Adding to the ever expanding list of Airbus A350 operators; the Spanish flag-carrier, Iberia took delivery of their first example back in 2018 with an initial order of 16 examples, in recent years has expanded the order from IAG's order backlog with the carrier now expecting to take on 20 examples.

For Iberia, the flag-carrier has undergone a major fleet renewal programme since the carrier's merger with British Airways over 10 years ago... Gone are the dated Airbus A340-300s, the early demise of the Airbus A340-600s following COVID-19, as well as a small handful of existing Airbus A330-200s which are to be converted to aerial tankers for the Spanish Air Force.

Iberia took delivery of their first Airbus A350 back in 2018 and as the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold, deliveries were halted with a total of 9 in the current fleet. As demand began to rebound, Iberia has since taken delivery of a further 3 examples in 2022.

The Airbus A350-900s in Iberia's fleet have since taken over the Airbus A340-600s role in the long-haul fleet and are common visitors at London Heathrow in the evening providing additional cargo uplift from its Madrid-Barajas hub.

Currently, Iberia operates 12 Airbus A350s, all of which are Airbus A350-900s. Iberia have 8 more Airbus A350-900s on-order.

November India Golf is one of 12 Airbus A350-900s operated by Iberia, delivered new to the flag-carrier on lease from CCB Financial Leasing on 5th March 2020 and she is powered by 2 Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engines. She is named after the Spanish men's national basketball team, Selección Española de Baloncesto.

Airbus A350-941 EC-NIG 'Selección Española de Baloncesto' on final approach into Runway 27R at London Heathrow (LHR) on IB3166 from Madrid-Barajas (MAD).

GB Railfreight are keen on delivering the best service possible so with the first of GB Railfreight's new Class 66 diesel locomotives seen on the 14/07/14 on there final part of the delivery trip from America by rail and sea this the move from Newport Dock to Doncaster lead by older Class 66 locomotive, 66737, which here leads the 5 new ones down towards Doncaster through Denaby, Mexborough, Rotherham working 0X66 Newport Docks to Doncaster Robert's Rd Electromotive Depot the locomotives numbered in running order, 66737, 66752, 66753, 66754, 66756 & 66755 the new ones behind not been commissioned at Newport Docks and been commissioned later at Robert's Rd, Doncaster. It's nice to see some new locomotives arrive in the UK especially for GB Railfreight the ever expanding Europorte outfit running freight trains mainly around the East Coast mainline out of Doncaster, Peterborough, Immingham and the port of Felixstowe with other major contracts with Drax power station and Ironbridge with Biomas trains among other work it carried out as well who have recently picked up a lot of work from DB Schenker UK and a few trains from Freightliner too thus needing to bump up its locomotive fleet with some electric and ED second hand locomotives on the way as well, Class 73 & Class 92, and the spot hired Class 47's it is currently using around Doncaster too. The locomotives are General Motors built JT42CWR EMD710 engined Class 66's and are one of the most common locomotives not only within GB Railfreight but also within the UK its self with most major freight operating companies running the type which is built in America before been shipped over much like the General Electric build Class 70 diesel locomotive of which Colas Railfreight are the latest customer. As of the 14/07/14 all 5 new locos remain on Robert's Rd and have not been used on a revenue earning freight train however it wont be long now while here the sheds follow each other in a nice line around the curve just north east of Denaby foot crossing its self looking rather fresh as they go.

FJ56YWE was a Volvo B12B / Plaxton Panther C49Ft purchased new by Dunn-Line (5625) in November 2006 for use on National Express work. On disposal it joined the ever-expanding fleet of Gibson's of Renfrew. It has since moved on to McGill's of Greenock, and was leaving Glasgow to go to the Argyllshire Town of Dunoon.

this is Mojo, she is eight weeks old and the newest addition to the ever expanding felt_tip_felon petting zoo, she seems to be settling in well and is full of energy - the current cats seem a little perplexed but they'll get used to her...

 

all together now - Awwwwwwwww

Cassidy is the newest beautiful girl to be adopted into our ever expanding family.

Please follow me and my ever expanding catalog.

New to London Buses - East London(S36), in 07/1992, so just missing the 'K' reg. issue by a matter of weeks, this Scania was new in Docklands Express branding, being delivered in a batch of fourteen. Operating for Stagecoach Manchester in this view, it is alongside 13215, C215CBU, a Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympian ONLXB/1R. This Manchester resident was new to Greater Manchester PTE(3215), in 03/1986. They are seen here on display at now ceased Trans-Lancs Rally, Heaton Park, Manchester, on 04/09/2005. This popular event was last held in 2019. This was due to COVID-19 and the now ever expanding summer fairground.

 

The camera being a Pentax MZ-M with the film being a Jessops Colourslide.

 

I would request, as with all my photos, that they are not copied or downloaded in any way, shape or form. © Peter Steel 2005.

19th Century Courthouses.

After full self-government in South Australia in 1857 the new government spent its money cautiously. In terms of public infrastructure they mainly built gravel roads, courthouses and police stations, and later in the 1870s public schools and railway lines and stations. The 19th century was an era of low government spending. Fortunately many of the courthouses, designed to impress and give the impression of the solidness of government and police keeping, have survived albeit with vastly different uses. Thus the Courthouse in Two Wells (1876) is now a craft shop, Balaklava Courthouse (1913) is now an art gallery, Georgetown Courthouse (1879) is now a residence, Laura Courthouse (1878) is now an art gallery and Port Pirie Courthouse (1882) is now used as state government offices.

 

Gladstone Gaol.

The first Gladstone township was laid out by Matthew Moorhouse (former Protector of Aborigines) in 1872 as a private town, but a Government town was proclaimed next to it as 'Booyoolie' in 1875. The two towns merged but it was not until 1940 that the name of 'Gladstone' was officially adopted for both towns. The town was named after William Gladstone (1809-1898) a 19th century British Prime Minister. The town developed rapidly with the arrival of the railway in 1877 from Port Pirie which separated the two growing townships. Settlement occurred in the district after the government resumed much of the original Booyoolee lease land in 1869 and put it up for public auction in 1871. In Moorhouse’s town east of the railway line is the old butter factory and the original school building. West of the railway yards, with its three gauges, you can see the newer school (1929) and Grubbs Cordial Factory. Gladstone High School was one of the first rural high schools opening in 1913. Grubbs Cordial Factory has been operating continuously since 1876 but with various owners. The Grubb family were not the founders but they have been running the factory since 1914. Note the architectural style of the two banks in the Main Street of Gladstone. Both were built in the same period; one in the traditional Greek classical style with Doric columns with volutes on top and a clearly defined pediment across the roof line; the other was built in stripped classical style with no ornamentation and some remnants of classical features only. The Gladstone Courthouse was built in 1878 and it became a major regional Courthouse as it was situated mid-way between Laura and Georgetown. It was attached to the local police station. The land for the police station was purchased by the government for £120 in December 1877. The Gladstone Police Station and Court opened in March 1878. Laura and Georgetown petitioned for their own Courthouses which were duly erected in 1878 and 1879 respectively. The Courthouse in Georgetown cost nearly £1,100. The Gladstone Courthouse closed as a court many years ago. The growth of the town was further hastened with the establishment of the Gladstone Goal.

 

Gladstone has some fine old buildings including the two banks mentioned above .They both opened in 1937. Along the Main Street is the old Post Office which has been modernised and changed from its original appearance. It opened around 1880. The hotels include the Gladstone Hotel built in 1875 and the Commercial Hotel which was erected in 1879; and the oldest hotel is the Booyoolie Hotel built in 1873. Finlayson’s Butter Factory with its signage was built around 1890 for a skating rink and converted to a butter factory in 1922 which operated into the early 1980s partly because it produced butter for Broken Hill. The town has several fine church including the Anglican Church which was the Pro Cathedral for the Anglican Diocese of Willochra for many years. It was built in 1891. Amateur Anglican Church architect William Mallyon, manager of a Port Pirie bank designed the transept, sanctuary and chancel which was added in 1890 and although he designed the tower at that time it was not erected until 1928. The Diocese of Willochra was based in Gladstone from its inception in 1915 and the nearby Bishops House was completed in 1923. In 1999 the Diocese moved its headquarters to Port Pirie and made the church of St Peter and St Paul the Anglican Cathedral. The Anglican Sunday School hall next to the church was built in 1909. The Catholic Church is on the hill near the primary school on West Terrace on the northern fringe of the town. It was built in 1928 when the original church of 1881 became a hall before it was demolished in 1951. A Wesleyan Methodist Church opened in Gladstone in 1876. This small Wesleyan Church was connected to the current Methodist, now Uniting Church, in 1922. The former Bible Christian Methodist Church at 32 High Street was built in 1876. Upon Methodist churches Union in 1900 it was left vacant until 1919 when the Masons purchased it for £120 for use as the Masonic Hall which it still is. The funds from the sale of the church to the Masons helped fund the new 1922 Methodist church. Next to the now Masonic Temple is a grand two storey house dating from around 1900 with a small cupola on an arched entry porch. It is just south of the old Police Station and Police Court room. From here you can turn left into Fourth Street and left again into Sixth Street to reach St Albans Anglican Church. Behind the 1960s Council Chambers in Cross Street is the stone gable faced Soldiers Memorial Hall built in 1921.

 

Gladstone Goal was built between 1879 and 1881 at a cost of over £21,000. Tenders were called and Sara and Dunstan of Burra won the tender for its construction. Its design was based on the model prison of Bristol in England. Slate for the flooring was transported from Mintaro and stone was quarried locally for both the cell blocks and the high external prison yard walls. It was intended for debtors and inebriates and seldom housed more than 20 prisoners at any one time from when it opened in 1881 until it closed in 1939. Both men and women were incarcerated in Gladstone gaol and the first gaol keeper was Mr Pollet who had been the keeper at Redruth gaol in Burra. When opened it could accommodate 86 prisoners but with a later expansion this increased to around 200 prisoners. But given that it seldom accommodated more than 20 inmates why did they ever expand it? Criminals from around the Mid North charged with serious crimes like murder were also housed in this prison awaiting their trials. Gladstone gaol closed in 1939 and during World War Two from September 1939 to 1940 it was used to inter Italians and Germans of suspect loyalties. Then from 1942 until 1943 it was used by the Army as a Military Detention barracks. In 1953 it reopened for convicted youth offenders so that they were separated from the hardened criminals of Yatala gaol at Northfield. It opened with 90 youth offenders in 1953. Its peak year of operations was 1969 when it held 130 youth offenders. It finally closed as a youth prison in 1975. Prison life was never easy. The daily routine of the Gladstone Gaol in the early years was as follows:

7.00 am - Prisoners woken and served breakfast in their cells.

7.30 am - Leave cells, empty toilet buckets and shower.

8.00 am - Parade in exercise yard and work details issued.

11.30 am - Collect lunch and return to cells.

1.00pm - Return to work assignments.

4.15 pm - Finish work and shower. Collect evening meals from the kitchen and return to cells.

9.00 pm - Lights out. Prisoners were allowed to have visitors once a fortnight and write one letter a week and their work assignments included making metal buckets, making mops, metal garbage tins and working in the prison vegetable gardens and orchard.

