Day 2 of Mini Festival at Brands Hatch and after a Superb Day of Both Racing and High Speed Action on the Saturday Sunday Was Promising to be a lot of the Same but with even more Racing to Look forward too.

 

With 2 Races for both Miglia class and Dunlop Mini Sevens as well as Formula 3 The Days events were already shaping up to be One for The History Books with Multiple Fierce and Competitive Drivers from Saturday Looking to Improve and Win their Respective Classes.

 

Lets take a Look at what Will be Racing Today and see which of the Drivers can Push Hard and Aim for a Win in their Respective Class.

 

Dunlop Mini Challenges Supported by Mini Spares - Miglia (Race 9 Results)

 

First up onto the Track was The Dunlop Mini Miglia Challenge and after a Very Intense Qualifying Battle Yesterday (Aron Smith) Took the Pole with (Andrew Jordan) Second and (James Cuthbertson) in Third Place. Will all Three Men be able to Keep their Positions come the Race or will they start to fall down the order once Racing Gets Underway. Lets find out.

 

In First Place was (Endaf Owens) in his Miglia with a Best Lap Time of 54.221 and a Top Speed of 78.76mph. Fantastic Drive there Endaf who was Definitely not Afraid to get that Miglia Sideways as he Raced his Way through the Field to take a Dominant Victory.

 

In Second Place was (Andrew Jordan) In His Miglia with a Best Lap Time of 54.498 and a Top Speed of 78.64mph. Amazing Driving from Andrew Showing what a Fantastic Mini Racer he is as well as a Superb BTCC Driver as well using his Skills Learned from his BTCC Racing to Hold on for Second Place.

 

In Third Place was (Aaron Smith) in His Miglia with a Best Lap Time of 54.449 and a Top Speed Of 78.63mph. Awesome Work there Aaron Putting on an Incredible Display Of Driving Commitment and Skill to Keep 3rd Place and Take the Final Podium Spot.

 

What a Start to the Days Racing with Three Top Drivers Battling out for a Victory and Showing what they can do when it comes to Competitive Miglia Racing. What New Challenges will be Seen in Race 2 as each Drivers Gets Ready to do Battle once again and this Time who will be the one to Claim that All Important Victory.

 

Lets Find out

 

Dunlop Mini Challenges Supported by Mini Spares - Miglia (Race 17 Results)

 

In First Place was (Endaf Owens) In His Miglia with a Best Lap Time of 54.862 and A Top Speed of 54.862mph. Very Fast and Quick Racing from Endaf who was Pushing as Hard as he Could to keep the Gap wide Open and ensure a Victory. Amazing Driving

 

In Second Place was (Aaron Smith) in His Miglia with a Best Lap Time of 54.773 and a Top Speed of 75.23mph. Fantastic Drive there Aron Really Great Work and taking Second Place away from the Previous Second Place Winner (Andrew Jordan)

 

In Third Place was (Andrew Jordan) in His Miglia with a Best Lap Time of 54.913 and a Top Speed of 75.21mph. Another Storming Drive from Andrew to take Third Place this Time Well Done.

 

What Another Amazing Race will all three Top Drivers Pushing their Miglia's Hard and all wanting to achieve that 1st Place Finish. To all other Drivers out there Good Luck and Keep Pushing Yourselves to Work Harder and you will Achieve what it is that you so Desire.

 

Dunlop Mini Challenges Supported by Mini Spares - Se7en (Race 13 Results)

 

Dunlop Mini Sevens were next up onto the Circuit and with Cars that all Have a Very Colourful set of Liveries and Drivers Ready to go this Next Race was going to be One that would be a Fantastic Watch from either Paddock Hill or The Main Straight as the Minis would be Blasting Past at Nearly 75mph.

 

Previously Yesterday During Qualifying it was (Jeff Smith) who took the Pole with (Nick Fowler) in Second Place and (Spencer Wanstall) in Third Place with all Three Drivers being Separated by Less than Half a Second as they Crossed the Line to Finish Qualifying.

 

With Three Very Experienced Drivers at the Front and a Whole Grid of other Great Drivers Ready Lets see what Results this Race will bring.

 

In First Place was (Jeff Smith) in his Mini Seven with a Best Lap Time of 59.566 and a Top Speed of 72.29mph. Amazing work Jeff Pushing that Little Mini Seven to its Limits and taking First Place.

 

In Second Place was (Jonathan Lewis) in his Mini Seven with a Best Lap Time of 59.197 and a Top Speed of 71.91mph. Another Incredible Drive from Jonathan Keeping Hold of Second Place and taking Home the Spoils from the First Race.

 

In Third Place was (Nick Fowler) in his Mini Seven with a Best Lap Time of 59.688 and a Top Speed of 71.83mph. Fantastic Drive there Nick Racing Hard and Managing to Hold onto Third Place on the Podium Well Done.

 

Mini Racing is Really Turning out to be Very Exciting and Fantastic This Year with so Many Different Winners and Other Drivers working Hard to Keep their Cars is Running and Race Ready condition. A Big Congratulations to Jeff Jonathan and Nick for showing some Seriously Impressive Racing and to all other Drivers Taking Part and enjoying what They Love.

 

Lets Dive into Race 2 and See who Might make a Leap to 1st Second or Third and who will be able to challenge the Top Three Drivers.

 

Dunlop Mini Challenges Supported by Mini Spares - Se7en (Race 19 Results)

 

Race 2 Up Next and things were not going as Smoothly as Most Drivers would Have Wanted as they all Gripped their Steering wheels and Prepared for Battle The Heavens Opened and a Large Rain Shower Engulfed the Track and with already Dark Conditions now getting even Darker it was only a matter of Time before Visibility would be Very Difficult.

 

Who has the Nerve to Push Hard and Take The Victory and who will be Brave Enough to take Second and Third Place? Lets Find out

 

In First Place was (Joe Thompson) in His Mini Seven with a Best Lap Time of 1:06.615 and a Top Speed of 60.38mph. Extremely Well Driven there Joe Pushing Hard but keeping the Mini Under Control in Very Damp and Dark Conditions to take a Superb Victory.

 

In Second Place was (Mike Jordan) in His Mini Seven with a Best Lap Time of 1:06.801 and a Top Speed of 60.33mph. Amazing Drive there Mike Well Deserved and Driven too.

 

In Third Place was (Spencer Wanstall) in His Mini Seven with a Best Lap Time of 1:05.178 and a Top Speed of 60.32mph. Incredible Bravery from Spencer and to Keep that Car on the Track Must Have Taken some Incredible Skill thought the Entire Race.

 

What a Fantastic Finish to the Mini Sevens Racing Today at Brands Hatch with Multiple Different Winners on the Podium and Some Very Changeable Conditions it made for some Remarkable Racing and Brilliant Overtakes thought.

 

Congratulations to Joe Mike and Spencer on their Podium Places and Well Done to all Other Mini Seven Drivers for Braving the Conditions to put on a Race that Shows What the British Spirit of Racing is all About. Alex Issigonis would be Proud.

 

Formula 3 Cup (Race 12 Results)

 

Formula 3 up Next and with the Track being Mostly Dry before the Start of This Race Each Drivers was Ready to Push Hard and try to take the Victory from the other. Qualifying Yesterday Proved that even a Smaller Grid can still Make for some Intense Racing with Drivers such as (George Line) (Robbie Watts) and (Shane Kelly) showing some Incredible Speed and Capable Car Control thought the Entire Qualifying Session.

 

With Lots of Aero and a Very Fast set of Dallara F308 Engines Powering them Lets See what the Formula 3's Get up to.

 

In First Place was (George Line) in his F3 Dallara F308 with a Lap Time of 43.825 and a Top Speed of 96.55mph. Incredible Speed and Confidence shown from George behind the wheel of that Formula 3 showing that he was Almost Fearless and in a League of his own. Incredible Driving.

 

In Second Place was (Robbie Watts) in his F3 Dallara F308 with a Lap Time of 43.926 and a Top Speed of 96.39mph. Another Super Driver in Robbie Pushing Hard and Defending Second Place thought the Entire Race and Keeping George Busy on his Toes Most of the Time.

 

In Third Place was (Shane Kelly) in his F3 Dallara F308 with a Lap Time of 44.071 and a Top Speed of 95.88mph. Very Well Done there Shane Racing Hard and Keeping up the Pace with Both Robbie and George in Second and First.

 

What an Exciting First Race for the Formula 3 Drivers who are all Showing that they All Have the Nerve and Skill to Race Hard and Push where it matters. Congratulations to Stefano George and Dominic and Good Luck to All other F3 Drivers out there for Race 2 Coming up Next.

 

Formula 3 Cup (Race 21 Results)

 

With Race 2 About to Start all of the Drivers took off for their Formation Lap and Plenty of Water and Spray was seen Shooting up from the Back of Each Car and Having had the First Race take Place in Dry Conditions thease New Track Conditions would be Very Different for Each Driver and Driving Ability is a Must for Survival Out there. With the 5 Red Lights illuminated the Race Began but who would Finish and take Home The Victory. Lets Find Out

 

In First Place was (Stefano Leaney) in his F3 Dallara F317 with a Best Lap Time of 50.532 and a Top Speed of 84.71mph. Stefano is Really Proving to be a worthy Drivers to Drive in Formula 3 as Once Again his Sheeree Bravery and Fearless Nature was on Display once again in Conditions that Most other Divers would have thought Twice about Pushing their Machinery to Hard in. Congratulations Stefano.

 

In Second Place was (George Line) in his F3 Dallara F308 with a Best Lap Time of 52.738 and a Top Speed of 81.07mph. Fantastic Work there George Once Again Demonstraighting how to Race an F3 In Wet Conditions with Beautiful Lines taken thought the Corse of the Race and a Well Deserved Second Place.

 

In Third Place was (Shane Kelly) in his Dallara F308 with a Best Lap Time of 52.771 and a Too Speed of 80.96mph Another Very Brave and Quick Driver in Wet Conditions with Shane Really Defending Hard and Fast in order to Keep hold of that Well Deserved Third Place.

 

What an Astonishing Race with Winners in Stefano George and Shane all taking spots on the Podium and Hopefully One Day Having their Chance in Formula 1. Each Driver put on a Super Display of Driving Skill and Keeping their Cars at High Speed on a Wet Track is no Easy Feat. Well Done to all the Other Formula 3 Drivers too Keep Pushing Hard and Making sure you do Everything you Can To One Day Achieve That Victory.

 

Fastest Mini in the World (Race 11 Results)

 

Fastest Mini In The World was Up Next and this Racing Series Features Many Familiar Looking Minis and yet Each one has a trick up its Sleeve and that is that their Standard 1275gt Engines have all been Replaced with Engines from Cars that have Considerably more Horse Power. The Goal of the Race is to not Just Win but to also Prove to Everyone that You Have The Fastest Mini in the World.

 

With Qualifying Yesterday showing Very Quick Pace from (Bill Richards) in his Maguire Club Estate it was clear to see that The Drivers and their cars were in a completely different League to all other Racing Minis there that Weekend. Lets Find out who came First in the First Race and who took the First Title of Fastest Mini in the World.

 

In First Place was (Harvey Death) in his Austin Mini Cooper S V8 with a Best Lap Time of 51.294 and a Top Speed of 82.01mph. Fantastic Driving from Harvey to Push his V8 Mini to the Limit and take Home First Place and the Top Step on the Podium.

 

In Second Place was (Bill Richards) in his Maguire Clubman Estate with a Best Lap Time of 53.391 and a Top Speed of 80.15mph. Epic Drive there from Bill Pushing Hard and making sure to Keep Harvey Behind Him.

 

In Third Place was (Richard Billingham) in his Austin Mini Clubman with a Best Lap Time of 53.347 and a Top Speed of 79.91mph. Very Well Driven there Richard showing the Insane Horse Power thease Mini's have and how they Accelerate and Decelerate much Faster than a Standard Cooper S or even a Racing Mini Seven.

 

What an Epic Race and Display of Incredible Driving and Battling for the Victory of Fastest Mini in the World. Each Driver Held their Nerve and Push Very Hard Indeed which was Fantastic to see. Congratulations to our Race Winners Harvey Bill and Richard. Lets see what Luck Race 2 Brings.

 

Fastest Mini in the World (Race 16 Results)

 

In First Place was (Harvey Death) in his Austin Mini Cooper S V8 with a Best Lap Time of 52.256 and a Top Speed of 79.02mph. Another Fantastic Victory for Harvey who has proven to Have The Fastest Mini in the World and is Really Capable of Driving it as well. Congratulations

 

In Second Place was (Fabio Luffarelli) in his Mini Classic Saloon with a Best Lap Time of 55.949 and a Top Speed of 76.21mph. Amazing work there Fabio Fantastic to see such an Iconic Mini Out there but with a Twist by putting a Far more Powerful Engine under the hood to Have even more Fun with it. Amazing Build and Super Drive.

 

In Third Place was (Matthew Skidmore) in his Austin Mini with a Best Lap Time of 55.257 and a Top Speed of 75.71mph. Brilliant Drive Matthew Showing the Real Power and Driver Ability of a car Pushing right onto the limits all the Time.

 

What an Incredible Days Racing for the Fastest Mini in the World Showcasing Many Classic Favourites that Everyone Loves but with some surprises under each Bonnet. Congratulations to Harvey Fabio and Matthew for their Incredible Victories and Good Luck to all other Teams in the Series.

