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expired 220 Kodak Chrome 200 film shot in Fuji GA 645zi Medium Format Rangefinder
Downtown Huntsville - Big Spring - Fall 2015
Has there ever been a more horrible means of getting from one place to another than air travel? I am resolved in future to avoid it whenever possible. A split second after taking this I was sprawling at the top of the aeroplane steps. One seems to topple in slow-motion, but there is a point during the descent when it becomes obvious that recovery is impossible and the best strategy is to minimise injury by hitting the floor obliquely. So, in a kind of parachutist's roll, and holding my camera aloft, I managed to squirm into an impact zone between the feet of the lady in the photograph and those of her companion, off left.
"You all right?"
"Uh, yeah ...thanks".
My own silly fault, of course: I should have been looking where I was going instead of taking snaps. But it was an inauspicious beginning and struck the keynote of a not altogether enjoyable holiday. Our flight was at 07:45 from Gatwick. This meant setting off at lunchtime the previous day, an overnight hotel stay and a 3am start. I think I had about an hour's sleep. Then to Purple Parking and the shuttle bus to the terminal. We were required to be there three hours ahead of departure but completed the formalities in twenty minutes. This, I think, is a racket to get you bored stiff for several hours surrounded by duty-free shops. Plenty of places to get breakfast, but all so horribly crowded that we went without. The best I could do was get a bag of nuts and raisins from W. H. Smith.
At Valletta it was 50° Fahrenheit and raining. I think because the cruise ship wanted to stagger the arrival of its passengers, we were bidden to a coach, which trundled off for a drive-around of the environs, never exceeding 20mph. This might have been interesting had I not been fighting to stay awake. My head lolled. At the cruise port we joined the back of an immense queue for the reception formalities. Valletta was supposed to be a "destination", but of course, nobody was in a fit state to take advantage of the opportunity to explore.
I'd photographed this train at Soham, in what I expected to be the star shot of the day. It turned out total carp. I drove on to Ely and could see that the train had been held in the goods loop. I parked in the Tesco across the road from Ely Station. One is not penalised for the first three hours ...jolly handy for a bit of spotting. In any case I had a bit of shopping to do. In particular I hoped the Ely branch might stock my current favourite tipple, Morland's Hen's Tooth, unobtainable at Sainsbury's and found locally ...in my experience... only at the Bury St Edmunds and Watton branches of Tesco. You can get it as a four for £6 deal too. No luck though, but I came away with an acceptable alternative, Greene King Abbot Reserve ...not to be confused with mere Abbot.
I stowed my precious purchases on the back seat ...this, I thought, would bestow customer status in the event of any dispute about parking... and strolled over to the station. Stone me! The train was still there ...and remained for a further twenty minutes. It was the 10:34 Felixstowe North - Hams Hall, seen on Saturday 4th March. The snap was taken with my Fuji GA645Zi at the extreme wide-angle end of its zoom range. It isn't a camera for the conventional "front-three-quarters" type of shot.