Hello, is anybody still out there....? Is the steemit community still alive?

Well, death throws aside, I am going to keep on posting while trying to spread my own weight around and before I begin this post I would like to urge those with enough SP to make the extra effort to remember those who may not have the luxury of being able to interact on this once-wonderful website. I have seen many folk using their last breaths to add the tuppence into the HF20 debate disaster and I feel sorry for the fact they can no longer enjoy the site as it once was. For that reason I will be making extra efforts to swing by my not-so-privileged friends on steemit and make sure they still feel appreciated for their dedication. It seems I am one of the lucky few who can still post, comment and resteem, due to the fact I have been here for a while and managed to garner enough SP before we all got forked. I would like to ask anyone else in my position to consider doing the same and instead of swimming around in your own little pond of big fish, why not use your new status to help those who have not managed to escape the dragnet.

Rant over. Now, lets get on with Today's post.

In my last post, which managed to reach the dizzy heights of 3 votes and 1c, I spoke about my new found love for vintage cameras. To be more specific, I wrote about how I had recently purchased a camera, made in 1967. This little beauty is called the Retinette 1B and as I mentioned previously, I had since broken the shutter mechanism and the pictures of Stonehenge where to be the last it would ever take. I also mentioned that I would be looking to replace this camera and I am glad to say that I have done just that and it seems that my heavy-handed mistake was a blessing in disguise.

You see, I am only just entering the world of photography and I have little reference to how these cameras should perform. Therefore, when I developed the film from the original Retinette I thought that they where as good as it got for a camera of such vintage... Oh how wrong I was and how happy I am to be able to say that.

As luck would have it, I managed to find the exact same camera at a local antique store that open once in a blue moon, the day after I posted about its predecessor! How's that for a stroke of luck... Now, my original plan, when buying the 2nd Retinette 1B, was to use it to repair my original, but as it turns out I won't be needing to go through the intensive surgery that the last one couldn't quite handle. Lady luck is cetainly shining down on me in this regard and after loading my new Retinette with a roll of Kodak 200, 35mm colour film, I ventured into the centre of Nottingham to give it a test-run... Would you like to see the results...? Well, you're about to, whether you like it or not and my guess is that you will like the results as much as me... Maybe even enough to make you consider ditching you digital and returning back to the old-school ways, who knows...

So, without further waffle and rants from me, here are the fruits of my new found hobby. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I have and remember that this camera was built a long time before any of us were ever a twinkle in your Daddies eye!

Nottingham Caves and the old Jail cells.

Nottingham canal path and the beginning of my 5-mile walk back to my home town of Beeston

A stop-off at my favourite Pub, The Canal House, for a taste of their Trappist Ale.

Back to the canal path for a wobbly walk home :)

And finally back home

...to interrupt Brian's sunbathing

That's all folks! See you next time :)