 

Mighty Minis & Super Mighty Mini Championship (Race 10 Results)

 

Mighty Mini's and Super Mighty Mini's were up Next and with a Massive Grid of Both Mighty and Super Mighty Mini's on Display This was going to be another Race that would be well worth the Watch.

 

From Qualifying Yesterday (Bobby Thompson) took the Pole setting a Very Fast Time of Just 1:00.205 Round the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit with (Ian Slark) and (Stuart Coombs) following Closely Behind in both Second and Third.

 

With So Many Different Drivers on the Grid and Plenty of Traffic to Navigate Through this First Race was going to be an Epic One to Witness.

 

In First Place was (Bobby Thompson) in his Super Mighty Mini 1293 with a Best Lap Time of 1:00.331 and a Top Speed of 61.14mph. Fantastic Work Bobby Racing at High Speeds and Pushing that Mini around the Circuit in Record Time. Congratulations

 

In Second Place was (Ian Slark) in his Super Mighty Mini 1293 with a Best Lap Time of 1:00.319 and a Top Speed of 61.13mph. Amazing Driving Ian Top Driver and a Fantastic Mini Racer

 

In Third Place was (Neven Kirkpatrick) in his Super Mighty Mini 1293 with a Best Lap Time of 1:00.426 and a Top Speed of 61.07mph. Well Done Neven a Really Well crafted Drive and a truly deserved Third Place.

 

What a Start to an Amazing Race with so many different Mini's taking to the track and Pushing hard keeping the top Three on their Toes the Entire Time due to How evenly matched each Mini is. Congratulations to Bobby Ian and Neven and See You all in the Final Race.

 

Mighty Minis & Super Mighty Mini Championship (Race 18 Results)

 

The Last Race of the Day for the Mighty and Super Mighty Mini's Championship and with a Very Tight Battle at the Top Between Bobby Ian and Neven which one of them will be able to take Home Victory for the Last Time today. Lets Get straight to finding out.

 

In First Place was (Neven Kirkpatrick) in his Super Mighty Mini 1293 with a Best Lap Time of 1:01.029 and a Top Speed of 70.35mph. Phenomenal Drive Neven Fending off Ian in Second Place and Keeping yourself up Front to Win and a Fantastic Way to End the Day with a Victory

 

In Second Place was (Ian Slark) in his Super Mighty Mini 1293 with a Best Lap Time of 1:00.756 and a Top Speed of 70.34mph. Another Brilliant Drive by Regular Ian Slark with Tremendous Car Control and Ability he Really is an Incredible Driver.

 

In Third Place was (David Kirkpatrick) in his Super Mighty Mini 1293 with a Best Lap Time of 1:00.991 and a Top Speed of 70.23mph. Amazing Work David Driving Hard and so Great to see Neven up there In First Place, Always Something to be Proud of.

 

And So that Ends the Days Racing for The Super Mighty Mini's and Mighty Mini's Racing, A Big Congratulations to Neven Ian and David on their Race Wins and also a Huge Well Done to all of the Other Mini Racers out there who Enjoy what they Do and show the World their Dedicated Passion and Commitment to Keeping British Racing Alive and Well.

 

Pre 66 Mini's (Race 15 Results)

 

Pre 66 Mini's were up Next and a whole Host of Classic Minis had taken to the track during their Formation Lap with Mini's from a By Gone Era that Showed Beauty and a Really Fierce Competitive Nature during the Pre 66 Category of Mini Racing.

 

During Qualifying the Previous Day (Ian Curley) Narrowly Beat Endaf Owens to Pole by just 0.254 with a Very Fast and Committed Lap Endaf Had to settle for Second Place while (Phil Brown)would take Third.

 

But today out of all three drivers who would be Brave Enough to challenge Ian and Endaf both Drivers who are very Competitive in their Racing and who both want to Win This One Race.

 

In First Place was (Endaf Owens) in his Mini Cooper S with a Best Lap Time of 58.026 and a Top Speed of 73.85mph. A Very Fast and Fearless Drive from Endaf who looked like he was Really Enjoying throwing that Mini Around in his Very Aggressive Driving Style. Congratulations Endaf

 

In Second Place was (Jeff Smith) in his Mini Cooper S with a Best Lap Time of 57.993 and a Top Speed of 73.84mph. Well Done Jeff an Awesome Drive and Keeping up with Endaf was no Easy Task.

 

In Third Place was (Ian Curley) in his Mini Cooper S with a Best Lap Time of 58.053 and a Top Speed of 73.32mph. Amazing Work Ian A Very Strong Drive for Third Place on the Podium.

 

What an Exciting Race for the Pre 66 Mini's with Both Endaf Owens and Jeff Smith Really Driving Hard and Defending both of their positions thought the Course of the entire Race. Also Well Done to Ian for Another 3rd Place Victory as Well as all other Drivers Racing.

 

Teekay Couplings Production GTI Championship (Race 14 Results)

 

The Teekay Couplings and Production GTI Championship was up next and with a whole Range of VF Golf GTI'S in one Race it was Going to be a Very Quick and Action Packed Race to Watch.

 

During Qualifying (Martyn Walsh) took the Pole with (Adam Hance) and (John Beale) in Second and Third Place Respectively.

 

With So Many Evenly Matched Cars Taking Part in the Race This was Really going to be About Driver Ability and Car Control to see who could extract that little bit more performance out of their Machine for a Victory.

 

In First Place was (Simon Hill) in his VW Golf GTI with a Best Lap Time of 56.824 and a Top Speed of 71.05mph. Amazing Driving Simon Pushing that VW to its Limits and Really showing off the Complete Understanding of Driver and their Car around the Race Track.

 

In Second Place was (Adam Hanke) in his VW Golf GTI MK5 with a Best Lap Time of 56.682 and a Top Speed of 71.02mph. Very Well Done Adam and a Really Spirited Drive from a Fantastic Driver to gain Second Place.

 

In Third Place was (Hendry Riley) in his VW Golf GTI With a Best Lap Time of 57.212 and a Top Speed of 71.01mph. Fantastic Work Hendry Driving the Wheels off that Thing and Taking Home Third Place.

 

What a Fantastic Starting Race with Plenty of Action and Drivers Working Hard at the Wheel and Thought the entire Race to try and Gain a Spot on the Podium.

 

Lets see what Race 2 Brings and Who May be able to Mount a challenge to the Top Three Drivers.

 

Teekay Couplings Production GTI Championship (Race 20 Results)

 

In First Place was (Simon Vercoe) in his VW Golf GTI with a Best Lap Time of 1:08.465 and a Top Speed of 62.13mph. What A Drive from Simon Vercoe Pushing that Golf to the Edge of the Track through Paddock Hill Bend and Making sure to Keep the Power on High thought the Entire Race for a Successful 1st Place Victory

 

In Second Place was (Hendry Riley) in his VW Golf GTI with a Best Lap Time of 1:08.886 and a Top Speed of 61.88mph. Amazing Driving there Once again Hendry for Second Place

 

In Third Place was (Simon Hill) in his VW Golf GTI with a Best Lap Time of 1:08.853 and a Top Speed of 61.81mph. Well Done Simon Pushing Hard and Making sure to Stay on the Podium Position for Third Place

 

What a Fantastic Set of Drivers and Race Cars all showing Different Racing styles and Lines but with Equally Matched Machinery. a Big Congratulations to Simon Vercoe Hendry and Simon for their Incredible Victories and Race Craft when out on the Track and Good Luck To Everyone Else.

 

Z Cars Racing & New Generation Production BMW Championship (Race 8 Results)

 

The Last Race of The Day and its the BMW New Generation and Z Cars Championship. With Many Different BMW'S Taking Part in this Race Speed Skill and Concentration will all be key Factors in Getting either a Win or a Podium Position.

 

During Qualifying on Saturday Chris Murphy took the Pole with Jack Wood Second and Edd Giddings Third. Three Drivers all with Many Hours of Racing Experience under their belt.

 

With The Race About to Start Lets Find out Who Will be The Last Ones to take First Second and Third Place on the Podium in Todays Racing.

 

In First Place was (Chris Murphy) in his BMW Z4 with a Best Lap time of 55.880 and a Top Speed of 75.95mph. Incredible Drive there Chris Taking the Win and Showing just how to Drive a Z4 BMW around the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit. Congratulations.

 

In Second Place was (Edd Giddings) in his BMW Z4 with a Best Lap Time of 56.481 and a Top Speed of 75.90mph. Amazing work there Edd with Some Incredible Driving and Keeping Pace with Chris Made for a Really Entertaining Battle.

 

In Third Place was (Matthew Dance) in his BMW Z4 With a Best Lap Time of 56.526 and a Top Speed of 75.16mph. Well Done Matthew Finishing in Third Place and Taking Home a Wonderful Victory.

 

And With that The End of Another Perfect and Incredible Days Racing comes to an End at Brands Hatch. The Mini Festival always knows How to Bring out the Best in both Drivers and Cars and Has a Real Atmosphere about the Love for the Little British Icon. The Spectators and The Raving Drivers a Like Really Cherish this Event and I Hope to see it and Document it Many More Times.

 

A Final Congratulations to Chris Edd and Matthew for their Superb Drives and to all Other Competitors Across the Entire Weekend for sharing their Love and Passion for Motorsport Helping to inspire the Many Different Young Talent's to One Day Achieve their own Racing Dreams.

 

See You All Again Next Year!

    

Harpo42 asked me if I knew anything about the Gimbels in Elf. It's obviously not the real (closed) Gimbels at Herald Square, but I was intrigued and did some research online.

 

It's a completely CGI generated department store. The first two floors are from a building located at 295 Fifth Avenue in New York City. The rest of it must be some compilation of other buildings (although the portion to the left with the columns looks awfully familiar).

 

You can see the actual building here in Google's street view:

maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=295...

But the Pentagon and the Potala weren't built with a ridiculous amount of marble. This bldg. also contains one of the world's largest chandeliers, large enough to contain a platform for maintenance workers to walk around on inside it.

 

- I arrived here in Bucharest late the night before my last full day in Romania. I stayed at a hostel I think or the cheapest digs I could find. The options were relatively expensive and I did much walking that night in search of something affordable. The next morning I hiked over to and up and along the wide Bulevardul Unirii, lined by huge, concrete constructions and divided by a long string of art nouveau fountains down the centre (the last of which you see here in the foreground) to 'the People's Palace' in the Centru Civic. (The stretch reminded me of the approach up University ave. to Queen's Park in Toronto, but on a lengthier, more massive scale and with greater uniformity.) This fountain was dry, but other identical ones further east were filled with water and were active. I recall seeing a surprising number of stray dogs roaming @ in packs along the Bulevardul.

 

- I bought a ticket to join an organized tour of this massive pile.

- "In 1971, Ceauşescu visited North Korea and returned full of admiration for the grandiose avenues of Kim II Sung’s Pyongyang. In 1977 a massive earthquake reduced large parts of Bucharest to rubble and left over 1,500 dead. While this prompted the construction of several major city projects, incl. a new metro system and an airport, it also provided Ceauşescu with the perfect excuse to implement his megalomaniac vision for the city. In 1984, he set out to remodel Bucharest as “the first socialist capital for the new socialist man”, and to create a new administrative centre which was to be “a symbolic representation of the 2 decades of enlightenment we have just lived through”. In truth, this Centru Civic was intended to embody the state’s authority and that of Ceauşescu himself, and implementation entailed the demolition of 1/4 of Bucharest’s historic centre (@ 5 square km.s), said to be slums damaged earlier by the earth-quake, but in fact containing 9,000 largely undamaged 19th cent. houses, whose 40,000 inhabitants were relocated in new developments on the outskirts of the city. There was worldwide condemnation of this vandalism, particularly since many old churches, a hospital and a monastery were to be swept away. Though some of the churches were reprieved, they're now surrounded by huge, modern apt. blocks. The core of the complex was largely completed by 1989, just in time for the dictator’s overthrow." (RG)

- "Uniting the two halves of the Centru Civic is Bulevardul Unirii, at 4 km.s long and 120 m.s wide, slightly larger (intentionally so) than the Champs-Élysées after which it was modelled. Midway along is Piaţa Unirii (“Square of the Union”) [where I'm standing as I take this shot, or closeby], an oversized expanse of concrete dominated by traffic, and ... the best place from which to view [this]."

- "Dominating the entire project from the western end of B-dul Unirii is the colossal Palace of Parliament (Palatul Parlamentului), claimed to be the 2nd-largest administrative building in the world - after the Pentagon - measuring 270 by 240 m.s, and 86 m.s high. It epitomizes the megalomania that overtook Ceauşescu in the 1980s; here he intended to house ministries, Communist Party offices and the apartments of high functionaries. Built on the site of the former Spirei Hill, which was razed for this project, the sheer size of it can only be grasped by comparison with the toy-like cars scuttling past below. It has 12 storeys, 4 underground levels (including a nuclear bunker), a 100 m.-long lobby and 1100 rooms, around 1/2 of which are used as offices while the remainder are redundant. The interiors are lavishly decorated with marble and gold leaf, and there are 4,500 chandeliers (11,000 were planned), the largest of which weighs 1.5 tonnes, but the decoration was never complete due to the Ceauşescus’ ever-changing whims. They were demanding patrons, allowing little more than a technical role to the architects, of which there were @ 700 – one staircase was rebuilt 3 x before they were satisfied. The floor pattern – which mirrors the layout of the bldg. itself – was apparently designed that way so Ceauşescu wouldn’t get lost."

