...But starving works (8)

Beautiful american oystercatcher juvenile bothering mom after foraging for food.

The hardest of all the abandonments to bear.

is that of our own abandonment of hope when it ceases to glimmer.

  

for the first time on my photo stream I’m posting an image that doesn't invite comments

it feels very alien to do so.

BECAUSE I LOVE ALL YOUR COMMENTS...XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

your wonderful comments brighten even the darkest of my days and always make me feel better.

And those of you closest to me know just HOW MUCH they mean to me.

 

Forgive me my dear friends for not allowing you to support me and cheer me up as is your right as my friends to do so..... ( my first truly selfish act here on flick I’m soooooooooo sorry )

 

I’ve been hanging on to a “glimmer-less hope” for longer than is healthy to do so .

I must accept that its time to let it go ….. its hard and I’m still looking for excuses to hang on ….

kind words and feeling better will have me putting the task at hand gratefully on hold.

 

BUT I MUST ACCEPT AND LET GO!!!( I know you understand xxx)

  

I PRAY THAT THERE REMAINS FOREVER GLIMMER IN ALL YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS

Love Maxine

The Same But Different ~ Flickr Lounge

 

Thank you to everyone who pauses long enough to look at my photo. Any comments or Faves are very much appreciated.

But the self-timer ran out of time before I could make it. It doesn't help that I am not too flexible!

Normally dry but in the spring these pools of stagnate water pop up and make frogs happy. They fill with melting snow and rain water, the dry up as the weather gets warmer. Another example of the Earth's wax and wane.

  

Shooting a roll of Kodak Direct Duplication Microfilm 2468 proved a surprise when expecting negatives on the reel after developing, yet the roll gave me super, nearly grainless positives.

 

Film: Kodak Direct Duplicating Microfilm, 2468

ISO 0.75

Processed in Photographer's Formulary TD-3, 15 min. @ 68 degrees. 4 gentle inversions per minute.

Camera: Nikon FM2, Nikkor 35mm f2.8

Exposure data: 1/30, f2.8

Image by: Leslie Lazenby Apr 2014

 

Films like this and other traditional film stocks are available at

www.filmphotographyproject.com

but jumps & runs when the phone rings

Not all of the city, but some of the highlights.

 

Outside it was a glorious day, and felt like summer on the inside of the ceiling to floor plate glass windows. Phew, its gonna be a scorcher! And what better way to spend the day than with our very own private tour guide>

 

What better indeed.

 

We met Maki at nine, and after some introductions, it was decided to go to Tokyo Station to exchange our vouchers for rail passes, thus making the rest of the travelling on the holibob possible. It also allowed us to be shown how to use the Metro, swiping our cards and looking at the map to plan a route. Handily, all lines have letter prefixes, and each station is numbered, so we were staying near K19, and to find our way back, get to the K line and go to the end, and Bob's you Aunt's live in lover. As it were.

 

I was in heaven, I have been dreaming of travelling on the Tokyo Subway, but I was doing it for real, and snapping. All.The.Time.

 

We arrived at Tokyo Station after a change onto one of the overground lines. Man, it was already hot, but Maki pointed out the profusion of vending machines. Everywhere, and for 110 Yet you can buy a half litre of cool h2o.

 

She lead us through various parts of the station to the rail tour office, we all filled out a lengthy form, then we were given our pass which gave us unlimited train travel for two whole weeks.

 

That done and the fact the Imperial Gardens were nearby, that is where we walked to next, through a maze of modern glass skyscrapers, over half empty 6 lane roads, and to the entrance to the gardens. Once upon a time it was the residence of the Emperor, he still have a thridd of it or something, but the rest is a public garden, which is littered with historic buildings, defenceive walls and the remains of castles and storehouses and the like.

 

Did I mention it was hot? It was hot.

 

But the gardens were sensational, and gave us an understanding of the different prefectures in Japan, as all were represented. Also there was green tea plants and bamboo. And on the wing I saw three different species of swallowtail butterfly, but I had left my macro in the hotel, so made do with watching them flit about.

 

We take a time out to have some water from a vending area before completing the tour round the gardens, before walking to Tokyo Station again, but this time getting a bus to the commercial area for a walk round the public fish market.

 

It was hotter.

 

It seems all tourists in Tokyo, and a good proportion of its residents also had the same idea, as it was like Venice on a very busy day.

 

And it was hot.

 

The sights and smells were fabulous, but the lanes were narrow and chocked with people, all walking at different paces, some eating, some drinking and some walking with their family. We were trying to keep pace with Maki.

 

After an hour of walking and loking, and it being half one, it was decided that it was lunchtime. Over the main road bordering the market was a swish sushi place, who had tables att eh counter, so we could watch our food being prepared. Only I wasn't hungry, so made do with some rice and simple sushi whilst Jools and Jen had a set meal. I drtank some ice cool beer.

 

I had another.

 

After that we walked through the commercial area to the Tokyo version of Harrods to look at their food halls. None of us are big shoppers really, and we did it as Maki made it sound like a great thing, and some of the displays were wonderful for sure.

 

Finally she took us to the trendy area, really, so we ccould look round the best souvenir shop in the city. We looked round, bout some stuff, and then said to Maki that we had enough confidence to use the metro, and as we were by Shibuya, where I wanted to snap in the evening, we would bid her farewell one hour early, and we would look for a coffee shop.

 

After looking in a coule, we found a place in a rooftop place, in the shade, but it was still warm, so we order ice coffee and take the weight off our feet, which after a day's travelling, maybe a seven hour forced march round Tokyo in 30 degree heat wasn't the best thing. But we had survived, but our legs and feet we making some complaints.

 

We took a Metro to Shibuya, and then went looking for the famous crossing, but we were an hour early, so maybe we should find something to eat. There was flashing neon lights everywhere, and it was all a bit confusing to be honest. Then Jen says there's a place to eat on the top floor of the mega camera store near us.

 

So we take the lift to the top floor, and are shown to a booth overlooking the street below, and shown how to use the tablet to order food and drinks. Some of it was even in English, which was nice. We order some nibbles and drinks, and pressed send. Twenty minutes later the food arrived, but no drinks, we called the waiter and sent him to fetch beers. And all was good, in fact we mellowed out and enjoyed looking out as the light faded and the neon shone brighter.

 

We went downstairs and I went looking for the crossing, a six-way pedestrian crossing that is iconic, I took a place looking towards the brightest lights and snapped away. It was a scene you can only imagine, I switched to the wide angle and slowed the shutter speed down and snapped some more. There was still some light in the sky, so the shots were pretty darn perfect, even I says so myself.

 

Happy with my shots, and the fact our legs and feet were screaming, we made our way back to the Metro then back to the hotel and back to the rooftop bar. It was a heck of a day, and we had achieved so much. And found our way back with no trouble either.

 

We played cards on the roof, with the Sky Tree shining a mile away, looking wonderful, and so we decided that we would go there the next evening.

 

Cheers

But a later front Grafted on to P&D Yorks 2002 Bova Futura T10PDY a C70F example seen next to me at Drayton Manor. Photo taken 18/07/18

THE DOCTRINE OF JIHAD TAKEN FROM REZA ASLAN’S BOOK “NO GOD BUT GOD”

The doctrine of Jihad, as it slowly developed in the Quran, was specifically meant to differentiate between pre-Islamic and Islamic notions of war, and to infuse the later with what Mustansir Mir calls an ideological-cum-ethical dimension” that, until that point, did not exist in the Arabian Peninsula. At the heart of doctrine of Jihad was the heretofore unrecognized distinction between combatant and noncombatant. Thus, the killing of women, children, monks, rabbis, the elderly, or any other noncombatant was absolutely forbidden under any circumstances. Muslim law eventually expanded on these prohibitions to outlaw the torture of prisoners of war; the mutilation of the dead, rape, molestation, or any kind of sexual violence during combat; the killing of diplomats, the wanton destruction of property; and the demolition of religious or medical institutions-regulations that, many centuries later would be incorporated into the modern international laws of war.

But perhaps THE MOST IMPORTANT innovation in the doctrine of Jihad was its outright prohibition of all but strictly defensive wars. “Fight in the way of God those who fight you,” the Quran says, “but do not begin hostilities; God does not like the aggressor” (2:190). Elsewhere the Quran is more explicit: “Permission to fight is given only to those who have been oppressed … who have been driven from their homes for saying, ‘God is our Lord’” (22:3; emphasis added).

 

It is true that some verses in the Quran instruct Muhammad and His followers to “slay the polytheists wherever you confront them” (9:5); to carry the struggle to the hypocrites who deny the faith” (9:73); and, especially, to “fight those who do not believe in God and the Last Day” (9:29). However, it must be understood that these were directed specifically at the Quraysh and their clandestine partisans in Yathrib – specially named in the Quran as “the polytheists” and “the hypocrites,” respectively --- with whom the Ummah was locked in a terrible war.

 

Nevertheless, these verses have long been used by Muslims and non-Muslims alike to suggest that Islam advocates fighting unbelievers until they convert. But this is not a view that either the Quran or Muhammad endorsed. The view was put forth during the height of the Crusades, and partly in response to them, by later generations of Islamic legal scholars who developed what is now referred to as “the classical doctrine of jihad”: a doctrine that, among other things, partitioned the world into two spheres, the House of Islam (dar al-Islam) and the House of War (dar-al-Harb), with the former in constant pursuit of the latter.

"But I’ll know where several are

If my dreams get real bizarre

'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar"

 

Later, some people realize that they do not have to throw away their childhood memories in order to transition to adulthood. They recognize the thing that defines their life. The rubik's cube represents childhood memories. In this photo, the rubik's cube is being picked up again.

But mom...we don't like funny things on our heads...

 

Muffin and Ponyo ♥

but still the best way to return to posting pics again

This place in Yunnan province was formerly known as Zhongdian, but was renamed in 2001 after the fictional land of Shangri-La in the 1933 James Hilton novel Lost Horizon, in an effort to promote tourism in the area.

 

A three day 'Horse Racing Festival' also known as 'Heavenly Steed Festival' is held some time in June, which involves dancing, singing and eating, in addition to the racing of horses. Horse traders and minorities assemble here in their finest attire of furs and silks.

 

(From Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhongdian, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandan_Sumtseling_Monastery)

But still slow shutter speed

3/6

Our day out to the Scilly Isles involved three modes of transport, namely (but not in order) a bus, a boat and a plane. Outwards was by air from Lands End Airport, and the return to Penzance was on the ferry, 'Scillonian III'. In the middle it was intended to do an island tour, but as the operator had decided to take a private party and cancel the morning tour, it was decided that the good option was to take the 'Community Bus'. This was an ex-Crosville Mercedes-Benz 811D Alexander ALX100 (apparently), no. N718 DJC. It sports the colours of Royal Bus in St. Ives, plus a large image of that resort on the side, too. I suspect it has been retired by them, and now part of a community project on St. Mary's to cater for local and tourist alike. Suffice to say, the 1230 departure was crammed, and what followed was a pleasing 30 minute trip around most of the eleven miles of road on the island, at a fraction of the cost of the official island tour. In the background is St. Mary's Harbour, with the 'Scillonian III' moored at the quayside. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved. (* see 'Scilly Approach)

But as more time wore on, Aishling felt like she could ignore the truth no longer. This Grimalkin was no mere toy. There was something about it that kept telling Aishling things, kept whispering to her, and the more she fell in love with it and treated it as her equal, the more it spoke to her soul.

It was great when it all began.....

  

I think it was September 2011 when I first visited St Olave. It was an Open House London weekend, and I had not been inside a City of London church before. I was soon to discover this was one of many.

 

I think since then I have photographed inside and/or inside, or the remains of some 48 City Churches, but this is still something special.

 

A Norfolk Village church in the City I have heard it described, it is certainly a box of delights, with a whole lot of interesting things, memorials and even a model of a lightship inside.

 

It nestles down a quiet street near to Fenchurch Street, and seems to be open whenever I walk by. This time I entered through the door on the street, much better to enter through the churchyard, through the macabre gate then down steps into the porch.

 

Once inside I saw someone asleep in the pews, surrounded by bags of her possessions. I tried not to wake her.

 

And yet, the church was filled with strong sunlight, tinted after passing through the stained glass.

 

------------------------------------------

 

St Olave’s survives as a rare example of the mediaeval churches that existed before the Great Fire of London in 1666. The flames came within 100 metres or so of the building but then the wind changed direction, saving a number of churches on the eastern side of the City.

 

The church was severely damaged in the bombing of World War II, but enough of the fabric and original masonry was spared to permit the building to be lovingly restored in the 1950s and to continue its life and work into the second half of the 20th century and now the 21st.

