CHRISTMAS BREAK

Not too sure which location these seasonal hot air balloons were supposed to be flying over - if it was Santa's Grotto, that would indicate the North Pole - if it was a crib, that would be the Middle East - but the large penguin would make it the South Pole!
Never mind, most of these details are hidden behind the Christmas tree anyway, and as for the tree itself, well I do know for certain its location was the Eastgate Shopping Centre in Gloucester.
So on that note, I'm gonna stop cascading for a while and take a festive break.
However, I will be back in January with another years worth of images from around the Cotswolds.

SANTA GOES SHOPPING

So this is where Santa gets all those toys from - the Beechwood Shopping Centre in Cheltenham!
The creators did a really good job of this flying sleigh I reckon.

THE BALL IN THE MALL

These bears were having a bit of a Christmas rave up in this shopping centre in Gloucester.
Meanwhile, next door to the bears, Cinderella's carriage had not yet reached the pumpkin transformation stage - although there was a guy from a nearby fruit & veg stall at the ready!

ALICE IN CHELTENHAM

Sometime around the early 2000's, the Regent Arcade in Cheltenham had an "Alice In Wonderland" theme throughout the mall for their Christmas display.
Some of the toy props on show were quite surreal and similarly they also had a tree you could walk through.
The trail eventually lead you to Santa's Grotto of course!

LOCK HOUSE GARLAND

A very ordinary looking scene but made to look a bit Christmassy because of the garland on the door and the sprinkling of snow.
This is the Lock House at Gloucester docks.
The footprints in front of the house just seem to disappear into thin air.
Wonder if they went for a dip?!

CHELTENHAM CHESTNUTS

This was the Hot Chestnuts seller doing a bit of business underneath the giant baubles in the centre of Cheltenham back in 2002.

XMAS DOX

Maybe I should have waited until it was darker to catch the lights on, but anyway, this is one of the Christmas trees they had on display at Gloucester docks back in the 90's.

CHRISTMAS COURTYARD

A parade of Christmas firs in amongst the exotic trees at The Courtyard in Cheltenham.
And if you fancy doing a bit of shopping here, you will find a mix of designer stores, art galleries and a very smart Bang & Olufsen shop.

THE GOLDEN CROSS

This was how Gloucester's Golden Cross pub used to look before its renovation and change of name.
Here they were reminding the locals to book early if planning to visit for a Christmas meal.

FARMERS MARKET IN CHELTENHAM

I took this picture of the Farmer's Market stalls in Cheltenham in December 2002.
Not only was there fresh food available, but they also had 2003 Farmers Market calendars for sale.

EMF AT THE GUILDHALL

Back in 1990, word got out around Gloucester at short notice that the band, EMF, were to be filming a promo video for their chart single "Unbelievable" at a gig in the Guildhall - so I popped along to catch a piece of the action.
Action is quite an apt description because the band were very hyperactive on stage and they kept this energy level flowing for the full show.
True enough, a camera crew was there and were interacting on stage as well as mingling in amongst the crowd.
EMF performed "Unbelievable" twice on the night.
I've had the promo video on VHS cassette since the 90's but only recently got round to converting it to digital format.
So here below is the finished footage of the event - and after all these years, I still haven't been able to spot myself in the crowd!

POST BOX COLLECTION

I spotted this display in an antique shop in Gloucester.
Although the shop had a variety of interesting items for purchase, these post boxes were for looking at only and not for sale.

2 VILLAGE POST OFFICES

Here are 2 village Post Offices I snapped in the passing that I think I'm right in saying are now no longer in biz.
The top photo being the P.O. Stores in Hartpury and underneath it is the Box Tree Farm P.O. in Apperley.

COLD COMMUNICATION

Well if the freezing weather ever knocked out the phone line in Epney, at least the locals had postal backup - unless of course the roads became too icy for the mail van, in which case it would be time to look in the tree for a pigeon!

FROZEN FIELD

Brrrr....there was a bit of a nip in the air on this excursion to the countryside but at least the frost helped make a nice image.
The field with this eye-catching bare tree was located around the Lower Parting area.

SWAN VISTA

It may have been the middle of winter but at least this pond near Nuthill hadn't frozen over - with just one lone swan and a couple of ducks taking advantage of the cold plunge!

SPRINTING IN THE SNOW

I saw this horse running through snow in a field in Walham, so quickly got my camera out and fired off one shot as it passed.

CHILLING OUT NEAR LASSINGTON

I could have done with a sheepskin coat on this particular trip, but anyway at least the sheep in shot seem to be enjoying chilling out in amongst the snowy tufts in this field near Lassington.

FREEZING IN FRETHERNE

Here are some cows tucking into a container of Ready Brek, hoping that it gives them enough central heating to see them through winter in Fretherne.

WINTER FUN IN WALHAM

Well I've seen a hamster wheel before - but a cow wheel..??!!
This photo was taken on a late chilly afternoon around the Walham area.
Wonder if they gave it a whirl when I went away?

THE DESOLATE ROAD

I found this old abandoned road on the outskirts of Gloucester a bit strange.
It was all on its own in a setting of overgrown wasteland, and although it had pavements on both sides there were no sign of there ever having been any buildings alongside it. In fact, the road was on a bit of a gradient with a steep drop on either side, filled with trees. It also didn't go anywhere as it just lead to a dead end, with a sizeable plummet when I reached the edge.
Perhaps it started off as some kind of construction project but was cast aside after a change of plan.
What I did like about the place was its run down appearance with the road surface taken over by moss.

LASSINGTON'S TOWER

This shot was taken on a nice crisp blue skied winters morning, but because it's done in black & white, it has ended up looking quite creepy.
The lone tower is in a place called Lassington and originally it would have had a church building attached, however, what with the passing of time, only the tower now remains.
As it is in this image, you could almost imagine it being the setting to a Rapunzel movie - only served up in the style of a Hammer Horror production!

