La tour Eiffel est une tour autoportante de fer puddlé de 330 mètres de hauteur (avec les antennes) située en bordure de la Seine dans le 7e arrondissement. Construite en deux ans par Gustave Eiffel et ses collaborateurs pour l'Exposition universelle de Paris de 1889 célébrant le centenaire de la Révolution française, et initialement nommée "Tour de 300 mètres", elle est devenue le symbole de la capitale française et un site touristique de premier plan (plus de 6 millions de visiteurs en 2025). D’une hauteur de 312 mètres à l’origine, la tour Eiffel est restée le monument le plus élevé du monde pendant 40 ans. La hauteur de la tour a été plusieurs fois augmentée par l’installation d'un drapeau puis de nombreuses antennes. Utilisée dans le passé pour de nombreuses expériences scientifiques, elle sert aujourd’hui d’émetteur de programmes radiophoniques et télévisés.

 

The Eiffel Tower is a 330-meter-high (including antennas) freestanding wrought-iron tower located on the banks of the Seine in the 7th arrondissement. Built in two years by Gustave Eiffel and his collaborators for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, celebrating the centenary of the French Revolution, and initially named the "300-meter Tower," it has become the symbol of the French capital and a major tourist attraction (more than 6 million visitors in 2025). Originally 312 meters tall, the Eiffel Tower remained the tallest monument in the world for 40 years. The tower's height has been increased several times by the addition of a flag and numerous antennas. Used in the past for many scientific experiments, it now serves as a transmitter for radio and television programs.

Assassin's Creed Origins is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the tenth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series and the successor to 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 27, 2017. The game is set in Ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic period and recounts the secret fictional history of real-world events. The story explores the origins of the centuries-long conflict between the Brotherhood of Assassins, who fight for peace by promoting liberty and The Order of the Ancients—forerunners to the Templar Order—who desire peace through the forceful imposition of order. Origins received positive reviews from critics, who praised the story, voice acting, immersive world of Egypt and visuals, while criticizing some of the pacing and technical issues. Despite this, some critics called it the best installment of the series since 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

 

.The Mana Spirits, also known as Elemental Spirits, are magical beings representative of the elements that make up the world. There are eight spirits in all:Salamander, the spirit of fire Undine, the spirit of water, Gnome, the spirit of earth, Jinn, the spirit of wind, Dryad, the spirit of wood,Luna, the spirit of the moon,Wisp, the spirit of light,Shade, the spirit of darkness.According to Seiken Densetsu 3, in her creation of the world, the Mana Goddess forged the Mana Sword and with it sealed the eight God-Beasts inside Mana Stones, which were then scattered across the world; the Elementals were charged with the duty of protecting the Stones. While each Elemental is a powerful spirit, being an embodiment has a drawback in that they can be physically harmed or limited, notably Jinn (Sylphid) in Seiken Densetsu 3 and Salamando in Secret of Mana. In the World History Encyclopedia featured in Legend of Mana, the Elementals are descended from the Mana Goddess, the embodiment of the creative and destructive forces of Mana, each being born from the light which formed the respective elements of Fa'Diel, the world of Mana.There is a basic system of opposing elemental pairs in the games before Legend of Mana: Undine (water) and Salamando (fire); Gnome (earth) and Sylphid/Jinn (wind); Lumina/Wisp (light) and Shade (darkness); Dryad (nature) and Luna (celestial). The system works differently in Legend of Mana, with the four Western Elements in a circular relationship: Undine overcomes Salamander, who overcomes Gnome, who overcomes Jinn, who overcomes Undine, thus launching the cycle over again; while Wisp and Shade are opposites, and Aura (gold/metal) becomes the new opposite to Dryad (wood) (see Elements).

mana.wikia.com/wiki/Mana_Spirit

www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/dreamsarchetypes.html

 

Imagine you are sitting in a theater, listening to a heroine sing longingly of her beloved. Suddenly the stage is invaded by two bands of acrobatic warriors. They tumble and twirl, cartwheel and somersault, flip this way and that. From the orchestra come sounds of cymbal, gong, and clapper to punctuate the action.

Dreams and myths are constellations of archetypal images. They are not free compositions by an artist who plans them for artistic or informational effects. Dreams and myths happen to human beings. The archetype speaks through us. It is a presence and a possibility of "significance." The ancients called them "gods" and "goddesses."What then is an archetype? Jung discovered that humans have a "preconscious psychic disposition that enables a (man) to react in a human manner." These potentials for creation are actualized when they enter consciousness as images. There is a very important distinction between the "unconscious, pre- existent disposition" and the "archetypal image." The archetype may emerge into consciousness in myriads of variations. To put it another way, there are a very few basic archetypes or patterns which exist at the unconscious level, but there are an infinite variety of specific images which point back to these few patterns. Since these potentials for significance are not under conscious control, we may tend to fear them and deny their existence through repression. This has been a marked tendency in Modern Man, the man created by the French Revolution, the man who seeks to lead a life that is totally rational and under conscious control. Where do the archetypes come from? In his earlier work, Jung tried to link the archetypes to heredity and regarded them as instinctual. We are born with these patterns which structure our imagination and make it distinctly human. Archetypes are thus very closely linked to our bodies. In his later work, Jung was convinced that the archetypes are psychoid, that is, "they shape matter (nature) as well as mind (psyche)" (Houston Smith, Forgotten Truth, 40). In other words, archetypes are elemental forces which play a vital role in the creation of the world and of the human mind itself. The ancients called them elemental spirits How do archetypes operate? Jung found the archetypal patterns and images in every culture and in every time period of human history. They behaved according to the same laws in all cases. He postulated the Universal Unconscious to account for this fact. We humans do not have separate, personal unconscious minds. We share a single Universal Unconscious. Mind is rooted in the Unconscious just as a tree is rooted in the ground. Imagine the Universal Unconscious as a cosmic computer. Our minds are subdirectories of the root directory. If we look in our personal "work areas," we find much material that is unique to our historical experience--could only have happened to us--but it is shaped according to universal patterns. If we humans have the courage to seek the source to which our "account" belongs, we begin to discover ever more impersonal and universal patterns. The directories of the cosmic computer to which we can gain access are filled with the myths of the human species. Modern man fancies that he has escaped the myths through his conscious repudiation of revealed religion in favor of a purely rational natural religion (read: Natural Science). But consider his theories of human origin. In the beginning, there was a Big Bang, a cosmic explosion. This is an image from which reason may begin to work, but it is not itself a rational statement. It is a mythical construct. Consider the theory of biological evolution. Man's ancestors emerge from the seas, and they in turn emerged from a cosmic soup of DNA. The majority of creation myths also begin with the same image of man emerging from primordial oceans. See Genesis 1 or the Babylonian creation epic. Consider the Modern tendency to call ourselves persons from the Latin persona. The term derives from the "mask" of Dionysus. Moderns are the wearers of masks! The reality is concealed in the darkness of mystery. This too is a mythical construct. Synchronicity Personality theorists have argued for many years about whether psychological processes function in terms of mechanism or teleology. Mechanism is the idea that things work in through cause and effect: One thing leads to another which leads to another, and so on, so that the past determines the present. Teleology is the idea that we are lead on by our ideas about a future state, by things like purposes, meanings, values, and so on. Mechanism is linked with determinism and with the natural sciences. Teleology is linked with free will and has become rather rare. It is still common among moral, legal, and religious philosophers, and, of course, among personality theorists. Among the people discussed in this book, Freudians and behaviorists tend to be mechanists, while the neo-Freudians, humanists, and existentialists tend to be teleologists. Jung believes that both play a part. But he adds a third alternative called synchronicity.

Synchronicity is the occurrence of two events that are not linked causally, nor linked teleologically, yet are meaningfully related. Once, a client was describing a dream involving a scarab beetle when, at that very instant, a very similar beetle flew into the window. Often, people dream about something, like the death of a loved one, and find the next morning that their loved one did, in fact, die at about that time. Sometimes people pick up he phone to call a friend, only to find that their friend is already on the line. Most psychologists would call these things coincidences, or try to show how they are more likely to occur than we think. Jung believed the were indications of how we are connected, with our fellow humans and with nature in general, through the collective unconscious. Jung was never clear about his own religious beliefs. But this unusual idea of synchronicity is easily explained by the Hindu view of reality. In the Hindu view, our individual egos are like islands in a sea: We look out at the world and each other and think we are separate entities. What we don't see is that we are connected to each other by means of the ocean floor beneath the waters. The outer world is called maya, meaning illusion, and is thought of as God's dream or God's dance. That is, God creates it, but it has no reality of its own. Our individual egos they call jivatman, which means individual souls. But they, too, are something of an illusion. We are all actually extensions of the one and only Atman, or God, who allows bits of himself to forget his identity, to become apparently separate and independent, to become us. But we never truly are separate. When we die, we wake up and realize who we were from the beginning: God. When we dream or meditate, we sink into our personal unconscious, coming closer and closer to our true selves, the collective unconscious. It is in states like this that we are especially open to "communications" from other egos. Synchronicity makes Jung's theory one of the rare ones that is not only compatible with parapsychological phenomena, but actually tries to explain them!

www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/dreamsarchetypes.html

 

