Review of 2014 : May

May saw me visit London again and do another long canal and waterway walk in East London, starting at Blackwall and ending with a trip aboard some visiting German Navy warships! The month ended with a second interview for a job in Solihull and this one was successful. However i didn't leave my Worcester job until the end of June.

One notable event towards the end of the month was being evacuated from my home because of a bomb scare! I did start gardening this month at last though did not do a lot, my usual meagre pea crop. I grew some chilli pepper plants indoors and they did quite well and lasted until the end of the year when they were killed off by the cold. I used quite a few of the chilli peppers from the plants, mostly on pizza.

Artist of the month was the wonderful When Nalda Became Punk.

Review of 2014 : April

I made a decision at the end of March that commuting to Worcester every day wasn't for me, and i didn't really like the company i was working for anyway so decided to re-enter the "job market". By a coincidence i was contacted by a potential employer almost immediately. I did think at the time this was fate but it wasn't to be, though i did enjoy the interview as the company's offices were canal side!

At Fradley Junction in fact so of course i did a photoshoot as well. A more notable canal walk also took place this month when i completed the Regent's Canal walking from Kings Cross to Little Venice. Its always nice to walk the entirety of a canal and the Regent's is a great one to visit as it crosses London from Paddington to Limehouse. Back in Worcester there was also my first railway focussed photoshoot for some time when i spent some time at Shrub Hill.

My model railway had a boost with the arrival of a third locomotive and was starting to feel like a proper layout. Artist of the month was Real Estate.

Back to back to Lego

I rediscovered Lego a couple of years ago, buying a Star Wars advent calendar and also getting some Lego City sets. I've been away from the Lego scene for awhile, however after reading criticisms online of Lego nowadays that it is rather restrictive and keeps people locked into pre-defined plans and designs (not that i agree with this point of view, you can still customise and subvert the plans - though my nephew hates it when i "customise" his lego cars) i decided to buy a set of mixed bricks and make some spaceships!

Tremendous fun too, my new set has 650 bricks so i could build an armada. 

Review of 2014 : March

Since i had submitted my dissertation at the end of 2013 i had been eagerly awaiting the result and to see if i was going to have a Masters in History. The wait was not too long thankfully and in early March i was able to celebrate my successful course result... and plan my graduation ceremony. I still haven't found something to do next though.

The weather improved in March though the Winter had been pretty mild throughout. I visited Hereford for the first time and very nice it was too, i also went to London a couple of times and Banbury. Artist of the month was the peerless Mary Chapin Carpenter, someone who has been one of my favourite singers since i was 18...

Review of 2014 : February

With a little more time available to me in February i headed up to Stratford, a place i had visited umpteen times during my dissertation writing in 2013 of course. Oddly though my visit there is still the one of only two to the town this year so far, but maybe i needed a bit of a rest from the place! My new workplace Worcester is another town served by a canal and river of course and i did some exploring of the canal in the town.

I created a new blog in February to reflect my returned interest in the railways. Kris' Railway Photos is a blog of my railway photos (natch).

One notable event in February was the final revenue earning passenger flights of the DC-10, which were centred on Birmingham Airport too and i was able to see the great old plane fly over my house as it headed into BHX on its final passenger trip before retirement.

Artist of the month was The Rileys with their sweet jingle jangle pop.

Review of 2014 : January

After spending most of 2013 as a full-time student (my Masters dissertation was submitted right at the end of the year) 2014 would be very different. Straight into a new job at the start of the year, a new-ish career path (e-learning developer instead of web - though they are pretty similar) and in a new city : Worcester.  A daily commute soon left me pretty tired and personal circumstances meant i soon had to go to London at weekends too. Traveling on the train every day did rekindle my interest in the railways however and i began to take a lot of railway photographs.

As January was not that cold i started my first model project of the year, like quite a few of the projects of 2014 it was to be used on my model railway which developed well in the year.

Postcode were artist of the month, enlivening the cold damp gloom of the month with their noise rock.