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Master has given a sock," said the elf in wonderment. "Master gave it to Dobby."
"What's that?" spat Mr. Malfoy. "What did you say?"
"Dobby has got a sock," said Dobby in disbelief. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby -- Dobby is free."
Part of my Collection Shelf Monday's.
Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the Northern England. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills. Geologists refer to the whole suite of rocks which encompass both the individual sandstone beds and the intervening mudstones as the Millstone Grit Group.
These rocks extend northwards through the South Pennines of Lancashire and West Yorkshire and westwards into the Forest of Rossendale and West Pennines and the Forest of Bowland, also in Lancashire. At the Yorkshire Dales they cover the south-east edge, but north of the Craven Faults, due to weathering, they form only cappings to separate hills
I wake up every morning to the peace and beauty that God bestowed on my Nation. It is a different story when I go to sleep at night, distraught over strife caused by people after power, status and money.
Thank God for beautiful God-given mornings...
Given the volume of two-wheeled vehicle traffic, there are many small gas stations in Ouagadougou. The one pictured offers a two-stroke mixture, used by older Yamaha and Suzuki Dame motorcycles, as well as P50 mopeds. With the rapid spread of more fuel-efficient Chinese scooters, this service is now very rare.
Compte tenu de l'importance du trafic de deux-roues, il existe de nombreuses petites stations-service à Ouagadougou. L'exemple sur la photo propose notamment un mélange deux-temps, utilisé par les "anciennes" motos Yamaha ou Suzuki Dame ainsi que par les mobylettes P50. Avec la diffusion rapide des scooters chinois, plus économes en carburant, ce service est désormais très rare.
Location also given as "on the edge of a wood near Letmathe" in Jagdtiger Vol. 2 by Andrew Devey, page 269. This is in the Sauerland region of western Germany (Ruhr Pocket).
The white tactical number at first vaguely looks like "231", but until this higher resolution scan emerged there's only been evidence of Pz.Jg.Abt.512 using a white alpha-numeric system, prefixed "X" to identify 1. Kompanie Jagdtigers and one example of "Y" with no numeral, which has been attributed to 2. Kompanie (Panzerwrecks 12, p.3) and also 3. Kompanie (Devey, Vol.2 p.261).
If the location is correct, is the tactical number above "231" or "Z3"?
[Edit: a more precise location 15km N-N-E of Letmathe, between Billmerich and Strickherdicke is linked below]
This picture was given to me by my mother years ago. She was cleaning out her closet one day & this picture was in there. She asked me if I wanted it & I said, yes!. I believe this to be the original frame, but it does have some damage to it. The glass that is in it is the "old" glass with the drip lines & air bubbles. The colors in the picture are still bright too. I did photograph this picture with the glass still on. That is why you can see some reflections & parts of the picture is not so sharp. It does have a copyright date of 1904 on it by the McLouchlin Bro's.
Even though this picture is probably not worth much & the frame is broken it is proudly displayed on my dining room wall.
Title: The Old Oaken Bucket
Author: Samuel Woodworth
How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view!
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew!
The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,
The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell,
The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it,
And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well-
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.
That moss-covered vessel I hailed as a treasure,
For often at noon, when returned from the field,
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.
How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing,
And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell;
Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing,
And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.
How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it,
As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips!
Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it,
The brightest that beauty or revelry sips.
And now, far removed from the loved habitation,
The tear of regret will intrusively swell,
As fancy reverts to my father's plantation,
And sighs for the bucket that hangs in the well
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well!
-THE END-
Samuel Woodworth's poem: The Old Oaken Bucket
Bio & a photo of SAMUEL WOODWORTH.
(1785-1842)
www.elfinspell.com/Collections/Bibliophile-Green/Vol-30/S...
Given an art effect with Grok AI, from an original digital image.
I've tried to prompt it to recreate a Network South East mural by Edward Pond. Perhaps not quite minimalist enough to fit into the "Shoreline" series?