On this day ghosts and other supernatural creatures come out from the Underworld and move among the living. Families prepare food and other offerings and place them on a shrine dedicated to deceased relatives.Mana You must understand that these archetypes are not really biological things, like Freud's instincts. They are more spiritual demands. For example, if you dreamt about long things, Freud might suggest these things represent the phallus and ultimately sex. But Jung might have a very different interpretation. Even dreaming quite specifically about a penis might not have much to do with some unfulfilled need for sex. It is curious that in primitive societies, phallic symbols do not usually refer to sex at all. They usually symbolize mana, or spiritual power. These symbols would be displayed on occasions when the spirits are being called upon to increase the yield of corn, or fish, or to heal someone. The connection between the penis and strength, between semen and seed, between fertilization and fertility are understood by most cultures.The concept of archetypes is central to Jungian psychology and myth analysis. However there are many different ways of looking at what exactly an archetype is (cf Heiddegger). Carol Pearson, in her book, Awakening The Heroes Within shows how five different individuals would view the idea of archetypes.A Shaman, or other seeker after spiritualism, will conceive of archetypes as gods and goddesses, encoded in the collective unconscious, whom are scorned at great risk. Academics and other rationalists, who are typically suspicious of anything that sounds mystic, may conceive of archetypes as controlling paradigms or metaphors, the invisible patterns in the mind that control how we experience the world.Scientists may see the process of identifying archetypes as similar to other scientific processes. Physicists learn about the smallest subatomic particles by studying the traces they leave; psychologists and other scholars study archetypes by examining their presence in art, literature, myth, and dream. Carl Jung recognized that the archetypical mages that recurred in his patients' dreams also could be found in the myths, legends, and art of ancient peoples, as well as in contemporary iterature, religion, and art. They know that they are archetypical becausethey leave the same traces over time and space. People who are committed to religious positions that emphasize one all-encompassing God, can distinguish the spiritual truth of monotheism from the pluralistic psychological truth of archetypes. The god we mean when we speak of "The One True God" is beyond the human capacity to envision and name. The archetypes are like different facets of that God, accessible to the psyche's capacity to imagine numinous reality. Thus these archetypes helpthe person connect to the Eternal; they make great mysteries more accessible by providing multiple images. This is evident in both the Catholic idea of the Trinity (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost), and the Buddhist idea of one Buddha (which is then divisible into the 40, the 400, and the 4000 facets or aspects of that single deity, each with it's own name and story). Finally archetypes are the primal symbols of aspects of our own nature. By identifying with one of more archetypes we can identify our own nature. By portraying these archetypes, we portray ourselves. Thus we can use these archetypes as a spiritual guide to the discovery of selfhood. And what does an archetype mean to ? That's simple. Archetypes are symbols. In the Hermetic Tradition there is very little difference between the symbol and the thing it represents. This is explicit in the Law of Association. By manipulating the symbol it is therefore also possible to directly manipulate the thing. And because archetypes are symbols representing facets of ourselves they allow us to change ourselves. As within, so without. The macrocosm embodies the microcosm.So much for the content of the psyche. Now let's turn to the principles of its operation. Jung gives us three principles, beginning with the principle of opposites. Every wish immediately suggests its opposite. If I have a good thought, for example, I cannot help but have in me somewhere the opposite bad thought. In fact, it is a very basic point: In order to have a concept of good, you must have a concept of bad, just like you can't have up without down or black without white. This idea came home to me when I was about eleven. I occasionally tried to help poor innocent woodland creatures who had been hurt in some way -- often, I'm afraid, killing them in the process. Once I tried to nurse a baby robin back to health. But when I picked it up, I was so struck by how light it was that the thought came to me that I could easily crush it in my hand. Mind you, I didn't like the idea, but it was undeniably there.According to Jung, it is the opposition that creates the power (or libido) of the psyche. It is like the two poles of a battery, or the splitting of an atom. It is the contrast that gives energy, so that a strong contrast gives strong energy, and a weak contrast gives weak energy. The second principle is the principle of equivalence. The energy created from the opposition is "given" to both sides equally. So, when I held that baby bird in my hand, there was energy to go ahead and try to help it. But there is an equal amount of energy to go ahead and crush it. I tried to help the bird, so that energy went into the various behaviors involved in helping it. But what happens to the other energy? Well, that depends on your attitude towards the wish that you didn't fulfill. If you acknowledge it, face it, keep it available to the conscious mind, then the energy goes towards a general improvement of your psyche. You grow, in other words.

But if you pretend that you never had that evil wish, if you deny and suppress it, the energy will go towards the development of a complex. A complex is a pattern of suppressed thoughts and feelings that cluster -- constellate -- around a theme provided by some archetype. If you deny ever having thought about crushing the little bird, you might put that idea into the form offered by the shadow (your "dark side"). Or if a man denies his emotional side, his emotionality might find its way into the anima archetype. And so on. Here's where the problem comes: If you pretend all your life that you are only good, that you don't even have the capacity to lie and cheat and steal and kill, then all the times when you do good, that other side of you goes into a complex around the shadow. That complex will begin to develop a life of its own, and it will haunt you. You might find yourself having nightmares in which you go around stomping on little baby birds! If it goes on long enough, the complex may take over, may "possess" you, and you might wind up with a multiple personality. In the movie The Three Faces of Eve, Joanne Woodward portrayed a meek, mild woman who eventually discovered that she went out and partied like crazy on Saturday nights. She didn't smoke, but found cigarettes in her purse, didn't drink, but woke up with hangovers, didn't fool around, but found herself in sexy outfits. Although multiple personality is rare, it does tend to involve these kinds of black-and-white extremes. The final principle is the principle of entropy. This is the tendency for oppositions to come together, and so for energy to decrease, over a person's lifetime. Jung borrowed the idea from physics, where entropy refers to the tendency of all physical systems to "run down," that is, for all energy to become evenly distributed. If you have, for example, a heat source in one corner of the room, the whole room will eventually be heated.When we are young, the opposites will tend to be extreme, and so we tend to have lots of energy. For example, adolescents tend to exaggerate male-female differences, with boys trying hard to be macho and girls trying equally hard to be feminine. And so their sexual activity is invested with great amounts of energy! Plus, adolescents often swing from one extreme to another, being wild and crazy one minute and finding religion the next.As we get older, most of us come to be more comfortable with our different facets. We are a bit less naively idealistic and recognize that we are all mixtures of good and bad. We are less threatened by the opposite sex within us and become more androgynous. Even physically, in old age, men and women become more alike. This process of rising above our opposites, of seeing both sides of who we are, is called transcendence.

www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/dreamsarchetypes.html

 

The ego is the centre of consciousness. It is identity. It is 'I'. But it is not the totality of the psyche. Being the king of consciousness amounts to dominion over a small but important land surrounded by a wide world of terra incognita. The more aware the King is of lands beyond his domain the more secure he will be on his throne, but he must not be tempted to open the borders to it all. In Jungian theory the unconscious is far too vast to ever be made fully conscious, poking about in it is not without danger, yet ignoring it is also a mistake since it leads to a brittle fixedness which at best impedes growth, at worst can break when under the pressure of the 'threat' of change.So called "humanist spirit" relates to the thought and the viewpoint concerning man's mental life: the humanist spirit is linked with humanitarianism and is different from each other. Compared with animals, the author concluded: Tao (Dao) and Food, kindheartedness and living, righteousness and benefit, moral integration and feats of strength, principles and appetites and independent will, etc. all are human personality values. Simultaneously strong human social responsibility is also human social value. Human beings live in nature, mutually coordinate, and co-exist in harmony together with nature which is also the representation of man's natural

www.google.fr/search?q=ghosts+supernatural+creatures+Unde...

 

Loughborough Central Station the current end of the line of the heritage Old Great Central Railway (GCR). In Loughborough, Leicestershire.

 

The origins of the old GCR may be traced back to the earliest days of railways in and around Manchester. What was to become identifiable as the Great Central Railway was the amalgamation in 1847 of the Sheffield, Ashton under Lyme & Manchester, the Sheffield & Lincolnshire Junction, the Great Grimsby & Sheffield Junction Railways, and the Grimsby Dock Company. The principal reason for existence was the movement of coal and other goods across the harsh Pennine moorland.

 

Little change in the system took place until the appointment, in 1854, of Edward Watkin as General Manager.

 

A bill was put before Parliament in 1891 for the line from Annesley through Nottingham, where the great Nottingham Victoria station was built with the Great Northern Railway, Leicester, Rugby and to an end on junction with the Metropolitan at Quainton Road. Construction of the line started in 1894 and was opened to coal traffic on 25th July 1898 and to passengers a year later.

 

The nationalisation of the railways in 1948 led to the Great Central metals becoming part of the Eastern Region of British Railways. In 1958 the ex-Great Central was re-allocated to the Midland Region of British Railways and so were sown the seeds of its decline as a main line to London.

 

Country stations such as those at Belgrave & Birstall, Rothley and Quorn & Woodhouse were closed in 1963. In 1966 the line closed as a though route to London and the line was severed just south of Rugby while the proud station at Nottingham Victoria was demolished. Until 1969, when the line was finally closed, a DMU service ran from Rugby to Nottingham Arkwright Street.

 

A group of enthusiasts was determined to keep the line alive for the running of main line engines. The Main Line Preservation Group was formed to begin the mammoth task of preservation and restoration. Fund raising was always a problem so in 1971 the Main Line Steam Trust was formed and registered as a charity to raise funds through covenants.

 

Since then, the volunteers and staff have re-instated a double track section from Loughborough Central to Rothley and opened a single track to Leicester North, just south of the old Belgrave & Birstall station (and built a new station there) and have restored stations, signals and signal boxes, carriages, wagons and steam and diesel locomotives.

 

Information Source

www.gcrailway.co.uk/brief-history/

 

Our Lady of Loudes at the National Shrine in Retiro

 

Our Lady of Lourdes was the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary when she appeared in a vision with St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France.

 

[edit] Origin

 

Bernadette Soubirous was the daughter of a flour miller in Lourdes, France. When affliction hit their family, they had to move to a former jail house. Bernadette's aunt took her and brought her to another village to do household chores and to study catechism. Being simple and illiterate, she did not learn much. Back in Lourdes, while she was accumulating firewood together with her sister, Antoinette, and Jeanne, her neighbor, they took a road that brought them to an intersection between a river and a mill. Fearing that her asthma would attack, Bernadette slowly took off her socks and crossed the river with her companions who went ahead.

 

Our Lady appeared to Bernadette in a vision with a strong blast of wind and sparks of light. She looked up towards the grotto. She tried to brush off the image with her rosary. To her astonishment, the Lady brought out her own rosary and prayed along with her. There were 18 apparitions that transpired, each event closely following the other and capturing Bernadette in a trance. Their sequence is as follows:

 

February 11, 1858 - Bernadette prayed the rosary with Our Lady.

February 14, 1858 - Our Lady came closer to Bernadette to establish her heavenly origins.

February 18, 1858 - Fellowship members came along with Bernadette to validate Our Lady's messages. Our Lady asked Bernadette to come back to the grotto with a lighted candle, promising eternal salvation.

February 19, 1858 (4th to 14th apparitions) - Our Lady asked for prayers, sacrifice and for sinners to repent. She ordered Bernadette dig at the ground, and a spring immediately bubbled up and soon gushed forth. She wished for a chapel to be built on the spot and processions to be made to the grotto. Many ill people came to plunge into the spring water and recovered instantly. Fr. Perymale, Bernadette's pastor, sent her off to ask what the Lady's name was.

March 25, 1858 - Our Lady declared that she was the Immaculate Conception.

April 7, 1858 - During this apparition, Bernadette unknowingly held her hands for hours in the candle without being burned.

The apparitions at Lourdes led the Pope to recognize the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1854. According to the dogma, Mary was conceived without original sin.

 

Bernadette lived with her parents for two years after the apparition before joining the sisters of Charity at Nevers, France. She died of asthma, tuberculosis and bone impairment at the age of thirty five.

 

[edit] Image

 

Our Lady of Lourdes is dressed in white with white veil, blue belt and yellow rose on the feet. Three elements of nature are associated with Lourdes. The element of water which was dug up by St. Bernadette, the element of fire from the candle that Mary asked Bernadette to light, and the rocky cave where Our Lady appeared.

 

[edit] Veneration

 

The image of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Philippines is venerated all over the country, particularly at the Lourdes Shrine in Quezon City. Another place of devotion is at the Lourdes Grotto in Baguio City with its long flight of steps going up the hill. The country's locally carved Lourdes image was operated by the Order of the Friars Minor Capuchins (OFM Cap) headed by Fr. Bernardo of Cleza. Filipino sculptor, Manuel Flores, carved the statue for the Capuchin's garden grotto, which was later transferred to a side altar inside the Capuchin chapel in Intramuros, Manila. The Confraternity of Lourdes was established in the chapel in May 1893, because the image has attracted a large number of devotees.

