Velvet Antlers Blog

BAFTA award for best director

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:07:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I mentioned that BAFTA Scotland had nominated me for best director in their new talent awards. On Friday Dave and I (and our families) were in Glasgow in a packed grand theatre for the BAFTA ceremony. I had totally convinced myself that much as it was absolutely amazing to have been nominated here, we could never win this award.

Well, it turned out I was wrong about that. The host opened the Best Director award envelope and read out that the winner was me.

After lifting my jaw from the floor I headed for the stage wishing I had made a ‘just in case’ speech after all. Winslet would have been proud.

We heard that BAFTA’s jury had liked how personal Echo Wall was as well as the scenic beauty of the places we filmed. I am still feeling a touch bowled over by all this. But it’s brilliant for sure to get this recognition.

This week Echo Wall also won best Scottish film at the Fort William Mountain Festival and best film at the Glasgow Mountain Film Festival.

Fort William Mountain Festival showreel

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:01:00 +0000

For the past wee while, I've been doing a lot of work for the Fort William Mountain Festival - managing the content on their website and cutting their showreel, which I've just finished recently. It's made up from all the best bits of the films submitted to this years International Adventure Film Competition, taking place on March 10th. Hope you like it!

A date at the Baftas

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:52:00 +0000

Next month I have to be in Glasgow for the Bafta new talent awards ceremony. Unbelievably, the reason is that I’ve been nominated for an award for best director for Echo Wall! I heard this news about a week ago (but was instructed to keep quiet until Bafta’s press launch today) and still trying to make sense of it.

It’s really great that Bafta liked Echo Wall enough to get a nomination at this level. It’s certainly a huge vote of confidence for the film and made me more excited to work on future film ideas.

I’ll post up some pics from the night when it comes around.

Velvet Antlers Iced Carrot Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Dave MacLeod) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:23:00 +0000

Oh yeah, it's as good as it looks. This week's recipe is our Carrot Cake, made last night again by Dave, who couldn't wait any longer for Claire to get it made!

Ingredients:

250 grams of carrots, grated

3 medium eggs

130ml vegetable oil

150g caster sugar

230g self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

Icing:

120 grams cream cheese

120 grams icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180 celcius or gas 4. Mix your eggs, oil and caster sugar together in a bowl, then add the flour, baking powder and a bicarb and beat the mix well. Stir in the grated carrots and pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin. Bake for 50 minutes until browned and firm on top. Leave the cake in it's tin for 5 minutes on a rack, then turn it out to cool while you get the icing ready.

Mix your cream cheese and icing sugar tegether and beat well until its really smooth.

Ice with a pallet knife and put the cake in the fridge for a bit if you want to firm up the icing.

Tip: get your husband to do all of the above.

20% off all hampers pre-Christmas sale

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:48:00 +0000

Hell, if Marks and Sparks can do it, so can we. We're taking 20% off all our hampers for the final 9 days running up to the last Christmas posting day - December 19th. Get your order in for a hamper before 2pm on Friday 19th December and it will arrive with you or your lucky recipient in time for the big day.

Velvet Antlers at the Christmas Market

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:35:00 +0000

Today (Wednesday) Dave and I are taking Velvet Antlers to the Christmas Market, Lochaber College, Fort William. Drop in and say hello if you are about. A good time to get a look at our hampers and some other cools stuff we will have with us. We're there 10am-4pm.

See y'all.

Velvet Antlers Power Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:43:00 +0000

After many requests we have finally given in - here is the recipe for our killer pancakes. These started off as my baby, a breakfast I made regularly for Dave which I gathered from an old book of Scottish recipes from Skye. The original recipe was for traditional Scottish Drop Scones (many small pancakes). I experimented with the vanilla (a favourite of mine) but stuck firmly to making the small drop scones - perfect for eating with one hand with a mouse in the other. But after Dave liked them so much for climbing fuel and took up the pancake mantle, he opted for more American style large pancakes.

