Apologies, last of these playing with the polarising filter for now. Things are somewhat manic at the moment so little chance to Blip hunt, and have turned commenting off.

Staff conference today, and the Principal mentioned they'd be doing a photo of as many of the Staff as possible at lunchtime. Presumed that one of the local professionals they usually employ would be doing the honours. Not so. Just before the call to group together outside, came the usual query... "er, Dave. Have you got your camera in today?" No pressure. Nigh on a couple of hundred folk appear, to have their picture taken in the strong sunlight, and about the only place I could think of, to get enough height to capture them all (with the 35mm prime lens I had), meant they had to mostly face into that unflattering sunlight. Not my finest hour. Suppose not having any notice meant I wasn't worrying about it for days. And there was the bonus of not having to appear in the photo...

Best photo not taken today, was of the swans and cygnets at lunchtime. Like a lot of others I went outside to sit and eat in the glorious weather. Just outside the back door, there was the swan family casually sitting in a big space, surrounded by loads of Staff enjoying lunch, outside for a change, as someone had thoughtfully put tables and chairs out there for us. The swans didn't seem the least bit bother by all the people there, or all the comings and goings at close quarters.