- "This ultimate white elephant was officially known as the Casa Republicii, then as the Casa Poporului, but more popularly as the Casa Nebunului (“Madman’s House”), before taking on its present name. The new government spent a long time agonizing about an acceptable use for it, and in 1994 it was finally decided to house the Senate and Parliament here; it is now also used for international conferences. The standard tour is a 45-min. trek through 10 of the most dazzling, most representative or simply the largest of the halls, such as the extraordinary, glass-ceilinged Sala Unirii ('Unification Hall'), where legendary Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci was married in 1996. One of the last rooms you’re led to is the Alexandru Ioan Cuza room, whose balcony offers defining views of the city." (RG)

- youtu.be/Uln3oINe6Kc?si=0EbX3si7NBXbTNKw

 

- I had only the one day in this city and did much walking, but the only other site or sight I devoted time to (at least a full afternoon) was the National museum of History in the former 'Postal Services Palace' (1892), with 8000 square m.s of floor space and @ 60 rooms of exhibits. The LP writes that it's "strong on Romania's ties to ancient Rome" and I recall an impressive plaster cast of Trajan's column. I bought a few postcards of exhibits that impressed me (as one does), including one of an octagonal, golden 'vase', with leopards for handles, 1 of 12 solid gold items from the 'Pietroasele treasure' (of the original 22), late 4th cent., Goth, and discovered in 1837 in Pietroasele, Buzău. "The multiple styles of the items, in which Han Chinese styles have been noted in the belt buckles, Hellenistic in the golden bowls, Sasanian motifs in the baskets, and Germanic fashions in the fibulae, are characteristic of the cosmopolitan outlook of the Cernjachov culture in a region without defined topographic confines." (Wikipedia) www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Qe9r12eZE

- I bought another of a large, abstract idol (800 grams of pure gold, thought to represent a fertility or mother goddess but resembling a breast-plate, 31 cm.s in length), 1 of 4 items from the neolithic, 4th mill. BC, Moigrad treasure, associated with the Bodrogkeresztúr culture of Chalcolithic Hungary, and one of the oldest treasures found anywhere. There's no shortage of invaluable, beautiful and detailed Dacian hoards and treasures of pure gold on show in the 'Treasury room', incl. the famous, elaborate Coţofeneşti helmet. The Thracians and the Dacians were marvelous goldsmiths.

- In the vast displays re more recent Romanian history, I saw Grigorescu's 'The Attack in Smârdan' (a scene from the War of Independence [1877-78]). www.wikiart.org/en/nicolae-grigorescu/sm-rdan-attack-1878

 

- "According to legend, Bucharest was founded by a shepherd named Bucur who built a settlement in the Vlăsia forest, later recorded as a 'citadel on the Dâmboviţa' in 1368, and named Bucharest in an edict from the time of Vlad III Dracula (r 1456-76). Over the centuries, both Târgovişte and Bucharest have served as the Wallachian capital, but the latter finally secured its claim in 1659, its position at the convergence of trade routes to Istanbul outweighing Târgovişte’s defensive advantages in the Carpathian foothills. As the boyars moved into the city they built palaces and churches on the main streets radiating from the centre; these streets were surfaced with timber baulks and were known as 'bridges' (poduri). Despite earthquakes and periodic attacks by Turks, Tatars, Austrians and Russians over the course of its history, the city continued to grow and to modernize. New boulevards were driven through the existing street pattern in the 1890s, after the style of Haussmann’s Paris, and still form a ring road and the main north–south and east–west axes of the city today. Most of the major bldg.s, such as the Romanian Atheneum and the Cercul Militar, were designed by French or French-trained architects and were built in the years immediately preceding WWI. It was @ this time that the city was dubbed the “Paris of the East”, as much for its hectic and cosmopolitan social scene [but only for the well-to-do] as for its architecture. ... " (RG)

 

- I saw some of the romantic and eclectic contributions to the city from those French architects imported by King Carol I in 'la belle epoque', incl. the impressive entrance to the Beaux Arts 'Cantacuzino palace' (1901-02) with its clamshell-shaped porte-cochere. On Aug. 10, 1913, the Treaty of Bucharest was signed there at the end of the 2nd Balkan War.

- I happened upon the Athenaeum (1888, architect Albert Galleron [French]), a round, domed, neoclassical concert hall and the loveliest bldg. in Bucharest. Its exterior is beautiful, but the interior is more impressive from what I've seen online. "A 75-by-3-m. fresco by Costin Petrescu on the inside of the circular wall of the hall depicts the most important moments of Romanian history, from the Roman conquest of Dacia to the realization of Greater Romania in 1918." www.jacksonfineart.com/artists/david-leventi/romanian-ath... "On Dec. 29, 1919, the Athenaeum was the site of the conference of leading Romanians who voted to ratify the unification of Bessarabia, Transylvania, and Bukovina with the Romanian Old Kingdom to constitute Greater Romania." (Wikipedia)

 

- I'll only mention a few misses in Bucharest (incl. a concert in the Athenaeum).: The small but lovely Storck museum foto.agerpres.ro/foto/detaliu/13028645 ; certain 16th to 19th cent. Orthodox churches, incl. the Patriarchal Cathedral (1665-'68), seat of the Romanian Orthodox Church; and the National Art museum in the former Royal Palace with its fine gallery of Romanian Medieval Art, and some Brâncuşi in its gallery of local Modern Art.

 

- From Bucharest, late in the afternoon or in the evening of May 12, with my visa set to expire, I took a train south the 64 clicks (1 hr. and 45 min.s according to the RG) to the border-town of Giurgiu (Jee-er-jeeoo). I didn't know it then, but I was travelling on the first and oldest rail-line in Romania, built in 1869.

- "As a fortified city, Giurgiu featured often in the wars for the conquest of the lower Danube. It was the site of the October 1595 'Battle of Giurgiu' [/b/ the Austrians and the Ottomans] and was a theatre of war in the struggle of Michael the Brave (1593–1601) against the Turks and in the later Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792). It was burned in 1659." (Wikipedia) I just passed through.

- I crossed the border and the Danube via the 'Giurgiu-Ruse Friendship Bridge' into Bulgaria (currently the only Bulgarian bridge across the Danube), said a sad goodbye to Romania, and arrived in the city of Ruse (Roo-see, I think).

  

So, Bulgaria! I had crossed again from one country into a very different neighboring country. It seemed to be more modern, with far fewer 'time capsules' (which I love, as you know), but then with some much older churches and sites and sights to be toured. It's less Western European, without Transylvania's gothic features and Romania's ties to Italy, Germany, Hungary and France. It's very Balkan (of course) with a Byzantine flavour, a resident in a very different neighborhood (notwithstanding that the Dacians were a subgroup of the Thracians, who according to Herodotus were the most populous race known to the ancient Greeks, after the Indians). The historical spotlight in popular culture or imagination (in the west at least) would seem to shift back and forth /b/ the countries, from glorious, accomplished Thrace in the 1st mill. BC, land of Orpheus, Dionysus and of gold, neighboring ancient Greece; to Dacia north of the border in the times of its struggles with Rome, Decebalus v. Trajan, the Iron Gates, etc.; then back south to the medieval Byzantine period and the Bulgarian kingdoms of the late 1st and early 2nd mill.s; and back again to Romania with its colonization by the Magyars and then by the 'Saxons', and its conflicts with the Turks.

 

- I found Bulgarians to be generally more shy and quieter than Romanians (the hitch-hiking was poor there, which is consistent with shyness. I took the train most often). But once they'd made your acquaintance, Bulgarians would make a point to be generous I found, often exceptionally so.

- I found a real appreciation for the relatively abundant, modern abstract art in Bulgaria, including wonderful socialist-realist art unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Much of it was very creative. And the food there was very different as well. I'd say it was much closer to Greek cuisine. Shopska salad with feta cheese and olives was had everywhere. (I've never eaten so much salad anywhere else, apart from in the FYR of Macedonia.)

 

- The Bulgarian authors of the guide-book I’d made copies from, and of a book or booklet re Bulgarian history that I bought and which was on sale everywhere, were a bit prone to an excessive pride in Bulgaria I found, which is the way of things in the Balkans generally. The booklet made such claims as, for example, that Bulgarians had invented brain surgery as ancient trepanning tools had been discovered. The frescoes in the Boyana church in Sofia are held out as anticipating Giotto and as evidence that "but for the Turkish yoke, Bulgaria would have ushered in the Renaissance" (to paraphrase). But the Italian Renaissance was about much more than achievements in art. The fact is that Bulgarians chafed under 'the Turkish yoke' for 5 long centuries, as any occupied people would, and so naturally they look to the west and ask what their society might have become and might have achieved if not for their subjugation.

 

- I spent @ a month and a 1/2 in Bulgaria, and saw a fair bit in the northern 2/3rds of the country. I followed a guidebook (I forget which, I'd made photocopies) which I later learned left much to be desired. Almost nothing was written up in that guide re the southern 4th or 5th of the country, which has several sites I would've loved to have seen, incl. the cave of 'the Devil's throat', down into which Orpheus is said to have descended to Hades to retrieve Eurydice. (But the now-famous shrine to Dionysus [who was Thracian!] and site of an oracle consulted by Alexander the Great, and the tomb which is a candidate for that of Orpheus at Tatul, hadn't been excavated and were unknown to tourism in 2000.) The biggest miss was what could be the trippiest, most off-the-hook Soviet or Communist-era ruin anywhere (which is saying something), which was within walking distance of Shipka, a place I visited. (I'll write about it in the description to my photo taken at Shipka.)

 

- I forget how and where I met him upon my arrival, but I was invited to stay at the home of a kind, local man I met in Ruse. The hospitality was just as wonderful in Bulgaria as it was in Romania or moreso. I didn't spend a cent on accommodation for at least my first 7 nights in the country.

 

- My host took me on a small walking tour of Ruse the next morning, or at least to the central 'Freedom square' where I took a photo of the 'Monument of Liberty' (@ 1907-09, sculptor Arnoldo Zocchi), a statue of a woman in a toga standing on a square column above a plinth, holding a sword in one hand and pointing with the other, with 2 lions at the base. It commemorates the liberation of Bulgaria by the Russians from the Turks in the 1870s. One of the lions tears the chains of a yoke with its teeth. It was inaugurated on Aug. 11, the anniversary of the most decisive date of the 'Battle of Shipka'. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_of_Liberty,_Ruse#/media/Fi...

- I think I recall, but took no photos (?) of, the modernist 'Pantheon of National Heros' under a gold dome with the remains of 453 activists from the time of 'the Bulgarian National Revival' within. (Or maybe I saw a photo of it later? It's a miss if so, a very interesting piece of modern architecture.)

 

- Ruse is the most significant Bulgarian port on the Danube and is the 5th largest city in Bulgaria. In the late 19th cent. and until WWI it was the 2nd largest (after Plovdiv). It's "known for its 19th and 20th cent. neo-baroque and neo-rococo architecture". The city's a bigger deal than I realized when I was there. "A Thracian settlement developed into a Roman military and naval centre in the reign of Vespasian (69–70 CE), as part of the fortification system along the northern boundary of Moesia. It was named Sexaginta Prista, 'City of 60 Ships' (Greek: Pristis - a special type of defensive ship. It's presumed that the port had 60 berths.) The fortress was on the main route between Singidunum (Belgrade) and the Danube Delta. It was rebuilt as a praesidium following its destruction by Goths in 250 CE, but was destroyed again in the 6th cent. by Avar and Slavic raiders. The Ottomans revitalized the town which became a large fortress and administrative centre of Tuna Vilayet, extending from Varna and Tulcea to Sofia and Niš, by the 18th cent. And Ruse developed into a centre of the Bulgarian National Revival, hosting the headquarters of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee. (all Wikipedia) The city's greatest transformation came with an international agreement concerning free merchant shipping on the Danube, which led to its emergence as an important economic force, and as a trading centre for the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and British empires. Ruse was the scene of many firsts for Bulgaria, such as the first newspaper printed in Bulgaria and in Bulgarian, the first printing office, railway line (Ruse to Varna), weather station, film projection, etc. It's fair to say it's an important city to the modern history of Bulgaria.

- I missed a history museum, the low-lying ruins (the foundations of walls) of an historic Roman fortress, and the 'Transport museum' in the original British-built railway station (1866), with late 19th cent. carriages and locomotives from the days when Ruse was a stop on the Orient Express which then ran from Budapest to Bucharest to Giurgiu, passengers would cross the river, and then from Ruse to Varna, and by boat to Stamboul. One item is "the sumptuous Sultaniye carriage, used by Empress Eugenie of France in 1869 en route to open the Suez canal." (RG)

 

- From Ruse I hitched south @ 25 km.s down the 501 and walked to the 'rock-hewn churches of Ivanovo'. (See the description for the next photo, taken at Madara).

"and i think i'd rather have a tiara."

 

she got a ribbon to look pretty in after the sis bought a bag. seconds later she tried to shake it off her ears.

 

:P i love her little paws here.

  

OK, OK ! But It's Dinner, Baked Bacon Wrap Anaheim Chile Stuffed with Chicken and Pepper Jack and Cream cheese with . green onions. Judy And Lori Made It.

  

IMG_0532EF3

But in all honestly...I could care less about the jammies. I just wanted to get a shot of this pretty face. :)

Not the most beautiful beach of Europe, but one of the most famous: Juno Beach. This is where more than 14,000 Canadians landed and confronted massive German resistance on D-day (June 6, 1944) as part of the invasion of Normandy known as Operation Overlord, in a desperate effort to liberate France from the Nazis (see map below). On that day, the Canadian forces suffered 1074 casualties including 369 killed right on the beach.

