Yellow sticky post-it notes for the phone are about as sticky as the current weather forecasts are (not!) reliable! (Derwent Reservoirs images for my cycling guidebook) 2

Up early today as the forecast was saying it was my best chance to get the last few pictures for my cycling guidebook. What the forecast said – partly cloudy, ( ie some sun, scattered clouds). It didn’t look too bad as I set out – although there was heavy cloud immediately overhead, it was clearing nicely from the east, and looking like it might even give a good sunrise. But as I got past Hathersage, the cloud level began to drop markedly, and less than half an hour later, this is what I was staring through the windscreen at…

Raindrops on my windscreen

Not exactly the sort of conditions that make great photos for a guidebook! And really the forecast of late has been about as much use as lead feathers… (So as it claims to be wet and cold tomorrow, I’m expecting blue sky and tropical heat! (please!))

But it’s a photographer’s job to make the best of what the scene throws at you, and although I was sure my original ideas for the pictures I wanted of this route weren’t going to work in such conditions, I thought there must be something I could get that was reasonable.

I really didn’t think anyone else would be out in such grey miserable weather, but having set up my camera, tripod and remote control to get a self portrait pic, a really lovely lady and her son came along and were very obliging in cycling back and forth a couple of times while I got a good shot of them both. Despite the conditions it actually works pretty well – but I’ll not spoil the surprise for readers of the guidebook!

And here’s where the yellow sticky post-it notes come in! I’ve recently gained a new phone (htc), and it rocks… mostly. But there are some things that came with it that are new to me, and electronic post-it notes (which come as a standard app with the phone) is one of those.

They seem like a great idea, but they let me down bigtime today. Aside from the difficulties of entering email addresses in the electronic version of the yellow-sticky’s – without autocorrect making a complete hash of the addy, the top note doesn’t always appear to be very sticky. Perhaps it was just the rain that washed it away(!)… but when I got back home and started to download the images for processing, I discovered that the top yellow sticky had come unstuck… and vanished.

Highly embarrassing as I promised to send a small copy of the image to them for being so kind on such a damp grey day, and now can’t remember quite enough of the email address to work, but I’m just hoping that she will read this as the most current post in my blog, (having given her my email and web addy). So if you are, please could you get in touch via email or through my contact me page and I’ll send you the image I promised! (And sorry I’ve not done so already, but that is why – perhaps pen and paper is still a better option than this new-fangled technology lark, despite the “drunk spider fell into an inkpot and staggered over the page” look to my handwriting!)

But despite the conditions I did manage to get a few good images – this one of me just beyond Slippery Stones Bridge was the last of the morning before I went off to tie up other loose ends on the book. I don’t think it came out too badly given the conditions, and I hope you wouldn’t know it’s actually lightly raining (rather than just being cloudy) when the pic was taken without me saying so!