| Author | Message | ||
     Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
No descriptions unfortunately; sorry M&M:-    | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 |
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| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
That's great, Mick! Thank you. I don't know how you did it, but thanks ever so much. Send me your invoice and I'll sort something out! If anyone's interested in knowing so, the reservoir featured in the pics is the one that appeared in James Herbert's novel MOON. Far sweeter in daylight than in the moonlight Herbert portrayed it in. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 |
Fantastic Photos Lynchy! I've never been to any of the Channel Islands...One day... gcw | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
Picture One: Me and Michelle on my birthday, reading from Haruki Murikami's BIRTHDAY STORIES anthology. Picture Two: Michelle and a tree we encountered on the way tot he coast, one sunny afternoon. We were staying about twenty minutes' walk away, and the walk came out in the middle of nowhere, as far from any useful coastal feature (such as a cafe) as can be. Picture Three: Pleinmont Point. A gale was blowing in, making fierce witht he water. Skies lowered, waves rose, and splashed in scales enough to swallow houses. That scene is from high on the headland, beneath a Nazi fortification that looked like it'd been built by Cylons. The wind was so fierce I had trouble holding the camera up, and Michelle's contacts dried out. Picture Four: Looking out over a northern bay, westward, late afternoon. Picture Five: On the market for a snip: 8.3 million (more if you're an off-islander). A view overlooking the western bay, where the sunset picture 6 was taken of. Picture Seven: Art. A metal man (one of many) dotted about on the highest architecture of Castle Cornet. And yes, he's got his willy out. Picture Eight: Who is that good-looking bloke in the foreground? The jacket's not leather. It's something called distressed denim. I think it's nier than that, so call it mildly anxious, a state more suited to me. Picture Nine: Michelle at the viewing point from which we took the sunset pictures, as the first long and golden rays of sunset fell on us. Picture Ten: Warm enough for a paddle. Actually, had I the swimming gear, I'd've gone for a propper swim. Or tried. Picture eleven: high gold of pre sunset. Picture twelve: Michelle ON the viewing point! Picture Thirteen. Uh, slightly homo-erotic pose of a fellow caught reading Roger Deakin's wonderful study of woodland WILDWOOD. Picture fourteen: Michelle's looking at me like that because I did the "Duck!" joke . . . Picture fifteen: me and all my mates at my birthday party . . . Picture sixteen: Sceneic view across the flanks of Castle Cornet Picture seventeen: me, in silhouhette, sunset. Picture eighteen: the germans. Lot of bunkers around the island. Some were very disturbing. This one was get-into-able. So the view through darker days. Not pleasant. Picture nineteen: the surf's up in the northern bays. Pity there's no sound or moving pictures. Stills don't capture the size and boom of the surf. Picture twenty: A time traveller looks on . . . (Michelle wouldn't let me send Mick the picture of her and the urine bucket the soldiers used . . .) Picture 21: Shadow reveals my true form! Picture 22: Up on the southern cliffs, my back turned to Petite Bot Bay, as high winds rush in and I nearly have a scarf accident! Picture 23: further reading as wait for plane home . . . Picture 24: Up there, Iron Woman. (I think the sculpture was on sale for Nine grand.) Picture 25: Michelle on the sweet sands of the coves to the north Picture 26: Standing on the edge of some rocks, with a big drop behind, jagged rocks below, and surf inthe background. Looking relaxed about it. Picture 27: make your on jokes (but don't post them, or I'm in trouble). The sculpture was another cheaper one . . . Picture 28: Michelle on the deserted beach at Herm, wondering where everyone is. We had it to ourselves. It looked like a scene from a Bond movie. Picture 29: Michelle in front of a rock, same area I stood on the cliff edge. Looks like Mongo, though, doesn't it? Picture 30: Me and some sticks of wood. Northern bay, breakwater stuff. Lot of surfers about, so I decided not to show my physique and embarrass them out of the water. picture 31: Again, braving life and limb to bring you a shot that doesn't come close to portraying the size of the waves. Picture 32: A stage set for James Herbert's novel MOON, which he wrote on the island. This is the place where the protgonist, Jon Childes, confronts the monster he's been having psychic visions of. By moonlight in the book, of course. Picture 33: Some sunsets you'll never