 

People entering St Olave’s for the first time are frequently surprised to find the timeless atmosphere of a modest ancient parish church in the heart of the modern City and this surprise more often than not yields to increasing delight as they explore its interior. This truth about St Olave’s was well expressed by The Revd Augustus Powell Miller, the Rector who saw through the post-war restoration:

 

'Often we remind ourselves that we are the heirs of nine centuries of Christian worship on this hallowed site. For all those long years… the praises of God and the prayers of His people have been ascending to the Throne of grace from this place. The very mental and spiritual atmosphere which you breathe as you step out of Hart Street into this Sanctuary has been gradually created by the worshippers of the past. And many times in recent days when visitors have come in to see the restored church they have confessed to having paused; they entered to view what the craftsmen had wrought but had to own their consciousness of its hallowed atmosphere. "Other men have laboured" and we, in the mercy of God have been given the privilege of "entering into their labours." In the quiet and silence of this Sanctuary we can know that "we are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses," and that the past mingles with the present and can inspire us for whatever tasks the future has in store for us.'

 

www.sanctuaryinthecity.net/history-architecture/4588220829

 

--------------------------------------------

 

St Olave Hart Street is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane near Fenchurch Street railway station.

 

John Betjeman described St Olave's as "a country church in the world of Seething Lane."[1] The church is one of the smallest in the City and is one of only a handful of medieval City churches that escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666.[2] In addition to being a local parish church, St Olave's is the Ward Church of the Tower Ward of the City of London.

 

The church is first recorded in the 13th century as St Olave-towards-the-Tower, a stone building replacing the earlier (presumably wooden) construction.[4] It is dedicated to the patron saint of Norway, King Olaf II of Norway, who fought alongside the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred the Unready against the Danes in the Battle of London Bridge in 1014. He was canonised after his death and the church of St Olave's was built apparently on the site of the battle.[2] The Norwegian connection was reinforced during the Second World War when King Haakon VII of Norway worshipped there while in exile.

 

Saint Olave's was rebuilt in the 13th century and then again in the 15th century. The present building dates from around 1450. According to John Stow's Survey of London (1603), a major benefactor of the church in the late 15th century was wool merchant Richard Cely Sr. (d. 1482), who held the advowson on the church (inherited by his son, Richard Cely, Jr.). On his death, Cely bequeathed money for making the steeple and an altar in the church. The merchant mark of the Cely family was carved in two of the corbels in the nave (and were extant until the bombing of World War II). No memorial to the Celys now remains in the church.[5]

 

Saint Olave's survived the Great Fire of London with the help of Sir William Penn, the father of the more famous William Penn who founded Pennsylvania, and his men from the nearby Naval yards. He had ordered the men to blow up the houses surrounding the church to create a fire break.[6][7] The flames came within 100 yards or so of the building, but then the wind changed direction, saving the church and a number of other churches on the eastern side of the City.[3]

 

The church was a favourite of the diarist Samuel Pepys, whose house and Royal Navy office were both on Seething Lane. A regular worshipper, he referred to St. Olave's in his diary affectionately as "our own church"[8] In 1660, he had a gallery built on the south wall of the church and added an outside stairway from the Royal Navy Offices so that he could go to church without getting soaked by the rain. The gallery is now gone but a memorial to Pepys marks the location of the stairway's door. In 1669, when his beloved wife Elisabeth died from fever,[9] Pepys had a marble bust of her made by John Bushnell and installed on the north wall of the sanctuary so that he would be able to see her from his pew at the services. In 1703, he was buried next to his wife in the nave.[2][10]

 

However, it was gutted by German bombs in 1941 during the London Blitz.[11] and was restored in 1954, with King Haakon VII of Norway returning to preside over the rededication ceremony, during which he laid a stone from Trondheim Cathedral in front of the sanctuary.

 

Between 1948 and 1954, when the restored St Olave's was reopened, a prefabricated church stood on the site of All Hallows Staining. This was known as St Olave Mark Lane. The tower of All Hallows Staining was used as the chancel of the temporary church.

 

The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.[12] St Olave's has retained long and historic links with Trinity House and the Clothworkers' Company.

 

St Olave's has a modest exterior in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[1] with a somewhat squat square tower of stone and brick, the latter added in 1732. It is famous for the macabre 1658 entrance arch to the churchyard, which is decorated with grinning skulls.[13] The novelist Charles Dickens was so taken with this that he included the church in his Uncommercial Traveller, renaming it "St Ghastly Grim".[14]

  

The interior of St Olave's only partially survived the wartime bombing; much of it dates from the restoration of the 1950s. It is nearly square, with three bays separated by columns of Purbeck limestone supporting pointed arches. The roof is a simple oak structure with bosses. Most of the church fittings are modern, but there are some significant survivals, such as the monument to Elizabeth Pepys[15] and the pulpit, said to be the work of Grinling Gibbons. Following the destruction of the organ in the blitz, the John Compton Organ Company built a new instrument in the West Gallery, fronted by a large wooden grille; this organ, and the Rectory behind, is ingeniously structured between church and tower.

 

In the tower, there is a memorial with an American connection. It honors Monkhouse Davison and Abraham Newman, the grocers of Fenchurch Street who shipped crates of tea to Boston in late 1773. These crates were seized and thrown into the waters during the Boston Tea Party, one of the causes of the American War of Independence.[10]

 

Perhaps the oddest "person" said to be buried here is the "Pantomime character" Mother Goose. Her burial was recorded by the parish registers on 14 September 1586.[16] A plaque on the outside commemorates this event. The churchyard is also said to contain the grave of one Mary Ramsay, popularly believed to be the woman who brought the Plague to London in 1665.[17] The parish registers have the record of her burial, which was on 24 July 1665. Thereafter, in the same year, the victims of the Great Plague were marked with a 'p' after their names in the registers.

 

On the east side of St Olave's, there is a stained glass window depicting Queen Elizabeth I standing with two tall bells at her feet. She held a thanksgiving service at St Olave's on Trinity Sunday, 15 May 1554, while she was still Princess Elizabeth, to celebrate her release from the Tower of London.[19] She had originally given bell-ropes of silk to the All Hallows Staining Church because its bells had rung the loudest of all London bells on the day of her freedom, but, when All Hallows Staining was merged with St. Olave's in 1870, the bell-ropes went with it.[20]

 

On 11 May 1941, an incendiary bomb was dropped by the Luftwaffe on the tower of the church. The tower, along with the baptistry and other buildings, was "burned out" and the furnishings and monuments destroyed. The heat was so great that even the peal of the eight bells were melted "back into bell metal". In the early 1950s, the bell metal was recast into new bells by the same foundry that created the original bells – the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, in 1662 and 1694.[21] The new bells were then hung in the rebuilt tower.

 

There are currently nine bells at St Olave's Hart Street consisting of one sanctus bell and eight bells hung for full circle ringing, with the tenor of the eight weighing 11-3-23.[22] The bells are usually rung for practices, which take place on Thursday evenings between 7:00pm and 8:30pm during term time, and for Sunday service between 10:15am and 11:00am on the 1st and 3rd Sundays in the month.[23] The bells are currently rung by the University of London Society of Change Ringers (ULSCR) who have a healthy band consisting of past and present members of London Universities.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Olave_Hart_Street

 

--------------------------------------------

  

A medieval church set in the surprisingly quiet and narrow streets near Fenchurch Street station. One of the most pleasing of the City of London churches, both in its setting and in its interior. It was far enough east to escape the ravages of the Great Fire, much to the relief of Samuel Pepys, whose parish church this was and who worked in the Navy Office next door. In the 1930s Betjeman described it as seeming like an East Anglian country parish church on holiday in the heart of the City. The church did not, alas, survive the Blitz similarly unscathed, but the exterior and setting today appear remarkably similar to postcards and photographs of the 1920s, set on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane with a polite little public garden behind. Don't miss the grinning skulls above the gateway.

 

Since the terrorist bombing of St Ethelburga in 1993, St Olave is the smallest surviving intact medieval church in the City. The interior has been carefully restored and perhaps retains something of its original atmosphere - indeed, the post-war restoration got rid of the worst of the middle-brow 19th Century restorations by Arthur Blomfield and Ewan Christian. Furnishings were brought out of store from All Hallows Staining and St Katherine Coleman, two churches in adjacent streets which had been demolished for building work in the 19th Century. The glass is now all post-war and by two artists whose reputations for fine work are firmly established, Arthur Buss and John Hayward.

 

www.simonknott.co.uk/citychurches/051/church.htm</a

(Please forgive blockey dialogue. It's only my second draft. I normally go through it at least 5 times before publishing but the deadline was yesterday.)

 

3:00 Docs House.

 

Alpha woke with a start. Doc lazily sat up.

“Bad dream?” She asked.

 

“The Parallity Crystals......” Alpha trailed off into his own thoughts.

 

Doc woke herself up a little.

“The things that perp we brought in earlier was ranting on about. Ignore him, it’s just the insane ramblings of a broken mind. Once we nullify his power, he’ll be moved to an asylum, they’ll make sure he lives out his life comfortably.”

 

“No! The Crystals are real....... I can’t place the memory. My mind is a vault, full of a hundred, or even a thousand lifetimes of memories, just locked away. But I know of the stones.... “ Alpha softy knocked three times on his head, half in jest and half in annoyance of not being able to recall his own memories.

 

Doc pulled a pen and paper from her bedside drawer. Ever since she and Alpha had become romantically involved, she had been logging his dreams in an attempt to help him recall his memory.

“What can you recall from the dream?”

 

“Nothing much. I saw the crystals, I felt immense heat and then I felt pain and nothingness....” Alpha lingered in thought and then promptly snapped back to reality. “The Crystals are bad. Real bad! We need to find them and.... and..... I don’t know, protect them? Destroy them? They will end us all if we don’t.”

 

Doc pondered for a second. Alpha often had dreams about his past, and any information he provided about certain times often could be confirmed with a quick google search. Why would she doubt him now? But this was a job for the Task Force, it seemed beyond just herself and Alpha. “Tomorrow, come to my office for an “emergency” appointment. I’ll officially write up the dream and advise General Mayhem that we look into the stones as a potential world destruction/domination risk. But where would we start to find these stones?”

 

10:00 Black Falcon HQ

 

Alpha was waiting in Docs lab when she hurried in. “I’ve cleared it with the General. He’s logged the paperwork and finding the stones is officially a Class 2 Mission.”

 

Alpha wasn’t happy. “Only a Class 2? We may need to pull others out of other missions, we don’t have the clearance to do that if it’s only class 2!”

 

“The General says it’s likely you dreamt of the stones because of the lunatic we brought in yesterday. The only reason he assigned it a class 2 was because of my Psyc-Eval on you. He was going to make it a class 5.”

 

Alpha scoffed. “A class 5?!”

 

“Take it or leave it. We have a mission and access to resources. I have Mainframe scouring the dark web and Red is about to interrogate yesterday’s perp. Other than that we don’t have much more to go on.”

 

Alpha calmed himself but his frustrations where still obvious. “You really think we can just Google the Parallity stones? And does this “perp” have a name or is he just called the perp now?”

 

“The dark web isn’t google, it’s.... I can’t repeat everything Mainframe said but I remember it wasn’t google. Also the perp hasn’t given up his name and he wasn’t carrying any ID. We could call him John Doe if you want? Red asked if you wanted to sit in on the interrogation?”

 

“No thanks. Red is a good agent and I trust her to squeeze all the info they can outta our John Doe. I have another idea. Can we get Mainframe to pull any records we have on any “immortals” we know?”

 

“Immortals? Why?”

 

“Because old people are a wealth of knowledge.”

 

13:00 Location Classified

 

“This is it!” Called Doc.

 

Alpha left the house he was looking at and joined Doc.

 

This was the 5th immortal on the list. The first four had been little help. Doc was beginning to question Alphas plan. “This one is under the Black Falcon Enhanced Safety Program. General Mayhem just cleared us to talk to him.”

 

“This is a safe house? It looks like it’s about to collapse!”

 

“We only give you the tools to build a “normal” life for yourself, what you do with it is your choice.”

 

Alpha scowled. He’d once been part of that program and he hated every minute of it. When you’re a Werewolf, there is no normal life. Plus a monthly visit from the Falcons wasn’t the polite courtesy it’s dressed up to be, it’s a glorified baby sitting service to make sure you weren’t terrorising the local population.

 

Doc knocked on the door. There was a shuffle and a scurry from behind the door. Doc knocked again.

 

“Hold on! I’m coming.” Yelled a voice angrily.

 

The door opened and there stood a man dressed in jogging bottoms and a string vest. He had a sack over his head. “Yes? What do you want?”

