Driven by Airyhope Tallulam, a little Shetland Pony

December 12, 2016 - Pantropical Spotted Dolphins Capture – Taiji, Japan

 

Taiji, 12-12-16: In the first drive of pantropical spotted dolphins of the 2016/17 season, one couldn’t help notice the white color of their rostrums, or beaks, as the dolphins swam tightly together in the cove. At least 70 mammals had been driven in, and while hunters took a break, the dolphins surfaced erratically, their dramatic coloring and stripes lending one reason as to why they were so valued in captivity. For even in their angst, they were beautiful and moved with grace.

 

Skiffs filled with divers and trainers soon returned to the cove, and black shapes began to dot the water as the captive selection process got underway. The terrified dolphins tried to escape the chaos, hovering perilously close to the sharp volcanic rocks, which were covered with yellow tarps to avoid their injury.

In a macabre orchestra of sights and sounds, hands grabbed for select animals, flukes thrashed, and the squealing of dolphins were heard, along with the jarring shouts of humans. Dolphin Project Cove Monitors continued to live stream the violence of this process in both English and Japanese for the world to witness. And, one by one, the dolphins were overpowered by their captors, the most physically aesthetic animals chosen for “life” in captivity.

 

Dolphins were loaded onto skiffs lined with tarps, with several trainers positioned alongside them, in attempts to protect their payday. A total of 18 mammals were wrangled from the pod, and boated to the nearby harbor pens, and Dolphin Base. Suddenly, one of the dolphins raised its tail, and appeared to roll onto its side as the water surrounding it began filling with blood. The dolphin was righted, a white-gloved hand dipping into the bloody water to assess the animal’s condition. It was obvious the dolphin was deteriorating, a result of the breathtaking brutality of the drive, and injuries sustained during captive selection.

Speaking of which, the amount of dolphins still trapped in the cove was highly concerning. A slaughter of this magnitude would be – gruesome. The skiffs returned once again, and hunters began removing the nets. The remaining dolphins would be set free! While this was good news, the motive was suspect. Were the dolphins being released because of the high number of trainers present? While this wouldn’t be known for certain, at least the animals wouldn’t be killed.

 

We waited…but the dolphins didn’t leave. Minutes ticked by, yet the pod began swimming towards the tarps, where they last saw their missing pod members. It was devastating to watch them willfully swim towards the scene of such cruelty. Eventually, skiffs and boats were able to turn the pod (approximately 52) back out towards open water, with the ominous sounds of hunters banging on poles filling the air as the dolphins swam out to sea.

 

Credit: DolphinProject.com

 

This is a place I have driven by many times and today I decided to stop and look around. I found this beautiful statue guarding the Temple, they were on either side of the entrance.

Lady Penelope was usually driven around by her faithful manservant Parker. I'm not quite sure whether my figures capture enough of the characters' looks to make them recognisable without the car, but am convinced that the combination works.

Sooooo much cooler than my car which is still driven by stinking old gasoline! Like gazillion times cooler.

 

This is going to be my "Words" cliche entry for Cliche Saturday scavenger hunt. I was not driving when I took this, I swear. I had to restrain myself plenty of times from pulling out an iPhone while on the road and trying to take a shot of a fun bumper sticker on a car right in front of me. I may still do it one day, but this will be the whole new level of crazy! HCS, everyone!

Show Must Go On

W x H (“): 70 x 60

Oil painting on Cotton (dock canvas)

Signed

Early Period

  

(1)Mechanism of Inspiration

  

From a title or period of painting’s execution it is believed that Jaisini was driven in its creation by an influence of a song with corresponding title and the death of its author and singer Freddie Mercury. The interpreting of emotions resulted and transferred by Jaisini in his painting is unexpected development of the theme of Show Must Go On painting rich in color combination, with dynamic composition, nerve and emotion urging to attempt read into it’s concept. At a first glace the picture’s space reminds of an outlandish or even sci-fi landscape with elements that may support the impression, a red sun against a silhouette that reminds a dinosaur. On the right upper side there is a depiction of what looks like a water tower. The color develops from the front ground’s almost black cobalt blue that changes gradually to the lighter value of blue enriched by additional colors and finally to fuse in a sun light spot in the upper left corner that holds a voluptuous female figure with bulging thighs. Her position is either gymnastic of erotic. Her figure is touched by some phallic finger and seems to carry little information except being a compositional space brake.

The figure’s configuration is light almost weightless as is she was a balloon navigating the space. In contrast to this image’s lightness there is another female figure, located below. Her image is independent but at the same time she delineates a right hand of a central man. This is a reclining female torso of intense transparent red color of stain-glass.

This color of transparent red is a highlighting color of the entire picture that is dominated by blue and yellow. The inclusion of such pure sound red fires up accents and add to Jaisini’s painting special power.

He is a great color master developing his composition with complimentary tonal highlights of pure colors and contrasting inclusions that always light up the paintings with additional dimension as multi faceted precious stone that casts color sparkles. His established rule is the inclusion of pure brisk color accents. To justify such pure and intense red in the predominately cobalt composition is a complex task Jaisini successfully accomplishes in SMGO.

The work as most paintings is painted in one go in detection of light and immediate lines that create the whole compositional swirl.

This mode of work in oil called a-la-prima painted without preliminary

sketch and sure is exhausting way of creation.

It will always remain puzzling how is it possible to paint monumental, finished version of a single painting without minimum preparation. In the interview Jaisini confirmed that it takes long time, months if not years to think about future painting. If he is not capable to construct a vision of his future work in his mind until this “vision” occurs, the artist is not ready to paint or if he would persist the result can’t satisfy the artist.

The notion of having direct influence of the music and events that inspired Jaisini to paint SMGO enter the analysis and to understand the immediate mechanics of Jaisini’s creativity is a challenging task.

What moves him in this particular work to bring out strange, unexplainable images to interpret the signer’s death and the musical tune and poetic meaning of the song with theatrical slogan that “show must go on”?

In the picture the central man is in the middle of composition and picture’s concept as a main figure. As in Forbidden Fruit same here the man’s figure is depicted in a rushing forward movement that could read symbolically and remain statuesque. Such duality of being dynamic and still at the same time is always found in the best works of art that can be looked at from different aesthetic points as Rodin’s Thinker, who seemed to be so lively but at a standstill.

In SMGO the central man’s body has an athletic anatomy but also a grotesque exaggerated body part that look like a blown out of proportions phallus, erected from the man’s lower body having no anatomical detailing.

The color serves to divide phallic element in two parts. It enters a figure of a bending down man of light yellow tone. The phallic part of a central man on the point of entering into the bending man’s backside becomes the painting’s red color inclusion with transparent effect of stain glass.

The central man seems to interact with the other in internal game that can be physical game of power. The central man opens his mouth in scream from the own pain that is caused to him by a double-jawed sward-fish who in turn enters his body from the back.

On the entering the swordfish’s nose is ultramarine and then red.

There is also an interesting image of a grieving profile that fills the space between the shark and reclining woman’s torso. The sward-fish is moving out of a dark space where scalaria fish of enlarged size demarcates the side of darkness and light.

Corrals in the front ground add more ambiguity to the space with the red color and rounded shaping.

In the right corner there is a third figure of a man who could fit the definition of submissiveness or weakness by the depiction.

Such personages are often found in Jaisini’s works where they find a place to contrast images of the masculine males.

To conclude the count in SMGO I should mention a profile with a grotesque dinosaur’s long bending neck. This profile is situated between spatial contrasts of almost black concave opening.

Inside the round enclosure of the neck the space is light but indicative of shaping by the reflexes of light.

The interest to understand the work, the birth of the above-described images and their relevance to the painting’s theme, why and how did they arrive in association with prime impulse of the artist, his favorite song and sorrow.

As a formulation of the artist’s reaction to the song he liked and death of its singer in the outcoming painting is most unusual. The painting’s formal quality is complete in its dynamical and color elaboration.

When you try to see the picture in its entirety you see a great contrast of spots, beautiful combination of colors enriched by unusual color choices.

The dynamic development of picture’s space divided endlessly to create vigorous effect of foliage washed by sunlight. The yellow color parts are offset by cold deep ultramarine and refined by bold inclusion of red.

Space of the painting can’t be defined as perspective.

As in most Gleitzeit works space is multi perspective with Cubist principle of space being observed from different angles but at the same time unified by Jaisini’s plastical line unlike cubism’s straight angles.

This painting has strong sense of spontaneity with little predictability of the images. The execution of the work holds perfectly an outburst of emotions into a formulation of unlikely response to the initial drive. Jaisini’s ability to work in a style of direct painting that is loaded with philosophical meaning is a unique gift. If abstract art is mathematical it is possible to formulate its principal’s production. In such works as of Jaisini the formula would be with all unknowns.

The artist expresses his deep understanding of social conflict in Show Must Go On uniting images of violence with concept of grief for the lost such as death of singer who inspired the artist to paint.

In this work Jaisini unites man’s violent act with the concept of “show must go on” that means aggression is a primary purveyor of rebellion and its revolutionary radicalism.

In SMGO the portrayal is of a cry that informs universe of raw demands of man desperate to know whom he is and where is he going.

The title of the song and painting is a dynamic addition to the concept.

The central man is shown vulnerable as the shark enters his body. It seems to freeze the effect of his outcry by physical threat. Jaisini reflects in this work the deep-seated fundamental concept. Men transform their fear of male violence into a metaphysical commitment to male aggression.

For Freud a criminal act-aggression and death, restrictions, and suppressed desire lay at the origins of human society. He establishes conflict between Eros and Thanatos as a primal, constant human condition.

Freud proclaims: “Every individual is virtually an enemy of civilization.”

