Canal lock wall

Now this is my 100th blip, no great shakes for seasoned blippers, but a bit of a milestone for someone who started here with no great faith in his commitment to keep it up.

So for my 100th blip I would have liked to have done something special, a nice sunset, seascape or something. But today was a wet wet Monday with skies as grey as they come.

George, our youngest, is back from university and he's been seeking a project - what he called a "man job" so I told him I needed some new compost bins. He says he's up to that, so, after he'd done the measurements, I drove him to the hardware store to get some wood. I took my camera too and photographed the end of a brush and some rolled-up cork matting, that kind of thing. On the way back we had to pass over the canal bridge and it was raining cats and dogs.

I parked the Jeep and sauntered over to the empty lock - St John's Rise on the Basingstoke Canal. Now this might not be the most inspiring shot among my 100 blips, but I like old brickwork and moss and the canal side had all that in abundance with a ladder thrown in for good measure.

OK it looks all damp and fusty but I'm not complaining. Quite the opposite. I'm loving this site and learning a lot all the time, awed by so many good photographers, encouraged by the friendliness of others here and challenged continually by this daily task that is also a joy, even on a wet Monday in Woking.