...
Given I haven't been out for a sunrise in well let's call it a very long time, so I went to the archives & found a variation of some previous photos from one of my favourite mornings.
Sunrise Rush with a bit of colour punch to wake you up : )
Despite the richness of the sunrays through the clouds, I love the foreground & the water movement over the rocks shelf.
....
Marc Alexander Photography - All Rights Reserved ©
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Wednesday 11th January 2023
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1444082578 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,826th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Zero metres, at 19:18pm on Saturday 20th September 2019 around sunset off the 17a West Saanich Road, from the shoreline of Patricia Bay near beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Patricia Bay is Bay is a body of salt water that extends East from the Saanich Inlet and forms part of the North Saanich shoreline in the District of North Saanich in British Columbia, with a beautiful park which is at the south end of the Scoter Trail. Formerly known as Union Bay, the bay was named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, daughter of the Duke of Connaught who was Governor General in 1912.
The park has ties to transportation and the waterfront, and their pivotal role in the development of North Saanich. It is also tied to the development of the Victoria International Airport and military aviation efforts during the Second World War. In 1937, the airport was developed as one of six Royal Canadian Air Force Station training facilities on Vancouver Island.
The land was originally settled by the Tseycum First Nation (Union Bay Indian Reserve No.4) , one of four Saanich villages of Southern Vancouver Island in the area and part of the Northern Straits Coast Salish language group.
In the Sencoten langauge Tseycum is spelled Wsikem and means Land of Clay. The languages spoken include Lkwungen, Malchosen, Semiahmoo, SENĆOŦEN andT’Sou-ke and in 2023 the Chief is Tanya Jimmy, who was elected in July 2019. The Tseycum people have five reserves located at:
Bare Island 9, Goldstream 13, Pender Island 8, Saturna Island 7 and Union Bay 4.
Nikon D850. Focal length 120mm Shutter speed 1/125s Aperture f/16.0 iso1100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) ND Grad soft resin filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
LATITUDE: N 48d 39m 46.21s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 27m 5.20s
ALTITUDE: 1.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 48.20MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Covent Garden (/ˈkɒvənt/) is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum.
Though mainly fields until the 16th century, the area was briefly settled when it became the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic. After the town was abandoned, part of the area was walled off by 1200 for use as arable land and orchards by Westminster Abbey, and was referred to as "the garden of the Abbey and Convent". The land, now called "the Covent Garden", was seized by Henry VIII, and granted to the Earls of Bedford in 1552. The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. Jones designed the Italianate arcaded square along with the church of St Paul's. The design of the square was new to London, and had a significant influence on modern town planning, acting as the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as London grew. A small open-air fruit and vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square by 1654. Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee-houses and brothels opened up; the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights moved in. By the 18th century it had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes. An Act of Parliament was drawn up to control the area, and Charles Fowler's neo-classical building was erected in 1830 to cover and help organise the market. The area declined as a pleasure-ground as the market grew and further buildings were added: the Floral Hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market. By the end of the 1960s traffic congestion was causing problems, and in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, and is now a tourist location containing cafes, pubs, small shops, and a craft market called the Apple Market, along with another market held in the Jubilee Hall.
Covent Garden, with the postcode WC2, falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. The area has been served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station since 1907; the journey from Leicester Square, at 300 yards, is the shortest in London.
Early history
The route of the Strand on the southern boundary of what was to become Covent Garden was used during the Roman period as part of a route to Silchester, known as "Iter VII" on the Antonine Itinerary. Excavations in 2006 at St Martin-in-the-Fields revealed a Roman grave, suggesting the site had sacred significance. The area to the north of the Strand was long thought to have remained as unsettled fields until the 16th century, but theories by Alan Vince and Martin Biddle that there had been an Anglo-Saxon settlement to the west of the old Roman town of Londinium were borne out by excavations in 1985 and 2005. These revealed Covent Garden as the centre of a trading town called Lundenwic, developed around 600 AD, which stretched from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych. Alfred the Great gradually shifted the settlement into the old Roman town of Londinium from around 886 AD onwards, leaving no mark of the old town, and the site returned to fields.
