Yesterday, I went to Morecambe... we hit the rain about an hour and a half into the journey and it stayed with us all day. Beautiful.

Anyway, here are the photos from my trip. All photos can be embiggenated by clicking them.

Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi-5... all social networking sites. Meaning that friends from school, family members, long-lost high school sweethearts of yesteryear, and weird people, can get in touch with again and see what you're up to. But it's not all stalker based nonsense, even in online gaming communities, people can develop circles of friends that are spread all over the world. And Buddymapping helps you keep tabs on your virtual contacts.

Using Google maps, this site helps you to create your own personalised maps and then invite friends and contacts to pin themselves to their location, adding a picture, e-mail or web address and even a link to their MySpace or Facebook pages.

I'm thinking of setting one up for my Facebook page, and for here (most likely to be added to the About Me section). Apparently, people only need to click the orange button to add themselves to the map - they don't need to register.

Let me know what you think.

[via BBC's Click]

As you've probably no doubt noticed, photography has become something of a hobby for me recently. There's something quite nice about going to places and finding ways to frame their lovliness and then displaying that to the world.

This summer holiday I went around quite a few places - some local, some on my long weekend to Cheshire - and the main focus was, alongside relaxing, taking photos.

Now, I know how boring and uninteresting photographs of people's holidays can be, but that's not my reason for sharing them with you. The photos are all of National Trust properties which are something I think are unique to the country. Where else in the world do you get eccentric, rich people building things in the middle of nowhere for the sole reason of looking at a pretty view? Or for hunting? Or to display their massive wealth? I'll tell you where, nowhere.

No other country has these magnificent houses, these brilliant follys, these gardens and lakes of such tremendous beauty that you can't help but fall in love with them.

I know that being a member of National Trust doesn't really suit a fairly young member of society but the good thing about it is, aside from free parking, is the free entry to their sites and let's face it, it's a massive incentive to go to them if you've already spent the money anyway...

And so I find myself planning these trips. The sole reason for going to Cheshire was the sheer number of sites around there. I found myself with a spare Friday so popped along to Nostell Priory. And every single time, I took plenty of photos. Here they are (each link opens in a new window, with photos displaying larger versions and text links taking you to albums stored at www.thomasjpitts.co.uk/gallery2:

This was set to a mailing list I'm on. I thought it was a wonderful image, even though I don't know the city and have never set foot on that continent.

I also don't know where the image was from originally, so I can't credit you. Please get in touch if you know so I can properly acknowledge the work.

Breathtaking.

My first adventure as a National Trust Member was to East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley with a very dear friend... I've actually been here twice a week apart - once as a visitor and once to a wedding there. Now, this place is lovely both inside and out, except that inside the main house operates a one way system where you have to visit each room in turn - we were positively scolded for daring to enter a room without following the desired approach. Very odd.

Anyway, here are links to the photos from both visits. The first time was again cloudy, with spots of rain in the air, but the second time was in glorious sunshine. See if you can spot the difference between days...

• Saturday, 14th June 2008 (12 photos)
• Friday, 20th June 2008 (42 photos)

At the end of May I went to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, the most complete abbey in England and a beautiful Tudor style garden. It was a slightly overcast day, but a picnic was had without the interruption of wasps so everything has its plus points.

Oh, and I am now a member of The National Trust, so expect more culture based entries - especially the next one, updating more escapades!

Here are a selection of the photos I took, the remainder are available in my gallery (opens in a new window).

Click them for embiggenation.

On Tuesday, I went on a day trip to Whitby, for no real reason other than I was on holiday.

The rest of the photos are here, in my gallery (link opens a new window).

Whilst in HMV recently, actually it was last October but my memory is rubbish, I came across this scene when looking at DVDs.

For those that don't know, Russ Meyer specialises in films for gentlemen featuring ladies of a large chest...

Also given the price difference, which would you choose?

I love the way the old bloke on the Meet The Robinsons cover is pointing towards something, might as well be Pandora Peaks...

Funny.

Ever found yourself needing to change a Microsoft Word document or spreadsheet remotely? No, neither have I. But knowing that you can word process on the move through an internet browser, is a piece of information worth having I think.

And so steps in ThinkFree. You will need to register, then you can choose to upload any documents you want to be able to work with.

Plus, you get 1GB of free space, and if that's not sufficient for your needs (but I can't think of anyone it wouldn't be), there is a paid for service that provides much more storage space.

Once you load a document you can choose to open and edit it with many of the features you see on your desktop word processor. The site's software is compatible with most basic MS Office features.

So there, you it. A really handy website for anyone who needs to edit documents on the move!

[via the BBC]

When you think of Easter, or Spring, you think of a nice green valley, full of rabbits and frolicking lambs bleating their little heads off. Maybe a small goat chewing the grass in a field. Maybe you just think of chocolate and getting a tiny bit fatter.

But snow?

This was the scene from my window this morning.