 

In 1894, Fr. Cleza instructed Flores to make a bigger statue of the Virgin. Many miraculous recoveries occurred before the statue. Eventually, the Capuchin chapel was made into a church wherein the image had been installed. The church was gutted by fire during the World War II but the statue of the Virgin was left unharmed.

 

After the war, the Capuchins bought a new property on Retiro St. Quezon City which became the permanent location of the Lourdes Church in the Philippines. It was blessed on August 15, 1951. It was declared an Archdiocesan Shrine in February 1987. It was declared a National Shrine by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on January 30, 1996.

 

[edit] The Archonfraternity of Lourdes in The Philippines (Arch-Con)

 

The Archonfraternity of Lourdes in The Philippines was established at the same time the Lourdes devotion was launched in the 1890s. There are a couple of hundred confraternities under the Arch-con that meet twice a year for the Marian Symposia and once every two years for the national convention. The feast of Lourdes is celebrated every February 11 wherein a grand penitential procession is held at dawn by the devotees holding lighted torches on bare feet while chanting canticles.

 

Origine : Argentine (Salta, Tucuman)

En France il est plus connu sous le nom de Cactus cornichon silvestrii

Il est aussi appelé : Echinopsis chamaecereus, Cereus, silvestris, Lobivia silvestris

 

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The origin of the name Longdong (dragon’s cave) comes from the shape of the region’s coastline, similar to the shape of a dragon lying down. Along the coastline are a series of hard, steep rising sandstone formations. These rocks with clear cut joints stand erect and close to the ocean, vigorously pronouncing their presence. Here, there is the life-like Longdong Cape, the clear Longdong Bay waters and the oldest exposed rock layers of the Northeast Coast National Scenic Area. Tourists will also find that the impressive sea cliffs are composed of extremely hard rock, thus providing a popular rock climbing zone. This is indeed an area of unique landform and geological views.

I love the way the light casts through at different intervals. I'm very happy with the way this one turned out!

The church in Lamesley has medieval origins and can be trased back at least as far as the 13th century. The current church was built in 1759 repacing the earlier medieval church which had fallen into ruin. It was extended and modified in the 19th century. The church is a Grade 2 Listed building on the National Heritage List for England. The church has a large graveyard including the tomb of Robert Moscrop from 1621, which itself is Grade 2 Listed.

 

Lamesley is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 3,742. The village is on the southern outskirts of Gateshead, near to Birtley. The parish includes Kibblesworth, Lamesley village, Eighton Banks and Northside, Birtley which is predominantly private housing in neighbourhoods named The Hollys, Long Bank, Northdene and Crathie. The ruined Ravensworth Castle is also in Lamesley.

 

A hilltop contemporary sculpture in the parish is the Angel of the North by Anthony Gormley on a minor hilltop which is lower than the adjoining Low Fell and High Fell outside the parish.

 

Demography

Combined, this area has a population of 3,928 people as at the 2001 census and unlike the small rise in the overall region saw a decrease to 3,742 at the following census. The Gateshead MBC ward of Lamesley had a population of 8,662 at the 2011 Census. Both the ward and civil parish are very homogenous. For instance, in the 2011 Census, the ward was 96.9% White British.

 

History

Evidence of a medieval village located just to the south of Haggs Lane has been documented, with ridge and furrow, field boundaries and a holloway visible as earthworks. This has been recognised as one of the best surviving medieval landscapes in the Tyne and Wear region.

 

The Ravensworth Arms in Lamesley is said to be where Lewis Carroll wrote parts of Alice in Wonderland.

 

Gateshead is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since it was re-established in 2010 by Ian Mearns of the Labour Party.

 

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to boundary changes, losing the Felling, and Windy Nook and Whitehills wards to Jarrow (to be renamed Jarrow and Gateshead East) and gaining from the (to be abolished) constituency of Blaydon three wards which incorporate the community of Whickham. Accordingly, it will be renamed Gateshead Central and Whickham, to be first contested at the next general election.

 

History

First creation

The seat was first created by the Reform Act 1832 as a single-member parliamentary borough. It was abolished under the Representation of the People Act 1948 for the 1950 general election and split into Gateshead East and Gateshead West.[4]

 

Revival

As a result of the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was re-established for the 2010 general election, combining over half of the electorates of both of the abolished constituencies of Gateshead East and Washington West, and Tyne Bridge.

 

Boundaries

Under the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, the contents of the borough were defined as the Parish of Gateshead and part of the Chapelry of Heworth in the Parish of Jarrow.

 

1918-1950

The County Borough of Gateshead.

No change to boundaries.

 

2010–present

The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead wards of Bridges, Chowdene, Deckham, Dunston and Teams, Felling, High Fell, Lobley Hill and Bensham, Low Fell, Saltwell, and Windy Nook and Whitehills.

 

Constituency profile

Under the current boundaries, the constituency is overwhelmingly White, and working-class; with 95% of its electorate identifying as White British and being in the top decile of constituencies for routine work. The area's politics are influenced by these demographics; with the exception of Low Fell, all of the wards that make up the constituency are safely Labour areas, and the constituency voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union, like the borough as a whole.

 

Members of Parliament

Among famous representatives are James Melville KC who was Solicitor General for England and Wales before he died, while holding the seat, and international statesman Konni Zilliacus who assisted in creating peaceful bilateral relations during the Cold War, including though work at the United Nations.

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Finished back in March, photographed in May. Sometimes it happens like that!

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Avignon Picnic pattern at Moda Bake Shop:

www.modabakeshop.com/2010/05/avignon-picnic.html

La Roche Bernard - 2013

9 heures, le lundi le Petit Parc est désert et après une semaine de beau temps ....la pluie s'est malheureusement invitée pour la pose du dernier élément du réseau hydraulique : l'araignée d'origine restaurée.

via su.diggita.it/1PAHXLT

St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh is a Church of Ireland cathedral in Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Diocese of Armagh. The origins of the site are as a 5th century Irish stone monastery, said to have been founded by St. Patrick. Wikipedia

Address: Cathedral Close, 43 Abbey St, Armagh BT61 7DY

Hours:

Open ⋅ Closes 5 pm

 

Eiffel Tower Strairs

We walked to the second floor.

  

Iphone shot - Hipstamatic - Photoshop CS5 - Large is so much better!

 

The Eiffel Tower (French: La Tour Eiffel, nickname La dame de fer, the iron lady) is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair, it has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; 7.1 million people ascended it in 2011. The third level observatory's upper platform is at 279.11 m the highest accessible to public in the European Union and the highest in Europe as long as the platform of the Ostankino Tower, at 360 m, remains closed as a result of the fire of August 2000. The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010.

The tower stands 320 metres (1,050 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. However, because of the addition, in 1957, of the antenna atop the Eiffel Tower, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building. Not including broadcast antennas, it is the second-tallest structure in France, after the Millau Viaduct.

The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend, by stairs or lift (elevator), to the first and second levels. The walk from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is accessible only by lift - stairs exist but they are not usually open for public use. Both the first and second levels feature restaurants.

The tower has become the most prominent symbol of both Paris and France, often in the establishing shot of films set in the city.

 

History

 

Origin

  

First drawing of the Eiffel Tower by Maurice Koechlin

The design of the Eiffel Tower was originated by Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, two senior engineers who worked for the Compagnie des Establissments Eiffel after discussion about a suitable centrepiece for the proposed 1889 Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair which would celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution. In May 1884 Koechlin, working at his home, made an outline drawing of their scheme, described by him as "a great pylon, consisting of four lattice girders standing apart at the base and coming together at the top, joined together by metal trusses at regular intervals". Initially Eiffel himself showed little enthusiasm, but he did sanction further study of the project, and the two engineers then asked Stephen Sauvestre, the head of company's architectural department, to contribute to the design. Sauvestre added decorative arches to the base, a glass pavilion to the first level and other embellishments. This enhanced version gained Eiffel's support, and he bought the rights to the patent on the design which Koechlin, Nougier and Sauvestre had taken out, and the design was exhibited at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in the autumn of 1884 under the company name. On 30 March 1885 Eiffel read a paper on the project to the Société des Ingiénieurs Civils: after discussing the technical problems and emphasising the practical uses of the tower, he finished his talk by saying that the tower would symbolise "not only the art of the modern engineer, but also the century of Industry and Science in which we are living, and for which the way was prepared by the great scientific movement of the eighteenth century and by the Revolution of 1789, to which this monument will be built as an expression of France's gratitude."

Little happened until the beginning of 1886, when Jules Grévy was re-elected as President and Édouard Lockroy was appointed as Minister for Trade. A budget for the Exposition was passed and on 1 May Lockroy announced an alteration to the terms of the open competition which was being held for a centerpiece for the exposition, which effectively made the choice of Eiffel's design a foregone conclusion: all entries had to include a study for a 300 m (980 ft) four-sided metal tower on the Champ de Mars. On 12 May a commission was set up to examine Eiffel's scheme and its rivals and on 12 June it presented its decision, which was that all the proposals except Eiffel's were either impractical or insufficiently worked out. After some debate about the exact site for the tower, a contract was finally signed on 8 January 1887. This was signed by Eiffel acting in his own capacity rather than as the representative of his company, and granted him one and a half million francs toward the construction costs: less than a quarter of the estimated cost of six and a half million francs. Eiffel was to receive all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition and for the following twenty years. Eiffel later established a separate company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself.

 

The "Artists Protest"

 

Caricature of Gustave Eiffel comparing the Eiffel tower to the Pyramids.

The projected tower had been a subject of some controversy, attracting criticism both from those who did not believe that it was feasible and also from those who objected on artistic grounds. Their objections were an expression of a longstanding debate about relationship between architecture and engineering. This came to a head as work began at the Champ de Mars: A "Committee of Three Hundred" (one member for each metre of the tower's height) was formed, led by the prominent architect Charles Garnier and including some of the most important figures of the French arts establishment, including Adolphe Bouguereau, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet: a petition was sent to Charles Alphand, the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition, and was published by Le Temps.

"We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection…of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower … To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal"

Gustave Eiffel responded to these criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian Pyramids : "My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its way ? And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris ?" These criticisms were also masterfully dealt with by Édouard Lockroy in a letter of support written to Alphand, ironically saying "Judging by the stately swell of the rhythms, the beauty of the metaphors, the elegance of its delicate and precise style, one can tell that …this protest is the result of collaboration of the most famous writers and poets of our time", and going on to point out that the protest was irrelevant since the project had been decided upon months before and was already under construction. Indeed, Garnier had been a member of the Tower Commission that had assessed the various proposals, and had raised no objection. Eiffel was similarly unworried, pointing out to a journalist that it was premature to judge the effect of the tower solely on the basis of the drawings, that the Champ de Mars was distant enough from the monuments mentioned in the protest for there to be little risk of the tower overwhelming them, and putting the aesthetic argument for the Tower: "Do not the laws of natural forces always conform to the secret laws of harmony?"

