Happy Easter

I like Easter breaks away from University. This year especially I can appreciate the warmth of being home with family. No boiling kettles for hot water in the mornings to wash and shave with; no going to bed with a hot water bottle; no electric fan heater monotonously droning away in the background to keep warm during the day; no frowning faces when I walk through the house. Back to stress free Devon in the countryside where things seem so much better.

With the garden I worked on at Newport slowly blooming, I cut a dozen flowering daffodils to take home to Mum. I'd have taken more but as anyone who knows anything about gardening would appreciate - to expect bulbs planted during a cold November to all be out in flower come early April is silly. I was very lucky I had as many as I did to take home last week; as really bulbs should be put out in September. Not that we had a garden to speak of at that time! Anywho, next year they more than likely will be out in March but I'll not be around to see it. And when the rest of the garden catches up I'll be spreading them out amongst people who will appreciate them. That's my prerogative - I did put all the hard work in after all!

It's been a rough ride for my family recently. My grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and rushed into hospital for surgery to remove it. Any sort of operation is dangerous at the age of eighty-six but he made it through and we understand he's clear of cancer now. Shortly thereafter, my niece Laura fell terribly ill one night in what my sister describes as the most frightening experience in all her life. The children's hospital took care of her and thankfully she has been steadily making progress. I gather she'll be on medication for a while. A nasty experience she hopefully doesn't understand; though that undoubtedly will make her stronger. Laura will be one year old in a couple of weeks time. How time flies!

So I've not been very happy recently and under a fair amount of duress with one thing or another; however, thanks to phones and the Internet I've been able to keep in touch with friends and family through it all. I'm not overly religious but my faith does help take the edge off when things get tough; and Easter is a good time of the year to reaffirm that. But I'll do that in my own private manner... the fact my father is a vicar doesn't make the slightest difference to how I feel about anything. In fact, it doesn't really figure at all in my life beyond being what my father does for a job - except when little children at primary school used to tease me about it. But hey, that's what little children do.

One thing no amount of faith was going to put right was the fact two of my camera lenses decided to give up the fight and die on me. The cost of repair actually exceeded the cost of replacing them so I've had to order new ones. I say new, one of the two lenses has been ordered brand new for just ten pounds more than the repair cost (and £90 was a great deal in itself). The other is no longer sold anywhere so had to be bought second hand on ebay and was thankfully in good condition. Plus £35 was a lot less than the £60 I was quoted for repair on that one!

Luckily over this past week I've been in possession of my good friends digital SLR camera which is a fantastic piece of kit. It's a Canon EOS-300D so feels very familiar to me, owning three Canon SLR cameras as it is already. I've been snapping away at stuff and for anyone who is interested it'll be possible to view some of those photographs as I trickle them up to my deviantART gallery.

Will this experience convert me from using film? If I could justify putting £500 down on a nice EOS-400D then sure... perhaps it would. Otherwise I can't see much need for it right now. I'm more interested in getting a decent 15-35mm wide lens for my current equipment and even then, that won't happen in a hurry having just spent out on replacing broken lenses.

Anywho, time for me to sign off. I hope to be visiting my grandparents on Monday but will spend the rest of the week working before heading back to Newport on the 15th.

Take care and have a great Easter.
Matthew.