the bhutan postage sevice

When Burt Todd took control of the Bhutan postal service, who would have guessed that they would be the forerunners in innovative stamp designs?
I collected some foreign stamps when l was a kid, but Mr Todd has whetted my appetite again, making me hanker for a collection of these little beauties.
What's so special about them? Well, where do l start?
They are only issued in formats that where well ahead of their time.  Scented, silk, 3D, lenticular, metallic, and even little records that play the Bhutan national anthem, folk songs, and a recording of Burt Todd himself. Recent ones are even CD Rom.
Pure genius, and if l wore a hat, l would take it off to them.
There's a lot more information about the stamps, the country, and Burt Todd on this highly recommended site.

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mr c and the h bomb

Christmas 2014 at The Robinsons.

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a very strange looking tattoo

Now that is what l call a tattoo!!
I still can't get my head around it.

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two photographs of chicago

Two stunning photographs of Chicago.  One of the skyscrapers rising above the clouds (by Brandon), and one with the city reflected in Lake Michigan (by Mark Hersch).
I prefer the bottom one myself, as it looks so unreal, and almost Heavenly (if there was such a place).

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the a1 closed in both directions

                           

High drama in Catterick Village!!!!!
It's not very often that the A1 is closed in both directions, but here's the evidence from a couple of weeks ago, when the police and army were investigating a mysterious explosion. Cue mayhem on the slip and surrounding roads.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown, but my guess would be a left over firework, set off drunkenly, late at night.

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the colburn fire brigade

The fire crew from our local fire station at Colburn, Catterick.
A fine upstanding crew who inspire much confidence in times of crisis, and are all fully booked for calendars, modelling, strip shows and hen nights.
The stuff that women's dreams are made of.

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the thing (1982) - john carpenter's storyboards

John Carpenter's movie 'The Thing', freaked me out years ago (and still does to a degree), when the (spoiler alert!!!) exploded head turns into a spider like creature.
Above are some of the storyboards from that sequence, and the complete set can be found at my comic blog (here), or at the main site of The Thing, along with many other of the movie's storyboards.

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sunny torremolinos

While l recover from the last few days, here's a few more photographs of recent trips.  This one to sunny Torremolinos (in Spain) with work at the start of October.
It was a lot quieter than l expected, and also pleasanter, yet still very warm and sunny, but it all seems so far away now.

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one of the perils of getting old

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out and about recently

Some random photographs from when l have been out and about recently, with, as usual, a walk home through deserted streets, one of the joys of living in the countryside (as long as it's not chucking it down!).

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