 

The larger town on the right of the photograph is Courseulles-sur-Mer. To the south, we can see the village of Reviers and about 1 km to the right (on the edge of the photograph) there is a small rectangle which is the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery (mouse over). There are 2049 markers in the cemetery, which include the D-day casualties on Juno beach as well as Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in July 1944 during the battle for Caen. Also interred in this cemetery are four British soldiers and one French.

 

The town on the left is Ver-sur-Mer (or La Rivière on the map below) which marks the eastern limit of Gold Beach, which on D-day was fought by the British forces.

 

I took this shot from my airplane window, on Sept 2nd, 2013, as Huguette and I were returning home to Canada after a lovely cruise on the Imperial Waterways of Russia (see three previous sets).

...but it obviously makes them happy! The engine they drive is the heaviest and most powerful express steam engine which is operational these days. It is a class 01.10 from 1940 which wore a streamlined shroud when it was new. After WW II the shroud has been removed and the engines where equipped with new high performance boilers. Some of them (including the sample in the image) were converted to oil burners which gave them some extra ooomph. The 01.10 heavy pacific is a three cylinder engine. When it accelerates a heavy train you feel like being exposed to a brute natural force. It shivers your very bones - simply fantastic.

Ah, but to be Norwegian, particularly on Norway's National Day, which took place the Sunday before these photos were taken.

 

The event, marking the day in 1814 when Norway adopted its new Constitution, is celebrated across the nation.

 

In Norway's capital city, the children's parade is the main attraction, with all 111 city schools represented.

 

I was one of the few fortunate enough to obtain special seats in front of the Royal Palace to watch as parade participants marched up Oslo's main street, Karl Johans gate, to the Royal Palace, where they were received by the Royal Family standing on the front balcony, waving to the crowd.

 

The weather forecast had not been good, but the day turned out to be a beautiful one, with lots of sunshine and brilliant blue skies.

 

The Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to be an independent nation.

 

The celebration of this day began spontaneously among students and others from early on. However, Norway was at that time under Swedish rule (following the Convention of Moss in August 1814) and for some years the King of Sweden was reluctant to allow the celebrations.

 

For a couple of years in the 1820s, king Carl Johan actually forbade it, as he thought the celebrations a kind of protest and disregard—even revolt—against Swedish sovereignty. The king's attitude changed slightly after the Battle of the Square in 1829, an incident which resulted in such a commotion that the King had to allow it. It was, however, not until 1833, that anyone ventured to hold a public address on behalf of the day. That year, official celebration was initiated by the monument of the late politician Christian Krogh, known to have stopped the King from gaining too much personal power. The address was held by Henrik Wergeland, thoroughly witnessed and accounted for by a Swedish spy, sent by the King himself.

 

After 1864, the day became more established, and the first children's promenade was launched in Christiania, in a parade consisting only of boys. This initiative was taken by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, although Wergeland made the first known children's promenade at Eidsvoll around 1820. It was only in 1899 that girls were allowed to join in the parade for the first time.

 

By historical coincidence, the Second World War ended in Norway just nine days before that year's Constitution Day, on May 8, 1945, when the occupying German forces surrendered. Even if The Liberation Day is an official flag day in Norway, the day is not an official holiday and is not broadly celebrated. Instead a new and broader meaning has been added to the celebration of Norwegian Constitution Day on May 17.

 

The day focused originally on the Norwegian constitution, but after 1905, the focus has been directed also towards the royal family.

 

A noteworthy aspect of the Norwegian Constitution Day is its very non-military nature. All over Norway, children's parades with an abundance of flags form the central elements of the celebration. Each elementary school district arranges its own parade with marching bands between schools.

 

The parade takes the children through the community, often making stops at homes of senior citizens, war memorials, etc. The longest parade is in Oslo, where some 100,000 people travel to the city center to participate in the main festivities. This is broadcast on TV every year, with comments on costumes, banners etc, together with local reports from celebrations around the country.

 

The massive Oslo parade includes some 100 schools, marching bands, and passes the royal palace where the royal family greet the people from the main balcony.

 

Typically a school’s children parade will consist of some senior school children carrying the school’s official banner, followed by a handful of other older children carrying full size Norwegian flags, and the school’s marching band. After the band the rest of the school children follow with hand sized flags, often with the junior forms first, and often behind self made banners for each form or even individual class.

 

Nearby kindergartens may also have been invited to join in. As the parade passes, bystanders often join in behind the official parade, and follow the parade back to the school. Depending on the community, the parade may make stops at particular sites along the route, such as a nursing home or war memorial. In Oslo the parade stops at the Royal Palace while Skaugum, the home of the crown prince, has been a traditional waypoint for parades in Asker.

 

During the parade a marching band will play and the children will sing lyrics about the celebration of the National Day. The parade concludes with the stationary singing of the national anthem "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" (typically verses 1, 7 and 8), and the royal anthem "Kongesangen".

 

In addition to flags, people typically wear red, white and blue ribbons. Although a long-standing tradition, it has lately become more popular for men, women, and children to wear traditional outfits, called bunad. The children also make a lot of noise shouting "Hurra!", singing, blowing whistles and shaking rattles.

 

In addition to children's parades, there are parades for the public, where every citizen is welcome to join in. These are led by marching bands and often local boy scouts and girl guides, local choirs, etc. This takes place in the early morning or in the afternoon, before or after the school's parade.

 

All parades begin or end with speeches. Both grown-ups and older children are invited to speak. After the parades, there are games for the children, and often a lot of icecream, pop, sweets and pølse (hotdogs) are consumed.

 

Below is a translation of Norway's National Anthem:

 

(Ja, vi elsker)

 

Yes, We Love This Land of Ours

 

Yes, we love this land of ours.....as with mountain domes

Storm-lash'd o'er the sea it towers with the thousand homes.

Love it dearly, ever thinking....of our fathers' strife,

And the land of Saga sinking, dreams upon our life,

And the land of Saga sinking, sinking dreams upon our life.

 

Norsemen, in whatever station, thank your mighty God;

He has kindly saved our nation from oppression's rod.

That for which our sires contended and our mothers wailed,

Silently the Lord defended, so our rights, our rights prevailed.

St Andrew, Metton, Norfolk

 

Metton's is a church that I keep coming back to. It's handily placed for revisits, being set just south of Cromer, one of my regular starting points for bike rides. But there is something else too, something that seems to call me back to experience its quiet, dim stillness above the lonely road of the village.

 

I first came here with the late Tom Muckley in the summer of 2005, if you could call it a summer that year. Long, sultry days in June gave a promise of things to come, but the promise was never really fulfilled. July was not a particularly wet one, but neither was it very sunny. In East Anglia, we awoke again and again to gloomy cloud and a kind of ineffectual drizzle that eventually petered out, the clouds breaking. But the days never warmed up, and all too soon evening closed in. By early August, the hedgerows were still as green as they had been six weeks previously, and the conservation areas of graveyards had become jungles.

 

There was an illusion that the summer was still held in a fitful suspense. But already, the barley and wheat fields were being harvested, the lanes clogged by mud from combines and tractors, the signs all around of everything being safely gathered in. The evenings became cooler, the horse chestnuts began threatening to turn. Soon, it would be time for back to school promotions in the town shops, and the excitement of posters for harvest suppers on village noticeboards. Soon, it would be autumn.

 

But all that was in the future. In the first few days of August, the low cloud began to retreat, and there were high skeins of it dissolving above the rolling hills south of Cromer. Too early in the day to take advantage of it, we headed under overcast skies through tiny lanes banked up with green hedges. All the roads were narrow, and it seemed impossible that we were less than two miles from the nearest A road, less than six miles from Cromer, less than two hundred miles from central London. The fields were silent, the stillness in the air timeless.

 

Through the high banks we twisted, eventually coming out into the deep cut village of Metton, barely a hamlet really. A few council houses straggled beside the church. There were some larger, older houses to the east, and a farmer had cut a maze through his crops for children to run wild and freely in. We could hear their shouts from the churchyard. It was a lovely place to be, at once ancient and yet full of young life.

 

Most recently I returned to Metton in June 2019. The weather forecast had promised sunshine, but I'd got out at Roughton Road station under heavy cloud, and my bike ride to Felbrigg, my first port of call, had been into the chill of a wind carrying the occasional misty shreds of a sea fret from the coast, invisible beyond the northern horizon. But as I came into Metton, the clouds parted, and I felt the warmth of the sun for the first time that day like a benediction, and I pushed my bike through the awkward gate into the narrow churchyard.

 

St Andrew is a simple, aisleless 14th century church, heavily Victorianised with the introduction of late medieval-style window tracery. The high pitched nave roof rather overwhelms it all. As often in this part of Norfolk, refurbishing of the flint has been a cheap option, and that seems to have happened on the tower here. The most interesting feature is at the foot of the tower, for there is a processional way running from north to south, the western face of the tower being hard against the churchyard boundary. The northern side of the chancel is windowless now, but the prospect from the south, away from the village street, is gentle and timeless.

 

It must be said that this is always a gloomy interior to step into. This is mostly the fault of the Victorian restoration, which ceilured the roof, leaving nothing but a functionless wallplate with fascinating grotesques on it. The restoration here was fairly middle-of-the-road. The town church benches must have seemed the very thing in the 1870s, but today they are characterless and dull, out of keeping with the peace outside. You can't help thinking that the nave would be improved if they were replaced with modern wooden chairs. But the chancel recalls earlier days, rustic and simple, with a pammented floor and bare furnishings. The flowers make it feel a place at once well-loved and well-used, a delight. There are roundels of Flemish glass in the east window, set here by the Dennis King workshop in the early 1960s. A bishop stands and a monk kneels before the crucifixion. Another monk, a donor perhaps, kneels before St Jerome in the desert. An angel holds a chalice and a crucifix.

 

By the south door, hidden under the table, is a fine civilian brass to Robert and Matilda Doughty. Robert died in 1493, and presumably the brass was put in place before the death of his wife, because the place for her dates has been left blank. There are also a couple of brass inscriptions in the nave. One is directly beside the fine, if over-plastered, Norman tub font, which rather looks as if it was originally designed to stand against a wall or a pillar.

 

A curiosity is welded to the north wall, beside the door. This is the 19th century parish truncheon, a fascinating survival. These objects were symbols of authority rather than implements of aggression, but all the same I couldn't help wondering if it had cracked a few parish heads, and quite what the 18th century parishioners would say if they could come back and see it so fondly displayed.

 

I stood for a while, breathing in the silence. A bird started up in the churchyard, but it seemed distant. It was time to go. It struck me, not for the first time, that there is something sad about this church. Not exactly oppressive, for it calls me back again and again, but a feeling that this Victorian interior which had seemed so bright and earnest a century and a half ago has faded. It has seen its congregation shrink, as if they were leaving one by one, leaving only an echoing emptiness, except for services. The patina of the varnish and the tiles has dulled, and the whole place broods beneath the ceilure. Only the chancel still seems alive.

 

And there was something else, of course. As I signed the visitors' book, I noticed that several recent visitors mentioned their prayers for April. I thought that this was a lovely thing, that they remembered. I remembered too. Thirteen year old April Fabb's disappearance on the edge of this tiny village in the spring of 1969 haunted me as a little boy at the time, and still haunts East Anglia today. It regularly reappears in the news, most recently because of the event's fiftieth anniversary. Outside, beside the porch, an inscription to her memory on a headstone reads: Will you of your charity remember in your prayers APRIL FABB a child who disappeared from this parish in April 1969 of whom nothing has since been heard.

Hinxhill is a small village in the shadow of Wye down. I say a village, its a couple of houses and the Hinxhill Estate, which you can't see from the road.

 

St Mary has been a church I have wanted to see inside for many years, and I have never found it open. But for this Heritage weekend, I had high hopes.

 

And I wasn't disappointed.

 

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Remote and peaceful Hinxhill is the archetypal country church. Almost all dating from the 13th century, the narrow north aisle is a typical give way – designed to be used as a processional space without benches. The lovely lancet windows, with trefoil headed tops are small and low whilst the north chapel has one with a rere-arch, a sign of wealth in the latter 13th century. The odd chancel screen is dated to the 17th century and the woodwork of the pulpit is probably of that date too. The stained glass is Victorian and mostly by the Scottish firm of Ballantyne – a catalogue of changing fashion. The south chancel window of Christ weeping is particularly good. The fine Royal Arms is one of several in Kent by Marten of Tenterden and well worth a look. To the north of the chancel is a seventeenth century tomb with good effigies and skulls beneath – which legend says was walled up with plaster for two hundred years before being re displayed by the Victorians. In the vestry is a delightful piece of continental glass of probable seventeenth century date.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hinxhill

 

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HINXHILL,

USUALLY called Hinexsell, and in very antient times written Hengestelle, is the next parish eastward from Kennington. The manor of Bilsington claims over a great part of this parish.

 

HINXHILL is an obscure parish, but little known, and having very little traffic through it. The village consists of only four or five houses, one of which, is the principal farm-house of Sir John Honywood's estate here, and another the parsonage. It stands on high ground, with the church on the west side of it. The antient mansion stood close to the south-west corner of the church-yard, having a fine prospect over the adjoining country. The kitchen is all that remains of it now, being made use of as an oast and stowages for hops. Not far from the church, northward, are Great and Little Plumpton, the former was for some time the residence of the Andrew's, the latter of the Whitwick's. Below the hill from the village to the north and west, it is a deep and most unpleasant country, the soil a stiff clay, with much boggy ground, especially westward, where it is joined by the river Stour. About the village it it tolerable fertile land, but southward there is much sand, mixed with the quarry or rag stone.