 

The smell was unpleasant, especially for Alpha and his enhanced sense of smell.

 

“Henry Pritchard?” asked Doc

 

“Who’s asking?”

 

“I’m Doc and this is Alpha. We’re with the Black Falcon Task Force.” Both Agents flashed their badges.

 

“You’re early, you’re meant to visit next week!”

 

“Sorry, we’re not from the Safety Program. We are here on a different matter and we are hoping that in your extended lifetime, you may know a few things we can’t find in books or on the internet.”

 

“Go on?”

 

“May we come in?”

 

“No. Here is fine”

 

Alpha raised an eyebrow and went to speak, but Doc held out a hand to stop him. Doc continued. “We were wondering if you had ever heard of the Parallity Crystals?”

 

“You’re not welcome here!” Henry slammed the door closed.

 

Doc knocked again and went to speak. This time Alpha put his hand up to stop her. He yelled through the door. “You can answer our questions here and be left in peace after, or we can drag you back to HQ and drag this out forever and a day!”

 

Henry opened the door. “All I have is time, you’ll be dead before you’d get anything from me.”

 

“As an immortal myself, I have the time to wait.”

 

“You’re an immortal? How? Why are you asking me about the Meta Crystal if you’re immortal. You’re lying!”

 

In a matter of seconds, Alpha had morphed to his wolf form and stood high above Henry. Unable to speak in his wolf form, Doc took over.

“As you can see Henry, Alpha is a werewolf and is at least 200 years old.”

 

“Werewolves aren’t r...r...real.”

 

“Tell that to him.”

 

“Ok, ok, I’ll talk.”

 

As quick as he had become a wolf, Alpha was human again. “So what do you know?”

 

Henry composed himself. “I’m 832 years old give or take a year or two. 800 years ago, when I was in my early thirties, my family farm failed to yield a crop. My family was starving. A traveller, dressed in rags, stopped at my farm. He had no money and was also starving. He said in return for food, he would give me a full crop. Needless to say, I didn’t believe him, but I took pity on him and fed him what we could afford too. I awoke the next morning, the traveller was gone, but as he promised, I had a full crop, as if magically grown overnight.”

 

Alpha and Doc listened intently.

 

“Three days later, he returned. He did not look the same man. He was well dressed and well fed. I asked him how this was possible. All he said was “Magic!”. He said he could do much more and said he would grant me one wish, in return I would owe him a favour. I stupidly wished, for immortality. Not just for me, but for my family.”

 

“Stupidly asked?” Asked Alpha

 

“Very stupidly! I don’t know what it’s like for a werewolf, but human immortality is a curse, not a blessing. After 50 years of not ageing a day, we felt truly blessed. But then my father lost his leg when it got caught under a plough.....”

 

Alpha held up his hand to stop Henry, his earpiece suddenly became alive with voice traffic. He looked over at Doc, who nodded and walked away from the house. She proceeded to deal with the burst of communications, while Alpha removed his earpiece and beckoned Henry to continue.

 

“By the time they got him to an apothecary, they said he would be dead. But he wasn’t, he was immortal, but he had no heartbeat, and he was cold as ice. He essentially bled to death, or his body did, but he was alive. The next few months were the hardest. My fathers body did what any dead body did. It rotted and decayed, all the while my father still lived. Then his brain started to decay and we watched my father spiral into madness. He literally became a zombie, immortal doesn’t mean indestructible. If you don’t look after yourself, then you end up with a fate worse than death. A state of living death. This was the power of the Meta Crystal, the power to twist reality. I’ve never seen the other Crystals.”

 

Doc returned and pulled Alpha aside, “You just got your wish. This mission is a Class 1 now. Just after midnight last night, a guy going by the name of Cataclysmos threatened to destroy the world if the Parallity Crystals weren’t handed over to him. The General wants the entire task force going after the Crystals. Mainframe turned up nothing on the dark web. Red got nothing but gibberish from John Doe and what’s more, Ghost and Spectre turned up to our last immortal to find her missing. The apartment shows signs of a struggle, Ghost and Spectre are trying to track her down, but someone beat us to her. Henry is currently our only lead.”

 

Henry interjected himself back into the conversation . “You won’t find the Crystals on the web, and very few people know that they only exist between time and space, you’ll only find them if they’re in this reality at the time you search for them. That’s the last of the free information, I’m only helping you if I come along. If not, you’re on your own.”

 

Alpha looked at Doc and shook his head. Doc nodded. Alpha shook his head again. “We need him.” Said Doc through gritted teeth, tired of Alphas stubbornness.

 

Alpha sighed. “Fine! Get what you need, and you’re gonna have to take that bag off your head!”

 

“Oh, this? I have a mask, you just caught me short when you knocked my door and the sack was the closest thing I could grab.”

 

“Why do you where a mask?” Asked Doc and Alpha simultaneously.

 

“Because I sustained some injuries over my 800 year life. My face isn’t pretty anymore. Back in a sec.”

 

Henry disappeared inside for a few minutes. He returned full dressed and masked. He was carrying a shield.

 

“What’s with the shield?” Asked Doc.

 

“I’m immortal, not bulletproof. By the way, first tip for finding the Parallity Crystals, is we need someone or something capable of jumping through time and space. Good luck with that.”

 

“I know someone.” Said Alpha.

 

“Really? Who?” Asked Doc.

 

“There was an infiltration at Lockdown a few months back. Two prisoners escaped, but Lockdown acquired three new residents. I think we need to pay Lockdown a visit.”

 

16:00 Lockdown

 

Doc and Alpha entered the interrogation room. The prisoner was waiting for them, cuffed to the table. They put a Neutrilliam Mecho Suit on the table. It was big and bulky but would nullify the wearers abilities. “Put this on.” Growled Alpha, “You’re coming with us.”

 

“First of all, I’m flattered, but I’m not into that sort of thing. Second, does anyone else smell wet dog? It’s you right? You smell like wet dog?” Smiled Rift Rider.

 

To be continued.....

 

Rift Rider used with permission of the creator and owner, Lego Creationist. www.flickr.com/photos/133951503@N03/

Catacombs, Paris.

 

From Wikipedia :

  

History

Background: Parisian cemeteries

 

Paris CatacombsParis since Roman times buried its dead to the outskirts of the city, but this changed with the rise of Christianity and its practice of burying its faithful deceased in consecrated ground in and adjoining its churches. By the 10th century, because of the city's expansion over the centuries, there were many parish cemeteries within city limits, even in central locations. When Paris' population began to rise rapidly in the following centuries, some of these cemeteries became overcrowded where expansion was impossible. Soon only the most wealthy could afford church burials, which led to the opening in the early 12th century of a central burial ground for more common burials: initially dependent upon the St. Opportune church, this cemetery near Paris' central Les Halles district was renamed as the 'Saints-Innocents cemetery' under its own church and parish towards the end of the same century.

  

Skull Catacombs of Paris The practice common then for burying the lesser-wealthy dead was mass inhumation. Once an excavation in one section of the cemetery was full, it would be covered over and another opened. Few of the dead buried in this way had the privilege of coffins; often the casket used for a burial ceremony would be re-used for the next. Thus the residues resulting from the decaying of organic matter, a process often chemically accelerated with the use of lime, entered directly into the earth, creating a situation quite unacceptable for a city whose then principal source of liquid sustenance was well water.

 

By the 17th century the sanitary conditions around Saints-Innocents cemetery were unbearable. As it was one of Paris' most sought-after cemeteries and a large source of revenue for the parish and church, the clergy had continued burials there even when its grounds were filled to overflowing. By then the cemetery was lined on all four sides with "charniers" reserved for the bones of the dead exhumed from mass graves that had "lain" long enough for all the flesh they contained to decompose. Once emptied, a mass sepulture would be used again, but even then the earth was already filled beyond saturation with decomposing human remains.

 

A series of ineffective decrees limiting the use of the cemetery did little to remedy the situation, and it wasn't until the late 18th century that it was decided to create three new large-scale suburban burial grounds on the outskirts of the city, and to condemn all existing parish cemeteries within city limits.

 

[edit] Paris' former Mines

Part of the reason nothing was done about Paris' untenable burial practices was a lack of ideas for disposing of the dead exhumed from Paris' intra-muros parish graveyards. The government had been searching for and consolidating long abandoned stone quarries in and around the capital since 1777, and it was the Police Lieutenant General overseeing the renovations, Alexandre Lenoir, who first had the idea to use empty underground tunnels on the outskirts of the capital to this end. His successor, Thiroux de Crosne, chose a place to the south of Paris' "porte d'Enfer" city gate (the place Denfert-Rochereau today), and the exhumation and transfer of all Paris' dead to the underground sepulture began in 1786.

 

[edit] Creation, decoration

From the eve of a consecration ceremony on the 7th April the same year, behind a procession of chanting priests, began a parade of black-covered bone-laden horse-drawn wagons that continued for years to come. In work overseen by the Inspector General of Quarries, Charles-Axel Guillaumot, the bones were deposited in a wide well dug in land bought from a property, "La maison de la Tombe Issoire" (a house near the street of the same name), and distributed throughout the underground caverns by workers below. Also deposited near the same house were crosses, urns and other necropolis memorabilia recuperated from Paris' church graveyards.

 

The catacombs in their first years were practically only a bone repository, but Guillaumot's successor from 1810, Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, oversaw the renovations that would transform the underground caverns into a real and visitable sepulture on par with any mausoleum. In addition to directing the rearrangement of skulls and tibias into the arrangement that we see in the catacombs today, he used the tombstones and cemetery decorations he could find (many had disappeared after the 1789 Revolution) to complement the walls of bones.

  

but i still managed to smile tho.

 

scarf: local market

hoodie: glassons

tshirt: jayjays

jeans: luscious

shoes: warehouse

bag: secondhand

I bet you think this is a highly photoshopped image. But you are wrong. By playing with flashes and the shutter speed I created this effect.

 

www.maximpiessen.com

 

Species: Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii

The cat (Felis catus), commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae. Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC. It is commonly kept as a house pet and farm cat, but also ranges freely as a feral cat avoiding human contact. It is valued by humans for companionship and its ability to kill vermin. Because of its retractable claws it is adapted to killing small prey like mice and rats. It has a strong flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth, and its night vision and sense of smell are well developed. It is a social species, but a solitary hunter and a crepuscular predator. Cat communication includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, and grunting as well as cat body language. It can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by small mammals. It also secretes and perceives pheromones.

 

Female domestic cats can have kittens from spring to late autumn in temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions, with litter sizes often ranging from two to five kittens. Domestic cats are bred and shown at events as registered pedigreed cats, a hobby known as cat fancy. Animal population control of cats may be achieved by spaying and neutering, but their proliferation and the abandonment of pets has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, contributing to the extinction of bird, mammal and reptile species.

 

As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020. As of 2021, there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world.

 

Etymology and naming

The origin of the English word cat, Old English catt, is thought to be the Late Latin word cattus, which was first used at the beginning of the 6th century. The Late Latin word may be derived from an unidentified African language. The Nubian word kaddîska 'wildcat' and Nobiin kadīs are possible sources or cognates. The Nubian word may be a loan from Arabic قَطّ‎ qaṭṭ ~ قِطّ qiṭṭ.

 

The forms might also have derived from an ancient Germanic word that was imported into Latin and then into Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. The word may be derived from Germanic and Northern European languages, and ultimately be borrowed from Uralic, cf. Northern Sámi gáđfi, 'female stoat', and Hungarian hölgy, 'lady, female stoat'; from Proto-Uralic *käďwä, 'female (of a furred animal)'.

 

The English puss, extended as pussy and pussycat, is attested from the 16th century and may have been introduced from Dutch poes or from Low German puuskatte, related to Swedish kattepus, or Norwegian pus, pusekatt. Similar forms exist in Lithuanian puižė and Irish puisín or puiscín. The etymology of this word is unknown, but it may have arisen from a sound used to attract a cat.

 

A male cat is called a tom or tomcat (or a gib, if neutered). A female is called a queen or a molly, if spayed, especially in a cat-breeding context. A juvenile cat is referred to as a kitten. In Early Modern English, the word kitten was interchangeable with the now-obsolete word catling.

 

A group of cats can be referred to as a clowder or a glaring.

 

Taxonomy

The scientific name Felis catus was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for a domestic cat. Felis catus domesticus was proposed by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. Felis daemon proposed by Konstantin Satunin in 1904 was a black cat from the Transcaucasus, later identified as a domestic cat.