 

The Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum is a volunteer-operated aviation museum located in and around the World War II-era watch tower (control tower) at the former RAF Dumfries. It is located two miles north east of the centre of Dumfries, Scotland, where it was in service from June 1940 until 1957, when it closed. The museum, founded in 1977 by the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Group, has a collection of aircraft, both civil and military, aero engines, artefacts, and a small, but "ever-expanding collection of memorabilia honouring airborne forces".

So this was my second "night in" and it's fair to say life has been very rocky at times since last time. But we're surviving and I'm (Nicky) still alive (just) and very much enjoying and embracing being me, so things could be worse haha.

BTW I know the photos are very samey (is that even a word..?) and I need to have a bit more variety, I'll see what I can do in the future... That said I'm loving this new top from Boden :)

Oh and I've added more to my ever expanding bio/life story if you're interested in knowing more :)

Dijsselhofplantsoen 22/06/2022 14h37

A small hospital was located in this building; the Dijsselhof clinic. My mother was helped with her uterus here in 1974.

 

Dijsselhofkliniek

The Dijsselhofkliniek was a relatively small hospital, located at the Dijsselhofplantsoen in Amsterdam South.

Part of the Dijsselhofplantsoen 14 building from 1929 by architect Hendrik Wijdeveld was taken into use in 1931 by the gynecologist Rudolf Theodor Meurer (1898-1979), son of gynecologist and rower Rudolf Meurer and Alberdina Meursing. In 1953 it grew into a maternity hospital for the less fortunate. In the early 1960s it was converted into a small hospital, in 1988 it celebrated its twenty-sixth anniversary; it then had thirty beds. It specialized in plastic surgery, varicose veins, ophthalmology, but also still gynaecology.

It also meant the end of the hospital, which had to close its doors due to cuts in healthcare. It offered small-scale care until the very end; the hospitals concentrated in ever-expanding medical centers. It closed its doors on July 1, 1989 because of the bed reduction demanded by the Ministry of Welfare, Public Health and Culture. A number of doctors left for Jan van Goyen Medical Center and the Boerhaave clinic; the latter closed its doors in 1994.

[ wikipedia - Dijsselhofkliniek ]

Finally had a chance for another small photo session to capture some of my models which have been made over the past few months and missed during previous opportunities.

Please enjoy my ever expanding array of vehicles and emergency services.

:)

 

We spent this weekend painting Puff's nursery and assembling the furniture. I have to say, I am super proud of us and how it turned out. Ian and I are terrible when it comes to projects and doing things on time - we tend to be late, slack off, screw around, procrastinate, etc. I expected it to take all weekend just to get the room painted and the furniture together, but we got it all finished on Saturday, which meant that all we had to do on Sunday was arrange everything in the room. We also put the bedding in the crib, to get the full effect. ;) Today I started washing and putting away the rest of Puff's stuff - blankets, bibs, clothes, etc. and did some general organizing. It's safe to say that the "third bedroom" is now officially, the Nursery. All it needs is a baby!

 

I forced myself to take some photos today, to show off the room and my ever-expanding physique. I am now 35 weeks along, so we are definitely in the home stretch. (Which is good, because I'm also really sick of being pregnant.) ;)

 

More photos in the comments!

You can admire Emirates presence at London Heathrow, all of their 5 daily flights operating between Heathrow and Dubai are in the hands of their enormous Airbus A380 fleet which is showing no signs of slowing down just yet...

As per Airline Route, Emirates is adding to its ever expanding Heathrow portfolio by introducing a 6th daily flight between London and Dubai beginning from 27th March 2016. The newly introduced flight (EK31/32) will initially be utilising Boeing 777-300ER's however this will be short-lived as from 1st June 2016, the flight will utilise unsurprising Airbus A380.

The level of flights Emirates is operating between London Heathrow and Dubai is mesmerising, the 6 daily flights dominates this market and if you add Qantas's twice daily flights which Emirates are partners, that equates to 8 flights! In comparison, British Airways offers 3 daily flights, whilst Royal Brunei and Virgin Atlantic both offer a single daily flight.

There have been suggestions that Emirates is eye-ing up the possibility of launching fifth-freedom flights from London Heathrow to New York-JFK, but that plan will likely not materialise given Heathrow is heavily slot constrained plus features stiff competition, especially from British Airways.

Emirates fleet of Airbus A380's currently stands at 73 with 67 examples left on-order. Out of the 67 remaining orders on the books, 50 will be delivered with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. All of Emirates Airbus A380's are currently powered by Engine Alliance GP7270 engines.

Echo Delta Kilo was delivered new to Emirates in July 2010 and she is powered by 4 Engine Alliance GP7270 engines.

Airbus A380-861 A6-EDK on final approach into Runway 27L at London Heathrow (LHR) on EK29 from Dubai-International (DXB).

Ian Hope, motor mechanic and long-time resident and property owner along the Cape Coast who created and curated ‘the largest collection of British motor vehicles in the world’, passed away on Sunday June 16, 2019.

 

His passion for Morris Minors, initially handed down from family members, turned into a classic collection of British cars that soon outgrew its original Te Awanga showroom to overfill an old kiwifruit packhouse in East Rd, Haumoana.

 

Ian Hope first moved into Pipi St, Te Awanga in 1973 after completing his apprenticeship at Baillie Motors in Hastings and working for Hibbert and Mathers in Havelock North.

 

He purchased what had been Tim Hollis’s grocery store on Clifton Rd and converted the premises into Ian Hope Motors, where he kept local and visiting motorists on the road engaging in his trade repairing motor vehicles, completing warrants of fitness and operating the Europa petrol bowsers.

 

When BP wanted to charge him $70,000 to upgrade the petrol bowsers, he decided to end that part of his business and leased his garage to Jim Lord who operated as a motor mechanic before taking over from competitor Brian Emerson down the road at Haumoana Motors.

 

Hope was designated the local Civil Defence representative and over time purchased several neighbouring commercial premises. From 1975 he took on a lawn mowing contract for the Hastings City Council, mowing all the verges and public lawns from Clifton to Haumoana until the council took over.

 

When his mechanic moved on, Hope transformed the premises of his former mechanical business to house his growing collection of British cars, including a number of Morris Minors he acquired from older family members. The museum opened on 14 July 1995 with 36 cars, including 18 Morris Minors.

 

Converted Packhouse

 

He then learned the K Pac Packhouse, a kiwifuit packing shed in East Rd built on the site of a former trotting stables was coming up for sale in 1998, so he put in a bid.

 

The massive building next to Keighleys Poultry farm had employed 90 people at its peak until root stock was sold offshore undermining local supply opportunities for the former Chinese gooseberry. It was also an apple packing house for a time.

 

His application for consent initially met resistance as a non-complying activity with Hastings District Council limiting commercial activities such as museums to 560sqm. The packhouse was on 2.43ha of land.

 

Neighbours Keighley’s Poultry Farm feared visitors would complain about the smell, dust and flies and force the closure of the 50-year old poultry business. In giving the green light for the museum, the council said the effect on the environment was minor and the museum was a sustainable use of the disused building.

 

With some conversion, the factory now became home for Ian Hope’s ever-expanding British Car Museum.

 

Hope believed the first experience of owning a motor car for most New Zealanders over 40-years of age would have been British made; an Austin, Morris, Triumph or Vauxhall or Jaguars, Hillman Minxes, Triumph Heralds and 2000s, Oxfords and Princesses and Rovers.

 

Quake Fire History

 

Overall he collected more than 450 of them, 80% of which still run. He even had the 1923 Dennis Fire Engine used by Hastings Fire Service at the time of the Hawkes Bay Earthquake Disaster in 1931. The hand-cranked siren still amuses visiting children when they’re allowed to crank the handle.

 

“My aunt and uncle had a Morris Minor which I looked after while they were alive, then when they passed away in 1986 it was sitting in the Hawkes Bay sun deteriorating. I bought it as a ‘do up’ for my first great nephew, so he could have it when he was old enough. That was the start of it. Now I have 20 great nieces and nephews - and I have a Morris Minor for each of them!”

 

Last count there were 38 Morris Minors including 'ute' and station wagons all in working order; add up the ones not quite up to standard or being cannibalised for parts and the number heads toward 70.

 

Ian Hope was a well-known local identity, often referred to in earlier days as the ‘mayor of Te Awanga’ because of the many properties he owned and his involvement in local civil defence and other community groups.

 

Former Haumoana School secretary, Moira Lindsay recalls Ian’s generosity in the days before the school had its own hall: “One year we had persistent rain in December and had to postpone the school breakup two nights in a row, so we were looking for a large space. I phoned Ian and he cleared one of his bays and we held the breakup there on the morning of the last day of school. It was amazing, sitting on hay bales, the theme was based on the newly released Lord of the Rings film. It was just so cool and kind of Ian. He loved everyone being there.”

 

Ian Hope passed away on Sunday June 16, 2019. What will happen to the iconic museum and tourist attraction is unknown for now. Finding someone with his passion for British vehicles, each of which each had a story behind them, will be a difficult if not impossible task

   

From Adbusters #74, Nov-Dec 2007

 

The Empire of Debt

 

Money for nothing. Own a home for no money down. Do not pay for your appliances until 2012. This is the new American Dream, and for the last few years, millions have been giddily living it. Dead is the old version, the one historian James Truslow Adams introduced to the world as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”

 

Such Puritan ideals – to work hard, to save for a better life – didn’t die from the natural causes of age and obsolescence. We killed them, willfully and purposefully, to create a new gilded age. As a society, we told ourselves we could all get rich, put our feet up on the decks of our new vacation homes, and let our money work for us. Earning is for the unenlightened. Equity is the new golden calf. Sadly, this is a hollow dream. Yes, luxury homes have been hitting new gargantuan heights. Ferrari sales have never been better. But much of the ever-expanding wealth is an illusory façade masking a teetering tower of debt – the greatest the world has seen. It will collapse, in a disaster of our own making.

 

Distress is already rumbling through Wall Street. Subprime mortgages leapt into the public consciousness this summer, becoming the catchphrase for the season. Hedge fund masterminds who command salaries in the tens of millions for their supposed financial prescience, but have little oversight or governance, bet their investors’ multi-multi-billions on the ability that subprime borrowers – who by very definition have lower incomes and/or rotten credit histories – would miraculously find means to pay back loans far exceeding what they earn. They didn’t, and surging loan defaults are sending shockwaves through the markets. Yet despite the turmoil this collapse is wreaking, it’s just the first ripple to hit the shore. America’s debt crisis runs deep.

 

How did it come to this? How did America, collectively and as individuals, become a nation addicted to debt, pushed to and over the edge of bankruptcy? The savings rate hangs below zero. Personal bankruptcies are reaching record heights. America’s total debt averages more than $160,000 for every man, woman, and child. On a broader scale, China holds nearly $1 trillion in US debt. Japan and other countries are also owed big.