LANDSCAPE & LENS FLARE

The landscape is starting to steam up as the sun evaporates the ground frost while at the same time creating a nice lens flare to frame the shot.
This location was around the Portway area looking over towards Upton Wood.

BIG YELLOW TREE

I managed to catch this big yellow tree in Highnam just before it dropped its leaves and just thought it looked good against the blue sky.

NATURE'S BIN

I was quite amused when I saw that nature had hollowed out this tree trunk in Highnam and was inadvertently transformed into a bin filled with fallen autumn leaves!

UNIDENTIFIED FLARING OBJECTS

Although this wooded area in Highnam was dark, I took a picture of these strange objects because I didn't know what they were.
They were leaning against a tree and 3 were the same design - a broad flare on the ground tapering to a narrow top with a cowbell kind of thing attached. A 4th one behind them was a slightly different design.
I don't even know if they were made of wood or metal.
Any ideas?

THE LOST WATER BUFFALO

What a shame, this water buffalo instinctively sensed that all these lovely flooded fields around the Severn area would make an ideal habitat to settle, but by the time it arrived here, all the water had disappeared and it had to make do with life at Over Farm instead!

FLOODED COUNTRYSIDE

It's not just town life that suffers as a consequence of flooding, the surrounding countryside is affected by it too of course, and yet despite all this real life hassle, you can still end up with interesting images if you carry your camera around with you.
The top picture was taken in an area of Sud Meadow that is normally marshy anyway, but in this shot it has been given a watery top-up of flood water. And yes, it was as squelchy as it looks!
Although the other photo resembles a lake, it is in fact a flooded field near Chaceley.
The water is supposed to be on the other side of the trees, where the Severn is!

FLOODED PARK

These are 2 shots of the same park in Gloucester but looking in 2 different directions.
The top one was the area around the entrance to the park where I was stopped in my tracks with the sight of flood water having risen up on the litter bin and park bench.
Although the photo under it is exceedingly picturesque, you can now see why I couldn't go any further. The entire park being completely submersed - and because I wasn't wearing waders, had to stay put!

FLOODED SPORTS FIELDS

Not much action took place on these sports fields when the floods arrived...although the ducks no doubt enjoyed themselves!
The top image is the rugby ground of Gloucester All Blues, but as you can see looking through the trees, their pitch has been turned into an outdoor pool!
The other shot shows football pitches that are underwater. I don't think they would need to wait on a referee to make a decision as to whether the matches are playable or postponed!
The flood water has also invaded a nearby electricity station, and looking a rather dangerous state of affairs too!

HERE COMES THE FLOOD

The River Severn floods on quite a regular basis, but once in a while it produces a deluge on such a large scale that it makes the national news.
Here are 2 outside broadcast vans I caught on standby beside a field in Gloucester during one of the floods in the late 90's.
One is Newsforce, the other ITN.

AUTUMN SHADOW #3

The sun sits lower down in the sky in autumn, becoming quite glaring at times and a bit of a nuisance for photography in certain circumstances. Nevertheless, you can also use this bright light to your advantage occasionally and get a funky shot like this one with long early morning shadows stretching across a park in Gloucester.

AUTUMN SHADOW #2

This image is a bit deceptive.
On first glance you just naturally assume that the tree in shot is casting the shadow on this Gloucester warehouse - then after a small delay, you realise it can't be because that would mean the sun would have to be positioned low down on the left. However, you can see by the ridges on the building that the sunlight was coming in from the right - therefore the shadow you see is from another tree that is out of frame.

AUTUMN SHADOW #1

I found it quite amusing when I saw the shadow that had landed on this outer wall, was in the same central position as the autumnal detail on the building on the other side of it.
However, the building behind me that cast this shadow mimicking the triangle, was of a completely different design to the one with the red foliage.
This quirky coincidence was snapped in Gloucester.

MISTY PORT HAM

A chilly winter mist hangs in the air creating this moody scene at Port Ham.

FOGGY WALLSWORTH

Fog adds a touch of atmosphere to this spartan view of Wallsworth.
The silhouetted building in amongst the trees on the horizon is the Nature In Art Museum.

BANNERS 'N' BALLOONS SHOP FRONT

No prizes for guessing what this shop sold or what year it was photographed.
It's Banners 'n' Balloons in Gloucester in 1999.
You may have spotted that despite it had an "Open" sign in the window, it didn't appear to have a door - well that's because the entrance was at the side of the building around the corner.
Also, because of the kind of shop it was, the 'No Entry' sign outside it looked like a balloon on a stick!
I had to write the caption in the past tense because the shop is no longer there.

SEEING DOUBLE AT ASHLEWORTH

Another Lomo styled example here, merging 2 below par photos into an image that's a bit more interesting.
Individually, one is a snap of some hollyhocks at a roadside in Gloucester - you can make out the double yellow lines and wall where the flowers were.
The other picture is at a junction in Ashleworth, featuring a sign post, bare tree and cottage.
2 rather ordinary photos on their own, but blended together have produced this trippy treat!

SEEING DOUBLE AT MAISEMORE

I have lots of photos that I won't be putting up on display on Cotswolds Cascade. Some that are too boring, some that are poor quality or have defects, and some I have no idea what I took a picture of them for in the first place!
However, that doesn't mean I have to bin them, because sometimes you can have a bit of fun with rejects and rescue those dull images.
One way is to superimpose one photo on top of another, like what I've done with the image above.
Separately they were pretty feeble - an uninteresting view of the countryside near Maisemore, and a close-up of some teasels at Port Ham, but merging them together has given them a new lease of life.
The result is almost like Lomo photography!