Around 1200 the first mention of an abbey garden appears in a document mentioning a walled garden owned by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of St. Peter, Westminster. A later document, dated between 1250 and 1283, refers to "the garden of the Abbot and Convent of Westminster". By the 13th century this had become a 40-acre (16 ha) quadrangle of mixed orchard, meadow, pasture and arable land, lying between modern-day St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane, and Floral Street and Maiden Lane. The use of the name "Covent"—an Anglo-French term for a religious community, equivalent to "monastery" or "convent" —appears in a document in 1515, when the Abbey, which had been letting out parcels of land along the north side of the Strand for inns and market gardens, granted a lease of the walled garden, referring to it as "a garden called Covent Garden". This is how it was recorded from then on.
The Bedford Estate (1552–1918)
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, Henry VIII took for himself the land belonging to Westminster Abbey, including the convent garden and seven acres to the north called Long Acre; and in 1552 his son, Edward VI, granted it to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford. The Russell family, who in 1694 were advanced in their peerage from Earl to Duke of Bedford, held the land from 1552 to 1918.
Russell had Bedford House and garden built on part of the land, with an entrance on the Strand, the large garden stretching back along the south side of the old walled-off convent garden. Apart from this, and allowing several poor-quality tenements to be erected, the Russells did little with the land until the 4th Earl of Bedford, Francis Russell, an active and ambitious businessman, commissioned Inigo Jones in 1630 to design and build a church and three terraces of fine houses around a large square or piazza. The commission had been prompted by Charles I taking offence at the condition of the road and houses along Long Acre, which were the responsibility of Russell and Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth. Russell and Carey complained that under the 1625 Proclamation concerning Buildings, which restricted building in and around London, they could not build new houses; the King then granted Russell, for a fee of £2,000, a licence to build as many new houses on his land as he "shall thinke fitt and convenient". The church of St Paul's was the first building, begun in July 1631 on the western side of the square. The last house was completed in 1637.
The houses initially attracted the wealthy, though when a market developed on the south side of the square around 1654, the aristocracy moved out and coffee houses, taverns, and prostitutes moved in. The Bedford Estate was expanded in 1669 to include Bloomsbury, when Lord Russell married Lady Rachel Vaughan, one of the daughters of the 4th Earl of Southampton.
By the 18th century, Covent Garden had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes such as Betty Careless and Jane Douglas. Descriptions of the prostitutes and where to find them were provided by Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, the "essential guide and accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure". In 1830 a market hall was built to provide a more permanent trading centre. In 1913, Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate for £2 million to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who sold his option in 1918 to the Beecham family for £250,000.
Modern changes
Charles Fowler's 1830 neo-classical building restored as a retail market.
The Covent Garden Estate was part of Beecham Estates and Pills Limited from 1924 to 1928, after which time it was managed by a successor company called Covent Garden Properties Company Limited, owned by the Beechams and other private investors. This new company sold some properties at Covent Garden, while becoming active in property investment in other parts of London. In 1962 the bulk of the remaining properties in the Covent Garden area, including the market, were sold to the newly established government-owned Covent Garden Authority for £3,925,000.
By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion had reached such a level that the use of the square as a modern wholesale distribution market was becoming unsustainable, and significant redevelopment was planned. Following a public outcry, buildings around the square were protected in 1973, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market moved to a new site in south-west London. The square languished until its central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980. An action plan was drawn up by Westminster Council in 2004 in consultation with residents and businesses to improve the area while retaining its historic character. The market buildings, along with several other properties in Covent Garden, were bought by a property company in 2006.
