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The practice of dumping grannies in the mountains to die, as a form of euthanasia is more a product of Japanese folklore than a real historical practice. But had the Japanese have carried out such a practice, it is possibly to see how, in certain circumstances it would be evolutionarily favoured. Species that are able and willing to dump their forebears in the mountains at such time as they are no longer providing sufficient wisdom or child-minding -- soft or hard contributions to society -- but are still eating and requiring assistance will be ridding themselves of a burden. Killing societal burdens could be argued to be beneficial to society, at least by the Nazis. There would be drawbacks. Any society in which such a practice were overtly carried out would promote the fear, uncertainty, and mutual distrust. It is for these reasons that it is very likely that granny dumping was confined to folklore rather actually taking place. But what if such a nastiness were to occur naturally?
The existence of cancer strikes me as being very difficult to explain. When Steven Fry, an atheist, was asked, 'what would you say to an omnipotent being should you meet one after you die?". As quick as a flash Fry replied, "brain cancer in children?" He proceeded to outline the Dostoyevski defence; an omnipotent deity that created a world like this, with childhood brain tumor, deserves no respect. If worshipping such an entity were the ticket to heaven, then it would be appropriate to say "sorry, but no thanks." "I most respectfully return him the ticket" (Dostoyevski, 1880, ch 35).
Even from the standpoint of evolution, however, cancer still remains difficult to explain. I don't think that there is some bloke with a slide rule doing intelligent design, but all the same things happen for a reason, an evolutionary reason. Random pain and tragedy happen, but it seems bizarre that organisms should inflict such horror upon themselves.
From a perusal of Google Scholar, and the advice of a friend, it seems that there are three ways in which cancer can be explained from an evolutionary perspective.
The first is that cancer is an example of survival of the fittest at a cellular level. Normal cells mutate to become cancer cells that replicate more rapidly, marshal resources more effectively, and are in that sense fitter than their non cancerous peers (Nowell, 1976). This logic is at once irrefutable -- cancers really do mutate in such a way as to survive -- but at the same time seems to require further explanation. Evolution predominates at the level of species and their genes. Evolution cares not for individuals, be they grannies or cells. Bearing that in mind, it is difficult to see why a species of human did not evolve to have an immune system capable of dealing with greedy, destructive cancer cells, unless cancer were beneficial to the species as a whole.
A second explanation for the evolution of cancer is that cancer is carrying out the prime objective of evolution the replication of the fittest variation, where variation implies death. If it were not for the fact that we have built in obsolescence, that we are programmed to age and die, then there would never be variation just a stagnant gene pool of nonagenarians or much older, and above.
But this explanation still does not cut the mustard. Ageing, wearing out, a weakened ability for cell replication is all very understandable but why should there also be this horrible self destruct mode? Cancer seems to be too violent, and gratuitous to be explained solely as another ageing mechanism, though it is generally related to age.
Another possibility (that I have yet to see expressed) is that cancer is an essential by-product of evolution in that species that evolve need to mutate so therefore they will inevitably experience mutation at the cellular level. This is an evolutionary explanation of the first explanation. Species that evolve need to made of stuff that mutates and evolves at an individual, and cellular level. Species are no more than the sum of their parts, so the parts and the whole necessarily correspond to each other in their tendency to mutate and evolve. This explanation sounds plausible too.
However, is this really how evolution occurs? When the proto rhino returned to the sea and evolved into a whale was it by cancerous mutation that its snout moved back to become a blow-hole? Did a cancer ever evolve into anything useful? Were the cells in our retina, prefrontal lobes or opposable thumbs ever once a tumour in one of our ancestors? I am inclined to think not. Cancerous mutation and inter-individual and inter-generational variation, appear to be different things. This is an argument merely from visual confirmation but, cancers just look different from all the variations, big noses, small jaws, and variations in height that we see between individuals and generations. A medical practitioner of my acquaintance tells me that you can spot a cancer. Cancers are not merely different, but cancer-like, and incidentally grotesque.
Further, upon reflection, there are some species of animal such as naked mole rats that do not suffer from cancer. It follows therefore that cancer is not a necessary by-product of evolution due to the covariance of species and cell, else naked mole rats would never have evolved at all.
So what was the evolutionary force that propelled this natural monster into existence?
To explain the titular theory I need to introduce two fields of research, and cut to the chase.
The first research field is that of paleopathology, scholars of ancient causes of death, find that cancer is rarer in our ancient ancestors. There is a striking rarity of malignancies” in ancient human remains (David & Zimmerman, 2010; see Johnson, 2010). The "cancer is a modern disease" meme allows some to conclude that it is caused by our industrial environment, or the prevalence of cigarettes. Again, this physical environment explanation is persuasive, but didn't our ancestors come in contact with shale tar, or enjoy a paleolithic toke? I suggest something else has changed, an aspect of our diet, which brings me onto the second area of research.
Another fascinating area of research research is that of Dr Valter Longo who finds that fasting is as effective as chemotherapy at alleviating and preventing cancer(e.g. Raffaghello, Safdie, Bianchi, Dorff, Fontana, & Longo 2010; Lee, & Longo, 2011). Fasting is found to improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy, make the after effects of chemo less unpleasant, and even more importantly, cause cancers to self-destruct due to the effects of fasting alone. During a fast normal cells go into hibernation whereas cancerous cells want to eat and eat even themselves.
So, cutting to the conclusion. For much of our paleolithic past humans lived in hunter gather societies in which game and gather were a non continuous source of calories. For much of our evolutionary past therefore, it seems likely that we should have been forced to fast. Individuals in hunter gather societies would have been forced to fast unless that however, they had access to the resources of their peers.
Bearing in mind that cancer tends to effect older persons, and that it can be prevented in large part by periods of low calorie consumption, could it be the case therefore that cancer was a natural granny and grandpa dump? Social species such as humans may have evolved a mechanism called cancer, such that older persons who did not undergo periods of low calorie consumption, and were likely therefore in those societies to have been being a burden on their hunter gatherer peers, should self destruct.
If this is the evolutionary origin of cancer, it would mean that cancer today is even more utterly gratuitous than it appears. In the modern world where older persons are capable of supporting themselves and through their skills, knowledge, and sagacity benefiting the general community, then there is every evolutionary reason for keeping them alive. But for those millennia when humans lived on the calorific brink of extinction, a natural method of finishing off free-loaders may have been evolutionarily preferred.
This is the only explanation for this horror that I can think of, and it still does not explain childhood brain cancer.
The only positive take home from this conclusion is that it may be a good idea to periodically fast, especially in the unfortunate event that one has cancer.
Addendum
If the above hypothesis were correct, then the tendency to get cancer would be expected to correlate to the ability or tendency to freeload. I predicted that animals that do not get cancer would be those that lead a completely solitary existence. It seems however, that the animal most famed for not getting cancer, the naked mole rat is "eusocial". That is to say that rather than being independent, they are the most dependent of mammals, living in communities in which (like bees, wasps, termites and ants) individuals have specific bio-social roles such as breeding queens, and sterile workers. The fact that cancer free naked mole rats are eusocial does not disprove the cancer as granny dump hypothesis. Rather their highly interdependent social existence and freedom from cancer conversely suggests a link. Eusocial animal communities contain individuals that are essentially free-loaders: foraging for food is not a omnipresent function of the naked mole rat. It would make no evolutionary sense, therefore, for mole rats to self-destruct.
Another mammal that is almost entirely cancer free is the bow whale. Bow whales live in isolation or in small groups of up to six. They filter the oceans for sustenance so may have very limited ability to help or sustain their aged, or otherwise compromised, peers, very little opportunity for freeloading, and no need of cancer.
Dr. James DeGregori discusses the evolutionary origins of cancer from about the 40 minute mark in this video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXByvyVgHrI
Contra what I suggest above regarding a possible difference between oncogenic and evolutionary mutation, he is suggesting that they are the same thing, at least in the case of lactose tolerance in adults. And he is saying that the prevalence of cancer in older people is just because natural selection does not protect those that are past the breeding age so cancer is essentially another form of ageing. But then how does he explain those naked mole rats? I have not gotten to the end of the video.
Bibliography
Dostoyevsky, F (1880) The Brothers Karamazov.
Lee, C., & Longo, V. D. (2011). Fasting vs dietary restriction in cellular protection and cancer treatment: from model organisms to patients. Oncogene, 30(30), 3305-3316.
Nowell, P. C. (1976). The Clonal Evolution of Tumor Cell Populations. Science, 194(4260), 23-28.
Raffaghello, L., Safdie, F., Bianchi, G., Dorff, T., Fontana, L., & Longo, V. D. (2010). Fasting and differential chemotherapy protection in patients. Cell Cycle, 9(22), 4474-4476.
Image: Granny Dumping Moon by Yotoshi in the Tokyo Metropolitan museum.
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Saint George Monastery at Karydi.
The Monastery of Saint George in Karydi is located about 2km east of Vamos village. The monastery was abandoned for many years but was restored in 1996 and today it is operating normally. The monastery is the unique of Apokoronas province and is the most interesting monument of folk architecture in the prefecture of Chania.
The trademark of the monastery is the old olive oil factory with the 12 arches, which’s roof has collapsed. There still four mills, of which only their bases survive because the millstones have been removed. The large size of the factory and the existence of four oil mills, the unique case throughout Crete, witnesses the enormous quantities of oil produced here.
Do not look at the garden of existence like a stranger
It is a thing worth looking at, look at it repeatedly
You have come into the world like a spark, beware
Lest your ephemeral life may end suddenly, beware
Granted that I am not worthy of your Sight
You should look at my zeal, and look at my perseverance
If your eyes have been opened by the longing for Sight
Look for the foot prints of the Beloved in every lane
What angels recite is your exalted name
Your threshold is exalted, your munificence is general
The stars are stable by the attraction of your Love
Your system is like the system of the sun
گلزار ہست و بود نہ بيگانہ وار ديکھ
ہے ديکھنے کي چيز اسے بار بار ديکھ
آيا ہے تو جہاں ميں مثال شرار ديکھ
دم دے نہ جائے ہستي ناپائدار ديکھ
مانا کہ تيري ديد کے قابل نہيں ہوں ميں
تو ميرا شوق ديکھ، مرا انتظار ديکھ
کھولي ہيں ذوق ديد نے آنکھيں تري اگر
ہر رہ گزر ميں نقش کف پائے يار ديکھ
L’existence d’un orgue dans la nef de l’église Saint-Pierre est attestée depuis le 15ème siècle. Détruit en 1562 par les Huguenots, il est reconstruit en 1578. Le 14 avril 1783, est inauguré un orgue de Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Lefebvre. Le 8 octobre 1881, Alexandre Guilmant inaugure un orgue d’Aristide Cavaillé-Coll qui a conservé l’ancien buffet pour y mettre un instrument de trois claviers et 42 jeux. Dans la nuit du 6 au 7 juin 1944, l’orgue est détruit par la chute du clocher et des voûtes lors des bombardements. En 1958, Jacquot-Lavergne installe un orgue dont les 4 buffets sont accrochés au triforium alors que la console est dans le chœur. Enfin, en 1997, Jean-François Dupont installe un orgue accroché en nid d’hirondelle au milieu de la nef côté gauche (photo).
