View allAll Photos Tagged Actually
Actually this is what I was having while preparing breakfast! The red kettle in the background upper left will soon be making an appearance...watch for it!
- William Carlos Williams
This was actually one of my first proper photos! I love the detail in the centre.
Explore #397
thankyou :)
Columbia Road Sunday Flower Market London Average Queuing Time 10 Minutes. Well-intentioned STUPID Covid-19 Coronavirus Social Distancing measures which actually make the situation Worse by creating crowded Queues and bottlenecks
Actually, this bull was viciously tied to a tree. I used photoshop to remove the tie and give him freedom.
Actually this is the same piece as Shaktipat , but re-worked and now on display at a local gallery. 30" x 40", so a fairly large piece. Oil and acrylic. ******No longer available : In the collection of Fr. Lawrence Biondi S.J. , President of SLUniversity. ******
This tree branch is actually in the foreground, although it looks like it is in the background to me. It is a dead branch standing in an empty umbrella stand. I got the idea to add a branch to a pot or container near my feeders so that when the birds perch on it then it will make it look more natural in your photos, as if they really are perched on a tree. In the case of this photo, it kind of got in the way, although it looks okay here. I have yet to get a bird to perch on it!
takeshiyamada.weebly.com/
The Sea Rabbit (Monafluffchus americanus) of Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York – This unique sea-dwelling rabbit, which is actually a close relative of the sea lion, was officially discovered and investigated by Henry Hudson when he first visited this land to colonize the area by order of the Dutch government. It was named New Amsterdam -- today’s New York City. This island was named after he saw the beach covered with strange swimming wild rabbits. The word “Coney Island” means “wild rabbit island” in Dutch (originally Conyne Eylandt, or Konijneneiland in modern Dutch spelling). Sea rabbits were also referred mermaid rabbit, merrabbit, rabbit fish or seal rabbit in the natural history documents in the 17th century. The current conservation status, or risk of extinction, of the sea rabbit is Extinct in the Wild.
This website features two species of sea rabbits, which have been taken care of by Dr. Takeshi Yamada (山田武司) at the Coney Island Sea Rabbit Repopulation Center, which is a part of the Marine biology department of the Coney Island University in Brooklyn, New York. They are – Coney Island Sea Rabbit (Monafluffchus americanus) called “Seara” and Coney Island Tiger-striped Sea Rabbit (Monafluffchus konjinicus) called “Stripes”.
The photographs and videos featured in this website chronicle adventures of the Coney Island sea rabbits and the world as seen by them. This article also documented efforts of Dr. Takeshi Yamada for bringing back the nearly extinct sea rabbits to Coney Island in the City of New York and beyond. Dr. Yamada produced a series of public lectures, workshops, original public live interactive fine art performances and fine art exhibitions about sea rabbits at a variety of occasions and institutions in the City of New York and beyond. Dr. Yamada is an internationally active educator, book author, wildlife conservationist and high profile artist, who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea Rabbit
Other Common Names: Coney Island Sea Rabbit, Beach Rabbit, Seal Rabbit, mer-rabbit, merrabbit, Atlantic Sea Rabbit.
Latin Name: Monafluffchus americanus
Origin: Atlantic coast of the United States
Description of the specimen: In the early 17th century’s European fur craze drove the fleet of Dutch ships to the eastern costal area of America. Then Holland was the center of the world just like the Italy was in the previous century. New York City was once called New Amsterdam when Dutch merchants landed and established colonies. Among them, Henry Hudson is probably the most recognized individual in the history of New York City today. “This small island is inhabited by two major creatures which we do not have in our homeland. The one creature is a large arthropod made of three body segments: the frontal segment resembles a horseshoe, the middle segment resembles a spiny crab and its tail resembles a sharp sword. Although they gather beaches here in great numbers, they are not edible due to their extremely offensive odor. Another creature which is abundant here, has the head of wild rabbit. This animal of great swimming ability has frontal legs resemble the webbed feet of a duck. The bottom half of the body resembles that of a seal. This docile rabbit of the sea is easy to catch as it does not fear people. The larger male sea rabbits control harems of 20 to 25 females. The meat of the sea rabbit is very tender and tasty.” This is what Hadson wrote in his personal journal in 1609 about the horseshoe crab and the sea rabbit in today’s Coney Island area of Brooklyn, New York. Sadly, just like the Dodo bird and the Thylacine, the sea rabbit was driven to extinction by the European settlers’ greed. When Dutch merchants and traders arrived here, sea rabbits were one of the first animals they hunted down to bring their furs to homeland to satisfy the fur craze of the time. To increase the shipment volume of furs of sea rabbit and beavers from New Amsterdam, Dutch merchants also started using wampum (beads made of special clam shells) as the first official currency of this country.