Geography
Historically, the Bedford Estate defined the boundary of Covent Garden, with Drury Lane to the east, the Strand to the south, St. Martin's Lane to the west, and Long Acre to the north. However, over time the area has expanded northwards past Long Acre to High Holborn, and since 1971, with the creation of the Covent Garden Conservation Area which incorporated part of the area between St Martins Lane and Charring Cross Road, the Western boundary is sometimes considered to be Charring Cross Road. Shelton Street, running parallel to the north of Long Acre, marks the London borough boundary between Camden and Westminster. Long Acre is the main thoroughfare, running north-east from St Martin's Lane to Drury Lane.
The area to the south of Long Acre contains the Royal Opera House, the market and central square, and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum; while the area to the north of Long Acre is largely given over to independent retail units centred on Neal Street, Neal's Yard and Seven Dials; though this area also contains residential buildings such as Odhams Walk, built in 1981 on the site of the Odhams print works, and is home to over 6,000 residents.
Governance
The Covent Garden estate was originally under the control of Westminster Abbey and lay in the parish of St Margaret. During a reorganisation in 1542 it was transferred to St Martin in the Fields, and then in 1645 a new parish was created, splitting governance of the estate between the parishes of St Paul Covent Garden and St Martin, both still within the Liberty of Westminster. St Paul Covent Garden was completely surrounded by the parish of St Martin in the Fields. It was grouped into the Strand District in 1855 when it came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works.
In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and in 1900 it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922. Since 1965 Covent Garden falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and is in the Parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. For local council elections it falls within the St James's ward for Westminster, and the Holborn and Covent Garden ward for Camden.
Economy
The area's historic association with the retail and entertainment economy continues. In 1979, Covent Garden Market reopened as a retail centre; in 2010, the largest Apple Store in the world opened in The Piazza. The central hall has shops, cafes and bars alongside the Apple Market stalls selling antiques, jewellery, clothing and gifts; there are additional casual stalls in the Jubilee Hall Market on the south side of the square. Long Acre has a range of clothes shops and boutiques, and Neal Street is noted for its large number of shoe shops. London Transport Museum and the side entrance to the Royal Opera House box office and other facilities are also located on the square. During the late 1970s and 1980s the Rock Garden music venue was popular with up and coming punk rock and New Wave artists.
The market halls and several other buildings in Covent Garden were bought by CapCo in partnership with GE Real Estate in August 2006 for £421 million, on a 150-year head lease. The buildings are let to the Covent Garden Area Trust, who pay an annual peppercorn rent of one red apple and a posy of flowers for each head lease, and the Trust protects the property from being redeveloped. In March 2007 CapCo also acquired the shops located under the Royal Opera House. The complete Covent Garden Estate owned by CapCo consists of 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m2), and has a market value of £650 million.
Landmarks
The Royal Opera House, often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", was constructed as the "Theatre Royal" in 1732 to a design by Edward Shepherd. During the first hundred years or so of its history, the theatre was primarily a playhouse, with the Letters Patent granted by Charles II giving Covent Garden and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane exclusive rights to present spoken drama in London. In 1734, the first ballet was presented; a year later Handel's first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premières here. It has been the home of The Royal Opera since 1945, and the Royal Ballet since 1946.
The current building is the third theatre on the site following destructive fires in 1808 and 1857. The façade, foyer and auditorium were designed by Edward Barry, and date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive £178 million reconstruction in the 1990s. The Royal Opera House seats 2,268 people and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The stage performance area is roughly 15 metres square. The main auditorium is a Grade 1 listed building. The inclusion of the adjacent old Floral Hall, previously a part of the old Covent Garden Market, created a new and extensive public gathering place. In 1779 the pavement outside the playhouse was the scene of the murder of Martha Ray, mistress of the Earl of Sandwich, by her admirer the Rev. James Hackman.
Covent Garden square
Balthazar Nebot's 1737 painting of the square before the 1830 market hall was constructed.
