So, as I know I don’t update this site as much as I could, here is the first annual What Richie G did in… list. I will be going through my Google Calendar for the past year, picking out key things that have happened, adding ones in that didn’t end up on there (if I remember) and, maybe, adding a few little incidental anecdotes along the way.

If you want a more wide view of 2011, then may I direct you to Geoff Marshall’s audio review of 2011. What follows below only sees what I did.

JANUARY

Okay, so photo taken at the end of December '10, but couldn't think of anything else to illustrate January. Taken during the closure of Reading station for signalling/bridge works

After the bitterly cold December, came January. In January, I started working at the Barnstaple campus of Petroc on Fridays, which gave me my first proper taste of commuting to work on a bus, given that I decided that as the X7 bus goes from my village to the college at the times I would need it to, it would be ideal for me to catch. Also, I could claim my bus fares back from the college, something that I wouldn’t be able to do if I drove as I wasn’t business insured on my car.

On Tuesday 11 January, I had an interview at Gloucestershire University. This meant that up until the early hours of the morning, I was doing some audio editing so I had a sample piece to take to interview with me. This piece can be found here. By the Friday, I had the response from UCAS telling me that I had been given an unconditional acceptance. I was happy, and told a few people at work about it, but decided to keep it a bit quiet for a while.

Well, it was only a few days actually, given that, as I was rightly told, I couldn’t not tell my line managers at work, so the following Monday they were told. And other than taking my car for it’s service a couple of weeks later (which wasn’t a major event really), that was pretty much it for January.

FEBRUARY

February brought a couple of changes. In fact, the first week alone was rather interesting.

My recording kit, used for recording the Tube Challenge radio piece.

Thursday 3 February saw me going down to Bournemouth for another University interview. To be completely honest, the only reason I went down for the interview at this stage was because I had already booked the day off work; as I had already been accepted by my then first choice, there seemed little point. However, I was rather glad I went down, as it looked to be a better place. I will say that as Glos. Uni were in the process of closing down the campus where the radio courses were held to move them to another, I cannot say for certain what I ‘missed’, but the other differences were that Glos lean towards the journalism side of their media courses where Bournemouth give a more general overview (or so it seems currently!). Interview done, it was just  a case of waiting for UCAS to respond…

That same evening though, was a worship group practice at my church. Not normally something I would put as a ‘major event’, but the key part of it was that it was for a service I was leading on the Sunday, and the practice was made as I was trying to introduce a few ‘new’ worship songs into the church’s repertoire. It kind of worked – a couple of times since I have done one of the songs I taught that morning, and they are beginning to sing along now! The service involved some card tricks, a bit of sleight of hand, and then getting the kids in earlier than they’d normally come in to share with us a bit more. The thing that shocked me slightly was at the end of the service when one member asked me when I was going to start the Local Preacher training course… I had a bit of a good response in that I needed to get Uni out of the way first!

There wasn’t all that much else that happened in February – at some point I would guess that I got the response from UCAS that Bournemouth had accepted me, but I can’t remember exactly when that happened.

MARCH

A group shot of the 'Two Choirs in Concert' event at South Molton Methodist Church on 20 April 2011. Not in the picture is me, because I was taking the photo.

March 2011 – the month I reached a quarter of a century old and… actually, I think that was it for March pretty much. Oh well.

APRIL

Doesn’t really look like much happened in April either.

The problem with doing this like this is that I’m at the basis of an online calendar that is limited by what I put on it. So if I don’t put anything on it, I don’t know I’ve done it when looking back.

MAY

Nope.

JUNE

Ah, now here’s something.

A few of the teams wait for the next train to arrive at Bayswater on the Zone 1 Challenge, 3 June 2011

The annual Tube Challenge Forum Zone 1 Challenge. I didn’t do all that well, and annoyingly I did worse than I initially thought. I’m disappointed that I came last, but at least I didn’t end up wandering aimlessly around Earl’s Court station in a state of mild confusion brought on by dehydration this year. I also managed to do the follow up ‘warm-down’ Random 15 event the next day for the first time in the three years I’ve done Z1. And of course, staying with my friend in London, as I did for this weekend, is always a treat, even if some times it does seem a little rude on my behalf…

I remember now, June was an odd month as I didn’t work in the library at all during that month. I had a fortnightly job there, and the two main things I did on a Saturday during June happened to fall on the days I would’ve been working in the library. The second was the training day for last summer’s New Wine FM.

