Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Just when I thought I'd cracked it - the rain came

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I flew through my list of jobs yesterday. The walls and ceiling of the 2nd garage that I'm converting into an office are painted and ready to go. I've painted the fascias of the garage and checked out the roof. A few small holes in the felt lining were found, but I've now filled these and it will be watertight for the Summer at least. Other odd bits around the house have been completed and I was ready to tackle the garden today. A man with a chainsaw took down the hideously overgrown tree in the front that was blocking the light and would eventually cause issues with its roots. The first job today was (and in all likelihood still is) to remove all of it to the local tip.

And then the rain came.

It's rained quite heavily for most of the night, so jobs like mowing the lawn, weeding, edging, etc just can't be done. Other jobs today included laying more stones at the peaceful spot at the end of the garden and putting up wall planters. This probably can't be done in weather conditions like this and I'll have to see if the rain stops later on in the day.

This was going to be the two days when I got everything for the house sorted for the coming Spring and Summer. Now the garden stuff and the outside cleaning (fascia and outside upstairs windows) has fallen by the wayside. There are always things to do and with the recent collapse and rebuild of my PC, I have plenty of things I can be getting in with - but none that complete an area of concern fully and allow me to move on. The next day set aside for this will be Sunday, and this is dependent on how the recovery from Saturday's wedding goes!

I'm still moving forward with the next thing method of compartmentalising my life, but there seems so much to do and so little time to do it in, as has been said before.

I'm not 100% sure whether I have mentioned this in my blog before, but one of the ways I generate an income is to complete online surveys. I'm signed up with 5 of these survey sites and they send me surveys several times a week each. You answer some basic profiling questions at the start and these filter you in or out of the earning part of the survey. Each survey company has a different way of packaging the rewards (points, £'s, vouchers, PayPal income, prize draws) but basically they all add up to money in your pocket. I'd say I probably earn around £250 to £300 a year from this and it's great for Christmas and birthday presents. Well, I've got around 30 survey invites in my inbox, so there's a few hours if my time this afternoon.

If you're interested then give it a try.

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Photography stalls as the light fails

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As I've mentioned before on my blog, I'm taking a course in photography at the local college. The reasons are professional and personal. Personally it's always interested me, and it's nice to have a hobby and to have like-minded people. Professionally I'm often appalled at estate agents photographs. The subject matter is often poorly chosen (bathrooms and toilets are a particular bugbear.) The photos are often poorly staged and badly composed. The images more often than not don't add to the overall appeal of the property and do nothing to sell it, which is their dole purpose.

I'm taking the course on its merits, trying to accept the whole of the teachings and to take photographs of portraits, landscapes, abstracts, etc and not just photos of interiors that will assist me in my future profession. I think that having a rounded skill set and being able to apply different skills and techniques will assist me in taking great photographs for my clients.

As the weather has turned colder and the evenings are darker earlier, the light has hugely affected my ability to, and inspiration for taking photographs. A large part of photography is understanding and playing with the light, and when the light changes so significantly so quickly it affects all the settings and I admit, has thrown me out.

I'm looking at taking my camera with me on Christmas shopping trips but I'm sure I'll be distracted by more pressing issues. I'm not overly sure about how many photos I'll get taken but any practice I can get will be beneficial to refining my art!