OUTER SUBURBS 208 – BREAKFAST IN THE OUTER SUBURBS 2

 

 

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Breakfast plonked down on top of various urgent and often tea-stained papers, that are but the tip of the iceberg of great piles of paper and other rubbish that litter what I laughingly call my “desk”.  A hot breakfast, something to keep the cold out – the near zero temperatures and strong winds of the early morning – as I pound the streets of the Outer Suburbs.  Streets which are now, in these locked down, virus-ridden times, mainly quiet and almost devoid of other walkers, almost all of whom – thank goodness! – are very much into social distancing.

So, what is here?  Well, piping hot cod and chorizo fishcakes and cooked tomatoes, along with grapes, and slices of orange, apple and melon.  And all given more bite by pickled garlic, and a gert great dollop of (meaning, in rather more refined circles, “quite a lot of”…)  Patak’s Lime Pickle.  Oh yes, and all washed down with a mug of hot, strong tea – tea strong enough to stand the spoon up in! >>> tea that leaves a dry film on your teeth! >>> tea that puts hairs on your vest! >>> that sort of tea!!!

When I’ve eaten one of these breakfasts, cats follow me down the streets.  But that’s OK, I like cats.

Oh and the mug, yes, Homer Simpson, very much a role model.

An earlier breakfast post is here: 1 .

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Natural profile; south Bristol; 28 Mar 2020.
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BRISTOL 166 – AT LUNCH, DRINKING WATER (MONO)

 

 

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Carafe and glass on a wooden table top: a cool drink before the food arrives.

More images from Browns restaurant can be found by clicking onto the Browns tag below – recommended.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 36mm (equiv); 800 ISO; centre-weighted average metering; Lightroom, using the Camera Astia/Soft profile; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Full Spectrum Inverse preset and adding a moderate Coffee tone; Capture NX2; Browns restaurant, central Bristol; 28 Apr 2017.
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OUTER SUBURBS 205 – SODA WATER WITH ICE AND A SLICE OF LEMON 3

 

 

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A soft drink at lunch: there are earlier versions here: 1 2 .

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 19 Feb 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 202 – LUNCHTIME DRINKS

 

 

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Drinks on the table, and now we await the food.  Two drinks, soda water with ice and lemon for the more sensible, civilised and sober of the two diners, and something else for …  well … the other one …

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 19 Feb 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 197 – SODA WATER WITH ICE AND A SLICE OF LEMON 2

 

 

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At lunch in the outer suburbs.

There are earlier versions here: 1 .

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 19 Feb 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 196 – MIXED GRILL … ALMOST …

 

 

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Hardly fashionable in these vegetarian and indeed vegan times, but I can’t resist starting this with a quote from the cult film Withnail and I , where one of the heroes, probably emerging from overindulgence on booze and drugs, suddenly blurts out “I want something’s flesh!“.

Well I don’t actually blurt it out like that, and I never bother with any drug except The Electric Soup (usually of Belgian pedigree), but when lunching out I do usually like something meaty.  Many of you will know of my penchant for Full English Breakfasts, and there are such things as All Day Breakfasts, but (slightly) classier establishments also put out Mixed Grills – which I suppose might be deemed The Thinking Man’s/Woman’s All Day Breakfast – and when done well, these can delicious, like the one above.

So I’d taken a camera to lunch and, when this feast arrived just couldn’t resist some photos – without seeing what was missing.  And just as I’d finished the photos, we were treated to the spectacle of the pub’s manageress sprinting frantically towards us carrying a small plate (now that’s what I call service!) >>> on which was the 4oz, well done steak the cook had forgotten to crown this sumptuous feast with.

So you’ll just have to imagine the steak but, working clockwise around the plate, the other constituents of this feast are as follows.  A jug of very tasty pepper sauce; chips; onion rings; a slab of grilled chicken, complete with dark scorch marks from the grill – which I always like to see; a grilled mushroom; half a grilled tomato – two halves would have been be even better – they are simply delicious with gammon and bacon, and they add moisture to what can be a rather dry repast (see below); a good, thick, tasty slice of gammon; a runny fried egg, which is almost obscuring three scorched and tasty pork sausages; and peas >>> on top of all of which went the 4oz steak.  I can only say, delicious, and certainly something for a cold winter’s day.  But glad I didn’t decide to “upgrade” (what a wonderfully awful term … 🙂 ) to an 8oz steak …

