Revenge Always Has Two Victims

| Richard

Vicky Pryce has been found guilty of perverting the course of justice over her former husband’s, former MP Chris Huhne’s, speeding offence way back in 2003, 10 years ago. The pair face jail sentences and the CPS are apparently seeking their costs,

The story all unfolded when she decided to leak it to the papers in an act of revenge on her cheating husband.

So how did that work out for you, Vicky? Pleased? Yes, he cheated. Yes, he’s a liar. Yes, he’s a shit. And yes, you got him, didn’t you? But at what cost to you?

Revenge and the feelings that drive a person to it are self-destructive; they will eat you up inside and what are you left with? You’re no better off.

I’m still on the receiving end of a campaign of vengeance by an ex-girlfriend; except in my case I did nothing wrong and she was cheating on me for most of the time we were together with more than one bloke, it seems. What I did do wrong was not taking her back after all that, despite her begging me to, claiming to be carrying our child – that miraculously disappeared when I said she should tell the guy she’s with – and saying she’d dump him at the drop of a hat if I took her back. So for the last two and a half years, she’s been making up lies and trying to get me in trouble  and all because of what she did. It’s broken up her family. She’s even blamed others for somehow making her do it! I’d have thought the guy she’s with(ish) would have told her to get over it and forget it, but no, she’s continuing it with his blessing. Weird.

I’ve found that forgiveness actually set me free and has allowed me to be happy. Oh sure, the realisation of how I was played at the time and the amount of hassle she caused at first wasn’t easy to swallow, but it was not a positive thing to dwell on it. So I forgave and put it behind me. The bonus is I can claim the moral high ground too!

I hope that both Vicky Pryce and Chris Huhne can learn to forgive each other and try to move forward after their sentences (such as they may be) because they’ll be all the better for it. And in the meantime, this whole sorry tale should be a lesson to everyone.

MoT

| Richard

Yes, my RX-8 R3 is coming up to three years old (in a couple of weeks), so last week I took it to Docklands Mazda for them to carry out an MoT test … which it passed with flying colours, even producing 0% carbon monoxide emissions on fast idle and 0.04% carbon monoxide emissions at the natural idle speed.

Mileage? 55,447 miles from new and still going like it should. Plus it still looks great.

So yes, I’m pleased as I tend to hang on to my cars for a few years and there’s frankly nothing I’d want to replace it with at present, especially as Mazda stopped producing them.

I’ve also renewed my tax and insurance for another year, plus I’ll probably extend the Mazda warranty for another year, just in case ;)

London Fashion Weekend 2013

| RHMP

Well I was lucky enough to be invited to shoot the Trend Catwalk Show at London Fashion Weekend on 24 February 2013.

The photographers had a briefing beforehand before being given passes to get into the show and grab our places in the pit. I ended up shooting something like 450 images from which I selected a few ones I like, which are now in a separate portfolio called, amazingly, London Fashion Weekend 2013.

Thanks to the British Fashion Council and Canon Professional Services.

Elle Black, February 2013

| RHMP

I finally managed to arrange a shoot with the fabulous Elle Black earlier this week at her Victorian house in London, just before she moved out.

As expected, we had great fun with the shoot despite my forgetting to take my ringflash and with one of the modelling lamps refusing to work.

I will definitely work with Elle again: she’s a consummate professional and a great person … and she also writes good poetry too!

Edits are under way at the moment, but I’ve uploaded the first couple of edits, one to the Fashion portfolio and one to the Glamour one.

Gently Does It

| Garmin Connect - captainblue
Pleased that nothing gave way today. I clearly need to take things slowly and gently to build things up and get my leg muscles accustomed to it Bing Map
Owner: captainblue
Location: —
Activity Type: Street Running
Event Type: Fitness
Distance: 2.10 Mile
Time: 00:23:10
Elevation Gain: 37 Feet

Latest News

| RHMP

It’s been a while since I updated, but I’m pleased to be able to say that I’m finally shooting the fabulous Elle Black soon. We’ve been trying to arrange something for over a year now so it’s good to finally get something in the diary.

Also in the diary is London Fashion Weekend: yes, I’ve been invited to do a catwalk shoot at the Vodafone London Fashion Weekend by Canon. I’m really looking forward to shooting some more fashion as it’s been a while.

And finally, as always I’m buying props for my kit bag. This includes the latest purchases: some Pleaser Domina 101 leather mules in a couple of different sizes and yet more Jimmy Choos. I did a quick stocktake this evening and the non-Jimmy Choos are pictured below. Maybe I should stop buying shoes for a while? :)

Latest Jimmy Choos purchases
Pleaser Domina 101 leather mules
The rest of my inventory
‘ href=’http://www.rhmphotographic.com/2013/02/15/latest-news/jimmychoos/’>Latest Jimmy Choos purchases
Latest Jimmy Choos purchases
Pleaser Domina 101 leather mules
The rest of my inventory
‘ href=’http://www.rhmphotographic.com/2013/02/15/latest-news/pleasers/’>Pleaser Domina 101 leather mules
Latest Jimmy Choos purchases
Pleaser Domina 101 leather mules
The rest of my inventory
‘ href=’http://www.rhmphotographic.com/2013/02/15/latest-news/therest/’>The rest of my inventory

What’s Your Beef with the NHS?

| Richard

So two stories have dominated the news recently: horse meat in cheap beef products and failings in a hospital trust.