 

A fair is held here yearly on the Saturday in Whitsun-week, for toys and pedlary.

 

In the year 1727, a species of subterraneous fire was taken notice of in the valley between Goodcheape in this parish and Wye. This fire began in a marshy field, on the side of a little brook, near the water, and continued to burn along its bank without spreading much for some days; afterwards it appeared on the other side, and extended itself for the space of some acres over the field, consuming all the earth where it burnt into red ashes, quite down to the springs, which in most places lay four feet and more deep. In the space of about six weeks it had consumed about three acres of ground, at which time it burnt in many places, and sent forth a great smoak and a strong smell very like that of a brick-kiln; but it never flamed, except when the earth was turned and stirred up. For some space where it was burnt the ground felt hot, though the grass seemed no more parched than might be reasonably expected from the dryness and heat of the season. In several places where the earth was turned up, it was found to be hot and wet near four feet deep, and much hotter about two feet deep than nearer the surface; and when this earth was exposed to the air, though it was very moist, and not hotter than might be easily borne by the hand, yet the heat of it increased so fast, that in a few minutes it was all over on fire, like phosphorus made with allum and flour. The soil of the field is of the same nature with that the turs is made of in Holland. The surface of it is always wet, except in extreme dry seasons; but this season it was somewhat more parched and harder than usual. It was difficult to carry any of this away, on account of its firing; one piece in particular firing in the pocket of one who was bringing it away, had almost burnt its way through before it was perceived. (fn. 1)

 

In the stone-quarry by Swatfield-bridge, at the southern boundary of this parish, as well as in many of the rag-stones about the adjoining parishes of Sevington and Willesborough, is found the ostracites stone, very large; and on a rag-stone at Lacton, in the latter parish, the flat shell of one measured eight inches diameter; and the late Mr. Thorpe, of Bexley, had two in his possession, very large and fair, with the convex parts entirely filled up with solid stone, which were given to his father, Dr. Thorpe, by the earl of Winchelsea.

 

ONE ÆTHELFERH, a servant of the abbot of St. Augustine's monastery, about the year 864, by will gave the land of Hengesteselle, which was a parish, as Thorne says in his Chronicle, contiguous to that of Willesborough northward, to that monastery; but Hugo de Montfort, in the time of the Conqueror, got possession of it, in spite of all the efforts of the monks to oppose it: and accordingly this estate seems to have been thus entered in the survey of Domesday as follows, among his possessions:

 

In Langebrige hundred, Gislebert holds of Hugo one yoke, which a certain Sochman held of king Edward. It is and was worth four shillings. There was nothing there nor is.

 

Of Etwelle, which Herbert the son of Ivo, holds without the division of Hugo, he himself holds fourteen acres of land within his division, and it is worth two shillings.

 

And still further in the same record, under the like title, is the following entry, which evidently relates to his possessions, part of, or at least adjoining to those before-mentioned:

 

In Langebrige hundred. In the same hundred, is one rood of land in Suestone, which one Sochman held of king Edward. There is now one borderer paying twelve pence. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth thirty pence, and afterwards eighteen, now three shillings.

 

Robert de Montfort, grandson of Hugo above-mentioned, having afterwards incurred the displeasure of king Henry II. all his estates, and these among them, them, came into the king's hands, after which it appears that THE MANOR OF HINXHILL, with that of SWATFORD, alias SWATFIELD, was afterwards held by the family of Strabolgie, earls of Athol; but Alexander Baliol, lord of Chilham, became possessed of them at the latter end of king Henry III.'s reign, in right of Isabel his wife, widow of David de Strabolgie, earl of Athol, and held them, by the courtesy of England, during her life, she having been, on the death of her brother Richard de Dover, s.p. become entitled to them for her life, the inheritance of them belonging to John, earl of Athol, her son by her former husband, as heir to her brother before-mentioned. At length they descended down to David, earl of Athol, who died in the 49th year of king Edward III. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Elizabeth, the eldest, married to Sir Thomas Percy, a younger son of Henry, lord Percy, and Philippa to John Halsham, of Halsham, in Sussex; the latter of whom, by her father's will, became entitled to these manors. At length her grandson Sir Hugh Halsham, in the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign, passed them away, in the 3d year of that reign, to Sir Robert Scott, lieutenant of the tower of London, brother of Sir William Scott, of Braborne, and afterwards of Scotts-hall, whose only daughter and heir Alice, marrying William Kempe, nephew to cardinal archbishop Kempe, he, in her right, became entitled to them; but his grandson Sir William Kempe, about the latter end of king Henry VIII.'s reign, alienated them to Browning; from which family, about the reign of queen Elizabeth, they were alienated to Robt. Edolph, esq. son of Robert Edolph, of Brenset, and brother of Simon Edolph, of St. Radigunds, who bore for his arms, Ermine, on a bend, sable, three cinquesoils, argent, (fn. 2) who afterwards resided at Hinshill court, as did his son Sir Robert Edolph, who kept his shrievalty here in the 6th year of king James I. but his son Robert Edolph, esq. dying s.p. in 1631, gave these manors of Hinxhill and Swatford, together with the court leet of the half hundred of Longbridge, by will to Cecilia his wife, for her life, or so long as she continued unmarried; but she afterwards remarrying Sir Francis Knolles, of Reading, forfeited her interest in them, upon which they came to Mr. Samuel Edolph, her former husband's next brother, who some years afterwards conveyed them to his brother in-law Mr. John Angel, of Surry, for the more effectual performance of his will; and he, sometime after the death of king Charles I. passed them away to Edward Choute, esq. of Bethersden, who afterwards resided at Hinxhill-court, as did his son Sir George Choute likewise, who was succeeded in them by his son George Choute, esq. who was created a baronet in 1684. He pulled down this mansion, and removed to Bethersden, where he died s.p. in 1721, (fn. 3) having devised these manors by will to Edward Austen, esq. of Tenterden, afterwards baronet, who sold them not long afterwards to Sir William Honywood, bart. of Evington, who died possessed of them in 1748, and his direct descendant Sir John Honywood, bart. of Evington, is the present possessor of these manors.

 

The courts baron for the manors of Hinxhill and Swatford, have been for some time disused; and the court leet for the half hundred of Longbridge has been for several years past held by the constable of it, solely for the appointment of a successor in his office, as will be further taken notice of hereafter.

 

WALTHAM is a place here, which was once accounted a manor, and antiently belonged to the family of Criol, from whom it went by marriage into that of Rokesle, and thence again in like manner to the family of Poynings, in which it continued till Sir Edward Poynings, governor of Dover castle, and lord warden, dying possessed of it anno 14 Henry VIII. 1522, not only without legitimate issue, but even without any collateral kindred, who could make claim to his estates, this manor, among others, escheated to the crown, whence it was immediately afterwards granted to Sir Richard Damsell, who not long after passed it away to Goldhill; as he did about the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign, to Mr. Robert Edolph, of Hinxhillcourt; since which it has passed in like manner as the manor of Hinxhill before-described, down to Sir John Honywood, bart. who is the present possessor of it.

 

GOODCHEAPES, as it is now called, but more properly Godchepes, is an estate in the northern part of this parish, which for a series of many generations had owners of that surname, one of whom, Thomas Godchepe, as appears by the inquisition taken after his death, died possessed of it in the 31st year of king Edward I. and in his name and descendants it remained fixed until the latter end of king Henry VIII.'s reign, and then it came by the will of one of them, named also Thomas Godchepe, after the limitation of it, to several different persons, who were become extinct without issue, to the last person mentioned in remainder in the will, Mr. John Barrow. The circumstances of which bequest is thus related: Mr. John Barrow, being an attorney, was called upon to make the will of Thomas Godchepe, and by his direction inserted the names of eight persons, who were to succeed each other in the inheritance of this estate in tail, and being asked by Barrow, whom he should add more, he was answered by the testator, that as there had been a reciprocal friendship between them, he should place his own name next after them all; and they all deceasing in course of time s.p. this estate in the end devolved to him and his heirs. Circumstances similar to the above have happened in relation to other estates in this county, particularly to the Leeds abbey estate, by Sir Roger Meredith's will, who died in 1742, s.p. who having sent for Mr. Walter Hooper, an attorney, to make his will, after having devised his estates to several different persons successively in tail, seemed at a loss who to name next in the entail, when Mr. Hooper mentioned himself and his nephew; and all the prior remainders having ceased, they both successively enjoyed that estate by the will. (fn. 4) Mr. Barrow, who bore for his arms, Lozengy, or, and azure, a grissin, salient, ermine, resided afterwards here, and died in 1578, leaving two daughters his coheirs, whose eldest daughter and coheir Elizabeth, marrying Mr. Robert Edolph, the purchaser of Hinxhill-court as before-mentioned, he became entitled to it sometime about the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign; since which it has passed in like succession of ownership as the manors of Hinxhill and Waltham before-mentioned, down to Sir John Honywood, bart. who is the present possessor of them.

 

Charities.

MARTHA WADE, by will in 1722, gave an annuity of forty shillings, out of lands in this parish and Wye, to the use of the poor not receiving alms, vested in the churchwardens and overseers.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about twelve, casually eight.

 

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIADICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a small building, consisting of two isles and two chancels, having a low spire steeple at the west end, in which are three bells. In the high chancel, on the north side, there is a handsome monument, well preserved, for Robert Edolph, esq. and Cicely Browne his wife, having their effigies kneeling on it. He died in 1631. In the south isle are memorials for Coveney, arms, On a bend, three trefoils slipt. The north isle is very narrow indeed; in it is a memorial for Kennet Backe, gent. captain of the train-bands, obt. 1687. On the south side, in the church-yard, are several memorials for the Wightwicks, and a very antient stone, coffinshaped, with a cross story on it. It appears by the parish register, that many of the Edolphs are buried in this church, from the year 1588, when Mr. Robt. Edolph, sen. gent. was buried in it, to the present century. Mr. John Barrow in 1578, Sir Edward Chute in 1634, and others of some note in life, appear likewise to have been buried in it, for whom there are not any memorials.

 

¶The church of Hinxhill was antiently appendant to the manor, and continued with it till Robert Edolph, esq. by will in 1631, gave the manor of Hinxhill to his wife Cecilie, for her life, or until she remarried, and the advowson and patronage of this church to her and her heirs for ever. By which means the advowson being separated from the manor, became an advowson in gross, and though it afterwards was possessed by the same owners as the manor, yet having been once separated it could never afterwards be appendant to it again. (fn. 5) She soon afterwards remarrying Sir Francis Knolles, forfeited her life-estate in the manor to her late husband's next heir and brother, Mr. Sam. Edolph, and some years afterwards alienated the reversion of the advowson, (for she appears to have presented to the Rectory in 1666) to him. Since which it has continued, in like succession of ownership with the manor of Hinxhill, and his other estates in this parish, to Angel, Choute, and Austen, and from the latter to Sir William Honywood, bart. whose descendant Sir John Honywood, bart. is the present owner and patron of this church.

 

This rectory is valued in the king's books at 7l. 16s. 8d. It is now a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of thirty-four pounds. In 1578 here were communicants seventy-one. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds, communicants seventy. There are ten acres of glebe.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol7/pp558-566

 

"A friend is someone who reaches for your hand, but touches your heart."

~ Anonymous

memories, memories, memories... from a neighbor's garden...

 

Thanks for stopping by

and God Bless,

hugs, Chris

But who is not gonna mind a guy walking around in his socks, eh?

But within an hour the sun broke through and blue sky replaced the dark clouds.

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.

 

The last church from a hectic October; what with trips to London and Norwich as well as work, it was a busy month all round.

 

My plan had been to go to Harbledown to see the two churches there, but for some reason I did not find them, but did visit 4 others, including Blean.

 

Blean is a village just outside Canterbury, on a hill overlooking the city, and for the most part, it seems to be a fairly modern village spread out along the Canterbury to Whiststable road, then to find just behind a row of modern shops is an ancient site, with such an unusual church comes as a surprise.

 

The Dedication shows how old the church is. And the site itself is ancient, being the site of a large Roman Villa, and a fortified Saxon manor house, the moat of which partly survives.

 

My shots did not come out well, it was a dull day and the lighting in the church was very poor. Shots of the windows came out fine, though.

 

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How wonderful to find an unlocked isolated church in an area where many are kept closed! This charming flint building stands on a well-used public footpath (the former Roman Salt Road) that runs across a dry valley outside Canterbury. Its tree-shaded churchyard contains venerable yews and the church itself, dedicated to Ss Cosmas and Damian (see also Challock) is welcoming indeed. The nave and chancel are thirteenth century - see the typical lancet windows - but the huge north aisle, doubling the church in size, dates from the 1860s. Its arcade, however, is a good copy of thirteenth century work with huge cylindrical piers and an easternmost arch that stops short of the floor as if to allow space for a Rood Screen. The interior is light and spacious with much emphasis on the rustic medieval roof timbers. The twin-lancet east window contains some good mid-Victorian glass by Henry Holiday. The altar rails are seventeenth century whilst tucked behind the main door is a huge early eighteenth century memorial. As part of their millennium celebrations the locals reordered the church to great effect, moving the clumsy organ to the back and replacing it by the pulpit. These works have improved the interior no end.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Blean

 

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In common with most churches and other old buildings, little is known with any degree of certainty during the dark ages between the departure of the Romans in 4th Century and the Norman conquest of the 11th Century.