Some of the protestors were to change their minds when the tower was built: others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant[20] supposedly ate lunch in the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where one could not see the structure. Today, the Tower is widely considered to be a striking piece of structural art.

  

Construction

 

Foundations of the Eiffel Tower

  

Eiffel Tower under construction between 1887 and 1889

Work on the foundations started in January 1887. Those for the east and south legs were straightforward, each leg resting on four 2 m (6.6 ft) concrete slabs, one for each of the principal girders of each leg but the other two, being closer to the river Seine were more complicated: each slab needed two piles installed by using compressed-air caissons 15 m (49 ft) long and 6 m (20 ft) in diameter driven to a depth of 22 m (72 ft)[21] to support the concrete slabs, which were 6 m (20 ft) thick. Each of these slabs supported a block built of limestone each with an inclined top to bear a supporting shoe for the ironwork. Each shoe was anchored into the stonework by a pair of bolts 10 cm (4 in) in diameter and 7.5 m (25 ft) long. The foundations were complete by 30 June and the erection of the ironwork began. The very visible work on-site was complemented by the enormous amount of exacting preparatory work that was entailed: the drawing office produced 1,700 general drawings and 3,629 detailed drawings of the 18,038 different parts needed:

The task of drawing the components was complicated by the complex angles involved in the design and the degree of precision required: the position of rivet holes was specified to within 0.1 mm (0.04 in) and angles worked out to one second of arc. The finished components, some already riveted together into sub-assemblies, arrived on horse-drawn carts from the factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret and were first bolted together, the bolts being replaced by rivets as construction progressed. No drilling or shaping was done on site: if any part did not fit it was sent back to the factory for alteration. In all there were 18,038 pieces of puddle iron using two and a half million rivets.

At first the legs were constructed as cantilevers but about halfway to the first level construction was paused in order to construct a substantial timber scaffold. This caused a renewal of the concerns about the structural soundness of the project, and sensational headlines such as "Eiffel Suicide!" and "Gustave Eiffel has gone mad: he has been confined in an Asylum" appeared in the popular press. At this stage a small "creeper" crane was installed in each leg, designed to move up the tower as construction progressed and making use of the guides for the lifts which were to be fitted in each leg. The critical stage of joining the four legs at the first level was complete by March 1888. Although the metalwork had been prepared with the utmost precision, provision had been made to carry out small adjustments in order to precisely align the legs: hydraulic jacks were fitted to the shoes at the base of each leg, each capable of exerting a force of 800 tonnes, and in addition the legs had been intentionally constructed at a slightly steeper angle than necessary, being supported by sandboxes on the scaffold.

No more than three hundred workers were employed on site, and because Eiffel took safety precautions, including the use of movable stagings, guard-rails and screens, only one man died during construction.

  

Inauguration and the 1889 Exposition

 

The 1889 Exposition Universelle for which the Eiffel Tower was built

The main structural work was completed at the end of March 1889 and on the 31st Eiffel celebrated this by leading a group of government officials, accompanied by representatives of the press, to the top of the tower. Since the lifts were not yet in operation, the ascent was made by foot, and took over an hour, Eiffel frequently stopping to make explanations of various features. Most of the party chose to stop at the lower levels, but a few, including Nouguier, Compagnon, the President of the City Council and reporters from Le Figaro and Le Monde Illustré completed the climb. At 2.35 Eiffel hoisted a large tricolore, to the accompaniment of a 25-gun salute fired from the lower level. There was still work to be done, particularly on the lifts and the fitting out of the facilities for visitors, and the tower was not opened to the public until nine days after the opening of the Exposition on 6 May, and even then the lifts had not been completed.

The tower was an immediate success with the public, and lengthy queues formed to make the ascent. Tickets cost 2 francs for the first level, 3 for the second and 5 for the top, with half-price admission on Sundays, and by the end of the exhibition there had been nearly two million visitors.

Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years; it was to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit. In the opening weeks of the First World War the powerful radio transmitters using the tower were used to jam German communications, seriously hindering their advance on Paris and contributing to the Allied victory at the First Battle of the Marne.

 

Subsequent events

 

10 September 1889 Thomas Edison visited the tower. He signed the guestbook with the following message— To M Eiffel the Engineer the brave builder of so gigantic and original specimen of modern Engineering from one who has the greatest respect and admiration for all Engineers including the Great Engineer the Bon Dieu, Thomas Edison.

 

19 October 1901 Alberto Santos-Dumont in his Dirigible No.6 won a 10,000-franc prize offered by Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe for the first person to make a flight from St Cloud to the Eiffel tower and back in less than half an hour.

 

1910 Father Theodor Wulf measured radiant energy at the top and bottom of the tower. He found more at the top than expected, incidentally discovering what are today known as cosmic rays.[28]

 

4 February 1912 Austrian tailor Franz Reichelt died after jumping 60 metres from the first deck of Eiffel tower with his home-made parachute.

 

1914 A radio transmitter located in the tower jammed German radio communications during the lead-up to the First Battle of the Marne.

 

1925 The con artist Victor Lustig "sold" the tower for scrap metal on two separate, but related occasions.

 

1930 The tower lost the title of the world's tallest structure when the Chrysler Building was completed in New York City.

 

1925 to 1934 Illuminated signs for Citroën adorned three of the tower's four sides, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time.

 

1940–1944 Upon the German occupation of Paris in 1940, the lift cables were cut by the French so that Adolf Hitler would have to climb the steps to the summit. The parts to repair them were allegedly impossible to obtain because of the war. In 1940 German soldiers had to climb to the top to hoist the swastika[citation needed], but the flag was so large it blew away just a few hours later, and was replaced by a smaller one. When visiting Paris, Hitler chose to stay on the ground. It was said that Hitler conquered France, but did not conquer the Eiffel Tower. A Frenchman scaled the tower during the German occupation to hang the French flag. In August 1944, when the Allies were nearing Paris, Hitler ordered General Dietrich von Choltitz, the military governor of Paris, to demolish the tower along with the rest of the city. Von Choltitz disobeyed the order. Some say Hitler was later persuaded to keep the tower intact so it could later be used for communications. The lifts of the Tower were working normally within hours of the Liberation of Paris.

 

3 January 1956 A fire damaged the top of the tower.

 

1957 The present radio antenna was added to the top.

 

1980s A restaurant and its supporting iron scaffolding midway up the tower was dismantled; it was purchased and reconstructed on St. Charles Avenue and Josephine Street in the Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana, by entrepreneurs John Onorio and Daniel Bonnot, originally as the Tour Eiffel Restaurant, later as the Red Room and now as the Cricket Club (owned by the New Orleans Culinary Institute). The restaurant was re-assembled from 11,000 pieces that crossed the Atlantic in a 40-foot (12 m) cargo container.

 

31 March 1984 Robert Moriarty flew a Beechcraft Bonanza through the arches of the tower.

 

1987 A.J. Hackett made one of his first bungee jumps from the top of the Eiffel Tower, using a special cord he had helped develop. Hackett was arrested by the Paris police upon reaching the ground.

 

27 October 1991 Thierry Devaux, along with mountain guide Hervé Calvayrac, performed a series of acrobatic figures of bungee jumping (not allowed) from the second floor of the Tower. Facing the Champ de Mars, Thierry Devaux was using an electric winch between each figure to go back up. When firemen arrived, he stopped after the sixth bungee jump.

 

New Year's Eve 1999 The Eiffel Tower played host to Paris's Millennium Celebration. On this occasion, flashing lights and four high-power searchlights were installed on the tower, and fireworks were set off all over it. An exhibition above a cafeteria on the first floor commemorates this event. Since then, the light show has become a nightly event. The searchlights on top of the tower make it a beacon in Paris's night sky, and the 20,000 flash bulbs give the tower a sparkly appearance every hour on the hour.

 

28 November 2002 The tower received its 200,000,000th guest.

 

2004 The Eiffel Tower began hosting an ice skating rink on the first floor each winter.

 

Design of the tower

 

Material

  

The Eiffel Tower from below

 

The puddle iron structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes, while the entire structure, including non-metal components, is approximately 10,000 tonnes. As a demonstration of the economy of design, if the 7,300 tonnes of the metal structure were melted down it would fill the 125-metre-square base to a depth of only 6 cm (2.36 in), assuming the density of the metal to be 7.8 tonnes per cubic metre. Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7.1 in) because of thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun.

 

Wind considerations

 

At the time the tower was built many people were shocked by its daring shape. Eiffel was criticised for the design and accused of trying to create something artistic, or inartistic according to the viewer, without regard to engineering. Eiffel and his engineers, however, as experienced bridge builders, understood the importance of wind forces and knew that if they were going to build the tallest structure in the world they had to be certain it would withstand the wind. In an interview reported in the newspaper Le Temps, Eiffel said:

Now to what phenomenon did I give primary concern in designing the Tower? It was wind resistance. Well then! I hold that the curvature of the monument's four outer edges, which is as mathematical calculation dictated it should be […] will give a great impression of strength and beauty, for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of the design as a whole.[37]

Researchers have found that Eiffel used empirical and graphical methods accounting for the effects of wind rather than a specific mathematical formula. Careful examination of the tower shows a basically exponential shape; actually two different exponentials, the lower section overdesigned to ensure resistance to wind forces. Several mathematical explanations have been proposed over the years for the success of the design; the most recent is described as a nonlinear integral equation based on counterbalancing the wind pressure on any point on the tower with the tension between the construction elements at that point. As a demonstration of the tower's effectiveness in wind resistance, it sways only 6–7 cm (2–3 in) in the wind.

 

Accommodation

 

When built, the first level contained two restaurants: an "Anglo-American Bar", and a 250 seat theatre. A 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) promenade ran around the outside.

On the second level, the French newspaper Le Figaro had an office and a printing press, where a special souvenir edition, Le Figaro de la Tour, was produced. There was also a pâtisserie.

On the third level were laboratories for various experiments and a small apartment reserved for Gustave Eiffel to entertain guests. This is now open to the public, complete with period decorations and lifelike models of Gustave and some guests.

 

Engraved names

 

Gustave Eiffel engraved on the tower seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers and other notable people. This engraving was painted over at the beginning of the twentieth century but restored in 1986–1987 by the Société Nouvelle d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, a company contracted to operate business related to the Tower.

 

Maintenance

 

Maintenance of the tower includes applying 50 to 60 tonnes of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. The height of the Eiffel Tower varies by 15 cm due to temperature.

 

Aesthetic considerations

 

In order to enhance the impression of height, three separate colours of paint are used on the tower, with the darkest on the bottom and the lightest at the top. On occasion the colour of the paint is changed; the tower is currently painted a shade of bronze. On the first floor there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for the colour to use for a future session of painting.

