Shift fork bushing broken off

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©Thomas Blase

T Blaze Photography

I am grateful for my problems. . . .

Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of our problems that we grow mentally and spiritually.

~ Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

Gratitude Series - photo #44

Moggie with the infamous trunion problem?

The good news is that this park now appears to be safe to visit and the decision to have it open twenty four hours a day must have solved the anti-social problems that had resulted in it being closed to the public for extended periods of time.

[WHAT I SAID BACK IN NOVEMBER 2016]

There are two separate parks which may be related but in general most tourist guides are unaware of this fact to the extent that some claim that Anna Livia is located in the park beside the the Museum Luas Tram Stop.

The major park, the one normally associated with the museum, is officially the Croppies Acre 1798 Memorial Park while the smaller park featuring Anna Livia and a small pond is the Croppies Memorial Park. The distinction is important because the larger park has been closed to the public for extended periods.

For many years due to anti-social behaviour, mainly drugs related, the major memorial park was off-limits to the public. There was also problems with homeless people occupying parts of the park. Even today, there was a tent towards one corner of the park. One cannot blame the homeless for taking advantage of the available space.

On Tuesday, 14th June at 2:00 p.m. the Croppies Acre 1798 Memorial Park, Wolfe Tone Quay, Dublin 7 was once again open to the public but I did not get a chance to visit until today [November 7 2016]. Having been conditioned to the park being always closed I found the fact that the gates were partly opened a little bit unsettling and as I was the only person [if one ignores the tent and one person who left immediately I arrived] in the park I was a bit worried that an official might come along and lock the gates without informing me. This has happened to me in the past elsewhere.

Following discussions in 2013 with the Office of Public Works it was agreed that the management of the 4.3 acre Park would transfer from the Office of Public Works to Dublin City Council.

Dublin City Council’s Parks and Landscape Services have carried out an extensive works programme to upgrade the park and make it more accessible for the citizens of Dublin and visitors to the city.

The works include a new circulatory path system, upgrading of the existing pedestrian gates and the provision of a new pedestrian gate at the south west end of the park. Existing memorial structures have been upgraded and general landscape improvement works have been carried out. The total cost of the works, were in the order of €120,000.

To be fair the park was in excellent condition when I visited today but the presence of a tent was a bit worrying as was the careless attitude to properly opening the gates.

The name ‘Croppy’ was used in Ireland in the 1790s and was a reference to the rebels who closely cropped their hair to mimic the French Revolutionaries of the period who cut their hair in contrast to the aristocracy who wore powdered wigs.

Historically the Croppies Acre was located on land under common pasturage and part of what was termed ‘Oxmantown Green’.

In the 17th century, a portion was later presented to the Viceroy, the Duke of Ormond to build a palace, however this was never built and the site was sold to the City Authorities for a Barracks. Built in 1704, it served as a military base for 250 years, it was formally the Royal Barracks and later Collins Barracks.

The Esplanade where the Croppies Acre is located today was fully constructed by the 1850s, complete with boundary walls and ornate railings. During the Great Famine, the Esplanade was the site of a food kitchen. By the 1900s, the land was levelled to form two football pitches for the military. In 1997, the Decorative Arts Section of the National Museum was opened in Collins Barracks and the Memorial Park was subsequently designed and laid out in 1998.

I keep seeing these flickering squares in sl (and only in sl), usually around my av but at lamb earlier they were actually near the wall around my av. At first I thought I was seeing things lol.

L pic is an actual sl photo

R pic is a screenshot

I cleared cache, updated my graphics card and tried the newest versions of LL viewer, Exodus and Firestorm. The squares are still there.

Anyone have any clue what the hell is going on?

Problems with the Periscope

Street parking car stuck in Berlins snow piles.

The TEST vehicle stopped where the track had buckled (left side) and a tie had broke. There were 2 crews standing around ready to fix the problem. The train at the bottom of the Hespeler spur was going to be late going back to Guelph.