At the North Eastern shores of the United States, two species of sea rabbits were commonly found. They are Coney Island Sea Rabbit (Monafluffchus americanus) and Coney Island Tiger-striped Sea Rabbit (Monafluffchus konjinicus). Sadly, due to their over harvesting in the previous centuries, their conservation status became “Extinct in the Wild” (ET) in the Red List Endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Currently, these sea rabbits are only found at breeding centers at selected zoos and universities such as Coney Island Aquarium and Coney Island University in Brooklyn, New York. The one shown in this photograph was named "Seara" and has been cared by Dr. Takeshi Yamada at Coney Island University.
The sea rabbit is one of the families of the Pinniped order. Pinnipeds (from Latin penna = flat and pes/pedis = foot) are sea-mammals: they are homeothermic (i.e having high and regulated inner temperature), lung-breathing (i.e dependant on atmospheric oxygen) animals having come back to semi aquatic life. As soon as they arrive ashore, females are caught by the nearest adult male. Males can maintain harems of about 20 females on average. Several hours to several days after arriving ashore, pregnant females give birth to eight to ten pups with a dark brown fur. As soon as birth occurs, the mother’s special smell and calls help her pups bond specifically to her. The mother stays ashore with her pup for about one week during which the pup gains weight. During the first week spent with her newborn, the mother becomes receptive. She will be impregnated by the bull, which control the harem. Implantation of the embryo will occur 3 months later, in March-April. During the reproductive period, the best males copulate with several tens females. To do so, males have to stay ashore without feeding in order to keep their territory and their harem. In mid-January, when the last females have been fecundated, males leave at sea to feed. Some of them will come back later in March-April for the moult. The other ones will stay at sea and will come back on Coney Island only in next November. After fecundation, the mother goes at sea for her first meal. At sea, mothers feed on clams, crabs, shrimps, fish (herring, anchovy, Pollock, capelin etc.) and squids. When she is back, the mother recovers her pups at the beach she left them. Suckling occurs after auditive and olfactory recognition had occured. In March-April, the dark brown fur is totally replaced by an adult-like light brownish grey fur during the moult that lasts 1-2 months. This new fur is composed by 2 layers. Externally, the guard fur is composed by flat hairs that recover themselves when wet. By doing so, they make a water-proof barrier for the under fur. The underfur retains air when the seal is dry. Because of isolating properties of the air, the underfur is the insulating system of the fur. In March-April, the fur of adults is partially replaced. First reproduction occurs at 1-yr old in females. Males are physiologically matures at 1 year old but socially matures at +2 years old.
NOTE: The name of Coney Island is commonly thought to be derived from the Dutch Konijn Eylandt or Rabbit Island as apparently the 17th century European settlers noted many rabbits running amuck on the island.
www.takeshiyamada.weebly.com/performances.html
www.takeshiyamada.weebly.com/sea-rabbit-center.html
===========================================
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbits23/
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit22
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit021/
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit20
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit19
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit18
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit17
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit16
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit15
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit14
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit13
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit12
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit11
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit10
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit9
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit8
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit7
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit6
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit5
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit4
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit3
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit2
www.flickr.com/photos/searabbit1
www.flickr.com/photos/diningwithsearabbits03
www.flickr.com/photos/diningwithsearabbits02
www.flickr.com/photos/diningwithsearabbits01
www.flickr.com/photos/yamadaimmortalized2/
www.flickr.com/photos/takeshiyamadaimmortalized/
www.flickr.com/photos/yamadabellhouse2014/
www.flickr.com/photos/museumofworldwonders3/
www.flickr.com/photos/museumofworldwonders2
www.flickr.com/photos/museumofworldwonders/
www.flickr.com/photos/takeshiyamadapaintings/
===========================================
For any questions, please email contact Takeshi Yamada, Art & Rogue Taxidermy, Museum of World Wonders, official website. www.takeshiyamada.weebly.com/
================================================
For any questions, please contact Dr. Takeshi Yamada. His email address is posted in the chapter page (the last page or the first page).