And what else?  Well, MOUNTAINOUSLY important, the meal was served on a warm plate – serving any hot meal on a cold plate is, to me, total sacrilege.  And lots of salt and tomato sauce, the latter especially important as these grills can be a little dry.  And two pints of chilled Stella Artois lager which, despite all my snobbish jibes, is really not at all bad accompanying a meal like this.  And a steak knife, which is both practical and which also serves to add a tiny element of ritual.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid profile; inverted, to heighten the effect of the lighting; south Bristol; 19 Feb 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 191 – SODA WATER WITH ICE AND A SLICE OF LEMON

 

 

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At lunch in the outer suburbs.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 10 Feb 2020.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 429 – CONGENIAL CAKE, A LITTLE PIECE OF IMAGINATIVE SIMPLICITY

 

 

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So much of today’s world consists of buzz words, of “smart” this and “smart” that, of hype and image – and, quite frankly, most of this leaves me cold.  In many cases I feel such things to be a triumph of style over content.  I have produced some stuff over the years – geology, data analysis/management, ornithology – but I have never felt the need to label any of it as awesome or amazing – it was just, well, what it was – no marketing, no hype, no bullshit.

So that when I encounter things now, however commonplace and mundane, that show genuine sparks of imagination and innovation, I do tend to hugely admire and treasure them, and the people who have dreamt them up – in a way, I suppose, because amidst all of the commercially driven hype, media pressure and bullshit that modernity continually throws at us, I see these things as evidence that true imagination and innovation persists – and that to me is a very valuable and reassuring thing.

And so to a little bakery – Winnies Bakery  – in Weston-super-Mare, where the Somerset Levels run down to the sea – and also to a branch in Burnham-on-Sea, just down the coast to the south.

So just  what has Winnies  produced, that really gets to me???  Well, quite simply, a range of inexpensive and very tasty cakes with a really inspired but very simple name – Congenial Cakes.  I mean, wow!, who thought that one up????  And the two shops themselves are very unprepossessing, again no hype, no marketing bullshit, just simple counters and shelves stacked with inexpensive but extremely pleasant cakes, pastries and savouries >>> really, what more can one ask????

And here is a picture of a Congenial Cake – you can’t even see the cake clearly – but, take my word for it, it was delicious.

Technique: TG-5 at 30mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; Weston-super-Mare, Somerset; 9 Nov 2019.

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OUTER SUBURBS 134 – TAKING A CAMERA TO LUNCH … AND A FUN COMPETITION WITH FUN PRIZES!!!

 

 

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Out for lunch, and lunch taking awhile to appear. Well, it was a Monday, the school holidays are over, and maybe the restaurant hadn’t expected such a tide of (mostly) oldies.  Anyway, the TG-5 camera was in my pocket, as it often is, and so to looking around at the things on the table in front of me.  When you’re into photography, there’s always something to look at …

But when it eventually appeared, the large mixed grill couldn’t be faulted – a carnivore’s dream, accompanied by tomato, onion rings, mushroom and (an inexhaustible supply of) chips, and probably with more than a whole day’s quota of calories.  In fact it was almost more than I could eat; must be getting old …

And, as always, the Olympus TOUGH TG-5 camera was wonderfully compact, and very capable and adaptable.  I used spot metering; and also the Microscope Mode, which enables extreme close up shots with illumination from the camera; 1600 ISO; processing in Lightroom.  Each picture can be enlarged by clicking onto it to open a larger version in a separate window, and clicking onto that image to further enlarge it.

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3 >>> COMPETITION!!!  BIG PRIZES!!!  QUESTION: WHAT DOES THIS ARTWORK SHOW???  >>>  First prize: a night out in the Outer Suburbs with The FATman!!!  Second prize: two nights out in Outer Suburbs with The FATman!!!!!!  And furthermore, really entering into the spirit of the thing, The FATman will on this occasion lower his usual standards and dress code so that black tie will NOT be de rigueur!

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PEOPLE 373 – HUMAN TRAGEDY

 

 

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Every picture tells a story, but here the two words tell the whole story.

So really, now, its just a case of whether I accept the offer of the hard-hitting assignment in social commentary photojournalism or become a lensman with Visit Bristol!

Clicking onto the image opens a larger version in a separate window, and clicking on that image enlarges it still further …

Technique:  strong stomach, almost averted gaze, and TG-5 at 25mm (equivalent); 800 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 14 Sept 2019.
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