 

In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled that the domestic cat is a distinct species, namely Felis catus. In 2007, it was considered a subspecies, F. silvestris catus, of the European wildcat (F. silvestris) following results of phylogenetic research. In 2017, the IUCN Cat Classification Taskforce followed the recommendation of the ICZN in regarding the domestic cat as a distinct species, Felis catus.

 

Evolution

Main article: Cat evolution

The domestic cat is a member of the Felidae, a family that had a common ancestor about 10 to 15 million years ago. The evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in Asia during the Miocene around 8.38 to 14.45 million years ago. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at 6.46 to 16.76 million years ago. The genus Felis genetically diverged from other Felidae around 6 to 7 million years ago. Results of phylogenetic research shows that the wild members of this genus evolved through sympatric or parapatric speciation, whereas the domestic cat evolved through artificial selection. The domestic cat and its closest wild ancestor are diploid and both possess 38 chromosomes and roughly 20,000 genes.

 

Domestication

See also: Domestication of the cat and Cats in ancient Egypt

It was long thought that the domestication of the cat began in ancient Egypt, where cats were venerated from around 3100 BC, However, the earliest known indication for the taming of an African wildcat was excavated close by a human Neolithic grave in Shillourokambos, southern Cyprus, dating to about 7500–7200 BC. Since there is no evidence of native mammalian fauna on Cyprus, the inhabitants of this Neolithic village most likely brought the cat and other wild mammals to the island from the Middle Eastern mainland. Scientists therefore assume that African wildcats were attracted to early human settlements in the Fertile Crescent by rodents, in particular the house mouse (Mus musculus), and were tamed by Neolithic farmers. This mutual relationship between early farmers and tamed cats lasted thousands of years. As agricultural practices spread, so did tame and domesticated cats. Wildcats of Egypt contributed to the maternal gene pool of the domestic cat at a later time.

The earliest known evidence for the occurrence of the domestic cat in Greece dates to around 1200 BC. Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders introduced domestic cats to southern Europe. During the Roman Empire they were introduced to Corsica and Sardinia before the beginning of the 1st millennium. By the 5th century BC, they were familiar animals around settlements in Magna Graecia and Etruria. By the end of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Egyptian domestic cat lineage had arrived in a Baltic Sea port in northern Germany.

 

The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was tamed independently in China around 5500 BC. This line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domestic cat populations of today.

 

During domestication, cats have undergone only minor changes in anatomy and behavior, and they are still capable of surviving in the wild. Several natural behaviors and characteristics of wildcats may have pre-adapted them for domestication as pets. These traits include their small size, social nature, obvious body language, love of play, and high intelligence. Captive Leopardus cats may also display affectionate behavior toward humans but were not domesticated. House cats often mate with feral cats. Hybridisation between domestic and other Felinae species is also possible, producing hybrids such as the Kellas cat in Scotland.

 

Development of cat breeds started in the mid 19th century. An analysis of the domestic cat genome revealed that the ancestral wildcat genome was significantly altered in the process of domestication, as specific mutations were selected to develop cat breeds. Most breeds are founded on random-bred domestic cats. Genetic diversity of these breeds varies between regions, and is lowest in purebred populations, which show more than 20 deleterious genetic disorders.

 

Characteristics

Main article: Cat anatomy

Size

The domestic cat has a smaller skull and shorter bones than the European wildcat. It averages about 46 cm (18 in) in head-to-body length and 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) in height, with about 30 cm (12 in) long tails. Males are larger than females. Adult domestic cats typically weigh 4–5 kg (8.8–11.0 lb).

 

Skeleton

Cats have seven cervical vertebrae (as do most mammals); 13 thoracic vertebrae (humans have 12); seven lumbar vertebrae (humans have five); three sacral vertebrae (as do most mammals, but humans have five); and a variable number of caudal vertebrae in the tail (humans have only three to five vestigial caudal vertebrae, fused into an internal coccyx).  The extra lumbar and thoracic vertebrae account for the cat's spinal mobility and flexibility. Attached to the spine are 13 ribs, the shoulder, and the pelvis.  Unlike human arms, cat forelimbs are attached to the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones which allow them to pass their body through any space into which they can fit their head.

 

Skull

The cat skull is unusual among mammals in having very large eye sockets and a powerful specialized jaw.  Within the jaw, cats have teeth adapted for killing prey and tearing meat. When it overpowers its prey, a cat delivers a lethal neck bite with its two long canine teeth, inserting them between two of the prey's vertebrae and severing its spinal cord, causing irreversible paralysis and death. Compared to other felines, domestic cats have narrowly spaced canine teeth relative to the size of their jaw, which is an adaptation to their preferred prey of small rodents, which have small vertebrae.

 

The premolar and first molar together compose the carnassial pair on each side of the mouth, which efficiently shears meat into small pieces, like a pair of scissors. These are vital in feeding, since cats' small molars cannot chew food effectively, and cats are largely incapable of mastication.:  Cats tend to have better teeth than most humans, with decay generally less likely because of a thicker protective layer of enamel, a less damaging saliva, less retention of food particles between teeth, and a diet mostly devoid of sugar. Nonetheless, they are subject to occasional tooth loss and infection.

 

Claws

Cats have protractible and retractable claws. In their normal, relaxed position, the claws are sheathed with the skin and fur around the paw's toe pads. This keeps the claws sharp by preventing wear from contact with the ground and allows for the silent stalking of prey. The claws on the forefeet are typically sharper than those on the hindfeet. Cats can voluntarily extend their claws on one or more paws. They may extend their claws in hunting or self-defense, climbing, kneading, or for extra traction on soft surfaces. Cats shed the outside layer of their claw sheaths when scratching rough surfaces.

 

Most cats have five claws on their front paws and four on their rear paws. The dewclaw is proximal to the other claws. More proximally is a protrusion which appears to be a sixth "finger". This special feature of the front paws on the inside of the wrists has no function in normal walking but is thought to be an antiskidding device used while jumping. Some cat breeds are prone to having extra digits ("polydactyly"). Polydactylous cats occur along North America's northeast coast and in Great Britain.

 

Ambulation

The cat is digitigrade. It walks on the toes, with the bones of the feet making up the lower part of the visible leg. Unlike most mammals, it uses a "pacing" gait and moves both legs on one side of the body before the legs on the other side. It registers directly by placing each hind paw close to the track of the corresponding fore paw, minimizing noise and visible tracks. This also provides sure footing for hind paws when navigating rough terrain. As it speeds up from walking to trotting, its gait changes to a "diagonal" gait: The diagonally opposite hind and fore legs move simultaneously.

 

Balance

Cats are generally fond of sitting in high places or perching. A higher place may serve as a concealed site from which to hunt; domestic cats strike prey by pouncing from a perch such as a tree branch. Another possible explanation is that height gives the cat a better observation point, allowing it to survey its territory. A cat falling from heights of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) can right itself and land on its paws.

 

During a fall from a high place, a cat reflexively twists its body and rights itself to land on its feet using its acute sense of balance and flexibility. This reflex is known as the cat righting reflex. A cat always rights itself in the same way during a fall, if it has enough time to do so, which is the case in falls of 90 cm (3.0 ft) or more. How cats are able to right themselves when falling has been investigated as the "falling cat problem".

 

Coats

Main article: Cat coat genetics

The cat family (Felidae) can pass down many colors and patterns to their offspring. The domestic cat genes MC1R and ASIP allow for the variety of color in coats. The feline ASIP gene consists of three coding exons. Three novel microsatellite markers linked to ASIP were isolated from a domestic cat BAC clone containing this gene and were used to perform linkage analysis in a pedigree of 89 domestic cats that segregated for melanism.[citation needed]

 

Senses

Main article: Cat senses

Vision

A cat's nictitating membrane shown as it blinks

Cats have excellent night vision and can see at only one-sixth the light level required for human vision.  This is partly the result of cat eyes having a tapetum lucidum, which reflects any light that passes through the retina back into the eye, thereby increasing the eye's sensitivity to dim light. Large pupils are an adaptation to dim light. The domestic cat has slit pupils, which allow it to focus bright light without chromatic aberration. At low light, a cat's pupils expand to cover most of the exposed surface of its eyes. The domestic cat has rather poor color vision and only two types of cone cells, optimized for sensitivity to blue and yellowish green; its ability to distinguish between red and green is limited. A response to middle wavelengths from a system other than the rod cells might be due to a third type of cone. This appears to be an adaptation to low light levels rather than representing true trichromatic vision. Cats also have a nictitating membrane, allowing them to blink without hindering their vision.

 

Hearing

The domestic cat's hearing is most acute in the range of 500 Hz to 32 kHz. It can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies ranging from 55 Hz to 79 kHz, whereas humans can only detect frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. It can hear a range of 10.5 octaves, while humans and dogs can hear ranges of about 9 octaves. Its hearing sensitivity is enhanced by its large movable outer ears, the pinnae, which amplify sounds and help detect the location of a noise. It can detect ultrasound, which enables it to detect ultrasonic calls made by rodent prey. Recent research has shown that cats have socio-spatial cognitive abilities to create mental maps of owners' locations based on hearing owners' voices.

 

Smell

Cats have an acute sense of smell, due in part to their well-developed olfactory bulb and a large surface of olfactory mucosa, about 5.8 cm2 (0.90 in2) in area, which is about twice that of humans. Cats and many other animals have a Jacobson's organ in their mouths that is used in the behavioral process of flehmening. It allows them to sense certain aromas in a way that humans cannot. Cats are sensitive to pheromones such as 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol, which they use to communicate through urine spraying and marking with scent glands. Many cats also respond strongly to plants that contain nepetalactone, especially catnip, as they can detect that substance at less than one part per billion. About 70–80% of cats are affected by nepetalactone. This response is also produced by other plants, such as silver vine (Actinidia polygama) and the herb valerian; it may be caused by the smell of these plants mimicking a pheromone and stimulating cats' social or sexual behaviors.

 

Taste

Cats have relatively few taste buds compared to humans (470 or so versus more than 9,000 on the human tongue). Domestic and wild cats share a taste receptor gene mutation that keeps their sweet taste buds from binding to sugary molecules, leaving them with no ability to taste sweetness. They, however, possess taste bud receptors specialized for acids, amino acids like protein, and bitter tastes. Their taste buds possess the receptors needed to detect umami. However, these receptors contain molecular changes that make the cat taste of umami different from that of humans. In humans, they detect the amino acids of glutamic acid and aspartic acid, but in cats they instead detect nucleotides, in this case inosine monophosphate and l-Histidine. These nucleotides are particularly enriched in tuna. This has been argued is why cats find tuna so palatable: as put by researchers into cat taste, "the specific combination of the high IMP and free l-Histidine contents of tuna" .. "produces a strong umami taste synergy that is highly preferred by cats". One of the researchers involved in this research has further claimed, "I think umami is as important for cats as sweet is for humans".[87]

 

Cats also have a distinct temperature preference for their food, preferring food with a temperature around 38 °C (100 °F) which is similar to that of a fresh kill; some cats reject cold food (which would signal to the cat that the "prey" item is long dead and therefore possibly toxic or decomposing).

 

Whiskers

To aid with navigation and sensation, cats have dozens of movable whiskers (vibrissae) over their body, especially their faces. These provide information on the width of gaps and on the location of objects in the dark, both by touching objects directly and by sensing air currents; they also trigger protective blink reflexes to protect the eyes from damage.: 47 

 

Behavior

See also: Cat behavior

Outdoor cats are active both day and night, although they tend to be slightly more active at night.[88] Domestic cats spend the majority of their time in the vicinity of their homes but can range many hundreds of meters from this central point. They establish territories that vary considerably in size, in one study ranging 7–28 ha (17–69 acres). The timing of cats' activity is quite flexible and varied but being low-light predators, they are generally crepuscular, which means they tend to be more active near dawn and dusk. However, house cats' behavior is also influenced by human activity and they may adapt to their owners' sleeping patterns to some extent.

 

Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. The daily duration of sleep varies, usually between 12 and 16 hours, with 13 and 14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours. The term "cat nap" for a short rest refers to the cat's tendency to fall asleep (lightly) for a brief period. While asleep, cats experience short periods of rapid eye movement sleep often accompanied by muscle twitches, which suggests they are dreaming.

 

Sociability

The social behavior of the domestic cat ranges from widely dispersed individuals to feral cat colonies that gather around a food source, based on groups of co-operating females. Within such groups, one cat is usually dominant over the others. Each cat in a colony holds a distinct territory, with sexually active males having the largest territories, which are about 10 times larger than those of female cats and may overlap with several females' territories. These territories are marked by urine spraying, by rubbing objects at head height with secretions from facial glands, and by defecation. Between these territories are neutral areas where cats watch and greet one another without territorial conflicts. Outside these neutral areas, territory holders usually chase away stranger cats, at first by staring, hissing, and growling and, if that does not work, by short but noisy and violent attacks. Despite this colonial organization, cats do not have a social survival strategy or a herd behavior, and always hunt alone.