This is a simple recipe, so where can you go wrong? Don't underestimate the effect of flour quality! Our wisdom garnered from the glitterati of Scottish cooking has led us to McDougalls flour in the UK. Try it back to back with the supermarket's own brand flour lurking in your cupboard and be amazed! Laterally, Dave experienced new levels of fluffiness using Spanish flour, which he attributed to higher levels of raising agent. Since then we've experimented with adding a smidgen (if you are not familiar with this standard Scottish unit of measurement click here) of baking soda to achieve new levels of fluff.

Ingredients

4oz the best self-raising flour you can get your hands on (wholemeal is nice too)

1oz caster sugar

1/4 pint milk

1 medium egg

1 dribble of vanilla extract

optional smidgen of baking soda

Seive the flour into a bowl and add the sugar and baking soda. beat the egg into the milk and vanilla and add to the dry mix. Stir until you ave a smooth batter, adding more wee drops of milk if it's too thick.

Spoon into a hot pan (with a little sunflower oil) if making drop scones of pour straight from the bowl for big panakes. Serve up with maple syrup, jam, butter, bacon, fruit or whatever takes your fancy...

Then have a good day.

Bridge Swinging in the snow

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:39:00 +0000

After a spot of filming for the Fort William Mountain Festival programme launch, I partook of a spot of light bridge swinging myself today. I thought I looked quite casual in the photo above but Dave reckons they are the eyes of psyche. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

Thanks for the photos, Bill.

The winter blizzards begin

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:39:00 +0000

Dave and Kev, happy men on snowy mountains

Fresh back from film school in Banff and with Dave just back himself from climbing travels in Spain, I was pretty keen on filming something again. Our friend Kevin Shields called and was psyched up to climb a hard route in the Cairngorms since winter had arrived in the highlands.

We were pretty keen to try some more filming in winter in Scotland. Filming harder winter climbs in Scotland has been very rarely pulled off because of the hardship of dangling around on a rope taking the full blast of a raging blizzard and the difficulty of actually shooting any useful footage. The damp cold of our climate has a habit of killing electrical equipment faster than you can say ‘condensation’.

We went, we stumbled in powder snow covered boulders, Dave rigged and abseiled into position. But it didn’t work out on the climb for Kevin this time. Dave thought it would be really good for both of us to go there anyway, even if we couldn’t film just to learn more about the logistics of filming winter mountaineering. We learnt, once again, that without a support team it’s really, really hard!

Baltic

The way down started off pretty scary for me, traversing steep ice slopes with my crampons getting clogged up with wet snow. But getting through all the snow covered boulder fields in the dark was the most tired I’ve ever been. I didn’t realise how fit you have to be to winter climb!

Dave who?

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:42:00 +0000

My brother just sent me this; it's made up of all the most commonly used words on my blog, which is pretty cool.

Anyone would think that I kept going on about some bloke called Dave....

Chocolate chip fougasse

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:01:00 +0000

I jumped out of bed a little more eagerly than usual this morning to go and see if Mandy had been yet to deliver this mornings bread. It wasn't a tasty wheatgerm baton this morning, oh no, it was a chocolate chip fougasse which I was looking forward to today. Fougasse is like the French version of a focaccia, which apparently was traditionally baked in the embers of the fire to check the temperature of wood-fired ovens.

Warmed in my regular oven and shared with a glass of cold milk, this made checking this mornings inbox a little more decadent than usual.

Awards for Echo Wall!

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:58:00 +0000

Wow, where to begin. What a weekend.

Our first film, Echo Wall, premiered at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival last night and I discovered a new-found respect for Dave for doing his lectures. I figured I would be nervous getting up to introduce the film but not that nervous! I can't believe Dave gets up on stage regularly and talks for an hour or so without notes. If any of you saw me just before the evening started with a crazed look on my face and you could see the whites of my eyes, it was because I was so flustered I managed to drop and lose my notes - thank you Pete for finding them! It was only a couple of paragraphs but I could just not remember them for love nor money. This was, by far, more nerve-wracking than watch Dave crank his way through the crux on Echo Wall. Kudos to Dave and any public-speakers out there.