The only non-structural elements are the four decorative grillwork arches, added in Stephen Sauvestre's sketches, which served to reassure visitors that the structure was safe, and to frame views of other nearby architecture.

One of the great Hollywood movie clichés is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the tower. In reality, since zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings in Paris to 7 storeys, only a very few of the taller buildings have a clear view of the tower.

 

Popularity

 

More than 200,000,000 people have visited the tower since its construction in 1889, including 6,719,200 in 2006. The tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world.

 

Passenger lifts

 

Ground to the second level

The original lifts (elevators) to the first and second floors were provided by two companies. Both companies had to overcome many technical obstacles as neither company (or indeed any company) had experience with installing lifts climbing to such heights with large loads. The slanting tracks with changing angles further complicated the problems. The East and West lifts were supplied by the French company Roux Combaluzier Lepape, using hydraulically powered chains and rollers. The North and South lifts were provided by the American company Otis using car designs similar to the original installation but using an improved hydraulic and cable scheme. The French lifts had a very poor performance and were replaced with the current installations in 1897 (West Pillar) and 1899 (East Pillar) by Fives-Lille using an improved hydraulic and rope scheme. Both of the original installations operated broadly on the principle of the Fives-Lille lifts.

The Fives-Lille lifts from ground level to the first and second levels are operated by cables and pulleys driven by massive water-powered pistons. The hydraulic scheme was somewhat unusual for the time in that it included three large counterweights of 200 tonnes each sitting on top of hydraulic rams which doubled up as accumulators for the water. As the lifts ascend the inclined arc of the pillars, the angle of ascent changes. The two lift cabs are kept more or less level and indeed are level at the landings. The cab floors do take on a slight angle at times between landings.

The principle behind the lifts is similar to the operation of a block and tackle but in reverse. Two large hydraulic rams (over 1 metre diameter) with a 16 metre travel are mounted horizontally in the base of the pillar which pushes a carriage (the French word for it translates as chariot and this term will be used henceforth to distinguish it from the lift carriage) with 16 large triple sheaves mounted on it. There are 14 similar sheaves mounted statically. Six wire ropes are rove back and forth between the sheaves such that each rope passes between the 2 sets of sheaves 7 times. The ropes then leave the final sheaves on the chariot and pass up through a series of guiding sheaves to above the second floor and then through a pair of triple sheaves back down to the lift carriage again passing guiding sheaves.

This arrangement means that the lift carriage, complete with its cars and passengers, travels 8 times the distance that the rams move the chariot, the 128 metres from the ground to the second floor. The force exerted by the rams also has to be 8 times the total weight of the lift carriage, cars and passengers, plus extra to account for various losses such as friction. The hydraulic fluid was water, normally stored in three accumulators, complete with counterbalance weights. To make the lift ascend, water was pumped using an electrically driven pump from the accumulators to the two rams. Since the counterbalance weights provided much of the pressure required, the pump only had to provide the extra effort. For the descent, it was only necessary to allow the water to flow back to the accumulators using a control valve. The lifts were operated by an operator perched precariously underneath the lift cars. His position (with a dummy operator) can still be seen on the lifts today.

The Fives-Lille lifts were completely upgraded in 1986 to meet modern safety requirements and to make the lifts easier to operate. A new computer-controlled system was installed which completely automated the operation. One of the three counterbalances was taken out of use, and the cars were replaced with a more modern and lighter structure. Most importantly, the main driving force was removed from the original water pump such that the water hydraulic system provided only a counterbalancing function. The main driving force was transferred to a 320 kW electrically driven oil hydraulic pump which drives a pair of hydraulic motors on the chariot itself, thus providing the motive power. The new lift cars complete with their carriage and a full 92 passenger load weigh 22 tonnes.

Owing to elasticity in the ropes and the time taken to get the cars level with the landings, each lift in normal service takes an average of 8 minutes and 50 seconds to do the round trip, spending an average of 1 minute and 15 seconds at each floor. The average journey time between floors is just 1 minute.

The original Otis lifts in the North and South pillars in their turn proved to be inferior to the new (in 1899) French lifts and were scrapped from the South pillar in 1900 and from the North pillar in 1913 after failed attempts to repower them with an electric motor. The North and South pillars were to remain without lifts until 1965 when increasing visitor numbers persuaded the operators to install a relatively standard and modern cable hoisted system in the north pillar using a cable-hauled counterbalance weight, but hoisted by a block and tackle system to reduce its travel to one third of the lift travel. The counterbalance is clearly visible within the structure of the North pillar. This latter lift was upgraded in 1995 with new cars and computer controls.

The South pillar acquired a completely new fairly standard electrically driven lift in 1983 to serve the Jules Verne restaurant. This was also supplied by Otis. A further four-ton service lift was added to the South pillar in 1989 by Otis to relieve the main lifts when moving relatively small loads or even just maintenance personnel.

The East and West hydraulic (water) lift works are on display and, at least in theory, are open to the public in a small museum located in base of the East and West tower, which is somewhat hidden from public view. Because the massive mechanism requires frequent lubrication and attention, public access is often restricted. However, when open, the wait times are much less than the other, more popular, attractions. The rope mechanism of the North tower is visible to visitors as they exit from the lift.

 

Second to the third level

 

The original spiral stairs to the third floor which were only 80 centimetres wide. Note also the small service lift in the background.

The original lifts from the second to the third floor were also of a water-powered hydraulic design supplied by Léon Edoux. Instead of using a separate counterbalance, the two lift cars counterbalanced each other. A pair of 81-metre-long hydraulic rams were mounted on the second level reaching nearly halfway up to the third level. A lift car was mounted on top of the rams. Ropes ran from the top of this car up to a sheave on the third level and back down to a second car. The result of this arrangement was that each car only travelled half the distance between the second and third levels and passengers were required to change lifts halfway walking between the cars along a narrow gangway with a very impressive and relatively unobstructed downward view. The ten-ton cars held 65 passengers each or up to four tons.

One interesting feature of the original installation was that the hoisting rope ran through guides to retain it on windy days to prevent it flapping and becoming damaged. The guides were mechanically moved out of the way of the ascending car by the movement of the car itself. In spite of some antifreeze being added to the water that operated this system, it nevertheless had to close to the public from November to March each year.

The original lifts complete with their hydraulic mechanism were completely scrapped in 1982 after 97 years of service. They were replaced with two pairs of relatively standard rope hoisted cars which were able to operate all the year round. The cars operate in pairs with one providing the counterbalance for the other. Neither car can move unless both sets of doors are closed and both operators have given a start command. The commands from the cars to the hoisting mechanism are by radio obviating the necessity of a control cable. The replacement installation also has the advantage that the ascent can be made without changing cars and has reduced the ascent time from 8 minutes (including change) to 1 minute and 40 seconds. This installation also has guides for the hoisting ropes but they are electrically operated. The guide once it has moved out of the way as the car ascends automatically reverses when the car has passed to prevent the mechanism becoming snagged on the car on the downward journey in the event it has failed to completely clear the car. Unfortunately these lifts do not have the capacity to move as many people as the three public lower lifts and long lines to ascend to the third level are common. Most of the intermediate level structure present on the tower today was installed when the lifts were replaced and allows maintenance workers to take the lift halfway.

The replacement of these lifts allowed the restructuring of the criss-cross beams in upper part of the tower and further allowed the installation of two emergency staircases. These replaced the dangerous winding stairs that were installed when the tower was constructed.

Restaurants

The tower has two restaurants: Le 58 tour Eiffel, on the first floor 311 ft (95 m) above sea level; and the Le Jules Verne, a gastronomical restaurant on the second floor, with a private lift. This restaurant has one star in the Michelin Red Guide. In January 2007, the multi-Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse was brought in to run Jules Verne.

 

Attempted relocation

 

According to interviews given in the early 1980s, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau negotiated a secret agreement with French President Charles de Gaulle for the tower to be dismantled and temporarily relocated to Montreal to serve as a landmark and tourist attraction during Expo 67. The plan was allegedly vetoed by the company which operated the tower out of fear that the French government could refuse permission for the tower to be restored to its original location.

 

Economics

 

The American TV show Pricing the Priceless speculates that in 2011 the tower would cost about $480,000,000 to build, that the land under the tower is worth $350,000,000, and that the scrap value of the tower is worth $3,500,000. The TV show estimates the tower makes a profit of about $29,000,000 per year, though it is unlikely that the Eiffel Tower is managed so as to maximize profit.

It costs $5,300,000 to repaint the tower, which is done once every seven years. The electric bill is $400,000 per year for 7.5 million kilowatt-hours.

The Tokyo Tower in Japan is a very similar structure of very similar size. It was finished in 1958 at a final cost of ¥2.8 billion ($8.4 million in 1958).

 

Source Wikipedia

       

Stitched Panorama

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view019

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0,49mx0,44m

The ULA Atlas V rocket with NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft on board is seen illuminated in the distance in this thirty second exposure on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. via NASA ift.tt/2cIwNcT

Rush hour in Maidstone. With a vast number of buses now clogging up the town centre, kerbside space was getting a bit sparse. Boro'line Atlantean 270 is forced to load halfway across the Queen's Monument traffic lights for its next journey to Coxheath on the 88.

 

No prizes for guessing where this one came from. Its origins in Nottingham are very clear from the bodywork design. Boro'line had by now acquired six of these distinctive beasts, the last two having been pressed into service in Nottingham colours.

Secret Origins / Heft-Reihe

A Super-Collection of the Most Sought-After Stories Ever Published!

cover: Dick Sprang, Jack Kirby, Lee Elias, Carmine Infantino, Ross Andru, Joe Kubert, Mike Esposito, Joe Ciella, Joe Certa, Stan Kaye, Bernard Sachs

DC Comics / USA 1961

Reprint / Comic-Club NK 2010

ex libris MTP

www.comics.org/issue/16329/#128999

Rochester is a town and historic city in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is situated at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London.

 

Rochester was for many years a favourite of Charles Dickens, who owned nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham,[1] basing many of his novels on the area. The Diocese of Rochester, the second oldest in England, is based at Rochester Cathedral and was responsible for the founding of a school, now The King's School in 604 AD,[2] which is recognised as being the second oldest continuously running school in the world. Rochester Castle, built by Bishop Gundulf of Rochester, has one of the best preserved keepsin either England or France, and during the First Barons' War (1215–1217) in King John's reign, baronial forces captured the castle from Archbishop Stephen Langton and held it against the king, who then besieged it.[3]

 

Neighbouring Chatham, Gillingham, Strood and a number of outlying villages, together with Rochester, nowadays make up the MedwayUnitary Authority area. It was, until 1998,[4]under the control of Kent County Council and is still part of the ceremonial county of Kent, under the latest Lieutenancies Act.[5]

 

Toponymy[edit]

The Romano-British name for Rochester was Durobrivae, later Durobrivis c. 730 and Dorobrevis in 844. The two commonly cited origins of this name are that it either came from "stronghold by the bridge(s)",[6] or is the latinisation of the British word Dourbruf meaning "swiftstream".[7]Durobrivis was pronounced 'Robrivis. Bede copied down this name, c. 730, mistaking its meaning as Hrofi's fortified camp (OE Hrofes cæster). From this we get c. 730 Hrofæscæstre, 811 Hrofescester, 1086 Rovescester, 1610 Rochester.[6] The Latinised adjective 'Roffensis' refers to Rochester.[7]

Neolithic remains have been found in the vicinity of Rochester; over time it has been variously occupied by Celts, Romans, Jutes and/or Saxons. During the Celtic period it was one of the two administrative centres of the Cantiaci tribe. During the Roman conquest of Britain a decisive battle was fought at the Medway somewhere near Rochester. The first bridge was subsequently constructed early in the Roman period. During the later Roman period the settlement was walled in stone. King Ethelbert of Kent(560–616) established a legal system which has been preserved in the 12th century Textus Roffensis. In AD 604 the bishopric and cathedral were founded. During this period, from the recall of the legions until the Norman conquest, Rochester was sacked at least twice and besieged on another occasion.

