Neptune Reclining (and a busy weekend beckons)

 The Turia Fountain in Valencia:

Neptune, taking a well-earned rest after a busy day at sea.  Looks like he has life sussed, if you ask me.  Captured on HP5, printed on Foma 133 paper.  I like this paper - it's resin coated so it's a lot less expensive than fibre paper and has much shorter wash times.  I prefer it to Ilford's new deluxe RC paper, which I'm finding a bit too contrasty/harsh for my tastes, although from what I read on the forums I seem to be in the minority here.
If you google "Turia Fountain, Valencia" most of the shots you see are taken from the other side of the fountain, and the backdrop then consists of rather lovely old Spanish buildings (including the Valencia Cathedral) and not the rather ordinary looking blocks of apartments you see here.  Which means, of course, that the residents of these apartments have the most lovely outlook.

To say things are a tad busy at the minute is a bit of an understatement, for in two days' time we fly to Birmingham and from there take a train to Oxford, which will be home for Missy for the next few years as she embarks on her University course of choice: Biological Sciences (Zoology) at Oxford Brookes Uni.  On Monday my wife and I shall fly home to a very different house for the next 14 weeks while Missy begins the Great Adventure, which kicks off with a week of fun and get-to-know-you events known to all as Fresher's Week.  It's exactly 40 years since I did the same and not surprisingly things have changed somewhat in that short time ;)  I set off on my own with all my gear packed into two suitcases (no wheels, of course, in those days).  Missy, on the other hand, will have two doting parents alongside to help get her installed in her Uni halls, sort out her 'first food shop' and do a million other things.  There are already four (!) large packages sent on by post (or direct via online shopping).  In spite of the accommodation costing an arm and a leg virtually nothing is provided other than the basic infrastructure, so we have had to sort out duvet, pillows and bed linen as well as cutlery, plates and cooking utensils. I know in some countries it's common to have a 'dining plan' whereby students never have to think about cooking for themselves but we don't do that in the UK.  No, here the norm is that students fend for themselves from the off.  Most likely Missy will buy some of her meals at the various cafes and restaurants on campus and supplement that by doing some food prep in her kitchen, shared in this case with 5 other first year students.  It's going to be a big change for our daughter who, let's face it, hasn't really had to fend for herself up to now.  Of course Mother and Father will be available at the press of a few buttons, day or night.  Forty years ago it was a weekly phone call home from a communal telephone box, usually on a Sunday evening.  Everything else you figured out by yourself.  I loved every minute of it - although those phone calls home were sometimes a nuisance :)