 

Life in proximity to humans and other domestic animals has led to a symbiotic social adaptation in cats, and cats may express great affection toward humans or other animals. Ethologically, a cat's human keeper functions as if a mother surrogate. Adult cats live their lives in a kind of extended kittenhood, a form of behavioral neoteny. Their high-pitched sounds may mimic the cries of a hungry human infant, making them particularly difficult for humans to ignore. Some pet cats are poorly socialized. In particular, older cats show aggressiveness toward newly arrived kittens, which include biting and scratching; this type of behavior is known as feline asocial aggression.

 

Redirected aggression is a common form of aggression which can occur in multiple cat households. In redirected aggression there is usually something that agitates the cat: this could be a sight, sound, or another source of stimuli which causes a heightened level of anxiety or arousal. If the cat cannot attack the stimuli, it may direct anger elsewhere by attacking or directing aggression to the nearest cat, dog, human or other being.

 

Domestic cats' scent rubbing behavior toward humans or other cats is thought to be a feline means for social bonding.

 

Communication

Main article: Cat communication

Domestic cats use many vocalizations for communication, including purring, trilling, hissing, growling/snarling, grunting, and several different forms of meowing. Their body language, including position of ears and tail, relaxation of the whole body, and kneading of the paws, are all indicators of mood. The tail and ears are particularly important social signal mechanisms in cats. A raised tail indicates a friendly greeting, and flattened ears indicate hostility. Tail-raising also indicates the cat's position in the group's social hierarchy, with dominant individuals raising their tails less often than subordinate ones. Feral cats are generally silent.: 208  Nose-to-nose touching is also a common greeting and may be followed by social grooming, which is solicited by one of the cats raising and tilting its head.

 

Purring may have developed as an evolutionary advantage as a signaling mechanism of reassurance between mother cats and nursing kittens, who are thought to use it as a care-soliciting signal. Post-nursing cats also often purr as a sign of contentment: when being petted, becoming relaxed, or eating. Even though purring is popularly interpreted as indicative of pleasure, it has been recorded in a wide variety of circumstances, most of which involve physical contact between the cat and another, presumably trusted individual. Some cats have been observed to purr continuously when chronically ill or in apparent pain.

 

The exact mechanism by which cats purr has long been elusive, but it has been proposed that purring is generated via a series of sudden build-ups and releases of pressure as the glottis is opened and closed, which causes the vocal folds to separate forcefully. The laryngeal muscles in control of the glottis are thought to be driven by a neural oscillator which generates a cycle of contraction and release every 30–40 milliseconds (giving a frequency of 33 to 25 Hz).

 

Domestic cats observed in a rescue facility have total of 276 distinct facial expressions based on 26 different facial movements; each facial expression corresponds to different social functions that are likely influenced by domestication.

 

Grooming

Cats are known for spending considerable amounts of time licking their coats to keep them clean. The cat's tongue has backward-facing spines about 500 μm long, which are called papillae. These contain keratin which makes them rigid so the papillae act like a hairbrush. Some cats, particularly longhaired cats, occasionally regurgitate hairballs of fur that have collected in their stomachs from grooming. These clumps of fur are usually sausage-shaped and about 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) long. Hairballs can be prevented with remedies that ease elimination of the hair through the gut, as well as regular grooming of the coat with a comb or stiff brush.

 

Fighting

Among domestic cats, males are more likely to fight than females. Among feral cats, the most common reason for cat fighting is competition between two males to mate with a female. In such cases, most fights are won by the heavier male. Another common reason for fighting in domestic cats is the difficulty of establishing territories within a small home. Female cats also fight over territory or to defend their kittens. Neutering will decrease or eliminate this behavior in many cases, suggesting that the behavior is linked to sex hormones.

 

When cats become aggressive, they try to make themselves appear larger and more threatening by raising their fur, arching their backs, turning sideways and hissing or spitting. Often, the ears are pointed down and back to avoid damage to the inner ear and potentially listen for any changes behind them while focused forward. Cats may also vocalize loudly and bare their teeth in an effort to further intimidate their opponents. Fights usually consist of grappling and delivering powerful slaps to the face and body with the forepaws as well as bites. Cats also throw themselves to the ground in a defensive posture to rake their opponent's belly with their powerful hind legs.

 

Serious damage is rare, as the fights are usually short in duration, with the loser running away with little more than a few scratches to the face and ears. Fights for mating rights are typically more severe and injuries may include deep puncture wounds and lacerations. Normally, serious injuries from fighting are limited to infections of scratches and bites, though these can occasionally kill cats if untreated. In addition, bites are probably the main route of transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus. Sexually active males are usually involved in many fights during their lives, and often have decidedly battered faces with obvious scars and cuts to their ears and nose. Cats are willing to threaten animals larger than them to defend their territory, such as dogs and foxes.

 

Hunting and feeding

See also: Cat food

The shape and structure of cats' cheeks is insufficient to allow them to take in liquids using suction. Therefore, when drinking they lap with the tongue to draw liquid upward into their mouths. Lapping at a rate of four times a second, the cat touches the smooth tip of its tongue to the surface of the water, and quickly retracts it like a corkscrew, drawing water upward.

 

Feral cats and free-fed house cats consume several small meals in a day. The frequency and size of meals varies between individuals. They select food based on its temperature, smell and texture; they dislike chilled foods and respond most strongly to moist foods rich in amino acids, which are similar to meat. Cats reject novel flavors (a response termed neophobia) and learn quickly to avoid foods that have tasted unpleasant in the past. It is also a common misconception that cats like milk/cream, as they tend to avoid sweet food and milk. Most adult cats are lactose intolerant; the sugar in milk is not easily digested and may cause soft stools or diarrhea. Some also develop odd eating habits and like to eat or chew on things like wool, plastic, cables, paper, string, aluminum foil, or even coal. This condition, pica, can threaten their health, depending on the amount and toxicity of the items eaten.

 

Cats hunt small prey, primarily birds and rodents, and are often used as a form of pest control. Other common small creatures such as lizards and snakes may also become prey. Cats use two hunting strategies, either stalking prey actively, or waiting in ambush until an animal comes close enough to be captured. The strategy used depends on the prey species in the area, with cats waiting in ambush outside burrows, but tending to actively stalk birds.: 153  Domestic cats are a major predator of wildlife in the United States, killing an estimated 1.3 to 4.0 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals annually.

 

Certain species appear more susceptible than others; in one English village, for example, 30% of house sparrow mortality was linked to the domestic cat. In the recovery of ringed robins (Erithacus rubecula) and dunnocks (Prunella modularis) in Britain, 31% of deaths were a result of cat predation. In parts of North America, the presence of larger carnivores such as coyotes which prey on cats and other small predators reduces the effect of predation by cats and other small predators such as opossums and raccoons on bird numbers and variety.

 

Perhaps the best-known element of cats' hunting behavior, which is commonly misunderstood and often appalls cat owners because it looks like torture, is that cats often appear to "play" with prey by releasing and recapturing it. This cat and mouse behavior is due to an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat.

 

Another poorly understood element of cat hunting behavior is the presentation of prey to human guardians. One explanation is that cats adopt humans into their social group and share excess kill with others in the group according to the dominance hierarchy, in which humans are reacted to as if they are at or near the top. Another explanation is that they attempt to teach their guardians to hunt or to help their human as if feeding "an elderly cat, or an inept kitten". This hypothesis is inconsistent with the fact that male cats also bring home prey, despite males having negligible involvement in raising kittens.:

 

Play

Main article: Cat play and toys

Domestic cats, especially young kittens, are known for their love of play. This behavior mimics hunting and is important in helping kittens learn to stalk, capture, and kill prey. Cats also engage in play fighting, with each other and with humans. This behavior may be a way for cats to practice the skills needed for real combat, and might also reduce any fear they associate with launching attacks on other animals.

 

Cats also tend to play with toys more when they are hungry. Owing to the close similarity between play and hunting, cats prefer to play with objects that resemble prey, such as small furry toys that move rapidly, but rapidly lose interest. They become habituated to a toy they have played with before. String is often used as a toy, but if it is eaten, it can become caught at the base of the cat's tongue and then move into the intestines, a medical emergency which can cause serious illness, even death. Owing to the risks posed by cats eating string, it is sometimes replaced with a laser pointer's dot, which cats may chase.

 

Reproduction

See also: Kitten

The cat secretes and perceives pheromones. Female cats, called queens, are polyestrous with several estrus cycles during a year, lasting usually 21 days. They are usually ready to mate between early February and August in northern temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions.

 

Several males, called tomcats, are attracted to a female in heat. They fight over her, and the victor wins the right to mate. At first, the female rejects the male, but eventually, the female allows the male to mate. The female utters a loud yowl as the male pulls out of her because a male cat's penis has a band of about 120–150 backward-pointing penile spines, which are about 1 mm (0.039 in) long; upon withdrawal of the penis, the spines may provide the female with increased sexual stimulation, which acts to induce ovulation.

 

After mating, the female cleans her vulva thoroughly. If a male attempts to mate with her at this point, the female attacks him. After about 20 to 30 minutes, once the female is finished grooming, the cycle will repeat. Because ovulation is not always triggered by a single mating, females may not be impregnated by the first male with which they mate. Furthermore, cats are superfecund; that is, a female may mate with more than one male when she is in heat, with the result that different kittens in a litter may have different fathers.

 

The morula forms 124 hours after conception. At 148 hours, early blastocysts form. At 10–12 days, implantation occurs. The gestation of queens lasts between 64 and 67 days, with an average of 65 days.

 

Data on the reproductive capacity of more than 2,300 free-ranging queens were collected during a study between May 1998 and October 2000. They had one to six kittens per litter, with an average of three kittens. They produced a mean of 1.4 litters per year, but a maximum of three litters in a year. Of 169 kittens, 127 died before they were six months old due to a trauma caused in most cases by dog attacks and road accidents. The first litter is usually smaller than subsequent litters. Kittens are weaned between six and seven weeks of age. Queens normally reach sexual maturity at 5–10 months, and males at 5–7 months. This varies depending on breed. Kittens reach puberty at the age of 9–10 months.

 

Cats are ready to go to new homes at about 12 weeks of age, when they are ready to leave their mother. They can be surgically sterilized (spayed or castrated) as early as seven weeks to limit unwanted reproduction. This surgery also prevents undesirable sex-related behavior, such as aggression, territory marking (spraying urine) in males and yowling (calling) in females. Traditionally, this surgery was performed at around six to nine months of age, but it is increasingly being performed before puberty, at about three to six months. In the United States, about 80% of household cats are neutered.

 

Lifespan and health

Main articles: Cat health and Aging in cats

The average lifespan of pet cats has risen in recent decades. In the early 1980s, it was about seven years,: 33  rising to 9.4 years in 1995: 33  and an average of about 13 years as of 2014 and 2023. Some cats have been reported as surviving into their 30s, with the oldest known cat dying at a verified age of 38.

 

Neutering increases life expectancy: one study found castrated male cats live twice as long as intact males, while spayed female cats live 62% longer than intact females.: 35  Having a cat neutered confers health benefits, because castrated males cannot develop testicular cancer, spayed females cannot develop uterine or ovarian cancer, and both have a reduced risk of mammary cancer.

 

Disease

Main article: List of feline diseases

About 250 heritable genetic disorders have been identified in cats, many similar to human inborn errors of metabolism. The high level of similarity among the metabolism of mammals allows many of these feline diseases to be diagnosed using genetic tests that were originally developed for use in humans, as well as the use of cats as animal models in the study of the human diseases. Diseases affecting domestic cats include acute infections, parasitic infestations, injuries, and chronic diseases such as kidney disease, thyroid disease, and arthritis. Vaccinations are available for many infectious diseases, as are treatments to eliminate parasites such as worms, ticks, and fleas.

 

Ecology

Habitats

The domestic cat is a cosmopolitan species and occurs across much of the world. It is adaptable and now present on all continents except Antarctica, and on 118 of the 131 main groups of islands, even on the isolated Kerguelen Islands. Due to its ability to thrive in almost any terrestrial habitat, it is among the world's most invasive species. It lives on small islands with no human inhabitants. Feral cats can live in forests, grasslands, tundra, coastal areas, agricultural land, scrublands, urban areas, and wetlands.