The medieval period saw the building of the current cathedral (1080–1130, 1227 and 1343), the building of two castles and the establishment of a significant town. Rochester Castle saw action in the sieges of 1215 and 1264. Its basic street plan was set out, constrained by the river, Watling Street, Rochester Priory and the castle.

Rochester has produced two martyrs: St John Fisher, executed by Henry VIII for refusing to sanction the divorce of Catherine of Aragon; and Bishop Nicholas Ridley, executed by Queen Mary for being an English Reformation protestant.

The city was raided by the Dutch as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch, commanded by Admiral de Ruijter, broke through the chain at Upnor[8] and sailed to Rochester Bridge capturing part of the English fleet and burning it.[9]

  

The ancient City of Rochester merged with the Borough of Chatham and part of the Strood Rural District in 1974 to form the Borough of Medway. It was later renamed Rochester-upon-Medway, and its City status transferred to the entire borough. In 1998 another merger with the rest of the Medway Towns created the Medway Unitary Authority. The outgoing council neglected to appoint ceremonial "Charter Trustees" to continue to represent the historic Rochester area, causing Rochester to lose its City status – an error not even noticed by council officers for four years, until 2002.[10][11]

Military History

Rochester has for centuries been of great strategic importance through its position near the confluence of the Thames and the Medway. Rochester Castle was built to guard the river crossing, and the Royal Dockyard's establishment at Chatham witnessed the beginning of the Royal Navy's long period of supremacy. The town, as part of Medway, is surrounded by two circles of fortresses; the inner line built during the Napoleonic warsconsists of Fort Clarence, Fort Pitt, Fort Amherst and Fort Gillingham. The outer line of Palmerston Forts was built during the 1860s in light of the report by the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdomand consists of Fort Borstal, Fort Bridgewood, Fort Luton, and the Twydall Redoubts, with two additional forts on islands in the Medway, namely Fort Hoo and Fort Darnet.

During the First World War the Short Brothers' aircraft manufacturing company developed the first plane to launch a torpedo, the Short Admiralty Type 184, at its seaplane factory on the River Medway not far from Rochester Castle. In the intervening period between the 20th century World Wars the company established a world-wide reputation as a constructor of flying boats with aircraft such as the Singapore, Empire 'C'-Class and Sunderland. During the Second World War, Shorts also designed and manufactured the first four-engined bomber, the Stirling.

The UK's decline in naval power and shipbuilding competitiveness led to the government decommissioning the RN Shipyard at Chatham in 1984, which led to the subsequent demise of much local maritime industry. Rochester and its neighbouring communities were hit hard by this and have experienced a painful adjustment to a post-industrial economy, with much social deprivation and unemployment resulting. On the closure of Chatham Dockyard the area experienced an unprecedented surge in unemployment to 24%; this had dropped to 2.4% of the local population by 2014.[12]

Former City of Rochester[edit]

Rochester was recognised as a City from 1211 to 1998. The City of Rochester's ancient status was unique, as it had no formal council or Charter Trustees nor a Mayor, instead having the office of Admiral of the River Medway, whose incumbent acted as de facto civic leader.[13] On 1 April 1974, the City Council was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, and the territory was merged with the District of Medway, Borough of Chatham and most of Strood Rural District to form a new a local government district called the Borough of Medway, within the county of Kent. Medway Borough Council applied to inherit Rochester's city status, but this was refused; instead letters patent were granted constituting the area of the former Rochester local government district to be the City of Rochester, to "perpetuate the ancient name" and to recall "the long history and proud heritage of the said City".[14] The Home Officesaid that the city status may be extended to the entire borough if it had "Rochester" in its name, so in 1979, Medway Borough Council renamed the borough to Borough of Rochester-upon-Medway, and in 1982, Rochester's city status was transferred to the entire borough by letters patent, with the district being called the City of Rochester-upon-Medway.[13]

On 1 April 1998, the existing local government districts of Rochester-upon-Medway and Gillingham were abolished and became the new unitary authority of Medway. The Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions informed the city council that since it was the local government district that officially held City status under the 1982 Letters Patent, the council would need to appoint charter trustees to preserve its city status, but the outgoing Labour-run council decided not to appoint charter trustees, so the city status was lost when Rochester-upon-Medway was abolished as a local government district.[15][16][17] The other local government districts with City status that were abolished around this time, Bath and Hereford, decided to appoint Charter Trustees to maintain the existence of their own cities and the mayoralties. The incoming Medway Council apparently only became aware of this when, in 2002, it was advised that Rochester was not on the Lord Chancellor's Office's list of cities.[18][19]

In 2010, Medway Council started to refer to the "City of Medway" in promotional material, but it was rebuked and instructed not to do so in future by the Advertising Standards Authority.[20]

Governance[edit]

Civic history and traditions[edit]

Rochester and its neighbours, Chatham and Gillingham, form a single large urban area known as the Medway Towns with a population of about 250,000. Since Norman times Rochester had always governed land on the other side of the Medway in Strood, which was known as Strood Intra; before 1835 it was about 100 yards (91 m) wide and stretched to Gun Lane. In the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act the boundaries were extended to include more of Strood and Frindsbury, and part of Chatham known as Chatham Intra. In 1974, Rochester City Council was abolished and superseded by Medway Borough Council, which also included the parishes of Cuxton, Halling and Cliffe, and the Hoo Peninsula. In 1979 the borough became Rochester-upon-Medway. The Admiral of the River Medway was ex-officio Mayor of Rochester and this dignity transferred to the Mayor of Medway when that unitary authority was created, along with the Admiralty Court for the River which constitutes a committee of the Council.[21]

  

Like many of the mediaeval towns of England, Rochester had civic Freemen whose historic duties and rights were abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. However, the Guild of Free Fishers and Dredgers continues to the present day and retains rights, duties and responsibilities on the Medway, between Sheerness and Hawkwood Stone.[22] This ancient corporate body convenes at the Admiralty Court whose Jury of Freemen is responsible for the conservancy of the River as enshrined in current legislation. The City Freedom can be obtained by residents after serving a period of "servitude", i.e. apprenticeship (traditionally seven years), before admission as a Freeman. The annual ceremonial Beating of the Boundsby the River Medway takes place after the Admiralty Court, usually on the first Saturday of July.

Rochester first obtained City status in 1211, but this was lost due to an administrative oversight when Rochester was absorbed by the Medway Unitary Authority.[10] Subsequently, the Medway Unitary Authority has applied for City status for Medway as a whole, rather than merely for Rochester. Medway applied unsuccessfully for City status in 2000 and 2002 and again in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Year of 2012.[23] Any future bid to regain formal City status has been recommended to be made under the aegis of Rochester-upon-Medway.

Ecclesiastical parishes[edit]

  

There were three medieval parishes: St Nicholas', St Margaret's and St Clement's. St Clement's was in Horsewash Lane until the last vicar died in 1538 when it was joined with St Nicholas' parish; the church last remaining foundations were finally removed when the railway was being constructed in the 1850s. St Nicholas' Church was built in 1421 beside the cathedral to serve as a parish church for the citizens of Rochester. The ancient cathedral included the Benedictine monastic priory of St Andrew with greater status than the local parishes.[24] Rochester's pre-1537 diocese, under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome, covered a vast area extending into East Anglia and included all of Essex.[25]

As a result of the restructuring of the Church during the Reformation the cathedral was reconsecrated as the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary without parochial responsibilities, being a diocesan church.[26] In the 19th century the parish of St Peter's was created to serve the burgeoning city with the new church being consecrated in 1859. Following demographic shifts, St Peter's and St Margaret's were recombined as a joint benefice in 1953 with the parish of St Nicholas with St Clement being absorbed in 1971.[27] The combined parish is now the "Parish of St Peter with St Margaret", centred at the new (1973) Parish Centre in The Delce (St Peter's) with St Margaret's remaining as a chapel-of-ease. Old St Peter's was demolished in 1974, while St Nicholas' Church has been converted into the diocesan offices but remains consecrated. Continued expansion south has led to the creation of an additional more recent parish of St Justus (1956) covering The Tideway estate and surrounding area.[28]

A church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin at Eastgate, which was of Anglo-Saxon foundation, is understood to have constituted a parish until the Middle Ages, but few records survive.[29]

Geography

Rochester lies within the area, known to geologists, as the London Basin. The low-lying Hoo peninsula to the north of the town consists of London Clay, and the alluvium brought down by the two rivers—the Thames and the Medway—whose confluence is in this area. The land rises from the river, and being on the dip slope of the North Downs, this consists of chalksurmounted by the Blackheath Beds of sand and gravel.

As a human settlement, Rochester became established as the lowest river crossing of the River Medway, well before the arrival of the Romans.

It is a focal point between two routes, being part of the main route connecting London with the Continent and the north-south routes following the course of the Medway connecting Maidstone and the Weald of Kent with the Thames and the North Sea. The Thames Marshes were an important source of salt. Rochester's roads follow north Kent's valleys and ridges of steep-sided chalk bournes. There are four ways out of town to the south: up Star Hill, via The Delce,[30] along the Maidstone Road or through Borstal. The town is inextricably linked with the neighbouring Medway Towns but separate from Maidstone by a protective ridge known as the Downs, a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

At its most limited geographical size, Rochester is defined as the market town within the city walls, now associated with the historic medieval city. However, Rochester historically also included the ancient wards of Strood Intra on the river's west bank, and Chatham Intra as well as the three old parishes on the Medway's east bank.

The diocese of Rochester is another geographical entity which can be referred to as Rochester.

Climate[edit]

Rochester has an oceanic climate similar to much of southern England, being accorded Köppen Climate Classification-subtype of "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate).[31]

On 10 August 2003, neighbouring Gravesend recorded one of the highest temperatures since meteorogical records began in the United Kingdom, with a reading of 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 degrees Fahrenheit),[32]only beaten by Brogdale, near Faversham, 22 miles (35 km) to the ESE.[33] The weather station at Brogdale is run by a volunteer, only reporting its data once a month, whereas Gravesend, which has an official Met Office site at the PLA pilot station,[34] reports data hourly.