However, the Blean Historical and Archaeological Group undertook some very detailed research in the period 1982-86 (on which much of the information herein is based), and established beyond doubt that a substantial Roman villa existed to the south-west of the church from 1st to 3rd centuries.

(Indeed, fragments of Roman brick, which would logically have derived from this site, have long been known to be incorporated into the west exterior wall of the present church).

It is also known that a fortified manor was built on the same site in the 13th century, so it is fairly likely that there were Jutish-Saxon settlements or small estates in this immediate area for much, if not all, of the intervening periods.

By the time of the Domesday Book (1086), there were twelve surrounding farmsteads or holdings within the bounds of the manor, but clearly it had been well-established as a community long before that date.

 

A church was noted on the present site in 1086 (not the present building), with a strong suggestion of an early pre-Conquest church prior to that. There is an (unproven) folklore suggestion that the site of the present church actually dates from 598, when the early monks accompanying Augustine from Rome set up a shrine to the Saints Cosmus and Damian at this point on the ancient Salt Road to the north Kent coast at Seasalter (which runs past the church).

 

Dedications to these two saints are very unusual in Britain (there are, in fact, only four in the whole country), but they were at that time very well known in Rome, where the church in their names had been opened in the Forum as recently as 530 (the Basilica of Saints Cosmus & Damian).

Whether true or not, the whole site appears to have been fortified at some point during the dark ages, resulting in the somewhat unusual relics of a wall and moat around what is now our graveyard - it was most likely a fortified manor within which a simple wooden church was included. The site became too restricted after the Conquest, resulting in the manor itself being moved onto what had once been the Roman villa.

These were times of great unrest, and clearly the presence of a fortified structure belonging to Robert de Crevequer (regarded as a "rebel" at a time of virtual civil war) at such a strategic location proved too much for King Henry III, who in 1259 ordered that the walls be razed to the ground and the moat filled in - in fact, only one wall alongside the road was razed, although that was sufficient for military purposes.

To no avail, since the manor was confiscated anyway - such was the political turbulence of the time!

 

The present flintstone church, roofed with Kent peg tiles, was rebuilt before 1233, by order of the Crown, and the "Calendar of Liberate Rolls" for 1233 shows Henry lll repaying the sum of £20.3s.8d to Walter de Kirkeham for carrying out this instruction.

From about 1200 onwards, the Eastbridge Hospital had acquired a growing interest in the area, the lordship

of the manor being formally confirmed in 1359, and the Master of Eastbridge still remains the Patron of the parish. It would appear that the fortunes of the manor itself declined after this, and severe fire damage in the late 14th or early 15th century resulted in the site being abandoned.

It seems likely that the local population was then in decline in any case, possibly as a result of the ravages of the Black Death.

Depopulation was a continuing problem right up until the present time, since the local communities polarised towards either Blean or Tyler Hill, a process accelerated by the opening of the present main roads to Whitstable and Herne Bay respectively.

 

The rebuilt church of circa 1233 is characterised by the lancet windows of Early English Gothic style and has changed little, apart from the closing of two lancets in the west wall and their replacement during the 14th century by a window in the Perpendicular late Gothic style, plus a similar new window in the south wall of the nave.

This latter alteration coincided with the institution of the post of Vicar in the Blean (c.1375), and culminated in the building of the church's finest possession, its timber crown-post roof.

 

The church at this time was very colourful, with many of the windows being in stained glass (of which only a few fragments remain in one of the chancel lancet windows), a painted rood screen (the marks where it was fitted are still visible in the beams above the pulpit) and several wall paintings dedicated to St. Thomas, the Virgin Mary, and of course our "own" Saints Cosmus and Damian. With sets of candles in front of each, the impression would have been one of a highly coloured interior, typical of the medieval fashions.

 

Naturally, it all had to go in the religious upheavals following the Reformation, and whitewash became the order of the day - even the stone altar had to be broken up, its wooden replacement itself landing the then Vicar in serious trouble in 1551 as it was judged by the Archdeaconry Court as being "indistinguishable from the stone altar it had replaced!"

Hard times indeed - by the visitation of Archbishop Parker in 1573, it was reported that the church was "devoid of all glazing" - and we complain today of draughts! Apart from the walls and roof, the only major fittings remaining are the 15th Century stone font, the John Boys memorial of 1612 and the Communion Rails of 1697.

 

According to Edward Hasted's book History of the County of Kent, Canterbury 1782 vol. 3 ...The Church is but small and mean. It consists of only one aisle and a chancel having a low pointed turret at the west end...Anciently an appendage of the manor and remained so until Hamo le Crevequer called in the Charter. Hamo de Blen son of Etardus le Crevequer, gave the church to the Master and Brethren of the Hospital of Eastbridge, Canterbury. The gift was confirmed to the Hospital by the Archbishop Stephen Langton between 1206 and 1228. Blean was known as Cossmasblene in a document of 1548 by which the Master and co-Brethren of the Eastbridge Hospital confirmed their gift of about one virgate of land, subject to a rental of 3s a year, to William Harter and his wife. This piece of land and "a lyttel tennemant besyde the church of Cosmes Bleane" was referred to in a survey of houses and lands of the Manor of Hothe and Blean (calendared 'late 16th Century'), and gyven by the Masters of the Hospitall longe tyme past to the Auncesters of the wiff of one William Harter yet lyving and her heirs....

 

The Victorian rebuilding and extension was certainly enthusiastic, although unfortunately much of the original appearance of the church appears to have been obliterated in the process. The whole north wall disappeared to accommodate a sizeable extension, whilst the present single bell gable replaced the earlier wooden turret above the old building (the timbers from which are alleged to have been used in the stables of the then vicarage at Mulberry Down).

The old windows were replaced by new stained glass ones - including work by the well-known Victorian artist Henry Holiday.

Some fragments of the earlier glass were built into one window however, and perhaps more importantly, the quality of the work done has withstood the test of time, and we are very fortunate today in that we have inherited a basically sound structure in relatively good repair. Nevertheless, there is currently a scheduled programme of work to repair and restore these beautiful windows.

The plain open pews, choir and pulpit date from 1866, whilst the new organ (strangely sited by today's tastes) was installed in 1909. We are told that the original seating was for 273 souls - perhaps they were thinner in those days! The present main altar is comparatively modern, being designed in 1964 by Harold Anderson (architect to Canterbury Cathedral and a Churchwarden in Blean for 49 years!).

In 2000, after considerable consultation within the parish, the opportunity was taken to re-order the church with the objective of making it more accessible for worship and community use. The restrictive pew layout and the poor acoustics were tackled. In particular the organ was moved to a more appropriate location at the west end of the church. The font was moved away from the main door to the eastern end of the (‘new’ Victorian) north aisle.

The pulpit was moved to the place where the organ had originally been sited and we believe that the opening up of the sight lines resulting from this show off the magnificent timber crown-post roof in all its splendour. In 2005, we succeeded in raising sufficient money to bring water to the church hall providing much needed lavatory and kitchen facilities. Further developments to that hall are planned.

We are determined that our church building should provide the flexibility and modern facilities needed for the Christian message to continue to be proclaimed for another thousand years in this ancient place.

 

There are several plaques and memorials in the church which may be included on this page. For the time being here are two Plaques and signs in the church, one giving an interesting bequest and another the list of Vicars up to 1995.

 

www.bleanchurch.net/history.html

... signs of spring are there.

 

Es friert noch...

...aber Zeichen des Frühlings sind da.

 

Sony Alpha 7R II, Voigtländer VME Close-Focus Adapter, Leica Summicron 35mm f2.0 pre-Asph

Such a desolate landscape on the way to Alstrom Point, Utah. Nothing is growing here. The movie Planet Of The Apes was film here.

But he expressed himself in many different ways.

 

Giving blood and keeping faith

And I'm still right here.

 

Foto tomada por Juanito Chuleta :)

We stumbled upon All Saints en route to a different church, and as all those seen thus far on this day had been small and plain, not much was expected. But I saw the tower from along the main street, and looked impressive. and once parked we found it unlocked and welcoming.

 

Star of the show is the northern chapel, given over to the Culpepper family, with a fabulous tomb in the centre. On the walls, dozens of blank shields show what had been planned to be the family mausoleum for centuries, but things changed, the family moved away and the chapel has just three shields decorated.

 

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There was considerable damage caused to this church in an earthquake of 1382. The medieval accounts survive so we know that 48s 2d was spent on the rebuilding. Little can have changed to the structure since that time, except for the construction of a north chapel in 1638. This chapel has a charming pattern of flint flushwork triangles in a horizontal course below the battlements. It contains one of the most interesting seventeenth-century monuments in Kent - to commemorate Lady Elizabeth Culpepper (d. 1638), carved and signed by the Court Sculptor Edward Marshall. The detail is amazing and the cord that connects her ring and wrist is always pointed out to visitors. The rest of the church was restored early in the career of George Gilbert Scott Jr in 1876 (see also Frinsted) and retains its patina of age unimaginable in a restoration by Scott Sr. The pulpit is early seventeenth century and dates from a few years after the much crocketed font cover. There are three signed monuments by Rysbrack and a tall crownpost roof of good construction in the nave.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hollingbourne

 

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HOLLINGBORNE.

THE next parish north-westward from Harrietsham is Hollingborne, called in Domesday, Hoilingeborde, and in later records, Holingburnan and Holingeburne. It probably took its name from the spring which rises in the vale underneath the hill, in this parish.

 

THE PARISH of Hollingborne is situated much the same as that of Harrietsham last described, close to the great ridge of chalk hills, at the foot of which is the village called Hollingborne-street, in which at the south end of it stands the church and vicarage, and near them a well-looking brick mansion, of the time of queen Elizabeth, which by its appearance must have had owners of good condition in former times, but what is remarkable the rector of Hollingborne claims some rooms in this house in right of his rectory at this time. The road through Newnhambottom from Ospringe and Canterbury passes through Hollingborne-street, and thence through Eyhorne, commonly called Iron-street, in this parish, where there are two good houses, one belonging to Robert Salmon, esq. who resides in it, and the other built not many years since by Mr. John Weeks, who died possessed of it in 1785. Hence the road leads on, and joins the Ashford high road through Bersted to Maidstone. The southern part of this parish consists mostly of a deep sand, the whole of it below the hill is well watered by some small streams, which running southward join the Lenham rivulet in its way to Maidstone. Nearer the street the soil becomes a chalk, which continues to the summit of the hill, at the edge of which stands Mr. Duppa's house, whence the remaining part of this parish northward, situated on high ground, and exposed to the cold bleak winds, is but a wild and dreary country, with thick hedgerows, and frequent coppices of wood, mostly of hazel and oak, and small unthriving trees of the latter dispersed among them; the soil a deep tillage land, wet and very poor, being a red cludgy earth, covered with quantities of flint stones. On Eyhorne green, or as it is commonly called Broad-street, in this parish, in October yearly, two constables are chosen, one for the upper, the other for the lower half hundred of Eyhorne, each of which district consists of the twelve adjoining parishes, the borsholders in which, and the several boroughs in them, except such as are chosen at the different court leets, are chosen here likewise.

 

This parish, with the manor of Elnothington in it, together with the rest of the hundred of Eyhorne, was antiently bound to contribute to the repair of the sixth pier of Rochester bridge.

 

ÆTHELSTAN ETHELING, son of Ethelred II. gave by his will in 1015, to Christ-church, in Canterbury, his lands at Hollingborne, with their appurtenances, excepting one plough-land, which he had given to Siserth. In the MSS. in Bennet college library, Cambridge, of the evidences of Christ-church, Canterbury, intitled Thorn, printed in Decim. Script. f. 2221, this gift is said to have been made in 980; a very improbable circumstance, the king, his elder brother, at that time being but fourteen years of age.

 

These lands he had bought of his father, and gave them, with his consent, to Christ-church, L. S. A. that is, free from all secular service, excepting the trinoda necessitas, in like manner as Adisham had been given to it.

 

The manor of Hollingborne remained part of the possessions of the church of Canterbury at the time of the conquest, when the revenues of it were enjoyed as one common estate by the archbishop and his convent; but archbishop Lanfranc, after the example of foreign churches, separating them, in the partition Hollingborne fell to the share of the monks, and was allotted for their subsistence, (or ad Cibum, as it was usually termed) and it is accordingly thus entered in the book of Domesday, under the general title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi, i. e. the land of the monks of the archbishop.

 

The archbishop himself holds Hoilingeborde. It was taxed at six sulings. The arable land is twenty-four carucates. In demesne there are two, and sixty-one villeins, with sixteen borderers, having twenty-three carucates. There is a church, twelve servants, and two mills, and eight acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty hogs. In the whole, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty pounds, and now it is worth thirty pounds. To this manor there adjoins half a suling, which never paid scot, this the bishop of Baieux rents of the archbishop.

 

At this time, the whole of the above premises seems to have been valued at thirty pounds.

 

King Henry II. granted to the monks of Christchurch a charter for their lands at Hollingborne upon the Hills. In the 10th year of king Edward II. the prior obtained a charter of free-warren for his manor of Hollingborne, among others; about which time it was, with its appurtenances, valued at 46l. 9s. 8d. King Henry VI. by his letters patent, in his 25th and 26th year, granted to the prior a market, to be held at this place weekly on a Wednesday, and a fair yearly on the feast of St. Anne. (fn. 1)

 

William Selling, who was elected prior in the next reign of king Edward IV. anno 1472, during the time of his holding that dignity, greatly improved the prior's apartments here. After which, it seems to have undergone no material alteration till the dissolution of the priory, which was surrendered into the hands of king Henry VIII. in the 31st year of his reign.