The existence of an organ in the nave of Saint-Pierre church has been documented since the 15th century. Destroyed in 1562 by the Huguenots, it was rebuilt in 1578. On April 14, 1783, an organ by Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Lefebvre was inaugurated. On October 8, 1881, Alexandre Guilmant inaugurated an organ by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, which retained the old organ case to house an instrument with three keyboards and 42 stops. On the night of June 6-7, 1944, the organ was destroyed by the collapse of the bell tower and vaults during the bombings. In 1958, Jacquot-Lavergne installed an organ whose four cases are suspended from the triforium, while the console is located in the choir. Finally, in 1997, Jean-François Dupont installed an organ suspended like a swallow's nest in the middle of the nave on the left side (photo).
the essence of existence is all about leaving traces in space, time, human memories, snow, google and ccd-sensors...
any questions?
print your photos on canvas or visit my online-shop
OK, additions made by you :))
shoes?? (farfarm)
CCTV, hansard, and court transcripts (thx liam.jon_d)
Sons (The Yele)
The buses of Scotland - Bright Bus Tours
Bright Bus Tours, a trading name of First Scotland East, is a tour operator running sightseeing tours in Edinburgh. But it owes its existence to Lothian Buses and that company’s decision to move into West Lothian. Following First’s decision to sell its operations in East Lothian and in the Scottish Borders to Lothian Buses and West Coast Motors, this left what was left of First Scotland East’s (FSE) focusing on its operations in Livingston - a new town just west of Edinburgh - and the rest of West Lothian.
Now what then in turn prompted Lothian Buses to decide to go into West Lothian and compete with FSE is up for debate. Some say a change in management and the desire to extend Lothian Buses award-winning standards to the surrounding areas. After all, it should be recalled that although Lothian Buses is majority owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Councils have a stake in it too. Others say that they spotted an opportunity with a weakened company with First going through their own troubles. Whatever the case Lothian decided it was going into West Lothian. And going in hard.
Lothian’s first steps into West Lothian proper - it did run a few services that could technically be counted as running into West Lothian at the extreme city limits - were tentative. It transplanted it’s Lothian Country business and trading name from East Lothian to West Lothian following the formation of East Coast Buses.
Lothian took on services to South Queensferry on the banks of the River Forth, west of Edinburgh. These had been services originally run by FSE but had in turn been given up by them when it closed its Linlithgow depot but in turn then struggled to run them from the Livingston depot they’d been moved to. Stagecoach in Fife then ran them for a while but even they struggled to make the numbers add up, suggesting they weren’t the most profitable services. Lothian Country began running them and this seems to be the catalyst for its expansion into West Lothian.
In early 2018, services began in West Lothian and they grew and grew. A depot in Livingston was then opened so it was clear for all to see that Lothian was in for the long haul here. It was then left to see what FSE would do. Initially it seemed very little would happen. FSE made some service changes to consolidate its position and began plans to speed up the repainting of the fleet into the newer First Urban blue-based livery. Various Streetlites began to arrive from First Bristol to modernise the fleet. But on top of that behind the scenes at FSE, plans were afoot....
In a bold move, FSE decided to hit back at Lothian by hitting one of its most profitable aspects, its city tours business. To do this it scoured the country to secure decent open-top vehicles such as 35013 (MXZ3386) seen here, which was new to Arriva London North as a closed top-bus as its DLP13 (T213XBV). Some of the vehicles FSE acquired to run its tours were actually new to Lothian Buses but then sold off by them.
The livery selected was a bright orange livery and is marketed as Bright Bus Tours. It uses a bright colour scheme - the orange colour is actually Strathclyde’s Buses orange - or Strathclyde Red to be strictly accurate. It also features pictures of Edinburgh land marks and tour prices but no mention of First on the branding. That’s a deliberate policy as it’s was felt the First brand wasn’t the right one to use. The only clue to them being FSE buses are the fleetnumbers and legal lettering. The buses run into Edinburgh from FSE’s Livingston depot and run daily. They compete with Lothian’s more established tours but offer a slightly cheaper tour covering all the major sights.
It’s an interesting move here by First. The tour itself will probably not make much money - if any - but it will impact Lothian and cause it to lose money it would have expected to receive. Whether First will extend the Bright Bus concept to other cities is questionable. But with Lothian’s incursions into West Lothian apparently proving not to be as lucrative as it expected, whether it’ll agree to withdraw from parts of West Lothian in return for FSE removing Bright Bus may be the preferred option to suit both parties. But it explains why an offshoot of FSE runs tours in Edinburgh but owes its existence to Lothian Buses.
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Soo Line GP30 #718 and former Milwaukee SD40-2 #198 lead Train #950 (Noyes to St. Paul) along side a Burlington Northern train and past Dayton's Bluff in St. Paul. This fantastic view captured by Mike Cleary shows the TOFC yard that's no longer in existence. Photo taken on May 31, 1986.
This cherry tree is 2,000 years old (*o*;
take
HASSELBLAD SWC
Carl Zeiss Biogon 38mm f4.5
EPSON GT-X970
FujiFilm REALA 100
View from St Catherine’s Castle
Aussicht vom St Catherine’s Castle
Fowey is a small town, civil parish and cargo port at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local church first established some time in the 7th century; the estuary of the River Fowey forms a natural harbour which enabled the town to become an important trading centre. Privateers also made use of the sheltered harbourage. The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway brought China clay here for export.
The Domesday Book survey at the end of the 11th century records manors at Penventinue and Trenant, and a priory was soon established nearby at Tywardreath. c. 1300 the prior granted a charter to people living in Fowey itself. This medieval town ran from a north gate near Boddinick Passage to a south gate at what is now Lostwithiel Street; the town extended a little way up the hillside and was bounded on the other side by the river where merchants had their houses backing onto the waterfront. The natural harbour allowed trade to develop with Europe and local ship owners often hired their vessels to the king to support various wars, although the town also developed a reputation for piracy, as did many others at this time. A group of privateers known as the 'Fowey Gallants' were given licence to seize French vessels during the Hundred Years' War. In the 14th century the harbour was defended by 160 archers; after these were withdrawn, two blockhouses were built on either side of the harbour entrance. Despite these defences the town was attacked by French forces in 1457. Place House, by the church, was successfully defended against the French but subsequently strengthened. This building still exists, but much remodelled. A small castle was built on St Catherine’s Point, the western side of the harbour entrance, around 1540. The defences proved their worth when a Dutch attack was beaten off in 1667.
The people of Fowey generally sided with the Royalists during the English Civil War, but in 1644 the Earl of Essex brought a Parliamentarian army to Lostwithiel and occupied the peninsula around Fowey. In August, a Royalist army surrounded Essex’s troops and King Charles I himself viewed Fowey from Hall Walk above Polruan, where he came close to being killed by a musket shot. On 31 August, the Parliamentarian cavalry forced their way through the Royalist lines and retreated towards Saltash, leaving the foot soldiers to be evacuated by sea from Fowey. Essex and some officers did indeed escape, but the majority of the force surrendered a few days later near Golant and were then marched to Poole, but most died before reaching there.
The fortunes of the harbour became much reduced, with trade going to Plymouth and elsewhere instead. Fishing became more important, but local merchants were often appointed as privateers and did some smuggling on the side. Tin, copper and iron mines, along with quarries and china clay pits became important industries in the area, which led to improvements at rival harbours. West Polmear beach was dug out to become Charlestown harbour circa 1800, as was Pentewan in 1826. Joseph Austen shipped copper from Caffa Mill Pill above Fowey for a while before starting work on the new Par harbour in 1829. Fowey had to wait another forty years before it saw equivalent development, but its natural deep-water anchorage and a rail link soon gave it an advantage over the shallow artificial harbours nearer to the mines and china clay works. Meanwhile, a beacon tower was erected on the Gribben Head by Trinity House to improve navigation into Fowey and around Par bay.
The Fowey Harbour Commissioners were established by an Act of Parliament in 1869, to develop and improve the harbour. On 1 June in that year, the 7 ft (2,134 mm) broad gauge Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway was opened to new jetties situated above Carne Point, and in 1873, the 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Cornwall Minerals Railway (CMR) opened a line from Newquay and Par to further jetties between Caffa Mill Pill and Carne Point. Both of these railways initially carried just goods, but on 20 June 1876, a passenger station was opened on the CMR on land reclaimed from Caffa Mill Pill. The Lostwithiel line closed at the end of 1879 but was reopened by the CMR as a standard gauge line in 1895, and the short gap between the two lines at Carne Point was eliminated. Passenger trains from Par were withdrawn after 1934 and from Lostwithiel in 1965. The Par line was subsequently converted to a dedicated roadway for lorries bringing china clay from Par after which all trains had to run via Lostwithiel.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution established Fowey Lifeboat Station near the Town Quay in 1922 to replace an earlier station at Polkerris. This was replaced in 1997, by a new facility in Passage Street. Two lifeboats are stationed at Fowey: Maurice and Joyce Hardy, a Trent Class all weather boat that is kept afloat opposite the lifeboat station, and Olive Two, an IB1 inshore lifeboat kept inside the station and launched by davit.
Fowey was the main port for loading ammunition for the US 29th Division that landed on Omaha Beach on D Day during the Second World War. There was a munitions siding at Woodgate Pill just north of Fowey, originally built for the Great War conflict.
Fowey is a small town, civil parish and cargo port at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England. It is at the entrance to a large flooded valley created after the last ice age by the melt waters that caused the sea level to rise dramatically, creating a large natural harbour which is navigable for its last seven miles.
Fowey is in the South Coast (Eastern Section) of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies at the end of the Saints' Way and has ferries across the river to Polruan (foot) and Bodinnick (vehicle). There are many historic buildings in the town, including the ruins of St Catherine's Castle, while Readymoney Cove possesses a local beach.
At the time of the 2001 census, Fowey had a population of 2,273. This had increased slightly at the 2011 census to 2,395 The Fowey electoral ward had a population of 4,690 in 2011.
Fowey has thrived as a port for hundreds of years, initially as a trading and naval town, then as the centre for china clay exports. Today Fowey is busy with trawlers and yachts. Tourism is also an important source of income, contributing £14m to the local economy and accounting for more than half of the jobs in the town.
Fowey has been the inspiration for many authors, including Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch ('Q'), Daphne du Maurier, Leo Walmsley and Kenneth Grahame.
Fowey was Quiller-Couch's main residence from 1892 onwards, and a number of his stories are set in 'Troy Town', a thinly disguised Fowey. The du Maurier Festival Society runs the Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature each May, the month of her birth.
