I’m feeling really uninspired at the moment. My friend who was here visiting from America has gone and I’m working all hours on my biggest customers various website projects. I’ve done all the design and creative work, I did that months ago, all that remains is the laborious task of inputting the content and trying to prepare that in a way that doesn’t look mind numbingly boring. The only thing is, it is! The customer has provided no pictures to break up the mountains of text, and as a result the work is hideously boring.

Ordinarily I think I would charge through this like a hot knife through butter. I’d get it out of the way rapidly so as to move on to other more creatively challenging projects. But I feel like I am wading through a river of treacle with this project and when I do take time to come up for air the only thing i want to do is anything that doesn’t involve a computer, but not useful or exciting stuff, but stuff like watching TV, or going to the gym.

I feel totally bereft of inspiration or the inclination to be creative. I’ve not finished and published a ‘Meanwhile‘ article in months. I’ve not produced any new ‘Posh Telly‘ movies or created any new personal websites featuring the mountains of pictures I have taken. I feel like the only thing I have to show for the last year or so is just a bank balance with a few zero’s on the end of it – something which isn’t exactly inspiring or even that important to me.

I want to get these work projects out of the way then take a couple or three weeks to go and ‘dream it up again.’ I need to take some time to just produce some stuff. To write, to make movies, to hang some of my photography in frames on my walls, to be creative!

Maybe I’ve just been immersed in people too much of late. I was ‘on the road’ for a month in America (yes I know the pics are still curiously absent) and then my friend was here visiting. Make no mistake, I love having friends visit, but maybe what i need now is a little downtime you know? I told a friend that the other day but she just laughed and said “You want a holiday? You’re always on holiday Simon!” Something which I can’t exactly argue with if the true be known.

And tomorrow I have to go to the funeral of some girl who died last week of cancer. I didn’t know her that well but her friends wanted me to go and so it seemed like the right thing to do. Then in the evening I’ll be working at the bar taking pictures and being “Simon!” everyones favorite photographer friend.

I just want a little alone time you know? I’m not feeling sad or anything like that. Make no mistake, I love my life, but I just feel a little overcrowded at the moment. Maybe a little suffocated. I just need a little room to breath, space to think, and time to find my inspiration again, that’s all.

Looking at the American press in the last couple of days is seems that there is a lot of disquiet about surrounding the ‘high’ price of gas in the U.S.

Indeed in the ‘Stars and Stripes‘ newspaper that is given out to the troops and read by American ex-pats across the globe, yesterdays paper had a cover story about how one gas station owner paid the ultimate price for his expensive gas at $3.29. According to the paper the man was ran over and killed when he tried to chase down a driver who was trying to leave the station without paying for his gas.

From the outside looking in this seems like a staggering situation, Americans complaining that their gas price is less than 43p a litre in English money. To put that in context look at it like this: While you are whining about paying around $3.20 for a gallon of gas, the same gallon in the UK would cost about $8! That seems like a statement that is worth repeating to you – In the UK we pay around $8 a gallon for gas that you are complaining you pay something like $3.20 for!

Now, imagine how much your car, van or SUV would cost to fill if you were paying $8 a gallon, a figure that can climb as high as nearly $10 a gallon in certain rural places in the UK! My little MGF has a relatively small gas tank, yet even that costs me nearly $100 to fill, and I fill it every couple of weeks!

Your gas is cheap, no matter how expensive it gets.

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Todays front pages
Stars & Stripes
High gas prices are sparking calls for regulation
Gas-pump angst: Why rising price riles us up
My MGF

I took my girlfriend, ‘Posh’, away for a weekend in a Welsh castle for her birthday. We went to one of the most beautiful parts of North Wales, the Llyn Peninsula. The weather didn’t let me down and allowed us to enjoy British summertime at it’s very best.

The first picture is of the Castle in which we stayed. Castell Deudraeth in the ground of a strange little place called Portmeirion. The weather was very much on our side, something which you can never rely on in this part of the world. But with the sun beaming out of the blue sky the village looked decidedly European and felt that way too.

The castle itself was fun, though at a little less than $400 a night it’s not a place I’ll be hurrying back to anytime soon. It was a trip to stay in a castle, but part of me wanted the decor to be, well, more castle-like.

The Llyn Peninsula is a ruggedly beautiful part of North Wales. Often forgotten and off the beaten path, it’s a place that hides some of the most alluring Welsh beaches that are oftentimes simply deserted. On hot days one could be forgiven for forgetting that this is indeed Wales, a place more famous for its rain than its breathtaking coastline.