Castle silhouette

Strange weather today - early rain gave way to sunshine, with none of the torrential downpours, thunder and lightning or 50p-sized hailstones that hit other parts of the UK today. At least not yet! Went to meet my friend J for a cup of tea and a chat. She was through in Edinburgh to go to a couple of lectures at the Screen Academy that were on as part of the Film Festival and we managed to meet for a couple of hours before she went back to Dundee.
Now I should probably have asked her if I could take her picture for today's blip but, for some reason I'm not entirely sure of, I didn't. I know she wasn't a great fan of having her picture taken, although we did have a very successful studio session at college a few years ago. And we were having a good catch up as it's been a while since we met up, so I didn't want photography to intrude. But, if I can't even ask a good friend if I can take her picture, how on earth am I going to work up to taking portraits of strangers? Not the same as an assignment, when the relationship is clear and as the photographer it's my job to take their picture. This is the casual stranger picture I'm talking about, so brilliantly and consistently done by my blip friend jkj10. (She is undoubtedly one of the stars of blip - do check out her pictures if you've never seen them.) Anyway, as well as being frustrated with myself on my own account, it feels a bit like I let her down too by not managing to get J's picture today. Must try harder to push myself, although I do think it is easier for a woman to take a stranger's picture than it is for an almost fifty year old man. Hard to ask without appearing creepy, or am I over-thinking it? Need to test the world rather than assuming how it will react.