Prime Minister's tea time

In these troubled economic and political times it's reassuring to see evidence of some old fashioned hospitality being displayed by the people of Brighton as the Labour conference hits town. The PM may be widely derided for his lack of charisma and his apparent inability to do anything right but it's good to know there's always a nice cup of tea available for him above the chip shop on Brighton seafront if he so desires.

Elsewhere, roads have been closed and a first-floor tunnel built between the Grand Hotel and the Brighton Centre, there are gun-toting policemen everywhere, traffic is permanently gridlocked, and smart-suited young people looking simultaneously earnest and smug are prowling the streets weighed down by mountains of paper, smartphones and identity tags as they strive towards a better Britain, bless them.

Magical moment at work

Some days it's just impossible to get out of the house to indulge in photoseeking, more's the pity. Luckily I was forced to endure a really quite dull 78-minute conference call, during which I was struck by the idea of capturing the moment that my phone's clock reached the magical hour mark. Yes, that's how bored I was.

It was a slightly trickier challenge than you might think because I was using a tripod and timer to avoid any camera shake, so I had to press the shutter with just slightly over five seconds to spare. You'll see I erred slightly on the cautious side. This is because the alternative - waiting another hour to capture that elusive 59:59 moment - was simply too much to bear (I should perhaps add that the phone zeroes itself each hour, perhaps because it simply can't believe that any phonecall could possibly last longer than that. Pah! to naive telephone equipment I say).

Tomorrow I have both kids to look after as they're on their Easter holiday now - not sure if this will make it easier or harder to grab a shot. We shall see.