"You can take a picture of something you see"

This morning I undertook a little mini project. It was discussed with HotLegs last week that I was sure I had a couple of photo's of her & her daughter from when Temper Tantrum used to work for her. I said I would e-mail them to her. So today I dug out my big box of photos & set about trying to find them. I found two of the daughter & one of me & HotLegs in the same picture! I'll do the required scanning & sending tomorrow.

In finding these 3 pics I did have to scour through hundreds of photos. Sadly having to get to work on time stopped me from browsing through all of them but it was a pleasant trip down memory lane.
Many things occurred to me during this journey, not least that I really should get my hair cut more often. Far too many snaps featuring an unkempt mop atop my head! I also really enjoyed (& I always do) seeing all my old clothes.

Of course the most important thing about photos are the people captured on them.
So many people.
Lots, as you can imagine, of Temper Tantrum & myself back in our happy days.
Grillions of The Boy in various stages of his young life, including one of him aged 2 sharing a chair with John Hartson's* little girl. I told him to keep in with her but it fell on deaf ears!

*For the benefit of my overseas readers John Hartson is a footballer.

There seemed to be an alarming amount of pics taken at weddings of people who are no longer married. These often have the notable pics of myself, Funny Dance, Reckless & Married A Proper Bitch all together looking smart. One in particular always makes me piss my pants.
Taken at Reckless' wedding to TemperMental it features the 4 of us all in our finery. And all 4 of us are sporting some sort of facial hair. I (& I maybe biased here but what the hell...) look fine as I actually sported a goatee & tache combo for several years & it suited me just fine. The other 3 look laughable, especially Reckless with his ridiculous moustache. He shaved it off very shortly afterwards & it's never been seen since. God bless cameras, eh?

Going back further in time there are similar snaps of the previous gang of four; The Duke of Jokes, Gentle Giant, Ridgely & myself. Nice jumper mate!

I particularly enjoyed seeing my Butlins photos. So many friends, so many girls, so many memories. Then there was JockoThiefGirl. Grrr! I'll tell you the tale one day of how her actions ensured my stay at Butlins only lasted 4 months when I'd have quite happily had another year or two there.

Then there is all the girls I've loved before!
Except there isn't.
Looking back I can't believe how weak I was & how it was a very early warning sign that I should've taken a lot more notice of. Temper Tantrum basically had me destroy all my pictures of Monochrome Baby who was her predecessor in long term relationship terms.
Regret it? You betcha.
I saw just one pic of her & that's a poorly lit group shot. I don't hold any great depth of feeling for Monochrome Baby, in fact I often struggle to remember anything we actually did during our 4 years together, but she is an important part of my past. On top of that she was very pretty, the prettiest of all my (legitimate) partners. It would just be nice to have one or two really nice pictures that capture her during our time together.

I came across a handfull of pictures of Dream Girl that were taken with a really good camera. I do not use the term lightly but people; she really is beautiful.

I also found my favourite 2 pics of Horny As Hell, who was my first proper girlfriend back when we both 16/17. In one she's standing outside Bradford St. Georges hall as we waited in line for a Depeche Mode gig, her hair is backcombed to within an inch of it's life & her make up is all a bit goth, but she looks great. The other was taken in Sheffield city centre which is made pretty by the blanket of snow that covers everything. It was still snowing as the shutter clicked & somehow that photo just captured how wonderful that girl was. Though she probably hates my memory with a passion (I dumped her) I have nothing but lovely warm feelings about Horny As Hell. Bless her, I hope wherever she is & whatever she's doing, she's happy.

One small wallet of pictures always causes me mild panic when I find it. It lived in my draw at work for so long that having in my home still surprises me. It contains the photo's taken at Chicago's in Northampton back in January of 1999. It was a night out with several people from work. Something we did quite regularly at the time. This night though somebody brought a camera. It also happened to be the night when the She Who Changed Everything saga began. No one else would know just from looking at the pictures but we did. They always slightly disappoint me in that almost every shot of me is unflattering & hardly any of them do her justice. We did have great fun in trying to get into loads of pictures together. Irrespective of what followed, that night will always be one of the happiest times I've ever had. Odd that I should find those photos today considering my recent idea to turn the story into a book.
Maybe a little nudge from fate, eh?

I feel like I've got to a point where my anonymity is hanging by a thread. I always clung to the idea that if anyone who shouldn't ever found these pages that I would have plausible deniability. I really don't think I could get away with that now. There is only really one person who don't want nosing about here (Dream Girl has already been here & seen it all!) & I feel relatively safe.
My point being I feel a strong desire to post some pictures. I'd like to share!
If I do it wont happen overnight so don't hold your breath.