 

The manor of Hollingborne did not remain long in the hands of the crown; for the king settled it, by his dotation charter, in his 33d year, on his newerected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions it now remains.

 

There is a court-leet and court baron regularly held by the dean and chapter for this manor, which extends likewise into the adjoining parishes of Hucking, Bredhurst, and Harrietsham, the quit-rents of it called Beadle-rents, being about forty-two pounds per annum.

 

¶BUT THE DEMESNE LANDS of this manor have been from time to time leased out by the dean and chapter at a reserved rent of 10l. 9s. The year after the grant of it to them, they demised them by lease to I. Reynolde, as they did anno 19 Elizabeth to William Puresoy, in whose family they remained till the beginning of king James I.'s reign. After which the Fludds held them in lease, and continued so to do, till their interest in them was passed away to W. Alabaster, D. D. After which these premises were held in succession by Bargrave, Boys, Farewell, and Gookin, till the year 1684, when Sir Thomas Culpeper, had a lease of them, in whose family they continued till John Spencer Colepeper, of the Charterhouse, passed away his interest in them to the Hon. Robert Fairfax, who held them in 1758, and then alienated his lease to Francis Child, esq. banker in London, whose brother Robert Child, esq. of London, banker, dying in 1782, the trustees of his will, Robert Dent and John Keysel, esqrs. are now in the possession of his interest in the lease of these demesnes, under the dean and chapter, besides which the dean and chapter have several other lands and woods here leased out by them to different persons.

 

HOLLINGBORNE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deaury of Sutton; and is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon.

 

The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is a handsome building, consisting of three large isles, with a chancel at the end of the middle one, and a square tower at the west end. The chancel is much enriched with the monuments of the family of Culpeper, of Greenway-court, and for two of the lords Culpeper, one of them by Rysbrack; on the north side is one for Sir Martin Barnham and his two wives, in 1610, their three figures kneeling at a desk, and underneath their children. At the east end of the north isle there is a small neat chapel, raised up several steps to give room for a vault underneath, in which lie the remains of all this branch of the Culpeper family. The sides of the chapel are filled with black escutcheons, and square tablets of black marble alternately, only two of these among the numbers of them are filled up, and those with younger branches of the family settled elsewhere, a proof of the disappointment of the vain endeavours of the builder to transmit the memory of his descendants to posterity. On the middle of the pavement is a beautiful raised monument of white marble, and the figure of a lady, lying at full length, in the habit of the times, of exceeding good sculpture, in memory of Elizabeth, lady of Sir Thomas Culpeper, daughter of John Cheney, esq. of Sussex, obt. 1638. In the isle a monument for Nich. Chaloner, esq. obt. 1706. Against the north wall of the north isle for two of the family of Duppa, and at the lower end of the church, for the Plummers, Collins's and Dykes. In the middle isle a stone, on which have been the figures of a man and woman in brass, but two shields of arms remain, being quarterly, first and fourth, A chevron, engrailed on a chief, three sleurs de lis; second and third, Three fishes, wavy, sessways, in pale.

 

There is belonging to this church, a most superb altar-cloth, and a pulpit-cloth and cushion, of purple velvet, ornamented with different figures of fruits of pomegranets and grapes, wrought in gold, the needlework of the daughters of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who employed themselves for almost the space of twelve years in the working of them, during their father's absence abroad with king Charles II.

 

The communion plate is very handsome, and an swerable to the above-mentioned furniture, being mostly the gift of the family of Colepeper, and some of it of Baldwin Duppa, esq.

 

John Eweyn, by his will proved in 1527, gave a table of alabaster, to stand upon the altar of St. John the Baptist in this church; and money to the repair of St. John's chapel in it. John Aleff, parson of Hollingborne, as appears by his will in 1537, was buried in the way beside the porch-door, on the right hand, and that there was set in the wall, nigh his grave, a stone with a plate of sculpture, mentioning where and when he was buried. He had before been vicar of Little Chart, and of St. Laurence Wolton, as he was then of St. John's Sherburne, in Hampshire.

 

The church of Hollingborne, to which the chapels of Hucking and Bredhurst were antiently annexed, is a sinecure rectory, with a vicarage endowed. The rector of Hollingborne is at this time patron of the perpetual curacy of the chapel of Bredhurst. The archbishop is patron both of the rectory and of the vicarage of Hollingborne, the vicar of which is collated to this vicarage, with the chapel of Hucking annexed.

 

The vicarage was endowed before the year 1407, in which year Arthur Sentleger, the rector, granted to William Maunby, vicar of this church, a messuage, with its appurtenances in this parish, for the habitation of himself and his successors for ever. (fn. 5) In archbishop Chichele's register, at Lambeth, there is an unauthenticated writing of a composition, made about the year 1441, for it is without date, between William Lyeff, then rector here, and John Fsylde, vicar, upon the assignation of a proper portion for the endowment of this vicarage in future times.

 

The rectory of Hollingborne is valued in the king's books at 28l. 15s. 5d. and the tenths at 2l. 17s. 6 1/7d. The vicarage is valued in them at 7l. 6s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 14s. 8d. The vicarage in 1640 was valued at eighty-six pounds, and the communicants were then 271. It is now of the yearly certified value of 70l. 16s. 8d.

 

The vicarage was augmented twenty pounds per annum, by lease between Ralph Staunton, rector, and Sir Thomas Culpeper, of this parish.

 

¶The name of Culpeper, or Colepeper, is so variously spelt in different deeds and records, that it is impossible to keep with any rule to either spelling; on all the monuments, and in the parish register, (excepting in two instances in the last) it is spelt Culpeper.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp460-478

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

But I like shooting petunias in black and white ... garden 2014. www.glophoto.net

BUT Weymann Trolleybus new 3/1953 as Brighton 52 Taken at the East Anglia Transport Museum Chapel Road, Carlton Colville, Lowestoft, on the Eastern Coachworks 30th Anniversary Weekend 2017

This is known these days as the Palace of Reunification, but was once, dear reader, the South Vietnamese Presidential Palace (or "Palace of the dictatorial imperialist puppet government"!)

 

Upon the partition of Vietnam into North and South in 1954 at the 17th Parallel, Ngô Đình Diệm became Premier of South Vietnam under the head of state and former Emperor, Bảo Ðại. In 1955, when by the terms of the Geneva accords Diem should have been organising elections (which he feared might have led to unification with North Vietnam), he held a referendum asking voters to approve a republic. The result overwhelmingly endorsed the removal of Bảo Ðại and the establishment of Diem as President. In fact it was a bit too 'overwhelming! Diem's brother Ngô Ðình Nhu rigged the election so heavily that is Saigon for example, 133 percent of the registered population voted for Diem!!!

 

President Jean Baptiste Ngô Đình Diệm has to share a large part of the blame for the eventual defeat of South Vietnam by the North. His administration was deeply unpopular; biased in favour of the Catholic minority and against the Buddhists (as we have already seen); profoundly corrupt, and its army so badly led as to be of little use. In the end, the American administration stood by in 1963 and watched while he was deposed by elements of his army. His assassination however, was not it would seem, pre-planned.

 

The next man to be installed here as President, was Dương Văn Minh. Popularly known as Big Minh because of his size, he was a former Vietnamese general and had been one of only 50 Vietnamese officers ever to be commissioned into the French Colonial Army. Minh is said to have preferred playing mah-jongg, giving tea parties and fighting the Việt Cộng, to running the country, and as a result was in and out of government several times between 1963 and 1975.

 

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu became President in 1967 and held office until a few days before the fall of Saigon in 1975. Sadly, Thiệu's regime was accused of being far more corrupt than the regime of his predecessor. In 1971, Thiệu ran for re-election, but his reputation for corruption made his political opponents believe the election would be fixed and they declined to run. As the only candidate, Thiệu was re-elected by 94% of the registered population - a remarkable achievement when one considers that there was only an 87% turn-out! Thiệu resigned as President in a tearful televised announcement on 21 April 1975 in which he denounced the United States for failing to come to the aid of South Vietnam!! He died in Massachusetts in 2001.

 

President Thiệu was followed by his Vice-President, Trần Văn Hương, who himself resigned after a week, handing power back to Big Minh again, who presided over the surrender of the government two days later.

 

But we still warned the little ones strictly off them, just in case.

Portrait à moins de 6m ...séquence frisson !!!

More from Glasgow, taken only a few yards from the preceding photograph but a year later, on Monday 15th May 1978. I seem to remember this as being in the evening. I'd arrived that afternoon and booked in at my bed & breakfast, The George, cheap and cheerful and only a hundred yards from Buchanan Bus Station. It was also handy for Queen Street and the first item on the agenda ...planning the itinerary was part of the fun... was to catch a train out to Airdrie to "do" Baxter's. I think this must have been taken on the way back, before I returned to the hotel. I was quite impressed with the room ...spacious, with a double bed all to myself and a view across the roofs to cupolas and crocketed Victorian spires. When I returned the following year they gave me a broom cupboard and double-booked it for one night of the stay.

The bus is an example of that mainly Scottish oddity, the Albion Lowlander LR1, with body by Alexander, who'd made the best they could of what was bound to be an awkward job. Actually, I rather like the step-up of the entire top-deck front bay ...the result of grafting the standard Leyland Titan cab and "cowl" of the time onto a low height body.

it could make you go crazy if you got stuck in there during hail storm!

"But it's Monday..."

"So? It's still good sausage!"

cleaned up in CS, but the light was great and the image was good to start.

 

I made it out to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge again... Such a great place. I recemmend it highly if you're within a few hours... I'm about 100 miles out, and made it there by 6:45am :D (this wasn't taken on the wildlife drive)

 

BTW, in case you missed it over the holidays, I posted a shot of two eagles mating @ Blackwater.

 

Oh, and in case you missed it, there's two eagles in the above photo ;)

At was the intention to visit an abandoned church this morning, but that seemed to be closed again. As I only had a morning's time to explore we quickly drove to Maison Clerckx so at least we did not have to return home without any pictures. And it was well worth it!

 

There are gruesome rumours about the owner of this house, Mr. Clerckx. In the 18th Century the lowlands of Belgium and The Netherlands were confronted with gangs of hoodlums, rapists and satanists who called themselves the "Bokkenrijders". These medievil criminals terrorized the people and left a trail of destruction in these countries. This man, Mr. Clerckx was fed up and swore to wipe out all of the "Bokkenrijders", in which he succeeded. Stories go that in the basement of his house he had rings attached to the walls where he locked up the criminals and starved them to death. Those who were not brought to the basement were hung. The hanging was often done in public and therefor the people were very frightened of Mr. Clerckx.

After the "Bokkenrijders" were no more he turned his aggression to the people around him. This got so worse that he was banned by the community. But even after he left, the terror this man has brought took ages to be forgotten...

 

Please visit www.preciousdecay.com for more pictures

but we call her Katya

The pub is far away but I'll walk carefully...

“I may have my head in the clouds, but I have my feet well set on the ground.”

 

So much better on black. Please hit "L"

 

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But only for Ripley's Believe It or Not in downtown Wisconsin Dells.

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing further then he uttered- not a feather then he fluttered-

Till I scarcely more than muttered, "other friends have flown

before-

On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."

Then the bird said, "Nevermore."

As 2020 comes to a close, I can't help but feel exhausted thinking about every smartphone we've had to review here but as much as I want to take a short break it appears, we might not have time for that. The first smartphone launch event happening in 2021 is expected to come sooner than you think. Samsung is reportedly scheduled to launch its next top-of-the-line smartphone in early January and from what I’ve heard there's plenty to be excited about.

 

In its early days, the Galaxy’s line would increase in single-digit increments every year. Galaxy s2, s3, s4 to S10, then last year it skipped 10 digits and went all the way to S20 bringing it in sync with the year 2020 and I guess that was the plan all along this year. The next smartphone won't be called the s30 instead, it will be the s21 so it still matches the year. It's announced just like last year there will be three variants namely the s21, s21 Plus, and s21 Ultra. More on the differences between the three models later so this is what the Galaxy s21 will look like.

 

Teasers from Samsung have echoed what we've seen in leaked renders. The biggest design feature is what's on the back while there's no way. Camera modules are getting smaller in 2021 Samsung's embracing it and keeping everything as an element on the top left side of the phone. It's almost flushed against the rest of the frame so it doesn't stick out from the phone that much. I like it and can't wait to get a feel for it like the most recent Note Series.

 

bit.ly/3nq9pjb

It is a long story, but an exciting one. It is 1977 and the last race of the first season of my racing this motorcycle and my clutch is slipping. Even street bikes are passing me in practice and I had finished last in the heat race. "you clutch springs have shrunk" It took me a while to buy into that one, and after measuring a spare against the ones in the bike and they were around 3/16 of an inch shorter. The same thickness as the round locking nut that goes on a valve stem. It took me a while to find six among the racers pitted in the infield.

Working in the grass I managed to lose one of the cups that hold the springs. So I gave up.

Reuben McMueter had just won the Open Production race and told me to go out, and if it still slipped then come back in. I jumped down from the roof of my van and got ready. I managed to be at the back of the grid in time for the start. It was an extremely hot day for late September. The green flag dropped and I pushed the bike to life after a thirty yard sprint. I overtook another bike on the first lap, but he came around again as we started the second lap. Dead last and I decided to come in after this lap.