JULY

July saw me end my employment at South Molton Library. I had been working there since I left school, so around 9 years or so. During that time, I saw the new library being built and opened, and a few children grow up from babies and toddlers up to senior school age. As I’ve said before about the library job, it’s the job I’ve had the longest, but I’ve probably worked there the least amount of time.

JULY AND AUGUST

Millie and I pose for the camera at New Wine 2011

Then of course there was New Wine, the annual Christian confereval (a mix between conference and festival – could also be a festerence, but that sounds like a disease), two weeks – one at the end of July, the other at the beginning of August – spent in a tent doing radio stuff as I have been for the past few years. Some important God things happened that week that were important to me, but I won’t go into them here. Those people who know me will know what those things were, or at least could have a pretty good guess. Another radio piece that’s found it’s way onto this site is an interview I did with a couple of members of Fat and Frantic – click here to listen.

AUGUST

So to the rest of August! August was actually quite busy for me, and the reason why I left the library job during July (so I didn’t have to worry about having to work on Saturdays, or arrange shift swaps etc.). After New Wine, time was spent sorting some computer and audio wiring out at a couple of Youth Centres in Exeter, stuff that had to be squeezed into the other things I was doing. The following weekend, I went with some friends to Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, the first ‘proper’ festival I’ve ever been to, and, rather surprisingly, had a bit of a God-moment. I won’t go into it here though, maybe another time. Overall, Cropredy was a good time, and one that might happen again next year, but who knows. Given who is organising it, I don’t even know if they know… (hello Martyn, just a small dig there!!!)

Richard Digance at Cropredy - somewhere in the video image is me, a rather 'meta' version of Photographs of People Taking Photographs...

The following weekend was a family get-together at my grandparents. Nothing too interesting happened, I only mention it because it happened, and (in the spirit of this post) was listed on my Google Calendar.

There was then the slightly odd situation where, despite not being at work (at the college) throughout the summer thanks to my term-time contract, I had one more week to get through which was this week. So this was my final week of working at the college (chosen at this point as it meant that I would get paid for August without actually having to work it), and a chance to tidy up a few loose ends, reclaim all my stuff (I say ‘all’, there’s probably still loads of stuff there that is mine, a few photography books spring to mind), and say goodbye to colleagues. It was a surprisingly emotional time my last day actually, after all, I had been there for 8 of the last 9 years, and quite a major turning point in my life because of what was happening next.

But first, Greenbelt at the weekend (I finished work on the Thursday to allow myself to go to Greenbelt on the Friday!). This year, I went with the aim of getting there early, and to meet up with a friend who was there earlier, to get a pitch relatively central. Actually, it wasn’t all that central, but not too bad (I was closer to the ‘action’ last year, and I arrived late!). A good weekend, seeing Milton Jones again, who did possibly make a little dig at those people who video their performances on mobile devices and upload them to YouTube… (a post I haven’t quite got to reposting yet involves a video from last year, click here to view the video on YouTube). Also saw Adrian Plass, well, I say ‘saw’, unfortunately (and I think Mr Plass would appreciate the irony), I was stuck behind a pillar – another very funny man.

Another brilliant piece we saw was Daniel Bye’s The Price of Everything, info about his 2012 tour dates is on the page linked to, and I would recommend seeing it – if he’s anywhere near where I’m likely to be, I’ll probably go again (and possibly film it on my camera and upload it to YouTube…). I will also admit that I had completely forgotten about this until I came to write this piece. So there was a bonus about me doing this, even if nobody reads it.

I can’t actually remember what else I went to see at Greenbelt, nor if I will be able to afford to go again this summer. Time will tell.

THE BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER

The first couple of weeks were a bit dull really. I had finished work, and wasn’t due to move to Bournemouth until the 17th, although it was the 15th when I went down. The day before I moved down though, I spent the time preparing by… erm… finishing off the wiring of the youth centre in Exeter. I would imagine that it wasn’t the way most soon-to-be university students prepare before moving!

THE END OF SEPTEMBER TO THE BEGINNING OF DECEMBER

Leroy dressed up as a cheerleader for some reason or another. Can't exactly remember why now...

If I’m honest, these couple of months kind of went past in a bit of a blur, and I’d imagine the first term of University would do that to anybody. Certain aspects of the ‘arrival’ were good, time spent settling in (which didn’t go too badly actually), finding a church to go to, involvement with the university Christian Union, and soforth. Some of the ‘academic’ aspects of my university experience were good, if, unfortunately, for some of it a little disorganised. Hopefully the new term will be a little more organised!