Various visual artists have had close connection with Fowey and lived there, including painters Fred Yates, Andrew Litten and Amanda Hoskin who primarily paints the local coastline. Fowey holds an annual Christmas craft market.
(Wikipedia)
Fowey (kornisch: Fowydh) ist eine Kleinstadt und Gemeinde in Cornwall in Großbritannien. Die Stadt ist ein beliebter Ausflugs- und Urlaubsort, aber auch ein wichtiger Seehafen.
Die Stadt liegt an der Südküste von Cornwall zwischen Looe und Mevagissey. Sie erstreckt sich über 1,5 km an den steil abfallenden Hügeln entlang des Westufers des River Fowey bis zu dessen Mündung in den Ärmelkanal. Am gegenüberliegenden östlichen Ufer liegen die Dörfer Bodinnick sowie Polruan, die durch die weite Mündung des Baches Pont Pill voneinander getrennt sind. Die Region ist als Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ausgewiesen, weite Teiles des Uferbereichs gehören dem National Trust.
Infolge der zahlreichen Kriege, die der englische König Eduard I. gegen Ende des 13. Jahrhunderts führte, wurden die traditionellen Cinque Ports in Südostengland zunehmend Ziel von gegnerischen Überfällen. Deshalb gewannen die Häfen in Südwestengland an Bedeutung, zumal sie auch für den Handel mit der damals zu England gehörenden Gascogne günstiger lagen. Zu den Häfen, die um diese Zeit aufblühten, gehörte auch Fowey, das nicht nur ein bedeutender Handelshafen wurde, sondern auch als Basis zahlreicher Kriegszüge diente. Dazu rüsteten Gruppen von Kaufleuten Freibeuter aus, die im Laufe der Zeit jedoch nicht nur gegnerische Schiffe aufbrachten, sondern als Piraten wahllos Schiffe und Küstendörfer überfielen. Zu Beginn des 15. Jahrhunderts war Fowey zum damals bedeutendsten Stützpunkt von Piraten in Europa geworden, zu den bekanntesten der Freibeutergruppen gehörten die Fowey Gallants. Das durch den Handel mit der Beute wohlhabend gewordene Fowey konnte schließlich im späten 15. Jahrhundert gegen den Widerstand von Lostwithiel den Status eines Borough erlangen. Die Überfälle der Piraten auf die französische Küste auch nach dem Ende des Hundertjährigen Krieges führten 1457 zu einem französischen Vergeltungsangriff, bei dem ein Großteil von Fowey niedergebrannt wurde. Schließlich wurde die Piraterie im großen Stil durch König Eduard IV. unterbunden, auch wenn es in den folgenden Jahren immer noch zu Überfällen durch Piraten aus Fowey kam. Mit der Verlagerung des Schwerpunkt des Bergbaus nach Westcornwall verlor Fowey im 15. Jahrhundert seine Bedeutung als Seehafen an das weiter westlich gelegene Truro, doch bis zum 19. Jahrhundert blieb Fowey ein wichtiger Hafen für die Küstenschifffahrt und vor allem für den Handel mit Nordfrankreich. Von 1571 bis 1832 entsandte Fowey zwei Abgeordnete in das House of Commons.[5] Aufgrund ihrer geringen Größe galten die Wahlkreise schließlich als Rotten borough, die bei der Wahlkreisreform 1832 aufgelöst wurden. Einen Aufschwung brachte 1869 der Ausbau des Hafens und der Anschluss an die Eisenbahn. Fowey wurde nun zum bedeutenden Exporthafen für das in Cornwall abgebaute Kaolin. 1913 wurde die Gemeinde zum Municipal Borough erhoben, das 1968 mit dem nahe gelegenen, aber wesentlichen größeren St Austell zum Borough of St Austell with Fowey zusammengelegt wurde. 1974 ging dieses Borough im Restormel Borough auf, das durch die Verwaltungsreform von 2009 in der neuen Unitary Authority Cornwall aufging.
Die Mündungen des River Fowey und des Pont Pill bilden einen geschützten natürlichen Tiefwasserhafen, der unter allen Wetter- und Gezeitenbedingungen zugänglich ist. Der Hafen ist Heimathafen von etwa 1500 Booten und gilt als beliebtes Seglerziel, das jährlich von rund 7000 Segelbooten angelaufen wird. In den letzten Jahren wurde der Hafen trotz der engen, nur 200 m breiten Hafeneinfahrt auch zunehmend von Kreuzfahrtschiffen angelaufen. Als Seehafen dient er vor allem als Exporthafen für Kaolin. 2010 wurden von Fowey 750.000 t Kaolin exportiert, der Hafen kann von Schiffen mit bis zu 13.000 tn.l. Tragfähigkeit angelaufen werden.
Sehenswürdigkeiten
An der Stelle der Pfarrkirche St Fimbarrus Church soll sich bereits im 6. Jahrhundert eine christliche Kapelle befunden haben. Die jetzige Kirche wurde im späten 15. Jahrhundert errichtet.
Das Herrenhaus Place House unmittelbar hinter der Pfarrkirche ist seit dem 13. Jahrhundert Wohnhaus der Familie Treffry. Der heutige Bau stammt aus dem frühen 16. Jahrhundert und wurde 1791 und im 19. Jahrhundert im neugotischen Stil umgebaut. Es wird privat genutzt und ist nicht zu besichtigen.
Der Tristan Stone befindet sich an der A3082, der Hauptzufahrt nach Fowey. Der mit Inschriften versehene Monolith aus Granit stammt aus dem 6. Jahrhundert und diente der Inschrift nach als Grabstein für Tristan, einem Sohn von König Mark of Cornwall.
Das St Catherine’s Castle ist eine kleine Küstenbefestigung aus dem 16. Jahrhundert, die das ältere Fowey Blockhouse an der Zufahrt zum Hafen ersetzte. Nach 1855 wurde die Stelle erneut für die Anlage einer Küstenbatterie genutzt, die jedoch zum Ende des Jahrhunderts wieder aufgegeben wurde.
Das Anwesen Menabilly oberhalb von Fowey war von 1943 bis 1969 Wohnsitz der Schriftstellerin Daphne du Maurier. Es diente ihr als Vorlage für das Anwesen Manderley in ihrem Roman Rebecca.
8 km südwestlich von Fowey befindet sich die Landzunge Gribbin Head.
Jährlich im August findet die einwöchige Fowey Royal Regatta statt, eine der bekanntesten Segelveranstaltungen in Großbritannien. An der Regatta nahmen bereits Königin Victoria, Prinz Albert und Queen Elizabeth II. teil. Während der Regatta gibt es ein umfangreiches Rahmenprogramm, an dem seit 1977 auch die Kunstflugstaffel Red Arrows der britischen Luftwaffe teilnimmt.
Inspiriert durch die Schriftstellerin Daphne Du Maurier findet seit 1997 jedes Jahr im Mai das Fowey Festival of Words and Music statt.
(Wikipedia)
A Minstrel Bug Graphosoma lineatum on a wild carrot seedhead, there is a spider lurking on the underside- I am not sure the spider is a threat to this large bug, but smaller insects are probably supper for the spider.
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Eine Streifenwanze , Graphosoma lineatum auf einer Wilden Rübe- unten lauert eine Spinne. Ich glaube zwar nicht dass die Spinne eine Gefahr ist für diesen grossen Käfer, aber kleine Insekten sind bestimmt eine Mahlzeit für die Spinne.
Hi Guys! My store in Existence is finally opened -- so please drop on by and take a look and the things available. All releases are mesh items so you would need a mesh viewer to see it. To see if you have a compatible viewer, check out if the deer head in the store rezzes for you; if it doesn't, then please download either Viewer 3.0, Firestorm or Kristen!
Taxi to Beetlebones
*They started their primordial existence as microscopic lifeforms placed on separate parts of the Earth's Oceans by a dying race of ancients with the hopes of reviving a once great species. Over ions of existence the unpredictable conditions of this planet slowly morphed them into strange and unrecognizable versions of themselves."
"Like her sister, was born in water. But unlike her sister she felt cradled by the dark. The depths of the ocean provided solitude. She feared the sun and it's violent rays. Unable to stand even the faint light that peaked through the surface she delved into the darkest depths she could find. A large section of this ocean is an endless expanse of pitch black water or an "abyss" which interconnects with countless maze-like rocky passageways that expand for thousands of miles. This entire area, completely void of sunlight and home to very few lifeforms, provided a shelter for the her. However, while these underwater caverns are mostly void of life, the few that do manage to exist are extremely aggressive and monstrous in appearance. In the abyss she evolved into a silent ambush predator to feed and hide from horrifying creatures that roam the deep dark. Millenniums pass and she can heard the voices of humans in the water. They tell legends of her and call her Sobek. After ions of lonely existence something in the void calls to her and she discovers an ancient life form of unknown origin even older than herself. A sentient orb covered in metallic scales that is able to telepathically communicate with her. The creature reveals ancient cosmic knowledge, telling her she has a sister, and proposes a trade. It will guide her to her brethren and protect her from the sunlight she fears, but only if she allows the scaled orb to bond with her flesh."
Sobek is a OOAK Nnaji in Milk skintone and Busty chest option. Her body blushing is lilac and burned turquoise. Her head is covered in hand sculpted scales to enhance her monstrous looks. Her lips and nails are a palest pearl pink and her fanged teeth share the same steel grey as her alien gharial eyes. Sobek wears a hand stitched haute couture armour with a poseable tail, each sequin sewn to a form sculpture that bristles in the back as gharial scales, adorns the shoulders leaving sensuous naked spots and exaggerates the hips for a feminine silhouette. She wears spiky heels painted to match her skintone.
This is a commission order for a private collector, not for sale.
Sakharibazar, Old Dhaka, 2012
Normal people with extraordinary lifestyles
Along with smile and the gloomy, here life has its own rhyme, has its own colour.
Time passed by, humanity changed along with its history...
But these people remained here tolerating the hardest truth of existences
..........its their story of extraordinary existences.
Sakharibazar, Old Dhaka. A very interesting place for all of us to visit. Culture and customs of old Dhaka are the tribute to the ancient history of Bangladesh. Peoples still living in 100 years old building from generations after generations. With the reflection of their religious beauty Old Dhaka attracts peoples from here and abroad.
Shakhari Bazaar is one of the oldest mohallas (a traditional neighbourhood) in Puran Dhaka (Old Dhaka), located near the intersection of Islampur Road and Nawabpur Road;the two main arteries of the old city and only a block away from the Buriganga River. Shakhari Bazaar stretches along a narrow lane, lined with thin slices of richly decorated brick buildings, built during the late Mughal or Colonial period. Despite rampant modifications, accretion, extension over time, even redevelopment, many still bear the testimony of a rich tradition.