 

The story begins with labor. The decades following World War II were boom years. Economic growth was strong and powerful industrial unions made the middle-class dream attainable for working-class citizens. Workers bought homes and cars in such volume they gave rise to the modern suburb. But prosperity for wage earners reached its zenith in the early 1970s. By then, corporate America had begun shredding the implicit social contract it had with its workers for fear of increased foreign competition. Companies cut costs by finding cheap labor overseas, creating a drag on wages.

 

In 1972, wages reached their peak. According to the US department of Labor Statistics, workers earned $331 a week, in inflation-adjusted 1982 dollars. Since then, it’s been a downward slide. Today, real wages are nearly one-fifth lower – this, despite real GDP per capita doubling over the same period.

 

Even as wages fell, consumerism was encouraged to continue soaring to unprecedented heights. Buying stuff became a patriotic duty that distinguished citizens from their communist Cold War enemies. In the eighties, consumers’ growing fearlessness towards debt and their hunger for goods were met with Ronald Reagan’s deregulation the lending industry. Credit not only became more easily attainable, it became heavily marketed. Credit card debt, at $880 billion, is now triple what it was in 1988, after adjusting for inflation. Barbecues and TV screens are now the size of small cars. So much the better to fill the average new home, which in 2005 was more than 50 percent larger than the average home in 1973.

 

This is all great news for the corporate sector, which both earns money from loans to consumers, and profits from their spending. Better still, lower wages means lower costs and higher profits. These factors helped the stock market begin a record boom in the early ‘80s that has continued almost unabated until today.

 

These conditions created vast riches for one class of individuals in particular: those who control what is known as economic rent, which can be the income “earned” from the ownership of an asset. Some forms of economic rent include dividends from stocks, or capital gains from the sale of stocks or property. The alchemy of this rent is that it requires no effort to produce money.

 

Governments, for their part, encourage the investors, or rentier class. Economic rent, in the form of capital gains, is taxed at a lower rate than earned income in almost every industrialized country. In the US in particular, capital gains are being taxed at ever-decreasing rates. A person whose job pays $100,000 can owe 35 percent of that in taxes compared to the 15 percent tax rate for someone whose stock portfolio brings home the same amount.

 

Given a choice between working for diminishing returns and joining the leisurely riches of the rentier, people pursue the latter. If the rentier class is fabulously rich, why can’t everyone become a member? People of all professions sought to have their money work for them, pouring money into investments. This spurred the explosion of the finance industry, people who manage money for others. The now-$10 trillion mutual fund industry is 700 times the size it was in the 1970s. Hedge funds, the money managers for the super-rich, numbered 500 companies in 1990, managing $38 billion in assets. Now there are more than 6,000 hedge firms handling more than $1 trillion dollars in assets.

 

In recent years, the further enticement of low interest rates has spawned a boom for two kinds of rentiers at the crux of the current debt crisis: home buyers and private equity firms. But it should also be noted that low interest rates are themselves the product of outsourced labor.

 

America gets goods from China. China gets dollars from the US. In order to keep the value of their currency low so that exports stay cheap, China doesn’t spend those dollars in China, but buys us assets like bonds. China now holds some $900 billion in such US IOUs. This massive borrowing of money from China (and to a lesser extent, from Japan) sent us interest rates to record lows.

 

Now the hamster wheel really gets spinning. Cheap borrowing costs encouraged millions of Americans to borrow more, buying homes and sending housing prices to record highs. Soaring house prices encouraged banks to loan freely, which sent even more buyers into the market – many who believed the hype that the real estate investment offered a never-ending escalator to riches and borrowed heavily to finance their dreams of getting ahead. People began borrowing against the skyrocketing value of their homes, to buy furniture, appliances, and TVs. These home equity loans added $200 billion to the US economy in 2004 alone.

 

It was all so utopian. The boom would feed on itself. Nobody would ever have to work again or produce anything of value. All that needed to be done was to keep buying and selling each other’s houses with money borrowed from the Chinese.

 

On Wall Street, private equity firms played a similar game: buying companies with borrowed billions, sacking employees to cut costs, and then selling the companies to someone else who did the same. These leveraged buyouts inflated share values, minting billionaires all around. The virtues that produce profit – innovation, entrepreneurialism and good management – stopped mattering so long as there were bountiful capital gains.

 

But the party is coming to a halt. An endless housing boom requires an endless supply of ever-greater suckers to pay more for the same homes. The rich, as Voltaire said, require an abundant supply of poor. Mortgage lenders have mined even deeper into the ranks of the poor to find takers for their loans. Among the practices included teaser loans that promised low interest rates that jumped up after the first few years. Sub-prime borrowers were told the future pain would never come, as they could keep re-financing against the ever-growing value of their homes. Lenders repackaged the shaky loans as bonds to sell to cash-hungry investors like hedge funds.

 

Of course, the supply of suckers inevitably ran out. Housing prices leveled off, beginning what promises to be a long, downward slide. Just as the housing boom fed upon itself, so too, will its collapse. The first wave of sub-prime borrowers have defaulted. A flood of foreclosures sent housing prices falling further. Lenders somehow got blindsided by news that poor people with bad credit couldn’t pay them back. Frightened, they staunched the flow of easy credit, further depleting the supply of homebuyers and squeezing debt-fueled private equity. Hedge funds that merrily bought sub-prime loans collapsed.

 

More borrowers will soon be unable to make payments on their homes and credit cards as the supply of rent dries up. Consumer spending, and thus corporate profits, will fall. The shrinking economy will further depress workers’ wages. For most people, the dream of easy money will never come true, because only the truly rich can live it. Everyone else will have to keep working for less, shackled to a mountain of debt.

 

_Dee Hon is a Vancouver-based writer has contributed to The Tyee and Vancouver magazine.

 

Adbusters Magazine

adbusters.org/the_magazine/74/The_Empire_of_Debt.html

I'm trying to show that I have some real cleavage. Did I pull it off?

 

This Fantastically Tight, shiny lycra spandex tube style shirred minidress with a silver back zip really does emphasize my finest assets, don't you think?

This has to be the shortest minidress in my ever expanding collection!

What do you think? Short Enough?

 

To see more pix of my legs in short dresses and other tight, sexy and revealing outfits click this link:

www.flickr.com/photos/kaceycdpix/sets/72157623668202157/

 

DSC_5199-43

Today's story and sketch "by me" you see Kaboom Gofish and his lovely wife of five hundred twenty seven years

Youlaa, as they are gliding up to their home here on Earth, in Sunny Leucadia.

Leucadia faces the Pacific Ocean. The community is set on a series of bluffs that stretch along much of the

length of the North County coastline, a region of San Diego County. Their home sits above a steep vertical

cliff Situated on the bluff

above Beacons Beach, lending them relative seclusion, and it is a beautiful spot where they enjoy surfing on weekends,

and the daily live Macrame pod casts to their fans throughout the Galaxy, Yes Macrame.

Live podcast demonstrations of knotting, like the famous Youlaa reef knot, and full hitch knot, half hitch and many

others. Kaboom and Youlaa were possibly two of the first free spirits (aka Hippies from back in the time they

lived in ancient Greece).

They relocated to this area and named it Leucadia, the name is of Greek origin, the island of (Lefkada) (Leucadia),

were they lived for many years making macrame hangers and draperies, and sometimes cute little sets of macrame

coasters. Until the local Sheep Herders ran them off the island, for sheering their sheep and using the wool to make

yarn and rope for their ever expanding macrame business. But that is a story for another time, till then Taa ta

the Rod Blog.

Dreams can become reality, so dream of wonderful things.

Rod

After taking earlier Zoom meeting screenshots where Ms. Essay forgot to smile when totally concentrating on simultaneously pushing two smartphone buttons to capture the screen shot, this time she made a concerted effort to smile and was rewarded with this image in upper left corner.

 

Some items in the Missouri History Museum’s ever-expanding Gateway to Pride Exhibit collection can be viewed on-line using the link, below:

 

gtp.mhs.yourcultureconnect.com/e/home

  

The Train Freight Rover or TF Rover was designed to fit on the Classic Space rail system, designed by TF Twitch. The rover consisted of a folding frame in order to fit onto the standard, 6 studs wide, carriages. When the TF Rover was unloaded from the freight cars, its legs were folded out to make a more stable A-frame structure.

 

The TF Rover also incorporated the unique Automatic Restraint System Equipment. This consisted of a special magnetic cushion, which was strapped to the driver's posterior and magnetic clamps on the vehicle's seat. This addressed Matt Rowntree's frequent criticisms of the poor standards of driver safety on Llwyngwril Space Designs. It also allowed the driver to mount the vehicle by simply doing a handstand and then waiting for the magnetic clamps to pull him up onto his seat. The driver's platform could then be rotated into the upright position. Dismounting required a certain degree of gymnastic skill and drivers were specially selected and trained, based on this attribute.

 

After realising that they had designed a surface vehicle that successfully met a specification (albeit a very basic one), the designers at Llwyngwril Systems had to sit down and have a really big cup of tea. Some of the team were so shocked at success that they left the world of vehicle design all together and went to work for the ever-expanding Complaints Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, where failure is the norm.

 

Standing over on the town street in Beamish Museum is this magnificently restored 1954 Gardner-engined Daimler CVG6 bus.

 

The Weymann bodied ex-Rotherham Corporation bus took well over twenty years to restore to an extremely high standard of finish and has been a prized part of the museum's ever expanding bus fleet since 2015. The ultimate aim is to use the bus in the proposed new 1950's area of the museum, but it is already used extensively at peak times.

 

Those who know Rotherham will have noticed that we have taken something of a liberty with the route number, Rotherham having never had three digit route numbers.

 

Copyright © 2021 Terry Pinnegar Photography. All Rights Reserved. THIS IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION!

About Swift River Fly Fishing

 

Swift River Fly Fishing takes its name from the river that flows south through the hills of west-central Massachusetts and the valley that was cleared and dammed in the 30s and 40s to create the Quabbin Reservoir, now the principle source of drinking water for the Boston metropolitan area. This taking has always been viewed with mixed emotions. On the one hand it could only happen following the dissolution of four very lovely New England villages in the Swift River Valley. Yet, it also resulted in the creation of the largest completely undeveloped tract of land in the Commonwealth and a new-found “accidental wilderness”. This area is now home to many once extirpated wildlife species such as the wild turkey, the bald eagle, and moose. Its waters host not only the native brook trout but a thriving population of lake trout and landlocked salmon that now spawn in the branches of the Swift River when conditions are right.

 

Quabbin and the Swift River are symbols of many things for many people. These same hills and river valleys gave birth to Shays Rebellion, an oft forgotten piece of American history, when local farmers shortly after the American Revolution rebelled against the banking practices and government laws that allowed their farms to be taken away and resold without due-process if they were unable to pay their debts. More than a century later, as an ever expanding metropolitan Boston population looked further westward in its quest for clean water to support an even denser population, the Swift River Valley and a place called Quabbin (many waters) by the native American peoples who once lived there became the new target. It is one of many reasons behind the historical mistrust of Boston area politicians by residents of western Massachusetts who know that the more numerous and often ruthless politicians in populous eastern Massachusetts would never hesitate to impose their will on the western half of the state.

