EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

savingholmes

Sounds like you are having a great time with all the air shows. Definitely be mindful of the sun though - it's due to be hot, hot, hot. I wouldn't be able to stand around in it. Are you allowed to take parasols? I'd need one!!

milann

Parasol sounds like a good idea 👍

EssexHebridean

Greent it's going to be SOOOOO flipping hot! I bought new factor 50 last week, and have a plan to carry several bottles of water strewn about my camera bag in the hope that I'll be able to refill as needed through the day! Plan is to take a 500ml insulated bottle, plus a 750ml plastic (theoretical single use but in practise will be refillable) - that way I have colder water on standby if I do start overheating. Might also take a second insulated bottle to leave in the car actually, along with the cold box and ice packs. 

Lol SH & Milann a parasol might indeed be a good idea but not easy to juggle that and a camera! I'll be fine - ideally I'd have a hat but I've not been able to lay my hands on a suitable one at the moment. Should have thought to look in M@t@lan when I was in there the other day. 

As well as getting some more beer festival stuff done last night I also managed to get a load of photo files backed up and all my memory cards cleared down ready for the weekend. Batter 1 is charged, battery 2 will be done tonight, and batteries 3 & 4 are already in cameras - I'll be packing a charger anyway to recharge stuff as needed in the evenings. 
Tonights tasks will be to get clothes sorted and packed, check and re-pack my camera bag with as little extra stuff as possible to reduce weight, sort out my insulated mug ready for my first cuppa of the day each morning, sort out the laptop and laptop bag with charges etc, and pack my smaller camera bag ready for tomorrow.  I plan to stop on the way through tomorrow to get food for my lunch, then swing round somewhere tomorrow evening once I've got into my accommodation to get food for dinners tomorrow, Friday and Saturday.  

I have my car back apparently with working aircon which is precisely what's needed - waiting for confirmation of the cost but I know it'll be reasonable so all good there. That'll be a straightforward transfer across from the car expenses account anyway. 

milann

Enjoy your working air con…..ours broke last year and they quoted £450 to repair it…..the car isn’t worth much more than that….so we open the windows now 😂😂😂

beanielou

Have a fantastic weekend 😊. Enjoy. 

savingholmes

Do you need a coolbag for your camera batteries too so they keep working? I am a kitchen sink packer... you may have picked that up....

EssexHebridean

Well that was indeed a cracking weekend! Great company, excellent flying, and at first glance the photo results seem to be good too...fingers crossed! The working car aircon was a godsend yesterday as by the time I got back to it I was boiling! SH it's funny you should say that - the spare batteries stored in my bag are fine as they live far enough inside the bag to be reasonably insulated - the camera suffered a bit on Thursday though - I was in the middle of shooting an arriving aircraft and it just stopped functioning (the camera, not the aircraft!)  - a proper uh-oh moment. Error 70 on the screen - which when googled proved to be "overheating". Battery out, card out, give it 30 seconds, put everything back together again and it was fine for the rest of the weekend - I was mindful about keeping it in what shade there was though! Honestly - that camera is 6 years old and owes me precisely nothing - it's been a proper workhorse and, when operator error isn't in play it still impresses me with the results from it. 

The accommodation was fab - lovely cute little terraced cottage with everything I could need, and a short drive to Fairford as well - we decided to look for something in the same sort of area for next year and indeed hopefully have something booked just along the road. I did my "usual" and popped to M's at Carterton on Thursday evening to grab food and drink for the following few evenings so I knew I had low stress options for when I got home each night - cooked a pizza for Thursday which did friday as well, and then lots of additional nibbly bits, bread, cheese etc so I was well catered. Ended up with just breakfast at the show Friday and Saturday and ate when I got back - yesterday I grabbed lunch there as well as I knew I'd be later getting back to home last night but that was fine. As predicted - not a cheap few days but well worth every budgeted for penny! Water was freely available at the show - I took in a 750ml plastic and a 500ml insulated bottle and left a further insulated one in the car each day but in fact the supplied water was cool enough to be pleasant to drink, nd astonishingly I managed to avoid sunburn too - kudos to N1vea's factor 50 sunscreen for that! 

Managed to catch up with loads of pals, and spend some time with my mate who's one of the Reds photographers although he's leaving the team this week. Also saw the guys I know from the Reds team including meeting one of them who I knew knew who I was but didn't imagine would recognise me - I was astonished when the moment he clapped eyes on me he said "Ahh - now we've never actually met before I don't think!" My friend Byron who I was with was just knocked sideways about how nice everyone on the team was too - they've definitely earned even more respect than he had for them before I reckon! Just lovely. 

Back down to earth now mind with a REALLY warm office! Having said that it's a lot cooler in here than it is outside - I took the post down a short while ago and it's ludicrously toastie out there - in fact by the time I got back I felt rather like I imagine a toastie in a 8reville press must feel! Opted to use the bike this morning because at least that's less time out in the heat tonight when I head back to the car - I'll be taking it VERY gently on the way back though! 

Salad planned for this evening - and my gut feeling is currently that I'll look what I can put together for tomorrow as a cold option as well - perhaps some sort of pasta salad. There is no specific meal plan for this week I confess - I failed there - but we do have lots of options available to us so it shouldn't be a problem. I need to check with MrEH how much he spent at the farmers market too so I can kick off the July grocery budget. I brought back some oddments from the bits I bought for the weekend - a pack of falafels, some cheese, there would have been a punnet of grapes but I ate those in the car on the way home! Very impressed at our trusty coldbox and ice packs for keeping everything at a great temperature for the whole day in the boot of the car as well. 

foxgloves

Sounds like you've had a great weekend, @EH. You are brave cycling in this heat. Are you under the horrid red blob on the weather map? We certainly are. I think I might have to find a snowy film to watch.
F x

beanielou

Glad that you had a good weekend 

savingholmes

Glad the weekend went well and the camera survived the heat