'There's a guy work's down the chip shop...'

I'd thought about what my two hundredth blip might be for a few weeks, I knew roughly where I'd be and, in the last few days, I knew what I would be doing...

...I'd be getting the final odds ands ends from where Minds over Matters Hypnotherapy used to be based and moving them to their new office. It felt like a significant thing to capture and, as I wouldn't be visiting the chip shop over the road any more, that felt like the place to take the pic.

I thought that the star of the blip would be the guy who runs the chip shop, a larger and life chap always happy to engage me in conversation. His friendliness was even commented on in a five star review of the place in a local newspaper. He'd be up for it, I thought, it'd be great. It felt like a way of saying goodbye to that chapter of my life.

So, I arrive, camera in hand, and for the first time in the 3 years since they opened - he's not there and I'm not going to ask the pair behind the counter that I've never met before if they want their picture taken...that'd just look odd!

So, disappointed, I try and discreetly get shots of the staff interacting with the customers, the pictures aren't great, so I start photographing the food, they can see this and they look on curiously. When I eventually leave I try to engage them in conversation, but they're looking at me suspiciously now. Suffice to say, I've not got anything remotely close to the picture I wanted.

...but I suppose that's one of the things I've come to accept in the last 200 days, the things that I plan beforehand can often fall flat and look rubbish, whilst something can just leap out of nowhere and amaze me. As Paddy McAloon once observed (terible, terrible video so no link) 'Darling, it's a life of surprises'.

Blip title borrowed from here....