Humans are unfit for civilization because their destructive urges are antagonistic to the fundamental demands of civilization.

The situation has become particularly dire in modern times, Freud argues for there are increasingly fewer outlets for these urges even as more and more restrictions are imposed. If during time of Surrealist art Andre Breton called the “crisis of consciousness” here is the “crisis of existence”.

The subject of absurdity and extinction of male purpose is not a gender-politicized theme in the Gleitzeit works of Jaisini.

It is an artistic questioning of the potential creativity that is hidden in every man but is restricted by rules and social responsibilities.

And still the artist calls for art to continue for show to go on even through death.

The portrayal of violence and victimization has the effect of the sacrificial ritual of ancient tradition that is echoed in the painting. Life will go on through death and sacrifice. There is recognition of life within death as well as death within life. In SMGO the concept of continuance is in the effort that could be described as violent, deviant, inherently shocking. The imagery of the picture focuses on the bonding between aged long that was and is necessary for creativity, agony and ecstasy, violence and sexuality, all inescapable and vitalizing forces of life emphasized in art tradition.

Struggle between instinct of life and instinct of destruction is the struggle that entire life essentially is about.

The picture seems to illustrate what was Freud’s view of the inclination to aggression to be an original, self-subsisting instinctual disposition in man while civilization is a process in the service of Eros and death, between the instinct of life and the instinct of destruction.

This struggle represents and portrays creation and life.

In SMGO Jaisini united the symbolic of fight with transgression of taboo subject of human rage having cruelty with social purpose to continue create.

 

📷Bodysuit, Arms & Legs Chains - Hud Driven - 40 Colors

Single Items available - Exclusive @ The Warehouse Sale Event

credits: angelofmagicdreams.blogspot.com/2023/10/381-petrichor-ers...

I think it's pretty cool to see one being daily driven like this. Might need a little freshening up, but still - mad respect for the owner.

Jenson Team Rocket RJN McLaren 720s GT3 driven by James Baldwin and Michael O'Brien at Donington Park 20 September 2020

Driven by top link Crewe Driver and good friend Ian Tunstall sees 37610 "Ted Cassidy" and 612 which looked to be D.I.T. With the usual Tunny thrash the ensemble roar passed Leyland with two flasks in tow working 6K73 Sellafield-Crewe Coal Yard Nuclear Train.

crop based on suggestions by glenbourne at home

I decided to crop like glenbourne suggested, as this one is far closer to what I saw that moment. the other crop might be more interesting with regards to composition, shadows and details - but I did not really notice this part of the scene rather than the whole scene..

Leyland Olympian / Roe A97KUM about to leave Dewsbury on its mammoth journey for a new life and future. Quite fitting it came back to West Yorkshire for old times sake and did very useful work serving as an outreach at a local church for around 4 years. It will be replaced by a newer less interesting vehicle shortly. Lovely to drive something which fits like a pair of old slippers, rather than something which is a headache or gives you one. "Bonne Chance" friend.

We've driven by this old school building many times without knowing its history or even that it is now a community center, an unlikely feat for a hamlet such as Chinook, Washington.

 

I took artistic license with this photo. Part of the school building's renovations included a new cement sidewalk from the street to the front door. Since it's new, it's blindingly white. Before the renovation, there was no such walk, so I used Photo Shop to reverse that part of the project.

 

Here's a Chinook Observer article from 2005, when today's superbly restored buildings were just a gleam in the eye of dedicated volunteers:

 

CHINOOK - About 300 people stormed Joanne Friberg Leech's Sanctuary Restaurant in Chinook last week for the first Friends of Chinook School fundraiser dinner. The spaghetti-and-all-the-trimmings event brought in about $7,500 to help with the restoration of the historic school and gymnasium.

 

Leech, who was born and raised in Chinook and went through all eight grades at the school, donated the restaurant for the evening. The food was donated, including 100 pounds of hamburger. "We even sold the leftovers," Leech said. "I'm so glad I had the sauce made the day before because people came in the doors early."

 

An assortment of cakes was supplied by Chinook Coffee Company.

 

Eileen Wirkkala, president of the Friends group said besides paid admissions to the dinner, lots of people added donations at the door. "The silent auction held during the event was very successful," she said. "A highlight of the auction was an original watercolor by Carol Johnson, a Friends board member, a 'mosaic' of the school and children at play.

 

"It wasn't just the money that made the event a success," Wirkkala said. "Everybody had so much fun. We're happy so many people support our project. It was such a diverse group of people who came not only from Chinook, but Ocean Park, Ilwaco, Long Beach and Astoria. The school is dear to the hearts of many people, not just old-time residents but people new to the community."

 

Board members Loma Leback Billups, Carol Johnson and Ron Williams all graduated from Chinook Grade School and at least two graduates who have moved away from the area came to join the fun.

 

Dawn Church Wallace, who is a math teacher in Columbia, Mo., came to Chinook with her husband. She attended Chinook School for eight years and said she was "the tallest one in the school. There were five people in my class," she said, with first through eighth grades in two rooms. "I had a great time" all through school, she said. "We had really good teachers - Julia Hall, Mr. Sundstrom, Mr. Pilafian, Miss Melhuishgat and Irene Tinker. Mrs. Tinker taught first and second grades and she was fabulous. She could teach a carrot to read."

 

Wallace remembered that her uncle Joe was in the eighth grade when she was in the first grade. "He got to ring the bell for recess," she said. "I have such good memories of Chinook School."

 

Stories of the good times at the school were flying at the dinner. It wasn't just the students, Wirkkala said. "It was also the warmth the school provided to the community during the Depression and war years when the people of the town needed a safe place to go." She said USO dances for the troops stationed at Fort Columbia were held at the school as well as baseball games and hometown basketball from the 1930s to the '50s which is still discussed at coffee shops. Plays were staged by Angus Bowmer while he was a teacher in Chinook and before he went on to achieve worldwide fame as the founder of the Ashland, Ore., Shakespearean Festival.

 

Ron Williams, of Chinook, said he spent five years at the school before he transfered to Long Beach. He remembers first, second and third grades all taught in one room. "There was one person in first grade and three each in the second and third grades," he said. "It was great. We basically all learned the same thing." His grandfather, David R. Williams, was the clerk of the school board when the gym was built in 1921 and that his father, brother, aunts and cousins all attended the school. His aunt, Ellla Williams Gottberg, was a school board member when he was attending the school.

 

"It's the soul of the community," Williams said. "We had halloween parties, Christmas plays and sports in the gym. There was a big rivalry with Ilwaco." His great-uncle, Lewis R. Williams, was the school's principal and superintendent in the 1920s and wrote two books - "Chinook by the Sea" and "Our Pacific County."

 

Patty Timmen Krager and her husband attended the school, grew up and got married. She said they had been looking at an old school yearbook and discovered her future husband was standing behind her in a school picture. "He said he always knew me," she remembers. "It must have been love at first sight although I was younger than he was when we were in school." The Kragers, both retired teachers, keep a home in Chinook and have taught Yupik Eskimo children at the village of New Tok in Alaska for seven years. They also taught in Ilwaco, Long Beach and Naselle.

 

Judy Church Williams, who still lives in Chinook, attended all eight grades at Chinook and says her eldest daughter was at the school for three years. Williams said she will always remember the fifth-grade teacher, whose name she couldn't remember, because he was always late for school.

 

With the kind of support for the school project that was apparent last week, the Friends group, founded in 2000, can look forward to success with their mission - to have the school and gymnasium once again the center point for the community, utilizing the facilities for cultural, educational, social, recreational and economic uses.

 

The school and gymnasium were indeed the soul of the community after the school was built in 1924. It closed in the 1970s and Friends members want it to once again be a center of services to Chinook and surrounding communities. A $24,000 pre-planning grant was received from the state and an evaluation of the facilities has been completed by an architect for the estimated $1.3 million restoration.

 

"Our plan for Chinook School is to make it available for low- to moderate-income youth and elderly," Wirkkala said. "Numerous service groups and agencies will participate and they will help provide the operating revenue for the school once the restoration is complete. In addition, we want the buildings available for community use for public and private meetings and gatherings." She said the Chinook Indian Tribe will continue to occupy office space and operate a food bank. The school field will continue to be used for T-ball, baseball and soccer.

 

"The Friends of Chinook School are very appreciative of the cooperation, assistance and support give by the Ocean Beach School District Board of Directors and the Pacific County Commissioners for the school project," Wirkkala said.

 

Membership in the group is open and donations are always appreciated, Wirkkala said, and more fund-raisers are on the horizon.

www.chinookobserver.com/news/fans-of-historic-chinook-sch...

 

To see how those dreams came true, click here:

 

www.chinookeventcenter.com/home

Daily driven Volvo 142.

One of the most delightful tourist attractions along the Geelong's Waterfront Esplanade is the beautifully restored 1892 portable steam driven, hand-carved wooden carousel.

 

Constructed around 1892, the Armitage-Herschell portable steam driven, hand-carved wooden carousel one of only 200 in operation around the world. It features thirty six Charles Dare horses (twenty-four of which are original) and two dragon chariots (both faithful replicas). The horses still have their original real horse hair tails! There are forty eight original artworks adorning the carousel's boards, inspired by the legend of King Arthur. Each painting has a Holy Grail, and the artist's initials JMC hidden within it.

 

The carousel can be traced back to the Mordialloc Pier where it operated after the Great War through until the 1950s. It was purchased by the Steampacket Place Development Board in 1996 and painstakingly restored. Each horse alone took over three hundred hours to restore as forty layers of paint were stripped back to reveal the brilliant original colours. All in all the restoration took three years and cost thirty million dollars to achieve. The time, effort and money has been well invested I think, as you cannot help but smile when you see the carousel in action; with or without playful children on board.