(Updated April 7B, 2015)
I did a family visit back to western Pennsylvania in September 2012; on the way back to Washington D.C. to catch my flight back to Anchorage I stopped at the PA Renaissance Festival near Mannheim, PA. This was my second year there; it is an alright festival - not too big and a little bit expensive but I do love my Ren fairs. I picked a horrible day to go - it was not crowded at all and a nasty storm front was approaching so I was only there for about 3 hours before the skies opened up; actually there were some tornadoes close by - what a bummer! I'll give it another try in the future and see what happens.
Light painting on the beach is a lot of fun. Even though my finger nearly froze while holding down the shutter because it was on the BULB setting. :/
Thank you, Parker Staff, for painting with you iTouch for me!
The Suez Canal is 163 km (101 mi) long. The minimum bottom width of the channel is 60 m (197 ft) and ships of 16 m (53 ft) draft can make the transit. The canal can accommodate ships as large as 150,000 dead weight tons fully loaded. It has no locks, because the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Suez have roughly the same water level. The canal utilizes three bodies of water—Lake Manzilah, Lake Timsāh, and the Bitter Lakes (the latter is actually one continuous body of water)—and is not the shortest distance across the isthmus. Most of the canal is limited to a single lane of traffic, but several passing bays exist, and two-lane bypasses are located in the Bitter Lakes and between Al Qanţarah and Ismailia. A railroad on the west bank runs parallel to the canal for its entire distance.
Actually, only partly her horse (shared board). This is the bride getting ready to kiss Cy on the nose before the wedding rehearsal.
Actually the dinner at a wedding at the Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas.
Full wedding set here: www.flickr.com/photos/joemoconnell/sets/72157639899542494/
There are like three pairs of pants languishing in the back of my closet, so I thought I should wear them at some point.
Sweater (one shirt that looks like two): Anthropologie
Plaid Pants: Anthropologie
Flower in hair: CVS!
Brown Oxfords: Bongo
Dog: Snowshoe
Actually, it is Cultus Lake, BC, on a rainy, lonely evening. We had scheduled a Camera Club outing for the evening, hoping to catch some evening light. Instead, it rained buckets. The evening light was absent, and so were most of the club members. I took a few long exposures, playing with the light and rain on the lake. Nothing really super, but I can say that the Nikon Z5 stood up to a good soaking.
Ex-gas works, and contemporary art exhibition center. Very cool and photogenic place. This is a actually my first experiment with hdr. Shot +-1Ev and layered. Turned out quiet well I think considering I didn't have a tripod.
Actually got a decent lunch break today! I chose to spend some it re-visiting the models in the Dock Museum!
This is a beautiful model of the RMS 'Orion', the ship itself was launched in December, 1934 and survived WW2 as a troopship, returning to it's use as a passenger liner after a refit in Barrow. Finally cut up for scrap in Antwerp in 1963.
You’ll easily guess what caught my eye in her silhouette. Actually, when I spotted her, a tourist was giving her a thumbs up while pointing at her mane.
To be honest, 100strangers wasn’t my first thought in approaching her, one of my pupils was, with whom I had a discussion about hair care last week and who told me she couldn’t brush hers lest it stand on end. I figured this was what she had in mind.
Unfortunately, the person this young lady was waiting for arrived just as I was mounting the lens I use for portraits, so I did not have time to learn anything about her, nor what other language the accent I believe (not sure) I detected hinted at.
Fortunately, I was able to mostly correct the overexposure due to a slip in the camera settings (always check, even when not in doubt!!!). I think her stunning hair is wonderfully complemented by the shiny thick black eyebrows and the nicely-shaped softly-smiling brown eyes.
I wonder how often she gets asked for pictures or whether she already had experience modelling, as she seemed completely unfazed by my request and quite at ease in front of the camera, inquiring as to whether I wished for any particular shot.
Stranger girl, should you read this, thank you for agreeing to this portrait (which did make it into my stream :) ).
#48 in my 100 strangers project.
Imagine my surprise when this popped up on my Caller ID Machine. How could I not answer it.
The Machine was right.
