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City of Wells (34092) departs Swanage Station during this long weekend's Strictly Bullied 11 event. In all the heritage line has managed to get eight Bulleid Pacifics together in steam for the first time since 1967. City of Wells, built in 1949 is one of them.
This week's Saturday Flashback goes back to Amsterdam circa 1725. I've always liked old maps and certainly from this one you can fairly easily pick out the structure of the old city as it still is today. One major change is that the course of the Amstel River was changed and it no longer flows down what is shown as Dam Rak to approximately where Centraal Station is today. Also note the ring of windmills around the outer ring of the city. This map is on show at The Hidden Church.
Crowdfunded by the people of Sturminster Newton, Geoffrey the Bull (named by Oliver Currie aged 7) commemorates the town's livestock market that closed on 30th June 1997 ending a 700 year old existence in this small rural market town.
Kenney, TX, has never had a large population. I've seen a figure of just 200 at the start of this century. With the towns of Brenham to the north and Bellville not far to the south, it is perhaps not too surprising that another classic old country store has bit the dust.
Note the two horse hitching posts out front. There were 6 in total giving an indication of the clientele.
(I don't know about the rest of the world but flickr has been out of action all day in Texas. Someone must have chucked another lump of coal in the boiler as it is just getting going again!)
I've always found photos that show the same place from very different eras of interest. The main photo here was taken in the small town of Potes, Spain. I do not have an accurate date but would guess the 1920s or 1930s. It could easily have been taken in the Forties or Fifties. I recall a friend of mine telling his tale of cycling back to the UK from Gibraltar after World War 2 and hardly encountering a tarmac road the whole way across Spain. Even today, this northern part of Spain remains something of a welcome backwater compared to the rest of Europe.
The photo below shows the same location in 2014!
Mosses are an incredibly old genus that have been around on Earth for some 450 million years. This sphagnum moss (one of c30 sphagnum moss species in the UK) is found on wet boggy areas of Dorset's lowland heaths as well as elsewhere around the British Isles and also the world.
As always with fossils, I stress that we are very much amateurs on the subject and welcome alternative identification suggestions .
Found by Kim on Charmouth beach, we had no clue as to what this was. So, as you do, we asked a man who clearly knew a lot more than we did. We can only take his word but straight away he said it is in chert rock so therefore from the Cretaceous period, approximately 145 to 66 million years ago and was a sponge.
Even on large size it is hard to see numerous tiny pits. However, they can be clearly seen through a hand lens. The diameter of the central ring is c10mm / around half and inch. The coin is a British 5p piece.
We think the central 'depression' might be where the water used to flow out through what is known as the osculum.
The fossil record shows that American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) has been around for at least 8 million years. Some suggest much longer as the family of alligators seems to have evolved quite slowly. The fossil record shows many quite similar species going back at least 100 million years.
They are reasonably common in Texas. This individual was photographed at Sheldon Lake State Park, some 17 miles east of downtown Houston.
Although franchises have now spread to states other than TX, Shipley Donuts is a Houston institution going back almost 80 years, firstly as a wholesale and then retail operation. Luckily this outlet, always regarded as the best in town, is just up the road on Ella. It has been there since the late 50's or early 60's and as far as I can see has changed little since then. Queues for the drive-thru window regularly block the adjacent junction whilst foot traffic often queues outside the door. What do I have? ALWAYS, hot glazed donuts straight out of the fryer.
A quirk. This is the only branch named "Shipley's" with an apostrophe. All others are "Shipley".
This week's Saturday Flashback was only taken a few weeks ago. However, the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) really is a flashback to another age. The species has survived everything that can be thrown at it since at least the Pleistocene, where it is well represented in fossil records. The Pleistocene age started approximately 2 1/2 million years ago. So 2 1/2 million years without doubt though some scientists suggest 14 million years whilst National Geographic, no less, reckons it has been around for 160 million years, avoiding extinction when their prehistoric contemporaries, dinosaurs, died out. Whichever way you look at it and however ancient it actually is, to me the American Alligator definitely looks prehistoric.
This survivor was photographed at Brazos Bend State Park, TX, which is towards the western end of its current range.
I am not a Liverpool supporter. However, this weekend is the 25th Anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster when 96 Liverpool football fans died due to the total incompetence and prejudice of Yorkshire's police. All matches in the top five levels of English football kick off 7 minutes late, 6 minutes representing the time that passed before the game was stopped with people already dead on the terraces and the seventh minute being that of silence. All of football will join together in memory of those who died (and the hundreds who were injured) in Britain's worst stadium disaster. For those abroad who may not know, the music below is Liverpool's anthem, sung by the crowd before every home game.