 

Yet, setting historical melodrama aside, the Swift River area towns and farm houses are still places where one could expect and often see a fine old bamboo fly rod standing in the corner, waiting for a pause in the chores to be taken out to the stream. In fact, one of those very towns, Pelham, gave birth to the first large-scale rod turning and bamboo rod manufacturing mill that a few years later became known as Montague Rod and Reel. The Pelham factory building still stands today and the Montague bamboo rod operation eventually became Sewell Dunton and Sons before being bought by Thomas and Thomas, one of the most prestigious bamboo rod shop in the world today. It is this great heritage that gave birth to the idea for Swift River Fly Fishing as a place where the classical fly fishing tackle of the past and present would be gathered and made available to discerning fishermen and collectors who appreciate the American craftsmanship and angling opportunities that gave rise to some of the most elegant and graceful tools yet made by human-kind.

Lahore is ever expanding, mercilessly eating away any village or town that comes in its way. Many towns and villages like Niaz Beg, Hanjarwal, etc, which were historically well outside the city are now deemed as part of Lahore. However, even after being incorporated by the phenomenon that is Lahore, such places have managed to retain their past, culture and identity as something that is different from the city itself, and that is what makes this new city of Lahore so interesting and endearing. Whereas most of these settlements do not predate Lahore and were never historically as significant as Lahore, there was nonetheless one such locality, which is believed to have existed even before Lahore did. Its significance chronologically exceeds that of Lahore. This town is Ichhra.

  

In the popular culture Lahore’s origin is tied to the Hindu mythologies. There are historians who argue that before the walled city of Lahore became Lahore, Lahore actually was the locality of Ichhra. A very interesting observation is presented to substantiate the thesis. Mostly what we find in the appellations of the doors of a walled city is that the gates are named after the city which they face. The Delhi darwaza of Lahore is named so because it faces Delhi, so is the case with the Kashmiri darwaza. There has been some controversy regarding the name of the Lohari darwaza. It is argued that the Lohari darwaza points towards Ichhra. Lohari could be a primeval name of Lahore in this case, and Ichhra would be that historical city of Lahore.

  

This is a plausible contention according to the British Gazetteer of Lahore, because they argue that two of the oldest Hindu temples are found in Ichhra, viz. Bheeru da asthan and Chand Raat. Sadly, the latter has been lost but the former still looks over the city. However, the question that arises is that on what premises the British say that this temple is one of the oldest temples. The architecture of the building does not suggest this nor do the folk tales.

  

The temple is on the Ferozepur road behind the Shama stop. In fact the Shama and the Sheesh Mahal cinemas stand today where once the huge pond of the temple was. According to Maulana Noor Ahmad Chishti, there once lived a man called Godar during the tenure of Shah Jahan. He used to handle the accounts for Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of the Emperor at Benaras. When the prince had an auditor analyze the accounts, it was learned that the accountant had been stealing from the treasury. On this the prince gave the man capital punishment. Legend has that as Godar lay in the prison waiting for his turn to go to the gallows, a man appeared before him. This man asked him to close his eyes and he did as he was told. When he opened his eyes, he found himself at the exact location where today the tall, cone-shaped structure stands. It was a Sunday. The man who had brought Godar here, was sitting on a camel and he was standing next to him. In utter amazement, he asked the man who he was? The man replied that he was Bheeru after which he disappeared.

  

Bheeru is derived from the Sanskrit word of Bherv, which means Bogey-man. Bheeru is an incarnation of the Lord Shiv-Rudar, who is the Hindu deity of destruction. Shiv-Rudar travels on a dog, and the fear that he excites is such that even the witches and the ghosts are afraid of him. He is usually found near the cremating grounds.

  

Godar was a follower of Bheeru, and after the miracle, he demarcated the spot, where Bheeru stood, and started his search in the city. He ended up at Shah Alami, where he started living near the Pari Mahal. After adjusting in the new city, he one day gathered a few Hindus and took them to the spot. There he narrated to them the story of Bheeru, after which the spot became known as Bheeru da asthan. He along with other followers made it a regular practice to visit the spot, and present it with garlands, as a token of their reverence. In this way seeds were sown for this place to become a site for one of the most sacred Hindu temples in Lahore.

  

Later, during the tenure of Ranjit Singh, the mother of his concubine Mora once fell sick. She was diagnosed to have been affected by djinns. Mora was informed that one of the descendants of Godar practiced magic, and he would be able to rid the body of the intruders. According to tradition, she summoned him, and he was able to cure her mother. As a reward for his services, Mora ordered all the villages that were granted to her by the Regal to bring forth a cart of bricks for the construction of a proper temple at the asthan of Bheeru. Bricks from all the hundred villages that fell under her sway came forth. Besides the bricks the total expense for the construction of the present day temple was around 1400 rupees. This temple was further extended by Ram Chandar, the nephew of Sanwal Mal, who was a minister of the Ranjit Government. Besides him contributions were also given by Raja Lal Singh.

  

There is a big main gate which is followed by a corridor for the entrance to the edifice. At the end of the corridor is another gate. The corridor is around 3 yards wide and 13 yards long. It is embellished by arches on both the ends. Flanking the entrance are rooms. A ground used to follow the entrance whose dimensions were recorded to be 17 x 11 yards. Now however the ground has been taken over by refugees from the other side of the border and new houses have sprouted everywhere. This corridor was added by Raja Lal Singh.

  

The area east from here was the Langar Khana, where people were given free food. In front of this is the octagonal platform upon which the temple stands. There was also a well next to it. On each side of the temple are arches (mehraab like structures). East from here is another enclosed place where now houses stand. There is a big door here that opens towards the temple. Next to it is a platform where there are 8 samadhis. During the riots following the Babri mosque incident in Ayodha, like other temples in Lahore, people tried to bring this temple down too, but since it was made of strong material, it luckily survived.

  

Even though the story of Godar is hard to believe there is no doubt that the present day shape of the temple was given to it during the tenure of Ranjit Singh. One plausible reason as to why this temple is called ancient by the British is that the spot where the temple now stands must have been the site of a primordial temple, which has now given way to a modern construction. It is said that a lump of mud signified the holy place before the temple, making it reasonable to believe that some sort of building existed here before this one, and later on the story of Godar was explained for the inception of the temple.

Today's story and sketch "by me" we see Puyo Gofish piloting the glider he nicknamed "Puyo Pinto", but is actually

sold on Lippo the Blue Moon, as the Anion mid size econo coupe mustang two.

But today's story is not about Intergalactic personal transport vehicles, even though they are very interesting

and always with smashing new designs, but today we are concentrating on the day our little grey alien Puyo

Gofish, lost while drawing straws (he pulled the short straw), who would be the volunteer to move the last endangered

Juania Palm trees, to a location on Earth to preserve the species. The location is this very spot a miserable

humid, uninhabited, hell hole in Uruguay, picked by the faculty of "JCU" Juania Crater University, where our young

Puyo (147 years old at the time), was teaching advanced swim suit design and hotel management.

Which did actually work out well, because after all of the palms were planted, there wasn't much going on, watching the palms grow, and waiting for the rain, which came every day, and it was such a bummer, Until the day a young local girl named Chonta wandered into Puyo's ever expanding lavish hotel compound. Chonta had never seen any buildings, only huts made of

dirt and palm frawns.

Puyo was so happy to see another being even if she was not alien, (well she was alien to Puyo she was an Earling),

short very tan with big dark eyes and long black hair, which was very nice down to her waist, she was not afraid of Puyo, he picked up her native language very quickly, soon they were communicating very well. Then he gave her

a banana moon pie, and fitted her with a very nice red bikini, and shimmering satin red cover cape. They became close,

very very close. Soon she returned with her girlfriends, to spend the weekends lounging at the pool, and enjoying

Puyo's moon pies, and trying on latest in swimwear. That was of course many centuries ago, but the palms are doing great,

the hotel is a five star rated intergalactic (hot spot) it is actually very hot and humid, the Martians do enjoy it.

But that is a story for another time.

Till then Taa ta the Rod Blog

It is nice walking with someone in the rain, more soo if they brought an umbrella.

FJ56YWE was a Volvo B12B / Plaxton Panther C49Ft purchased new by Dunn-Line (5625) in November 2006 for use on National Express work. On disposal it joined the ever-expanding fleet of Gibson's of Renfrew. It has since moved on to McGill's of Greenock.

Christchurch Passage in the city centre of Birmingham, West Midlands.

 

It ran alongside Christchurch which was opened in 1805 and was built to cater for the ever-expanding population in Birmingham. Church pews were owned or rented in general which made it hard for those who were less well-off to attend church. Christchurch was known as a free church, anyone could worship there. However, as the city became more industrialised and people moved further out of the city centre, the congregation dwindled. In 1897 the church was closed and knocked down in 1899.

 

The passage ran from Colmore Row down stairs past Waterloo Street and to the Victorian Galloways Corner the junction with New Street, with the opposite side of the church was lined with small shops. During the 1970's refurbishing of the city centre the church, Galloways Corner and the shops were demolished and the passageway reduced in length.

 

Information sources:

www.birminghamconservationtrust.org/2013/12/06/the-friday...

birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/christchu...

 

One of the newer additions to the ever expanding fleet. c/n 44709 was delivered November 2015 and is seen lining up on 23Left at MAN/EGCC

New to London Transport in 12/1983, this Workington built member of the successful 'T' class is seen here on display at the now ceased Trans-Lancs Rally, Heaton Park, Manchester, on 04/09/2005. This popular event was last held in 2019. This was due to COVID-19 and the now ever expanding summer fairground. It started it's London life at Bexleyheath, then onto Sidcup, Bow, Muswell Hill and Chalk Farm. It then went into store at Walthamstow in 10/1992. In 03/1993, it was smartly re-painted in London United's Westlink livery and worked from Kingston-upon-Thames. It remained with Westlink, which was later privatised in 1994 and then passed to Merseyline, Garston, Liverpool, in 11/1996. In 08/2004 it was bought by Arriva North West and numbered 3958. In 10/2004 it was bought for preservation by Mr T. Barnes, Warrington, who owned it when seen here. In 10/2010, it passed to "London Bus" Bristol, then in 02/2014 it was bought for preservation by an owner in Cyprus. In 04/2017 it was preserved by Dimis Mavropoulos, Cyprus Historic & Classic Motor Museum, Limassol. Please see www.countrybus.org/Titan/TNa.htm#fleet for further details.

 

The camera being a Pentax MZ-M with the film being a Jessops Colourslide.

 

I would request, as with all my photos, that they are not copied or downloaded in any way, shape or form. © Peter Steel 2005.

laurenwinter.co

Usually the shadow from the pop up flash would bother me, but I think it works here. Part of my ever expanding collection of door knob photos.

 

On 15 May 2015 Beamish Museum took delivery of it's latest acqisition, this magnificently restored 1954 Gardner-engined Daimler CVG6 bus. The Weymann bodied ex-Rotherham Corporation bus took well over twenty years to restore to an extremely high standard of finish and will now become a prized part of the museum's ever expanding bus fleet. The ultimate aim is to use the bus in the proposed new 1950's area of the museum.

 

The bus was delivered late this afternoon and, to no-one's particular surprise, it took me very little time to find my way into the driving seat and take her of a couple of laps of the museum.

