Karaoke is King! Bar Logo

                            Steve and Bob


Ramsey, seems to have become the unofficial home of karaoke on the Isle of Man. Not that other towns here don't have regular karaoke, we just seem to have more people running karaoke and even more wanting to get up and murder songs or own a tune, depending on who it is. To be fair, the town has a high percentage of fantastic singers who are a pleasure to listen to.  Sometimes it's the comical strangled cat style of singing which is the somewhat hypnotically entertaining in a road crash kind of way.  Steve and Bob, run karaoke on Friday nights in the town, other nights during busy times, like the Isle of Man TT and special holidays. The venue may have changed, from The Stanley pub, to Bar Logo, but the full house of singers have followed them and karaoke, the Friday night Ramsey ritual remains, like the song, the same.



This post is part of abc, and more can be found here

After the rugby, the drinking

Rugby is thirsty work

My world

Well you have all seen the images of the Rugby matches dotted about the blog, but what about afterwards? What happens when the game is done? It's drinks of course in the clubhouse. These lads were the chosen few downing yards of ale and such like for dubious or not so honours such as "Man of the Match" etc. As you can see along with the game, this is also what we call here a spectator sport. Also good for the thirsty photographer, because yes photography is thirsty work, to gain a few extra after the main event images too. What you thought I just went home after the match? Don't be silly there is drink on offer. Be rude not to partake of the odd glass of cider would it not? Yes that is rhetorical. Also gives me an opportunity to show you people of Ramsey which seems to be what you most want to see here, after sunsets, beaches and woods. So today that's what you get a completely random image taken by a drunken photographer who has supposedly put the camera down after her work is done. No such thing. There is always something, someone to photograph and the best social documentary images are the ones you get when you socialize, not work. More my world images can be seen here

Can you drink a yard of ale though?

Living on an island - My World

Dave, this is why

Yes I have been off the blog again. Sometimes it's called having a life, other times it's when the server is being erratic here and I have no time to sit and wait for it to behave. Sometimes that pile of ironing will not iron it's self, and however much I beg the fairy folk here to help with the housework they point blank refuse. A little of all of those things. Island life for you. Has it's upside and certainly it's down.

Good things about living on an island can be many, safety for one. We joke here we live in a time warp. Well who wouldn't want to live in the past a little when today's UK crime rate is at it's peak(despite how they massage the figures)and you still know names of local police, you can walk streets home at night, you do not fear sitting upstairs on public transport. You know your neighbour. Your house will be watched over when you are on holiday. It's quiet. Quieter than big bustling cities. People have time for each other. The scenery in places is stunning. Beaches, woodlands, parks. We have local shops, local produce. Smaller schools. Our news is not dominated with bad things, but community spirited events. Laid back. Time enough as they say here, but of course there is a flip side.

It can be cloying. Everyone knows everyone. It can be hard for new people to integrate into such tight knit communities. Sometimes you want to splurge the cash, or you really need something for the home that is not provided on the island. You need the Internet for these, but the net is not always reliable. Transportation costs to get off the island are astronomical. Cost of living, housing too. To be an artist, a photographer is hard. The market is small, and if you come over like us then the help, the buyers, the clients back away. We need the worldwide market, but as I said the Internet can be erratic. It can be hard to survive, financially. It can be hard to survive emotionally isolated. I am lucky, I did not come over alone, I have the artist. Sometimes you just get cabin fever and crave the anonymity of the suburbs, the big neon garish city Then you see the beach, the woods, breathe the fresh air or take a walk chasing rabbits to photograph by the river and it passes.

Dedicated to my long lost friend Dave. That's why and not why.

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