We’ve been out tonight to do a pre-wedding meeting with our next victims….er make that our next customers! Seriously, we’re photographing a wedding in a couple of weeks’ time that promises to be a good one. A very ‘handsome’ couple who will prove, I have absolutely no doubt, extremely photogenic.

One of the two halves of the couple works in the evenings so we had to meet them on their one evening off together that they get each week. I must say, I do know how tough it is when you’re bringing up children and you both need to earn money – my own parents struggled with that one for many years.

My Mum worked evening shifts in factories throughout most of my childhood and a variety of other jobs that she could fit in while Jan and I were at school. I can remember her picking fruit all summer in blistering sunshine. It may sound like a doddle but it’s backbreaking, hot work – especially the low growing fruits like strawberries, where you’re bent double while picking. These days, someone had the great idea of growing strawberries at waist height in wooden troughs so you don’t see ‘ground level’ ones as much any more. Thinking about picking strawberries does bring to mind that wonderful book by David Gutterson too – Snow Falling on Cedars – the quality of the writing in that book is exquisite.

Anyway, after taking up some of the very precious time of the young couple who are soon tying the knot, we decided to take advantage of having made the effort to go out on a Friday night and pop into Looe, a seaside town near home, for some supper.

It turned out not to be the best idea we’ve ever had – the place was heaving at the end of the last week of school holidays and so the place we’d hoped to walk into off the street with no booking was full! So, we went to the local curry house and thought we’d made a dreadful mistake. It was packed out and the waiting staff were clearly not keeping up with the demands placed on them. They looked stressed and the customers were griping about long waits for food so we decided to just have one course and ‘get the hell out of there’! So, that’s what we did…..although in between the two we were treated to a very good meal indeed. It was freshly cooked and piping hot as well as being tasty.

On the way back to the car, I got this picture, taken from Looe’s historic town bridge – apparently the bridge that unites East and West Looe has been in place since the 1400s and was the first estuary bridge in the county. The bridge whose parapet provided the ‘tripod’ for this shot was built in 1853 so is much later, but it’s still very beautiful. the shot takes in a waterside carousel and the fish market, closed for the night but with a ghostly crabber in front of it!

My beautiful bohemian was last year's subject!