... or what happens when you ignore those warning signs on electricity substations.

... or one of the fair-hands helping to dismantle the Extreme Orbiter at 11 o'clock at night after the closing of Cambridge Midsummer Fair.

My favourite time of the Midsummer Fair is the two hours at the end of the last day. Despite the fact that the showmen have already put in a full day's work running the rides all afternoon and evening, when the fair closes around 10pm it becomes a hive of activity as all the rides are stripped down, dismantled and folded away to fit in their lorries and trailers ready to set off for the next site. Throughout all this activity, most of the rides and sidestalls keep their lights on until the very last moment - I guess they need the light to work by. If they have any distance to go, many of the showmen will depart at midnight and drive through the night to reach their next fairground in the morning.

Tags:   Cambridge Midsummer Fair funfair fair closing lights arrow warning volts portrait person man fairground yellow night Saint Sebastian

© All Rights Reserved

Sunset with the Snape Maltings seen across the River Alde, Suffolk.

OK, I've just about caught up with my backlog of image processing. With any luck I'll be able to upload some more pictures for a little while. Thanks for the prods from those of you who have been asking me to get back to uploading some pictures to Flickr.

In the winter of 2008 the management of the Snape Maltings were inconsiderate enough to engage in some out of season building works which polluted the horizon with cranes and jibs. The winter of 2009/10 was better, although at the time of this visit, I was a little disappointed with a sunset that didn't really happen - and it was a bit on the windy side. Nevertheless, I took a couple of exposure because I had made the effort to be there. On the plus side well into twilight, the hazy, humid atmosphere was starting to deliver some colour in the upper atmosphere. On reflection I'm not that disappointed with the result.

(H5603)

Tags:   Snape Maltings Suffolk River Alde reeds twilight long exposure sunset river

© All Rights Reserved

I'm beginning to think of autumn again. The horse chestnut trees along Victoria Avenue are already looking rather orange. But this is really a little premature as their colour is really a result of damage from spreading invasion of leaf miner moths. Hopefully the rest of this week will be warm enough to still maintain an illusion of summer.

In any case, in anticipation of the autumn here are some back lit leaves from a Pin Oak I saw last year.

Tags:   Pin Oak Quercus Palustris leaves autumn colour orange red backlit oak nonCY senescence autumnal tree fall Lynford Arboretum

© All Rights Reserved

An ancient oak tree is joined by a myriad of creeping buttercups on the edges of Hatfield Forest. (Actually I think the buttercups might be bulbous buttercups rather than creeping buttercups, but I'm not sure).

Confusingly, Hatfield Forest isn't really near the town of Hatfield at all. Instead, it is near Bishop's Stortford and sits under the flight path of Stansted Airport. The periodic roar of Ryanair planes taking off isn't exactly a plus point, but the forest is nice enough that you can put up with the noise.

(F3727)

Tags:   Oak tree buttercup Hatfield Forest Essex East Anglia spring nonCY Pedunculate Oak Quercus robur Ranunculus Ranunculus bulbosus landscape i500 interestingness311

© All Rights Reserved

One of the wind turbines at Blood Hill wind farm at East Somerton in Norfolk.

This is an early model Vestas turbine that is relatively small by today's standards, but it can still produce up to 225kW of power. That's quite a bit better than the ones you can buy from B&Q.

Tags:   Wind turbine wind farm Norfolk alternative energy renewable energy power Vesta 3 nonCY looking up golden hour Blood Hill West Somerton Winterton green energy tower electricity volts i500 interestingness335 East Anglia

© All Rights Reserved