forget. I hope never to forget this one. it was pure magic. The moon was up behind us, we were alone in perfect weather, could hear the lap of the distant sea, watched this perfect sunset linger and shape a bleeding molten cross over the sky. Do other animals stop and pause to take a moment of beauty like this? Picture 34: Waving hi to the RCMB! Picture 35: again, a scene from Herbert's MOON. Picture 36: Post sunset, with Fort grey (known locally as the cup and saucer), the old Martello tower, in the foreground and to the left a bit. picture 37: And later Picture 38: Michelle in department store Creasey's restaurant overloooking St Peter Port. picture 39: Over the tiled roofs toward the port and Castle Cornet picture 40: Our flat! Top three windows on the right. living room/kitchen with light left on. Oops. picture 41: Fort Grey by daylight. It's the shipwreck museum now, costs three quid to get in. You cross on a aNazi causeway Picture 42: View out of St Peter Port harbour. You can see the privately ownded island of the Barclay Brothers in the distance. Bankers. But they were short-changed: it doesn't seem to have a beach. (Gotta nip out. More captions in a while!) | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 |
Lovely shots, mate - you look fit and relaxed, and Michelle is just beautiful! | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 |
Yeah, Michelle's too good looking for you mate by far! It's like Beauty and the Beast up there! (did you get a load of Mark's skinny legs? Eek!) | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
Cheers, guys. I think . . . Well, passing over the commment about my legs (funnily enough, my hairdresser,seeing me in shorts, said she'd love legs like mine -- but less hairy ones), it's back to the captions! 43: My boarding pass for the flight out. It's so hard to travel as an undercover spy these days . . . 44: Uh, look, it was early. If I look like Withnail it's because I didn't sleep for a few days and the dawn light isn't conducive to good photography. Honest. (I did feel like shouting Fu**ers a s few times on the more rural areas, though, just for the fun of it.) 45: A lot of cliff climbs in guernsey. Michelle said: It'll make a great picture if you go down there . . . Hmm. 46: Very sunny day. Me doingt he pose factor. Alas, the Dalek T-shirt probably kills any claims towards cool I had. Along with the fact the sun was in my eyes and I was scowling . . . But it could have been taken in the Med, that shot. it wasn't. It was at the top of Rocquaine bay (I think that's how you spell it), and the walls were the local public convenience's. Makes a good pic, though, I think. 47: My handprint and a shell. It's not really a face. Pees on Banksy, though, doesn't it? 48: Me! Having a cuppa in the same Creasy's restaurant, overlooking the harbour. 49: Michelle collects shells for her jewellerey making back home on a beach glittering with sand. 50: Everyone looks better in shades than I do (see Dalek t-shirt and shades pose above for proof). Even shades look better in shades than I do. 51: Michelle shrugs bashfully to something I say on the northern coast, on the way to one of the old ruins. 52: Coming in to land. This is a view of the western bay with the white Fort Grey in it, to the east of which, on higher ground, we took the sunset shots. 53: The living room of the flat, with a touch of kitchen table edging into shot. 54: There are doors . . . Our room. And of course, we were warned by the folk who'd previously bene staying there to beware of strange sounds. Uh-oh; not more ghosts, we thought. But no, just weird noises, which were all explainable in the end. 55: A loaf of Gache (pronounced "gosh"), which is a fruit loaf the natives of the island eat. 56: Believe it or not, this is the bay I'm paddling in in the picture above. When the tide was out, they used it for drag racing! Alas, the Hire Car insuruance wouldn't permit me to drive on the beaches, otherwise we'd've given em a run for their money! 57: A Warm -- chalked -- welcome. The sign was useful, as it was easy to miss the place. Zoe and Sean (and Barney the trimmed grey poodle -- alas, not photographed), our generous hosts, had left the gauche for us. 58: A quieter section of the harbour. The amount of money floating in the more exclusive docks was just scary. In fact, there were boats more expensive than most of the houses people I know live in . . . 59: Michelle checks out the estate agent, just before fainting at the prices, ona quiet Sunday in St Peter Port, before we headed for an open roofed bar and had a quiet drinky (uh, part explanation for me looking like Withnail in the earlier shot?; of course not; honest, guvs). 60: more of St Peter Port, as the sun turned around and headed off up the street. All of which is a fair enough reflection of a lot of what we got up to. Sorry I didn't include more Nazi fortification pictures, but it casts a different shadow on our time out there. In the quiet of the night, as we walked the pitch dark lanes under the swirl of the bright Milky Way, it wasn't hard to imagine occupation boots marching after us at times. Brrr. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