Shakhari Bazaar is the manifestation of the irrational policies, lack of adequate development control rules and distorted legal framework, all of which have left their indelible mark on this precious little mohalla that shares a long history of more than 400 years with Dhaka city itself.The history of Shakhari Bazaar goes back to the pre-Mughal days if not earlier. The first mention of Puran Dhaka can be found in the writings of Mirza Nathan, the general turned historian, who traveled with Subahdar Islam Khan. He mentioned Puran Dhaka, as the area between Dholai Khal and Buriganga river covering Shakhari Bazaar, Tanti Bazaar, Bangla Bazaar, Lakhsmi Bazaar, Bangla Bazaar, Kamar Nagar, Sutar Nagar, Goala Nagar, etc. Each mohalla belonged to separate communities depending on their craft and trade. The influences of the Mughal vocabulary in the planning of the spaces are literally evident in the use of Persian names to identify different spaces..
HIERARCHY
660. There is no hierarchy in the Centre and from the Centre; but this is much more the case with the realisation of the Centre.
661. The grades in the sphere of beings are the grades of the withdrawal from the Centre of Being and the grades of the returning to the Centre of Being.
662. Being superior is being more archaic, i.e. being closer to the arkhé.
[The Greek arkhé means »beginning« and »dominion« at the same time.]
663. Superiority means being close to the spirit; being close to the spirit means being close to myself, and »being close« means that forces arising from the direct contact with myself pervade states and processes of consciousness just as they pervade the context of being - the being itself - emerging from the states and processes of consciousness.
664. Every hierarchy is gradual, but not every graduation is hierarchical, since only those grades can be considered hierarchical which, on the one hand, are stages on the path leading from the general forms of existence and consciousness toward transcendence, and, on the other hand, which are stages on the path of becoming leading from transcendence toward the world in esse.
665. The superior precedes the inferior both in essence and in time, but not especially in essence and not especially in time, because »temporalness« is only a projection of essentiality.
666. Superior things never originate from the inferior. Everything that came into existence is manifested by the descent of the superior.
667. The hierarchy of castes: the ativarna brahmana is both polar and solar; the brahmana is polar and lunar; the ksatriya is solar; the vaisya is lunar; the sudra is terrestrial; the pañcaka is subterrestrial; and the avarna is subterrestrial and infernal.
[The ativarna brahmana is the proto-caste above all the castes, where the brahmana and the ksatriya compose an integral union. The brahmana is the sacerdotal, the ksatriya is the noble, the vaisya is the craftsman-merchant, and the sudra is the workers’ caste. The pañcaka (»the fifth«) is the collective name for the subcastes below the casts. The avarna is the extra-casteness in the sense of subcastesness. Polarity is the manifestation of the celestial and extra-samsarian origin, while solarity represents the regal and ruling power over the conscious forces.]
668. The advancement of a technical civilisation does not assess superiority. Superiority can only be measured by the relation to the origin, beyond the origin to the beginning, and beyond this to the unbegun.
669. Each stage of existence has its level of truth.
670. The hierarchy of existence corresponds to that of consciousness.
QUALITY AND QUANTITY
672. The quantitative approach will emerge and gain importance as soon as the capability for considering the essence of things declines and ceases in man.
673. Quantitative aspects have no value at all, because value is, essentially, attached to quality.
674. The potentia passiva pura is neither quantity, nor quality - but actuality that transfers to the pure passive potentiality by the abandonment of its actuality in quality.
675. Each loss of quality drifts towards the »nothing«, because the pure quantity, that is, the potentia passiva pura, the prima materia, or the nirguna mula prakriti is considered »nothing« from the side of actuality.
676. Quantity is by the side of chaos.
677. In the cosmos - right because it is cosmos - quantity cannot gain full control.
678. (René Guénon) If there were absolutely no qualitative difference between two beings, there would be no quantitative difference between them either, i.e. the two beings would be one.
BODY - SOUL - SPIRIT
679. Spiritus est regulator. Anima est mediatrix regulationis. Corpus est regulatum.
[Latin: »Spirit is the ruler. Soul is the mediator in the rule. Body is under rule.«]
680. Spirit is not an entity, and even less is it a substantial entity. Spirit: subiectum in actu - is the self-postulating Subject in action.
681. Spirit is the light of Consciousness. (Spirit is the central relation of being.)
682. Spirit is subiectum in actu, i.e. subject in action. The more it is subiectum, the more it is in, and the more it is actu, the more it is spirit. Spirit is untouchable not because it is so fine and subtle that one cannot touch it anymore, but because it cannot be mentally perceived either, viz. there is nothing palpable in it. The spirit is a relation in fact; moreover it is the most internal relation. The spirit is the central relation of being.
683. The true understanding in understanding is the direct presence of the spirit.
684. Spirit qua spirit cannot fall sick, but the relation of spirit and soul can become sick, which is called pneumatosis.
685. There are many people who are almost completely healthy bodily and psychically, but who suffer from an advanced phase of pneumatosis at the same time.
686. The idea of »spiritual soul« means that the spirit controls the soul. The spirit that works as a »council of state«, a parliament or a central committee cannot rule the soul. Spirit can only function monarchicly towards the soul, just like a king. The person who cannot realise the monarchic rule of the spirit in his soul by rights cannot be considered a man. He seems to be one, but he is not a man at all.
687. Man is conscious in his soul, but he is conscious by virtue of the spirit.
688. Soul is my soul, but I am not identical with my soul. Soul is an environment; moreover it is the closest environment of my self-postulation, i.e. that of the spirit. My balance, my self-control means that I cannot allow my closest environment to become disharmonious with myself. This can be realised in one way only: when my closest environment and circumstances do not govern me, but I control them.
689. Inner life or the state of mind is one of the strongest antagonists of the spirit that manifests in the realm of soul. Inner life is nothing other than spirit in the state of subjection by psychic activities. The self that manifests in the soul is not the subject, but the endurer of emotions.
690. Body in its deepest sense is not a figural reality, but a state of mind, viz. such a state of mind that limits and exterminates all the other states of mind. Body is an internal wall.
691. Body is the denial of the spirit.
692. Body is where the spirit as spirit gradually extinguishes.
693. Among body, soul and spirit, body has fallen from the highest to the lowest.
694. When body becomes unlimited, i.e. fully pervaded by the spirit up to a stage where it turns into consciousness, this is called the »resurrection of body« in various traditions. The resurrection of body as body is the conquest of the body as a border.
695. The resurrection of body is but the re-placement of the body onto a grade in the hierarchy, which is appropriate to its original rank.
696. When man turns more and more to the quantitative world rather than himself, then he practically turns to nothing. By losing spirit man kept his soul, which still had some spiritual properties. After this he kept only the body, which still has some psychic properties; and slowly he will come to the nothing, which will only have some somatic properties.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
(view in lightbox)
Quorn.
The first European squatters and pastoralists arrived in the Quorn area in the 1850s but the town did not come into existence until 1875. It was named after Quorn in Leicestershire by Governor Jervois whose private secretary came from there. South Australian Railways chose the site for the town of Quorn and in 1878 the government sold the first blocks of land. In 1879 Quorn became the first terminus of the Great Northern Railway line from Port Augusta. The current station with its charming Dutch gables was built in 1916. However Quorn’s greatest period of importance as a railway centre was between 1917 and 1937 when it was the junction for both the western line to Perth and the northern line to Oodnadatta and Alice Springs. This importance continued during World War II when over 400 people in the town were employed by the railways as it was a major troop stop over point with the Country Women’s Association providing over 1 million meals to the servicemen. The establishment of a new standard gauge railway to Marree and the Leigh Creek coal fields west of the Flinders Ranges in 1956 saw the town decline. The various hotels in the main street located to service the needs of travelling rail passengers then became a movie set for several films including: The Sundowners, Sunday Too Far Away, Robbery under Arms, The Shiralee and more recently Gallipoli.
Quorn’s early development was similar to that of many SA towns. One of the first structures (1878) was a flour mill for the wheat farmers built by Mr Cowan. Mr Dunn the wealthy flour miller of Mt Barker built a second three storied flour mill in 1879. It was converted to a motel in the 1960s and is now a backpacker’s accommodation centre. Other early buildings were the Austral Hotel (1878), where many of us will stay, and the Criterion Hotel built in 1881 and the Transcontinental Hotel in 1878. The first National Bank opened in 1878, along with the Post Office, the Court House (1879) and Matthews Emporium (1886). The first church in town was a Methodist Church in 1880, followed by the Anglican (1880 replaced in 1897), Catholic (1883), the Salvation Army Hall in 1884(now a gallery) and the Lutheran Church in 1890. Three years after its founding, Quorn had a population of 540 and was the 19th largest town north of Adelaide! A reservoir was made for the railways and the town. Other important public town buildings were the Institute (1881) and the Town Hall (1907). A school started soon after the founding of the town and in 1909 it became a Higher Primary School and then in 1914 it became a High School. It was the first high school in the north of SA. Quorn grew in importance once the railway was extended from Quorn through to Oodnadatta in 1891.
Colebrook Home in Quorn was established by the Australian Aborigines Mission. It began as a children’s home for Aboriginals in Oodnadatta in 1926 .In 1927 the home moved to Quorn with 12 children in residence. In 1933 the Mission got a new house, 2 miles outside Quorn and in 1935 the 30 resident children were sent to Magill for the summer holidays. This practice continued until 1940 when the children spent the summer holidays at Eden Hills. Following this, the Mission established Colebrook Children’s Home at Eden Hills. Among the children raised at Colebrook were prominent Aboriginal leaders in SA -Lowitcha O’Donoghue, Faith Thomas, Ruby Ahchee( Hammond).
CEL: City Electric & Light Company box:
While scientists had known of the existence of electricity for hundreds of years, American inventor Thomas Edison made the first practical use of electric light in 1878. In Brisbane, the first display of the new electric lighting was conducted in 1882 using eight arc lamps strung along North Quay near the Victoria Bridge. Queensland’s Parliament House was illuminated with electricity in 1886. The first public supply of electricity occurred in 1888 when Barton, White & Co installed a generator in Telegraph (later renamed Edison) Lane that was connected to the General Post Office.
The electricity industry, however, was still in its infancy in this period. Nonetheless, the benefits of electricity became increasingly obvious to the colonial government and the public. In 1896, the Queensland government introduced the Electric Light and Power Act to regulate the supply of electricity to Queenslanders. By 1904, the number of electricity suppliers within Brisbane had grown to fourteen, including the City Electric and Light (CEL) Company.
The key figure associated with the formation of CEL, Edward Barton, first became involved in the electricity supply business in 1888 as part of Barton, White & Co. The first major contract for the company was to provide electric lighting to the Old Exhibition Building in Adelaide Street, which had been converted into a skating rink. A subsequent fire destroyed the building and left the company in possession of a heavily mortgaged generator. The company undertook negotiations with the General Post Office (GPO) and two months later the generator was providing electricity to the GPO building in Queen Street.