77 members meeting testing from friday

her body is really really unstable. i have a problem with all bjd bodies... but, since her head is heavy and her body is jointed and thin, she kept falling over on me.

in one fall i got 2 small dots on her eyebrow (which i can deal with) and one large dot just above her nose... which i couldnt deal with. i used the mr clean sponge on her nose and now it looks to me like i've removed some of the shading and i'm hating myself.

there is one photo in this set that i took after the mishap... i guess it's not too bad but it makes me very unhappy!

Saturday.

And already, our days in the heather-thatched cottage are coming to an end, as we leave here in two days. Oh dearie dearie me.

But before then, a major problem, in that we are running out of clean clothes. With our dongle-provided mega-slow internet connection, I find a post code of a laundrette in Hexham. With bags of rancid washing, we climb into the car and drive to the bright lights of Hexham.

The laundrette, or laundry, will do our clothes, and do them in three hours, so disaster averted. Waitrose opened at eight, so we stocked up on beer/cider and also got croissants for breakfast. So, despite being at the northern extreme of the empire, we could have a French style breakfast.

Outside, all was grey and gloomy; a light drizzle fell, so after discovering the car radio could pick up DAB radio, we tried the radio we brought inside, and with the radio in the one place in the living room that could pick up a signal, we sat listening to Danny Baker and his milk bottle-inspired stories.

As you do.

I look at some leaflets, and recall listening to a funny radio show by Mark Steel about Barnard’s Castle. The Bowes Museum looks like a French Chateu, has paintings and stuff. Which is why in ten minutes, we have loaded up the car and are heading to County Durham, again.

Up through Hexham, pausing to collect our freshly laundered washing, then up along narrow wall-lined lanes, up in the to foothills. Oddly, it all looked familiar, then it clicked: this was the road we travelled when we came up for a wedding on an old RAF friend of mine.

Anyway, past the Traveller’s Rest pub, and along roads that went up and down like a roller coaster, until the rad began to climb up and up. And just kept going. Soon we were ount on the moors, travelling along a road lined with wooden posts, used to find it when the snow fell. It was wonderfully bleak stuff.

The light was sensational, illuminating the rolling hills, covered with heather; glowing purple in the sunlight.

The road then started to descend, then drop like a stone into the town of Stanhope. We crossed the river, then the road reared up like a bucking bronko once again, in triple hairpin bends. Then we were crossing moors again, sunlight playing on the rolling moors. The fields were unfenced, so as well as the ducking and diving road, there were the silly sheep to contend with, who were prone to just wandering across the road.

A lone descent once again this time towards Barnard’s Castle, into a fine market town, the high street lined with interesting shops, and at the far end, a round building, around which a roundabout had been built. As you do.

We turned left to the Bowes Museum, and although we knew it was built to look like a French Chateau, to see it there, in the wilds of County Durham, is quite extraordinary.

We were able to par on the wide driveway, walk across the ornamental garden, thus ruining peoples shots, and up the steps leading to the terrace and entrance. The museum has just opened an exhibition of the French designer Yves Saint Laurent, is that how you spell it? Anyway, fashionistas of all ages were there, and us looking like two parcels of scruff. We paid for the ordinary entrance with out the YSL ticket.

We go for lunch, with it being near two, and order a snack: fish chowder for me, and rarebit for Jools, which did look very nice. But then I did just order and eat fish, other than fried, for the second time this trip.

Up the grand staircase to the top floor to look at the art galleries, with wonderful renaissance art from all over Europe. Wonderful stuff, and well worth the entrance feel of nine English pounds. Sadly, the swan automaton was being serviced, so we did not see that, just a film of it. But still wonderful.

Back outside, we walk to the town for a wander and for me to take shots. I am thirsty so we go to a tea rooms and i have a scone and a pot of tea. All very civilised. We walk up and down the main street, I buy a couple of books i have been hunting from a fine 2nd hand shop, then it is time to walk back to the car for the drive back.

Jools drives so I can take shots, as the road is so wonderful, and I mention how much our friend Tony in NZ would love to use GSV to travel along this road whilst on his long night shifts at work. And how thrilled he would be that we were talking about him. Tony, you must come over. Or we come over there.