Thanks again for all the hard work you put in, Mick. It's seriously appreciated. And again, sorry for all the work I put you to. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
Zed, we'll be expecting pics of new York. Though I wouldn't flash your digital camera about in the Bronx! | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 |
Yes, Michelle looks gorgeous -Lynchy looks like Stephen Gallagher! gcw | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 |
Hey, looking good, guys! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 |
Nice to see Tony's estate agency doing well in Guernsey. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
>>I've never been to any of the Channel Islands...One day... Well worth getting out there, GCW. I'd like to do it by the Condor sea ferry one day. Those big cats make 40 knots. Talked to a local businessman, who was saying it's great when you're there but a helluva place to leave, so expensive to get off the islands to go anywhere. The locals don't appreciate it, you know. They looked at me completely baffled when I commented on cops walking round in short sleeve shirts, no stab vests or mace in sight. They don't know what an ASBO is except in theory. And the kids there are yearning to leave, so they can enjoy Primark . . . >>Nice to see Tony's estate agency doing well in Guernsey. That's what I said when we first spotted it. Had to be photographed. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 |
Loved looking at the photos Mark! | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 |
Great photos! Loved the one of you, Mark, sitting in the window, reading. And the one of Michelle in the restaurant overlooking the port. I'll echo what everyone else is stating and say that you're a lovely-looking couple. Looks like you had a grand time. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
Thanks, Michael. We did indeed have a grand time. Sady, the worst of it is the coming back down to the old familiar earth. I've had dreams of the island since we left. I've also got this crazy urge to jack everythng in and become a surfer now . . . Of course, the obvious practicalities screw that particular insanity from ever happening. Ah well . . . | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
Glad you liked, Ally! | ||
| Coral (Coral) Username: Coral Registered: 10-2008 |
Those were lovely. Mark, your wife IS gorgeous, but don't let the others tease you about your legs, you have the best knees on the board!!! I've been to heaps of places, but never the Channel Isles, it looks super. I'm staying in Cornwall just now, and I am pleasantly suprised that the beaches and coastline in general are so nice. It beats the Algarve into a cocked hat. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
Shh. Don't mention my wife! (Michelle's my girlfriend, Coral.) I heard some of the south west radio in Guernsey on evenigns, whent eh ilsand's radio staitons merged with them. A lot of surfer songs, which I thought was cool. Yeah, that whole area is unspoilt a lot, and great. Hope you get to enjoy it some more. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 |
Thanks for the pictures, Mark! Another place I've never been to but would love to visit. | ||
| Adriana (Adriana) Username: Adriana Registered: 03-2008 |
This is crazy - Michelle looks like 10 years younger then the last pictures I saw of her!!! What's the deal, is she like Benjamin Buttons? Seriously, though I swear she's becoming more and more beautiful... Does she no longer wear glasses? What is going on????? Oh yeah, and wonderful shots! Thanks so much for sharing them so we can live vicariously though you guys.  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 |
I think you'd like, Hubert. I enjoyed the view out across Peter Port especially, imagining it as it would've been in the time Leslie Charteris wrote THE SAINT AT SEA (I think it was), a good deal of which he set in the harbour. Adriana -- we sent you a bunch of postcards in an envelope. I hope you got them. My brother's only just got his postacrd and he lives in the UK. . . . I could've brought it over for him sooner! Michelle's been wearing contacts a lot when she can. They did dry out in her eyes when we looked out over the fury of the Atlantic in the storm, though! But she prefers contacts when she can manage them, not least because they don't steam up in the rain! |