I have to say I’m more than a bit pleased with this. It came to me in a flash while we were undergoing what is rapidly becoming a ‘tradition’ in our new lives, walking the dogs at lunchtime. I can’t tell you how much joy it brings me to be able to do this for myself, rather than relying on someone else (most often DM but before that Jo)

DM claims it was one of the funniest episodes he’s ever seen – he was standing on a rock watching me press timer release, belt over to my ‘spot’ and stand with my arms outstretched for a few seconds then belt back again to review my progress. Fortunately for my dignity and my heart-rate, I only needed to do it three times before getting my shot.

Actually, this was the first pic I took – I took two more with an exposure override of +1 but this did nothing for my landscape and simply detracted from the amazing cloud formation.

The shot was taken just 20 yards or so from this self-portrait from last year.

We walked for the best part of an hour in glorious weather and my soul was soaring already by the time we walked down the street on our way home when we had one of those ‘illuminating moments’ that you can never really quite explain why they are so special and so important.

It was obviously the local infant school’s Christmas disco this afternoon and as we opened our gate we heard a DJ announcing the next record then we heard who-knows-how-many tiny voices belting out ‘Is this the way to Amarillo’ at the tops of their voices. Some were even in tune!!!

We stood on the steps of the house, doubled up with laughter and I know we both thought of it as a really special moment. I’ll certainly never hear the song again without thinking of those little tots going ‘is this the way to Amarillo, every night I’ve been hugging my pillow, dreaming dreams of Amarillo and sweet Marie who waits for me…..’ then a huge burst of really joyous ‘la la la la la la la’……it made my day and I know it did David too. I think being down here has knocked off our hard noses and turned us into real softies.

BTW I don’t know if the success of the Peter Kay charity record reached the shores of any other countries but it’s been a huge hit here this year….the Tony Christie original with Peter Kay miming, I believe.

Last year a lamp sparked (boom boom)us thinking about the dangers of mining and the year before my team were in party mode!