To say I was blown away when it was announced later that we'd won the Alien Rock award for Best Climbing Film would be an understatement. But when Sir Chris Bonington presented the Tiso Best Film award to Echo Wall, well that was just unbelievable and I was left literally speechless, as anyone in the audience who seen me stare blankly at it in disbelief would probably agree. It's very hard to get your head round, especially when we were not expecting it; for heavens sake, I only turned a camera on for the first time last March! Needless to say, we're both dead chuffed and thanks to EMFF and everyone who came along to make an amazing evening.

Velvet Antlers Lentil & Bacon Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:14:00 +0000

Velvet Antlers Lentil and Bacon soup

Here is another all time favourite of ours, made frequently through the winter months in our massive pot which Dave got for christmas a couple of years back. This soup, like most homemade soup of course, can’t really be beaten for being gorgeous to eat, very healthy and being cheap and really easy to make.

Ingredients:

350 grams red split lentils
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 slices of bacon medallions
2 medium onions
3 carrots
3 sticks of celery
1.6 litres of water
Salt and black pepper

Wash the lentils in a sieve and then leave to soak in warm water for 30 minutes. In the meantime, chop the bacon and vegetables. Heat the oil then fry the bacon and add the vegetables, frying until soft.

Drain the lentils and add these and the water to the vegetables. Add the salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove any scum and for best results leave to cool for a while and blend the soup.

Enjoy. And thanks for all the messages letting me know how much you enjoyed my gingerbread!

Ardnamurchan Powerboatin!

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:00:00 +0000

With all the manic work of Echo Wall I’ve not had time to upload these pictures of a lovely day out with Peter and Cat last month on their boat on Loch Sunart, Ardnamurchan. Being in the driving seat of that thing was well cool! We aren’t used to boats and we thought it was really cool that you could jump in a wee inflatable boat not far from the house and be out at sea near Mull in no time.

Me at the helm. Woohoo!

Just how many jackets can one person wear?

Making the Echo Wall film

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:18:00 +0000

Now we’ve finished our wee film about Echo Wall and it’s about to be released, we’re starting to step back and finally come out of the bubble of working pretty much night and day on it. It was a very steep learning curve for us, or rather a series of vertical learning curves at each stage.

Although this is the story of one big climb, we’ve tried to pack the film full of as much climbing footage as we can. So there is plenty of bouldering, sport climbing, trad and winter routes, which were all part of the preparation for climbing Echo Wall in one way or another. Our aim was to make a pretty full climbing DVD with quite a lot of different types of climbing going on.

We also wanted to make a really honest film. It would have been pretty easy to for us to really play on the fact that Dave might have died trying to climb Echo Wall. And it’s true, he might have. I didn’t really see it at the time because he was slapping through the moves so quickly, but when you see him doing the final crux you can see his arms wobble. To someone not used to seeing hard climbing that might look like nothing, but Dave never does that. If he wobbles it means he’s about to fall off. Thank god he didn’t. But although for that moment at the crux of the route he was near his limit, he’s not a crazy risk taker. In fact the story of the film is of Dave first really battling with himself to decide if the risk really was the right thing to do, and then doing everything he could to climb the route really well.

There’s no wild falls or shaking or scrabbling for holds, because on Echo Wall it can’t be like that. As Dave said, falling off Echo Wall would be a once in a lifetime experience. All there is, is someone making the best performance of their life, in a very amazing place, captured on film. Everyone thats seen it so far has also said how lovely the landscape around Ben Nevis is. That was something we realised more and more as we were shooting it and tried to develop it as much as we could. Our favourite part of the film for this is the part of Dave running over Tower Ridge and Carn Mor Dearg. He was so tired after shooting all that having to run back and forth all day to collect the camera.