 

The unwantedness that leads to the domestic cat being treated as an invasive species is twofold. On one hand, as it is little altered from the wildcat, it can readily interbreed with the wildcat. This hybridization poses a danger to the genetic distinctiveness of some wildcat populations, particularly in Scotland and Hungary, possibly also the Iberian Peninsula, and where protected natural areas are close to human-dominated landscapes, such as Kruger National Park in South Africa. However, its introduction to places where no native felines are present also contributes to the decline of native species.

 

Ferality

Main article: Feral cat

Feral cats are domestic cats that were born in or have reverted to a wild state. They are unfamiliar with and wary of humans and roam freely in urban and rural areas. The numbers of feral cats is not known, but estimates of the United States feral population range from 25 to 60 million. Feral cats may live alone, but most are found in large colonies, which occupy a specific territory and are usually associated with a source of food. Famous feral cat colonies are found in Rome around the Colosseum and Forum Romanum, with cats at some of these sites being fed and given medical attention by volunteers.

 

Public attitudes toward feral cats vary widely, from seeing them as free-ranging pets to regarding them as vermin.

 

Some feral cats can be successfully socialized and 're-tamed' for adoption; young cats, especially kittens and cats that have had prior experience and contact with humans are the most receptive to these efforts.

 

Impact on wildlife

Main article: Cat predation on wildlife

On islands, birds can contribute as much as 60% of a cat's diet. In nearly all cases, the cat cannot be identified as the sole cause for reducing the numbers of island birds, and in some instances, eradication of cats has caused a "mesopredator release" effect; where the suppression of top carnivores creates an abundance of smaller predators that cause a severe decline in their shared prey. Domestic cats are a contributing factor to the decline of many species, a factor that has ultimately led, in some cases, to extinction. The South Island piopio, Chatham rail, and the New Zealand merganser are a few from a long list, with the most extreme case being the flightless Lyall's wren, which was driven to extinction only a few years after its discovery. One feral cat in New Zealand killed 102 New Zealand lesser short-tailed bats in seven days. In the US, feral and free-ranging domestic cats kill an estimated 6.3 – 22.3 billion mammals annually.

 

In Australia, the impact of cats on mammal populations is even greater than the impact of habitat loss. More than one million reptiles are killed by feral cats each day, representing 258 species. Cats have contributed to the extinction of the Navassa curly-tailed lizard and Chioninia coctei.

 

Interaction with humans

Main article: Human interaction with cats

Cats are common pets throughout the world, and their worldwide population as of 2007 exceeded 500 million. As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020. As of 2021, there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world.

 

Cats have been used for millennia to control rodents, notably around grain stores and aboard ships, and both uses extend to the present day.

 

As well as being kept as pets, cats are also used in the international fur trade and leather industries for making coats, hats, blankets, stuffed toys, shoes, gloves, and musical instruments. About 24 cats are needed to make a cat-fur coat. This use has been outlawed in the United States since 2000 and in the European Union (as well as the United Kingdom) since 2007.

 

Cat pelts have been used for superstitious purposes as part of the practice of witchcraft, and are still made into blankets in Switzerland as traditional medicine thought to cure rheumatism.

 

A few attempts to build a cat census have been made over the years, both through associations or national and international organizations (such as that of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies) and over the Internet, but such a task does not seem simple to achieve. General estimates for the global population of domestic cats range widely from anywhere between 200 million to 600 million. Walter Chandoha made his career photographing cats after his 1949 images of Loco, an especially charming stray taken in, were published around the world. He is reported to have photographed 90,000 cats during his career and maintained an archive of 225,000 images that he drew from for publications during his lifetime.

 

Shows

Main article: Cat show

A cat show is a judged event in which the owners of cats compete to win titles in various cat-registering organizations by entering their cats to be judged after a breed standard. It is often required that a cat must be healthy and vaccinated in order to participate in a cat show. Both pedigreed and non-purebred companion ("moggy") cats are admissible, although the rules differ depending on the organization. Competing cats are compared to the applicable breed standard, and assessed for temperament.

 

Infection

Main article: Feline zoonosis

Cats can be infected or infested with viruses, bacteria, fungus, protozoans, arthropods or worms that can transmit diseases to humans. In some cases, the cat exhibits no symptoms of the disease. The same disease can then become evident in a human. The likelihood that a person will become diseased depends on the age and immune status of the person. Humans who have cats living in their home or in close association are more likely to become infected. Others might also acquire infections from cat feces and parasites exiting the cat's body. Some of the infections of most concern include salmonella, cat-scratch disease and toxoplasmosis.

 

History and mythology

Main articles: Cultural depictions of cats and Cats in ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, cats were worshipped, and the goddess Bastet often depicted in cat form, sometimes taking on the war-like aspect of a lioness. The Greek historian Herodotus reported that killing a cat was forbidden, and when a household cat died, the entire family mourned and shaved their eyebrows. Families took their dead cats to the sacred city of Bubastis, where they were embalmed and buried in sacred repositories. Herodotus expressed astonishment at the domestic cats in Egypt, because he had only ever seen wildcats.

 

Ancient Greeks and Romans kept weasels as pets, which were seen as the ideal rodent-killers. The earliest unmistakable evidence of the Greeks having domestic cats comes from two coins from Magna Graecia dating to the mid-fifth century BC showing Iokastos and Phalanthos, the legendary founders of Rhegion and Taras respectively, playing with their pet cats. The usual ancient Greek word for 'cat' was ailouros, meaning 'thing with the waving tail'. Cats are rarely mentioned in ancient Greek literature. Aristotle remarked in his History of Animals that "female cats are naturally lecherous." The Greeks later syncretized their own goddess Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, adopting Bastet's associations with cats and ascribing them to Artemis. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, when the deities flee to Egypt and take animal forms, the goddess Diana turns into a cat.

 

Cats eventually displaced weasels as the pest control of choice because they were more pleasant to have around the house and were more enthusiastic hunters of mice. During the Middle Ages, many of Artemis's associations with cats were grafted onto the Virgin Mary. Cats are often shown in icons of Annunciation and of the Holy Family and, according to Italian folklore, on the same night that Mary gave birth to Jesus, a cat in Bethlehem gave birth to a kitten. Domestic cats were spread throughout much of the rest of the world during the Age of Discovery, as ships' cats were carried on sailing ships to control shipboard rodents and as good-luck charms.

 

Several ancient religions believed cats are exalted souls, companions or guides for humans, that are all-knowing but mute so they cannot influence decisions made by humans. In Japan, the maneki neko cat is a symbol of good fortune. In Norse mythology, Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, is depicted as riding a chariot drawn by cats. In Jewish legend, the first cat was living in the house of the first man Adam as a pet that got rid of mice. The cat was once partnering with the first dog before the latter broke an oath they had made which resulted in enmity between the descendants of these two animals. It is also written that neither cats nor foxes are represented in the water, while every other animal has an incarnation species in the water. Although no species are sacred in Islam, cats are revered by Muslims. Some Western writers have stated Muhammad had a favorite cat, Muezza. He is reported to have loved cats so much, "he would do without his cloak rather than disturb one that was sleeping on it". The story has no origin in early Muslim writers, and seems to confuse a story of a later Sufi saint, Ahmed ar-Rifa'i, centuries after Muhammad. One of the companions of Muhammad was known as Abu Hurayrah ("father of the kitten"), in reference to his documented affection to cats.

 

Superstitions and rituals

Many cultures have negative superstitions about cats. An example would be the belief that encountering a black cat ("crossing one's path") leads to bad luck, or that cats are witches' familiars used to augment a witch's powers and skills. The killing of cats in Medieval Ypres, Belgium, is commemorated in the innocuous present-day Kattenstoet (cat parade). In mid-16th century France, cats would be burnt alive as a form of entertainment, particularly during midsummer festivals. According to Norman Davies, the assembled people "shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized". The remaining ashes were sometimes taken back home by the people for good luck.

 

According to a myth in many cultures, cats have multiple lives. In many countries, they are believed to have nine lives, but in Italy, Germany, Greece, Brazil and some Spanish-speaking regions, they are said to have seven lives, while in Arabic traditions, the number of lives is six. An early mention of the myth can be found in John Heywood's The Proverbs of John Heywood (1546)

 

Husband, (quoth she), ye studie, be merrie now,

And even as ye thinke now, so come to yow.

Nay not so, (quoth he), for my thought to tell right,

I thinke how you lay groning, wife, all last night.

Husband, a groning horse and a groning wife

Never faile their master, (quoth she), for my life.

No wife, a woman hath nine lives like a cat.

 

The myth is attributed to the natural suppleness and swiftness cats exhibit to escape life-threatening situations. Also lending credence to this myth is the fact that falling cats often land on their feet, using an instinctive righting reflex to twist their bodies around. Nonetheless, cats can still be injured or killed by a high fall.

I recognised her, but it took me a while to figure out who she was. We first met a little over a year ago and Ellinor looked very different then compared with today. She is a member of The Left Party, but had cast her vote today on the Feminist Initiative party in the upcoming European Parliament election.

the great crested grebes at lymm dam.

The little one is eating a fish that dad got him

I’ve been wanting to take a city break in summer, rather than in the cold months for a while, so rather than heading for the Lake District for a week of toil on the fells when Jayne could get a week off, we took off from Liverpool for Paris. Flight times were nice and sociable but it meant we were on the M62 car park at a busy time in both directions – it’s a shambles! I’ve stopped over in Paris a dozen times – on my way to cycling in the Etape du Tour in the Alps or Pyrenees – and had a few nights out there. Come to think about it and we’ve spent the day on the Champs Elysees watching the final day of the Tour de France with Mark Cavendish winning. We hadn’t been for a holiday there though and it was a bit of a spur of the moment decision. Six nights gave us five and a half days to explore Paris on foot. I had a good selection of (heavy) kit with me, not wanting to make the usual mistake of leaving something behind and regretting it. In the end I carried the kit in my backpack – an ordinary rucksack – to keep the weight down, for 103 miles, all recorded on the cycling Garmin – and took 3500 photos. The little Garmin is light and will do about 15 hours, it expired towards the end of a couple of 16 hour days but I had the info I wanted by then. This also keeps the phone battery free for research and route finding – I managed to flatten that once though.

 

What can I say – Paris was fantastic! The weather varied from OK to fantastic, windy for a few days, the dreaded grey white dullness for a while but I couldn’t complain really. We were out around 8.30 in shorts and tee shirt, which I would swap for a vest when it warmed up, hitting 30 degrees at times, we stayed out until around midnight most nights. It was a pretty full on trip. The security at some destinations could have been a problem as there is a bag size limit to save room in the lifts etc. I found the French to be very pragmatic about it, a bag search was a cursory glance, accepting that I was lugging camera gear, not bombs around, and they weren’t going to stop a paying customer from passing because his bag was a bit over size.

 

We didn’t have a plan, as usual we made it up as we went along, a loose itinerary for the day would always end up changing owing to discoveries along the way. Many times we would visit something a few times, weighing the crowds and light etc. up and deciding to come back later. I waited patiently to go up the Eiffel Tower, we arrived on Tuesday and finally went up on Friday evening. It was a late decision but the weather was good, the light was good and importantly I reckoned that we would get a sunset. Previous evenings the sun had just slid behind distant westerly clouds without any golden glory. It was a good choice. We went up the steps at 7.30 pm, short queue and cheaper – and just to say that we had. The steps are at an easy angle and were nowhere near as bad as expected, even with the heavy pack. We stayed up there, on a mad and busy Friday night, until 11.30, the light changed a lot and once we had stayed a couple of hours we decided to wait for the lights to come on. This was a downside to travelling at this time of year, to do any night photography we had to stay out late as it was light until 10.30. The Eiffel Tower is incredible and very well run, they are quite efficient at moving people around it from level to level. It was still buzzing at midnight with thousands of people around. The sunset on Saturday was probably better but we spent the evening around the base of the Tower, watching the light change, people watching and soaking the party atmosphere up.

 

Some days our first destination was five miles away, this is a lot of road junctions in a city, the roads in Paris are wide so you generally have to wait for the green man to cross. This made progress steady but when you are on holiday it doesn’t matter too much. Needless to say we walked through some dodgy places, with graffiti on anything that stays still long enough. We were ultra-cautious with our belongings having heard the pickpocket horror stories. At every Café/bar stop the bags were clipped to the table leg out of sight and never left alone. I carried the camera in my hand all day and everywhere I went, I only popped it in my bag to eat. I would guess that there were easier people to rob than us, some people were openly careless with phones and wallets.

 

We didn’t enter the big attractions, it was too nice to be in a museum or church and quite a few have a photography ban. These bans make me laugh, they are totally ignored by many ( Japanese particularly) people. Having travelled around the world to see something, no one is going to stop them getting their selfies. Selfies? Everywhere people pointed their cameras at their own face, walking around videoing – their self! I do like to have a few photos of us for posterity but these people are self-obsessed.

