy, but I do tend to browse them a lot, looking for badly catalogued film scans.

That BUFFALO one I first mentioned seems to be the best value for a well reviewed drive right now though…

Currently very much enjoying ‘Never Let Me Go’ from Audible. It’d also be good in a car as it’s a brand new recording, narrated by a lass with a very clear and concise voice. Really good yarn with enough emotional content to keep the good lady happy too.

Oh, and The Thirty-nine Steps, unabridged, read by Robert Powell is excellent, but only lasts four hours.

Well, believe it or not, between the two of us sitting here earlier, we managed to come up with quite a few of the suggestions here. I do offer regular portraits on my main wedding and portrait site, so wanted a dog-centric theme for this one. I’ll link between the two though….

Really like scooby snaps but alas, it’s too late – bought http://www.hairydogphotography.co.uk earlier tonight 🙂

The site’s live but due to redirecting issues, it’s not visible yet to anyone but me… I’ll link to it tomorrow if it’s sorted.

Huge thanks to all contributors – it’s been a lark 🙂 And a learning experience – there are hardly any non-rubbish domain names left out there!

Thanks to all for ideas – had a good few chortles…. Think I’m going to go with hairy dog photography – not the snappiest name, but it seems practically every domain name associated with dogs or plays on words about dogs, has been taken.

Once again, do please get in touch if you fancy a free dog photo session and you’re in or around the North East – I need to build a portfolio. Free print too if it helps. Hope the mods don’t think I’m advertising…!

flip – ta for that. I’d actually thought of it (or might have been the wife) but after a quick search, there are already at least two very prominent businesses using variations – I’m very keen to avoid any confusion….

And yes – Pupparazzi ain’t bad! But sadly there is already a big Oz company trading under that name.

What do you think of flash dog photography? I like it ‘cos it’s snappy (pun intended).

Lots of good names – cheers chaps! dogsbollocks FTW so far 😆

Plenty to be thinking about, but please do keep them coming!

Oh that’s very good organic – off to check!

EDIT – all variations are taken already – pity that.

paw prints gone :-([/url]

😆

Maybe just a touch obscure jock! But the effort is appreciated!!

Dammit!

But it is in the US…

Off to check pawtraits….

EDIT – it’s taken 🙁

Face palm. But it is the best so far….. 😉

EDIT – there is actually a grooming parlour up the road call Doggy Styles 😯

Ach it’s not that bad – they’ve made a massive effort to bring sum cultcha to the area recently. Also, the steel works is back up and running (albeit in reduced capacity) so you’re less likely to be mugged by a huge, unemployed metal-worker.

Good riding very nearby too! I’m just up the road (between Durham and Sunderland) so give me a shout if you want a tour of the local singletrack.

DoctorRad – Member

@user-removed: Looks to me like the best approach would be to use the existing alloy elbows, remove the carbon poles and replace with alloy. No bending of anything needed.

Ah yes 😳 Just checked and you are of course quite correct. I had a false memory of the poles themselves being bent…

Oh Christ.

Next time I buy a house, I’ll check the following;

*Turn all the light switches on and off – make sure they do what they’re supposed to. Turn on several kitchen appliances at once and see if the trip switch trips.

*Turn the shower on – does it work? Does it get warm?

*^^^ Ditto all the taps in the house

*Is there fresh paint anywhere? Why is it there? Covering up damp problems perhaps?

*Open and close all the doors – do they close properly?

*Visit the property at several different times of the day – are the neighbours hanging about in their nightwear drinking cider with all their mates, listening to the worst music ever and smoking spliffs the size of battleships? (This one is particularly close to my heart).

Basically, be really nosey – move furniture around to see if the wall to wall laminate / carpets actually goes to the wall.

Don’t be scared of appearing to be rude – you’re making one of the biggest purchases of your life….

I like Kielder – it’s always quiet! But yes, the midges there are the worst I’ve ever experienced (and my folks live on Skye). The campsite by the pub is the perfect breeding ground – a nice, sheltered valley with a stream running down one side.

Is all that north shore stuff open yet?