Kenney's was a regional chain spun off of Biff-Burger. They primarily sold burgers dipped in a special sauce and fried chicken (a favorite of mine growing up). They were dominant in Southwest Virginia in the '60s and '70s, but were out of business as a chain by 1982, though some locations held on much longer, like this one.
This store was built either in the late '70s or early '80s and was among the last built by the chain.
Not a new addition to my fairground fleet, this AEC 0854 has been around for a few seasons but previously had a red cab. It was given the world's quickest repaint into blue and white, actually a cheat with no paint involved as I simply swapped cabs with a Fossett's Circus model thinking the blue cab suited a blue body better. Although commonly called a 6x6 Matador, the 0854 was actually the only AEC model not to have a name at all.
I kid you not, this is actually Tusha Hiti, a water cistern in the erstwhile Sundari chowk courtyard in the Patan Museum, house din the forer Royal palace in the Lalitpur/ Patan Durbar square, Nepal. The Sundari chowk courtyard I am in now is to the south of the Mul Chowk- the main piazza outside. This courtyard, the Sundari chowk is designed with this sunken tank known as Tusha Hiti. Not much information is available about this Tusha Hiti water cistern however. The entrance of the Sundari chowk is guarded by the stone statues of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, the Hindu elephant headed god Ganesh and the half lion half human Hindu god Narasimha, (whis is regarded the man-lion form of Vishnu- pictures of Ganesh and Narasimha appear later in this album. (see subsequent pictures). Detailed notes about the Lalitpur/ Patan Durbar square where I am now appeared earlier in this album (see previous pictures) and will also appear later as we go along in this album (Lalitpur/ Patan Durbar Square, Nepal, Oct/ Nov 2019)
Actually in Paris, this DBS is terrorising the city!
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/Vincent9895
Actually, Canoeing the Tangles would be a good name for a band. But in this case it's just me, looking for Lake Trout in the Tangle Lakes.
We made our annual trip to London in November. We travel down by coach from Slaithwaite and stay at The Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch. It’s actually a weekend ladies shopping trip that is run as a fundraiser for Slaithwaite Brass Band – I’m the only bloke that goes every year! We decided ( the two of us) to stay down in London until Thursday this time as we wanted to see weekday London and be able to explore a bit further afield on foot. We covered up to 16 miles a day, which is tough going on crowded pavements with hundreds of busy roads to cross. I photographed anything that looked interesting but I bent a contact in the CF card slot, fortunately I had quite a few SD cards with me and the 5D has dual slots so I was able to carry on using it. It’s currently at Lehmann’s getting fixed.
With it being close to Christmas the decorations are up everywhere so there was plenty of colour at night. In Hyde Park the Winter Wonderland was in full swing, we’ve never bothered going to it before but I went twice at night this time. It is massive this year, I couldn’t get over how big it is and the quality of some of the attractions. The cost and effort involved must be phenomenal – it was quite expensive though. It was very difficult to photograph, with extremes of light (LED’s) and darkness and fast moving rides into the bargain. I think I have some decent usable stuff but at the time of writing I am only part way through the editing process so I don’t know for sure.
We set off at around 8.15 am every day and stayed out for at least 12 hours. The weather was poor for a day and a half with drizzle and very dull grey conditions, fortunately we had some pleasant weather (and light) along the way as well. Being based at the end of Oxford Street – Europe’s busiest shopping street – meant that I did quite a bit of night shooting on there. Although I carried a tripod everywhere I only used it once and that was during the day! Because there is always a moving element in almost every shot it seemed pointless using a tripod. I would have got some shots free of movement – or I could have gone for ultra-long exposures to eliminate people and traffic but it would have been problematic I felt. In the end I wound the ISO up and hand held – fingers crossed.