Being near the mouth of the Thames Estuary with the North Sea, Rochester is relatively close to continental Europe and enjoys a somewhat less temperate climate than other parts of Kent and most of East Anglia. It is therefore less cloudy, drier and less prone to Atlanticdepressions with their associated wind and rain than western regions of Britain, as well as being hotter in summer and colder in winter. Rochester city centre's micro-climate is more accurately reflected by these officially recorded figures than by readings taken at Rochester Airport.[35]

North and North West Kent continue to record higher temperatures in summer, sometimes being the hottest area of the country, eg. on the warmest day of 2011, when temperatures reached 33.1 degrees.[36]Additionally, it holds at least two records for the year 2010, of 30.9 degrees[37] and 31.7 degrees C.[38] Another record was set during England's Indian summer of 2011 with 29.9 degrees C., the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK for October.

North and North West Kent continue to record higher temperatures in summer, sometimes being the hottest area of the country, eg. on the warmest day of 2011, when temperatures reached 33.1 degrees.[36]Additionally, it holds at least two records for the year 2010, of 30.9 degrees[37] and 31.7 degrees C.[38] Another record was set during England's Indian summer of 2011 with 29.9 degrees C., the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK for October.

 

Building

Rochester comprises numerous important historic buildings, the most prominent of which are the Guildhall, the Corn Exchange, Restoration House, Eastgate House, as well as Rochester Castle and Rochester Cathedral. Many of the town centre's old buildings date from as early as the 14th century up to the 18th century. The chapel of St Bartholomew's Hospital dates from the ancient priory hospital's foundation in 1078.

Economy

  

Thomas Aveling started a small business in 1850 producing and repairing agricultural plant equipment. In 1861 this became the firm of Aveling and Porter, which was to become the largest manufacturer of agricultural machinery and steam rollers in the country.[39] Aveling was elected Admiral of the River Medway (i.e. Mayor of Rochester) for 1869-70.

Culture[edit]

Sweeps Festival[edit]

Since 1980 the city has seen the revival of the historic Rochester Jack-in-the-Green May Day dancing chimney sweeps tradition, which had died out in the early 1900s. Though not unique to Rochester (similar sweeps' gatherings were held across southern England, notably in Bristol, Deptford, Whitstable and Hastings), its revival was directly inspired by Dickens' description of the celebration in Sketches by Boz.

The festival has since grown from a small gathering of local Morris dancesides to one of the largest in the world.[40] The festival begins with the "Awakening of Jack-in-the-Green" ceremony,[41] and continues in Rochester High Street over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

There are numerous other festivals in Rochester apart from the Sweeps Festival. The association with Dickens is the theme for Rochester's two Dickens Festivals held annually in June and December.[42] The Medway Fuse Festival[43] usually arranges performances in Rochester and the latest festival to take shape is the Rochester Literature Festival, the brainchild of three local writers.[44]

Library[edit]

A new public library was built alongside the Adult Education Centre, Eastgate. This enabled the registry office to move from Maidstone Road, Chatham into the Corn Exchange on Rochester High Street (where the library was formerly housed). As mentioned in a report presented to Medway Council's Community Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 28 March 2006, the new library opened in late summer (2006).[45]

Theatre[edit]

There is a small amateur theatre called Medway Little Theatre on St Margaret's Banks next to Rochester High Street near the railway station.[46] The theatre was formed out of a creative alliance with the Medway Theatre Club, managed by Marion Martin, at St Luke's Methodist Church on City Way, Rochester[47] between 1985 and 1988, since when drama and theatre studies have become well established in Rochester owing to the dedication of the Medway Theatre Club.[48]

Media[edit]

Local newspapers for Rochester include the Medway Messenger, published by the KM Group, and free newspapers such as Medway Extra(KM Group) and Yourmedway (KOS Media).

The local commercial radio station for Rochester is KMFM Medway, owned by the KM Group. Medway is also served by community radio station Radio Sunlight. The area also receives broadcasts from county-wide stations BBC Radio Kent, Heart and Gold, as well as from various Essex and Greater London radio stations.[49]

Sport[edit]

Football is played with many teams competing in Saturday and Sunday leagues.[50] The local football club is Rochester United F.C. Rochester F.C. was its old football club but has been defunct for many decades. Rugby is also played; Medway R.F.C. play their matches at Priestfields and Old Williamsonians is associated with Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School.[51]

Cricket is played in the town, with teams entered in the Kent Cricket League. Holcombe Hockey Club is one of the largest in the country,[52]and is based at Holcombe Park. The men's and women's 1st XI are part of the England Hockey League.[53] Speedway was staged on a track adjacent to City Way that opened in 1932. Proposals for a revival in the early 1970s did not materialise and the Rochester Bombers became the Romford Bombers.[54]

Sailing and rowing are also popular on the River Medway with respective clubs being based in Rochester.[55][56]

Film[edit]

The 1959 James Bond Goldfinger describes Bond driving along the A2through the Medway Towns from Strood to Chatham. Of interest is the mention of "inevitable traffic jams" on the Strood side of Rochester Bridge, the novel being written some years prior to the construction of the M2 motorway Medway bypass.

Rochester is the setting of the controversial 1965 Peter Watkins television film The War Game, which depicts the town's destruction by a nuclear missile.[57] The opening sequence was shot in Chatham Town Hall, but the credits particularly thank the people of Dover, Gravesend and Tonbridge.

The 2011 adventure film Ironclad (dir. Jonathan English) is based upon the 1215 siege of Rochester Castle. There are however a few areaswhere the plot differs from accepted historical narrative.

Notable people[edit]

  

Charles Dickens

The historic city was for many years the favourite of Charles Dickens, who lived within the diocese at nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham, many of his novels being based on the area. Descriptions of the town appear in Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations and (lightly fictionalised as "Cloisterham") in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Elements of two houses in Rochester, Satis House and Restoration House, are used for Miss Havisham's house in Great Expectations, Satis House.[58]

Sybil Thorndike

The actress Dame Sybil Thorndike and her brother Russell were brought up in Minor Canon Row adjacent to the cathedral; the daughter of a canon of Rochester Cathedral, she was educated at Rochester Grammar School for Girls. A local doctors' practice,[59] local dental practice[60] and a hall at Rochester Grammar School are all named after her.[61]

Peter Buck

Sir Peter Buck was Admiral of the Medway in the 17th century; knightedin 1603 he and Bishop Barlow hosted King James, the Stuart royal familyand the King of Denmark in 1606. A civil servant to The Royal Dockyardand Lord High Admiral, Buck lived at Eastgate House, Rochester.

Denis Redman

Major-General Denis Redman, a World War II veteran, was born and raised in Rochester and later became a founder member of REME, head of his Corps and a Major-General in the British Army.

Kelly Brook

The model and actress Kelly Brook went to Delce Junior School in Rochester and later the Thomas Aveling School (formerly Warren Wood Girls School).

The singer and songwriter Tara McDonald now lives in Rochester.

The Prisoners, a rock band from 1980 to 1986, were formed in Rochester. They are part of what is known as the "Medway scene".

Kelly Tolhurst MP is the current parliamentary representative for the constituency.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester,_Kent

  

By Julian Wild; Crossrail Place Roof Garden, Canary Wharf.

In origine gli abitanti vivevano di pesca, caccia e della produzione del sale prodotto in numerose piccole paludi salate situate lungo la riva del mare.

Nel Medioevo tutta la regione era sotto il controllo dei monaci dell'Abbazia di Psalmodie.

Nel 1240 Luigi IX di Francia, con l'obiettivo di ottenere per il suo regno uno sbocco sul Mediterraneo, ottenne dall'Abbazia, grazie ad uno scambio, il controllo del villaggio, delle terre circostanti, e delle imposte sulla produzione del sale, poi fece costruire una strada di accesso tra le paludi ed una torre, Tour Carbonniere, con funzioni di vedetta e controllo di accesso al villaggio.

In seguito, tra il 1242 e il 1248, fece edificare una torre di maggiori dimensioni, Tour Constance, tuttora perfetta, e un castello, oggi scomparso, con lo scopo di proteggere la città e il suo nascente porto e alloggiarvi una guarnigione. I lavori vennero affidati al deposto capitano del popolo di Genova Guglielmo Boccanegra, che nella città era già stato console ed era destinato a divenirne amministratore per conto del Re e nella quale aveva diversi interessi economici, ed al suo connazionale, Andrea Cominelli.

Nel 1272 Filippo, figlio e successore di Luigi IX fece loro erigere una cinta fortificata intorno alla città. I lavori di costruzione della cinta terminarono 30 anni dopo. La cinta e' tuttora esistente.

  

Fu dal porto di Aigues-Mortes che Luigi IX salpò due volte per partecipare alla settima crociata, nel 1248, ed alla ottava crociata nel 1270 su flotte interamente armate dai genovesi.

Da questi fatti deriva la credenza popolare che in epoca medievale Aigues-Mortes fosse direttamente sul mare. In effetti il porto, oggi parzialmente interrato, si trovava nello stagno della Marette ed era collegato al mare dal Canal-Viel.

  

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Poster:

Locandina:

 

pad.mymovies.it/filmclub/2022/09/120/coverlg_home.jpg

 

pad.mymovies.it/filmclub/2022/09/120/locandina.jpg

 

www.cinematografo.it/image-service/version/c:M2QyY2FiZTct...

 

www.artribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/vangelo-seco...

 

www.nuovodialogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/vangelo-s...

