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i've never been hassled by pc plod, but securitah has several times.

"Labour MP Austin Mitchell is planning to take a delegation of photographers to the Home Office to protest about the growing number of cases in which police officers and others try to stop professional and amateur photographers taking pictures in public places."

[link]

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"Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise that the Internet is a vast platform for cultural expression, access to knowledge, and democratic participation in European creativity, bringing generations together through the information society; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access."

[link]



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bang! goes a toyota corolla into the back of my car at 14:21 today. dammit.... she admitted liability so insurance is paying out for the work.

my car came out of it mostly ok. i need a new rear bumper and the park radar doesn't work anymore. the toyota had a very bent bonnet, smashed headlights, sidelights, indicators, bent both wings, smashed the grill and holed the rad. i made sure she was ok before i left (i was on work time, going to see a customer) as she was quite shaky. she seemed ok after about 10 minutes.

pix of damage: [link]

anyway; camping! two suggestions so far -

1) mojave (awesome, but a bit far)
2) derbyshire

any more suggestions?

i haven't used my tent in a while, so i've bought some "nikwax" to rejuvenate it's water resistance. weather allowing, i'll apply it tomorrow after i've been cycling.

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i want to go camping over the easter weekend. somewhere in the UK. somewhere photographic that offers lots of places to go hiking. where should i go?

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let's see how i did....

>to do:
>hiking up fells

yes!

>making it up helvellyn if the weather's ok

no, weather was too bad.

>cycling down fells

no fells, just big hills - i did manage to get brake fade on my disc brakes(!) though.

>cycling round the lakes (windermere is planned - 46km)

no too cold <0 degrees C 1st week and raining all the time 2nd week. bummer

>hopefully i will not be:
>falling off my bike and hurting myself.... again

fell off at the end of the first ride on the first day. banged my right knee and hip pretty bad and couldn't walk without a limp for 2 days. sigh...

>falling in a lake

i had to wade into windermere to retrieve a broken rc boat. it wasn't very warm.

>stepping on any windslab or cornices

nope. i did almost slip on ice a couple of times in the 1st week on some of the fells. there was a lot about.



re the brake fade, that was pretty scary. i was pressing the lever harder and going faster! managed to stop in the end. i foolishly wanted to see how hot the brake disc had become once i stopped and touched it with my (gloved) hand. it melted part of my glove. i went to ambleside and bought a set of metal pads to use instead of the stock resin ones. they make a bit more noise, but i didn't have a problem with fade after that. i think for next year i'll get bigger discs. i have 160mm front and rear at the moment.

i had a go at the 'north face' mountain bike trail. it was amazing. a bit of a mix of exhilaration and slightly scary at the same time. my bike's a cross country one. it felt really nervous on the downhill sections (as did i - this was my first taste at downhill). luckily i didn't fall off and it was very quiet so there was next to no one to point and stare at me chickening the drop-offs (walking the bike over) and only going half way up the berms. it was looking all too much like concrete steps down to an underpass in places (bad memories). but still, i'd like to try this a bit more and see how i get on.

pix to follow. i've posted a nice pano tonight.

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