Spring in St Albans

(Photo taken at: 1/250, f/7.1, ISO 200)

This weekend the rain has taken a break! After several weeks of almost nonstop greyness, the sky is a brilliant blue.. and I’m slightly sunburnt.

A Thanks-Filled Thursday

Today was one of those highly strung days where every tiny little thing explodes into a massive, towering catastrophe in the time it takes for me to blink.

I broke my mac charger this morning with a horrifying “kkkkkrrrrrrrrkkkkk” sound (fixed, thank goodness, superglue, and my mum’s stash of fuses). And when it was time to leave for work I decided that the worst possible thing that could have happened to me was having to cycle in this morning’s dose of beautiful winter sunshine (I’ve been cycling in the freezing cold rain without a complaint (usually)). Plus a commute that, when both journeys are added together, ends up being almost as long as my shift at work (genuinely stressful when I have a website to design and blog posts to write). And theeen, oh it’s so awful I can hardly say it, my mum *gasp* didn’t buy the pasta stir-through that I didn’t tell her I wanted.

As you can see from this list of disasters, I lead a very difficult life…

On days like this I’ve learned that the only methods of survival are gentleness, treats and appreciating the little things.

I got to work early and treated myself to an icecream milkshake (possible insanity in the temperatures we had today) and I sat in the sunshine, listening to the likes Billie Holiday, Tracey Chapman and Ella Fitzgerald lulling into one ear, and with the other ear I listened to birds singing around me. I closed my eyes in the sunshine and pretended it was summer. Of course my pretend summer only lasted as long as I could bear the cold of the icecream, the wind at the top of the hill, and the cold, cold air. Then I ran for cover and warmth, but it was very lovely while it did last.

All together now… awww!

Life has been hectic lately, and I haven’t been able to get out much with my camera. I’ve missed it dreadfully, so when I woke to sunshine and blue sky this morning I decided it was time to do something about it. I slung my camera in my bag, hopped on my bike and went off to see what’s new in the world.

My favourite discovery of the day was two gaggles of little goslings (Did you know a group of geese is called a gaggle on the ground, and a skein in the air? I didn’t.), one group a little older than the other. Each group had two guards standing watch, bobbing their heads at other birds, and me, in warning if we stepped too near.

(Photo taken at 1/250, f/4.5, ISO 400)

I fell in love instantly and filled my entire card with gratuitous photos of the little balls of fluff.

(Photo taken at 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 400)

My mini St Albans adventure

Now that I finally have a bike, a whole world is opening in front of me. Last week I realised that there is a train station tucked away right near my house that connects to St Albans, my favourite place nearby, so yesterday I got on my bike and went out for a little adventure, just me, my camera and a book to read.

When I found the station I could understand how I’d never known of its existence before. It’s a single platform by the side of a road, with a couple benches and one train an hour.

(Photo taken at 1/320, f/8.0, ISO 400)

I timed it perfectly, and just half an hour after leaving my house, I was already at St Albans Abbey with the bell chiming above me. (Hmm, is it still “chiming” when it’s a very big heavy bell? I think it was probably “tolling”, more than chiming…)

(Photo taken at 1/640, f/3.5, ISO 200)