Only two main assignments have been done this term, the Media Theory essay being the ‘large’ one to do, with it being the first essay that I’ve ever written. We had to self-assess the work; I gave myself 55%, but when the actual result came back it was 65%. Both of which are a pass, and I know where I went wrong (and indeed knew where I went wrong when I wrote it), so I’m happy.

The other assigmnent was the 4-minute audio piece, the re-recording of Stanley & Miller: Local Detectives being ¾ of the piece, the other quarter being an advertisment for a Christmas event for the CU. As I am still awaiting the assessment for these, I will refrain from loading it onto here until then, but they will be (keep an eye on the ‘Radio’ page of the site).

DECEMBER

Liam puts the finishing touches to the Flat 103 Christmas Dinner

And so we come full circle to December 2011. Still at University a week after term finished to help with interviews for next year’s potential students, I found myself giving guided tours around the campus, and I wish I had a pedometer for it as there was a lot of walking involved! It was paid work, and as when the opportunity came up I hadn’t arranged my return to Devon, I decided to go for it. It was fun, even if they were TV students rather than Radio students, and I think I actually learnt stuff about the uni that I didn’t know before! It was a shame that the SU had closed for Christmas at that time as it meant that a) I couldn’t show them the SU bar, and b) couldn’t actually use the SU bar, but they understood that it was because of Christmas so weren’t too annoyed about it.

Boxing day at my grandparent’s house didn’t go too bad, if a little dull this time around (past years have been more interesting) but I think it was because there weren’t that many of us this year. New Year’s Eve was quite good fun, being invited out to one of the pubs in the village with some friends. The first time I’ve been in that pub since 31 July 1999 when I fell off my bike and was bleeding all over the floor, and it was a good evening, even if we did miss the rather overhyped moment when 31 December 2011 became 1 January 2012.

2012 and beyond

So what will happen in 2012?

New Year's Eve 2011/2012 at the Miner's Arms

Well, here’s a rough synopsis of what I’ve planned so far:

• Back to University on Friday
• Start being part of the BUCU committee
• Turn 26 in March
• More University work
• Tube Challenge Zone 1 (end of June/beginning of July probably)
• might somehow chuck in a Full Network Challenge
• Pass first year of University
• New Wine
• Maybe Cropredy again
• Hopefully Greenbelt
• Start second year of University

And of course, not for one instance believe that the world will end during December 2012, but will be secretly scared on the day they say it will just in case it does happen.

Well, that was 2011. See you next year.

I’m currently sat on a train at Taunton station, and at the time I write this paragraph my computer tells me it’s 10.00am. I left Tiverton Parkway station at 9.04. This train was due into Paddington at around 11.30.

The reason for this delay is because ‘somebody in the Bridgwater has solen the signals’. Now, I know it’s not the signals themselves that have been stolen, more the signal cables. A while ago, again on a London trip I made, my return journey wasn’t actually late per ce, but it was the first train out of Paddington all evening – a 10.30pm train that I caught was the first to leave Paddington for the West since about 8.30 (a cancelled train which, incidentally, would have been the last train to go through Taunton, Tiverton, Exeter et al and therefore the train I would have caught had I not driven to Bristol.) Again, delays of quite a magnitude caused by somebody just outside the M25 boundary stealing signalling cable.

What possible use could they have for this cable? I guess signal cable is just a heavy-duty electrical cable as it just sends electrical pulses down it. Who would need that cable, except railways? Who would buy the cable off the people who stole it? Unless it’s some hard-strapped heritage railways probably not many uses could be found for it. Of course, I do not know; I did warn you that this was a rant.

For kicks then? Possibly. Causing disruptions to what must be a good couple thousand passengers across a railway network.

(I have just heard a whistle which means we’re probably leaving Taunton now, at 10.09. The train hasn’t started moving yet and there are still whistles going on on the platform…)

I don’t know what the capacity of an HST is. A quick search (and it was quick I’m afraid) yeilded no results. (Now we’re moving, computer time 10:11.) Actually, the update of the train departure proved a point there.

We’re on single block working at the moment, one train in, one train out between Taunton and Bridgwater. Our journey between leaving Tiverton Parkway and leaving Taunton took around 65 minutes. I will see how long it takes to get to Bridgwater to see now many trains could have travelled up the line from there onwards.