 

The Allan Herschell Company Incorporated was established in 1873 as a general engineering shop. Later it became the North Tonawanda Engine and Machine Company. In 1876 the name of the company was changed to the Armitage-Herschell Company. The first carousel built by the company was in 1883. By 1891 over one hundred carousels had been manufactured. Despite the commercial success, poor investments saw the company placed in receivership in 1899. Consequently, Allan Herschell and his brother-in-law, Edward Spillman, bought the ailing company and formed a new firm called the Herschell-Spillman Company. They went on to become the largest carousel manufactures in America.

 

It is believed that the horses were hand-carved by the American master carver, Charles Dare, which makes them very rare.

 

I spent a delightful, if rainy, Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group along the Geelong Waterfront where we walked from central Geelong Esplanade to the Art Deco Eastern Beach.

 

Geelong is a city southwest of Melbourne, Australia. Lining its bay, The Waterfront Esplanade has a Nineteenth Century American carousel, a curved art deco boardwalk and sea bath at Eastern Beach, and scattered along the waterfront are more than one hundred bollards painted as colourful sculptures chronicling city history by artist Jan Mitchell. The Geelong Botanic Gardens lie at the eastern end of the bay. The central National Wool Museum hosts changing exhibitions, concerts and entertainments.

Not the worst vehicle type I've ever driven, but they make the top five!

 

First Manchester Spinal Injuries Unit, sorry, Leyalnd Lynx, 1402 seen at Edgworth after working a school service from either Smithills School or Thornleigh College (I can't remember which one!).

 

Four of these Nails were purchased in late 1986 and in my own personal opinion were four too many. They decomposed quicker than Metrobuses and all four were rebuilt at Bolton depot with the GRP skirts and wheelarches being replaced with aluminium panels. A Northern Counties lower front was also fitted at the same time.

 

Note the GMPTE bus stop flag still survived in this late nineties shot. This stop at Edgworth, which was the terminus for the 563 from Bolton (Plus a couple of schools) was in Lancashire and was seemingly forgotten in the post deregulation era.

"A bold performance is accompanied by a bold presentation. The newly designed lines of the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Coupé are enhanced with attributes that are distinctly AMG: wider wheel arch flares, the aggressive lines of the AMG hood, the recognizable expressive vehicle face and an overall stance that conveys the commanding nature of the vehicle that lies beneath. noiselessly in just over 20 seconds, using electrohydraulic power from two actuators..."

  

Source: Mercedes-AMG

  

Photographed at NI Supercar Sunday

  

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ean Village (from dene, meaning 'deep valley') is a former village immediately northwest of the city centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was known as the "Water of Leith Village" and was the centre of a successful grain milling area for more than 800 years. At one time there were no fewer than eleven working mills there, driven by the strong currents of the Water of Leith.

 

The mills of Dene were first mentioned in King David I's founding charter of Holyrood Abbey, usually dated c. 1145, in which he granted one of his mills of Dene to the Abbey. The area remained a separate village until the 19th century. In 1826, John Learmonth, a future Lord Provost of Edinburgh, purchased the Dean Estate from the Nisbets of Dean. A bridge was needed to access from one side of the high valley to the other (the low-lying village was more or less an irrelevance). The Cramond Road Trustees discarded plans by other engineers and insisted upon the use of Thomas Telford. They also insisted that the bridge be toll-free. This was built 1831-2 and opened in 1833.

 

The four-arched Dean Bridge , spans a width of over 400 feet and is 106 feet above the water level. It carries the Queensferry Road over the Dean Gorge, and was built at the joint expense of John Learmonth and the Cramond Road Trustees. The contractors were John Gibb & Son, from Aberdeen. The bridge transformed access westwards from the city and opened up the potential to develop the Dean estate. The side parapet of the bridge was raised in height in 1912 as a deterrent to suicides, which were very common here in the 19th century, being more or less guaranteed success. The change in stonework is still visible.

 

In 1847 the Dean Cemetery was created, standing on the site of Dean House. This mansion house was the centre of the Dean Estate which had been bought by Sir William Nisbet in 1609. It was demolished in 1845 to create the cemetery but some sculptured stones are incorporated in the southern retaining wall (visible only from lower level). Seven surviving panels of the painted ceiling (painted between 1605 and 1627) of the great hall of Dean House are now in the National Museum of Scotland.[2] The cemetery which is one of the few in Scotland run as a non-profit making charity trust (to avoid being asset-stripped), is the resting place of many well-known people, including the railway engineer Sir Thomas Bouch and David Octavius Hill.

 

The area to the south-west is generally termed Belford, being the site of a ford across the river near Bell's Mills.

 

Due to the development of much larger and more modern flour mills at Leith, Dean Village's trade diminished. For many years, the village became associated with decay and poverty, and it reached a low point by around 1960. From the mid-1970s onwards it became recognised as a tranquil oasis, very close to the city centre, and redevelopment and restoration began, converting workers' cottages, warehouses and mill buildings. This included development on a cleared former industrial site on the north side of the river. The area has now become a desirable residential area. The Water of Leith Walkway running from Balerno to Leith was created through the area in 1983. [Wikipedia]

Renault 5 Turbo(1980) Engine 1397cc S4 Cleon Turbo Production 400

Registration Number UGE 1 W (Glasgow)

 

RENAULT ALBUM

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623690632985...

 

Designed to take on the dominant mid-engined Lancia Stratos in the World of International Rallying. Renault Vice President of production Jean Terramorsi approached Bertone’s Marc Deschamps to design a new sports version of the Renault 5 Alpine supermini. The distinctive new rear bodywork was styled by Marcello Gandini at Bertone.

 

The Turbo featured a mid mounted 1397 cc Cléon turbocharged engine situated behind the driver in mid body in a modified Renault 5 chassis which in standard form produced 160bhp.

Though it used a modified body from a standard Renault 5, and was badged a Renault 5, the mechanicals were radically different, the most obvious difference being rear-wheel drive and rear-mid-engined instead of the normal version's front-wheel drive and front-mounted engine. At the time of its launch it was the most powerful production French car, the first 400 cars were made to comply with Group 4 homologation to compete in international rallies, and were manufactured at the Alpine factory in Dieppe. .

 

All the motorsport derivatives were based on the Turbo 1. The factory pushed the engine output up to 180 PS (132 kW; 178 hp) for the Critérium des Cévennes, 210 PS (154 kW; 207 hp) for the Tour de Corse, and by 1984 as much as 350 PS (257 kW; 345 hp) in the R5 Maxi Turbo. Driven by Jean Ragnotti in 1981, the 5 Turbo won the Monte Carlo Rally on its first outing in the World Rally Championship. The 2WD R5 turbo soon faced the competition of new Group B four-wheel drive cars that proved faster on dirt.

 

Diolch am 88,730,043 o olygfeydd anhygoel, mae pob un yn cael ei werthfawrogi'n fawr.

 

Thanks for 88,730,043 amazing views, every one is greatly appreciated.

 

Shot 10.10.2021 at Bicester Scramble, Bicester, Oxon. Ref. 122-328

   

Manually driven barn door tracker (every 15 sec), In camera NR and remembered to turn IS off this time !! Four nebulae that I am learning about are actually visible here (Triffid, Lagoon, Eagle and Omega) and The Great Rift I believe.

Maserati Ghibli - Mequon, WI

Driven Snow

 

© All my images are copyright. Please respect copyright.

 

Thank you.

A true beast where it should be.... being driven and shown off.

We have driven 1200 miles to reach Hadley's son's family for Christmas. Tired, but very glad to be here. After all, I can ice my knee here as well as at home. Which is a good thing as there are 18 steps up the stairs to the guest bedroom!

 

ANSH: spherical

 

The old arc lamp driven movie projectors that are basically intact in the projection booth.

 

EDIT: Did a little research and these are Strong 14050 series arc lamps from the 1930's sometime. 27 volts at 40 amps to drive the arc. The "Art Deco" design alone would be a giveaway as to about when they were made. Strongs from other eras are distinctly more utilitarian looking from what I've seen -- not the smooth lines of these.

 

Strong invented the self-regulating carbon arc using a DC motor mechanism with the arc current going through the field windings to adjust the motor speed to feed the electrode to keep the arc current constant as the electrodes wore down.

 

Pretty cool and elegantly simple: DC motor speed varies inversely with the field current -- so as the electrodes wore the field current would drop and the motor would speed up bring the electrodes closer and bring the current back up. The rheostat on the back allowed fine tuning the regulator.

 

Made another trip to "Embersville", this time with my friend Vinny. This was his first official "urbex" trip though he's been a bit of an explorer his whole life.

 

The site is an old asylum and rehabilitation facility that also had buildings repurposed as as a home for troubled youth, a police station, and many other functions.

 

Miles and miles of steam and untility tunnels, stairs, and endless buildings, floors, and rooms. A good but quite tiring day.

 

Of course, I took a few pics...

 

Home: www.entropicremnants.com

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Porsche 991 Turbo S - Arena District, Columbus, Ohio

Built by J & H Edwards of Llanuwchllyn, North Wales. No invites please

We will try to get more infomation on what it was used for, we have been told it pull a cable through pulleys fastend up in the trees right along the valley.

1962 Jaguar E-Type driven by Michael Doyle in Group 4B at the 2017 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

 

If you are interested in this, or any of my other photos from this event please visit my website. prints.swankmotorarts.com/f923231362

After years of being my trustworthy companion, I replaced my canon 5DM3 because it was just a huge camera that I couldn’t really take with me anywhere and therefore didn’t use it at all unless I planned some specific shots that I wanted to get with it- so I got a new camera: a Sony A7C. This photo is my first one with that new system and I hope that it is a perfect first shot to usher me into a new era of my photography journey.

