second best

I could have had a lovely picture of a nice plump owlbeastie this evening. As it was I was running a little late so cycled instead of walking and both propercamera and crappyphonecam were tucked away in my backpack when it flew across the path in front of me. I was expecting it to disappear immediately so only slowed rather than stopping but it ended up pottering to and fro beside the path for a bit before suddenly swinging out and passing a couple of metres above my head. If I had stopped and frantically scrabbled for my camera I might have grabbed one or two probably blurry and almost certainly mis-exposed shots; better to just have concentrated on watching it.

Almost the same thing happened on the way home when I watched a seagull flap slowly past me on Candlemaker Row, straining to rise with the weight of the recently-dead pigeon held in its mighty orange beak. I can't remember if my camera was in my hand or my bag but probably just instinctively let it lie rather than end up with twenty disappointing exposures.

Luckily I passed a manky bathroom suite on Torphichen Street at lunchtime. Hooray. I'm definitely getting a little bit bored of the immediate work-surroundings though, especially when I leave lunch until too late to venture particularly far. I'm going to start trying to leave slightly earlier and take more pictures in the mornings, hopefully not dithering much when I get home so that I can get them posted much earlier in the evening.
The only problem with that is that the short range of routes to work are much more familar to me than the area immediately around the office. It's somehow nicer, though. Less officey. Lumpier. More alive. I'll see how it goes but hopefully the rest of this week's pictures will be taken before midday.