The central square in Covent Garden is simply called "Covent Garden", often marketed as "Covent Garden Piazza" to distinguish it from the eponymous surrounding area. Laid out in 1630, it was the first modern square in London, and was originally a flat, open space or piazza with low railings. A casual market started on the south side, and by 1830 the present market hall was built. The space is popular with street performers, who audition with the site's owners for an allocated slot. The square was originally laid out when the 4th Earl of Bedford, Francis Russell, commissioned Inigo Jones to design and build a church and three terraces of fine houses around the site of a former walled garden belonging to Westminster Abbey. Jones's design was informed by his knowledge of modern town planning in Europe, particularly Piazza d'Arme, in Leghorn, Tuscany, Piazza San Marco in Venice, Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence, and the Place des Vosges in Paris. The centrepiece of the project was the large square, the concept of which was new to London, and this had a significant influence on modern town planning in the city,[56] acting as the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as the metropolis grew. Isaac de Caus, the French Huguenot architect, designed the individual houses under Jones's overall design.
The church of St Paul's was the first building, and was begun in July 1631 on the western side of the square. The last house was completed in 1637. Seventeen of the houses had arcaded portico walks organised in groups of four and six either side of James Street on the north side, and three and four either side of Russell Street. These arcades, rather than the square itself, took the name Piazza; the group from James Street to Russell Street became known as the "Great Piazza" and that to the south of Russell Street as the "Little Piazza". None of Inigo Jones's houses remain, though part of the north group was reconstructed in 1877–79 as Bedford Chambers by William Cubitt to a design by Henry Clutton.
Covent Garden market
The first record of a "new market in Covent Garden" is in 1654 when market traders set up stalls against the garden wall of Bedford House. The Earl of Bedford acquired a private charter from Charles II in 1670 for a fruit and vegetable market, permitting him and his heirs to hold a market every day except Sundays and Christmas Day. The original market, consisting of wooden stalls and sheds, became disorganised and disorderly, and the 6th Earl requested an Act of Parliament in 1813 to regulate it, then commissioned Charles Fowler in 1830 to design the neo-classical market building that is the heart of Covent Garden today. The contractor was William Cubitt and Company. Further buildings were added—the Floral hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market for foreign flowers was built by Cubitt and Howard.
By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion was causing problems for the market, which required increasingly large lorries for deliveries and distribution. Redevelopment was considered, but protests from the Covent Garden Community Association in 1973 prompted the Home Secretary, Robert Carr, to give dozens of buildings around the square listed-building status, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market relocated to its new site, New Covent Garden Market, about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, with cafes, pubs, small shops and a craft market called the Apple Market. Another market, the Jubilee Market, is held in the Jubilee Hall on the south side of the square. The market halls and several other buildings in Covent Garden have been owned by the property company Capital & Counties Properties (CapCo) since 2006.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The current Theatre Royal on Drury Lane is the most recent of four incarnations, the Second of which opened in 1663, making it the oldest continuously used theatre in London. For much of its first two centuries, it was, along with the Royal Opera House, a patent theatre granted rights in London for the production of drama, and had a claim to be one of London's leading theatres. The first theatre, known as "Theatre Royal, Bridges Street", saw performances by Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart. After it was destroyed by fire in 1672, English dramatist and theatre manager Thomas Killigrew engaged Christopher Wren to build a larger theatre on the same spot, which opened in 1674. This building lasted nearly 120 years, under leadership including Colley Cibber, David Garrick, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In 1791, under Sheridan's management, the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre which opened in 1794; but that survived only 15 years, burning down in 1809. The building that stands today opened in 1812. It has been home to actors as diverse as Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean, child actress Clara Fisher, comedian Dan Leno, the comedy troupe Monty Python (who recorded a concert album there), and musical composer and performer Ivor Novello. Since November 2008 the theatre has been owned by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and generally stages popular musical theatre. It is a Grade I listed building.