Modern cars can do over 100,000 miles without pausing for breath. If you really pile on the miles, you might have 200,000 or even 300,000 miles on the clock. If the car Gods are really shining on you, you might have managed more than half a million.

 

Prepare to feel insignificant. Irv Gordon from East Patchogue, New York, together with his Volvo P1800, a 1966 1800S, has completed over three million miles--a new world record for the highest number of miles driven by a single person in the same car. If you're after an arbitrary comparison to offer some perspective, that's around six round-trips to the moon, or 120 circumnavigations of Earth.

 

Gordon hit the three million miles mark on September 18 while driving near the village of Girdwood, on the Seward Highway, south of Anchorage, Alaska; one of the two remaining states where Irv and his famous car had not been together until now.

 

”It was all rather undramatic,” said Irv. ”We just cruised along and I kept an eye on the odometer in order not to miss the great moment”.

 

Gordon first bought his 1800S on a Friday back in 1966 and immediately fell in love. He simply couldn't stop driving the car and over the course of the weekend he had already covered 1,500 miles, causing him to return to the dealership he bought it the following Monday in order for its first service.

 

With a 125-mile round-trip daily commute, a fanatical dedication to vehicle maintenance and a passion for driving, Gordon logged 500,000 miles in 10 years. In 1987, he celebrated his one-millionth mile by driving a loop around the Tavern on the Green in Central Park, and in 2002 he drove the car's two-millionth mile down Times Square. Since then, Gordon has broken his record every time he gets behind the wheel of his beloved Volvo.

 

[Text from MotorAuthority]

 

www.motorauthority.com/news/1087353_irv-gordon-reaches-3-...

 

History

 

The project was started in 1957 because Volvo wanted a sports car, despite the fact that their previous attempt, the P1900, had been a disaster, with only 68 cars sold. The man behind the project was an engineering consultant to Volvo, Helmer Petterson, who in the 1940s was responsible for the Volvo PV444. The design work was done by Helmer's son Pelle Petterson, who worked at Pietro Frua at that time. Volvo insisted it was an Italian design by Frua and only officially recognized that Pelle Petterson designed it in 2009. The Italian Carrozzeria Pietro Frua design firm (then a recently acquired subsidiary of Ghia) built the first three prototypes between September 1957 and early 1958, later designated by Volvo in September 1958: P958-X1, P958-X2 and P958-X3 (P:Project 9:September 58:Year 1958 = P958).

 

In December 1957 Helmer Petterson drove X1, (the first hand-built P1800 prototype) to Osnabrück, West Germany, headquarters of Karmann. Petterson hoped that Karmann would be able to take on the tooling and building of the P1800. Karmann's engineers had already been preparing working drawings from the wooden styling buck at Frua. Petterson and Volvo chief engineer Thor Berthelius met there, tested the car and discussed the construction with Karmann. They were ready to build it and this meant that the first cars could hit the market as early as December 1958. But in February, Karmann's most important customer, Volkswagen VAG, forbade Karmann to take on the job.[citation needed] They feared that the P1800 would compete with the sales of their own cars, and threatened to cancel all their contracts with Karmann if they took on this car. This setback almost caused the project to be abandoned.

 

Other German firms, NSU, Drautz and Hanomag, were contacted but none was chosen because Volvo did not believe they met Volvo's manufacturing quality-control standards.

 

It began to appear that Volvo might never produce the P1800. This motivated Helmer Petterson to obtain financial backing from two financial firms with the intention of buying the components directly from Volvo and marketing the car himself. At this point Volvo had made no mention of the P1800 and the factory would not comment. Then a press release surfaced with a photo of the car, putting Volvo in a position where they had to acknowledge its existence. These events influenced the company to renew its efforts: the car was presented to the public for the first time at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1960 and Volvo turned to Jensen Motors, whose production lines were under-utilised, and they agreed a contract for 10,000 cars. The Linwood, Scotland, body plant of manufacturer Pressed Steel was in turn sub-contracted by Jensen to create the unibody shells, which were then taken by rail to be assembled at Jensen in West Bromwich, England. In September 1960, the first production P1800 (for the 1961 model year) left Jensen for an eager public.

 

P1800

 

The engine was the B18 (B for the Swedish word for gasoline: Bensin; 18 for 1800 cc displacement) with dual SU carburettors, producing 100 hp (75 kW). This variant (named B18B) had a higher compression ratio than the slightly less powerful twin-carb B18D used in the contemporary Amazon 122S, as well as a different camshaft. The 'new' B18 was actually developed from the existing B36 V8 engine used in Volvo trucks at the time. This cut production costs, as well as furnishing the P1800 with a strong engine boasting five main crankshaft bearings. The B18 was matched with the new and more robust M40 manual gearbox through 1963. From 1963 to 1972 the M41 gearbox with electrically actuated overdrive was a popular option. Two overdrive types were used, the D-Type through 1969, and the J-type through 1973. The J-type had a slightly shorter ratio of 0.797:1 as opposed to 0.756:1 for the D-type. The overdrive effectively gave the 1800 series a fifth gear, for improved fuel efficiency and decreased drivetrain wear. Cars without overdrive had a numerically lower-ratio differential, which had the interesting effect of giving them a somewhat higher top speed (just under 120 mph (193 km/h)) than the more popular overdrive models. This was because the non-overdrive cars could reach the engine's redline in top gear, while the overdrive-equipped cars could not, giving them a top speed of roughly 110 mph (177 km/h).

 

1800S

 

As time progressed, Jensen had problems with quality control, so the contract was ended early at 6,000 cars. In 1963 production was moved to Volvo's Lundby Plant in Gothenburg and the car's name was changed to 1800S (S standing for Sverige, or in English : Sweden). The engine was improved with an additional 8 hp (6 kW). In 1966 the four-cylinder engine was updated to 115 hp (86 kW). Top speed was 175 km/h (109 mph).[3] In 1969 the B18 engine was replaced with the 2-litre B20B variant of the B20 giving 118 bhp (89 kW), though it kept the designation 1800S.

 

[Text from Wikipedia]

 

This Lego miniland-scale Volvo P1800 Coupe has been created for Flickr LUGNut's 88th Build Challenge, - "Let's Break Some Records", - a challenge focused on creating vehicles that set some benchmark for biggness, fastness or other extreme of some specification. The Volvo model shown here claim, by far, the farthermost distance ever traveled by an automobile, at over 3,000,000 miles (4,800,00 kilometres).

Pontefract Races - Monday 23rd April 2018

MM68 KER NEXT GENERATION SCANIA S650 V8 of M.M.KERR @ Colsterworth truckstop on route to Northern Italy with Scotch beef & Lambs on board . Friday 28th December 2018 driven by Dutch driver Cloggie .a great pleasant driver

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuZA6qiJVfU

On November 8, the 182 meter long, 26000 dwt container vessel Cafer Dede went aground on the Island of Syros, Greece. The cause of the grounding is a mystery. At the time of the incident, the weather was calm and there was good visibility. There were no injuries to the 19 crewmen on board. Greek authorities are concerned that the Cafer Dede could cause an environmental disaster like the Rena which went aground a month ago off New Zealand. Two tugs are on site and oil booms have been placed around the vessel. Current reports state there are no signs of leaks or pollution being released. The Cafer Dede had been scheduled to sail between Salerno, Italy and Port of Izmir, Turkey.

Fleet No 7044. Seen waiting time in Freshwater before starting my run into Carisbrooke. I've not driven this one since September 2019 so it was nice to get another go in it before it potentially leaves the fleet in the not too distant future.

NASA PHOTO KSC-69PC-238

VIA J.L. Pickering. REMASTERED by Dan Beaumont.

NASA INFO: The Apollo 11 rocket towers over the Kennedy Space Center’s crawlerway during the May 20, 1969 rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A. The Saturn V launched astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin on the first lunar landing mission two months later.

By Bob Granath,

NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Construction of the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida began a half-century ago this summer. After serving through the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs, the mammoth structure now is undergoing renovations to accommodate future launch vehicles and to continue as a major part of America's efforts to explore space for another 50 years.

Construction began with driving the first steel pilings on Aug. 2, 1963. It was part of NASA's massive effort to send astronauts to the moon for the Apollo Program. Altogether, 4,225 pilings were driven down 164 feet to bedrock with a foundation consisting of 30,000 cubic yards of concrete. Construction of the VAB required 98,590 tons of steel.

When completed in 1965, the VAB was one of the largest buildings in the world with 129,428,000 cubic feet of interior volume. The structure covers eight acres, is 525 feet tall and 518 feet wide.

 

To accommodate moving, processing and stacking rocket stages, 71 cranes and hoists, including two 250-ton bridge cranes were installed. On the east and west sides are four high bay doors, each designed to open 456 feet in height allowing rollout of the Apollo/Saturn V moon rockets mounted atop launch umbilical towers.The VAB was constructed 3.5 miles from Launch Pad 39A and 4.2 miles from Launch Pad 39B. A pair of crawler-transporters, among the largest machines ever built to move on land, carried the assembled rockets to the pads.

After the conclusion of Apollo in the 1970s, the building was refurbished to accommodate the space shuttle. Inside the VAB, the shuttle solid rocket boosters were stacked atop a mobile launcher platform. The external fuel tank was attached between the two boosters and the shuttle mounted to the tank. Following three decades of flight, the shuttle was retired in 2011.

 

Modifications of the VAB are underway to support the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, which also will result in the ability to process multiple launch vehicle types. SLS will be the agency’s advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle providing a new capability for human exploration beyond Earth orbit. However, NASA also is partnering with private industry on launch vehicle and spacecraft development options for taking astronauts to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station.

