graemehowie.com

This week we returned from a couple of weeks away visiting the families in Ireland and Scotland. Fantastic weather for the first week in Northern Ireland, and then snow and wind in Scotland! Still, we also visited Belfast Zoo, the Island of Arran, the Island of Cumbrae and Edinburgh Zoo. Eight ferry crossings in total, the most expensive, (per minute) being Largs-Cumbrae at £36 for a car and 4 people for a return trip of 6 mins each way!

Some photos at the end of this post.

Almost all the photos were taken on my iPhone 4, and I still maintain it’s an excellent compact camera replacement. Improved noise reduction would help – some of the modified photos with added borders have a particularly noisy effect added using SnapSeed, but straight iPhone images are still relatively grainy. However, the colours it captures from the sky are excellent under most conditions, and I’ve got more than enough Apps on board to tweak the photos as required, especially relevant given we spent ages on various ferries this time.

And finally, what holiday would be complete without our Freelander feeling the need for some attention too? The drivers window mechanism failed less than 18 hours after leaving home. Fortunately I was able to close the window with the application of some force and then found an independent specialist in Ballynahinch where they were able to replace the mechanism there and then.

Next holiday should be early September with a trip to Disneyland Paris (and F-WTSS, F-WTSA, F-BTSD and F-BVFF – ooops, er, “look over here Catherine – oooh, Chanel… Excusez-moi mademoiselle, je suis à la recherche des indications pour le Musée de l’aviation” 🙂