 

Copyright © 2015 Terry Pinnegar Photography. All Rights Reserved. THIS IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION!

Well well well what do we have here! I knew of this new Majorette castings existence for a while and as it has only recently gone on general release in other countries I certainly didn't expect it to arrive in the UK so soon if at all to be honest!

Part of their ever expanding Vintage series is this glorious early Toyota Celica GT Coupe which strikes at the very heart of Mattels own obsession, rightly so btw, of classic Japanese vehicles. Not surprising there has been a lot of hype about this particular model because of its subject choice and general execution which being a "Premium" extends to opening doors, clear lense headlights and those very retro Majorette wheels.

Definitely worth waiting for and even better these can be currently found in TK Maxx who for a limited period now have a huge selection of new 2019 Majorette releases. Mint and boxed.

A closer look at GB Railfreight Class 66 No.66799, which was originally delivered to German operator Rail4Chem as No.66020, later 6602. Since imported and converted to UK specification, the loco has been repainted into GBRF's blue and orange livery and now forms part of the company's ever-expanding 66 fleet. Classmate No.66741 'Swanage Railway' can be seen on the left.

 

Taken at Holme Green crossing, north of Langford, on 10th May 2022.

Glittering recent additions to Chicago's ever expanding skyline are represented here in this recent twilight view.

 

Nelson Jones

Mirro-Krome by H.S. Crocker

NJ-137

CAPA-001455

38 Weeks Pregnant. My view from above. Photo taken by me. Lots of shots to get one in focus, holding the camera above my head and pointed down toward my ever-expanding abdomen.

----

Photo helps represents Week 6/Day 6 of my *52 Weeks in 2010* project. Blogged here: wilkefamily.com

With the current "fever pitch" surrounding the ever popular BA Retro Jets recently revealed by British Airways to celebrate the carriers centenary, here's another look at a recently forgotten lady residing inthe Runway Visitor Park at Manchester Airport.

Taken on 2nd June 2007, when she was just after being re-assembled following her relocation from London Heathrow.

Wearing the original "BEA High Speed Jack" livery, one can only wish for this splendid livery being applied to a modern day aircraft with British Airways.

"Zulu Kilo" was delivered new to BEA onJanuary 9th 1962 and flew with the airline through the merger with BOAC to form British Airways until Her final flight which was was from Belfast to London Heathrow on Friday 1 November 1985 as BA4653.

Retired from commercial flying, "Zulu Kilo" remained at London Heathrow for use as a towing trainer, de-icing practise, and for a short while for counter terrorism training.

In 1991 her wings were clipped by 15 feet each in order to make more space on the ground for the ever expanding fleet of BA.

Following the terrorist attack on 9/11, and the ensuing heightened security around all international airports, in became impossible for volunteers to gain access to LHR and "Zulu Kilo", and withdrawal from use a s a towing Training airframe by the airline owing to a substantial amount of work needing to be carried out on the undercarriage.

The year 2003 was a bleak and uncertain one for "Zulu Kilo" as it seemed certain the aircraft would succumb to the fate of the axe man. However, Neil Lomax who was one of the original restorers of ZK, publicised its plight on an internet forum. Two others joined him in efforts to set up a fund raising initiative in order to raise the required money to move the aircraft to Manchester Airport Viewing Park who has previously expressed interest in displaying it.

Work on dismantling the aircraft was started in 2004, although it would be 2006 before "Zulu Kilo" made her final jouney from London Heathrow to Manchester, owing to the mountain of paperwork, funding, organisation, planning involved in moving a once proud flying machine over 200 miles by road.

 

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect" of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.

 

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.

 

As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "The Battle of Sherramuir", "Tam o' Shanter" and "Ae Fond Kiss".

 

Burns Night, in effect a second national day, is celebrated on Burns's birthday, 25 January, with Burns suppers around the world, and is more widely observed in Scotland than the official national day, St. Andrew's Day. The first Burns supper in The Mother Club in Greenock was held on what was thought to be his birthday on 29 January 1802; in 1803 it was discovered from the Ayr parish records that the correct date was 25 January 1759.

 

The format of Burns suppers has changed little since. The basic format starts with a general welcome and announcements, followed with the Selkirk Grace. After the grace comes the piping and cutting of the haggis, when Burns's famous "Address to a Haggis" is read and the haggis is cut open. The event usually allows for people to start eating just after the haggis is presented. At the end of the meal, a series of toasts, often including a 'Toast to the Lassies', and replies are made. This is when the toast to "the immortal memory", an overview of Burns's life and work, is given. The event usually concludes with the singing of "Auld Lang Syne".

 

Amelia Robertson Hill (15 January 1821 – 5 July 1904), birth record Emmilia McDermaid Paton, was a prominent Scottish artist and sculptor throughout the 19th century and one of the few with public commissions. Her most noteworthy works are the statue of David Livingstone in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh and statue of Robert Burns in Dumfries. She was the main female contributor to the statues on the Scott Monument, contributing three figures.

Life

 

Hill was born in Wooer's Alley, Dunfermline, the daughter of Catherine McDiarmid (d. 1853) and Joseph Neil Paton (1797–1874), a damask designer. Her sister Jemima, born on 11 November 1823. Her brothers were artists Joseph Noel Paton (1821–1901) and Waller Hugh Paton (1828–1895). She appears to have trained as a sculptor under William Brodie in Edinburgh.

 

In 1862 she married the pioneer photographer David Octavius Hill. She was his second wife. They lived in Edinburgh. His role as secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy played a part in this. In 1861 they moved to George Square, and in 1863 to Calton Stairs. In 1868 they set up home at Rock House, on the south-west corner of Calton Hill near the southern entrance steps to the hill. Although they are famously connected with this address they lived here only two years. He died in 1870 and Amelia moved out of the house, to Newington Lodge. She placed a bronze bust of his likeness, sculpted by her own hands, on his grave.

 

The 1891 census describes Hill as "sculptor, retired" but she exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy until 1902, aged 82. She died at her house, Newington Lodge, 38 Mayfield Terrace on 5 July 1904 aged 83. She was buried next to her husband in Dean Cemetery, beneath her own sculpture of 34 years earlier.

Bicentenary

 

A walking tour of her Edinburgh works was instigated as 'The Amelia Tour' in her bicentenary year, 2021.

 

Principal works

Bust of John Fergus MP, Kirkcaldy Town Hall (1861)

Marble bust of Mary Louise, Countess of Elgin, Lord Elgin Hotel, Ottawa (1863)

Marble busts of Rev. Robert Smith Candlish in his role as principal of New College, one of the leaders of the Scottish Disruption, held by the University of Edinburgh (1864 and 1865)

Marble bust of Rev. Horatius Bonar, hymn-writer (1865)

James Wemyss of Wemyss MP, Fife County Hall (1866)

Marble bust of Thomas Carlyle, National Trust of Scotland collection (1866)

Marble bust of David Livingstone (1866)

Bust of Edward Cazalet (1866)

Bust of her husband, David Octavius Hill (1867)

Marble bust of Sir George Harvey (1867)

Marble bust of David Brewster, scientist (1867)

Three stone figures for the Scott Monument on Princes Street, Edinburgh (1870) (Magnus Troil and Minna Troil of The Pirate (novel) and Richard the Lionheart)

Pet Marjorie, the child author (1870)

Marble bust of her brother, Joseph Noel Paton, Scottish National Portrait Gallery (1872)

Bust of Sir James Young Simpson (1872)

Painting, "Ludlow Castle, evening" (1873)

Very prominent statue to David Livingstone on Princes Street in Edinburgh (1875) erected by public subscription.

Memorial to Regent Murray in Linlithgow, marking the place of his assassination (1876)

Figures of "Painting" and "Poetry" flanking the shoulders of the ornate entrance to the Albert Buildings, 22–30 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh (1877)

Statue of Robert Burns, Church Place, Dumfries (1881)

Bust of Percy Bysshe Shelley, exhibited RSA (1882)

 

Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, 25 miles (40 km) from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the historic county of Dumfriesshire.

 

Before becoming King of Scots, Robert the Bruce killed his rival the Red Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in the town in 1306. The Young Pretender had his headquarters here towards the end of 1745. In the Second World War, the Norwegian Army in exile in Britain largely consisted of a brigade in Dumfries.

 

Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South. This is also the name of the town's football club. People from Dumfries are known colloquially in Scots language as Doonhamers.

 

History

Early history

 

No positive information has been obtained of the era and circumstances in which the town of Dumfries was founded.

 

Some writers hold that Dumfries flourished as a place of distinction during the Roman occupation of North Great Britain. The Selgovae inhabited Nithsdale at the time and may have raised some military works of a defensive nature on or near the site of Dumfries; and it is more than probable that a castle of some kind formed the nucleus of the town. This is inferred from the etymology of the name, which, according to one theory, is resolvable into two Gaelic terms signifying a castle or fort in the copse or brushwood. Dumfries was once within the borders of the Kingdom of Northumbria. The district around Dumfries was for several centuries ruled over and deemed of much importance by the invading Romans. Many traces of Roman presence in Dumfriesshire are still to be found; coins, weapons, sepulchral remains, military earthworks, and roads being among the relics left by their lengthened sojourn in this part of Scotland. The Caledonian tribes in the south of Scotland were invested with the same rights by an edict of Antoninus Pius. The Romanized natives received freedom (the burrows, cairns, and remains of stone temples still to be seen in the district tell of a time when Druidism was the prevailing religion) as well as civilisation from their conquerors. Late in the fourth century, the Romans bade farewell to the country.

 

According to another theory, the name is a corruption of two words which mean the Friars' Hill; those who favour this idea allege that St. Ninian, by planting a religious house near the head of what is now the Friars' Vennel, at the close of the fourth century, became the virtual founder of the Burgh; however Ninian, so far as is known, did not originate any monastic establishments anywhere and was simply a missionary. In the list of British towns given by the ancient historian Nennius, the name Caer Peris occurs, which some modern antiquarians suppose to have been transmuted, by a change of dialect, into Dumfries.

 

Twelve of King Arthur's battles were recorded by Nennius in Historia Brittonum. The Battle of Tribruit (the tenth battle), has been suggested as having possibly been near Dumfries or near the mouth of the river Avon near Bo'ness.

 

After the Roman departure the area around Dumfries had various forms of visit by Picts, Anglo-Saxons, Scots and Norse culminating in a decisive victory for Gregory, King of Scots at what is now Lochmaben over the native Britons in 890.

Medieval period

 

When, in 1069, Malcolm Canmore and William the Conqueror held a conference regarding the claims of Edgar Ætheling to the English Crown, they met at Abernithi – a term which in the old British tongue means a port at the mouth of the Nith. It has been argued, the town thus characterised must have been Dumfries; and therefore it must have existed as a port in the Kingdom of Strathclyde, if not in the Roman days. However, against this argument is that the town is situated eight to nine miles (14 km) distant from the sea, although the River Nith is tidal and navigable all the way into the town itself.