Back along the same way, pausing to look at the old ford in Stanhope, before the final climb back over the moors to Hexham and then onto the cottage. Not bad for half a day.

We did have one issue I forgot to mention, after burning some scraps the fire actually went into the tundra and burned unground. We woke up one morning to a pretty serious fire that required nearly a day to put out. We hauled water from the ocean in the Bobcat bucket then set up an assembly line passing a five gallon bucket to douse the fire. This could have spelled disaster.

The other RA and I made the dorm a little home-ish

The brake caliper runs too low relative to the rim and tire. With 21mm tubulars, it clears. With these 26mm clinchers, not so much

Young man caught in the act of intimidating a guest of the photographer who promptly took his flash photo and demanded that he make amends starting now. Miami, Fl

Make sure to watch the lyrics video

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Divorce problem solutionssolutions will help you to solve your marriage relations problem and help you to make your relationship stronger.

Gente vcs lembram que dois esmaltes meus vieram com problema??? Pra quem não viu aqui ta o link www.flickr.com/photos/kassia_affeldt/4710914906/ www.flickr.com/photos/kassia_affeldt/4709485587/ , então eu mandei um e-mail pra hits logo depois d ocorrido e eles me pediram o nome da loja que me vendeu pq é a loja que ta fazendo isso com os pincéis pra ser melhor pra nail art, mas eles pediram pra loja para de fazer isso, agora se vão para eu não sei.

Ai onte chegou esse pacote com 3 pincéis novinhos (precisava só de 2) e me mandaram tbm um esmalte, o 682 da nova coleção deles. Preciso dizer que adorei o atendimento deles???

Obrigada Hits, sempre resolvendo os problemas (pelo menos todos os que eu tive, foram solucionados!)

Beijoos meninas!

Edit: meninas que forem fazer alguma reclamação/sugestão/dúvida com a Speciallita, utilizem esse e-mail sac.virtual@speciallita.com.br, somente neste eles respondem, ou utilizem o telefone que está no site.

Beijos

Maggie had managed to hurt herself again. Late summer she tore a hole in her leg escaping the backyard with a 6ft fence. This time she split a nail all the way up to the toe. They had to cut off the nail at the toe.

Bandage, some pain meds and the cone of shame again lol

My parents' car, a 2008 Volvo S40 2.4i 5cylinder with automatic, leather, power driver seat. It was sold around the end of September 2016 with about 152,750 miles on it.

My parents bought this car brand new. That car was pretty cool. Mechanically the car was still in very good condition. Engine felt like new, no vibrations or strange noises that didn't happen when it was new. The transmission worked pretty much like new, never hunted for gears and was very smooth. Amazingly everything worked. We never had problems with windows, lights, rubber going bad, door locks, radio, controls, digital displays, analog displays, etc.

The only problems we had with the car throughout its lifetime were: (1) the car once went into limp mode where it felt like the engine was running on only 2 cylinders. Pulled off to the side of the road and shut off the car and started it back up and the problem was gone. This happened when the car was fairly new. (2) One time we shut the car off but one part within the engine didn't turn off. It started making a high pitch whining noise and we monitored it and see if it would turn off in time. It began to smoke a little so we put the key in, turned on the car, shut it off, and everything shut off. Very strange, but it never happened again. Happened when the car was pretty new. (3) About 3 times the electronic trunk release switch didn't work. Two times it was because the cables going to the trunk were moved enough (when opening the trunk) that the wires broke. One time the actual trunk release mechanism broke (a plastic piece). (4) One time we went to start up the car but it wouldn't start (nothing happened when turning the key except getting an error message in the dash). We waited a few minutes and tried again and it started right up.

Not really a problem, but we noticed if you turned the key to start the car and didn't keep it in the start position long enough you would occasionally get a rough start but it would eventually start after about 5-10 seconds.