London Transport Museum
The London Transport Museum is in a Victorian iron and glass building on the east side of the market square. It was designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers of William Cubitt and Company in 1871, and was first occupied by the museum in 1980. Previously the transport collection had been held at Syon Park and Clapham. The first parts of the collection were brought together at the beginning of the 20th century by the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) when it began to preserve buses being retired from service. After the LGOC was taken over by the London Electric Railway (LER), the collection was expanded to include rail vehicles. It continued to expand after the LER became part of the London Passenger Transport Board in the 1930s and as the organisation passed through various successor bodies up to TfL, London's transport authority since 2000. The Covent Garden building has on display many examples of buses, trams, trolleybuses and rail vehicles from 19th and 20th centuries as well as artefacts and exhibits related to the operation and marketing of passenger services and the impact that the developing transport network has had on the city and its population.
St Paul's Church
St Paul's, commonly known as the Actors' Church, was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission by Francis Russell in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fitt for the habitacons of Gentlemen and men of ability". Work on the church began that year and was completed in 1633, at a cost of £4,000, with it becoming consecrated in 1638. In 1645 Covent Garden was made a separate parish and the church was dedicated to St Paul. It is uncertain how much of Jones's original building is left, as the church was damaged by fire in 1795 during restoration work by Thomas Hardwick; though it is believed that the columns are original—the rest is mostly Georgian or Victorian reconstruction.
Culture
The Covent Garden area has long been associated with both entertainment and shopping, and this continues. Covent Garden has 13 theatres, and over 60 pubs and bars, with most south of Long Acre, around the main shopping area of the old market. The Seven Dials area in the north of Covent Garden was home to the punk rock club The Roxy in 1977, and the area remains focused on young people with its trendy mid-market retail outlets.
Street performance
Street entertainment at Covent Garden was noted in Samuel Pepys's diary in May 1662, when he recorded the first mention of a Punch and Judy show in Britain. Impromptu performances of song and swimming were given by local celebrity William Cussans in the eighteenth century. Covent Garden is licensed for street entertainment, and performers audition for timetabled slots in a number of venues around the market, including the North Hall, West Piazza, and South Hall Courtyard. The courtyard space is dedicated to classical music only. There are street performances at Covent Garden Market every day of the year, except Christmas Day. Shows run throughout the day and are about 30 minutes in length. In March 2008, the market owner, CapCo, proposed to reduce street performances to one 30-minute show each hour.
Pubs and bars
The Covent Garden area has over 60 pubs and bars; several of them are listed buildings, with some also on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors; some, such as The Harp in Chandos Place, have received consumer awards. The Harp's awards include London Pub of the Year in 2008 by the Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood, and National Pub of the Year by CAMRA in 2011. It was at one time owned by the Charrington Brewery, when it was known as The Welsh Harp; in 1995 the name was abbreviated to just The Harp, before Charrington sold it to Punch Taverns in 1997. It has been owned by the landlady since 2010.
The Lamb and Flag in Rose Street has a reputation as the oldest pub in the area, though records are not clear. The first mention of a pub on the site is 1772 (when it was called the Cooper's Arms – the name changing to Lamb & Flag in 1833); the 1958 brick exterior conceals what may be an early 18th-century frame of a house replacing the original one built in 1638.[94] The pub acquired a reputation for staging bare-knuckle prize fights during the early 19th century when it earned the nickname "Bucket of Blood". The alleyway beside the pub was the scene of an attack on John Dryden in 1679 by thugs hired by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, with whom he had a long-standing conflict.
The Salisbury in St. Martin's Lane was built as part of a six-storey block around 1899 on the site of an earlier pub that had been known under several names, including the Coach & Horses and Ben Caunt's Head; it is both Grade II listed, and on CAMRA's National Inventory, due to the quality of the etched and polished glass and the carved woodwork, summed up as "good fin de siècle ensemble". The Freemasons Arms on Long Acre is linked with the founding of the Football Association in 1896; however, the meetings took place at The Freemasons Tavern on Great Queen Street, which was replaced in 1909 by the Connaught Rooms.