We walked out to Camden Market and Locks but it had been raining and we were a bit early as many were only just setting up for the day. We tried to follow routes that we hadn’t used before and visit new places. We paid a fortune to get in St Pauls but you can’t use cameras. This something that I fail to see the point of, ban flash if you want but if you are going to encourage tourism why ban cameras when there is nothing in particular happening in there. It’s a rule that seems to be applied arbitrarily in cities around the world. Fortunately we could take photos from the outside of the dome, which was real reason for visiting, and we had some great light. Expensive compared with a couple of euros in some famous cathedrals. I’ve wanted to walk to Canary Wharf for a number of years and this year we did. We crisscrossed the Thames a few times and tried to follow the Thames path at other times. We covered around ten miles but it was an interesting day. It was also very quiet for the last four or five miles. We got there about 12.00 and managed to get a sandwich in a café in the shopping centre at the foot of the high rise office blocks before tens of thousands of office workers descended from above. It was mayhem, packed, with snaking queues for anywhere that sold food. We crossed to the other side of The Isle of Dogs and looked across to the O2 Arena and the cable car, unfortunately there isn’t a way across for pedestrians and it was around 3.00 pm. With darkness falling at around 4.30 we decide it was too late to bother. We made our way back to the Thames Clipper pier to check the sailing times. They sail every twenty minutes so we had a couple of glasses of wine and a rest before catching the Clipper. Sailing on the Thames was a first in 15 trips to London. The Clipper is fast and smooth, the lights had come on in the city and there was a fantastic moon rise. It was nigh on impossible to get good shots at the speed we were traveling though and there were times that I wished I could be suspended motionless above the boat. Again, hopefully I will have some usable shots.
We felt that the shopping streets were a little quieter, following the Paris massacre it was to be expected, I might be wrong as we were out and about at later times than previous trips. I think I have heard that footfall is down though. It was good to get into some of the quieter backstreets and conversely to be stuck in the city business district – The Square Mile- at home time. A mass exodus of people running and speed walking to bus stops and the rail and tube stations. It was difficult to move against or across the flow of bodies rushing home.
Whilst the Northern(manufacturing) economy is collapsing, London is a giant development site, it must be the tower crane capital of Europe at the moment. It was difficult to take a shot of any landmark free of cranes, it was easier to make the cranes a feature of the photo. It’s easy to see where the wealth is concentrated – not that there was ever any doubt about it. The morons with too much money are still driving their Lambo’s and Ferraris etc. like clowns in streets that are packed with cars , cyclists and pedestrians, accelerating viciously and noisily for 50 yards. They are just sad attention seekers. From Battersea to Canary Wharf we walked the Thames Embankment, the difference between high and low tide on the river is massive, but the water was the colour of mud – brown! Not very attractive in colour. We caught a Virgin Train from Kings Cross for £14.00 each – a bargain!. We had quite a bit of time to kill around midday at Kings Cross so I checked with security that I was OK to wander around taking photos, without fear of getting jumped by armed security, and set off to photograph the station and St Pancras International Station across the road. I haven’t even looked at the results as I type this but I’ll find out if they are any good shortly. Talking of security, following Paris, there was certainly plenty of private security at most attractions, I don’t know if it was terrorism related though, I can’t say I noticed an increased police presence on the streets. It took us three hours and five minutes from Kings Cross to being back home, not bad for a journey of 200 miles. I can’t imagine that spending countless billions on HS2 or HS3 is going to make a meaningful (cost effective) difference to our journey. Improving what we have, a little faster, would be good. There are some bumpy bits along the route for a mainline and Wakefield to Huddersfield is the equivalent of a cart track – and takes over 30 minutes – it’s only a stone’s throw.
We made our annual trip to London in November. We travel down by coach from Slaithwaite and stay at The Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch. It’s actually a weekend ladies shopping trip that is run as a fundraiser for Slaithwaite Brass Band – I’m the only bloke that goes every year! We decided ( the two of us) to stay down in London until Thursday this time as we wanted to see weekday London and be able to explore a bit further afield on foot. We covered up to 16 miles a day, which is tough going on crowded pavements with hundreds of busy roads to cross. I photographed anything that looked interesting but I bent a contact in the CF card slot, fortunately I had quite a few SD cards with me and the 5D has dual slots so I was able to carry on using it. It’s currently at Lehmann’s getting fixed.
With it being close to Christmas the decorations are up everywhere so there was plenty of colour at night. In Hyde Park the Winter Wonderland was in full swing, we’ve never bothered going to it before but I went twice at night this time. It is massive this year, I couldn’t get over how big it is and the quality of some of the attractions. The cost and effort involved must be phenomenal – it was quite expensive though. It was very difficult to photograph, with extremes of light (LED’s) and darkness and fast moving rides into the bargain. I think I have some decent usable stuff but at the time of writing I am only part way through the editing process so I don’t know for sure.