 

Paris has obviously got a problem with homeless (mostly) migrants. Walk a distance along the River Seine and you will find tented villages, there is a powerful smell of urine in every corner, with the no alcohol restrictions ignored, empty cans and bottles stacked around the bins as evidence. There are families, woman living on mattresses with as many as four small children, on the main boulevards. They beg by day and at midnight they are all huddled asleep on the pavement. The men in the tents seem to be selling plastic Eiffel Tower models to the tourists or bottled water – even bottles of wine. Love locks and selfy sticks were also top sellers. There must be millions of locks fastened to railings around the city, mostly brass, so removing them will be self-funding as brass is £2.20 a kilo.

 

As for the sights we saw, well if it was on the map we tried to walk to it. We crossed the Periphique ring road to get to the outer reaches of Paris. La Defense – the financial area with dozens of modern office blocks – was impressive, and still expanding. The Bois de Boulogne park, with the horse racing track and the Louis Vuitton Centre was part of a 20 mile loop that day. Another day saw us in the north east. We had the dome of the Sacre Couer to ourselves, with thousands of tourists wandering below us oblivious of the entrance and ticket office under the church. Again the light was fantastic for us. We read that Pere Lachaise Cemetery or Cimitiere du Pere Lachaise was one of the most visited destinations, a five mile walk but we went. It is massive, you need a map, but for me one massive tomb is much the same as another, it does have highlights but we didn’t stay long. Fortunately we were now closer to the Canal St Martin which would lead us to Parc de la Villette. This was a Sunday and everywhere was both buzzing and chilled at the same time. Where ever we went people were sat watching the world go by, socializing and picnicking, soaking the sun up. As ever I wanted to go up on the roof of anything I could as I love taking cityscapes. Most of these were expensive compared with many places we’ve been to before but up we went. The Tour Montparnasse, a single tower block with 59 floors, 690 foot high and extremely fast lifts has incredible views although it was a touch hazy on our ascent. The Arc de Triomphe was just up the road from our hotel, we went up it within hours of arriving, well worth the visit.

 

At the time of writing I have no idea how many images will make the cut but it will be a lot. If I have ten subtly different shots of something, I find it hard to consign nine to the dark depths of my hard drive never to be seen again – and I’m not very good at ruthless selection – so if the photo is OK it will get uploaded. My view is that it’s my photostream, I like to be able to browse my own work at my leisure at a later date, it’s more or less free and stats tell me these images will get looked at. I’m not aiming for single stunning shots, more of a comprehensive overview of an interesting place, presented to the best of my current capabilities. I am my own biggest critic, another reason for looking at my older stuff is to critique it and look to improve on previous mistakes. I do get regular requests from both individuals and organisations to use images and I’m obliging unless someone is taking the piss. I’m not bothered about work being published (with my permission) but it is reassuringly nice to be asked. The manipulation of Flickr favourites and views through adding thousands of contacts doesn’t interest me and I do sometimes question the whole point of the Flickr exercise. I do like having access to my own back catalogue though and it gives family and friends the chance to read about the trip and view the photos at their leisure so for the time being I’m sticking with it. I do have over 15 million views at the moment which is a far cry from showing a few people an album, let’s face it, there’s an oversupply of images, many of them superb but all being devalued by the sheer quantity available.

 

Don’t think that it was all walking and photography, we had a great break and spent plenty of time in pavement bistros having a glass of wine and people watching. I can certainly understand why Paris is top of the travellers list of destinations

Yumcha was ok, but nothing to write home about.

 

小点 Small AUD4.50

中点 Medium AUD5.50

大点 Large AUD6.50

特点 Extra Large AUD7.50

顶点 Special AUD9.50

茶 Chinese Tea AUD2

 

Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant 上海王朝

(03) 9663 7770

206 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

 

Links:

- Espresso - by Larissa Dubecki, The Age, October 6, 2009

Birth of a dynasty

 

THE $110 million redevelopment of the former Village City Centre complex into an Asian dining hub has signed Shanghai's Dynasty for a 600-seat restaurant.

 

The press release touts the signing of Dynasty, a Cantonese and dim sum specialist based at Shanghai's Renaissance Yangtze Hotel, as a coup for the LAS Group's commercial redevelopment of the Bourke Street site, which backs on to Chinatown.

 

Dynasty joins the 120-seat Bund, which will also boast two five-tonne shark tanks, and the expansion of former lord mayor John So's Dragon Boat, which is taking over two floors and will have a large open-air balcony. All going to plan, most of the complex will open by mid-month and Dynasty just before Christmas.

- Dynasty (Man Fu Lou), Renaissance Yangtze Shanghai Hotel - Frommer's Long regarded as one of Shanghai's top Cantonese restaurants, Dynasty boasts the same chefs (many from Hong Kong) who routinely cater dinners for visiting heads of state at special banquets and luncheons.

- The Dynasty, Renaissance Yangtze - Fodor's

- Dynasty (Renaissance Yangtze Shanghai Hotel) 满福楼, 扬子江万丽大酒店 - by Wyatt Bixby, Best Food In China, Thu, 05/28/2009 - 06:46 Executive Chef Wong Chueng Kan has come from Hong Kong to share his 41 years of culinary experience with Shanghai.

occibike 's photos on Flickriver

Last year I saw a large quantity of American Goldfinch around the various birding sites I visited. Even this winter I still see or hear them but their colors are much more muted now.

A young raccoon spies me as I make my way through one of Will County's Forest Preserves.

Lego's Magnaguard starfighter was pretty good, but not perfect. It wasn't completely accurate, and it was quite big. I've completely remade it, although it still looks pretty similar to the official version. I think mine looks a bit better overall, and I also made mine smaller. I generally prefer Lego models to be fairly small, since I don't have all that much space. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep the opening cockpit, but I added some retractable landing gear.

But there are still a few days left in the week that need to be tackled.

But without the leather jackets!! The movie Grease....LOL Happy Thursday, everyone!!

 

461 7/3/08

 

All rights reserved

Yes please.

 

Got my selfie done early today. Had to take advantage of the baby's nap as I'm on Nanny Patrol from 8 this morning until 5 this evening!