The company’s financial position declined in the early 1890s, however, due to a combination of factors including over-capitalisation, an economic depression, the 1893 flood, and competition from Brisbane’s gas suppliers. The company was reorganised in 1896 and renamed the Brisbane Electric Supply Company. The company built its first powerhouse in Ann Street at this time. The company then changed its name to City Electric and Light in 1904. Barton remained the driving force behind the various incarnations of the company in this period.
Initially, CEL was only able to supply power to a small section of the Central Business District (CBD). Indeed, it was not until 1908 that the electricity grid had reached Fortitude Valley. Nonetheless, the popularity of electricity continued to increase in this period. CEL established a second powerhouse, located in William Street (near Parliament House), in July 1911. By 1917, the first electric street lighting had been installed in Alice, Mary, Margaret, Charlotte, and Albert Streets. In 1925, the newly formed Brisbane City Council established the Electricity Department, which acted as a central authority guiding the provision of electricity throughout the city. By this time, CEL had become the dominant supplier for Brisbane, with the company servicing 12,054 customers in 1925.
Each of the cast iron junction boxes marked the spread of the electrical network throughout the CBD. Electrical plants were placed along CBD footpaths either above ground (in the junction boxes) or underground via designated manhole covers. The junction boxes were erected at different times as the electricity grid spread throughout the CBD. This explains the variety of styles in the CBD junction boxes; why only some are marked with the CEL logo; and why different foundries such as Balmer & Crowther, Smith & Faulkner and Sargeant Engineering were involved in their production.
CEL continued to prosper as a supplier of electricity to Brisbane. In February 1926, CEL opened another, larger powerhouse at Bulimba. Electricity supply in Queensland was provided by a variety of private companies in this period and a State Electricity Commission (SEC) was established by the state government in 1937 to rationalise and co-ordinate supply. By 1940, the SEC had given CEL and the Brisbane City Council control of the electricity supply for all of Brisbane. In 1953, the Queensland government used its powers to convert the City Electric and Light Company into a public authority and CEL became the Southern Electric Authority of Queensland (SEAQ). The SEAQ in turn became the South East Queensland Electricity Board (SEQEB) and then, more recently, Energex.
In 2001, nine CBD junction boxes were identified as being of heritage significance by the Institute of Engineers Australia (Queensland Division) in their publication Engineering Heritage Inner Brisbane – A Walk/Drive Tour. There is only one other CEL junction box known to be still in existence and this stands near the corner of Annerley Road and Stanley Street, on the footpath outside of the Mater Hospital.
The Austral Motors Building:
The former Austral Motors Building, which closes the vista at the end of Upper Adelaide Street, Petrie Bight, is located on the Fortitude Valley side of Boundary Street at the northern end of the Brisbane central business district. Constructed in 1924 - 1926 for the Austral Motors Company, it has a close association with the 20th Century interwar re-development of the Petrie Bight area as an important warehousing precinct and motor vehicle servicing and distribution district.
Petrie Bight is a sharp curve in the Brisbane River at the northern end of the Town Reach. The name is derived from the association of the area with early Brisbane builder Andrew Petrie, who in 1838 established his workshop and residence at the corner of Wharf and Queen Streets.
Early Petrie Bight land use:
Surveyor Henry Wade, on his 1844 Map of the Environs of Brisbane Town, identified the Petrie's Bight area south of Boundary Street and east of Queen Street as 'Reserved for Dry Dock'. Surveyor Galloway did the same on his 1856 Plan of the Suggested Extension of the Town of Brisbane. At this time the surrounding area was sparsely occupied, with Andrew Petrie's house and factory at the corner of Wharf and Queen Streets; Dr Hobbs' house (now Saint John's Deanery) a little further north in Adelaide Street; the original customs house in Queen Street, beside the Brisbane River; and a ferry jetty just north of the Customs Houses.
A circa 1860 map of Brisbane Town showing the new town boundaries no longer labelled Petrie's Bight as a reserve for a dry dock (no dry dock was ever established there), but the site remained unsurveyed Government land. An early track (the northern end of Queen Street) ran through this land, branching off in three directions to New Farm, Fortitude Valley, and the northwest end of Spring Hollow.
Under the provisions of the Brisbane Gas Company Bill 1864 the Government granted to the Company a site bounded by what are now Ann, Boundary, and Macrossan streets and a 160-metre frontage to the Brisbane River, as the site for Brisbane's first gas works. This was the northern half of the Government land at Petrie's Bight. Gas production commenced there in 1865, providing the Brisbane Municipal Council with a regular supply of gas for street lighting. By the early 1870s the demand for gas for domestic consumption was outstripping supply, and in the mid-1870s a second gasometer was constructed on the site. In 1873 the Brisbane Gas Company gained a formal deed of grant to the Petrie's Bight land, an area of 4 acres 17.5 perches (1.66ha), which the Company had purchased from the Government in May 1873 for £4,300.
An April 1873 survey plan titled Survey of Site of Gas Works and Adjacent Crown Land Shewing Road Through Same indicates that by this date the gasworks site was fenced along the entire length of its land boundaries, but that through this the government had just surveyed a 20 feet wide road between Macrossan and Boundary streets, which later became an extension of Adelaide Street. Photographs from the 1860s and early 1870s show a tall paling fence around the perimeter of the gasworks, prohibiting public access. Early Brisbane resident Victor Drury, writing in the Courier Mail in 1939, recalled: "When Adelaide Street was extended to Boundary Street, there were turnstiles there, and only pedestrians could use the path as a shortcut to Queen Street."
River wharfage:
In the early 1840s wharfage in Brisbane was concentrated along the South Brisbane Reach of the Brisbane River, but within a decade had extended to the Town Reach further downstream, which soon rivalled South Brisbane in terms of shipping activity. An 1849 decision to locate Brisbane's first purpose-built Customs House at the northern end of the Town Reach acted as the impetus for the development of wharves on this part of the river. The Commissariat Store below William Street, which had served as Brisbane's first customs facility, was replaced in 1850 by a new customs building on the site of the present Customs House in Queen Street, at Petrie's Bight. This in turn was replaced in 1886 - 1889 by the current building. During the 1850s and 1860s, a number of shipping companies and private investors constructed wharves and warehouses between the Customs House and Alice Street, near the Botanic Gardens.
Construction of a Government wharf, Kennedy Wharf, at Petrie's Bight north of the Customs House commenced in 1875 was completed in 1877 and was leased to private shipping firms. In 1880 the Brisbane Municipal Council acquired the wharf and immediately extended it northward. In 1884 the Council also constructed a wharf at the end of Boundary Street, and in the mid-1880s William Collin established his own wharf at Petrie's Bight, just downstream from the Council's Boundary Street wharf. Purchase of land from the Brisbane Gas Company in 1902 gave the Council control of the river frontage from the Customs House to Boundary Street, and between 1913 and 1916 the Council constructed reinforced concrete wharves between Macrossan and Boundary Streets, and between Kennedy Wharf and the Customs House. The whole of the Council's wharfage at Petrie's Bight was subsequently re-named Circular Quay Wharves.
Between 1900 and 1912 Brisbane Wharves Ltd established wharves at Petrie's Bight from Boundary Street to Bowen Terrace, rivalling the Council's Circular Quay facilities in importance. Principal investors in the Brisbane Wharf Company were Howard Smith and William Collin and Sons. From the late 1890s, Howard Smith and Company Ltd occupied the Council's Boundary Street Wharf at Petrie's Bight and in the early years of the 20th Century leased the adjacent new wharves constructed by Brisbane Wharves Limited at the base of the New Farm cliffs, below Bowen Terrace. These wharves were extended in the 1920s, and in the 1930s were resumed by the Queensland government for the construction of the Story Bridge.
Adelaide Street widening:
In the early 20th Century the roads to Petrie's Bight were improved significantly by the Brisbane City Council, providing an important impetus for the construction of new warehouses in the Upper Adelaide Street area.
Under the provisions of the City of Brisbane Improvement Act 1916 and the Local Authorities Act Amendment Act 1923 the Brisbane City Council contributed significantly to the 1920s building boom, with a programme of city beautification and street improvements, including the cutting down and widening of several of the principal thoroughfares. The 1916 Act empowered the City Council, with the approval of the Governor-in-Council, to resume land simply by passing a resolution to the effect that resumption was necessary. Property rights on resumed lands were then converted into compensation rights. The 1923 Act further facilitated this process by exempting all improvements made to a property after resumption notices had been issued, from the payment of compensation.
From 1923 to 1928 the Brisbane City Council implemented its most ambitious town improvement scheme to that date: the widening of Adelaide Street by 14 feet along its entire length. . Resumptions in Adelaide Street had commenced in the 1910s, but work on the street widening did not take place until the 1920s. The work was undertaken in stages, commencing in 1923 at the southern end where the new Brisbane City Hall was under construction. Some buildings had the front section removed and a contemporary façade installed on the new road alignment. Elsewhere, earlier buildings were demolished and substantial new structures took their place. At the northern end of Adelaide Street, the cutting down of the hill below Saint John's Cathedral in 1928 facilitated greater access to Petrie Bight, which, close to new city wharves at the end of Boundary Street, boomed in the 1920s as a warehousing district.
By 1921 Queensland was poised to resume the economic boom interrupted by the First World War (1914 - 1918). In the period 1922 - 1928, Queensland experienced its first and last economic boom between the outbreak of war in 1914 and the 1950s. The benefits of the boom economy were reflected throughout the State, but nowhere more so than in Brisbane, with 29% of the Queensland population in December 1924. In physical terms the boom was expressed in a spate of building activity that transported the central business district of Brisbane into the 20th Century, shedding its late Victorian image.
The take-off in the building industry was evident during 1922 - 1923, reflected in an active central business district real estate market, and prompting the Brisbane City Council to re-assess central city rateable values in 1923. By September 1925 property in Queen Street, the principal retail and financial street of Brisbane could be acquired only at highly inflated prices, forcing investors into more peripheral locations such as Petrie's Bight. A fall in the price of building materials, combined with the trend in using concrete, a more economical product than brick, for large construction projects, further stimulated building activity.
From 1922 the business of re-building Brisbane assumed impressive proportions. Between 1923 and 1925, an average of 50 new commercial buildings a year were being constructed in Brisbane, contrasting markedly with the 8 constructed twenty years earlier in 1903. During 1925 the value of contracts for buildings in Brisbane, either in course of erection or in contemplation, was reported at £3,000,000. The Greater Brisbane City Council meticulously monitored progress through its building approvals process, statistics for which were released monthly from October 1925 to an eager local press. Construction peaked in 1926 with £3,411,285 worth of building works (new buildings, alterations, and additions) approved in the Greater Brisbane area during the year. This included a substantial residential component. In 1927 the figure was around £2,823,000 and in 1928 just over £2,810,000.