A huge difficulty for us was the combination of making the film on one camera, the desperate nature of getting any conditions just to get days climbing on Echo Wall itself, and the fact that there are no good bits on the whole route apart from the easy bit at the end. We wanted to go back and get more shots of Dave dropping the ropes near the top and soloing the rest of it but the route was wet every day since he did it (and now it’s already covered in snow!

It’s really lucky Dave decided to do it on the day he did back in July, otherwise we would still be here making this film next July. What a thought.

Here is a wee clip from our interview with the legendary ice climber Jimmy Marshall from the DVD extras.

Echo Wall trailer live

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:49:00 +0000

We have the trailer for the Echo Wall film up on You Tube for you. Have a look! Dave is taking pre-orders from his shop now here.

Echo Wall (the film) is complete!

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:51:00 +0000

Dave looking scared for good reason on Echo Wall (video still from the film)

I know its been a shockingly long time since I’ve posted on my blog. It’s not been for lack of interest of laziness I can tell you. It’s just that the production of our film about Echo Wall has taken over life as I know it for the last two months. Our days of editing, producing, and arranging all the other things that have to be ready to release a film have ranged from 12 hours at a maximum to 25 as the record (the final night). Yesterday, we handed all that work and effort over to the DVD manufacturers in two tiny tapes. A weird feeling.

But a huge, huge relief. We are really happy with our little creation. If you’d like to see it, we’ll have a trailer up on this and Dave’s blog later this week and DVDs for sale from Dave’s webshop in time for it’s premiere at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival on Sunday October 19th. We can’t wait.

From all our prescreening and feedback sessions with friends and fellow filmakers, it seems that the beauty of the landscape of the places we filmed around Ben Nevis and Lochaber is what has grabbed folks attention, as well as the story of Dave’s effort to climb Echo Wall itself.

Dave on Echo Wall, just before the final crux (video still from the film)

The first time we showed the film to a gathering of about 20 friends in Fort William, both Dave and I felt physically ill with nerves. Both of us have a new found massive respect for all filmakers, not just because of all the effort involved, but mainly because we didn’t realise how much you really lay your creative self open and leave yourself so exposed.

But, people seem to have been inspired by the places we filmed, by Dave’s determination to climb the route, and really interested in the story of making the film itself. For me it was just something we knew we had to do - normal. But looking back it was really frightening and exhausting at times.

But the process isn’t over yet. We have so much to do to get ready for the film’s release.

It’s going to be great to be cool to be working on Velvet Antlers winter range this week too. Shortly I’ll be uploading all the winter products with some rather lovely new additions to my hampers. I could even do the sampling guilt free this summer because I was walking up Ben Nevis so much. Making a mountain film has it’s uses.

Echo Wall send day

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Dave leading Echo Wall, Ben Nevis. This is a video still from my filming.

Looking at the weather forecast on Saturday showed that Monday and Tuesday were to have a lovely high pressure over Fort William but more importantly, over the Ben as well. Dave dually phoned Kev Shields, a climber friend from Ayrshire, with the pretense of asking him up to see some of the amazing new routes that, as yet, are unclimbed on the Ben. Oh, and they happen to have been in amazingly close proximity to Dave’s project when he was ready for the lead. Everyone knew what he was up to. He can’t pull the wool over my eyes that easily. If he got good conditions, I knew he’d be going for the lead on Monday night.

Dave starting the scary bit of Echo Wall (video still from the other camera)

Good grief, the walk-in was hot. Unbelievably hot. No matter how many times I do it, the walk-in is always a killer. I think that if the route was beside the CIC hut, it would have been a doddle. It’s the long, slippery stumble up Observatory Gully that gets me every time. I guess it’s that remoteness which made it more fun for Dave but not so much for me. Hopefully, I won’t have to do the stumble up Observatory Gully much more as those conditions came good on Monday night and he got the route led.

