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Hobbies 2015 - 2019

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To while away the long winter evenings I've started using my laptop to paint colour on to old street pics. I chose the one below because it reminds me of my teenage years. I had a bit of fun with that man on the right, he hides his face in the first pic, but not in the colour pic. I suppose if I did twelve pics I could make a calendar .... all done with freebie apps ...:)
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Hello old Mowhawk, how do you do that and is it very difficult?
 
Hi Stitcher, unfortunately it is not very easy until you get used to it. I use a free program called GIMP but it is not user friendly and it took me some time to get reasonable results and even now there is a lot of it I don't know about. I use a method which would not impress anyone who does it properly. There is an expensive program named Photoshop which does a better job but even that takes some learning. I could never justify buying Photoshop for my own use.
 
I used to tint old black and white pics many years ago with special inks but the results were always inferier to genuine colour pics.
 
It's that time of year again and I have started, making Xmas cards that is. I used to make almost 50 every year but as age takes its toll on the number of friends and relatives I will be making about 20 this year. I have also just made a calendar for a friend who services and MOTs my car every year, It is A4, portrait and features 12 pages with the months dates on the bottom half and classic British cars on the top half.
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Hi Stitch, I've given your car a quick respray and put blue sky and clouds in the pic.
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Hi Stitcher, unfortunately it is not very easy until you get used to it. I use a free program called GIMP but it is not user friendly and it took me some time to get reasonable results and even now there is a lot of it I don't know about. I use a method which would not impress anyone who does it properly. There is an expensive program named Photoshop which does a better job but even that takes some learning. I could never justify buying Photoshop for my own use.

Thanks for that oldMowhawk, I suppose I should just carry on with what hobbies I already have
 
I read through this site and was quite envious of all these wonderful hobbies and interests that you wonderful folk have been sharing and of the pleasure you get.
As I thought about it I wondered why I was missing out, what had gone wrong with my life !
Somewhere in the '80's I gave up my well paid job of 20 years as my wife and I decided we were both working to support our lifestyle, to keep up with the others in the treadmill.
I went part-time cleaning and the wife stayed at work but as a casual and at sometime I sent away for a set of plans of things to make in retirement.
Things didn't go quite as we planned, we bought an old house in a country town to do up for a profit and we decided we didn't like going back to the city on Sundays so we didn't after a while but sold " The Home" and stayed with the project "Cobweb Cottage".
To cut this short at age 79 we're too busy doing things like gardening, keeping the house from collapse, building or refurbishing furniture.
Reading this has reminded me about those plans in the draw, of the workbench I used for making the leadlight windows for our home.
One time we may retire and start hobbies!
Cheers Tim
 
The first sixteen years of my childhood years were those of frequent moves, the final location was Devon and the moving continued eventually with the RAF. After I got married and got my own home that is where I have stayed put. So at the age of 58, having done two very demanding jobs for thirty years I took stock of life. I noticed that many men I knew or had known survived for only two or three years after retirement. Scary, as they say!
I took voluntary redundancy and sought other non-paid charitable work. Over the twenty two years that have passed sine that time it has been a most interesting and rewarding time which has been a mixture of church, heritage railway and of course my radio and railway hobbies. I learned at a tender age not to cry for the moon and have never had the inclination for 'fame and fortune'. Consequently I am more than content with my life and family and enjoy simple pleasures which usually are more than sufficient for my aspirations. Apart from continual pains in shoulders, arms and thumbs - they are worn out the physio guy said ;) I can manage all the less strenuous tasks and projects. A visiting priest friend said that that is why I am still alive and of course a good wife is also a great asset to longevity. :D
 
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I had another go with my laptop's colouring mouse on a forum pic of Martineau St in the 1940s. A look on 'streetview' at the building on the far corner of Cherry Street would show I've used a bit of 'artistic licence' on it. I could not get little 'Miss Barber' correct so copied her from the forum's Old Adverts thread and pasted her on the back of the tram. Men's clothing was a rather grey in the 1940s but I've added a hint of colour. I remember Dolcis Shoe shop but my colours for it are probably wrong ...
The original
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The colour pic.
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I had another go with my laptop's colouring mouse on a forum pic of Martineau St in the 1940s. A look on 'streetview' at the building on the far corner of Cherry Street would show I've used a bit of 'artistic licence' on it. I could not get little 'Miss Barber' correct so copied her from the forum's Old Adverts thread and pasted her on the back of the tram. Men's clothing was a rather grey in the 1940s but I've added a hint of colour. I remember Dolcis Shoe shop but my colours for it are probably wrong ...
The original
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The colour pic.
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Brilliant, .
 
Here's one I did with photoshop, John.
 

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I had a go today colouring the pic with GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). I heard someone on TV say a picture had been 'Photoshopped' and I suppose it would sound funny if they said a picture had been 'Gimped'...
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Below is the original black and white pic from post#429 only visible if logged in.
A No 78 at the Short Heath terminus with the driver apparently waiting to turn his key in the Bundy clock before he can set off back to town.
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very good phil...its a good way to occupy yourself..i couldnt do it though...cant even paint by numbers:D

lyn
 
Hi Lyn, I set the computer to paint the leaves on the trees and then noticed I was using the same green I had used to paint the bundy clock. Also on the colour pic I could see that three upstairs windows were down.
Phil
 
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Tram 700 is displaying posters announcing the final closure of the tramway system and replacement by buses. The General Managers name is quite clear and that of Wilfred Harry Smith who took over the job on 9th. December, 1950. He had worked for the Corporation since 1912 commencing as a junior clerk. Thirty two others, many already general managers of other British municipal bus systems, applied for the job. A tradition of keeping it in the family alredat had a precedent as the first GM, Alfred Baker was succeeded by his son, Alfred Chantry Baker in 1928. A.C. Baker joined the corporation in 1922 and his death caused the vacancy. W.H. Smith retired in 1962 and was suceeded by his deputy W.G. Copestake who had been Chief Engineer.

Post 103, by Lloyd, in the Birmingham Buses thread has similar information.
 
That is fantastic, brilliant do you think I could use it if I download it?? I am overly computer literate.
 
oldMohawk, I downloaded the b/w version of that pic as a possible future painting, I'll now download your colour version instead ! although the building on the left behind the trees was terracotta red, I remember that from my many Bull Ring visits Eric
 
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