The Motor Car Industry:
In the 1910s the increasing availability of motor vehicles began to revolutionise public, private, and commercial transport. In Brisbane, activities associated with horse transport began to convert to activities associated with motor transport, as coach and carriage builders became motor vehicle repairers or retailers, and livery stables became parking and service stations. In this way, the Austral Carriage Works, established around 1907 by Uhlmann and Lane at 51 Adelaide St, Brisbane, entered the motor trade shortly after the First World War. Austral Motors Limited became the sole agents in Queensland and the Northern Rivers for Dodge Brothers, an American firm that had manufactured motor cars since 1914 and light trucks since 1917. They were successful and by 1924 had two branches, with the Austral Carriage & Motor Works at Stanley Street in South Brisbane, and Austral Motors Distributors at Boundary Street, Spring Hill.
Queenslanders adopted motor vehicles with enthusiasm. Of the six Australian states, Queensland recorded the third largest number of motor vehicle registrations, 31,233, in 1923 - 1924, behind New South Wales and Victoria. At the international level in 1923 - 1924, Australia, with approximately 274,000 motor vehicle registrations, was fifth behind France (545,000), Canada (666,000), the United Kingdom (1,085,000), and the United States (15,400,000), and well ahead of Germany, in sixth place with 211,500 registrations.
Through the daily press, Brisbanites were exposed to a barrage of advertising from the motor vehicle industry, with regular features on aspects of motors and motoring. To accommodate this explosion of public interest in, and acceptance of, the motor vehicle, the number of Brisbane motor engineers' agents, car manufacturers, car importers, and garages listed in the local postal directories increased from 89 in 1920 - 1921, to 134 in 1924 -1925. This was accompanied by a corresponding increase in the number of motor vehicle accessory dealers, windscreen manufacturers, tyre dealers, and motorcar body manufacturers.
By September 1925, the Brisbane City Council was raising the problem of providing parking for motor vehicles in the inner city. Purpose-built privately operated parking stations began to appear in the central business district from the mid-1920s. Numerous small garages and service stations also provided motor vehicle parking and car hire.
From the mid-1920s, Australia's premier building and architectural trade journal, the Sydney Publication Building, had printed articles on designing public and commercial buildings to accommodate motor vehicles. Much of the journal's reference material came from the United States, which was leading the way in this type of design. Queensland architects had ready access to this and other architectural journals, and kept informed of the latest in international design developments.
In 1923 Austral Motors Limited engaged Brisbane architects Lange L Powell and George G Hutton Powell to design a showroom and service station at Petrie Bight. The land on which the Austral Motors building was constructed was part of two larger parcels of land first alienated from the Crown in 1852 and was surveyed and subdivided, together with the adjacent lane, in April 1923. The new road, Dodge Lane, was approved in May 1923 and is believed to have derived its name from the firm's Dodge agency. Tenders for construction were let in August 1923, the successful tenderer being Blair Cunningham. The first stage, on the corner of Dodge Lane, was completed in March 1924 at a projected cost of £9,300 and occupied by Austral Motors Limited from the 1st of April 1924. The two-storeyed building was constructed largely of concrete and steel, with a floor space of approximately 20,000 square feet (1858m²). Due to the slope of the land, both floors had street access. The Boundary Street level accommodated a motor vehicle showroom. The upper level, accessed off Dodge Lane at the rear, was fitted out as the Dodge Brothers Service Station.
In 1925 the firm undertook substantial extensions to their premises. George Hutton, who briefly occupied the position of Queensland Government Architect in 1922 prior to joining Powell in partnership in 1922, established his own practice in 1924, and called tenders for site excavations for Austral Motors Ltd in late 1924, the contract being let by January 1925. By April 1925 WR Juster's tender for additions and alterations to Austral Motors Ltd. had been accepted, but this appears not to have progressed, for by June 1925 Blair Cunningham's tender for the additions had been accepted. In July 1925 Austral Motors Ltd obtained Brisbane City Council approval for the construction, to cost £10,230.
The location was an excellent choice for a business of this type, being close to the city's main wharves at Petrie Bight, and in a location favoured by other motor vehicle retailers and ancillary businesses. The Evers Motor Co. Ltd had established a garage/paint shop at the eastern corner of Ivory and Boundary streets as early as 1918, and by 1920 HS Simpson, motor painter, was located next door to Evers. About 1926/27 Evers constructed a three-storeyed brick motor shed, offices and workshops at the corner of Boundary and Ivory streets, and a single-storeyed brick parking and filling station adjacent in Ivory Street, known as the Super Parking Station. As warehousing activity in Upper Adelaide Street expanding during the 1920s, many buildings were occupied by firms connected with the motor vehicle trade and industry and with car hire and garaging. In 1928, Collin House, a purpose-designed parking station and garage and a four-storey brick warehouse for the Dunlop Rubber Company of Australasia Pty Ltd were constructed in the vicinity. Tyre sales, automotive electricians and spare parts suppliers formed a substantial proportion of tenants in buildings in upper Adelaide Street during the 1920s and 1930s.
In the second half of the 1920s Austral Motors expanded rapidly, due to the Queensland-wide economic boom that coincided with the increasing availability of and public interest in motor vehicles. By 1929 the company was operating from several addresses and two cities, with the Austral Carriage & Motor Works continuing at Stanley Street, South Brisbane; Austral Cars Ltd established at Adelaide Street, Brisbane; and Austral Motors Ltd located at Boundary St, Spring Hill, and at Sturt Street, Townsville.
In 1939 Austral Motors Pty Ltd acquired title to the allotment along the eastern boundary of the Company's mid-1920s acquisitions.
In 1986 Austral Motors sold the property to the Sisters of Mercy in Queensland who own the adjacent All Hallows girl's school. It continues its connection with motor vehicles and is leased out as a parking station as well as being used to park vehicles of All Hallows staff.
Source: Brisbane City Council Heritage Register & Queensland Heritage Register.
To Entice a Thief
A Prologue:
“I’m so glad you gave up your life of crime!”
She said to me as we danced, a wicked little smile creeping up upon her face.
It was a signal to me that she was ready to leave the reception...and that she was feeling amorous.
“Brilliant”. I thought as I let my eyes drift down to soak in the enticement of her sparkling necklace, before crafting an answer in character.
“Yes, and I owe it all to you and your lovely friends for being here this evening to help me rehabilitate.”
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The Enticing Tale Unfolds:
We were attending a black-tie reception that evening to celebrate the re-opening of a local theatre that had undergone a 2-year refurbishing, the first in almost 75 years of its 300-year existence.
I was in a full black tux with a green cummerbund.
My wife Ginny was wearing a slick thin satin sheath gown, short scalloped sleeved shoulders with a cowled neckline. It was dyed a vivid shade of emerald green which set off nicely, both her let down long ginger hair and mesmerizing green eyes.
My wife’s jewellery was also quite mesmerizing.
Long dangling rhinestone earrings that flowed and shimmered from her ears and dangled playfully in and out of her hair whenever she flung her head back.
Her nearly 45-millimeter wide necklace was also set with rhinestones, hanging down just below her gowns’ cowled neckline, where it sparkled alluringly as it moved against the luxurious green satin. She was also wearing her favorite rhinestone bracelet around her right wrist. The bracelet was a right cracker. The outer strands are made up of 1 carat round stones with a full 3-carat pear-shaped collection of “ice” set in the surrounding middle strand. She also, in addition to her wedding rings, was wearing an emerald diamond cocktail ring on her right index finger.
The posh reception had been a lot of fun, I really enjoy drinking and hanging with Ginny’s mates. A collection of artists of varying talents, including her fellow local actors and actresses.
We had been sharing a table with two other couples. Ginny’s fellow actor friend Tad and his wife Mareid, along with our married friends Heather and Merrick.
Tad and Merrick were in stiff tuxes like mine. Tad was wearing a black cummerbund, while Merrick wore a shiny dark blue vest with his.
Reserved Mareid was wearing a black velvet v necked dress.
Her jewels consisted of a diamond journey necklace with matching earrings. Alsong with her wedding rings she wore a small diamond pinkie ring.
Jovial Heather had poured her petite figure into a repurposed bridesmaid A-line taffeta gown of shiny sapphire blue with short white satin gloves on her hands.
She wore a dazzling necklace of blue sapphire stones surrounded by rhinestone diamonds. A large center stone dangled just above her snugly held cleavage with a series of smaller stones going up either side of the silver chain. Earrings and a bracelet had been added that matched her necklace. Along with her wedding rings, she sports a brace of matching blue sapphire cocktail rings.
As the evening, and the drinking wore on, our conversation became more lively, running through a myriad of topics before touching on the upcoming theatre production Tad, Mareid and Ginny were preparing for. A mystery play entitled “Shear the Black Sheep” by David Dodge.
It was Heather, while thoughtfully fingering her necklace, who chirped in about Dodge’s novel “To Catch a Thief.”
As we all looked at her, I studied her pretty attire, thinking that she would have fit right in with the story.
“Hell, we all would .” I thought eyeing Ginny and the rest of our table mates.
Ginny caught me eyeballing her and smirked as she dipped her head down to adjust her bracelet, her earrings doing their thing.
Heather reached over and gently laid her fingers over Ginny’s handsome bracelet, gently fingering it as she spoke further.
“That is such a pretty bracelet Ginny...”
Heather lifted her eyes up from it and looked around the table at us.”
“I remember hearing that David Dodge wrote his story after a jewel thief had broken into the French villa next store. As the dinner guests were gathered for a cocktail party on the terrace in front, the thief broke into the back and looted the master and guest bedrooms of valuables. “
“How awful!” Mareid spoke with a shudder.
Heather comfortingly placed her hand on Mareid’s bare arm. Her eyes wide as she ran wild with the thought.
“It was, darling, but at least he didn’t get any of the jewels the ladies like us were wearing at the party.”
“Unless they had chosen not to wear any...” I thought but kept it to myself as Heather went on talking to Mareid...
“And just think! The thief may have been there previously as a guest, how else did he know what jewels were there for the taking if he had not seen the ladies wearing theirs out ?”
“Was he ever caught I wonder ?” Questioned Merrick with a wink at me.
“I don’t believe so, got away clean away with all them lovely jewels he nicked,” Heather admitted, as both she and Mareid squirmed a bit in their seats.
Ginny meanwhile was not squirming but was giving me a meaningful look over after catching me in the act of doing the same to her.
I was, I’ll admit, also squirming a bit at Heather's remarks, so I decided to pipe in with...
“So Heather dear, ever wonder, if he had been there previously, as a guest, what would have been going through his mind as he mingled? Better yet, say he was here in our midsts tonight, if we were to pretend the jewels you ladies are wearing were real?”
“Mine are!” Said unimaginative Mareid with a bit of worry in her voice.
Tad chuckled. “ So they are darling, but any jewel thief worth his salt would also be salivating over the pretty baubles that Heather and Ginny are so winningly sporting this evening.”
Merrick chimed in...
“Spoken like a true thief laddie. And he would also be wanting a dance so he could have a closer look over of their sparklers.”
He stood up and offered a hand to his wife.