It’s quite interesting hearing what people are saying on their mobile phones to their loved ones (not ‘Aagghh I’m going to die!’ unfortunately). There is somebody who has said that they’re using stop-go boards on the line (that would be quite interesting actually). (We’ve stopped again now – 10.13 – waiting for what we have been told is the second train ahead of us to clear the section. So that’s at least two trains disrupted, not to mention the trains since it happened around 6.30 this morning.)

I’m kind of losing my train of thought here (no pun intended – seriously) so please bear with me.

Yes, I was talking about what people have been saying in their mobiles. We’ve had the stop-go boards, we have somebody on here who appears to be going to an interview at, what I assume will probably be an office of Marks & Spencer’s who was apologising that they would be late, we’ve had somebody who seems to be in the middle of a corporate merger and is unable to make the official handover (or something like that).

Believe it or not, when we were first told about what the problems were, there was a tiny ripple of laughter pass through the carriage at the thought of somebody stealing signals. Of course, that was almost an hour ago now, and I think a lot of people have realised that it’s not really a funny thing that has happened.

Something has happened which has reminded me of it happening. We’ve had a few announcements – recorded ones mind – saying ‘Would the train manager please contact the driver?’ which I’ve never heard before, even when I have been on delayed services. (Last year, there was flooding on the line between Exeter and Tiverton, which meant that I couldn’t get down to Exeter to get my ‘megatrain’ service to Waterloo, so had to get a single to Paddington which again was late running. A Cross Country service came down and obviously couldn’t continue, so turned around and took us all, initially to Bristol to change, but it turned out it was only as far as Taunton when we were told that the HST in the opposite platform would be going direct to Paddington and we should get that one. OK, it did go direct to Paddington, but there was a looooonnnnnggggg wait at Taunton, and although we were a fast service, we were stuck behind a slow service as far as Westbury. anyway – I think I’ve digressed from my point slightly!) (10.22 and still waiting the other side of Taunton.)

I wonder what other pre-recorded announcements the driver has to play with, or whether he has the ability to do live ones. I remember a while ago being on a train where the train manager seemed to have been a failed radio presenter (no snickering at the back there please). “I’ve been John, your train manager for this journey. Your driver was Mike, and your canteen staff were Janet and George. This has been a First Great Western service to London Paddington, thank you and see you soon.” (then added the “all change please, all change” which I think is something they have to say when a train terminates)

Have you had one of those days when things start to go right, but very soon go wrong but you carry on regardless?

This is one of those days I think. Just like the story I told earlier about last October when there was flooding. I could have just turned around and gone home again, but no, I will continue!

I’m kind of running out of things to say here. This started out as a rant, but has kind of petered off a bit. I sent an email at work like that once. It started off as a proper rant at people who were having a go at me for no real reason, or where there was a reason but the reason meant it was ultimately their fault. (I should have taken that sandwich mum made me…) The email started with good intentions of being rant like, but kind of ended up as a ramble by the time I finished. And given that most people seem to read the first sentence of what I write and the last sentence, all the meaty stuff in the middle was pointless.

In that vein, I guess I should finish now as the people who have read the first sentence will be coming back to join the service now.

It’s 10.30. I left Tiverton Parkway station roughly on time at 9.04. I need a coffee so will go up to the buffet in a bit. We are currently waiting outside Taunton. I don’t think we’ve even gone under the Obridge yet. Oh well. I will update you.

It’s times like this (well this is the only time really) that I think I should have a Twitter account, then people would actually be in a better place to read my random rants like this. You know, I was introduced to Twitter before it became ‘famous’ with Stephen Fry being the unofficial spokesperson for it. Now everybody has an account and it’s kind of lost its geekiness.

We’ve just been told that I can’t have a coffee because the buffet car boiler has broken down…

* sigh *

[wpaudio url="http://www.stupidstupidity.co.uk/R15w.mp3" text="Random 15 Report, October 2009" dl="0"]

The first one is a sample radio report done at the October 2009 Tube Challenge Random 15. OK, the first song I used on it is a little predictable, and while editing it I realised that I use the same phrases a lot (“… but we shall see” being one of them) but given that it’s kind of the first time I’ve done something proper like this I don’t think I did too bad a job really!

Duration 17m26s. Created 20 October 2009.

A – Did she just say ‘is this second class’?

