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Having bought a Digital camera to capture pictures for websites, my interest in photography was revitalised. Just recently, I have discovered how easy it is to make 3D pictures and display them in the Anaglyph (Red/Cyan glasses) format. Just using the one camera and taking two pictures one after the other slightly offset in the horizontal axis can produce quiet stunning results. Take a look at a picture of my house in 3D (if you have the red/cyan glasses).
More recently, I discovered a clutch of sound editing and recording computer programs that allow me to build quite complex sound tracks. It has re-vitalized my musical interests and I put together about one song a month. These can be stored on CDs and played on standard audio CD players. I am a member of a local computer club, the SoftWare Information Group or SWIG for short.
Now with computes, videos can be captured to hard disk and edited with great ease. Special effects can be added and the results stored back to VHS tape or to DVDs. These can be compressed and sent over the internet to friends all over the world. I wish I had toys like this when I was 21.
Well I had a Hornby Dublo train set when I was 13 but I sold that when I started work at 15. But, now retired I have started building an N gauge layout. Very sad I know but great fun.
6 by 2 foot layout named Branor Vale.
Encouraged by the results of my friends Mick and Pat in Melbourne Australia with their fresh vegetables each day from their garden, I decided I would have a go when I got back from my stay with them. The old pond that Meisha wanted was sadly neglected and the fish had all drowned (we didn't break the ice last winter so they all suffocated!) so I filled it in and made a vegetable garden.
I now await the arrival of Runner Beans, Broad Beans,
Carrots, Spring Onions and Cabbages. I keep prodding them but nothing showing
yet.
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Amateur Radio held my captivated for just over 10 years from 1990 but the hobby
is diminishing. Few youngsters are coming into the hobby and Radio Clubs
membership is falling. The advent of mobile phones and the Internet that allow
reliable communication worldwide WITHOUT A LICENSE have taken some of the unique
qualities and privileges away from HAM radio. I have not used the
I have always been interested in music and started strumming a
guitar when I was 15. I amused myself and some of my more accommodating friends
with my own songs. I tried to record my efforts then but there is limit to what
can be done on a two track tape recorder.
Videos
(or movies as they used to be known) have always fascinated
me. My parents bought me a wind up 8mm cine camera when I was 21 and that
started a hobby that held me for 10 years. I made sound films then with home
made tape synchronizers to achieve lip sync . It took forever and the film that
you cut to edit was the precious original. If you made a mistake that was it! I
bought a second hand 16mm camera and projector and that allowed me to make
movies of excellent quality albeit expensive. I have boxes of movies that I
never watch but hope to someday transfer to video.
Since the beginning of 2002 I have been walking all over
Hertfordshire alone and with friends. Not only does this keep me fit I have
learned a lot about the countryside around my home. My walks invariably take in
a few Pubs but the exorcise burns off all the calories in the beer. The longest
I have walked is to my daughters home in Ashford, Kent a distance of 104 miles
which I completed in 5 days . 