What I didn't like about the car: The ride was VERY stiff. You felt everything in this car. It did handle okay, but the ride was too stiff for my preference (not even my little mx-5 is anywhere near that stiff). When sitting in the front with the windows down the wind would hit the B pillar and, due to the way the pillar was shaped, it would channel the wind straight into my ear. I got more wind blow in this car than any other I've ridden in, including my convertible. Putting the rear window down on the same side would help, but it was still rough. I wish the car had a key to open the trunk. The electronic trunk release was prone to failure and was not cheap to replace. The low beam headlights were pointed down very low and made it VERY hard to see in front. I asked my parents to see if these could be adjusted up a little higher but they never checked. The high beams worked amazing! The front seat belts had a design that was *supposed to* automatically adjust the seat belt vertical locations of the shoulder strap (it was like an L shaped cut in the B pillar). Unfortunately it was shaped poorly and never worked for me. The shoulder strap was always too low for my preference. Not so much a problem with the car itself, but owning a Volvo can be very expensive to repair if you are not prepared to buy the parts yourself and do the work yourself. The car wasn't really a driver's car. The steering wheel had no feel and the car had a fair amount of body roll (which was shocking considering how stiff the car was setup). The car had a 'feature' where if you partially moved the indicator lever it would blink 3 times. If you moved it all the way it would lock in and stay on. What usually happed with my dad is he would do a full signal and the indicator wouldn’t self cancel (steering wheel didn't turn enough) so he would need to manually shut it off but when he did he would go past center slightly to the other side and the car would signal 3 times in the opposite direction. It was confusing for him because he wasn't sure if the signal was now on in the other position or was only doing 3 blinks. It also was confusing for other drivers. If you are in the fast line, signal to go into the slow lane, shut off the signal and now it signals 3 times to go back in the fast lane.... I didn't like this.

I liked how mechanically reliable this car was. I also like the glass they used in this car (made by Saint-Gobain). The glass seemed higher quality and relatively resistant to getting dirty. I liked the quality of the paint and clear coat on the car. This car was almost never garaged and for the first 5 years was out in the New England winters and the past 3 years out in the Florida sun. Despite this the paint and clear coat still cleaned up almost like new (with the exception of one of the rear quarter panels where it was hit and poorly repaired (repainted)). I also liked how stupidly simple the car was. The audio controls, radio, cruise control, car settings, buttons, were all so intuitive! Besides the blasted 3 blink indicator thing, the car didn’t have extra fluff features. The windshield wipers covered almost the whole windshield! I liked how the front hood and rear trunk were on shocks. It made it very easy to open them and the trunk didn't have large bars intruding into the trunk. I also like how sturdy most of the car felt. The doors had a nice clunk when they were closed. Almost nothing felt cheap or fragile.

The car served us very well and we were all sad to see it go. My dad isn’t the best at repairing cars and the cost for Volvo to do repairs is prohibitively high. We don’t know how much longer the car would have gone before serious repairs were needed, but my parents didn’t want to chance it and opted to get a new vehicle.

I think if you can find one of these in well kept condition with a stick shift this would be a fun tuner car. Lower it slightly, flare out the wheels a bit, and modify the exhaust. It’s got a great shape to it and looks cool!

With the blocking we did have, the truck driver came up with a solution. Brad ran off to get a chain say so he could cut up the blocks we had into the appropriate length and height. Thank God for Brad. All the while my 36,000lb caboose hangs in the air, paying the crane company to sit and wait.

Is this going to be a problem? One of the edges has been broken of. Well, at least the missing part isn't doing anymore damage inside the hub!

Cleared things out. Obviously the clean-out from the kitchen above was part of the culprit.

The problem:

🐕 + 🎄 = 💥

(At least as far as fluffy owls are concerned ).

So up on the highest shelf they go - spoilsport!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Bachem Ba 349 Natter (English: Colubrid, grass-snake) was a World War II German point-defence rocket-powered interceptor, which was to be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile. In 1943, Luftwaffe air superiority was being challenged by the Allies over the Reich and radical innovations were required to overcome the crisis. Surface-to-air missiles appeared to be a promising approach to counter the Allied strategic bombing offensive; a variety of projects were started, but invariably problems with the guidance and homing systems prevented any of these from attaining operational status. Providing the missile with a pilot, who could operate a weapon during the brief terminal approach phase, offered a solution.

