Domestic improvement

Although I'd celebrated the start of the weekend by staying up late seeing off the last of a bottle of Cardhu while listening to Steve Lamaq via the iPlayer and intermittently browsing here and Facebook and reading the Guardian, I hopped out of bed with the rest of the family at the appointed hour of 7.30 so that Mandy could take Ewan to his swimming (and Ellen as well). This was the window within which I would construct a platform on the winding stairs to stand on, making the topmost part of the stairwell accessible for painting.

In the course of digging out the painting equipment I found, at the bottom of a crate of rollers, handles and brushes - my Holga! Obviously I'd loved it a great deal and stored it carefully. Holgas are imbued with a magical ability to make any old shite look somewhat more interesting and since I expected to be painting during the sunlit part of the day, a Holga with a flash might be just the job to make painting a large expense of wall solid white look more like art.

Between constructing the platform and starting the painting, I made a loaf of Dan Lepard's Cucumber Pickle Juice Rye Bread from his book The Handmade Loaf. Haven't tried it yet. It's taken all day to rise but there might be a need for a wee bit of bread and cheese before bed.

Mandy and her pal have gone to a card party. Poor Clodagh thought she'd be playing poker, forgetting that this is a twee village where women get together to buy Christmas cards. It's not Vegas. I'm sitting scanning negs and noticing that having used a roll of Delta 400 and HP5 and developed them together, that yesterday's mess must have been due to the temperature of the water and putting the still moist negs in their sleeves too early. HP5 is noticeably more grainy and the film more curly.

And finally, thanks for all the comments and favourites yesterday. Newhaven Harbour graced the spotlight in all its scratched, blotchy and exaggerated grainy glory. Cheers.

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The details

Camera: Holga 120SF
Film: Ilford HP5 (expired Feb 2006)
Exposure: Who knows?
Development: Monochrome Prescycol 10 mins@25C
Afterwards: Clean up dust spots, Silver Efex Pro for toning