Snow in Coventry 2007

Part 1: It's Snowing!
Imagine our surprise as we woke up this morning to find our lawn and the streets carpeted in pure, white snow. It had been a year since it last snowed and YEARS since snow had actually settled like today - reaching 15 centimetres thick according to the BBC.

As for me, my colleagues have given me early warning of the snow, and I woke up extra early to prepare. By "prepare" I mean taking appropriate measures to make sure the car is road worthy in the snow, have an early breakfast and if necessary, set off early to work so that I could reach in time.

Everything went according to plan, thanks especially to Puan Mama Sarah who helped tremendously in prepping the car. At the same time I was also busy - busy taking pictures that is! An opportunity such as this comes but once a year and I was sure to make the most of it:



Unfortunately, I was quite pressed for time and I couldn't really concentrate. I was also extremely concerned that the wet snow would damage my expensive lens and camera. In the end, my pictures are what I would call "cincai" (the nearest translation to English I could think of would be "random"). I soon set off to work.

Part 2: The Scare
Now, driving in snow is one whole matter in itself. It's scary to say the least. In heavy snowy weather such as today the roads could be extremely slippery, the visibility poor, the roads congested and the car temperamental.

Speaking of temperamental cars, I had the scare of my life today. As some of you know, I drive 1 hour on the motorway everyday to get to work. On the dual carriage way, just two junctions away to the hospital, my car suddenly acted strange - it was putting out high revs but paradoxically was loosing power. After around 5 such occasions the car suddenly completely lost power and stopped! Thank goodness for the laws of physics - momentum propelled the car forwards and allowed me to bank the car as far as I could to the left. Unfortunately for me, there was no hard shoulder (meaning = no safety zone to park the car in case of an emergency) and the car stopped right in the middle of the carriage way!

Despite putting hazard lights, lorries honked away angrily while cars zoomed past at around 100 KMH. The visibility was quite poor and I was scared that a lorry might not see the parked car and just ram through. I immediately called the police.

I was half-way through talking to the operators when I saw a 4 wheel drive vehicle stopping nearby with 2 police officers. I felt so relieved!! After brief introductions the police officers towed my car away.

Alhamdulillah, that in the midst of such adversity there was a hint of mercy: my car broke down not 5 minutes away from a service area complete with a fueling station, Macdonalds, Costa Coffee and a shop!


I heartily thanked the two police officers who helped me at a time of need, and began my wait with a warm cup of coffee and a mood-soothing breakfast of Egg Mcmuffin and hash browns *big smile*.


60 minutes later, rescue arrived in the form of a van with the initials RAC (the breakdown cover specialists). It took the mechanic only 1 minute to diagnose the problem and only 5 minutes to repair the car.

It turns out that the garage I asked to repair my car over the weekend, a repair that costed me GBP 300 pounds (!), FORGOT TO SCREW BACK THE CAP TO THE GEAR OIL TANK. The car stopped because the tank was completely empty and a quick top up of oil later , the car was again good to go. The garage is certainly going to hear from me this weekend .... *snarl*.

I arrived at work at around 10:30 am to a sympathetic and understanding team (thank you!)

Part 3: Meanwhile ....
... the kids at home are enjoying their day playing in the snow - making snowmen, snowballs and rolling around: Puan Mama Sarah's account of the day could be found on her blog.







Part 4: Conclusion
At the end of the day I am both horrified and excited with the events today. I have a lot to be grateful for - that my life has been spared, that my car broke down so close to a service area, that the police's help came so efficiently, and that the problem with the car was relatively minor. The experience today left me charged and fired up at work (like a squirrel on sugar and caffeine). At the same time, I am AWFULLY annoyed that the garage effed up my car.

Anyhow, the journey home went smoothly and was devoid of any excitement/horrors. The events today has made me forgot that the landscape around Coventry was beautifully transformed by the snow. Please take a look at sights around our house in the snow: (most taken in low light as when I reached home from work it was already dark)









Thank you for reading.

The Hidden Beauty of Coventry: The Coventry Canal

We were originally expecting several guests this weekend, and we had been planning various activities. More specifically, I had been waiting a photography meet up in Coventry, and had been planning to go to several places where we could take photos together. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen problems they all had to cancel.

Despite the meet up being cancelled, I had always planned an Autumn photography session. This weekend, the weather was forecasted to be excellent.

I set up my alarm clock for 6am in the hopes of catching the sunrise. Unfortunately, I snoozed right through the cacophony and missed sunrise (7.30am)! Undeterred, I voraciously devoured PMS' carefully prepared breakfast and made a packed lunch for myself - tea in a Thermos flask, bread, apples and chocolate. I made my way on foot with full photography gear in tow...

