UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from Photographers Blog:
A Royal prayer to the weather gods
It can't be very often that I have the same thought as Prince William, or indeed his fiance Kate Middleton. But after today's visit to Darwen in northern England I'm sure there was at least one point, as the rain bounced off the pavement, that we were all thinking the same thing; I hope the weather is better than this on the 29th!
It was billed as the couples last public engagement before the big day and myself and Reuters colleague Darren Staples had arrived at our separate venues early in the morning to set up and claim our positions.
Security and competition from other photographers means the call time is usually at least a couple of hours before the VIP's arrival. This is fine when the weather is on your side, but after a gloriously sunny weekend England's famed April showers chose today to put in an appearance and soaked us to the bone.
When covering football as a photographer you are always prepared for sudden changes in the weather, but protocol dictates that waterproof trousers and hiking boots aren't usually de rigeur for royal visits and smart attire is neither comfortable or waterproof.
from Photographers Blog:
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…?
Snow. Looks good on those Christmas cards, doesn’t it? Fun for small children. Even nice for penguins in the zoo. But photographers covering soccer? Brrrrrrrrrr. Not really.
Let’s get one thing straight. We Brits go on about the weather like a stuck record, but when it comes to it, we can’t cope with it. That’s why we live in Britain.
from MacroScope:
UK goes crisis camping
If the Hollands Wood campsite in the New Forest, near England's south coast is anything to go by, the recession really is altering the holidaymaking habits of the British public.
On the often rain-sodden site three Porches, a couple of Jaguars and numerous BMWs and Mercedes were spotted among the more typical, Skodas and Ford Mondeos usually associated with roughing it under canvas.
from Photographers Blog:
Snowed under
So what do you do when the TV and radio news are all telling you not to travel, and then you receive a group SMS from your company saying stay at home?
Well it's the worse snow storm to hit London in 18 years and all you want to do is get out there and shoot it.
Will there ever be the “right type of snow” in Britain?
The last time round when there was such widespread travel chaos in Britain due to snow was quite some time ago….it was in 1991 – the year the “wrong type of snow” was born – British Rail’s ill-conceived attempt to explain why the railways had come to a virtual standstill after heavy snowfall.
The “wrong type” of just about anything has since been used to explain why the country’s creaking transport system is grinding to a halt ….remember the one about the “wrong type of leaves” on the tracks?
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The Wall