Last year shuttle-era work platforms were removed from the VAB's High Bay 3 as a project of Ground Systems Development and Operations, or GSDO, to accommodate the SLS heavy-lift rocket.

 

According to Jose Lopez, the VAB senior project manager in the Vehicle Integration and Launch Support Branch of GSDO, the changes are part of a centerwide modernization and refurbishment initiative in preparation for the next generation of human spaceflight.

 

Lopez noted that some of the utilities and systems scheduled for replacement at the VAB have been used since the facility was originally built. This initial work is required to support any launch vehicle operated from Launch Complex 39 and will allow NASA to begin modernizing the facilities while vehicle-specific requirements are being developed.

 

Plans for 2014 include awarding the construction contract for new access platforms, including structures and systems required for the SLS.

 

Some of the current work has included removal of over 150 miles of obsolete Apollo- and shuttle-era cabling. This will make room for installation of more efficient, state-of-the-art command, communication, control and power systems needed to perform testing and verification prior to the SLS and other rockets being rolled out to the launch pad.

 

As plans move ahead to outfit the VAB with the new infrastructure, code upgrades and safety improvements, the building will continue in its role as a central hub for the Florida spaceport well into the future.

1977 312 T2 Number 11 driven by Niki Lauda

Photo by: Itzkirb|Photography

San Francisco Bay Area Automotive Photographer

Thank you !!

Created in the 1930s and redeveloped in more recent years to include artist-designed ornamental gardens, events area, play area with splash pad, Café and toilets. Grassed areas and riverside walks for quiet relaxation, picnics and kite flying or more vigorous pursuits such as running and cycling.

 

Chester-le-Street is a market town in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It is located around 6 miles (10 kilometres) north of Durham and is also close to Newcastle upon Tyne. The town holds markets on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. In 2011, it had a population of 24,227.

 

The town's history is ancient; records date to a Roman-built fort called Concangis. The Roman fort is the Chester (from the Latin castra) of the town's name; the Street refers to the paved Roman road that ran north–south through the town, now the route called Front Street. The parish church of St Mary and St Cuthbert is where the body of Anglo-Saxon St Cuthbert remained for 112 years before being transferred to Durham Cathedral and site of the first Gospels translation into English, Aldred writing the Old English gloss between the lines of the Lindisfarne Gospels there.

 

The Romans founded a fort named Concangis or Concagium, which was a Latinisation of the original Celtic name for the area, which also gave name to the waterway through the town, Cong Burn. The precise name is uncertain as it does not appear in Roman records, but Concangis is the name most cited today. Although a meaning "Place of the horse people" has been given, scholarly authorities consider the meaning of the name obscure.

 

Old English forms of the name include Cuneceastra and Conceastre, which takes its first two syllables from the Roman name, with the addition of the Old English word ceaster 'Roman fortification' The Universal etymological English dictionary of 1749 gives the town as Chester upon Street (and describes it as "a Village in the Bishoprick of Durham"). At some point this was shortened to the modern form.

 

There is evidence of Iron Age use of the River Wear near the town, but the history of Chester-le-Street starts with the Roman fort of Concangis. This was built alongside the Roman road Cade's Road (now Front Street) and close to the River Wear, around 100 A.D., and was occupied until the Romans left Britain in 410 A.D. At the time, the Wear was navigable to at least Concangis and may also have provided food for the garrisons stationed there.

 

After the Romans left, there is no record of who lived there (apart from some wounded soldiers from wars who had to live there), until 883 when a group of monks, driven out of Lindisfarne seven years earlier, stopped there to build a wooden shrine and church to St Cuthbert, whose body they had borne with them. While they were there, the town was the centre of Christianity for much of the north-east because it was the seat of the Bishop of Lindisfarne, making the church a cathedral. There the monks translated into English the Lindisfarne Gospels, which they had brought with them. They stayed for 112 years, leaving in 995 for the safer and more permanent home at Durham. The title has been revived as the Roman Catholic titular see of Cuncacestre.

 

The church was rebuilt in stone in 1054 and, despite the loss of its bishopric, seems to have retained a degree of wealth and influence. In 1080, most of the huts in the town were burned and many people killed in retaliation for the death of William Walcher, the first prince-bishop, at the hands of an English mob. After this devastation wrought by the Normans the region was left out of the Domesday Book of 1086; there was little left to record and the region was by then being run from Durham by the prince-bishops, so held little interest for London.

 

Cade's Road did not fall out of use but was hidden beneath later roads which became the Great North Road, the main route from London and the south to Newcastle and Edinburgh. The town's location on the road played a significant role in its development, as well as its name, as inns sprang up to cater for the travelling trade: both riders and horses needed to rest on journeys usually taking days to complete. This trade reached a peak in the early 19th century as more and more people and new mail services were carried by stagecoach, before falling off with the coming of the railways. The town was bypassed when the A167 was routed around the town and this was later supplanted by the faster A1(M).

 

The coal industry also left its mark on the town. From the late 17th century onwards, coal was dug in increasing quantities in the region. Mining was centred around the rivers, for transportation by sea to other parts of the country, and Chester-le-Street was at the centre of the coal being dug and shipped away down the Wear, so a centre of coal related communication and commerce. At the same time, the growth of the mines and the influx of miners supported local businesses, not just the many inns but new shops and services, themselves bringing in more people to work in them. These people would later work in new industries established in the town to take advantage of its good communications and access to raw materials.

 

One of the most tragic episodes in the town's history and that of the coal industry in NE England occurred during a miners' strike during the winter of 1811/12. Collieries owned by the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral were brought to a standstill by the strike, causing much hardship amongst the people of the town. The strike was broken on New Year's Day, 1 January 1812, when the Bishop of Durham, Shute Barrington, sent a detachment of troops from Durham Castle to force a return to work. It is thought that this uncharacteristic act by Barrington was due to pressure from the national government in Westminster who were concerned that the strike was affecting industrial output of essential armaments for the Napoleonic Wars.

 

On the evening of 5 October 1936, the Jarrow Marchers stopped at the town centre after their first day's walk. The church hall was used to house them before they continued onward the following day.

 

From 1894 until 2009, local government districts were governed from the town. From 1894 to 1974, it had a rural district, which covered the town and outlying villages. In 1909, the inner rural district formed an urban district, which covered the town as it was at that time.

 

By 1974, the town expanded out of the urban district, during that year's reforms the urban and rural districts, as well as other areas formed a non-metropolitan district. It was abolished in 2009 reforms when the non-metropolitan county became a unitary authority.

 

The town has a mild climate and gets well below average rainfall relative to the UK. It does though experience occasional floods. To the east of the town lies the Riverside cricket ground and Riverside Park. They were built on the flood plains of the River Wear, and are often flooded when the river bursts its banks. The town centre is subject to occasional flash flooding, usually after very heavy rain over the town and surrounding areas, if the rain falls too quickly for it to be drained away by Cong Burn. The flooding occurs at the bottom of Front Street where the Cong Burn passes under the street, after it was enclosed in concrete in 1932.

 

Chester-le-Street's landmarks

A brick-red, elliptically curved arch, twice as wide as it is high, over an open area with a brick-red surface

Front of a three-storey building, six windows across, with a large-framed wood door at ground level and a painted sign with the words "THE QUEENS HEAD"

Square castle with square tower

A large railway viaduct made from red bricks, topped by railings and electric pylons

The general Post Office, the marketplace with the former Civic Heart sculpture (now demolished), the Queens Head Hotel on Front Street, Lumley Castle and Chester Burn viaduct

John Leland described Chester-le-Street in the 1530s as "Chiefly one main street of very mean building in height.", a sentiment echoed by Daniel Defoe.

 

The viaduct to the northwest of the town centre was completed in 1868 for the North Eastern Railway, to enable trains to travel at high speed on a more direct route between Newcastle and Durham. It is over 230m long with 11 arches, now spanning a road and supermarket car-park, and is a Grade II listed structure.

 

Lumley Castle was built in 1389. It is on the eastern bank of the River Wear and overlooks the town and the Riverside Park.

 

The Queens Head Hotel is located in the central area of the Front Street. It was built over 250 years ago when Front Street formed part of the main route from Edinburgh and Newcastle to London and the south of England. A Grade II listed building, it is set back from the street and is still one of the largest buildings in the town centre.

 

Chester-le-Street Post Office at 137 Front Street is in Art Deco style and replaced a smaller building located on the corner of Relton Terrace and Ivanhoe Terrace. It opened in 1936 and is unusual in that it is one of a handful[30] of post offices that display the royal cypher from the brief reign of Edward VIII.

 

Main article: St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street

St Mary and St Cuthbert church possesses a rare surviving anchorage, one of the best-preserved in the country. It was built for an anchorite, an extreme form of hermit. His or her walled-up cell had only a slit to observe the altar and an opening for food, while outside was an open grave for when the occupant died. It was occupied by six anchorites from 1383 to c. 1538, and is now a museum known as the Anker's House. The north aisle is occupied by a line of Lumley family effigies, only five genuine, assembled circa 1590. Some have been chopped off to fit and resemble a casualty station at Agincourt, according to Sir Simon Jenkins in his England's Thousand Best Churches. This and Lumley Castle are Chester-le-Street's only Grade I listed buildings.

 

The Bethel United Reformed church on Low Chare

The small United Reformed Church on Low Chare, just off the main Front Street, was built in 1814 as the Bethel Congregational Chapel and remodelled in 1860. It is still in use and is a Grade II listed building.

