Dutch Letter Box

As I have mentioned before I am always fascinated by the uniqueness of a country's essential street furniture –telephone boxes, lamps, signs; all proud ambassadors of their country's image, icons of each nation if you like. Letter boxes (or mail boxes if you prefer) belong to this group. They are all seemingly unique to their country in design and colour. Here's one from Holland –perhaps not the most imaginative or most beautiful of post boxes but perfectly functional nonetheless. I'm in two minds whether I can see a face here too. The dual openings for letters certainly suggest eyes and perhaps if one regards the little white sticker as a moustache and the keyhole as a pursed up little mouth there is something approaching a wide, sagacious entity. Otherwise I just like the ordinariness of such day-to-day objects that we often pass by without giving a second thought.

Location: Amsterdam, Holland

Quayside

Ice, though frequently treacherous to navigate or cross, often creates interesting textures to photograph, capturing and reflecting light in a more fractured way than still water of puddles, which The ice seen here probably started as. Here I was struck by the vertical and horizontal lines of the gates and fencing. The ship in the background suggests an invitation to get away, and the clear sky gives a promise of plain sailing. I like the stark ordinariness of the picture, taken late-afternoon on a winter's day.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 11

With the return of winter comes the return of those freedom-craving mittens and gloves out on a spree. Once more they appear –almost always solitary– in the oddest places, but most often on trees, posts, benches, fences... Like cats they clearly like to be high up. Here a mitten strikes a decidedly defensive pose, or is it conducting events below? Its partner has long disappeared so maybe it is praying for its return? Who knows just what these stray mittens think!

Location: Oslo, Norway