Norwegian Grey

A grey week in Trondheim - but I was able to try out the new 10-22mm wide angle lens.

Hampton Horsepower

A Little Piece of Italy

Last night I thought that my car radio had developed a fault - reception of some BBC stations was terrible. Imagine my surprise when an Italian DJ took over from the BBC; not French, Dutch or German but Italian!
I soon realised that the poor BBC reception was due to interference from our continental cousins. It's all down to an atmospheric effect known as 'temperature inversion' when a radio signal can be channeled long distances through the Troposphere. Read about it here and here.

One station came through so strongly that the radio even managed to receive and decode the RDS data (see photo). Reteotto Radio broadcasting on 105.1MHz from Lecce in Apulia at the very south of Italy. Coolio or what :)

Bird's Eye View of the BBC

I had a set of meetings in central London and this was the view from the window at the first meeting. All Souls Langham Place and BBC Broadcasting House. It was a beautiful Summer's day in London.

Suffolk Sunset

It's always good to carry a camera with you - you never know when you will see something worth capturing. Like this unexpected sunset on Saturday evening while out for a walk. Why unexpected - well, because it didn't look anything special until just as the sun was almost fully set.

Big Cat Diary

Recently visited the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering at Cosford for a behind the scenes tour of the hangars. The college trains RAF recruits in the avionics and mechanical skills necessary to maintain front-line fighter jets; to do this they use retired RAF aircraft.

Most are disassembled to a greater or lesser extent, but some are kept in running condition. We were very fortunate to see this Jaguar GR.3A outside doing engine runs; it is painted in a very special retirement colour scheme. This photo was taken by my wife - not bad for an amateur!

After the tour we went on to visit the RAF museum, the David Austin rose gardens and the town of Ironbridge. A busy but very enjoyable day out - with something for everyone.

Super Fast in Shanghai

Opened in 2004 at a cost of £830M, the Shanghai Maglev Train connects Pudong airport with central Shanghai - a distance of 19 miles covered in just 7 minutes 20 seconds - an average speed of 156mph.The Maglev relentlessly accelerates around several steeply banked corners as it powers away from the airport until the top speed of 270mph (431kmph) is reached.The indicator in the picture shows 406kmph - because I couldn't get a clear photo of the sign at top-speed; the train was juddering around too much from side to side!

Royal Ducklings

Our duck finally brought out her ducklings for their first appearance in the garden this morning - just in time for the Royal Wedding. There are 13 in all - but so far the mother seems a bit confused wandering around the garden looking for a way out to Dan's pond.

Ospreys Seen in Suffolk

Four special forces CV-22B Osprey are curently on detachment to RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk. They take-off like a helicopter and then rotate the propellers to forward flight. The Osprey would be impossible to fly without a sophisticated full-authority flight control system between the pilot and the aircraft.

Barrier Islands

The southern shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York is protected by a number of barrier islands - including Jones Beach Island (nearest the camera) and Fire Island. This photo was taken from American flight AA684 as it circled before approach into JFK.

Unknown to me at the time of taking the photo - a grisly drama was unfolding on the beaches seen in the photograph.

Flying the Astrojet

Today I flew from Texas to New York on this very special American Airlines B737 painted in a unique retro 'Astrojet' livery from the 1960s. It looks rather lovely in the early morning sunlight at gate 15 of Austin's Bergstrom airport.