B – I think she did

A – I’ve got a good mind to go up to her, crush a can of Stella on my head and urinate on her leg.

B – She’ll probably get her butler to beat you up

Well, I thought it was funny.  Perhaps you had to be there…

(I later found out that these two people on the seats behind me didn’t know each other before they got on the train.)

Sodor Rail – the Fat Controller’s new privatised railway company serving the Island of Sodor – must have the worst safety and timekeeping record for any railway.  I shall prove this now by going through the Thomas the Tank Engine Collection – a book I received for Christmas a few years back.

Thomas and Gordon: Thomas, on coach shunting duties, comes into the station later than intended, meaning that Gordon’s express leaves only just on time. Thomas is not uncoupled from the train. OK, so it’s not an accident or anything, but a potential late running express train. However, Thomas did end up at a station that wasn’t his own, required posession of a siding and also a path to return to his own station and yard.

Thomas’s Train: Due to an engine (Henry) failure, Thomas is entrusted with pulling the passenger train that Henry cannot.  He leaves the station without being coupled to his train, and has to return to get them. This would have left the train to leave the station late, due to an engine failure, and as Thomas wasn’t correctly coupled to the train it would have left much later than scheduled. Again, a path would have been required for this late running train as well as Thomas having to return to the station. I will disregard the incorrect punctuation in the title for now.

Thomas and the Trucks: Thomas and Edward swap duties, so Thomas is heading a goods train.  He fails to stop at the correct station and just about stops in time to avoid the buffers at the end of the line. To quote the book, ‘luckily the line was clear as they swerved into the goods yard’. Of course, there is also the unplanned swapping of engines between duties, which resulted in an engine not cleared for goods use to be used. There is also the issue that Thomas, who is ‘tired of pushing coaches [and] wants to see the world’ doesn’t have the correct route knowledge for this line.

Thomas and the Breakdown Train: A new engine, James, has an accident caused by his brakes catching fireand Thomas helps retrieve him. A derailment is never good news really.  The front trucks are all damaged in the crash and so is James’ tender.  Goods in those carraiges is also damaged then, as well as the rails and the lineside fencing.  James however is fine but is sent for repairs.

Thomas and the Guard: Henry’s train is late to Thomas’ branch line junction. He leaves quickly to get back to timetable, leaving his guard behind in the process, but is stopped at a signal. Now, the presence of a signal on a single-track branch line served by one train is a bit of a mystery in itself.  I must congratulate Sodor Rail in letting the branch line train wait for the late running main line train, caused by an engine problem; ‘my system is out of order’ (Henry – that’s two failures for Henry so far). I believe that Thomas did make up for the lost time on the route so that’s a plus.

Thomas goes Fishing: A water tower at a station is out of order, so Thomas is filled up with water from a nearby river with a bucket dropped from a bridge. Shortly after, Thomas experieces boiler problems and is sent to a siding where he is inspected to find that there is fish in him. First, an out of order water tower at a station is a problem, but not an uncommon one even on the mainland.  Thomas then stops on a bridge – what do the passengers think of this? – and is filled up with water from the river. This would have taken quite some time. At the next station, Thomas is uncoupled and sent to a siding, meaning that another engine would have to continue with Thomas’ train.  Fish is found in the boiler.  Why didn’t the driver and fireman notice the fish when they were pouring the water from the bucket into the engine? And why was Thomas blamed for it at the end – it wasn’t his fault…

Thomas, Terence and the Snow: Thomas, out in snow without his snowplough, gets caught in a drift and has to be pulled out with a tractor wile a bus comes for the passengers.  The wrong kind of snow? Maybe. Of course, we know from the beginning of this year what effect snow has on trains in this country, so we can’t really blame Sodor Rail for this one, and they did try and continue to operate a service despite the conditions.  I think that, despite the delays and cancellations to service, this one is a plus for Sodor Rail.

Thomas and Bertie: Thomas and a bus race between two stations. Thomas wins the race.  Such a common problem with the public transport infrastructure in this country. A bus and a train have been given the same route between two stations. I do think it’s a plus for Sodor Rail as they managed to get there first, and after this incidence, Bertie travels around the towns taking passengers to the station where Thomas then takes them onwards.

The Fat Controller’s Engines: All the engines on the Island of Sodor are going to the mainland.  While showing the shadowing replacement engines what they’re doing, Thomas has an accident and has to be repaired. Again, an accident which has left an engine damaged.  On the plus side, the workmen do manage to fix Thomas so he does manage to travel. Cause of accident, brakes I think.