It was a nice autumn day, the sky was bright and blue (unfortunately devoid of interesting cloud formations) and the temperature was a pleasant 11 degrees Celsius. Most of the foliage has turned nice shades of red and ochre (a colour I'm only pretending to know) and I made my way down the path of the Coventry Canal.

The Coventry Canal was built around 200 years ago to transport coal from Coventry to other places in the Midlands. I am ashamed to say that I have been staying in Coventry for almost 2 years now and I only started to know about the existence of the canals 2 weeks ago! My destination was Hawkesbury Junction, also known as the Sutton Soup which is where the Coventry Canal junctions with the Oxford Canal. The distance I had to walk was 5 1/2 miles, one way!

Ask anyone about Coventry, and rarely will you hear anything positive. Coventry is a small city with many industrial estates. The city centre is small and dull because most of the city has been destroyed in the Blitz.

This morning when I first saw the canals, I was astounded by its beauty. The canal was serene, and quietly beautiful in glorious autumn. Apples littered the walkway and the water was mirror-like in its stillness.

Boats could be seen populating the canal landscape, occasionally trudging along at a slow pace scaring away the ducks and swans.

I was surprised to discover as I walked along to see industrial estates dumping water into the canal. The estates seemed a garish contrast to the serenity of the canals, but the reflections they produced in the still waters still caught my eye.





Occasionally, other people could be seen walking along the walkway. Many people were jogging, walking their dogs and seen taking a leisurely family stroll.

Another popular activity seemed to be fishing. Most of the people I met were extremely friendly and would greet me and engage in conversation. Most were happy for their pictures to be taken and would pose accordingly.

Not many people know that the Coventry Canal is host to Britain's longest outdoor art gallery. The award winning trail houses 39 artworks produced by artists and professionals working with the local communities (for example schools and clubs in Coventry). The seat adorned with carvings of fish seen above is one such artwork and is known as the Hawkesbury Lock Seat.

The 5 1/2 mile trail was interspersed with interesting artworks, factoids and exits to local cafe, pubs, parks and places of interest.

After several hours walk, I finally arrived at the Hawkesbury Junction. The junction was much smaller than I had imagined but seemed to be the ganglia where boats gather and leave.

At this junction, I finally had a chance to sit down, and enjoy a quiet picnic alone in a small celebration of my discovery of this place.

All in all, I managed to shoot 500 pictures along the canal and it was a great morning of interesting photographic and self-discovery. All the above pictures were taken using the new circular polarizer, to help control reflections and darken the skies.

I started the 5 1/2 walk back towards home grateful to Allah for my youth, energy, time and being born with adequate facilities that I was able to endure such an arduous physical test yet still being able to enjoy every second of the adventure!

Further reading :
1. The history of the Canal on the BBC website.
2. A list of the various artworks lining the trail including pictures.
3. A detailed history of the Canal by the Coventry Canal Society.
4. A map of the trail (I started at station 5 and finished at 12).
5. How did other photographers see the canal and how do my pictures compare? Photos on Flickr tagged "Coventry Canal". Interesting.

Cardiff Bay at Night

Salams dear readers. It turns out that there's internet here after all. I would love to write more later, but I'm quite pressed for time so I think I'll put up pictures first and write more later (when I have time). Yesterday I embarked on a night photography session with Mr Rosli Othman, here in Cardiff, Wales. Here are the results:

I would love to post up the EXIF data for these pictures but I just don't have the time. Do note that some of these photos were many seconds long (enough to make a cup of tea!) and it was quite a windy night.

These pictures of the Wales Millenium Centre were taken handheld (!)

Okay, I did cheat by bumping the ISO as high as I can and I also propped part of the camera on a wire fence (while holding the body). I have always wanted to capture a picture of the Wales Millenium Centre at night, the words on this impressive building lights up "IN THESE STONES THE HORIZONS SING". The words in Welsh could be translated as, "Creating truth like glass from the furnace of inspiration". I am awed by this building.


Canon 400D - 18mm - F3.5 - 1/6 sec - ISO 800

Canon 400D - 18mm - F5.6 - 1/8 sec - ISO 400


For the picture below I had to set the white balance to "flash" as the picture originally flared orange. I also love the "starburst effect" created by the strong lightsource. I thought you need special starburst filters for the effect. Because of the long exposure, I like how the reflection of the lights blur and smothens out:

Canon 400D - 41mm - F22 - 25 secs - ISO 200

Canon 400D - 22mm -F8 - 10 sec - ISO 200

Canon 400D - 18mm - F11 - 4 sec - ISO 100 .

The picture above is taken from the jetty outside of Bosphorus, and is dedicated to Uncle and Auntie De. Around 3 or 4 years ago, we celebrated Auntie De's birthday here and Uncle De took a similar photo as above from the said viewpoint. At that time I realised for the first time that Uncle De also has a "artsy" side to him:D








Mr Rosli Othman and his 30D