“Shall we, my dear?”
Heather gleefully rose and the pair went off to the dance floor. Closely followed by the rest of our table.
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Once this new series of long dances were over we all cheerfully headed back to our tables.
Without sitting, Tad and Mareid informed us they were calling it an early evening, having promised to have the babysitter (their young niece Veriety) home early.
We said our goodbyes and after they left, Merrick and I seated our ladies, then headed in the opposite direction to the bar for another round of drinks.
Returning to our table we saw that the girls were embroiled in a deep conversation, which they ended up on our approach, looking up at us like the cats who had gotten the canaries.
We served the pretty ladies their drinks, and after taking a rather unladylike slurp of her’s, Heather looked at Merrick and me with questioning eyes before asking, with a rather horsey dry throated tone of voice...
“Now then, what were you lads thinking as we danced?”
“A...bout?” Asked Merrick teasing, for he believes we both knew, but wanted her to come out with it.
“ Our jewels, sillies. Were you coveting them, thinking of ways to steal them from us? Inquiring minds want to know?”
With an astounding expression, I asked.
“Heather Luv, are you calling your husband snd I jewel thieves?!”
Both Heather and Ginny chortled as Heather said cheerfully...
“Well, reformed thieves then, you’ve given up a life of crime, but, you know, you can take the boy out of the city, but not the city out of the boy. So let’s have it, each of you have to say something, that’s my challenge...”
“And no coping out of it either you two. I know you have imaginations. Especially you, she finished, drilling her blue eyes into mine...”
Merrick gave me a nudge. “I think your first mate.”
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I took a long sip of my bourbon, whilst gathering my thoughts. I freely eyed Ginny, then Heather up and down for effect. Their pretty dresses would have been noticed first, followed by the thief eyeing their expensive appearing jewels. This is going to be easy I thought, before starting in, pausing in-between thoughts for further effect.
“I was a jewel thief who was taken under wing by a wealthy socialite who felt it was her duty to reform me. As part of this task, she has brought me here surrounded by ladies in fancy jewels, to teach me how to overcome my desires.”
“I would have selected out a promising lady, Ginny here, and asked for a dance.”
“I would then have started out dancing at a modest distance to get the full picture. Then I would have asked if she knew who the tart in the blue taffeta dress and sapphires was?”
“Hey, that’s not very nice!” Heather scolded me, as we all laughed.
I continued, reaching over and fingering my wife’s bracelet.
“Then as Ginny looked over at you Heather. I would have had a window opened to closely study her earrings and necklace, then as she looked back over to me I would lift her right-hand and have her swirl around in a circle as I gave the same attention to her bracket and ring. Then I would again talk about the pretty lady in blue, I had I kindly called a tart, finding out where she(and her jewels ) were spending the evening. “
“Hah”! Said Heather triumphantly. “So you are not reformed, and I am not surprised you would prefer your wife’s jewels over my own. They are very pretty “
I shook my head no.... as I reached over and stroked my fingers along Heather’s necklace.
“Of course I am not reformed, and I would be very interested in the jewels you both are wearing.”
“So I would then maneuver Ginny close to Merrick, and tapping him on the shoulder as to change partners.”
“Then I would repeat my performance on You. Looking over this necklace your flaunting, calling out to be nicked, and as I study it, asking where your friend the redhead was staying. “
I finished up with...
“As we finished the dance and had gone back to the table I would make an excuse to leave. Then as you two ladies were enjoying your evening here, I would be breaking into your bedrooms, stealing your jewels.”
“Devious ...I like it, “ Heather said with a delicious shudder before turning he attention to Merrick and challenging...
“Your turn my love...”
Yes, I would love to hear it also...” My Ginny said with encouragement.
Merrick, a bit red-faced, began. And I was pleasantly pleased that he had obviously been giving it some thought.
“Well, I um, would wait until you were alone during the evening and come up to offer dance, or to put my name on your dance card. Then as we danced I would say how pretty your dress was and how lovely your jewels were. Then as you told me about your dress and jewellery I would listen and watch. I would think how dazzling you looked wearing them, and that it would be a shame I had to steal them. I would keep an eye on you the rest of the evening, follow you home, and as you slept take them from you.”
Heather sighed deeply, then asked.
“Would you watch me make sure I was sleeping before starting?”
Merrick nodded, “That and to make sure you were not still wearing any of them.”
“Nice Merrick!” I thought to myself as his wife pretty much was now swooning.
I was watching Heather as Merrick was spinning his tale. I could tell she was more than thrilled at what he was saying, becoming even more turned on about her view of the jewel thief subject she had broached.
But I knew that poor clueless Merrick was missing that point over his wife’s yearning desire for him to at least try acting out upon the theme. He had told his story and that to him appeared to be the end of his Wife’s challenge.
Pity, for it was all ever so obvious that Heather was into this. Albeit alcohol may have also been a driving factor.
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It was all finally winding down, when, as we again were dancing, Ginny, had come up with her thief remark that I mention at the beginning of this tale.
As the dance ended I looked my wife lovingly in her eyes with a look in mine that told her I was up to something.
“Let’s do it properly,” I said, nodding towards the table where we had been sitting, watching as Heather was being reseated by Merrick after they had left the dance floor ahead of us.
You girls go to the loo while I have a chat with Merrick.
“Game on...” Ginny said with joyful conviction.
And so it was that some twenty minutes later, and another round of drinks, found us back on the dance floor.
But this time around I was with Heather and Merrick was dancing with Ginny.
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As we danced I talked to Heather in a low, conspiracy-laden tone of voice.
“You know Heather, you sometimes need to tease someone into wanting to steal your jewels, spell it out what you think he would do. Like Ginny and I are going to do before leaving. “
“Oooh, what’s going to happen ?” She asked with deep interest:
“You’ll see soon enough, Ginny is going to play the character of another lady here this evening. The one your husband is dancing with. That will be our game. You need to focus on yours. Speaking of which..”
“Yes?” Asked Heather with deep curiosity.
I tapped her on the nose... then lifted her necklace going into my character...
“Remember, coming from a reformed thief, your jewels are far safer in your room than to trust some mischievous bugger of a weasel-faced hotel desk clerk to lock them up for you in a hotel safes vault.”
Ohh my, Heather really liked me saying that, for she had no clue to its meaning, but believed heart and soul that Merrick would!
Then she went into her character...
“I am so glad you are looking out for me and my jewels. Here I have been foolishly listening to hotel clerks and letting them put my pretties in the hotel safe.”
Placing a hand on either side of her face I lifting her silky hair up to properly view her dangling earrings, before answering Heather in the voice of my character...
“Best not to take chances. Make sure you keep all your jewelry with you in your suite this evening.”
Heather giggled...
“ Oh, I had not thought of that. What a brilliant suggestion. You are truly my knight in shining armor!”
With that, she gave me a peck on the chin...
I chuckled before breaking character to give pretty Heather some further instructions...
“Now listen, we are going to switch partners soon, this is what you need to do with Merrick.
As I maneuvered my pretty partner over towards her husband and my wife, I explained the role she would play for the remaining 30 minutes till midnight, at which time the reception was officially over. If she played it right, further adventures awaited her at home afterwards!
I had finished my advice by the time we reached them.
I had one hand holding around Heather’s silken-covered waist, the other was holding her hand. I let go of her hand and tapped Merrick on the shoulder.
“Change partners?” I questioned as he looked me in the eye.
Merrick looked at Ginny,
“Do you mind?”
He said to her, and with the manner had said that I knew that Ginny had been successful in bringing Merrick up to speed on playing his wife’s game.
“I would love to.”
Ginny said and still dancing to the music, we, in turn, switched our partners.
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I took Ginny up in my arms, she felt like heaven as my fingers slipped around the satin waistline of her green gown.
“I’m so glad you gave up your life of crime!”
She said to me with that wicked little smile of hers lighting up her face.
I smiled back...
“Yes, and I owe it all to the efforts of my benefactor and her lovely friends., like you. So glad you all have faith in me.”
Meanwhile, I was working my fingers carefully up the backside of her scintillating gown.
Ginny sighed happily...
“ I will admit I had some reservations over my friend bringing a thief here. What if you had found all these jewels we are wearing too much of a temptation?
My fingers had finally made it up to her ‘diamond’ necklaces’ clasp as I answered soothingly...
“That's why she told all of her friends to wear their best jewelry tonight. To test me. I am so glad you listened to her. I feel no strong desires to steal jewels any more.”
Ginny smiled at me...
“I’m glad, for I do so love wearing my diamonds out. And no worries, I totally trust you around them...”
With that Ginny lay her head down lovingly upon my shoulder as I looked around. No one was paying us any heed. Except Heather, who was was snuggled into Merrick, with an eye open upon us.
Ginny and I danced in that position for some time before I made my move and began to work open the ‘diamond’ necklace’s jeweled clasp.
On cue, Ginny said into my shoulder.
“I can tell you are having a lovely time this evening.”
I looked into Ginnys face, her swinging earrings giving off a frenzied sparkle.
“Oh, I am Lass, that I most certainly am having a lovely time. I am thoroughly enjoying dancing with pretty ladies like yourself. And may add that your earrings are something special.”
Ginny raised her head smiling at me...which now made my job a lot easier.
“Thank you, that means a lot to me. But they are heavy, and I'm afraid that I have a bad habit of taking them off, then leaving them behind at the table...”
I was smiling, listening intently to her, while my fingers finally managing to unclasp her necklace, letting the ends hang freely down before I made a lying comment...
“No worries luv if I were to see you do that, I would point it out to you.”
She sighed, then happily snuggled back into my chest.
“ I knew you were reformed, and saying what you just did proves it.”
My hand at her waist gripped in harder as she snuggled in closer. With her hot figure pressing into mine, my free hand was busy working her shimmery ‘diamonds’ free from around her satin gown’s cowled neckline.
“You truly have no idea how much I am appreciating this trust you are giving me tonight.” I murmured while I worked on reliving her of the ‘diamonds’ she was so obtainabley wearing.
And then it smoothly came away easy peasy, and I found myself in full possession of her diamonds. I quickly whisked it over her satin-clad shoulder and secreted it away inside my pocket.
Ginny pulled away, smiling up into my face, her eyes searching into mine as she fully played her role of the rich social worker’s wealthy friend, who agreed that thieves just needed to be shown trust to be let back into society.
And what better way to show your trust in a thief, than by taking the him to a dress-up with your jewel-laden friends of course?
I smiled back at her.
Then looking over at Heather, elegant in her blue gown and quite shimmering collection of sapphires, her eyes wide open over seeing what my ‘thief’ had been up to...
I asked...
And your friend Heather? Is she still staying at the Seville Hotel this evening?
“Oh yes, but without her husband, the poor thing is going to be all alone this evening.”
“Poor thing,” I said full-heartedly agreeing, with wicked intent.
