Another Revisit

Being nerds (what sort of nerds?, I hear you ask...ALL THE NERDS is the honest answer), we have a range of slightly out there pastimes.

Yesterday was time for the "buying old film cameras and making photographs with them...no matter how obscure they are" one.

Boxes of cameras bought at auction to distract us from the tedium of the pandemic are very much a mixed bags. Some of them are beautiful, some are a delight to use (some are even both of those things) but some use films sizes that were short-lived and either are no longer available, or only available at significant cost.

As a result we had about 4 or 5 cameras using a film format called "127".  Larger than the more modern 35mm film that most people are aware of, smaller than the still-widely-available-and-used 120 film.

A while ago, we found we had cameras which used film that was exactly the same size as the 120 film, but the spools the film comes on were slightly smaller meaning you can't fit standard film into the camera.  I learned to re-roll 120 film onto 620 reels, and the boy designed and 3D printed spare 620 reels (I meantioned we were nerds, no?).  I did this for no other reason than I don't like being defeated by a small problem like a money-grabbing film company (I'm looking at you, Kodak) deliberately trying to make you buy only their film (a story repeated so often by them, it's really not funny).

Anyhow...we did manage to source some 127 film but it's really expensive so we only bought a couple of rolls just to see how it went.  The BBB then reasoned that it ought to be possible use 35mm film on the 127 rolls if he used a bit of ingenuity and was a little creative with either old 127 backing paper and/or cut down 120 backing paper.  The 35mm isn't as big so you have to be conservative with your composition, and it has sprocket holes at the edge so the result is likely to be "arty" but it definitely seems to work.

All of this is by of an explanation, were one needed, of why we did a walk to the harbour in almost nice light to take pictures with ridiculously old and impractical film cameras.  Of course once you've taken pictures of the electric cranes, and the Fairbairn crane...and then a bit of railway line action followed by a "use it up" shot of the SS Great Britain there's really only one place to go by way of recovery.  

Bristol City were at home but the quick-route bridge is closed, so a bit of calculation is needed to get there at the right time (lunchtime would have been hell, probably). It so happened that at the end of our film, and energy came at the pefect time.

We slipped inside and it was fairly busy, but there was a cosy little corner table to be had.  I grabbed the seat and the BBB went to the bar.  There was Arbor C Bomb, ON GRAVITY so that was a no-brainer for me.  He, however, was all about the cider.

The beer was so good, I nearly weakened and had a second but I also know the joy of really good cider so the second round was 3 shared halves - one perry and two ciders.

People came, people left.  There were all sorts of people in there - from the auld fellas in another corner (talking very much like my dad did) drinking Natch, to the very loud large mixed family group being a bit sprawly but not too obnoxious, to the middle-aged couple who had clearly cycled there...and all the others.

It was lively and convivial and we loved it. It had been a while since we'd been and we kicked ourselves we didn't do this more often.  But maybe not on a Saturday.

We had calculated that it would take about 30 mins for any Ashton Gate fans to return - and at 5.29 a group arrived.  They were young and jolly.  No one else seemed to arrive from the match.

We'd decided on a third - Janet's Jungle Juice for me and something else (very dry) for him.

I was knackered after the walk home but very content.

Today?  We've developed the film that we took yesterday but won't be able to scan it until we get back to Sussex.  One of the brilliant things about a modern flat is the sizeable bathroom which is entirely internal and, as a result, makes for a pretty good dark room.

There's a Lancashire hotpot in a low oven and shortly we'll be heading in the direction of Little Martha.  Ah, Sundays.