A looooong way. Thank god for ipods

From my filming position, I watched Dave on the screen as he climbed up and past me. I seen him cast a few glances in my direction which make me squirm a bit when I watch the footage back, it’s like he’s having one last look at his wife. When I’m filming people doing hard/difficult things, I feel oddly detached from the event, like it isn’t really happening. It’s like you’re watching it on TV, not happening in real-time in front of you and this case was no different so I wasn’t scared for him - just concentrating on filming and trusting him to know that the time was right to lead it.

Getting too hot in the late morning sun

Dave didn’t top out ‘til about quarter to ten at night so it was a dark walk down to see the boys (who are working) at the CIC hut who were waiting up to see how the day went (you didn’t fool them either, Dave!) and then a hungry walk out to pizza and coke at home at 2am.

Dave relieved and happy after doing the route. Now lets go home for a cup of tea, it's getting dark.

Yes I am there…

The past couple of days have been spent relatively normally, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. Or maybe I’m being too casual about it? What is now dawning though, is that I really am making a film and I only have a couple of months to get it ready for release in time for autumn.

Oh my god.

Kev and Dave. Can you tell they work for the same clothing company?

Current state of filming

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:31:00 +0000

Someone left a comment on my previous post asking how I was getting on with the editing of our film. Well, the answer would be (quite) good. I’ve finished editing up our first short, ‘Training Day’ about Dave soloing a hard sport route in Spain. Typically, I no sooner thought it was finished, burned it a million times and sent it off to all the Mountain Festivals when I thought, “Actually, I’d like to change that bit. Oh, and that bit. And…” so on. But it’s done now and hopefully, fingers crossed and all that, you should see it at a fest near you soon.

Still from Training Day - Dave going for the mono.

It’s proved a really useful exercise in filming and producing something from beginning to end and should ultimately make our main project the better for it. ‘Training Day’ was actually the first thing I’ve ever filmed. With the camera arriving the day before I left for Spain, it was turned on for the first time in a Spanish apartment with shots of the floor accompanied by “Is this thing even on?” directly followed by footage of one of the hardest solos the world’s ever seen, which is weird.

For the boffins out there, I film using a Canon XH-A1 and edit using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Pro which has proved itself to be a technical minefield for me. There are so many different formats to shoot in, capture, out-put and down-convert in, as well as being the first time I’ve used a Mac, that there has been many a late-night and the odd fit of pique but we’re there now. Ha, bold words indeed!

Calling all filmmakers

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:45:00 +0000

So, you've got this idea for an amazing film and you think to yourself, "But what do I do with it? It's a film about crazy heli-skiers that chase people through the skies and down slopes zapping people with equally crazy special effects." Well, answer is you send it into the 2009 International Adventure Film Festival, held as part of the Fort William Mountain Festival next March. The deadline is 12th December 2008 so get your skates on and start story-boarding.

And incase you were thinking about it, you can't steal the above plot line as it's already been done. I've seen it and it was crayzee.

Glen Nevis River Race

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:43:00 +0000

Pre-race nerves

Yesterday saw the return of the legendary Glen Nevis River Race, where hoardes of mad folk race down the river with only a helmet, a pair of sensible shoes and any form of floatation device you care to mention for company. After all the rain we've been having lately, the river was running really high which some felt was a bonus, others not so. The water was so high, that the race organisers No Fuss had to chop the start of the course off. Apparently, one of them jumped off the spot known ominously as 'The Leg Breaker' in the morning to test it and he popped up fine. His airbed, however, didn't pop up for 10 minutes. Hmm, not my cup of tea but everyone else looked like they were enjoying it; some in it for a laugh, others taking it VERY seriously.

The lower falls of Glen Nevis - not for the feint hearted. One or two got to the edge and thought, "Actually.......I think I'll walk round!" I don't blame them, it's higher than it looks!

Before...

After!