BITHBOX#033
GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS "YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE"
I wish it was! However, this is not my photo, just my photo of a photo (or painting?) by K. Walden, date unknown.
The associated caption reads "Nickel Plate Road ; Berkshire ; 2-8-4 ; circa 1940". As I understand it 779 was photographed somewhere along the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway that connected Fort Worth and Dallas with Houston and Galveston.
Apparently, close relative Nickel Plate Road # 765 is still running at Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, Ohio. Another close relative is under restoration, also in Ohio.
They must have been a sight to see and a sound to hear.
During our Somerset & Dorset Railway explorations, we took a pleasant walk around the classic small town of Stalbridge in north Dorset. Like so many similar towns the evidence of past businesses was plain to see from the house names that reflect previous uses. The businesses are all closed now although a different butchers shop does remain open.
Thanks to Kim for this week's Saturday Timewatch collage.
This week's Saturday Flashback goes back c150 million years to show what is definitely the footprint of a dinosaur, thought to be an Allosaurus, a meat eater that could run upto 30mph. The three toes / claws are especially noticeable in this photo. The creature was crossing the sandbar of a river and left its imprint.
The photo below shows at least 8 footprints of a large Sauropod (possibly a Camarasaurus) as it made tracks across the same sandbar. This large dinosaur was a plant eater that probably weighed around 18 tons!
I love sites like this. Not a National, State or even Local Park, just a two-mile drive down a very rough track and then a walk to a single interpretation board.
Less well known than Portland Rock, Purbeck Stone has been quarried in the vicinity of Swanage for hundreds of years and that practice carries on today in several opencast quarries. The material has been used in buildings, both structurally and decoratively, in the local area as well as further afield in places such as London.
This abandoned mine can be found on the south-facing slopes of the Purbeck Ridge. The stone was likely brought to the surface by a horse or donkey turning a capstan at the shaft entrance.
This week's Saturday Timewatch goes back to 1879 and a list of items coming into or out of the small harbour at Lyme Regis. You'll have to look on large size to see the fascinating detail and how much was charged on each item. The sign hangs on one of the Cobb buildings.
Alongside and in little or no conflict with all the electronic neon of modern Japan, deep layers of history, tradition and culture lie intact.
You see lots of people in traditional dress. However, I had about two seconds to grab this instant and single flash of a photo. It shows two maiko walking quickly to their next appointment and they don't hang around in any way for tourists who happen to cross their path.
For a foreigner, trying to distinguish between a geisha aka geiko in Kyoto Gion and a maiko (apprentice) is full of pitfalls. Apologies if any of the information is wrong. However, if I've understood at least some of the intricacies, there are several clues in their dress. In no particular order :
#1 Their hair looks to be their own, not a wig.
#2 The girls have numerous ornaments in their hair, including "November" kanzashi featuring autumnal leaf colours
#3 They are wearing long rectangular obi, the belts around the waist. A geisha's would be square.
#4 The girl on the right is possibly more senior as she appears to have at least thin red lines of lipstick on both lips. Also her kimono is edged with white around the neck, which I admit thought signified a geisha but then as I wrote above, trying to understand the minutiae of Japanese society is really quite difficult.
So just how far back do some of these traditions go? The kanzashi hair ornaments were first recorded about 14,000 years ago. The general concept of a "serving girl" is about 1500 years old, whilst the actual word "geisha" seems to be about 250 years old. Nowadays the girls are hired to attend parties and gatherings, at tea houses or traditional Japanese restaurants. The customer is usually a top-hierarchy businessman showing off to clients as this is all to do with high status and wealth.
With so many old rural buildings now redeveloped as second homes and holiday lets, it is increasingly difficult to find scenes like this. In deepest Dorset, the location is Looke Farmhouse, Puncknowle. The farmhouse itself has been a listed building since 1952 and looks in reasonable condition, despite dating from around 1700.
What intrigued me was round the back where this bridge crossed a small tributary to the River Bride to a doorway suitable for pedestrians but nothing more. My best guess is this was a workers' entrance, perhaps for the gardeners. I am also guessing that the bridge dates from a similar period to the main house.
The photo features the sluice gates related to the building in the distance which is Fiddleford Mill, Calf Close Lane, near Sturminster Newton. Despite being a Grade 11 listed building, the old water mill that probably dates from the 18th century is not in good condition.
It is just one of many in Dorset. In fact there is another historic water mill in much better condition just a mile upstream
Of course, it is each to their own tipple. However, I do remember the time when you simply asked for a pint of best or half a mild.
This week's Saturday Timewatch compares that to the modern way with a myriad of alcoholic choices. These are courtesy of an Asda promotional flyer that came through the door. Thanks but no thanks. I'll just stick to my glass of Spanish red wine.