The supermarkets’ pressure on prices will always mean quality will suffer and sourcing meat from the cheapest source was bound to cause problems. If you want to guarantee quality, use a local butcher with locally sourced organic meat. You’ll taste the difference and help keep small businesses and your High Street alive.

The NHS story ignores the main problem with the NHS: fake management jobs. These layers of middle management with people doing nothing of any use to patients cost a lot of money – money that would be better spent on front line nursing.

I know of someone who skived off work for many months on a couple of occasions on full pay. Her work? Well there wasn’t any work to do in the first place so no-one missed her and nothing needed to be carried out by others working longer or harder.

It’s one of those jobs created for someone they can’t actually sack. They give it a job title with words like ”lead’ or ‘manager’ for someone who doesn’t actually lead or manage anyone. At most these people do reports about stuff that’s completely irrelevant and they sit in meetings to discuss producing these reports. Fake jobs. They report to Assistant Deputy Directors and the like. How many more tiers?

What is needed is a clear out of people who don’t actually contribute to patient care. Everyone should have to write a job description for their own position. What they do, the value that adds and how detrimental it would be to patients if they were sacked. Anyone with the term ‘lead’ or ‘manager’ should be able to show who they actually lead or manage and the benefit they bring.

And the people carrying out these reviews shouldn’t be other NHS Trust managers with vested interests like justifying their own jobs.

But no-one in Government has the balls to do it.

Reflective

| Richard

Work’s been quite hectic of late, as has my social life (which is no bad thing, of course).

Friday and I was off up to Soho and the Jazz After Dark to catch up with a mate, the excellent James Gillespie, who was over in the UK from Fuerteventura to play a few gigs on a whirlwind visit. Really good to catch up with him and his partner Jess plus a few other people I’d met at the Rock Island Bar as well as a few of James’ family members. Lots of drinks as always – ciders, spirits and shots! It was a great night out and even being grabbed in the bits by a friendly transvestite on my way home didn’t faze me!

Saturday and I was up bright and early to go and look at a house in the next block from mine in the same Crescent: a fair sized house for me with an even nicer garage which has the potential to double as a photographic studio due to its size and the high ceiling height for backdrops, lighting rigs, etc. We’ll see.

The it was off to see GT for lunch and an afternoon watching three hours of “Django Unchained” – spaghetti westerns reinvented for the 21st Century. Then it was off for another excellent curry at Cinnamon Spice.

A nice lay-in on Sunday before heading to Covent Garden for more retail therapy at Dr Martens with GT before I made my way home to pack and change to get to Paris by Eurostar and my hideously expensive but comfortable hotel.

A long day Monday in meetings and giving presentations to the MD of one of our larger Clients, made more difficult by a streaming cold {sigh}. Drinks in the Eurostar Business Lounge obviously help you care less.

Finally back home; my cabbie is also riding down to the Pyrenees this summer, apparently…

Working from home today so that I didn’t spread the sniffles; I took the opportunity to cancel a couple of remaining credit cards having cleared all the balances over the past few months. There’s something cathartic about doing this and cutting up the old ones. They were a safety blanket for me at times over the past years but with the potential to bite back, so it was good to cut them up and cut off more past times. More ties with the past severed for good.

Winter Wonderland

| Richard

So winter has finally arrived, or at least the snow we all like and loathe in equal measures.

Friday was cold and snow was forecast for London, so I wore big boots and my fabulous Superdry Polar Puffer Jacket (which was a real bargain … and isn’t available online any more). Just as well, because the air conditioning units in the office packed up at lunchtime so I wore it all afternoon. Walking home in the snow, the roads were safer than the pavements and I gritted the stairs up to my apartment block when I arrived home to be safe.

I’d decided not to risk driving at the weekend with further heavy snowfalls forecast and took the train over to GT’s, arriving at lunchtime – steaming, herby veggie soup and pâté – before  a few repairs and fitting a replacement cat-flap. Then we headed up to the Epsom Downs for an afternoon’s sledging. Great fun!  Off to the pub for a drink and to warm up before trekking back again for dinner and chilling out in front of the telly and a bit of admin. sorting out a CV for GT.

A long lay-in this morning before pasta for lunch and a relaxing afternoon whilst it continued snowing heavily. Then off to Nando’s for a huge dinner before I took the train home. I’d feared the worst: South West Trains had been Tweeting about disruption all day before they halved the services back to London. It actually turned out the train I chose left on time, arrived into London on time and, after a brief tube and bus ride, I was home within an hour.

And now I’m wonderfully relaxed, listening to great music on the Apple TV through my surround sound system with a Southern Comfort for good measure. Fab!