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As we gathered back at our table Heather (and Merrick) kept quiet about Ginny's missing necklace. But I could tell Heather was bursting over it, for it was both exciting to her and killing her at the same time to keep mum over.
But she stayed in her character.
As did we all.
We stayed at our table finishing up our drinks and making small talk, as we waiting for the stroke of Midnight before leaving.
At one point I saw Ginny lean over to Heather, and pointing over at Merrick who was standing next to me as we chatted with one of our mates from the dart league, mouth in a whisper ...
“ Be careful Lass, I don’t trust that one. “
Heather smiled, eating it up, whispered back..,
“No worries, I know what I’m doing...”
Ginny, after running her fingers along the length of her earrings, began to straighten her bracelet, continued...
“I’m sure you do Luv, I have every bit of faith in your abilities.”
Heather chortled back, unable to keep a straight face as she eyed the now necklace bare cowled neckline of Ginny’s shiny green gown, whilst playing with the sapphires still dangling down the front of hers. She said to Ginny...
“And I am so glad you have been so successful in having your thief give up his errant jewelry stealing ways, my darling ...”
Both girls began giggling uncontrollably. As Merrick and I turned to watch.
Soon after, the remaining quests were nicely shown the door to leave.
As we stood by our autos, Ginny and Heather hugged as Merrick and I firmly shook hands with each other, and I added a slap on the back.
Then Ginny hugged and kissed Merrick goodbye as Heather did the same for me.
As she perkily enveloped me in a hug, Heather whispered a thank you, then scolded that she was a little shocked finding my thief had not also nicked her fancy necklace as we danced...
“Wish I had, Raincheck then?” I whispered playfully back.
That made her smile winningly at me.
“Rain check it is.” she agreed, before reaching up to reward me with a quick kiss goodbye.
We then went out separate ways.
Heather off to teasingly entertain her ‘reformed’ jewel thief, later to lose her jewels as she “fell asleep” wearing them in her ‘hotel’ room...
Ginny was off to take a stroll in the woods behind our cottage, where no one but her ‘reformed’ thief knew the mischief that would befall her there.
And as I started the engine, seeing Heather’s necklace dangling down with a shimmer as she was being helped inside her car by Merrick, I knew there was another chapter to tonight's story waiting in the wings...
One where a lady resplendent in a blue gown and sparkling sapphires, would be destined to have a fateful dance with a jewel coveting thief.
And as we talked about it much later, Ginny said she would be game to playing a dress up part in that chapter also!
Fini.
And a thank you to David Dodge for telling someone the story behind the scenes of his.
"I believe very strongly that when it comes to desire, when it comes to attraction, that things are never black and white, things are very much shades of grey."
~ Brian Molko
Dhaka | Bangladesh | 2015
Everything that grow up will fall down; some cottonwoods sooner. We walked Sage Trail around the south of the pond when we were trekking out at North Boulder Open Space some time back. I got stuck when I caught this downed cottonwood in the corner of my eye. This detail has texture that I could never pass up if it registers with me first. This tight frame includes a wealth of texture. Frankly, I don't get details often enough, IMHO. This monoculture of moss really jumps from the capture. It's a good thing the light has already softened and that I had the monopod in tow. Dead cottonwoods provide little more that humus. This is the Boulder Valley Ranch. The pasture grasses here were so well watered that it looks like Ireland out there, magnificent but not Colorado. This shot was from early summer but... we are still getting unusual weather not unlike the entire globe. Few areas have not been impacted by more violent weather. This day dripped on me before I got back in the car but I had a grocery bag in my back pocket to put over the camera.
On this day, it was our project to walk the Sage Trail ahead. Our outdoors time might be limited today from the look of the sky over the closer hills and the Flatirons just west. The darker foothills behind are already under clouding. Translating for the young now, a flat iron was an iron for clothes that was left on a wood/coal burning stove to heat up. Using the irons was never exact science particularly when they were hot enough! Doing laundry could be a scorching experience.
Everybody has a story they haven’t told a soul.
Part 1, scene one: Darkened existence
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in lightbox or here
An assignment for my photography elective at uni. We had to 'create an image or series of images that tells a narrative or story'. Here is mine.
Model; Renee and myself
Quorn.
The first European squatters and pastoralists arrived in the Quorn area in the 1850s but the town did not come into existence until 1875. It was named after Quorn in Leicestershire by Governor Jervois whose private secretary came from there. South Australian Railways chose the site for the town of Quorn and in 1878 the government sold the first blocks of land. In 1879 Quorn became the first terminus of the Great Northern Railway line from Port Augusta. The current station with its charming Dutch gables was built in 1916. However Quorn’s greatest period of importance as a railway centre was between 1917 and 1937 when it was the junction for both the western line to Perth and the northern line to Oodnadatta and Alice Springs. This importance continued during World War II when over 400 people in the town were employed by the railways as it was a major troop stop over point with the Country Women’s Association providing over 1 million meals to the servicemen. The establishment of a new standard gauge railway to Marree and the Leigh Creek coal fields west of the Flinders Ranges in 1956 saw the town decline. The various hotels in the main street located to service the needs of travelling rail passengers then became a movie set for several films including: The Sundowners, Sunday Too Far Away, Robbery under Arms, The Shiralee and more recently Gallipoli.
Quorn’s early development was similar to that of many SA towns. One of the first structures (1878) was a flour mill for the wheat farmers built by Mr Cowan. Mr Dunn the wealthy flour miller of Mt Barker built a second three storied flour mill in 1879. It was converted to a motel in the 1960s and is now a backpacker’s accommodation centre. Other early buildings were the Austral Hotel (1878), where many of us will stay, and the Criterion Hotel built in 1881 and the Transcontinental Hotel in 1878. The first National Bank opened in 1878, along with the Post Office, the Court House (1879) and Matthews Emporium (1886). The first church in town was a Methodist Church in 1880, followed by the Anglican (1880 replaced in 1897), Catholic (1883), the Salvation Army Hall in 1884(now a gallery) and the Lutheran Church in 1890. Three years after its founding, Quorn had a population of 540 and was the 19th largest town north of Adelaide! A reservoir was made for the railways and the town. Other important public town buildings were the Institute (1881) and the Town Hall (1907). A school started soon after the founding of the town and in 1909 it became a Higher Primary School and then in 1914 it became a High School. It was the first high school in the north of SA. Quorn grew in importance once the railway was extended from Quorn through to Oodnadatta in 1891.
Colebrook Home in Quorn was established by the Australian Aborigines Mission. It began as a children’s home for Aboriginals in Oodnadatta in 1926 .In 1927 the home moved to Quorn with 12 children in residence. In 1933 the Mission got a new house, 2 miles outside Quorn and in 1935 the 30 resident children were sent to Magill for the summer holidays. This practice continued until 1940 when the children spent the summer holidays at Eden Hills. Following this, the Mission established Colebrook Children’s Home at Eden Hills. Among the children raised at Colebrook were prominent Aboriginal leaders in SA -Lowitcha O’Donoghue, Faith Thomas, Ruby Ahchee( Hammond).
Created for We're here visiting Double Indemnity
The Dumb Waiter is a one-act play by Harold Pinter written in 1957. It combines the classic characteristics of early Pinter – a paucity of information and an atmosphere of menace, working-class small-talk in a claustrophobic setting – with an oblique but palpable political edge and, in so doing, can be seen as containing the germ of Pinter's entire dramatic oeuvre.
Two hit-men, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment. As the play begins, Ben, the senior member of the team, is reading a newspaper, and Gus, the junior member, is tying his shoes. Gus asks Ben many questions as he gets ready for their job and tries to make tea. They argue over the semantics of "light the kettle" and "put on the kettle". Ben continues reading his paper for most of the time, occasionally reading excerpts of it to Gus. Ben gets increasingly animated, and Gus's questions become more pointed, at times nearly nonsensical.
In the back of the room is a dumbwaiter, which delivers occasional food orders. This is mysterious and both characters seem to be puzzled why these orders keep coming. At one point they send up some snack food that Gus had brought along. Ben has to explain to the people above via the dumbwaiter's "speaking tube" that there is no food. This whole sequence is rather odd because the basement is clearly not outfitted for fulfilment of the orders.
Gus leaves the room to get a drink of water in the bathroom, and the dumbwaiter's speaking tube whistles (a sign that there is a person on the other end who wishes to communicate). Ben listens carefully—we gather from his replies that their victim has arrived and is on his way to the room. Ben shouts for Gus, who is still out of the room. The door that the target is supposed to enter from flies open, Ben rounds on it with his gun, and Gus enters, stripped of his jacket, waistcoat, tie and gun. There is a long silence as the two stare at each other before the curtain comes down (the implication is that Gus is the person that Ben has been employed to kill).
In the theatre, the emotional power of the play is more readily felt than understood. Pinter "created his own theatrical grammar – he didn't merely write characters that had an emotional response to something... But instead, through his characters' interactions and phrasings, Pinter seemed to conjure the very visceral emotion itself.
The dumb waiter of the title refers to the serving hatch and food lift that delivers orders to the gunmen. It could also refer to Gus, who fails to realise that he is waiting to be the victim, or even to Ben, whose obedience to a higher authority eventually forces him to eliminate his partner.
Although the play is realistic in many ways, particularly the dialogue between Ben and Gus, there are also elements that are unexplained and seemingly absurd, particularly the messages delivered by the dumb waiter itself, and the delivery of an envelope containing twelve matchsticks. Pinter is notable for leaving the plays open to interpretation, "wanting his audience to complete his plays, to resolve in their own ways these irresolvable matters". Pinter stated that "between my lack of biographical data about [the characters] and the ambiguity of what they say lies a territory which is not only worthy of exploration but which it is compulsory to explore".
One interpretation is that the play is an absurdist comedy about two men waiting in a universe without meaning or purpose, like Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. "The Dumb Waiter.... achieves, through its unique blend of absurdity, farce, and surface realism, a profoundly moving statement about the modern human condition".
Another interpretation is that the play is a political drama showing how the individual is destroyed by a higher power. "Each of Harold Pinter's [first] four plays ends in the virtual annihilation of an individual.... It is by his bitter dramas of dehumanisation that he implies "the importance of humanity". The religion and society, which have traditionally structured human morality, are, in Pinter's plays, the immoral agents that destroy the individual." Pinter supported the interpretation of The Birthday Party and The Dumb Waiter as "political plays about power and victimisation".
Overall, "it makes much more sense if seen as a play about the dynamics of power and the nature of partnership. Ben and Gus are both victims of some unseen authority and a surrogate married couple quarrelling, testing, talking past each other and raking over old times". It is "a strongly political play about the way a hierarchical society, in pitting the rebel against the conformist, places both at its mercy", but at the same time "a deeply personal play about the destructiveness of betrayal".
"For an audience to gaze into Ben and Gus' closed basement room and overhear their everyday prattle is to gain insight into the terrifying vision of the dominant-subservient battle for power, a battle in which societies and individuals engage as a part of daily existence".