 

Although at the time 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream and on the opposite bank of the Nith from Dumfries, Lincluden Abbey was founded circa 1160. The abbey ruins are on the site of the bailey of the very early Lincluden Castle, as are those of the later Lincluden Tower. This religious house was used for various purposes, until its abandonment around 1700. Lincluden Abbey and its grounds are now within the Dumfries urban conurbation boundary. William the Lion granted the charter to raise Dumfries to the rank of a royal burgh in 1186. Dumfries was very much on the frontier during its first 50 years as a burgh and it grew rapidly as a market town and port.

 

Alexander III visited Dumfries in 1264 to plan an expedition against the Isle of Man, previously Scots but for 180 years subjected by the crown of Norway. Identified with the conquest of Man, Dumfries shared in the well-being of Scotland for the next 22 years until Alexander's accidental death brought an Augustan era in the town's history to an abrupt finish.

 

A royal castle, which no longer exists, was built in the 13th century on the site of the present Castledykes Park. In the latter part of the century William Wallace chased a fleeing English force southward through the Nith valley. The English fugitives met the gates of Dumfries Castle that remained firmly closed in their presence. With a body of the town's people joining Wallace and his fellow pursuers when they arrived, the fleeing English met their end at Cockpool on the Solway Coast. After resting at Caerlaverock Castle a few miles away from the bloodletting, Wallace again passed through Dumfries the day after as he returned north to Sanquhar Castle.

 

During the invasion of 1300, Edward I of England lodged for a few days in June with the Minorite Friars of the Vennel, before he laid siege to Caerlaverock Castle at the head of the then greatest invasion force to attack Scotland. After Caerlaverock eventually succumbed, Edward passed through Dumfries again as he crossed the Nith to take his invasion into Galloway. With the Scottish nobility having requested Vatican support for their cause, Edward on his return to Caerlaverock was presented with a missive directed to him by Pope Boniface VIII. Edward held court in Dumfries at which he grudgingly agreed to an armistice. On 30 October, the truce solicited by Pope Boniface was signed by Edward at Dumfries. Letters from Edward, dated at Dumfries, were sent to his subordinates throughout Scotland, ordering them to give effect to the treaty. The peace was to last until Whitsunday in the following year.

 

Before becoming King of Scots, Robert the Bruce stabbed his rival the Red Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in the town on 10 February 1306. Bruce's uncertainty about the fatality of the stabbing caused one of his followers, Roger de Kirkpatrick, to utter the famous, "I mak siccar" ("I make sure") and finish the Comyn off. Bruce was subsequently excommunicated as a result, less for the murder than for its location in a church. Regardless, for Bruce the die was cast at the moment in Greyfriars and so began his campaign by force for the independence of Scotland. Swords were drawn by supporters of both sides, the burial ground of the monastery becoming the theatre of battle. Bruce and his party then attacked Dumfries Castle. The English garrison surrendered and for the third time in the day Bruce and his supporters were victorious. He was crowned King of Scots barely seven weeks after. Bruce later triumphed at the Battle of Bannockburn and led Scotland to independence.

 

Once Edward received word of the revolution that had started in Dumfries, he again raised an army and invaded Scotland. Dumfries was again subjected to the control of Bruce's enemies. Sir Christopher Seton (Bruce's brother in law) had been captured at Loch Doon and was hurried to Dumfries to be tried for treason in general and more specifically for being present at Comyn's killing. Still in 1306 and along with two companions, Seton was condemned and executed by hanging and then beheading at the site of what is now St Mary's Church.

 

In 1659 ten women were accused of diverse acts of witchcraft by Dumfries Kirk Session although the Kirk Session minutes itself records nine witches. The Justiciary Court found them guilty of the several articles of witchcraft and on 13 April between 2 pm and 4 pm they were taken to the Whitesands, strangled at stakes and their bodies burnt to ashes.

 

Eighteenth century

The Midsteeple in the centre of the High Street was completed in 1707. Opposite the fountain in the High Street, adjacent to the present Marks & Spencer, was the Commercial and later the County Hotel. Although the latter was demolished in 1984–85, the original facade of the building was retained and incorporated into new retail premises. The building now houses a Waterstones Bookshop. Room No. 6 of the hotel was known as Bonnie Prince Charlie's Room and appropriately carpeted in the Royal Stewart tartan. The timber panelling of "Prince Charlie's room" was largely reinstated and painted complete with the oil painted landscapes by Robert Norie (1720–1766) in the overmantels at either end of the room and can still be seen as the upstairs showroom of the book shop. The Young Pretender had his headquarters here during a 3-day sojourn in Dumfries towards the end of 1745. £2,000 was demanded by the Prince, together with 1,000 pairs of brogues for his kilted Jacobite rebel army, which was camping in a field not one hundred yards distant. A rumour that the Duke of Cumberland was approaching, made Bonnie Prince Charlie decide to leave with his army, with only £1,000 and 255 pairs of shoes having been handed over.

 

Robert Burns moved to Dumfriesshire in 1788 and Dumfries itself in 1791, living there until his death on 21 July 1796. Today's Greyfriars Church overlooks the location of a statue of Burns, which was designed by Amelia Robertson Hill, sculpted in Carrara, Italy in 1882, and was unveiled by future Prime Minister, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery on 6 April 1882. Today, it features on the 2007 series of £5 notes issued by the Bank of Scotland, alongside the Brig o' Doon.

 

After working with Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, inventor William Symington intended to carry out a trial in order to show than an engine would work on a boat without the boat catching fire. The trial finally took place on Dalswinton Loch near Dumfries on 14 October 1788. The experiment demonstrated that a steam engine would work on a boat. Symington went on to become the builder of the first practical steamboat.

 

20th century and beyond

The first official intimation that RAF Dumfries was to be built was made in late 1938. The site chosen had accommodated light aircraft since about 1914. Work progressed quickly, and on 17 June 1940, the 18 Maintenance Unit was opened at Dumfries. The role of the base during the war also encompassed training. RAF Dumfries had a moment of danger on 25 March 1943, when a German Dornier Do 217 aircraft shot up the airfield beacon, but crashed shortly afterwards. The pilot, Oberleutnant Martin Piscke was later interred in Troqueer Cemetery in Dumfries town, with full military honours. On the night of 3/4 August 1943 a Vickers Wellington bomber with engine problems diverted to but crashed 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) short of the Dumfries runway.

 

During the Second World War, the bulk of the Norwegian Army during their years in exile in Britain consisted of a brigade in Dumfries. When the army High Command took over, there were 70 officers and about 760 privates in the camp. The camp was established in June 1940 and named Norwegian Reception Camp, consisting of some 500 men and women, mainly foreign-Norwegian who had volunteered for war duty in Norway during the Nazi occupation in early 1940. Through the summer the number was built up to around 1,500 under the command of General Carl Gustav Fleischer. Within a few miles of Dumfries are the villages of Tinwald, Torthorwald and Mouswald all of which were settled by Vikings.

 

Dumfries has experienced two Boxing Day earthquakes. These were in 1979 (measuring 4.7 ML  centred near Longtown) and 2006 (centred in the Dumfries locality measuring 3.6 ML ). There were no serious consequences of either. There was also an earthquake on 16 February 1984 and a further earthquake on 7 June 2010.

 

Like the rest of Dumfries and Galloway, of Scotland's three major geographical areas Dumfries lies in the Southern Uplands.

 

The river Nith runs through Dumfries toward the Solway Firth in a southwards direction splitting the town into East and West. At low tide, the sea recedes to such an extent on the shallow sloping sands of the Solway that the length of the Nith is extended by 13 km to 113.8 km (70.7 mi). This makes the Nith Scotland's seventh longest river. There are several bridges across the river within the town. In between the Devorgilla (also known as 'The Old Bridge') and the suspension bridge is a weir colloquially known as 'The Caul'. In wetter months of the year the Nith can flood the surrounding streets. The Whitesands has flooded on average once a year since 1827.

 

Dumfries has numerous suburbs including Summerhill, Summerville, Troqueer, Georgetown, Cresswell, Larchfield, Calside, Lochside, Lincluden, Newbridge Drive, Sandside, Heathhall, Locharbriggs, Noblehill and Marchmount. Maxwelltown to the west of the river Nith, was formerly a burgh in its own right within Kirkcudbrightshire until its incorporation into Dumfries in 1929; Summerhill, Troqueer, Lochside, Lincluden, Sandside are among other suburbs located on the Maxwelltown side of the river. Palmerston Park, home to the town's senior football team Queen of the South, is on Terregles Street, also on the Maxwelltown side of the river.

 

Queensberry Square and High Street are the central focal points of the town and this area hosts many of the historical, social and commercial enterprises and events of Dumfries. During the 1990s, these areas enjoyed various aesthetic recognitions from organisations including Britain in Bloom.

 

Dumfries got its nickname 'Queen of the South' from David Dunbar, a local poet, who in 1857 stood in the general election. In one of his addresses he called Dumfries "Queen of the South" and this became synonymous with the town.

 

The term doonhamer comes from the way that natives of Dumfries over the years have referred to the area when working away from home. The town is often referred to as doon hame in the Scots language (down home). The term doonhamer followed, to describe those that originate from Dumfries.

 

The Doonhamers is also the nickname of Queen of the South who represent Dumfries and the surrounding area in the Scottish Football League.

 

The crest of Dumfries contains the words, "A Lore Burne". In the history of Dumfries close to the town was the marsh through which ran the Loreburn whose name became the rallying cry of the town in times of attack – A Lore Burne (meaning 'to the muddy stream').

 

In 2017 Dumfries was ranked the happiest place in Scotland by Rightmove.

 

Located on top of a small hill, Dumfries Museum is centred on the 18th-century windmill which stands above the town. Included are fossil footprints left by prehistoric reptiles, the wildlife of the Solway marshes, tools and weapons of the earliest peoples of the region and stone carvings of Scotland's first Christians. On the top floor of the museum is a camera obscura.

 

Based in the control tower near Tinwald Downs, the aviation museum has an extensive indoor display of memorabilia, much of which has come via various recovery activities. During the second world war, aerial navigation was taught at Dumfries also at Wigtown and nearby Annan was a fighter training unit. RAF Dumfries doubled as an important maintenance unit and aircraft storage unit. The museum is run by the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Group and is the only private aviation museum in Scotland. The restored control tower of the former World War II airfield is now a listed building. The museum is run by volunteers and houses a large and ever expanding aircraft collection, aero engines and a display of artefacts and personal histories relating to aviation, past and present. It is also home to the Loch Doon Spitfire. Both civil aviation and military aviation are represented.

 

The Theatre Royal, Dumfries was built in 1792 and is the oldest working theatre in Scotland.

 

The theatre is owned by the Guild of Players who bought it in 1959, thereby saving it from demolition, and is run on a voluntary basis by the members of the Guild of Players. It is funded entirely by Guild membership subscriptions, and by box office receipts. It does not currently receive any grant aid towards running costs.

 

In recent years the theatre has been re-roofed and the outside refurbished. It is the venue for the Guild of Players' own productions and for performances from visiting companies. These include: Scottish Opera, TAG, the Borderline and 7:84.

 

The Robert Burns Centre is an art house cinema in Dumfries. The Odeon Cinema, which showed more mainstream movies, closed its doors in mid-2018 due to the local council refusing to allow Odeon to relocate, forcing them to close.

