Random Pictures with a Restless Mind

photography, pictures, places and mental health

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I am male,English and have anxiety and depression. I like photography, walking, wildlife, history, cricket, Peter Gabriel and moaning………CONSTANTLY!

  • Post Christmas

    I got back yesterday from my christmas visit. It was mostly good although i still had the same overwhelming anxiety on the last day before I left. It’s almost every time I leave her I feel that I am going to my death or we will never see each other again. Today I had the mental health doctor phone me from the surgery. He wants me to go out and do more stuff and suggested going to the gym. I understand this is behavioural activation but if you are folked in the head it often backfires and reinforces being hated or weird. Going to a gym alone does not make me want to initiate conversation or social interaction with strangers after years of madness. It just makes me feel awkward and then gets worse every time not better. I have always had trouble making pleasant, I mean normal conversation even if someone speaks to me first and that has almost never happened and at my age I will soon need to join the pensioner club.

  • Last Post of the year

    A last attempt at a sunset for this year on Saturday afternoon before I go away to stay with my friend for Christmas and the new year. Not particularly great picture again, the sun setting behind the university buildings but I did take another of the most impressively illuminated shop in the city on the way home, a jewellery shop called Pragnells.

  • Still Waiting

    A visit to the larger lake on Friday afternoon. I have not been here in over a year now. It was nice to watch the sun setting close to the equinox and all the birds flocking together to roost. However sunsets are a lottery. Too much cloud and there is obviously no sun at all and too little and they are not very interesting.

  • The Great Ridge

    The Great Ridge near Castleton in the Peak District. Taken January 2009

  • Windows

    I especially like Christmas window displays at this time of year, some in small local shops and others in large high street chains.

  • A Better Sunset

    Another trip to the local park to capture the sun setting. By no means perfect but better than the other day. With only one more sunny day forecast this week it might also be the last chance I get to see a sunset until next year as hopefully I will still get to stay with friend over christmas. Surely it’s too late for a flu pandemic to stop christmas now. Dont bet on it.

  • Roman Times

    It’s common to think of British history starting with the Norman conquest of 1066 but of course people were living here for thousands of years previously as stonehenge and other ancient artifacts prove. The above Jewry wall is part of a Roman building dating back to the 2nd century with baths nearby. In fact the Romans has quite a large settlement here with many large buildings including a forum before the collapse of the Roman empire and its gradual decline. Many of the building were abandoned and later ransacked and their stone and bricks used by local people in much smaller houses which have now been lost over time. Its believed that some were used in the building of the above church of St Nicholas nearby which itself is over 1150 years old. I recently found that my great grandparents got married there in the 1880’s.

  • In the Bleak Midwinter

    Yesterday I went to the local park to see if I could get the sun setting over the lake. Unfortunately it clouded over again and was quite boring but I did get the geese come to see if I had any food. However, there was an event for stand up to cancer charity with 5000 lights turned into lanterns with personal family tributes to cancer victims along the paths and across the bridge. Each one someone who has passed but is still remembered and missed by family and friends. Another poignant reminder of how fleeting life really is.

  • Some More Deer

    This one large stag was still with most of the female herd and is probably the same one from a couple of weeks ago.. He was still bellowing a bit and chasing off any other stags that came too close but the rut is pretty much over for this year. However it winter is often easier to get closer to them than the autumn and there are less people about. Unfortunately I found out later than one fallow deer had to be destroyed after getting attacked and seriously injured in a dog attack. People are often complete arses.

  • Festive

    On the way home from the country park on Wednesday I went by these shops to see if it was less busy on a weekday as it was crowded at the weekend, thankfully it was.

  • A December Afternoon

    A final trip this year probably to the country park. A view over the pond of Bradgate house with the city in the background on a sunny December afternoon.

  • Christmas Lights

    Just a couple of quick trips into town to see the Christmas lights over the weekend. They are mostly the same every year but I like the way they have lit up the old fountain in the town hall square. Some of the shops are nicely it up or decorated but there were too many people around to take any shots.

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