Other pubs that are Grade II listed are of minor interest, they are three 19th century rebuilds of 17th century/18th century houses, the Nell Gwynne Tavern in Bull Inn Court, the Nag's Head on James Street, and the White Swan on New Row; a Victorian pub built by lessees of the Marquis of Exeter, the Old Bell on the corner of Exeter Street and Wellington Street; and a late 18th or early 19th century pub the Angel and Crown on St. Martin's Lane.
Cultural connections
Covent Garden, and especially the market, have appeared in a number of works. Eliza Doolittle, the central character in George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion, and the musical adaptation by Alan Jay Lerner, My Fair Lady, is a Covent Garden flower seller. Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film Frenzy about a Covent Garden fruit vendor who becomes a serial sex killer, was set in the market where his father had been a wholesale greengrocer. The daily activity of the market was the topic of a 1957 Free Cinema documentary by Lindsay Anderson, Every Day Except Christmas, which won the Grand Prix at the Venice Festival of Shorts and Documentaries.
Transport
Covent Garden is served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station on the corner of Long Acre and James Street. The station was opened by Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 11 April 1907, four months after services on the rest of the line began operating on 15 December 1906. Platform access is only by lift or stairs; until improvements to the exit gates in 2007, due to high passenger numbers (16 million annually), London Underground had to advise travellers to get off at Leicester Square and walk the short distance (the tube journey at less than 300 yards is London's shortest) to avoid the congestion. Stations just outside the area include the Charing Cross tube station and Charing Cross railway station, Leicester Square tube station, and Holborn tube station. While there is only one bus route in Covent Garden itself—the RV1, which uses Catherine Street as a terminus, just to the east of Covent Garden square—there are over 30 routes which pass close by, mostly on the Strand or Kingsway.
Seen attending the 2008 London Bus Preservation Trust Spring Gathering is 864 DYE, an MCW Metroliner CH53/20DT coach in the fleet of Ensign, Purfleet, Essex. It was new to Central Coachways, Birmingham as E906 TOJ in April 1988, transferring to the parent West Midlands Travel licence in November 1994. It passed to Yorkshire Traction in May 1995 and had been reregistered YTC 858 by December 1995. It reverted to its original mark in October 2007, passing to Ensign in December 2007, when it was given its current registration.
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The European robin (Erithacus rubecula), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in Great Britain and Ireland, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the chat subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family. It is found across Europe, east to Western Siberia and south to North Africa; it is sedentary in most of its range except the far north.
It is about 12.5–14.0 cm (4.9–5.5 in) in length; the male and female are similar in colouration, with an orange breast and face lined with grey, brown upper-parts and a whitish belly.
Names
The distinctive orange breast of both sexes contributed to the European robin's original name of "redbreast", orange as a colour name being unknown in English until the 16th century, by which time the fruit had been introduced. The Dutch roodborstje, French rouge-gorge, Swedish rödhake, German Rotkehlchen, Italian pettirosso, Spanish petirrojo and Portuguese pisco-de-peito-ruivo all refer to the distinctively coloured front.
In the 15th century, when it became popular to give human names to familiar species, the bird came to be known as robin redbreast, which was eventually shortened to robin. As a given name, Robin is originally a smaller form of the name Robert. The term robin is also applied to some birds in other families with red or orange breasts. These include the American robin (Turdus migratorius, a thrush) and the Australasian robins of the family Petroicidae, the relationships of which are unclear.
Other older English names for the bird include ruddock and robinet. In American literature of the late 19th century, this robin was frequently called the English robin.
Taxonomy and systematics
The European robin was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla rubecula. Its specific epithet rubecula is a diminutive derived from the Latin ruber, meaning 'red'. The genus Erithacus was introduced by French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1800, giving the bird its current binomial name E. rubecula. The genus name Erithacus is from Ancient Greek and refers to an unknown bird, now usually identified as robin.