 

The Riverside Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as the Seat Unique Riverside, is home to Durham County Cricket Club which became a first class county in 1992. Since 1999, the ground has hosted many international fixtures, usually involving the England cricket team. The ground was also host to two fixtures at the 1999 Cricket World Cup, and three fixtures at the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The town also has its own cricket club, Chester-le-Street Cricket Club based at the Ropery Lane ground. They are the current Champions of the North East Premier League, won the national ECB 45 over tournament in 2009 and reached the quarter-final of the national 20/20 club championship in 2009.

 

Chester-le-Street Amateur Rowing Club is based on the River Wear near the Riverside cricket ground and has been there for over 100 years. During the summer months the club operate mainly on the river, but in the winter move to indoor sessions during the evenings and use the river at weekends.

 

The club has over 160 members of which 90 are junior members, with numbers increasing annually. The club are well thought of by British Rowing as a lead club for junior development with many juniors now competing at GB level, and some competing for GB at international events.

 

Medieval football was once played in the town. The game was played annually on Shrove Tuesday between the "Upstreeters" and "Downstreeters". Play started at 1 pm and finished at 6 pm. To start the game, the ball was thrown from a window in the centre of the town and in one game more than 400 players took part. The centre of the street was the dividing line and the winner was the side where the ball was (Up or Down) at 6 pm. It was played from the Middle Ages until 1932, when it was outlawed by the police and people trying to carry on the tradition were arrested. Chester-le-Street United F.C. were founded in 2020 and compete in the Northern Football League Division Two. In the 2022/23 season they finished above their local rivals Chester-le-Street Town F.C. who were founded in 1972 and compete in the Northern Football League Division Two and based just outside Chester-le-street in Chester Moor.

 

Chester-le-Street railway station is a stop on the East Coast Main Line of the National Rail network between Newcastle and Durham; it opened in 1868. The station is served by two train operating companies:

 

TransPennine Express provides services between Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, York, Durham and Newcastle;

Northern Trains runs a limited service in early mornings and evenings; destinations include Newcastle, Carlisle and Darlington.

The station is managed by Northern Trains.

 

The town is mentioned in the 1963 song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann:

 

No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat,

At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street.

 

Chester-le-Street's bus services are operated primarily by Go North East and Arriva North East; routes connect the town with Newcastle, Durham, Middlesbrough and Seaham.

 

The town is the original home of The Northern General Transport Company, which has since grown into Go North East; it operated from the Picktree Lane Depot until 2023 when it was demolished. It also pioneered the use of Minilink bus services in the North East in 1985.

 

Front Street first carried the A1 road, between London and Edinburgh, through the town. A bypass was built in the 1950s, which still exists today as the A167. The bypass road itself was partly bypassed by, and partly incorporated in, the A1(M) motorway in the 1970s.

 

The northern end of Front Street was once the start of the A6127, which is the road that would continue through Birtley, Gateshead and eventually over the Tyne Bridge; it become the A6127(M) central motorway in Newcastle upon Tyne. However, when the Gateshead-Newcastle Western Bypass of the A1(M) was opened, many roads in this area were renumbered; they followed the convention that roads originating between single digit A roads take their first digit from the single digit A road in an anticlockwise direction from their point of origin. Newcastle Road, which was formerly designated A1, is now unclassified. The A6127 was renamed the A167. Car traffic is now banned from the northern part of Front Street and it is restricted to buses, cyclists and delivery vehicles.

 

Education

Primary schools

Cestria Primary School

Bullion Lane Primary School

Woodlea Primary School

Lumley Junior and Infant School

Newker Primary School

Red Rose Primary School

Chester-le-Street CE Primary School

St Cuthbert's RCVA Primary School

Secondary schools

Park View School

Hermitage Academy

 

Notable people

Michael Barron, footballer

Aidan Chambers, children's author, Carnegie Medal and Hans Christian Andersen Award winner

William Browell Charlton, trade union leader, Durham County Colliery Enginemen's Association, National Federation of Colliery Enginemen and Boiler Firemen

Ellie Crisell, journalist and television presenter

Ronnie Dodd, footballer

Danny Graham, footballer

Andrew Hayden-Smith, actor and presenter

Grant Leadbitter, footballer

Sheila Mackie, artist

Jock Purdon, folk singer and poet

Adam Reach, footballer

Bryan Robson, former England football captain, and his brothers Justin and Gary, also footballers

Gavin Sutherland, conductor and pianist

Colin Todd, football manager and former England international player

Olga and Betty Turnbull, child entertainers of the 1930s who performed for royalty

Kevin "Geordie" Walker, guitarist of post-punk group Killing Joke

Peter Ward, footballer

Bruce Welch of pop group The Shadows

 

It is twinned with:

Germany Kamp-Lintfort in Germany.

 

County Durham, officially simply Durham is a ceremonial county in North East England. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to the north, the North Sea to the east, North Yorkshire to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The largest settlement is Darlington, and the county town is the city of Durham.

 

The county has an area of 2,721 km2 (1,051 sq mi) and a population of 866,846. The latter is concentrated in the east; the south-east is part of the Teesside built-up area, which extends into North Yorkshire. After Darlington (92,363), the largest settlements are Hartlepool (88,855), Stockton-on-Tees (82,729), and Durham (48,069). For local government purposes the county comprises three unitary authority areas—County Durham, Darlington, and Hartlepool—and part of a fourth, Stockton-on-Tees. The county historically included the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne, and excluded the part of County Durham south of the River Tees.

 

The west of the county contains part of the North Pennines uplands, a national landscape. The hills are the source of the rivers Tees and Wear, which flow east and form the valleys of Teesdale and Weardale respectively. The east of the county is flatter, and contains by rolling hills through which the two rivers meander; the Tees forms the boundary with North Yorkshire in its lower reaches, and the Wear exits the county near Chester-le-Street in the north-east. The county's coast is a site of special scientific interest characterised by tall limestone and dolomite cliffs.

 

What is now County Durham was on the border of Roman Britain, and contains survivals of this era at sites such as Binchester Roman Fort. In the Anglo-Saxon period the region was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. In 995 the city of Durham was founded by monks seeking a place safe from Viking raids to house the relics of St Cuthbert. Durham Cathedral was rebuilt after the Norman Conquest, and together with Durham Castle is now a World Heritage Site. By the late Middle Ages the county was governed semi-independently by the bishops of Durham and was also a buffer zone between England and Scotland. County Durham became heavily industrialised in the nineteenth century, when many collieries opened on the Durham coalfield. The Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, opened in 1825. Most collieries closed during the last quarter of the twentieth century, but the county's coal mining heritage is remembered in the annual Durham Miners' Gala.

 

Remains of Prehistoric Durham include a number of Neolithic earthworks.

 

The Crawley Edge Cairns and Heathery Burn Cave are Bronze Age sites. Maiden Castle, Durham is an Iron Age site.

 

Brigantia, the land of the Brigantes, is said to have included what is now County Durham.

 

There are archaeological remains of Roman Durham. Dere Street and Cade's Road run through what is now County Durham. There were Roman forts at Concangis (Chester-le-Street), Lavatrae (Bowes), Longovicium (Lanchester), Piercebridge (Morbium), Vindomora (Ebchester) and Vinovium (Binchester). (The Roman fort at Arbeia (South Shields) is within the former boundaries of County Durham.) A Romanised farmstead has been excavated at Old Durham.

 

Remains of the Anglo-Saxon period include a number of sculpted stones and sundials, the Legs Cross, the Rey Cross and St Cuthbert's coffin.

 

Around AD 547, an Angle named Ida founded the kingdom of Bernicia after spotting the defensive potential of a large rock at Bamburgh, upon which many a fortification was thenceforth built. Ida was able to forge, hold and consolidate the kingdom; although the native British tried to take back their land, the Angles triumphed and the kingdom endured.

 

In AD 604, Ida's grandson Æthelfrith forcibly merged Bernicia (ruled from Bamburgh) and Deira (ruled from York, which was known as Eforwic at the time) to create the Kingdom of Northumbria. In time, the realm was expanded, primarily through warfare and conquest; at its height, the kingdom stretched from the River Humber (from which the kingdom drew its name) to the Forth. Eventually, factional fighting and the rejuvenated strength of neighbouring kingdoms, most notably Mercia, led to Northumbria's decline. The arrival of the Vikings hastened this decline, and the Scandinavian raiders eventually claimed the Deiran part of the kingdom in AD 867 (which became Jórvík). The land that would become County Durham now sat on the border with the Great Heathen Army, a border which today still (albeit with some adjustments over the years) forms the boundaries between Yorkshire and County Durham.

 

Despite their success south of the river Tees, the Vikings never fully conquered the Bernician part of Northumbria, despite the many raids they had carried out on the kingdom. However, Viking control over the Danelaw, the central belt of Anglo-Saxon territory, resulted in Northumbria becoming isolated from the rest of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Scots invasions in the north pushed the kingdom's northern boundary back to the River Tweed, and the kingdom found itself reduced to a dependent earldom, its boundaries very close to those of modern-day Northumberland and County Durham. The kingdom was annexed into England in AD 954.

 

In AD 995, St Cuthbert's community, who had been transporting Cuthbert's remains around, partly in an attempt to avoid them falling into the hands of Viking raiders, settled at Dunholm (Durham) on a site that was defensively favourable due to the horseshoe-like path of the River Wear. St Cuthbert's remains were placed in a shrine in the White Church, which was originally a wooden structure but was eventually fortified into a stone building.

 

Once the City of Durham had been founded, the Bishops of Durham gradually acquired the lands that would become County Durham. Bishop Aldhun began this process by procuring land in the Tees and Wear valleys, including Norton, Stockton, Escomb and Aucklandshire in 1018. In 1031, King Canute gave Staindrop to the Bishops. This territory continued to expand, and was eventually given the status of a liberty. Under the control of the Bishops of Durham, the land had various names: the "Liberty of Durham", "Liberty of St Cuthbert's Land" "the lands of St Cuthbert between Tyne and Tees" or "the Liberty of Haliwerfolc" (holy Wear folk).

