Another selfie? Yes, sort of!

Having taken the plunge with the selfie thing here a couple of days ago I thought I'd post another.

Usky's Selfie

 Yes it's me, taking a photograph of me... or at least a photograph of my shadow. So, does this qualify as a selfie or not? For me it does since I am both subject and photographer, but I suspect all the selfie purists out there will argue the image can't be a selfie because it doesn't contain a face and probably more importantly, no pout! What's with the whole pouty face thing anyway? Seems daft to me.

There, is that better? 😄

Snowdrops

I have been a lifelong fan of these delicate little flowers, it always gladdens my heart to see them. Without doubt they are best enjoyed where they grow naturally carpeting woodland floors or hiding among hedgerows. They also look good when grown domestically in clumps. One of my neighbours has them glowing along her boundary hedge and to me they look so right there.

Of course to really enjoy these little beauties you really need to get up close and personal...

Snowdrops

Lovely aren't they?

A walk in the woods

Took Tilly for a romp in the woods this morning, which she thoroughly enjoyed. No surprises there, she always seems to have fun running in and out among the trees.

I enjoyed it up there today too, despite it being very wet and muddy after all the rain. At least it was dry this morning and there was even some watery sunshine. Fortunately you can avoid the worst of the mud if you venture off the trails and pathways and walk between the trees.

Walking 'off-track' between the trees

For me the only downside of being 'off track' means you are walking on and damaging small plants, in my local wood this means mosses and ferns.

Mossy Growth

I'm sure this kind of moss has a proper name, but I've no idea what that might be. What I do know is I really like delicate little fronds and try not to crush too many plants while I'm walking.

All the fresh green growth reminds me too that Spring is on its way and it will only be a few more weeks before the ground is covered in wood anemone, celandine and  the first of the year's orchids. 😃

The Selfie Thing

I'm not much given to being photographed, I much prefer to be behind the camera than in front of the lens. As a consequence I've avoided taking 'Selfies'... until today that is when I grabbed a couple on my morning walk with Tilly.

I read recently that over 24 billion selfies had been uploaded by Google in 2015. 24 billion? Eh? What the heck's the matter with people? Why do they feel the need to publicly display themselves? It's not something I understand. Perhaps that's because I'm not one of those out-going, self-promoting, photogenic types?

Well anyway I posted a very rare selfie on my blog earlier today and thought I'd treat you lucky people to another... you'd better look quick though, before I destroy the evidence!

See? Told you I wasn't photogenic!

Anyone would think it was cold!

Feeling just a little over-dressed on my morning walk with Tilly...

Anyone would think it was cold!

Turned out to be much warmer than I'd anticipated this morning. Of course the beautiful mid-morning sunshine helped a lot. 😎

I get so pissed off by this!

There are many things that raise my ire and mindless fly-tipping is one of them. There is simply no excuse for driving out into the country to dump your waste, especially when there is a FREE to use waste recycling centre near by. People who just dump their crap and leave it for other people to clear up should be stood against a fucking wall and shot!

I photographed this lot on a five mile walk with Tilly this morning (and there was a lot of smaller bits of dumped crap as well).

Not a bad collection of junk is it? Next time take it to a proper facility instead of leaving for others to clean up!

Mobile network rip-off

Life can be so frustrating at times! A little while ago I decided to treat myself to a new mobile 'phone and, when the time came, break away from my current mobile contract. So I shopped around and was lucky to get myself one of the new Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus handsets on a special deal from Amazon.

Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus

I have to say I'm very happy with the 'phone, especially given the price I paid and it's nice to think it's British as opposed to Chinese, Taiwanese, whatever.

So the time came to be getting myself a decent SIM only contract and leave my current mobile provider: ought to be easy didn't it? No, think again!

Because I'm retired, don't have a mortgage, don't have a car loan and haven't borrowed money from a bank, building society or money lender in over 30 years, I don't have a credit history and this means I don't qualify for the majority of deals you see advertised on the Internet for SIM only mobile deals. However if I wanted a new iPhone or Samsung Galaxy I could get one by return of post.

Just look at how crazy this is...

I tried to get a SIM only deal from Talk Mobile. It offered everything I wanted at a monthly cost of £2.99 (£5.00 before cashback). My application was refused because I failed their credit check. Talk Mobile didn't want me to be disappointed so they offered my an alternative: I could have an iPhone SE on a 24 month contract for just £35 pm. What? Do you think I'm stupid? Fuck you!

Disgusted I hunted around the net and tried a couple of other companies with much the same result. No I didn't qualify for a cheap SIM only deal, but I could have a new high cost handset on a 2 year deal.

Do you see a pattern was starting to form here? Yes, me too.

Mobile Phones Direct said they could help as long as I agreed to a free credit check with their partner company. This sounded okay until I looked at it in detail. You get one free credit check, but have to agree to future checks at a monthly cost. Thank you, but NO!

Then I found TPO Mobile and everything started to fall into place. Not only was I able to order a SIM on a reasonable basis, but 10% of the monthly fee is directed to a charity of my choice. I admit it's not the best deal available for minutes/texts/data, but it's adequate for my needs and since the contract is on a month-by-month basis I can leave at any time and while I'm there the RNLI get an 40p a month to help fill their coffers - I know it's not much, but hey every little helps and as an old sailor it makes me feel good. 😇