Thomas comes to Breakfast: Thomas rolls out of his shed and, unable to stop, comes off the end of the (unbuffered) rails and into the stationmaster’s house (or the Fat Controller’s house on the TV series).  A cleaner has messed with the controls inside of Thomas, which is what causes him to roll out of the shed without a driver.  Temporary rails have to be laid on the road at the end of the siding in order to pull Thomas back, so the road would have to have been closed.  There is also sustainable damage to the stationmaster’s house and his garden (which included trees) while the stationmaster’s wife has to recook their breakfast.  ‘You miserable engine’…  A replacement engine – a diesel railcar of all things – has to be put onto Thomas’ branch line while Thomas is repaired. Again, Thomas gets the blame for this, rather than the cleaner who messed with Thomas’ controls…

I’ve just realised how long a process this is going to be.  This book is separated by character in the series and not in the order the stories were released in, so I shall continue next time with Percy, the Small Engine.

Today, I returned, and I found myself contemplating about several things actually, but one of which I am about to mention to you.

Although I had a completely valid ticket for the train on which I was travelling, not at one single point during my journey did I have to prove that I had it.  This was a trip which cost me £12 because I bought the ticket in advance, but a walk-on fare from Paddington to Tiverton costs around £60.  There are ticket barriers at Paddington Station, but if your train departs from platforms 1 – 10, then you can bypass them simply by walking around them (you can go to the footbridge at the end of the platforms and cross the lines that way).  Not at one point on my journey did anybody ask to see my ticket, and Tiverton station itself has no ticket barriers.  (The larger stations on the FGW network do have barriers though and I know that Exeter St Davids has been effectively blocked so that the only exit is through said barriers.)

Now, I don’t actually mind this, nor do I mind the fact that I spent money getting what I could have got for free.  What does strike me though is that most TOCs (Train Operating Companies) are securing their stations with ticket barriers in order to make sure people buy tickets, London Waterloo has recently opened the longest single ticket barrier line in a station in the UK and, I think (though may be corrected) Europe, and I remember reading that First ScotRail has seen an increase in revenue due to the installation of ticket barriers.  Of course, ticket barriers do have their issues, mainly that many rail geeks like myself, and those who have moved further up the geekery ladder to become trainspotters, can no longer get access to the ends of platforms without a ticket.  I spent 90p a while back on what was possibly the randomest train ticket ever – a return journey between Exeter St Davids and Exeter Central – just to be able to get onto the platform to take some photographs.

So, I don’t really know what the point in this little rant was actually.  I think it’s the hypocricy really that gets me.

Anyway – what’s wrong with sending somebody down a train with a holepunch or a stamp to actually check tickets, and why do we not see them anymore?

So yesterday, after work at the Library, I was going to go to Barnstaple, but decided to head down towards Exeter, heading down the A377.  I stopped off at Eggesford railway station on the way, took some photographs round there, but as I couldn’t really be bothered to wait for a train to come (I’d have to wait there about forty minutes for that) I continued down to Exeter.

Last time I was at Exeter St Davids station, I had problems accessing the platforms to take photos (bloody ticket barriers) so decided to continue on.  It was while having my lunch at the Burger King at the M5 J30 services that I decided that I had never been to Honiton railway station so that is where I headed to next. When I got there, bizzarely I did see an ‘HST Stop’ sign on the tracks as I pulled into the station in my car, but even odder couldn’t actually find the sign when I got out to photograph it.  Again, I had a bit of time to wait until a train appeared, but it did and it was number 001 of the class City of Exeter. That information won’t be appreciated by any except any proper train afficondios out there (of which I’m not quite one yet!).

Anyway… Photos… here you go.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/richie.g/Railway140309EggesfordAndHoniton

And as it happens, I didn’t have any problems with the auto focus on this camera, so I’m not sure what the student was doing wrong…

Important note:The only reason that I borrowed this camera was because the student had reported it faulty, and it was last thing on a Friday evening. Had it been earlier in the week, I would have tested it on the college premises, maybe overnight if it was at the end of the day. Would another student require to borrow it, I would have done a quick test to see if I could replicate the problem, and, were it working, loan it to the student telling them there was a potential problem. I do not put my own – and other staff – wants ahead of those of students when it comes to loaning equipment out.