Look closely

Greetings my Waffle friends. I am in a slightly unusual mood today, so you will probably get a slightly unusual post. It could be the wind, hail and rain, the evening sun just coming out in Windsor now. I worked from home today, forcing myself to do my least favourite part of my job, as that is all there is left to do now. Have I got a bit of lockdown fatigue? Probably. How about you?

It is easy to take photos of traditionally pretty things like flowers, that appeal to all. But sometimes I like to look beyond that, to find beauty in things that are not traditionally thought of as beautiful. I thought the thistle above, which was absolutely massive, was stunning. I was drawn to photograph it straight away. I like its symmetry. I took it a few weeks ago and couldn’t find a place for it on the blog until now. A couple of days ago a Council worker was out strimming the banks and borders of the estate and David remarked that my thistle was about to be no more. I appreciated the fact that I had noticed it when I did and captured it. Alas it was a weed, and weeds however beautiful are not allowed to persist.

In our garden, I think these wild poppies are probably weeds, but they’re so pretty, we just let them grow.

I have been trying to get a good shot of a puddle for you recently. Children often have the most common sense of us all and they love puddles. So much they have to jump up and down in them until they are completely soaked. Maybe it’s partly that they like the look on the grown ups’ faces while they do it. “So what? It’s a puddle. It’s great and I can make really big splashes. Why? Just because I can and it’s here, that’s why. Who cares if my clothes get wet? It’s funny!” Well I am of the age that I am no longer splashing in the puddles but I do appreciate them, in all their different shapes and sizes and depths, the little leaves floating in them and the ripples on the surface in the wind. So far this is my best puddle shot, which I know isn’t award winning, but I like the circles from the raindrops as they fall.

When I was walking to work just before lockdown (perhaps I should start calling this time period BL and after lockdown as AL?) anyway, in the BL period I was starting the blog and looking for interesting things to photograph for The Waffle posts and I started to focus on industrial beauty. In the same afternoon I went and photographed all the lovely architecture of the churches of Windsor, but in the morning I was drawn instead to the unusual subject of drains and manhole covers. I like the fact that they are strong and sturdy, and they often have old fashioned industrial names embossed onto them. They also come in lots of different shapes and sizes, which I like. I have no idea what any of them actually do by the way! I guess I can probably tell you what might be a water meter, and the one with BT written on it is a bit of a give away, but that’s about it. Well, in praise of urban beauty and industrial strength, I give you, ladies and gentleman, the usually trodden on and unnoticed, manhole covers and drains of Windsor. They don’t put these in the guide books, do they?!

Don’t worry, the pretty flowers will probably be back tomorrow…! The ready made chicken Kievs are just going into the oven now. Do you think people really eat these in Kiev? Answers please.