ain't nothing perfect...

I’ve often spoken about the beauty and tranquillity of this stunning island, but it does have its fair share of contradictions. RAF Valley is world renowned for its training of fighter jet pilots, and of course they need somewhere to practice. Now if you’re into aeronautics this could well be heaven on earth for you. On any sunny day at Rhosneigr beach you’ll see 3 or 4 of these machines hurtling around the sky, chasing each other and performing some amazing manoeuvres, they also kick out quite a sound as they pass overhead. If you want to get up real close then just book a round of golf at Anglesey Golf Club and by the time you reach the back nine you could melt your marshmallows off the rear burners on these monsters.

Thankfully their flights are normally short lived and night time training was stopped quite a few years ago. One very positive thing that has come out of the RAF base is the new commercial airline that flies in and out of the airport twice a day and for £15.00 (booked well in advance) you can be in Cardiff in just under an hour. There’s talk of extending their routes over to Dublin where, believe it or not, we have yet to visit.
For anyone staying on the island, a cheap walk-on-ticket on the ferries will get you over there in just a couple of hours and, I’m reliably told, makes for a great day out…

From dawn to dusk...

I’ve talked quite a bit about early mornings here on Anglesey, but the evenings can be pretty special too. Give me a cold beer, a campfire, some sand dunes and a guitar and, with a setting sun for a light show, I couldn’t ask for more. (Well, maybe some barbecued food wouldn’t go a miss) It’s a treat we always share with visiting friends and it’s a memory that stays with them for weeks, months and even years.
The island measures around 30 miles north to south by 25 mile east to west, so you can find a beach or cliff top in next to no time. And even in the height of the summer holidays there are places you can still go and be by yourself - if you know where to find them.
I first came to Anglesey back in the seventies when a bunch of friends decided that country living was the real thing. They headed off in a camper van from London and drove north having no idea where they were going. Someone saw there was an island at the tip of North Wales and a decision was made that would impact on all our lives. I followed them here a few months later and remained here for over four years before, one by one, we drifted back to what felt like the outside world. We all had our different reasons, mine was to try and make it in the music business as a musician and composer. After ten years of playing in all sorts of bands around London I eventually sold off the instruments and bought a camera and started to photograph musicians instead of playing with them, and that’s how I got into the photographic business, but that’s a whole other story for a whole other day.

Chill!

Early Morning Traffic.

With summer fast coming to a close it’s time to make the most of these light early mornings and to get out onto the water. Anglesey is renowned for its wind, which bodes well for all you kite and windsurfers, but occasionally we get a welcome break from it and all things on the island become serene. Up at 5.30 am and on the water within half an hour, just me and the sea birds and the sound of silence… Take a look.

Sound track by ' Mike Dowling '

Bird on a wire..

Found this bird on one of my walk abouts. I thought it was a rag caught on the barbed wire fence but when I got closer, realised that it must have flown at full speed into the wire, breaking its neck in the process. One minute a life full of song and flight. The next, just a silent corpse now swaying in the wind.
Now I know there’s a song in there somewhere and I know Leonard Cohen had an album by the same name as my ‘ bird on a wire’, but not being a huge fan of his I couldn’t say if there was any artistic connection between the two. Anyhow, if nothing else it brought out the poet in me…

“ With blackbird feather and raven eye
I soar upon winds in an open sky.
And where fate takes me, there I’ll fly,
And where fate grants me, there I’ll die.”

A new day dawns...

I would be lying if I said it was an easy life here on Anglesey. You have to find some sort of work to make ends meet and if you don’t speak the language it can make the whole process a lot more difficult. Building up the photographic business has been very slow and I’ve often had to turn my hand to other skills such as carpentry or general handyman jobs just to earn a crust. But the idea of going back to the madness of city life just isn’t on the cards for me.
A typical day in the summer can often start with a phone call from my next-door neighbour Chris at 6 am asking if I fancy an early round of golf. We’re often on the first tee by 7 am and have got to know the green keepers very well. (By the way, a round of golf for us is the first 8 holes which brings us back to the club house; if we played the back 10 holes I’m sure we’d get lost and they’d have to send out a rescue team to find us) But what a way to start the day! By the third hole your looking out over the Irish Sea towards Dublin and there isn’t a soul around. We have the course to ourselves and take as long as we like over each shot watched only by the rabbits out feeding in the early morning dew while the swallows dart in and around our feet trying their best to trip us up. It can take anywhere from an hour and a quarter to two hours to complete these 8 holes depending on whether we stop off along the way to do some ball hunting. This always results in a collective find of anything up to twenty balls or more. – Can’t remember the last time I bought any… All this and I’m still home before 9am to start my proper day of work.
Of course I don’t play golf every day, On the days I’m not playing golf you’ll find me out paddling my sea kayak around some of the most spectacular coastlines to be found anywhere in the British Isles… but that’s another story.

Have a nice day.

Paul

You've gotta start somewhere...

Well here goes... my first blog and I haven't a clue where to start. What I can talk about is Anglesey and how much I love this place. I have views across to the Snowdonia mountains and a short drive to the coastal waters of the Irish sea with some of the best paddling right on my door step. You can always find somewhere quiet to sit and contemplate and take in the sea air. The sand dunes of Rhosneigr or the pine forest in Newborough are just minutes away and a hike into the mountains can be had in less then half an hour.
I came here to get away from the madness of city life where I felt like a dog chasing his tail. As the saying goes; " Do you live to work or work to live." Well here on Anglesey I work to live, and what a life I have. Pay the bills, then make images, music and waves...
Will post a few images with this first blog of mine and later on, will put a few links to some of my music.

Have a good life,

Paul.