Looking remarkably cavalier whilst holding onto an inflatable lobster for dear life.

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:39:00 +0000

Hmm, there's something missing....

Last week, Dave and I took a rare day off together and headed for Lewis in the Western Isles for the day. Just jumping on the ferry as foot passengers meant a distinct lack of transport on the other side but it didn’t bother us as we had a good wander round Stornoway and the Lews Castle grounds in between showers and having a baked tattie in An Lanntair. I'm going to stick my neck out here and admit that Stornoway...well, it's just not that pretty is it? One of the best snaps of the day is of me standing outside an empty butchers shop. Just as well the rest of the island is absolutely stunning.

I bought metres and metres of Harris Tweed when I was out there, so now have enough Harris Tweed to sink a ship but it shall soon be transformed into gorgeous cushions coming soon to a luxury Scottish hamper near you! If anyone would like one sooner, drop me a line and you can get first dibs on your favourite tweed. Mine’s that slatey-grey one at the second-top of this picture. If you think slatey-grey sounds boring, wait till you see it in the daylight and you see the blues and browns running through it – gorgeous.

More freezing filming on Ben Nevis

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:44:00 +0000

Yes it was that cold!

Yesterday we managed to get back onto Ben Nevis to work on Echo Wall for the first time in a month. I wasn’t looking forward to the long slog into the north face again after losing some of my hard earned fitness from the spring. I thought it might have got a bit warmer up there but it was still too cold to expose anything except nose and eyes from underneath the layers of duvet jacket!

Climbing the ropes to get to Echo wall

Dave had a good day and managed to link all the sections of the climb together (with lots of grunting). So he might just be able to lead the route finally at some point. But for now Dave is away to the USA to lecture and I have to edit some footage for the shows before he leaves tomorrow – oops – better go and get on with it. I hope you like the pictures.

Dave on the last hard move on Echo Wall

Dave resting in the middle of Echo Wall, hanging upside down by a jammed knee!

The spooky mist rolls in again, certainly adding to the intimidation factor of filming up here on the north face.

Fresh bread on demand

noreply@blogger.com (Claire MacLeod) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:53:00 +0000

This thing of beauty arrived this morning. A white tin loaf sprinkled with poppy seeds and hand- delivered by Mandy from Tigh Fuine on her bicycle. As you can see, I'm looking rather pleased with it. Who wouldn't be? It's home-made, hand-made, fresh, organic, cheaper than buying a slightly fousty loaf from the local shop and delivered for free. What's not to love? All those that live outside Mandy's delivery area may now turn green with jealousy. The rest of you shoud start banging down her door!

Drop me a line and I'll pass on your email (the website is being worked on as we speak) and you can be added to her weekly email she sends out on a Monday telling you what breads she is baking that week. You just let her know what loaf you would like and on what day. Genius.

All that was left for me to do this morning was swither over having some of my new delivery for breakfast, or some of those fresh baked blueberry scones that are cooling in the background. It was a tough call...

A quiet picnic?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave MacLeod) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:34:00 +0000

Quietude is never far away in the highlands – so don’t miss out on it!!

Travel anywhere in the highlands in summer and you will come across lots of weird and wonderful sights by the road. The whole spectrum of ‘outdoor thrill seekers’ can be found, from tour buses taking a short walk at the main beauty spots to folk changing in and out of flashy look gear for climbing up or diving off our mountains. All good – but what I can never get my head round is the ‘trunk road picnic’.

Get some lovely food, some fold out chairs, some good company and head for a 2 metre wide concrete layby with HGVs, caravans and motorbikes roaring by. Something not quite right there is there?! And I’m not talking about a quick stop on the road to break up a drive and have a bite to eat – I mean set in for an afternoon of traffic watch. Why???

The highlands are filled with countless spots of serene tranquillity, spitting distance from the road. Why spend your time taking in the sights and sounds of the kerbside for the sake of a little imagination or a couple of minutes research on the map?