In service the Rampenwagen I received the official designation of Sd.Kfz. 282, and only a handful of these complex and bulky vehicles were build oer deilevered to frontline units until late 1945. In practice the Rampenwagen I was operated in combination with other vehicles to from mobile launch units for the Natter - plans envisioned groups with Sd.Kfz. 282s, accompanied by trabsporters for the tiny fighters, two cranes to lift them onto the launch sled on the ramp, plus fuel bowsers, a command and radio unit, plus supprt vehicles for staff and pilots as well as other equipment, and ideally even a mobile radar system that could guide and coordinate the interceptions. This, however, never materialized, due to the lack of resources, and only the Luftwaffe's JG 400 became operational enough to make some Ba 349 starts in the defense of the Stuttgart area, with very limited success.

Specifications:

Crew: 2 (Driver, Radio operator/ramp engineer)

Weight: 59.5 tons (131.050 lb)

Length: 14,04 m (45 ft 11 ¾ in) overall

7,80 m (25 ft 6 ½ in) hull only

Width: 3.625 m (11 ft 10 ½ in)

Height: 4.97 m (16 ft 3 ½ in) with launch sled

14,54 m (47 ft 7 ¾ in) with erected ramp

Ground clearance: 56,5 cm (22¼ in)

Suspension: Longitudinal torsion bars

Fuel capacity: 860 Liter (190 imp gal, 230 US gal)

Armor:

20–180 mm (0.79 – 7 in)

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 34 km/h (21 mph)

Operational range: 120 km (75 mi) on road

80 km (50 mi) off road

Power/weight: 10,08 PS/ton

Engine:

V-12 Maybach HL230 P30 with 600 hp/441 kW

Transmission:

Maybach eight-speed OLVAR OG40-1216B gearbox

Armament:

None installed

The kit and its assembly:

Well, it's not really armour, but since this... thing is based on a Jagdtiger I put it here. It's actually cross-linked with the Ba 349 Natter that I am building in parallel - after all, how should that tiny rocket fight start? This thought had been on my mind for quite a time, and I had the Brengun Natter stashed away for some time. But creating a mobile launch platofrm - or better: coming up with a concept that could be turned into a model somehow, took really long. First ingredient was a Fujimi steam catapult kit from WWII, which works with an external sled, towed by a cable, quite different to the launch catapults that were for instance used for the Fi 103 VI, which operated like aircraft carrier steam catapults with a sled in a pressurized tube.

Finding a suitable chassis was more complicated. First bet was "Karl Gerät" mortar, which turned out to be much too big and also not really compatible with the Fujimi catapult, and the project went into hiatus again. Until inspiration struck and I remembered the Jagdtiger that I had built last year or so, with an oversized L/100 gun and the casemate moved to the rear of the hull (and the engine in a mid-positionj behind the drivers' compartment). That could work in size and arrangement!

Said and done, I procured an(other) Trumpeter Jagdtiger with the late Porsche running gear, with simplified and standardized elements that were intended for the E-Series of tanks, what would fit well into the model's intended time frame of mid 1945. And from that on things went straightforward, only that the catapult was shortened by 3" at the rear and modified to stand vertical - with the bonus that was able to construct a joint so that this is even functional. The launch sled, which was slightly tailored to hold the Natter, is movable, too. That area inside of the Jagdtiger hull had to be filled/improvised, but that worked well, too, thanks to some donor parts from a Modelcollect E-50 tank.

Painting and markings:

The paint scheme caused the next headaches. This is supposed to be a special vehicle, (re)constructed from a Jagdtiger hull, and somehow I did not find Dunkelgelb to be a proper solution. Late in WWII many tanks received an overall Olivgrün factory finish, but I also did not like that idea for this massive thing. Luftwaffe vehicles were, at least during early war stages, painted in their own color, RAL 7016, a dark and rather bluish tone slightly lighter than RAL 7021 Panzergrau, but that did not appear suitable, either. Red Oxidprimer was another option, but rejected, too.