 

The bishops' special jurisdiction rested on claims that King Ecgfrith of Northumbria had granted a substantial territory to St Cuthbert on his election to the see of Lindisfarne in 684. In about 883 a cathedral housing the saint's remains was established at Chester-le-Street and Guthfrith, King of York granted the community of St Cuthbert the area between the Tyne and the Wear, before the community reached its final destination in 995, in Durham.

 

Following the Norman invasion, the administrative machinery of government extended only slowly into northern England. Northumberland's first recorded Sheriff was Gilebert from 1076 until 1080 and a 12th-century record records Durham regarded as within the shire. However the bishops disputed the authority of the sheriff of Northumberland and his officials, despite the second sheriff for example being the reputed slayer of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots. The crown regarded Durham as falling within Northumberland until the late thirteenth century.

 

Following the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror appointed Copsig as Earl of Northumbria, thereby bringing what would become County Durham under Copsig's control. Copsig was, just a few weeks later, killed in Newburn. Having already being previously offended by the appointment of a non-Northumbrian as Bishop of Durham in 1042, the people of the region became increasingly rebellious. In response, in January 1069, William despatched a large Norman army, under the command of Robert de Comines, to Durham City. The army, believed to consist of 700 cavalry (about one-third of the number of Norman knights who had participated in the Battle of Hastings), entered the city, whereupon they were attacked, and defeated, by a Northumbrian assault force. The Northumbrians wiped out the entire Norman army, including Comines, all except for one survivor, who was allowed to take the news of this defeat back.

 

Following the Norman slaughter at the hands of the Northumbrians, resistance to Norman rule spread throughout Northern England, including a similar uprising in York. William The Conqueror subsequently (and successfully) attempted to halt the northern rebellions by unleashing the notorious Harrying of the North (1069–1070). Because William's main focus during the harrying was on Yorkshire, County Durham was largely spared the Harrying.

 

Anglo-Norman Durham refers to the Anglo-Norman period, during which Durham Cathedral was built.

 

Matters regarding the bishopric of Durham came to a head in 1293 when the bishop and his steward failed to attend proceedings of quo warranto held by the justices of Northumberland. The bishop's case went before parliament, where he stated that Durham lay outside the bounds of any English shire and that "from time immemorial it had been widely known that the sheriff of Northumberland was not sheriff of Durham nor entered within that liberty as sheriff. . . nor made there proclamations or attachments". The arguments appear to have prevailed, as by the fourteenth century Durham was accepted as a liberty which received royal mandates direct. In effect it was a private shire, with the bishop appointing his own sheriff. The area eventually became known as the "County Palatine of Durham".

 

Sadberge was a liberty, sometimes referred to as a county, within Northumberland. In 1189 it was purchased for the see but continued with a separate sheriff, coroner and court of pleas. In the 14th century Sadberge was included in Stockton ward and was itself divided into two wards. The division into the four wards of Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Easington and Stockton existed in the 13th century, each ward having its own coroner and a three-weekly court corresponding to the hundred court. The diocese was divided into the archdeaconries of Durham and Northumberland. The former is mentioned in 1072, and in 1291 included the deaneries of Chester-le-Street, Auckland, Lanchester and Darlington.

 

The term palatinus is applied to the bishop in 1293, and from the 13th century onwards the bishops frequently claimed the same rights in their lands as the king enjoyed in his kingdom.

 

The historic boundaries of County Durham included a main body covering the catchment of the Pennines in the west, the River Tees in the south, the North Sea in the east and the Rivers Tyne and Derwent in the north. The county palatinate also had a number of liberties: the Bedlingtonshire, Islandshire and Norhamshire exclaves within Northumberland, and the Craikshire exclave within the North Riding of Yorkshire. In 1831 the county covered an area of 679,530 acres (2,750.0 km2) and had a population of 253,910. These exclaves were included as part of the county for parliamentary electoral purposes until 1832, and for judicial and local-government purposes until the coming into force of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, which merged most remaining exclaves with their surrounding county. The boundaries of the county proper remained in use for administrative and ceremonial purposes until the Local Government Act 1972.

 

Boldon Book (1183 or 1184) is a polyptichum for the Bishopric of Durham.

 

Until the 15th century, the most important administrative officer in the Palatinate was the steward. Other officers included the sheriff, the coroners, the Chamberlain and the chancellor. The palatine exchequer originated in the 12th century. The palatine assembly represented the whole county, and dealt chiefly with fiscal questions. The bishop's council, consisting of the clergy, the sheriff and the barons, regulated judicial affairs, and later produced the Chancery and the courts of Admiralty and Marshalsea.

 

The prior of Durham ranked first among the bishop's barons. He had his own court, and almost exclusive jurisdiction over his men. A UNESCO site describes the role of the Prince-Bishops in Durham, the "buffer state between England and Scotland":

 

From 1075, the Bishop of Durham became a Prince-Bishop, with the right to raise an army, mint his own coins, and levy taxes. As long as he remained loyal to the king of England, he could govern as a virtually autonomous ruler, reaping the revenue from his territory, but also remaining mindful of his role of protecting England’s northern frontier.

 

A report states that the Bishops also had the authority to appoint judges and barons and to offer pardons.

 

There were ten palatinate barons in the 12th century, most importantly the Hyltons of Hylton Castle, the Bulmers of Brancepeth, the Conyers of Sockburne, the Hansards of Evenwood, and the Lumleys of Lumley Castle. The Nevilles owned large estates in the county. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby rebuilt Raby Castle, their principal seat, in 1377.

 

Edward I's quo warranto proceedings of 1293 showed twelve lords enjoying more or less extensive franchises under the bishop. The repeated efforts of the Crown to check the powers of the palatinate bishops culminated in 1536 in the Act of Resumption, which deprived the bishop of the power to pardon offences against the law or to appoint judicial officers. Moreover, indictments and legal processes were in future to run in the name of the king, and offences to be described as against the peace of the king, rather than that of the bishop. In 1596 restrictions were imposed on the powers of the chancery, and in 1646 the palatinate was formally abolished. It was revived, however, after the Restoration, and continued with much the same power until 5 July 1836, when the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 provided that the palatine jurisdiction should in future be vested in the Crown.

 

During the 15th-century Wars of the Roses, Henry VI passed through Durham. On the outbreak of the Great Rebellion in 1642 Durham inclined to support the cause of Parliament, and in 1640 the high sheriff of the palatinate guaranteed to supply the Scottish army with provisions during their stay in the county. In 1642 the Earl of Newcastle formed the western counties into an association for the King's service, but in 1644 the palatinate was again overrun by a Scottish army, and after the Battle of Marston Moor (2 July 1644) fell entirely into the hands of Parliament.

 

In 1614, a Bill was introduced in Parliament for securing representation to the county and city of Durham and the borough of Barnard Castle. The bishop strongly opposed the proposal as an infringement of his palatinate rights, and the county was first summoned to return members to Parliament in 1654. After the Restoration of 1660 the county and city returned two members each. In the wake of the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned two members for two divisions, and the boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland acquired representation. The bishops lost their secular powers in 1836. The boroughs of Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool returned one member each from 1868 until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

 

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 reformed the municipal boroughs of Durham, Stockton on Tees and Sunderland. In 1875, Jarrow was incorporated as a municipal borough, as was West Hartlepool in 1887. At a county level, the Local Government Act 1888 reorganised local government throughout England and Wales. Most of the county came under control of the newly formed Durham County Council in an area known as an administrative county. Not included were the county boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland. However, for purposes other than local government, the administrative county of Durham and the county boroughs continued to form a single county to which the Crown appointed a Lord Lieutenant of Durham.

 

Over its existence, the administrative county lost territory, both to the existing county boroughs, and because two municipal boroughs became county boroughs: West Hartlepool in 1902 and Darlington in 1915. The county boundary with the North Riding of Yorkshire was adjusted in 1967: that part of the town of Barnard Castle historically in Yorkshire was added to County Durham, while the administrative county ceded the portion of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in Durham to the North Riding. In 1968, following the recommendation of the Local Government Commission, Billingham was transferred to the County Borough of Teesside, in the North Riding. In 1971, the population of the county—including all associated county boroughs (an area of 2,570 km2 (990 sq mi))—was 1,409,633, with a population outside the county boroughs of 814,396.

 

In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 abolished the administrative county and the county boroughs, reconstituting County Durham as a non-metropolitan county. The reconstituted County Durham lost territory to the north-east (around Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland) to Tyne and Wear and to the south-east (around Hartlepool) to Cleveland. At the same time it gained the former area of Startforth Rural District from the North Riding of Yorkshire. The area of the Lord Lieutenancy of Durham was also adjusted by the Act to coincide with the non-metropolitan county (which occupied 3,019 km2 (1,166 sq mi) in 1981).

 

In 1996, as part of 1990s UK local government reform by Lieutenancies Act 1997, Cleveland was abolished. Its districts were reconstituted as unitary authorities. Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees (north Tees) were returned to the county for the purposes of Lord Lieutenancy. Darlington also became a third unitary authority of the county. The Royal Mail abandoned the use of postal counties altogether, permitted but not mandatory being at a writer wishes.

 

As part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England initiated by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the seven district councils within the County Council area were abolished. The County Council assumed their functions and became the fourth unitary authority. Changes came into effect on 1 April 2009.

 

On 15 April 2014, North East Combined Authority was established under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 with powers over economic development and regeneration. In November 2018, Newcastle City Council, North Tyneside Borough Council, and Northumberland County Council left the authority. These later formed the North of Tyne Combined Authority.

