Baby Draws Crowds To Stamford

It’s a sad fact of life that I don’t get to see so much of my Dad, or my brothers, as I’d like. Dad’s in Scotland, Mark’s in Kent and Robin’s in deepest Hampshire. So we don’t get to meet up with them and their lovely families nearly as much as we should do. But back in September 2009, just a couple of weeks after Holly was born, we had a really good gathering of Hisemans, Oakleys, Taylors and Jacksons, to celebrate the new baby and generally to all get together at Andy and Marie’s place. Sadly Robin and Michelle couldn’t make it, but the rest of us enjoyed a slightly chilly barbeque, and played Pass The Baby all day long.

Here, a rare shot of your author with Dad and big brother Mark, in a pose straight from the pages of Scorcher:

Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm EX wide lens at 10mm, 1/500 at f 4.0, ISO 400, hand held no flash. Note Dad’s perma-tan, yet another dodgy jumper from Mark and grey bits running riot over yours truly’s hair.

And here’s Mark again, propping up Mum (who was on good form) to make sure she doesn’t tip over onto my relatively immaculate lawn (she’d had a glass of something fizzy):

Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm EX wide lens at 10mm, 1/800 at f 4.0, ISO 400, hand held no flash.

Sometimes you’ve just got to take your own picture…

Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm EX wide lens at 10mm, 1/3200 at f 4.0, ISO 400, hand held no flash. Holly was 19 days old when this picture was taken. Marie: 28. Andy: an astronomical 45. Note Holly’s dark hair: she’s since gone blonde…

Remarkable, here’s my Dad spouting off about something. Never would have believed it myself, but the camera doesn’t lie:

Nikon D300, Nikon 50mm f 1.8 prime lens, 1/8000 at f 3.2, ISO 200, hand held no flash. Of course, he was as quiet as a mouse the rest of the day …

Here’s the whole cast of characters:

Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm EX wide lens at 10mm, 1/800 at f 8.0, ISO 400, hand held no flash. From the left: Iris (Tracey’s Mum, partly hidden) … my Mum Mary … Tracey (Mark’s partner) … Mairi (my stepmum, holding Holly) … my wife Marie … her Dad John and Mum Bev … my Dad Richard … my big brother Mark (in Alan Partridge eyebrow-raising mode) .. and – a special guest on the day – my Mum’s sister, my Auntie Margaret, making a very rare, very welcome visit to be with the family.

Out the front, Devon’s Stamford Massive had arrived to lower the average age back below fifty. Devon had survived a very nasty bike accident about an hour before, so at this point he is still looking a little peaky:

Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm EX wide lens at 10mm, 1/1000 at f 4.0, ISO 400, hand held no flash.

For gorehounds, here’s the damage to Devon’s upper lip, cheek and chin … Devon wouldn’t pretend that this particular bike accident was a walk in the park, it wasn’t. In fact he nearly set the burglar alarms off with the noise he made, which definitely interrupted the party. However, after a bit of soothing and much bravery, he was back out on the street, enjoying his status as the day’s key accident victim:

Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm EX wide lens at 10mm, 1/1250 at f 4.0, ISO 400, hand held no flash.

Devon’s friends kindly staged their own reconstruction of the dramatic bike crash:

Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm EX wide lens at 10mm, 1/1000 at f 4.0, ISO 400, hand held no flash.

And the day ended with one of my favourite pictures of just Devon and my lovely wife Marie, at the end of a long and happy day:

Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm EX wide lens at 10mm, 1/25 at f 4.0, ISO 200, hand held no flash. Well done Marie, good baby. Congrats Devon, you survived a major scrape, and the scar’s going to be a beauty. A really, really good day…

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