We set off at around 8.15 am every day and stayed out for at least 12 hours. The weather was poor for a day and a half with drizzle and very dull grey conditions, fortunately we had some pleasant weather (and light) along the way as well. Being based at the end of Oxford Street – Europe’s busiest shopping street – meant that I did quite a bit of night shooting on there. Although I carried a tripod everywhere I only used it once and that was during the day! Because there is always a moving element in almost every shot it seemed pointless using a tripod. I would have got some shots free of movement – or I could have gone for ultra-long exposures to eliminate people and traffic but it would have been problematic I felt. In the end I wound the ISO up and hand held – fingers crossed.
We walked out to Camden Market and Locks but it had been raining and we were a bit early as many were only just setting up for the day. We tried to follow routes that we hadn’t used before and visit new places. We paid a fortune to get in St Pauls but you can’t use cameras. This something that I fail to see the point of, ban flash if you want but if you are going to encourage tourism why ban cameras when there is nothing in particular happening in there. It’s a rule that seems to be applied arbitrarily in cities around the world. Fortunately we could take photos from the outside of the dome, which was real reason for visiting, and we had some great light. Expensive compared with a couple of euros in some famous cathedrals. I’ve wanted to walk to Canary Wharf for a number of years and this year we did. We crisscrossed the Thames a few times and tried to follow the Thames path at other times. We covered around ten miles but it was an interesting day. It was also very quiet for the last four or five miles. We got there about 12.00 and managed to get a sandwich in a café in the shopping centre at the foot of the high rise office blocks before tens of thousands of office workers descended from above. It was mayhem, packed, with snaking queues for anywhere that sold food. We crossed to the other side of The Isle of Dogs and looked across to the O2 Arena and the cable car, unfortunately there isn’t a way across for pedestrians and it was around 3.00 pm. With darkness falling at around 4.30 we decide it was too late to bother. We made our way back to the Thames Clipper pier to check the sailing times. They sail every twenty minutes so we had a couple of glasses of wine and a rest before catching the Clipper. Sailing on the Thames was a first in 15 trips to London. The Clipper is fast and smooth, the lights had come on in the city and there was a fantastic moon rise. It was nigh on impossible to get good shots at the speed we were traveling though and there were times that I wished I could be suspended motionless above the boat. Again, hopefully I will have some usable shots.
We felt that the shopping streets were a little quieter, following the Paris massacre it was to be expected, I might be wrong as we were out and about at later times than previous trips. I think I have heard that footfall is down though. It was good to get into some of the quieter backstreets and conversely to be stuck in the city business district – The Square Mile- at home time. A mass exodus of people running and speed walking to bus stops and the rail and tube stations. It was difficult to move against or across the flow of bodies rushing home.
Whilst the Northern(manufacturing) economy is collapsing, London is a giant development site, it must be the tower crane capital of Europe at the moment. It was difficult to take a shot of any landmark free of cranes, it was easier to make the cranes a feature of the photo. It’s easy to see where the wealth is concentrated – not that there was ever any doubt about it. The morons with too much money are still driving their Lambo’s and Ferraris etc. like clowns in streets that are packed with cars , cyclists and pedestrians, accelerating viciously and noisily for 50 yards. They are just sad attention seekers. From Battersea to Canary Wharf we walked the Thames Embankment, the difference between high and low tide on the river is massive, but the water was the colour of mud – brown! Not very attractive in colour. We caught a Virgin Train from Kings Cross for £14.00 each – a bargain!. We had quite a bit of time to kill around midday at Kings Cross so I checked with security that I was OK to wander around taking photos, without fear of getting jumped by armed security, and set off to photograph the station and St Pancras International Station across the road. I haven’t even looked at the results as I type this but I’ll find out if they are any good shortly. Talking of security, following Paris, there was certainly plenty of private security at most attractions, I don’t know if it was terrorism related though, I can’t say I noticed an increased police presence on the streets. It took us three hours and five minutes from Kings Cross to being back home, not bad for a journey of 200 miles. I can’t imagine that spending countless billions on HS2 or HS3 is going to make a meaningful (cost effective) difference to our journey. Improving what we have, a little faster, would be good. There are some bumpy bits along the route for a mainline and Wakefield to Huddersfield is the equivalent of a cart track – and takes over 30 minutes – it’s only a stone’s throw.