EDIT : August 25th 2012 : I've just heard that Neil Armstrong has passed away. RIP Neil Armstrong - you inspired generations to look beyond Earth.
My picture was taken at Space Center Houston in November 2010, during my first ever visit there. However today's "Saturday Flashback" is to July 20 1969 and the moment Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the Moon as the whole world, including myself, watched and listened and held it's collective breath.
The "Earthrise" photo was taken on a different date but to me it remains one of "the" photographs of the 20th century.
Time has a way of moving forward whether it is counted in months, weeks, hours, or plancks -- make the most of your Time.
Most often people destroy, neglect, or completely abuse the time they have and hardly notice as it flutters silently past. Some fill their time wisely with earnest intent while others fill their time plotting the downfall of someone. I've had people plot against me and use their time to fulfill their fantasies and pleasures while stealing my time and sealing it with pain and fear.
The time that has been taken from me can never be given back; that is one of the worst things that you can do to a person, steal their Time.
Photographs are © Copyright Galactic Dreams (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on blogs, websites, or in other media without advance written permission from Galactic Dreams.
You may remember that last year three posts were uploaded comparing Constable paintings then and now? John Constable is best known for his landscape paintings around Dedham Vale, Suffolk. Less well known are the series of paintings from October and November 1816 when he and his bride took a 6 week honeymoon in Osmington, Dorset.
This is the last in the series. Although recognisable in the photo below, the village of Osmington has expanded sufficiently to make a modern comparison difficult. However by waiting until a sunny winter morning, the lack of foliage on the trees at least made a 'then and now' comparison possible....which it wasn't in the summer!
Here is one of the earlier posts www.flickr.com/photos/99303089@N00/30310655723/in/datepos...
There are variations on the flatbread theme right around the world for those who need to eat but don't have much money.
Oatcakes are the Potteries' (Stoke-on-Trent) version. They have been around since the 18th century and there are still several dozen shops that sell nothing else in the region.
But what a surprise! I rarely go in Sainsbury's so was amazed to find the genuine article on sale and even yellow-stickered. When living in the Potteries I did eat rather a lot of them as there was an oatcake shop just around the corner. However, they are so uncommon down south that when a neighbour used to visit up north, she always brought me a pack back down to Dorset. As far as i am concerned there is only one *proper* filling.......bacon and cheese!
Here is a post, with typically great comments, from 2010 showing an actual oatcake shop flic.kr/p/7Ay8GT
This week's late-running Timewatch features bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightnin%27_Hopkins
The short version is that he was born in Centerville, TX, about 30 miles west of Crockett where this sculpture by Jim Jeffries is to be found along Camp Street. It commemorates the fact that Lightnin' Hopkins often played there, both on the street and in the street's establishments when it was the center of the Black Business District in Houston County (circa 1940). The bluesman died in Houston, aged 69, in 1982.
bithbox # 227 Lightnin' Hopkins "Baby Please Don't Go"
Before you ask, yes, Crockett was named after Davy. Apparently he camped nearby on his way to the Alamo.
The 17th century Bridge House was built over Stock Beck in Ambleside. Rumour has it that it was sited there to avoid any Land Tax though I really don't know whether that is true or not. It has had a number of commercial uses as well as being a dwelling house for a family of eight people. It is now owned by the National Trust.
Others may have more success. However, I can't find any information about a series of large paintings displayed high up in what must have been the old ticket booking hall of Portsmouth and Southsea Station. I was particularly taken with this one with the prominent 35 sign in the bottom corner.
Any information on either the series of paintings or the locomotive depicted here would be welcome.
The regulars will know that I'm not much of a pub person partly because I don't drink and drive but also because a night out at a pub now costs rather a lot. Even a couple of pints or two glasses of can cost up to £10, an insane price that has spelt the end for many pubs across Britain.
However, Saturday Timewatch seems a suitable place to record the closure of Portland Bill's Pulpit Inn, a place we have been to a couple of times for b-side's annual music and history events. Like so many pubs it has clearly struggled in recent years and from chatting to several locals, didn't have the best reputation for either food or drink. They also claimed it was much more loved in past decades.
Originally The Devenish Arms, supplied by Weymouth's Devenish Brewery, the mid 1950's building is now likely to be demolished and rebuilt to become holiday homes with some sort of bar and restaurant on the ground floor. I would imagine that with sea views all around, the cost of staying there will be very high.
NOTE : During a short break away from Dorset, internet access is likely to be sporadic for the next few days.
In England, i've seen a 'reverse' Archimedes screw operate a community power plant. There, water is diverted from a river, through the screw mechanism and that generates electricity. However, the apparatus in this photo, two of three screws forming the J.U. Smitgemaal pumping station in the Netherlands, performs what is thought to be the original historic concept of taking water from lower to higher levels.