 

The Loreburn Hall (sometimes known colloquially as The Drill Hall) has hosted concerts by performers such as Black Sabbath, Big Country, The Proclaimers and Scottish Opera. The hall has hosted sporting events such as wrestling. The new DG One sport, fitness and entertainment centre became the principal indoor event venue in Dumfries in 2007, but in October 2014, it closed due to major defects being discovered in the building. However, the refurbished building reopened to the public in the summer of 2019. The Theatre Royal has also reopened following renovation work.

 

With a collection of over 400 Scottish paintings, Gracefield Arts Centre hosts a changing programme of exhibitions featuring regional, national and international artists and craft-makers.

 

Dumfries Art Trail brings together artists, makers, galleries and craft shops with venues accessible all year round.

 

There are a number of festivals which take place throughout the year, mostly based on traditional values.

 

Guid Nychburris (Middle Scots, meaning Good Neighbours) is the main festival of the year, a ceremony which is largely based on the theme of a positive community spirit.

 

The ceremony on Guid Nychburris Day, follows a route and sequence of events laid down in the mists of time. Formal proceedings start at 7.30 am with the gathering of up to 250 horses waiting for the courier to arrive and announce that the Pursuivant is on his way, and at 8.00 am leave the Midsteeple and ride out to meet the Pursuivant. They then proceed to Ride the Marches and Stob and Nog (mark the boundary with posts and flags) before returning to the Midsteeple at 12.15 pm to meet the Provost and then the Charter is proclaimed to the towns people of Dumfries. This is then followed by the crowning of the Queen of the South.

 

Since 2013, Dumfries has seen the annual Nithraid, a small boat race up the Nith from Carsethorn, celebrating the town's historical relationship with the river.

 

The region is also home to a number of thriving music festivals such as the Eden Festival (at St Ann's near Moffat), Youthbeatz (Scotland's largest free youth music festival), the Moniaive Folk Festival, Thornhill Music Festival, Big Burns Supper Festival and previously Electric Fields at Drumlanrig Castle.

 

Queen of the South represent Dumfries and the surrounding area in the third level of the country's professional football system, the Scottish League One. Palmerston Park on Terregles Street is the home ground of the team. This is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith. They reached the 2008 Scottish Cup Final, losing 3–2 to Rangers.

 

Dumfries City VFC are a virtual football club from the town.

 

Dumfries Saints Rugby Club is one of Scotland's oldest rugby clubs having been admitted to the Scottish Rugby Union in 1876–77 as "Dumfries Rangers".

 

Dumfries is also home to a number of golf courses:

 

The Crichton Golf Club

The Dumfries and County Golf Club

The Dumfries and Galloway Golf Club

 

Of those listed, only the Dumfries and Galloway Golf Club is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith. This course is also bisected into 2 halves of 9 holes each by the town's Castle Douglas Road. The club house and holes 1 to 7 and 17 and 18 are on the side nearest to Summerhill, Dumfries. Holes 8 to 16 are on the side nearest to Janefield.

 

The opening stage of the 2011 Tour of Britain started in Peebles and finished 105.8 miles (170.3 km) later in Dumfries. The stage was won by sprint specialist and reigning Tour de France green jersey champion, Mark Cavendish, with his teammate lead out man, Mark Renshaw finishing second. Cavendish had been scheduled to be racing in the 2011 Vuelta a España. However Cavendish was one a number of riders to withdraw having suffered in the searing Spanish heat. This allowed Cavendish to be a late addition to the Tour of Britain line up in his preparation for what was to be a successful bid two weeks later in the 2011 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race. Cavendish in a smiling post race TV interview in Dumfries described the wet and windy race conditions through the Southern Scottish stage as 'horrible'.

 

DG One complex includes a national event-sized competition swimming pool.

 

The David Keswick Athletic Centre is the principal facility in Dumfries for athletics.

 

Dumfries is home to Nithsdale Amateur Rowing Club. The rowers share their clubhouse with Dumfries Sub-Aqua Club.

 

The town is also home to Solway Sharks ice hockey team. The team are current Northern Premier League winners. The team's home rink is Dumfries Ice Bowl. Dumfries Ice bowl is also recognised as Scotland's only centre of ice hockey excellence, and trials for the Scottish Jr national team are carried out at this venu.

 

Dumfries Ice Bowl is also home to two synchronised skating teams, Solway Stars and Solway Eclipse. In addition, Dumfries Ice Bowl is also home to several curling teams, competitions and leagues. Junior curling teams from Dumfries, consisting of curlers under the age of 21, regularly compete in the Dutch Junior Open based in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 a Dumfries-based team have been the winners of the competition's Hogline Trophy.

 

Dumfries hosts three outdoor bowls clubs:

 

Dumfries Bowling Club

Marchmount Bowling Club

Maxwelltown Bowling Club

 

Dumfries hosts cycling organisations and cycling holidays

 

The most significant of the parks in Dumfries are all within walking distance of the town centre:-

 

Dock Park – located on the East bank of the Nith just to the South of St Michael's Bridge

Castledykes Park – as the name suggests on the site of a former castle

Mill Green (also known as deer park, although the deer formerly accommodated there have since been relocated) – on the West bank of the Nith opposite Whitesands

 

There are many buildings in Dumfries made from sandstone of the local Locharbriggs quarry.

 

The quarry is situated off the A701 on the north of Dumfries at Locharbriggs close to the nearby aggregates quarry. This dimension stone quarry is a large quarry. Quarry working at Locharbriggs dates from the 18th century, and the quarry has been worked continuously since 1890.

 

There are good reserves of stone that can be extracted at several locations. On average the stone is available at depths of 1m on bed although some larger blocks are obtainable. The average length of a block is 1.5m but 2.6m blocks can be obtained.

 

Locharbriggs is from the New Red Sandstone of the Permian age. It is a medium-grained stone ranging in colour from dull red to pink. It is the sandstone used in the Queen Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland, the Manchester Central Convention Complex and the base of the Statue of Liberty.

So this was my second "night in" and it's fair to say life has been very rocky at times since last time. But we're surviving and I'm (Nicky) still alive (just) and very much enjoying and embracing being me, so things could be worse haha.

BTW I know the photos are very samey (is that even a word..?) and I need to have a bit more variety, I'll see what I can do in the future... That said I'm loving this new top from Boden :)

Oh and I've added more to my ever expanding bio/life story if you're interested in knowing more :)

New Set by [CIRCA] Living

 

For our ever expanding "SunnySide" Collection of outdoor sets, we have our new "SunnySide" Backyard Picnic set for singles and couples. There are 8 plaid colours in the blanket via touch menu along with 30 quality single animations and 6 synchronized couple sets. Auto rez props are also included for certain animation cycles, for on the ground and your hands. It's perfect for hanging out or cuddling on a warm sunny day with eats and treats, sharing time with someone special.

 

Find our new set here:

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lakeside%20Falls/172/149/21

I'm not quite done building minifigure scale trucks. This is the latest addition to me ever-expanding fleet: a DAF XF 105 in the livery of Van Der Vlist Twente.

Gladstone Gaol.

The first Gladstone township was laid out by Matthew Moorhouse (former Protector of Aborigines) in 1872 as a private town, but a Government town was proclaimed next to it as 'Booyoolie' in 1875. The two towns merged but it was not until 1940 that the name of 'Gladstone' was officially adopted for both towns. The town was named after William Gladstone (1809-1898) a 19th century British Prime Minister. The town developed rapidly with the arrival of the railway in 1877 from Port Pirie which separated the two growing townships. Settlement occurred in the district after the government resumed much of the original Booyoolee lease land in 1869 and put it up for public auction in 1871. In Moorhouse’s town east of the railway line is the old butter factory and the original school building. West of the railway yards, with its three gauges, you can see the newer school (1929) and Grubbs Cordial Factory. Gladstone High School was one of the first rural high schools opening in 1913. Grubbs Cordial Factory has been operating continuously since 1876 but with various owners. The Grubb family were not the founders but they have been running the factory since 1914. Note the architectural style of the two banks in the Main Street of Gladstone. Both were built in the same period; one in the traditional Greek classical style with Doric columns with volutes on top and a clearly defined pediment across the roof line; the other was built in stripped classical style with no ornamentation and some remnants of classical features only. The Gladstone Courthouse was built in 1878 and it became a major regional Courthouse as it was situated mid-way between Laura and Georgetown. It was attached to the local police station. The land for the police station was purchased by the government for £120 in December 1877. The Gladstone Police Station and Court opened in March 1878. Laura and Georgetown petitioned for their own Courthouses which were duly erected in 1878 and 1879 respectively. The Courthouse in Georgetown cost nearly £1,100. The Gladstone Courthouse closed as a court many years ago. The growth of the town was further hastened with the establishment of the Gladstone Goal.

 

Gladstone has some fine old buildings including the two banks mentioned above .They both opened in 1937. Along the Main Street is the old Post Office which has been modernised and changed from its original appearance. It opened around 1880. The hotels include the Gladstone Hotel built in 1875 and the Commercial Hotel which was erected in 1879; and the oldest hotel is the Booyoolie Hotel built in 1873. Finlayson’s Butter Factory with its signage was built around 1890 for a skating rink and converted to a butter factory in 1922 which operated into the early 1980s partly because it produced butter for Broken Hill. The town has several fine church including the Anglican Church which was the Pro Cathedral for the Anglican Diocese of Willochra for many years. It was built in 1891. Amateur Anglican Church architect William Mallyon, manager of a Port Pirie bank designed the transept, sanctuary and chancel which was added in 1890 and although he designed the tower at that time it was not erected until 1928. The Diocese of Willochra was based in Gladstone from its inception in 1915 and the nearby Bishops House was completed in 1923. In 1999 the Diocese moved its headquarters to Port Pirie and made the church of St Peter and St Paul the Anglican Cathedral. The Anglican Sunday School hall next to the church was built in 1909. The Catholic Church is on the hill near the primary school on West Terrace on the northern fringe of the town. It was built in 1928 when the original church of 1881 became a hall before it was demolished in 1951. A Wesleyan Methodist Church opened in Gladstone in 1876. This small Wesleyan Church was connected to the current Methodist, now Uniting Church, in 1922. The former Bible Christian Methodist Church at 32 High Street was built in 1876. Upon Methodist churches Union in 1900 it was left vacant until 1919 when the Masons purchased it for £120 for use as the Masonic Hall which it still is. The funds from the sale of the church to the Masons helped fund the new 1922 Methodist church. Next to the now Masonic Temple is a grand two storey house dating from around 1900 with a small cupola on an arched entry porch. It is just south of the old Police Station and Police Court room. From here you can turn left into Fourth Street and left again into Sixth Street to reach St Albans Anglican Church. Behind the 1960s Council Chambers in Cross Street is the stone gable faced Soldiers Memorial Hall built in 1921.