Eventually I settled for a very simple overall RAL 7021 finish - a tone which was still available in considerable volume and applied to operational tanks - and in this case it would be a "2nd line vehicle". The dark tone would also work well to hide the launch platform's bulk in the shadows of trees or buildings, and it simply "looks German". Since the lattice girder catapult with the pressure piston inside was build before painting I used a rattle can - another argument for a uniform livery. After that the model was dry-brushed, decals and matt varnish were applied, and some dirt and dust was added with water colors and pigments.

man experiencing some problems with alcohol, wanting to stop

bit.ly/Urjzgn

Javier Guerra 'El problema', Exposición de Móstruos Cubanos Devoradores de Energía, 'Casa de América de Madrid, Gran Vía, Madrid

Javier Guerra 'The Problem' Cuban Exhibition of Engergy Devouring Monsters, Casa de América de Madrid, Gran Vía, Madrid

We decided to go for a city break rather than sun in Tenerife again this September. Other than a few days in the North East we haven’t been away since last March and wanted a change and hopefully some sun. The problem is getting flights from the north of England to the places we want to go to. We chose Valencia as we could fly from East Midlands – which was still a pain to get to as it involved the most notorious stretch of the M1 at five in the morning. In the end we had a fairly good journey, the new Ryanair business class pre-booked scheme worked quite well and bang on time as usual. It was dull when we landed with storms forecast all week, the sky was bright grey – the kiss of death to the photography I had in mind. I was full of cold and wishing I was at work. It did rain but it was overnight on our first night and didn't affect us. There has been a drought for eleven months apparently and it rained on our first day there! The forecast storms didn't materialise in Valencia but they got it elsewhere.

You May notice discrepancies in the spelling of some Spanish words or names, this is because Valencian is used on signs, in some guide books and maps. There are two languages in common use with distinct differences. There may also be genuine mistakes - it has been known!

Over the course of a Monday to Sunday week we covered 75 miles on foot and saw most of the best of Valencia – The City of Bell Towers. The Old City covers a pretty large area in a very confusing layout. There was a lot of referring to maps – even compass readings! – a first in a city for us. The problem with photography in Valencia is that most of the famous and attractive building are closely built around, some have poor quality housing built on to them. Most photographs have to be taken from an extreme angle looking up. There are no high points as it is pan flat, there are a small number of buildings where you can pay to go up on to the roof for a better view and we went up them – more than once!

The modern buildings of The City of Arts and Sciences – ( Ciutat de Las Arts I de les Ciencies ) are what the city has more recently become famous for, with tourists arriving by the coachload all day until late at night. They must be photographed millions of times a month. We went during the day and stayed till dark one evening, I gave it my best shot but a first time visit is always a compromise between ambition and realism, time dictates that we have to move on to the next destination. I travelled with a full size tripod – another first – I forgot to take it with me to TCoAaS! so It was time to wind up the ISO, again! Needless to say I never used the tripod.

On a day when rain was forecast but it stayed fine, albeit a bit dull, we went to the Bioparc north west of the city, a zoo by another name. There are many claims made for this place, were you can appear to walk alongside some very large animals, including, elephants, lions, giraffe, rhino, gorillas and many types of monkey to name a few. It is laid out in different geographical regions and there is very little between you and the animals, in some cases there is nothing, you enter the enclosure through a double door arrangement and the monkeys are around you. It gets rave reviews and we stayed for most of the day. The animals it has to be said gave the appearance of extreme boredom and frustration and I felt quite sorry for them.