  

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click to activate the small icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream (it means the monitor);

or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

oppure…. premi il tasto “L” per ingrandire l'immagine;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

 

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I propose here, on Flickr, a photographic story, with descriptive text, of a traditional Sicilian popular festival that is always highly anticipated, it takes place in the town of Fiumedinisi (Messina), in the last 18 years what is called the "Great Feast" has been celebrated only 3 times, always on the second Sunday of August, it was celebrated in 2007, in 2016, this year 2025, in all three editions I took photographs, those that I now present are almost all of the "Great Feast" of this year 2025. The town of Fiumedinisi is inextricably linked to her patron saint, Our Lady of the Annunciation, every year a traditional procession is held on March 24th and 25th, on the 24th the procession is made by the faithful on their knees, they carry a large lit candle with which they help themselves to support themselves, it takes place along a straight path in what is called "street of float" (it joins two churches), the next day there is another traditional procession, the two "Sacred Float," that of the Our Lady of the Annunciation and that of the Archangel Gabriel, are carried on the shoulders, followed by the faithful, through the narrow streets of the town. Then comes the "Great Feast" in August, also linked to the Annunciation, which occurs every year after many years. It is on Christmas Eve that it is announced whether that year will be the year of the Great Feast. At Christmas, "the Son of Man" is born, incarnated in Mary's womb. It is the Archangel Gabriel who announces to Mary the conception of the Son of the Most High. The iconography of the Sacred Representations depicts him kneeling before her, offering her a lily, a symbol of Mary's purity. The "Great Feast" in August has ancient origins dating back to the 16th century, the period of Spanish rule in Sicily. It was initially celebrated on March 25th, the religious feast of the Annunciation of the Lord. Later, towards the end of the 19th century, it was moved to August to allow the many emigrants from all over the world to attend. In short, the "Great Feast" includes a "morning procession" led by three young men who will impersonate the three main characters on the "living float"—the Mary, the Archangel Gabriel, and the Eternal Father. Around 11:00 a.m., the "Great Living Float," a very heavy object carried on shoulders, will make its first journey along the "street of float" (the one traveled on one's knees in March, but also on the eve of the Great Feast) with the barefoot bearers in ordinary clothing. In the afternoon, many boys and girls dressed as angels take their places on special seats on the "Great Living Float", the "three characters" (the Mary, the Archangel Gabriel, and the "Eternal Father" at the top) take their places. Now the Great Float will make the same journey in reverse, carried on the shoulders of devotee-bearers dressed entirely in white, barefoot, thus arriving in the square in front of the church-sanctuary dedicated to Maria SS Annunziata. Once the journey has finished and the Float has been placed on the ground, the ceremony includes, and ends, with an ancient dialect song sung by the children, with microphones, who dress up as Mary and the Archangel Gabriel. A curiosity, this "Great Float", an enormous metal and wood structure, extremely heavy, requires perfect coordination between the bearers. It is essential to raise and lower it in perfect synchrony, with all its "inhabitants" atop it. It is therefore crucial to avoid any oscillations that would be transmitted to the children seated at various heights, and to the Eternal Father, seated very high up. The moments preceding the float's departure, and those following its arrival, are of great concentration, silence is absolute, the launch occurs at the third blow of the hammer, all the devotee-bearers rise in perfect synchrony and "the magic comes to life"...! The Great Machine travels the "street of float" upon its arrival, there is maximum silence, and at the third blow of the hammer the devotee-bearers lower themselves, placing the incredible Living Float on the ground, renewing before our eyes an event of beauty and absolute wonder, the unique magic of an ancient Sicilian feast tradition.

 

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Propongo qui, su Flickr, un racconto fotografico, con testo descrittivo, di una festa tradizionale popolare siciliana sempre molto attesa, si svolge nel paese di Fiumedinisi (Messina), negli ultimi 18 anni quella che è chiamata la “Festa Grande” si è celebrata solo 3 volte, sempre la seconda domenica di agosto, è stata celebrata nel 2007, nel 2016, quest’anno 2025, in tutte e tre le edizioni ho realizzato fotografie, quelle che ora presento sono quasi tutte della “Festa Grande” di quest’anno 2025. Il paese di Fiumedinisi è indissolubilmente legato alla sua santa patrona, Maria SS. Annunziata, ogni anno si tiene una tradizionale processione il 24 e 25 marzo, il 24 la processione viene fatta dai fedeli in ginocchio, essi recano una grossa candela accesa con la quale si aiutano nel sostenersi, si svolge lungo un percorso rettilineo in quella che è chiamata “strada vara” (unisce due chiese), il giorno dopo si ha un’altra processione, classica, le due “Sacre Vare”, quella di Maria SS. Annunziata e quella dell’Arcangelo Gabriele, vengono portate in spalla, seguite dai fedeli, nelle stradine del paese; poi la “Festa Grande” di agosto, legata anch’essa all’Annunciazione, che avviene ogni volta dopo molti anni: è la notte di Natale che si annuncia se quello sarà l’anno della Festa Grande, a Natale nasce “il Figlio dell’Uomo” incarnatosi nel ventre materno di Maria, è l’Arcangelo Gabriele che annuncia a Maria il concepimento del Figlio dell’Altissimo, l’iconografia delle Sacre Rappresentazioni lo raffigura inginocchiarsi al cospetto di Lei porgendole un giglio, simbolo della purezza di Maria. La “Festa Grande” di agosto ha origini antiche che risalgono al XVI secolo, periodo della dominazione spagnola in Sicilia, essa inizialmente veniva celebrata il 25 marzo, con la ricorrenza religiosa dell’Annunciazione del Signore, successivamente verso la fine del XIX secolo venne spostata ad agosto, per consentire ai molti emigrati, provenienti da ogni dove, di potervi assistere. In maniera sintetica, la “Festa Grande” prevede una “processione mattutina” con in testa i tre ragazzi che impersoneranno sulla “vara vivente” i tre principali personaggi, la Maria, l’Arcangelo Gabriele ed il Padre Eterno; verso le ore 11:00 la “Grande Vara Vivente”, pesantissima, portata in spalla farà un primo viaggio lungo la “strada vara” (quella che viene percorsa in ginocchio a marzo, ma anche la vigilia della Festa Grande) con i portatori scalzi, in abiti comuni; il pomeriggio sulla “Grande Vara Vivente” prendono posto su appositi seggiolini tanti bimbi e bimbe, vestiti da angeli, prendono posto i “tre personaggi” (Maria, l’Arcangelo Gabriele, in alto prende posto il “Padre Eterno”), adesso la Grande Vara farà lo stesso percorso inverso, portata sulle spalle dei devoti-portatori vestiti completamente di bianco, scalzi, così giungendo nella piazza davanti la chiesa-santuario dedicata a Maria SS Annunziata, terminato il percorso e deposta a terra la vara, la cerimonia prevede, e termina, con un antico canto dialettale intonato dai ragazzi, microfonati, che vestono i panni di Maria e dell’Arcangelo Gabriele. Una “curiosità”, questa “Vara Ranni” (dialettalmente, Vara Grande), enorme struttura in metallo e legno, pesantissima, necessita di una perfetta coordinazione tra i portatori, è fondamentale alzarla ed abbassarla in perfetto sincronismo, con sopra tutti i suoi “abitanti”, importantissimo quindi evitare qualsiasi oscillazione che si trasmetterebbe sui bimbi seduti a varie altezze, ed al Padre Eterno, seduto molto in alto: gli attimi che precedono la partenza della vara, e quelli che fanno seguito all’arrivo sono di grande concentrazione, il silenzio è massimo, la partenza avviene al terzo colpo di martello, tutti i devoti-portatori si alzano in perfetta sincronia e “la magia prende vita”…! La Grande Macchina percorre la “strada vara”, al suo arrivo, silenzio massimo, al terzo colpo di martello i devoti-portatori si abbassano deponendo a terra quella incredibile Vara Vivente che rinnova davanti ai nostri occhi un evento fatto di bellezza ed assoluta meraviglia, magia unica di una antica tradizione popolare Siciliana.

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Just found these cool images and wanted to show you guys! It's every character in Smash Bros and the look in their first appearance!

The origin of Orient Watch Company dates back to 1901 when Shogoro Yoshida opened a wholesale shop called "Yoshida Watch Shop" in Ueno, Taito, Tokyo, Japan. In 1920, Toyo Tokei Manufacturing was established, originally producing table clocks and gauges. It was not until 1934 that Toyo Tokei Manufacturing started the production of wristwatches. Affected by the poor Japanese economy after World War II, the company shut down in 1949.

 

After Toyo Tokei Manufacturing was shut down, Yoshida’s wristwatch manufacturing company was reborn in 1950, founded under the name Tama Keiki Company. Tama Keiki Co., Ltd. continued manufacturing watches at the Hino Factory. Just one year later, in 1951, Tama Keiki Co., Ltd. changed its name to Orient Watch Co., Ltd., and in the same year the first Orient Star went on sale.

 

Photo: Thomas Ohlsson Photography

 

www.thomasohlsson.com | 500px | Facebook | Flickr | Instagram

Later Aya sales to Rome and is part of the assassination of Caesar

The origins of the Beaufighter go back to the Munich Crisis of 1938 which highlighted the RAF’s need for a heavy long-range fighter. Development of the Westland Whirlwind was delayed, and so Bristol submitted a proposal for a twin-engined cannon fighter based on the Beaufort torpedo bomber that would use some of the same assemblies to speed the production of the type. The result was the Bristol Type 156 “Beaufort Fighter”, a name that was shortened to Beaufighter.

 

The unarmed, unpainted first prototype flew in July 1939 and achieved 335mph, although this came down to 309mph with the second prototype which had operational equipment fitted. Changes were made to help improve aerodynamic efficiency, but concerns remained about performance due to the engines used. The intention had been to use Bristol Hercules VI 14-cylinder radial engines rated at around 1,500hp, but these were still being developed and priority for them was given to the Short Stirling heavy bomber.

 

The model design depicts the first prototype, R2052, in its original configuration with the oil coolers under the engine nacelles (later moved to the wing leading edge) and short landing gear doors that did not fully enclose the main wheels when retracted.

" Origins " - flic.kr/p/JXh2LN

Undeservedly, Bla Bheinn is an under-rated and

over-looked Black Cuillin on the Isle of Skye.

True, it is an outlier, to the south of the main horseshoe range.

However, it shares the same volcanic origins

made up largely by igneous Gabbro.

I first saw this mountain 52 years ago and was impressed then.

In this shot the textures and tones are evident.

Most evident from this angle is its roller-coaster ridge.

In places, as with the main ridge, it is a sharply serrated knife-edge.

Like Stac Pollaidh, on the mainland, in Wester Ross,

It could be described as the back of an irascible, bristling porcupine.

Yet another superb monolith!

 

Harleen Quinzel, M.D. appears briefly in "Batman: Arkham Origins" before her transformation into Harley Quinn.

 

Day One of the 2014 Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo 2014, April 24, 2014.

 

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Just found these cool images and wanted to show you guys! It's every character in Smash Bros and the look in their first appearance!

Assassin's Creed: Origins

Chiavenna (Sondrio)

Meritano una visita la collegiata di S. Lorenzo con il fonte battesimale datato 1156 (opera di Guido di Piuro) realizzato in un unico blocco di marmo.

Le raffigurazioni sono interessantissime, perché narrano la storia, il lavoro, le abitudini di quel periodo.

Il fonte battesimale di San Lorenzo fu donato nel 1156 dai consoli di Chiavenna e di Piuro alla chiesa plebana: tra le altre figure, l’autore scultore del monolito illustrò in tre personaggi simbolici la popolazione del comune: un uomo a cavallo con il falcone, rappresentante della nobiltà, elemento costitutivo del comune, in posizione a lui subordinata; un uomo racchiuso in una cinta murata, simboleggiante la classe dei cives e dei mercatores, che vivevano entro le mura del borgo; un fabbro ferraio, a rappresentare gli artigiani. Manca nell’intera raffigurazione l’elemento rurale, che tuttavia fu alla base dell’origine stessa del comune” (Istituzioni…, cit.).

www.paesidivaltellina.it/chiavenna/index.htm

 

www.vaol.it/it/notizie/chiavenna-850-anni-del-fonte-batte...

Bruce Banner's gamma ray accident 5