 

Gladstone Goal was built between 1879 and 1881 at a cost of over £21,000. Tenders were called and Sara and Dunstan of Burra won the tender for its construction. Its design was based on the model prison of Bristol in England. Slate for the flooring was transported from Mintaro and stone was quarried locally for both the cell blocks and the high external prison yard walls. It was intended for debtors and inebriates and seldom housed more than 20 prisoners at any one time from when it opened in 1881 until it closed in 1939. Both men and women were incarcerated in Gladstone gaol and the first gaol keeper was Mr Pollet who had been the keeper at Redruth gaol in Burra. When opened it could accommodate 86 prisoners but with a later expansion this increased to around 200 prisoners. But given that it seldom accommodated more than 20 inmates why did they ever expand it? Criminals from around the Mid North charged with serious crimes like murder were also housed in this prison awaiting their trials. Gladstone gaol closed in 1939 and during World War Two from September 1939 to 1940 it was used to inter Italians and Germans of suspect loyalties. Then from 1942 until 1943 it was used by the Army as a Military Detention barracks. In 1953 it reopened for convicted youth offenders so that they were separated from the hardened criminals of Yatala gaol at Northfield. It opened with 90 youth offenders in 1953. Its peak year of operations was 1969 when it held 130 youth offenders. It finally closed as a youth prison in 1975. Prison life was never easy. The daily routine of the Gladstone Gaol in the early years was as follows:

7.00 am - Prisoners woken and served breakfast in their cells.

7.30 am - Leave cells, empty toilet buckets and shower.

8.00 am - Parade in exercise yard and work details issued.

11.30 am - Collect lunch and return to cells.

1.00pm - Return to work assignments.

4.15 pm - Finish work and shower. Collect evening meals from the kitchen and return to cells.

9.00 pm - Lights out. Prisoners were allowed to have visitors once a fortnight and write one letter a week and their work assignments included making metal buckets, making mops, metal garbage tins and working in the prison vegetable gardens and orchard.

 

We have several shade borders now, but this one is our favourite. Seen here is the lower part. With the ever expanding hostas we constantly have to intervene to keep a good balance, so this picture differs somewhat from the ones last year. But hostas and astilbes still make up the bulk of the shade plants here, with the omnipresent, self-seeding violas in between. The seed capsules stem from the Fritillaria. This part of the shade garden is framed by various trees, from left: Stewartia pseudocamellia, Camellia japonica, Nandina domestica and Camellia sasanqua.

Although I have an ever expanding wardrobe a visit to BWBG or Chateau Femme provides the opportunity to move out of my comfort zone and try different styles. I love this look created by Cindy but would never have picked it myself. What do you think.

Shanghai (Chinese: 上海; pinyin: Shànghǎi; Shanghainese: Zånhae [z̥ɑ̃̀hé]; Mandarin pronunciation: [ʂɑŋ˥˩xaɪ̯˩˧]) is a metropolis in eastern China and a direct-controlled municipality of the People's Republic of China. Located at the middle part of the coast of mainland China, it sits at the mouth of the Yangtze.

 

Originally a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew to importance in the 19th century due to its favorable port location and as one of the cities opened to foreign trade by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.[6] The city flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became a multinational hub of finance and business by the 1930s.[7] After 1990, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in intense re-development and financing in Shanghai, and in 2005 Shanghai became the world's largest cargo port.[8]

 

The city is a tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks such as the Bund and City God Temple, and its modern and ever-expanding Pudong skyline including the Oriental Pearl Tower. Today, Shanghai is the largest center of commerce and finance in mainland China, and has been described as the "showpiece" of the world's fastest-growing major economy.[

 

Source: Wikipedia

 

Interesting 50 ||| China set ||| Night pictures

  

GB Railfreight are on the up but here these locomotives are on the down line but are indeed the first of GB Railfreight's new Class 66 diesel locomotives, excluding 66737 leading, which have arrived in the UK and after unloading from the ship and railing in Newport Docks the locomotives we're picked up on Saturday the 14/07/14 by older Class 66 locomotive, 66737, which here leads the 5 new ones down towards Doncaster through Denaby, Mexborough, Rotherham working 0X66 Newport Docks to Doncaster Robert's Rd Electromotive Depot the locomotives numbered in running order, 66737, 66752, 66753, 66754, 66756 & 66755 the new ones behind not been commissioned at Newport Docks and been commissioned later at Robert's Rd, Doncaster. It's nice to see some new locomotives arrive in the UK especially for GB Railfreight the ever expanding Europorte outfit running freight trains mainly around the East Coast mainline out of Doncaster, Peterborough, Immingham and the port of Felixstowe with other major contracts with Drax power station and Ironbridge with Biomas trains among other work it carried out as well who have recently picked up a lot of work from DB Schenker UK and a few trains from Freightliner too thus needing to bump up its locomotive fleet with some electric and ED second hand locomotives on the way as well, Class 73 & Class 92, and the spot hired Class 47's it is currently using around Doncaster too. The locomotives are General Motors built JT42CWR EMD710 engined Class 66's and are one of the most common locomotives not only within GB Railfreight but also within the UK its self with most major freight operating companies running the type which is built in America before been shipped over much like the General Electric build Class 70 diesel locomotive of which Colas Railfreight are the latest customer. As of the 14/07/14 all 5 new locos remain on Robert's Rd and have not been used on a revenue earning freight train however it wont be long now.

I got up really early on a Saturday morning to get these shots - so there would be few people about. During the week this station is always busy.

 

From Wikipedia;

 

Canary Wharf is a London Underground station on the Jubilee line, between Canada Water and North Greenwich. The station, serving Canary Wharf, is in Travelcard Zone 2 and was opened by Ken Livingstone setting an escalator in motion on 17 September 1999 as part of the Jubilee Line Extension. It is maintained by Tube Lines. Over 40 million people pass through the station each year, making it second busiest on the London Underground outside Central London after Stratford, and also the busiest that serves only a single line. (The DLR station is completely separate.)

Before the arrival of the Jubilee line, London's Docklands had suffered from relatively poor public transport. Although the Docklands Light Railway station at Canary Wharf had been operating since 1987, by 1990 it was obvious that the DLR's capacity would soon be reached. The Jubilee line's routing through Canary Wharf was intended to relieve some of this pressure.

 

The tube station was intended from the start to be the showpiece of the Jubilee Line Extension, and the contract for its design was awarded in 1990 to the renowned architect Sir Norman Foster. It was constructed, by a Tarmac Construction / Bachy UK Joint Venture, in a drained arm of the former dock, using a simple "cut and cover" method to excavate an enormous pit 24 metres (78 ft) deep and 265 metres (869 ft) long. The size of the interior has led to it being compared to a cathedral, and it has even been used to celebrate a wedding. However, the main reason for the station's enormous dimensions was the great number of passengers predicted; as many as 50,000 daily. These predictions have been outgrown, with as many as 69,759 on weekdays recorded in 2006.

 

In a 2013 poll conducted by YouGov, it was voted as the "Most Loved" tube station in London.

 

Above ground there is little sign of the vast interior: two curved glass canopies at the east and west ends of the station cover the entrances and allow daylight into the ticket hall below. The Jubilee Park, a public park is situated between the two canopies, above the station concourse. It had originally been intended that the infilled section of the dock would be reinstated above the station, but this proved impractical because of technical difficulties and the park was created instead.

 

As with the other below-ground stations on the Jubilee Line extension, both station platforms are equipped with platform screen doors.

 

Canary Wharf station has become one of the busiest stations on the network, serving the ever-expanding Canary Wharf business district. Although it shares its name with the Docklands Light Railway station at Canary Wharf, the two are not directly integrated (in fact, Heron Quays DLR station is nearer at street level). All three stations are connected underground via shopping malls. Out-of-station interchange within twenty minutes between any two of the stations entails no additional charge.

 

Canary Wharf can be used to reverse trains from both the east and the west. A scissors crossover west of the station allows trains from Stanmore to enter either the east- or west-bound platform at the station, and trains from Stratford enter the normal westbound platform and can use this scissors crossover to reverse back towards Stratford.

 

The station was used as a location for some scenes of Danny Boyle's 2002 film 28 Days Later.

 

On 9 January 2013, the station appeared on a £1.28 British postage stamp as part of a set commemorating the 150th anniversary of the first London underground train journey. The stamp's captions read "Jubilee Line at Canary Wharf" and "1999". The Canary Wharf stamp represented the most modern phase of the Underground in the set of six stamps.

The 31st March 2015 was the last day for Select Bus & Coach of Skewen as a local bus operator. This was as a result of the acquisition of its services and several vehicles by the ever expanding NAT Group. Select is to continue, but just as a school transport operator.

 

The business started in December 2011 with a single Dennis Dart on a service given up by South Wales Transport (Neath). It has progressively grown into a 16 vehicle operation, covering both local bus and school transport operations, latterly based at the former Jenkins depot in Skewen. The service network has mostly centred upon the Neath to Swansea corridor, via a variety of routes, predominantly in competition with First Cymru, as well as by filling gaps created by First Cymru's refocusing of its commercial network.

 

The second-hand Dennis Dart with Caetano Nimbus, Marshall Capital, Plaxton Pointer and Alexander ALX200 bodies has been the service bus of choice, with examples sourced from a variety of operators, including Ensignbus, Warrington Transport, Cardiff Bus and Newport Bus, and operated in a number of livery schemes.

 

Representing these is T144 DAX, which was Cardiff's first short Pointer-bodied Dart and was one of nine acquired in just over a year. She is captured leaving Neath's Victoria Gardens in this July 2014 shot operating Service 30 to Swansea via Skewen and Birchgrove.

   

6179 248 St, Langley, BC

Canada

 

The History of the Farm:

 

“From small beginnings come great things.” ~ Proverb Quote

 

It started small when Alf Krause planted 1 acre of strawberries back in 1974. Today, Krause Berry Farms & Estate Winery has expanded to over 200 acres, growing and producing some of the Fraser Valley’s best berries and vegetables. Owned and operated by Alf & Sandee Krause, their commitment to ethical and sustainable farming has resulted in loyal guests spreading the word and returning year after year.

 

The abundance of delicious fresh berries & vegetables, combined with Sandee’s creativity and passion for baking, led to the development of their ever expanding line of farm-made products available in their Market, Bakery, Fudgery, Creamery, and Porch.

 

Today the on farm Harvest Kitchen produces over 100 products grown from the above. The newest being our Krause Berry Farms Wines!

 

Farm Market:

 

A visit to our Market will delight all your senses! Savor the aroma of hot out of the oven breads & buns, berry pies & shortcakes, corn pizza and other mouth-watering treats made from scratch daily in our farm Kitchen & Bakery. Try the farm made jams, jellies, syrups, and gourmet preserves made with berries & vegetables grown right on the farm.

 

Be sure to stop at the Fudge Counter to sample freshly made berry flavours that simply melt in your mouth! Enjoy an old-fashioned berry milkshake while you browse the farm Market for many carefully selected gourmet items, country-themed gifts & décor, as well as beautifully wrapped theme baskets that make gift giving easy.

 

From mid June right through to Thanksgiving our Market is filled with a bounty of berries and select vegetables fresh from the fields. You will also find a colourful array of other locally grown fruits & vegetables that are always fresh & tasty!

  

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Thank-you for your visit!

I really appreciate it!

Sonja