In this instance, water is taken up from the low-lying Albasserwaard polders, discharged into the River Lek and hence to the North Sea. Opened in 1972, the station has a capacity of 1.500 cubic litres per minute...which is a lot! It replaced the work of eight traditional windmills.
This week's Saturday Timewatch features another artefact from the vaults. I'm not going to show the other side of the document which has all the family "names and numbers". However, this is something my granny bought in 1934 with the beneficiary named as my mum.
This week's Saturday Timewatch, combined as a Sunday Landscape, shows an example of just how extreme clif erosion is along Dorset's Jurassic Coast. The most obvious sign here is the mudslide in the bottom half of the photo. The small tree or large bush gives some idea of scale. However, look carefully and you can see where the major fall has exposed a somewhat golden cliff face of what is known as Upper Greensand. To each side there remain grey rocks of clays. Major falls such as this happen several times every year along this coastline acting as a conveyor belt for fossils hidden for millions of years within.
(I have no idea whether this post will be visible via your Activity Feed or not. I'd appreciate you letting me know either way!)
American Airlines A319 N744P taxiing in at George Bush Intercontinental, Houston, having arrived from Los Angeles. The aircraft is one of several in their fleet that wears a special heritage livery harking back to previous airlines that now operate under the American brand.
As ever, the twists and turns of ownership are complicated. In this instance extremely complicated as there seems to be two different "Piedmont" Airlines both of which ended up under the US Airways umbrella. That airline was itself later taken over /merged with American Airlines.
So I'll leave it be and just enjoy this special livery.
As always, should there be any problem with copyright I will happily remove this photo.
The photo was taken by Stuart Morris in 1979, probably in February of that year. It shows yet another flood in the vicinity of Brandy Row, Chesil, pronounced like 'chisel' the woodworking tool. Floods have been a fact of life here for centuries and continue to be a threat despite modern sea defences. Indeed there are flood warning sirens nearby.
This photo was seen in b-side's "Weather or Not" series. It has particular interest because as we were studying the photo, we got talking, as you do, to the chap next to us. He proudly told us that the car in the foreground belonged to his father and that when he came to rescue the vehicle, it started first time!!
This week's Saturday Flashback features a photo of a photo. In 1893 a four mile rail link was constructed from Texas City to join the Galveston and Henderson Railroad inland at Texas City Junction. A single track trestle-like pier was also built out into Galveston Bay that could be used by small bay craft. The first rail and water shipment was handled in September 1894, which is when I assume this photo was taken.
(This is the fourth of a weekly series of flashback photos. I apologise in advance for the inevitable poor quality. This one is scanned from a rather faded 35mm slide).
My 1985 photo shows Radio Caroline's last ever offshore radio vessel "Ross Revenge" anchored some miles off Felixstowe, Suffolk and being approached by an 'illegal' tender. Using a massive 300' (90 metre) tower and with a transmitter capable of 50kw, the 'new' Radio Caroline introduced the concept of an all-day album station to Britain and Europe. Of many Caroline Classics, this is one that has not previously featured on The Jukebox.
The lawyers got to the first video within days. So here is a replacement!
BITH'S JUKEBOX #207
BOB DYLAN "HURRICANE"
Drop a coin in the slot :
EDIT : YOU CAN HAVE YER COIN BACK. EVERY TIME THIS TRACK GETS POSTED DYLAN'S LAWYERS GO APESHIT.
On this link, you can read an outline history of UK Pirate Radio (including offshore) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_pirate_radio
Operated by the BBMF (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight) this Dakota (ZA947) provided this week's "Saturday Timewatch" post with three circuits and flypasts around Weymouth Bay.
The Douglas C47 not just looked good. She sounded great as well!
(Permit me a memory. In the past, assorted commercial flight diverts and snafus have resulted in some excellent one-off aircraft adventures. One such was my one and only flight in the civil DC3 version of the above. It was over half a century ago, brilliant and never to be forgotten.)
More classic mid 20th century Americana for this week's Saturday Flashback.
BITHBOX #08 CHUCK BERRY "NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO"
When first arriving in Houston, I quickly discovered there were distinct similarities between the Manchester Ship Canal and the Houston Ship Channel. With Manchester being c40 miles and Houston c50 miles inland, both were essentially established to bypass and compete with city ports located by the ocean i.e. Liverpool and Galveston.
However, more than a century later, whereas Manchester can no longer be called a port city, that is not the case for Houston which remains one of the largest ports in America. The grain or rice silo scene above might suggest their glory days are over. However, far from it as two major container facilities now exist downstream whilst much investment is going into deepening and widening the channel to accommodate ever larger vessels.