Bütün Müslüman Aleminin Kurban Bayramını Tebrik Eder,

Paylaşarak Artan Hayırlara Vesile Olmasını Dilerim...

~~~

Esma

 

These may seem a little odd, but yesterday morning turned out to be very, very interesting for me.

 

I was just working on my comic at my computer, hearing the local bus (#80) that runs past the front door of my house coming up the hill, when all of a sudden there was the most outrageous bang followed by the bus stuttering for power, it then limped to a halt outside my front drive in a fog of acrid black smoke, whereupon the driver immediately opened the engine bay door and started dousing the street with sand from what had apparently been a fuel leak.

 

Passengers were unloaded, and Country Bus sent up another two buses to cover. Eventually their engineers arrived in their company coloured LDV Convoy, as did a local hero of the roads, the Count of Heathfield, a gigantic tow truck used to rescue HGV's and Coaches.

 

The bus is a 2004 Dennis Dart SLF with SC Coachbuilders body, and is a regular on this route. I overhead one of the engineers mentioning something to do with the 'Big End', which is part of the Connecting Rod, and connects to the bearing journal on the crank throw.

I found this gal about mid-day, so her web wasn't exactly photo-ready anymore, but she was stunning, so we made do!

 

(She looks really stunning when she's decluttered, too!)

 

Seen in 111 pictures in 2011 as my selection for "web".

  

1. buttons

2. romantic

3. dessert (as in food)

4. icicle/cold

5. spicy

6. boat

7. memories

8. web

9. puddles

10. favourite season

11. old building

12. sad

13. handmade

14. blurr

15. Holiday/vacation

16. damaged

17. new

18. street

19. high viewpoint

20. low viewpoint

21. light and shadow

22. black and white

23. Two/twins

24. the written word

25. bridge

26. happiness is :

27. fruit

28. vegetable

29. leaf

30. up

31. down

32. steps/stairs

33. fence

34. sky

35. bokeh

36. water

37. small

38. big

39. earth

40. wind

41. fire

42. glass

43. numbers

44. sand

45. hand(s)

46. useless

47. humor

48. spooky

49. lock/key(s)

50. rustic

51. candle

52. sugar & spice

53. white on white

54. view from the window

55. minimal

56. distance

57. wood

58. metal

59. texture

60. relaxation

61. body

62. books

63. game

64. vintage

65. flowers

66. hobby

67. still life

68. motion

69. night shot

70. blue

71. red

72. orange

73. green

74. black

75. jewelry

76. clothing

77. childrens toy

78. vehicle

79. bicycle

80. machinery

81. household appliance

82. sunset/sunrise

83. self

84. straight line

85. curved line

86. converging lines

87. square

88. round

89. food

90. drink

91. portrait

92. celebration

93. flag

94. seat/bench

95. drip/drop/splash

96. pattern

97. tree

98. stranger

99. family

100. friend

101. bird

102. pet

103. in the workplace

104. household task

105. hot

106. favourite photographic topic/style

107. in the water

108. reminder of old times

109. unusual angle

110. on the road

111. the end

I will await the astronomy solver to pin down the surrounding stars but I think it's the one I put a box around, bottom left (AAARGH, Flickr removed this facility so you cannot see anything!!!!). OK, so it's about 1/6th up from the bottom margin on the left and about 1/9th right of the left margin. It's distinctly bluish and now outshining some of the nearest stars so it's around mag 5 I think (up from 6 yesterday as reported). The next image is a tight crop of the bottom left so you can see the Nova more clearly.

 

Taken with a D7000 and a 180mm F2.8 Nikon lens, ISO 2000 at f2.8 for 30s. Why is the nova bottom left? I had to locate it by putting part of Sagitta in the frame (top right) because only the brighter stars show in the camera viewfinder or live-view. The next shot should have been centred on the Nova but the cloud rolled in....typical. BTW, I now realise that the star I could see in the left of the viewfinder was the nova itself so it may be even brighter than I thought.

 

Sometimes "Look but do not touch" is more than just a catchphrase.

 

Taken at the California Academy of Science.

But it is for a good cause!

 

The auction item was a piece of the duct tape bridge built in the most recent season of Mythbusters. It sold for over $700.

but with a i-pod :-)

But... you're TINY KYLE.

But nobody's choosing to follow

So you choke back the tears and you swallow

Men who have ruined your life

You consume them with minimum strife

But now you have got indigestion

The antacid calms is a question

 

I actually had fun today. Hung out all day with people I used to, two years ago, before I got way tangled up in too many messes.

 

Ones in comments are really similar.

 

P.S. I think it's really rude of people to view and not comment. Unless I really really dislike that photo, I always try to say something nice.

Puerto Rico

 

San Juan's picturesque cobblestone streets, plazas and chapels reflect its Spanish heritage. But the second oldest city in the Americas also boasts fine beaches, lush rainforests, verdant mountainsides, imposing forts and an tropical climate.

 

Puerto Rico officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico / Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean.

 

San Juan, Puerto Rico was founded in 1521.

 

In 1917, the U.S. granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans. In 1948, Puerto Ricans were given the right to elect their own governor.

 

A referendum on the political status of Puerto Rico was held in Puerto Rico on November 6, 2012. It was the fourth referendum on status to be held in Puerto Rico and the first in which a majority voted for statehood.

 

Puerto Rico has been an unincorporated territory of the United States since the Spanish–American War in 1898.

 

*************

 

Symbols of Puerto Rico

 

Animal: Coqui frog

 

Bird: Puerto Rican Woodpecker

 

Flower: Puerto Rican Hibiscus (Maga)

 

Motto: "Joannes Est Nomen Eius" "John is his name"

 

Tree: Kapok tree

 

San Juan - Capital city

 

San Juan postal zip code 00901

 

El Capitolio de Puerto Rico is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places

 

El Yunque National Forest - is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System

 

Medalla Light beer is made in Puerto Rico

 

Don Q - Puerto Rico's top-selling rum is produced in Ponce

 

Boricua - Common way to refer to someone born in Puerto Rico

 

Cession from SpainDecember 10, 1898

 

Official languages

Spanish (first official language) English (second official language)

  

Famous Puerto Rican singers include:

Carlos Ponce - Santurce

Chayanne Figueroa - Río Piedras

Don Omar - Carolina

Ivy Queen - Añasco

José Feliciano "Feliz Navidad" - Lares

Kany García - Toa Baja

La India - Río Piedras

Luis Fonsi - San Juan

Nina Flowers - Bayamón

Noelia Monge - San Juan

Olga Tañón - Santurce, San Juan

Ricky Martin ( Menudo ) - San Juan

Shalim Ortiz - San Juan

Wisin Morera - Cayey

Yandel Veguilla - Cayey

  

**************

 

Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas Cruise Ship

 

9 Night Bermuda And Caribbean Cruise

 

June 4th thru June 12th 2015

 

Destinations:

USA (New Jersey)

Bermuda - Royal Naval Dockyard

Netherlands (St. Maarten)

France (Saint Martin)

San Juan Puerto Rico

Haiti

 

- Fifth visit to Puerto Rico -

 

Hashtag metadata tag

#PR #Puerto #Rico #Ricans #PuertoRico #PuertoRicans #Old #San #Juan #OldSanJuan #SanJuan #NewSanJuan #SanJuanBautista #Latin #Latino #Latinos #Boricua #Boricuas #Borinquen #Spanish #Espanol #Commonwealth #CommonwealthofPuertoRico #UnincorporatedTerritory #Unincorporatedterritories #GreaterAntilles #Antilles #Island #Islands #Caribbean #CaribbeanIsland #CaribbeanIsland #CaribbeanIslands #NorthAmerica

  

Photo

San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA Unincorporated Territory, Greater Antilles Islands, North America continent

June 9th 2015

1. fool in the rain, 2. Country, 3. Soul2Soul_3JUN06 175, 4. Encore!, 5. "Perfecto" Man was part of the Deal, 6. Lady sings the blues., 7. brian's not so old piano, 8. Listen… Can You Feel Music?, 9. FlipFlop Summer Tour 2007, 10. Dean Martin, 11. Sublime Point HDR 4, 12. Vanity Fair 2

 

1. What's your favorite song?

2. Favorite genre of music? (Classical, Jazz, Country, Pop...)

3. Favorite musician (add singer/band to end if necessary)?

4. What was the last song you listened to/are currently listening to?

5. What type of music do you dislike?

6. What instrument do you like to listen to the most?

7. What instrument do you most like to play (or would like to learn)?

8. Where do you go or what do you listen to when you're sad?

9. What was the last concert or musical event you attended (add singer/band to end if necessary)?

10. What concert or musical event do you wish you could have attended? Or a performer you would have loved to have seen live?

11. You and your sweetie, what's your 'song'? If you aren't paired off, what song do you think it might be?

12. What song gets stuck in your head the most? (For good or for bad...)

 

************************************************

1. Fool In the Rain. I can't even fathom how many times I've listened to this song since I first heard it when I was 15.

2. Country, baby. I go through phases with all other genres, but this one has stuck. To paraphrase John Denver, Thank God I'm a country girl.

3. Oh lord. LOVE Tim McGraw. Which most of you already know. My first Tim song, this started it all. Man is HOT.

4. My answer for this is proof of my randomness. The last song I heard, which I listened to on my train ride home tonight, is Encore, by Eminem/50 Cent/ Dr. Dre.

5. Most techno. The pic for this is ironic, b/c I do actually like Paul Oakenfold. And I def had a techno phase in college, but I just can't listen to it anymore. Some of you may get this, lol.

6. A powerful voice. Best instrument there is.

7. Piano. Not sure why, I think just b/c I had to pick one.

8. Nostalgic music. I love grabbing my computer or ipod when I'm in a mood, and listening to old songs that remind me of other parts of my life. Usually an instant mood enhancer.

9. Kenny Chesney's Flip Flop Summer Tour, 2007. That was quite the interesting experience...let's just say that I may be officially too old for day-long tailgating in dirt parking lots in 100 degree heat with no shade.

10. I wish I could have seen Dean Martin perform.

11. Sublime's Marley Medley. It was the first song hubs ever sang to me. (Although we danced to this as our first dance song at our wedding. The Sublime song is more meaningful.)

12. Not sure anyone will know this song...but it's one of my faves: Vanity Fair by Mr. Bungle. The song content is VERY...um...interesting. Something about the melody & his voice just rock. I couldn't find a decent version of this anywhere, so this will have to do.

 

Le score de 0 à 4 est conforme à la valeur des équipes, même si l'US Saint-Malo n'a pas à rougir de son match de 16e de coupe de France contre une solide équipe de D1.

Avec trois buts inscrits dans la première mi-temps, les filles d'En Avant Guingamp s'imposaient logiquement devant une équipe malouine courageuse, mais moins efficace dans la récupération des ballons au milieu de terrain, face à des visiteuses plus percutantes en attaque.

Dans la seconde mi-temps, le quatrième but marqué par les Guingampaises ne changeait rien à la détermination de l'USSM, qui malgré un rythme supérieur et quelques occasions, ne parvenait pas décrocher le moindre but de consolation.

Le public a salué la qualité du match joué par les deux équipes.

 

L'incertitude du terrain synthétique enneigé a plané jusqu'au jour du match mais les 22 actrices ont bien débuté la rencontre entre l'ETG-Ambilly et Nancy. Une rencontre qui a abouti au seul exploit du week-end avec la qualification des Savoyardes 1-0 grâce à une réalisation de Colleen Dinn en fin de rencontre (81e). Pour le reste, les formations de DH se sont bien comportées comme ESAP Metz et l'AG Caen défaits 2 à 3 par Templemars et Orvault même si ces deux premières équipes avaient la différence à la pause (0-2). Lorient n'a pas eu le temps d'exister car Blanquefort a infligé un 3-0 dans le premier quart d'heure. Montauban y a par contre cru face à La Véore Montoison jusqu'à l'ouverture du score d'Estelle Lagier. Gonfreville a pour sa part perdu le derby face à Rouen (0-4).

Pour les formations de D1, pas de mauvaise surprise. Saint-Etienne s'est imposé aussi 4-0 sur le terrain de Clermont Foot (4-0). Un score que l'on retrouve aussi lors de Saint-Malo - Guingamp, Le Mans - Metz avant l'avantage aux pensionnaires de D1. Des formations de l'élite qui seront à minima sept en huitième de finale avec les qualifications de Rodez, PSG, Lyon, Montpellier en sus. Le dernier qualifié sera connu mercredi après le match en retard Hénin-Beaumont - Juvisy. La D2 aura aussi sept représentants au minimum outre ceux cités précédemment Vendenheim et l'OM ont disposé de Bischheim (3-1) et Nivolas-Vermelle (2-1).

Tirage au sort demain, lundi soir en direct dans l'émission Femmes 2 Foot. Un tirage qui sera effectué par Corinne Diacre.

 

L'Union sportive de Saint-Malo est un club de football français basé à Saint-Malo, créé en 1902. L'équipe première, entraînée par Pierre-Yves David depuis 2011, évolue en CFA.

Une section féminine de l'US Saint-Malo est entraînée par Fabrice Garin. Composée de trois formations, la première équipe évolue en Division 2 depuis sa promotion au printemps 2014.

 

L'En Avant de Guingamp (ou simplement EA Guingamp) est un club de football français qui évolue en Ligue 1 pour la saison 2014-2015, fondé en 1912 par Pierre Deschamps à Guingamp, en Bretagne.

Resté longtemps un club amateur à portée régionale, le club grimpe la hiérarchie du football français sous la présidence de Noël Le Graët, arrivé aux commandes en 1972. En 1976, Guingamp découvre la troisième division du championnat de France, puis la D2 dès la saison suivante et s'y maintient sans discontinuer jusqu'en 1993. En 1984, le club adopte le statut professionnel et en 1990, inaugure le stade de Roudourou, qui peut accueillir aujourd'hui 18 256 spectateurs alors que la commune ne compte que 7 300 habitants.

En 1994 et 1995, l'EAG réussit l'exploit d'obtenir deux promotions d'affilée, s'ouvrant ainsi les portes de l'élite. Vainqueurs de la Coupe Intertoto l'été suivant, les Bretons participent pour la première fois à une Coupe d'Europe, la Coupe UEFA 1996-1997, dont ils sont éliminés par l'Inter Milan. Relégués en 1998, ils retrouvent la première division en 2000, dont ils terminent au 7e rang en 2003, grâce à l'explosion au plus haut niveau de Didier Drogba et Florent Malouda. Finaliste malheureux de la Coupe de France en 1997, l'En Avant de Guingamp remporte la compétition, son premier trophée national, en 2009, alors qu'il évolue en Ligue 2, et s'offre ainsi une deuxième participation à une Coupe d'Europe.

Le club est présidé depuis 2011 par Bertrand Desplat et entraîné depuis 2010 par Jocelyn Gourvennec qui est sous contrat avec le club costarmoricain jusqu'en 2017.

Le 17 mai 2013, grâce à sa victoire, à Gueugnon, sur le Gazélec Ajaccio, le club remonte en Ligue 1, neuf ans après l'avoir quittée.

Un an plus tard, le 3 mai 2014, Guingamp remporte la finale de la Coupe de France 2014, de nouveau face au Stade rennais FC.

Le 11 décembre 2014 Guingamp se qualifie pour la première fois de son histoire en 16e de finale de la Ligue Europa.

La section féminine de l'En Avant de Guingamp est un club de football féminin français basé à Guingamp et Saint-Brieuc. L'intitulé complet est : EA Guingamp Ville de Saint-Brieuc Côtes-d'Armor. Le club fut créé en 1973 sous le nom de Saint-Brieuc Sports Chaffoteaux, en tant qu'association sportive au sein de l'entreprise Chaffoteaux et Maury à Ploufragan.

L'équipe évolue dans le Championnat français de 1re Division depuis la fin des années 80, quasiment sans discontinuité, ne visitant la division inférieure que lors de la saison 2005-2006 ; le club a connu une période faste à la fin des années 80, empochant à son apogée en 1989 le titre de Champion de France. Il a subi depuis sa création de nombreux bouleversements institutionnels : il prit le nom Saint-Brieuc FF en quittant l'entreprise Chaffoteaux (1999-2003), puis Stade briochin lors de l'absorption de la section par le club de Saint-Brieuc (2003-2011), et enfin En Avant de Guingamp - section féminine en intégrant le club professionnel guingampais.

L'équipe fanion du club, entraînée par Sarah M'Barek, participe au championnat de première division pour la 9e saison consécutive et évolue la plupart du temps au stade Fred-Aubert à Saint-Brieuc, mais se déplace au Stade de Roudourou à Guingamp pour les matchs importants.

Le club s'installe pour les 3 saisons suivantes dans le ventre mou du Championnat, changeant deux fois d'entraîneur (Adolphe Ogouyon8, puis Olivier Moullac9), et ne connait guère de succès sportif durant cette période hormis un quart de finale de Coupe de France perdu à domicile, 3 buts à 1, face au Montpellier HSC. Le point d'orgue de cette période sera extra-sportif : la section féminine du stade briochin est incorporée au club professionnel voisin d'En Avant de Guingamp qui souhaite se doter d'une section féminine et bénéficie de moyens intéressants10. Le club continuera de disputer la plupart de ses matchs au Stade Fred-Aubert à Saint-Brieuc, mais se rendra à Guingamp pour les matchs importants. Cela se traduira par une augmentation notable du nombre de spectateurs, et notamment une affluence record en 2011 pour un match de Championnat : le stade de Roudourou accueillant pour la rencontre face à l'Olympique Lyonnais plus de 12000 personnes.

En 2013, Sarah M'Barek, en provenance du Montpellier HSC, rejoint le club comme entraîneur, et Gilbert Castel obtient la présidence du pôle féminin de l'En Avant de Guingamp afin d'en développer la section féminine11. Malgré une décevante élimination en Coupe de France face à l'équipe du Mans FC aux tirs-au-but, la première saison du duo est encourageante avec le gain d'une 5e place en Championnat, derrière les 4 immuables premiers : l'Olympique lyonnais, dont c'est le 8e titre d'affilée, l'ambitieux Paris Saint-Germain, et les toujours redoutables FCF Juvisy et Montpellier HSC.

Le club continue d'être réputé pour sa formation (Camille Abily, Eugénie Le Sommer...), dont l'un des symboles les plus récents est la jeune Brestoise Griedge Mbock Bathy Nka, au club depuis 5 ans12, défenseure en Équipe de France, ballon d'or de la Coupe du Monde U17 remportée par la France en 201213 et ballon d'argent de la Coupe du Monde U20 en 201414.

Plusieurs des jeunes joueuses de l'Équipe de France des moins de 20 ans ayant terminé sur la 3e marche de la Coupe du Monde U20 au Canada font d'ailleurs partie de l'effectif guingampais pour la saison 2014-2015 : Griedge Mbock Bathy Nka, Clarisse Le Bihan, Faustine Robert, Margaux Bueno, Marine Dafeur et Aminata Diallo.

But not before a paddle board day out.