Today was a good day. I like good days.  A mixture of barbershops, photography, cake and tea, and most importantly, friends. On this sunny Friday afternoon, I had the afternoon off from work, it would be a perfect day to go to the barbershop and get this beard of mine seen too.  I knew it was sunny just by looking out the window, and thought, let’s go manual today.

There is a rule in photography called sunny 16, that says when it is sunny, and not a cloud in the sky, you can put your camera at F16, the shutter speed identical to the ISO, or film sensibility, and all your shots should come out fine or at least well exposed.  It means that all you have to do is to concentrate on the moment and press the shutter when the moment is right, and by that I mean, when you have the composition that you want from a scene.

Sean Tucker did a whole video about it and I thought, well, you’ve taken his advice in the past, so why not now.  I was a bit of a sissy, and didn’t use a film camera, but instead used the Fujifilm X100F so I could see what I as getting, but to be honest, I didn’t really need to.  I must have more self-confidence in photography, I must have more self-confidence in photography, etc.  I didn’t go F16 but stayed a little more conservative at F11.

Right, the geeky, photographer part of this article is over.  The rest of you can join in again.

So first the barber shop with a couple of photos along the way as my photographic warm-up.  This visual warm-up is as important as the muscular warm-up is for a runner or any other sportsman.  You get your settings right.  F11 because there were a couple of clouds in the sky but not enough for F8.  Remember the sunny 16 as a guide to this outing.

My goal was to go and get my flowing locks of hair shaved off, my beard to be transformed from a homeless guy into a dashing older Dude, and then get to Church, pop in to say hello to Jesus since I was too early for confession, and head off to the pub.

With less hair than before and having to battle away throngs of female admirers along the way, I eventually made it to the pub.  It was a quiet day at the pub.  Rob, or should I say the legend that is Rob, was standing outside ready to jump on any unsuspecting client that might come by and sit down on the terrasse.  He’s a good man, and we share a love of being daft and talking utter bollocks.  Our jokes are amazing, at least to us.  Others might disagree, but under torture will admit they were slightly funny despite being awful!

After a couple of pints of water to quench my thirst and some awful jokes I needed to pee.  On my way back up I fancied a little something to nibble on. 

Rob, do you fancy some Pringles and some dip?

Not really. 

Do you know what I really fancy Ian?

No Rob? 

Some shortbread… 

I wasn’t going to make it from scratch but I knew a place where I could acquire some for a reasonable price.  So off I went to the Comptoir Irlandais.  An establishment where you can find some of the world’s more comforting produce, tea, and shortbread included.  Back to the pub.

Rob who is half Scottish let me know what a great fan of Iron Bru he is.  Guess what I found at the Comptoir Irlandais?  Yes, you’re right Dear Reader!  Scotland’s number one hangover cure, not that I’m suggesting in any way at all, that the Scots would ever need a hangover cure, but if they did, this might be it.  It’s a Marmite thing.  You love it or you hate it.  Judging by Rob’s little eyes when I came back with the shortbread fingers, and that special drink, I think we can safely say he likes it!  We of course made a tonne of finger jokes, asking our Irish friend if she would like a finger.  Yes, we were at that level.  Fart jokes would have been a great leap forward.  And I think the phrase, that’s what she said, was uttered a few times too!  So all in all, yes, it was a very good day!