As I came out of turn four and headed into the carousel a heavy down pour rolled across the track. The rain was so hard that it was difficult to see only a few yards ahead. Their were thirty five bikes in the field, and I went looking for some one to ride with hoping that between two or three of us we could find our way around.

After four laps the race leader came past at some speed on the front straight. I turned it up and followed. I soon recognized it to be Morrison on his new H model. He still had treaded tires like me. For three laps I followed. When we got the crossed flags I closed up and showed him my front wheel as we exited the carousel. He wiggled as he pulled away. I raced a five speed against the 6 speeds of the Yamahas at the Ledges, and this time when I asked the bike to go fast it did, as the air intake to cool the clutch was now funneling a stream of water on to the plates and springs. At the end of the back straight I was closing so quickly that we both ended up at the same point in the high speed turn called the kink. His leg grazed my fairing. He pulled away back tire spinning. I now began to challenge him in every corner. The rain was slowing down and we were going faster. On the straights he went for every puddle of standing water he could ride through. He exploded them, and I had difficulty staying beside him or following him into a turn whenever he did this.

It came down to the last lap and on the final turn he nearly went off the track as I came under and passed him down the front straight. The flag man had the checkered out, then the white and then the checkered as I had unlapped myself and taken 2nd place. We had managed to lap the entire field in our fun in the rain.

Morrison did not think it was fun.

The photo was by the track photographer.

Sorry for the cluttered room, but you really can make just about any space “studio” space. This is a three light shot with a reflector for fill. It was set up “on location” in the living room. Just to see if I could, I set it up without moving any furniture…

 

From left to right:

--Main Light: Sony HVL-F42AM flash in a Photoflex LiteDome XS softbox. It uses the Photoflex Adjustable Shoe Mount Hardware (AC-B222SM) that has been modified to allow attachment of the Sony MS-1 flash mini stand to the bracket so the Sony/Minolta flash units slip right in (see here for how it’s used with a shoe flash).

--Wescott “Desert Scape” 10 X 12 backdrop on a Savage Port-A-Stand

--Background Light: Minolta 3600HSD flash in a Wescott Mico Apollo Light Modifier on a short stand

--PhotoVision 14" Pocket One-Shot Digital Calibration Target

--Hair Light: Minolta 3600HSD flash in a Wescott Mico Apollo Light Modifier on a tall stand (reflected off the white ceiling to cut back on it’s power—remember the 3600’s are manual flash units when used in wireless mode)

--Fill reflector: Photoflex LitePanel 39"x72" reflector with simi-silver fabric

 

…And a Manfrotto tripod to hold the camera. I also use a Minolta RC-1000L remote cord to fire the camera—I like the steps of focus, then hold for expression, then fire. The image here was exposed using only the three flash units used in the configuration. Sample shots are here and here...

I've never been able to take a photo of the moon like this before. I still had Paul's 90-300mm lens so I was thrilled to try it. It was actually quite light out, but without a tripod I needed a fast shutter speed so now it looks like this was quite late at night. I wish I still had his lens actually - the moon on Saturday night was amazing. I tried my best to get it, but I struggled really.

 

27th June:

 

My Mom woke me up this morning before she went to London & gave me a huge hug. Then I went back to sleep. & aaaah it was freaking hot today. My Dad got me up with the promise for bacon for breakfast - vegetarian, of course, so I was quite happy to get up. Then he needed to run down to town to get some netting for some of the plants to grow up, & he had to go then because it closed early on a Sunday. & he needed to get some more things from Tesco. So he ended up cooking me bacon for lunch, which worked out well because I took ages to get dressed. & my Dad makes the best sandwiches. It doesn't matter what filling I choose, he always makes them way better than me. & I cannot stress how gorgeous it is when he makes me a vegetarian bacon sandwich. On a side note, it really irritates me when people say you shouldn't call it bacon if it's vegetarian - it's just a name people!!

 

Anyway, I went out to sunbathe on the blankets for a while. I read some of The Sunday Times, & then about 20 pages of To The Lighthouse. I've already decided I don't like it. Who knows, maybe my opinion will change later on. Hugh popped home with Luke for a little while, then they went over to the AC to watch the England vs. Germany game. I moved inside & opened the doors again so that the sun could reach me, but I could move into the shade when it was just way too hot. My Dad kept me up to date with the footie - 4-1. Ouch. & things probably would have been different if the ref. had allowed that second goal by England.

 

I just read for the afternoon (not To the Lighthouse though) until it got cooler & I went to chat to my Dad out in the garden. I had helped put up the netting earlier in the day, & now I wanted to help out with the watering. You know those people who enjoy playing with fire? Well I enjoy playing with water. It's just awesome. I started out with the watering can & did the new plants my Dad had just put down on the patio, & then the pansies, & the tub of yellow & purple flowers - I don't know what they're called. Then I got to go & water the plants on the 3rd level with the hosepipe. I think there was a row of fuchsia, & then parallel to that some little green things. I water the green things first with this drippy setting, & then used the jet on the fuchsia, but aimed at the soil, not them. I experimented with the types of spray you could get with the hosepipe, as in jet, mist, cone, flat. I planned to wait until my Dad had come back onto this layer, but still on the other side of the fence, & then aim the spray up so it went over the fence & got him. But I had my back turned & he was next to me before I could get him. & then my Dad gave me his flip-flops so I could walk on the gravel path & do the roses on the other side, so I used the jet. & there was a row of little colourful flowers in front of the roses, but their name escapes me. The hosepipe kept getting stuck on rocks though, & the flow of water would lessen so I'd have to go & unstick it. I'd aim the hosepipe up into the air then, or facing the fence, but it would either fall down on me, or hit the fence & come back at me. It wasn't awful though, it was just spray, so it was quite fun.

 

While I was playing with the hosepipe my Dad brought my phone down & asked if I'd text Hugh (he was charging his) as we wanted to get on with our evening, but he didn't text back. After I'd finished watering the bottom level my Dad asked me to water the rose beds on the second level while he went to call Hugh. Apparently his phone was off. But I did manage to briefly get a little bit of water on my Dad until he ran back up to the top layer. I was going to advance on him, but he went & stood in front of the Garden Room doors, which he pointed out was also right in front of my laptop, so I couldn't spray him anymore. I did manage to get him while watering the new bed we have planted on the top layer though. I waited until he was turned away from me, then aimed the hosepipe up in the air but angled at him. By the time it got him I had the hosepipe facing away, though it was obviously me. I got him a few more times after that until he threatened to not let me have Chinese tonight.

 

Hugh got home after I'd finished watering & said he'd left his phone at home. My Dad ordered take away & then I read until he went out to get it. When he got back we watched the Doctor Who finale which was lovely. & we haven't had Chinese in ages, so that was nice. With last week's Doctor Who I totally predicted that the mystery centurion would be Rory (although I'll admit I did originally say it would be John Barrowman), & then I said the box would have the Doctor in it! Actually, they were using it to imprison the Doctor in, but my point is that when they said they were going to use/were using it it to imprison something deadly & powerful in it that I knew they meant him. Though it was totally cheesy that all his enemies banded together. But back to this week - I really liked it, the more I think about it. & the Doctor telling his story to little Amy. I didn't get it when he was talking about how he 'borrowed' the Tardis, & then I was like "OH" when Amy remembered it in her wedding rhyme. I'm not going to say everyone episode of this series was great, as they had some seriously awful ones in there, but I loved the characters so much that it sort of makes up for it.

 

We watched BB afterwards & then my Mom called for a quick chat. Afterward my brother & I went downstairs & I took a picture of him for my Dad to use on a form he needs to send in for parental consent or something. Then we were going to watch a movie together before he goes camping, but ended up just having Two & a Half Men on. My Dad came down & we all basically hung out while getting on with our own things. I was going to bake something for Hugh, but we didn't have any sugar. I realised I did have one of those "add eggs & you're done" boxes, but we only had one & needed 3. Eventually I remembered the 5 minute chocolate cake, which only requires one egg, so I made that & used brown sugar. He didn't really like it, but I thought it was okay.

 

He went up to bed & I helped him pack. He had to unscrew his cooking stuff, & the smell of gas in his room was awful. We chucked open the windows & it was gone pretty quickly, but eew. & then he went to bed & I read (but once again, not To the Lighthouse) until I eventually went to sleep going up to 3am.

My first major restoration.

Corking this this was a bitch, but I got it done, with some pretty nice results. I used my late war Schlueter as a reference, I was able to more easily do this... the cork size is a little bigger than it should, but it still looks fine.

 

My corking/painting process-

-Make your own cork

--Wine corks, grated in a cheese grater, as small as you can get it.

--Use multiple sifters to get ride of cork shreds too big, and way too small for consistancy

-Painting

--Paint the helmet with a basecoat (Primer, or just a layer of the outercoat of paint)

--CORK THE HELMET IN SECTIONS

---I started just corking the top of the helmet, then I moved to the sides, then the back, then the spaces in between

--Once all the cork has at least one layer of paint, "pound" the cork with something flat, I used a hockey puck (This helps make the cork look mixed into the paint, not on the paint)

--Use 200 grit sandpaper or more and very lightly get rid of loose pieces

--More paint

--More pounding

--More sandpaper

--More paint

--Let dry

--Take your hands and gently rub them around the helmet to knock more loose pieces off

--Paint

--Let dry

--Repeat 3 steps before this one (Your hands..)

--Bake in oven at 100 degrees F or less for about 10 min. (Get permission first :P)

--More rubbing your hand, more paint if necessary (You've already baked it by now, so I recommend not to).

I used Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Olive.

 

If it's not dark enough, I've heard that wiping WD40 over the helmet evenly darkens the color.

But its such a pretty truck and of course the sworders name was also associated with the Coach industry. Seen at Truckfest Midlands and wales B9SWO a Volvo FH16 - 750. Photo taken 29/06/19

One cool gift idea! My great friend made me this "diaper cake" but it has more than just diapers in it! It's filled with diapers, rolled up onesies, rolled up washcloths, etc. There are also tons of little baby mittens, hair bow clips, teething toys, regular toys, toys for the car seat, puppets...I could go on and on. It's all tied together to a wooden rod in the center. It's fun to look at and discover new things. I'll be sad to take it apart!

Ravens Start Slow but Finish Well in Preseason Opener, Drop Atlanta 31-17

  

by Perry Green

AFRO Sports Editor / Photo by John Moore

 

The Baltimore Ravens won their first game of the 2012 NFL Preseason, pulling away from the Atlanta Falcons, 31-17, on Aug. 9 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga.

    

Here’s how the Ravens starters looked vs. Atlanta…

    

Ravens fifth-year quarterback Joe Flacco and the rest of the starting offense started out slow against the Falcons’ defense. They went 3-and-out on their first three offensive possessions, falling behind 14-0 at the start of the second quarter.

    

But Flacco and his receivers warmed up on their fourth possession together, marching down the field on a 11-play, 77-yard scoring drive capped off by a 9-yard touchdown pass to third-year tight end Ed Dickson. Flacco sat for the rest of the game after that possession, finishing 9-for-12 for 88 yards and a touchdown.

    

Second-year receiver Torrey Smith led all Ravens’ starters with three catches for 43 yards, while starting running back Ray Rice for just four yards on three carries.

    

The Ravens’ starting defense played without veteran linebacker Ray Lewis, and started the game just as slow as the offensive unit. They allowed Falcons fifth-year quarterback Matt Ryan to have his way in the first quarter, completing 9-for-13 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. Ryan moved Atlanta up the field on the very first possession of the game and tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to second-year receiver Julio Jones. Ryan was picked off by Ravens linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo on the Falcons’ second offensive possession, but recovered to lead Atlanta on another touchdown drive at the start of the second quarter.

    

Jones finished with a game-high six catches for 109 yards and a touchdown, while veteran teammate Roddy White added three catches for 46 yards.

    

How the backups won the game for the Ravens…

    

Baltimore trailed 14-7 when the backups came in the game, but that didn’t stop the Ravens from pouring on 24 points in the second half to beat Atlanta. Ravens backup quarterback Tyron Taylor, a third-year player out of Virginia Tech, didn’t score any touchdowns but completed 8-of-17 passes for 64 yards and ran for 51 yards on five carries. Taylor helped Baltimore move into scoring territory, where they scored a field goal by rookie kicker Justin Tucker at the start of the third quarter.

    

However, it was third-string quarterback Curtis Painter who stood out the most, completing 7-of-14 passes for 76 yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 22-yard pass to rookie receiver Deonte Thompson, who finished with 3 catches for 53 yards. Backup running back Bobby Rainey also played well, rushing for 36 yards on 12 carries while also catching three passes for 28 yards and a touchdown.

    

The Ravens’ defensive replacements outpaced the starters at controlling Atlanta’s offense, allowing just three points through the entire second half of the game. Falcons backup Chris Redman completed just one of six passes for eight yards, while third-string quarterback John Parker Wilson connected on eight of 16 passing attempts for 68 yards. Fourth string quarterback Dominique Davis completed six of 11 passes for 53 yards.

    

The Ravens will next face the Detroit Lions on Aug. 17 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. dsc_1158

... but I think it suits repro licca too!! How about you?

But what would we call it?

 

More on the evolution of Junior & Casey here:

www.commatose.ca/2013/11/flashback-to-march-2013-junior-c...

left me

But I know he thinking of me

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design by me

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stock girl

liam-stock.deviantart.com/art/widow-4-80315727

 

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all photos

 

www.mrkzy.com/uploads/60b2edd3fe.jpg