 

In May 2021, four parish councils of the villages of Elwick, Hart, Dalton Piercy and Greatham all issued individual votes of no confidence in Hartlepool Borough Council, and expressed their desire to join the County Durham district.

 

In October 2021, County Durham was shortlisted for the UK City of Culture 2025. In May 2022, it lost to Bradford.

 

Eighteenth century Durham saw the appearance of dissent in the county and the Durham Ox. The county did not assist the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. The Statue of Neptune in the City of Durham was erected in 1729.

 

A number of disasters happened in Nineteenth century Durham. The Felling mine disasters happened in 1812, 1813, 1821 and 1847. The Philadelphia train accident happened in 1815. In 1854, there was a great fire in Gateshead. One of the West Stanley Pit disasters happened in 1882. The Victoria Hall disaster happened in 1883.

 

One of the West Stanley Pit disasters happened in 1909. The Darlington rail crash happened in 1928. The Battle of Stockton happened in 1933. The Browney rail crash happened in 1946.

 

The First Treaty of Durham was made at Durham in 1136. The Second Treaty of Durham was made at Durham in 1139.

 

The county regiment was the Durham Light Infantry, which replaced, in particular, the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and the Militia and Volunteers of County Durham.

 

RAF Greatham, RAF Middleton St George and RAF Usworth were located in County Durham.

 

David I, the King of Scotland, invaded the county in 1136, and ravaged much of the county 1138. In 17 October 1346, the Battle of Neville's Cross was fought at Neville's Cross, near the city of Durham. On 16 December 1914, during the First World War, there was a raid on Hartlepool by the Imperial German Navy.

 

Chroniclers connected with Durham include the Bede, Symeon of Durham, Geoffrey of Coldingham and Robert de Graystanes.

 

County Durham has long been associated with coal mining, from medieval times up to the late 20th century. The Durham Coalfield covered a large area of the county, from Bishop Auckland, to Consett, to the River Tyne and below the North Sea, thereby providing a significant expanse of territory from which this rich mineral resource could be extracted.

 

King Stephen possessed a mine in Durham, which he granted to Bishop Pudsey, and in the same century colliers are mentioned at Coundon, Bishopwearmouth and Sedgefield. Cockfield Fell was one of the earliest Landsale collieries in Durham. Edward III issued an order allowing coal dug at Newcastle to be taken across the Tyne, and Richard II granted to the inhabitants of Durham licence to export the produce of the mines, without paying dues to the corporation of Newcastle. The majority was transported from the Port of Sunderland complex, which was constructed in the 1850s.

 

Among other early industries, lead-mining was carried on in the western part of the county, and mustard was extensively cultivated. Gateshead had a considerable tanning trade and shipbuilding was undertaken at Jarrow, and at Sunderland, which became the largest shipbuilding town in the world – constructing a third of Britain's tonnage.[citation needed]

 

The county's modern-era economic history was facilitated significantly by the growth of the mining industry during the nineteenth century. At the industry's height, in the early 20th century, over 170,000 coal miners were employed, and they mined 58,700,000 tons of coal in 1913 alone. As a result, a large number of colliery villages were built throughout the county as the industrial revolution gathered pace.

 

The railway industry was also a major employer during the industrial revolution, with railways being built throughout the county, such as The Tanfield Railway, The Clarence Railway and The Stockton and Darlington Railway. The growth of this industry occurred alongside the coal industry, as the railways provided a fast, efficient means to move coal from the mines to the ports and provided the fuel for the locomotives. The great railway pioneers Timothy Hackworth, Edward Pease, George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson were all actively involved with developing the railways in tandem with County Durham's coal mining industry. Shildon and Darlington became thriving 'railway towns' and experienced significant growths in population and prosperity; before the railways, just over 100 people lived in Shildon but, by the 1890s, the town was home to around 8,000 people, with Shildon Shops employing almost 3000 people at its height.

 

However, by the 1930s, the coal mining industry began to diminish and, by the mid-twentieth century, the pits were closing at an increasing rate. In 1951, the Durham County Development Plan highlighted a number of colliery villages, such as Blackhouse, as 'Category D' settlements, in which future development would be prohibited, property would be acquired and demolished, and the population moved to new housing, such as that being built in Newton Aycliffe. Likewise, the railway industry also began to decline, and was significantly brought to a fraction of its former self by the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Darlington Works closed in 1966 and Shildon Shops followed suit in 1984. The county's last deep mines, at Easington, Vane Tempest, Wearmouth and Westoe, closed in 1993.

 

Postal Rates from 1801 were charged depending on the distance from London. Durham was allocated the code 263 the approximate mileage from London. From about 1811, a datestamp appeared on letters showing the date the letter was posted. In 1844 a new system was introduced and Durham was allocated the code 267. This system was replaced in 1840 when the first postage stamps were introduced.

 

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911): "To the Anglo-Saxon period are to be referred portions of the churches of Monk Wearmouth (Sunderland), Jarrow, Escomb near Bishop Auckland, and numerous sculptured crosses, two of which are in situ at Aycliffe. . . . The Decorated and Perpendicular periods are very scantily represented, on account, as is supposed, of the incessant wars between England and Scotland in the 14th and 15th centuries. The principal monastic remains, besides those surrounding Durham cathedral, are those of its subordinate house or "cell," Finchale Priory, beautifully situated by the Wear. The most interesting castles are those of Durham, Raby, Brancepeth and Barnard. There are ruins of castelets or peel-towers at Dalden, Ludworth and Langley Dale. The hospitals of Sherburn, Greatham and Kepyer, founded by early bishops of Durham, retain but few ancient features."

 

The best remains of the Norman period include Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, and several parish churches, such as St Laurence Church in Pittington. The Early English period has left the eastern portion of the cathedral, the churches of Darlington, Hartlepool, and St Andrew, Auckland, Sedgefield, and portions of a few other churches.

 

'Durham Castle and Cathedral' is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Elsewhere in the County there is Auckland Castle.

During a shed talk session, my friend and fellow Flickrite “Faded Image” posed the following question; of all the vehicles that you have either driven or ridden in, which gave you the most pleasure? After some deliberation I came up with MRL 765, a Tiverton bodied Austin K8 type, which fits into the “ridden in” category.

 

Having been delivered new in May 1950 to W A Hawkey & Sons Limited of Wadebridge it passed to Maurice & Bernard Chapman of Rosenannon near St Wenn during July 1966 when a mere sixteen years old. I came across MRL whilst on my first solo visit to Cornwall in September 1971 and at that time it was being used on a school run to and from St Wenn County Primary, but later it additionally worked the Wednesday only service from Rosenannon and St Wenn to St Columb Major first licensed in October 1974. I had the great fortune to not only travel on the service more than once, but also the school run. When I went down to Cornwall in April 1986 to ride the service on the last day of operation, MRL was in her twentieth year with the Chapman Brothers and approaching her thirty sixth birthday. I was approaching my thirty fifth birthday and there was something quite special about riding in service on a vehicle that was even older than I was. This small coach very much imitated larger coaches of the period as certain aspects of the exterior and interior bodywork were scaled down versions of the latter. I can recall the sound and smell of MRL and remember with some affection the way Bernie coaxed her along whenever there was an incline by slowly rocking back and forth in his seat. It is good to know that this vehicle is still around today and that next year 2015, MRL will reach the ripe old age of sixty five.

 

With the late Bernard “Bernie” Chapman standing proudly alongside, in the above view, scanned from a slide, we see MRL 765 on North Street, St Columb Major after working in with the Wednesday only service from Rosenannon, St Wenn, Tregonetha and Talskiddy.

 

The fact is, I do feel 'driven,' driven to be the best that I can be.

 

I can do no less and still feel happy and content and satisfied with myself.

Promotional shot and edit for Beyond Driven gear and nutrition. With professional bodybuilder Brian Ahlstrom.

 

Strobe with reflector and grid camera right and up high. Aiming back down at subject. Stripbox with grid camera left just to the side of model.

Shot on unlit white backdrop.

All retouching and compositing done in CS6.

 

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February 11, 2016 - Bottlenose Dolphins Captivity – at Taiji, Japan

 

At approximately 7:45am, local time, Cove Guardians could see three killing machines heading together on the horizon. They had spotted a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and wasted no time to push them towards to the killing cove.

The pod fought hard and tried everything to escape, but they had no chance. The monsters protected by their machines of metal controlled the pod of Bottlenose dolphins. Once the nets were dropped, sealing the fate of this innocent family the killing cove was prepared, as skiffs left the harbor to pick up the “trainers” from Taiji Whale Museum, Dolphin Base and Dolphin Resort. For 50 minutes the pod swam in panic and fear, until “trainers” would determine who among them would spend their lives in a cell or be killed.

The captive selection began shortly after 09:53am, local Japan time. The killers worked hand in hand with the “trainers” during the captive process. An entire family was torn away from each other never to see each other again. 6 Dolphins were transferred to the hellhole of Taiji Harbor, to begin life in a cell for human entertainment.

The rest of the pod was driven out to sea.

 

Buying a ticket to a marine park or swim with dolphin adventure is comparable to standing in the killing cove as all these beautiful dolphins were torturd and 6 captives were selected. This is where you dolphin show or adventure begins.

 

CAPTIVITY KILLS. SAY NO TO CAPTIVITY !!!

 

Sites for more information :

 

Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians Page (official)

www.facebook.com/SeaShepherdCoveGuardiansOfficialPage

 

Cove Guardians

www.seashepherd.org/cove-guardians

 

Photo: Sea Shepherd

 

Paris Montparnasse

Lamborghini Aventador SVJ in Budapest during Carformance 2021