The course of The River Turia was altered after a major flood in the 50’s. The new river runs west of the city flanked by a motorway. The old river, which is massive, deep and very wide between ancient walls, I can’t imagine how it flooded, has been turned into a park that is five miles long. There is an athletics track, football pitches, cycle paths, restaurants, numerous kids parks, ponds, fountains, loads of bridges, historic and modern. At the western end closest to the sea sits The City of Arts and Sciences – in the river bed. Where it meets the sea there is Valencia’s urban Formula One racetrack finishing in the massive marina built for The Americas Cup. The race track is in use as roadways complete with fully removable street furniture, kerbs, bollards, lights, islands and crossings, everything is just sat on the surface ready to be moved.

We found the beach almost by accident, we were desperate for food after putting in a lot of miles and the afternoon was ticking by. What a beach, 100’s of metres wide and stretching as far as the eye could see with a massive promenade. The hard thing was choosing, out of the dozens of restaurants, all next door to each other, all serving traditional Paella – rabbit and chicken – as well as seafood, we don’t eat seafood and it constituted 90% of the menu in most places. Every restaurant does a fixed price dish of the day, with a few choices, three courses and a drink. Some times this was our only meal besides making the most of the continental breakfast at the hotel. We had a fair few bar stops with the local wine being cheap and pleasant it would have been a shame not to, there would have been a one woman riot – or strike!

On our final day, a Sunday, we were out of bed and down for breakfast at 7.45 as usual, the place was deserted barring a waiter. We walked out of the door at 8.30 – in to the middle of a mass road race with many thousands of runners, one of a series that take place in Valencia – apparently! We struggled to find out the distance, possibly 10km. The finish was just around the corner so off we went with the camera gear, taking photos of random runners and groups. There was a TV crew filming it and some local celebrity (I think) commentating. Next we came across some sort of wandering religious and musical event. Some sort of ritual was played out over the course of Sunday morning in various locations, it involved catholic priests and religious buildings and another film crew. The Catholic tourists and locals were filling the (many) churches for Sunday mass. Amongst all of this we had seen men walking around in Arab style dress – the ones in black looked like the ones from ISIS currently beheading people – all carrying guns. A bit disconcerting. We assumed that there had been some sort of battle enactment. We were wrong, it hadn’t happened yet. A while later, about 11.30 we could hear banging, fireworks? No it was our friends with the guns. We were caught up in total mayhem, around 60 men randomly firing muskets with some sort of blank rounds, the noise, smoke and flames from the muzzles were incredible. We were about to climb the Torres de Serranos which is where, unbeknown to us, the grand, and deafening, finale was going to be. We could feel the blast in our faces on top of the tower. Yet again there was a film camera in attendance. I couldn’t get close ups but I got a good overview and shot my first video with the 5D, my first in 5 years of owning a DLSR with the capability. I usually use my phone ( I used my phone as well). Later in the day there was a bullfight taking place, the ring was almost next to our hotel, in the end we had other things to do and gave it a miss, it was certainly a busy Sunday in the city centre, whether it’s the norm or not I don’t know.

There is a tram system in Valencia but it goes from the port area into the newer part of the city on the north side, it wouldn’t be feasible to serve the historic old city really. A quick internet search told me that there are 55,000 university students in the city, a pretty big number. I think a lot of the campus is on the north side and served by the tram although there is a massive fleet of buses as well. There is a massive, very impressive market building , with 100’s of stalls that would make a photo project on its own, beautiful on the inside and out but very difficult to get decent photos of the exterior other than detail shots owing to the closeness of other buildings and the sheer size of it. Across town, another market has been beautifully renovated and is full of bars and restaurants and a bit of a destination in its own right.

A downside was the all too typical shafting by the taxi drivers who use every trick in the book to side step the official tariffs and rob you. The taxi from the airport had a “broken” meter and on the way home we were driven 22 km instead of the nine that is the actual distance. Some of them seem to view tourists as cash cows to be robbed at all costs. I emailed the Marriot hotel as they ordered the taxi, needless to say no answer from Marriot – they’ve had their money. We didn’t get the rip off treatment in the bars etc. that we experienced in Rome, prices are very fair on most things, certainly considering the city location.

All in all we had a good trip and can highly recommend Valencia.

I’m surprised they didn’t put one on chemicals as well.