The genus Erithacus previously included the Japanese robin and the Ryukyu robin. These east Asian species were shown in molecular phylogenetic studies to be more similar to a group of other Asian species than to the European robin. In a reorganisation of the genera, the Japanese and the Ryukyu robins were moved to the resurrected genus Larvivora leaving the European robin as the sole member of Erithacus. The phylogenetic analysis placed Erithacus in the subfamily Erithacinae, which otherwise contained only African species, but its exact position with respect to the other genera was not resolved.
The genus Erithacus was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family (Turdidae) but is now considered to belong to the Old World flycatcher family (Muscicapidae), specifically to the chats (subfamily Saxicolinae) which also include the common nightingale.
Subspecies
In their large continental Eurasian range, robins vary somewhat, but do not form discrete populations that might be considered subspecies. Robin subspecies are mainly distinguished by forming resident populations on islands and in mountainous areas. The robin found in the British Isles and much of western Europe, Erithacus rubecula melophilus, occurs as a vagrant in adjacent regions. E. r. witherbyi from northwest Africa, Corsica, and Sardinia closely resembles melophilus but has shorter wings. The northeasternmost birds, large and fairly washed-out in colour, are E. r. tataricus. In the southeast of its range, E. r. valens of the Crimean Peninsula, E. r. caucasicus of the Caucasus and northern Transcaucasia, and E. r. hyrcanus southeastwards into Iran are generally accepted as significantly distinct.
On Madeira and the Azores, the local population has been described as E. r. microrhynchos, and although not distinct in morphology, its isolation seems to suggest the subspecies is valid (but see below).
Canary Islands robin
The most distinct birds are those of Gran Canaria (E. r. marionae) and Tenerife (E. r. superbus), which may be considered two distinct species or at least two different subspecies. They are readily distinguished by a white eye-ring, an intensely coloured breast, a grey line that separates the orange-red from the brown colouration, and the belly is entirely white.
Cytochrome b sequence data and vocalisations indicate that the Gran Canaria/Tenerife robins are indeed very distinct and probably derived from colonisation by mainland birds some 2 million years ago.
Christian Dietzen, Hans-Hinrich Witt and Michael Wink published in 2003 in Avian Science a study called "The phylogeographic differentiation of the European robin Erithacus rubecula on the Canary Islands revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequence data and morphometrics: evidence for a new robin taxon on Gran Canaria?". In it they concluded that Gran Canaria's robin diverged genetically from their European relatives as far back as 2.3 million years, while the Tenerife ones took another half a million years to make this leap, 1.8 million years ago. The most likely reason would be a different colonisation of the Canaries by this bird, which arrived at the oldest island first (Gran Canaria) and subsequently passed to the neighbouring island (Tenerife).
A thorough comparison between marionae and superbus is pending to confirm that the first one is effectively a different subspecies. Initial results suggest that birds from Gran Canaria have wings about 10% shorter than those on Tenerife. The west Canary Islands' populations are younger (Middle Pleistocene) and only beginning to diverge genetically. Robins from the western Canary Islands: El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera (E. r. microrhynchus) are similar to the European type subspecies (E. r. rubecula).
Finally, the robins which can be found in Fuerteventura are the European ones, which is not surprising as the species does not breed either in this island or in the nearby Lanzarote; they are wintering birds or just passing through during their long migration between Africa and Europe.
Other robins
The larger American robin (Turdus migratorius) is a much larger bird named for its similar coloration to the European robin, but the two birds are not closely related, with the American robin instead belonging to the same genus as the common blackbird (T. merula), a species which occupies much of the same range as the European robin. The similarity between the European and American robins lies largely in the orange chest patch found in both species. This American species was incorrectly shown "feathering its nest" in London in the film Mary Poppins, but it only occurs in the UK as a very rare vagrant.
Some South and Central American Turdus thrushes are also called robins, such as the rufous-collared thrush. The Australian "robin redbreast", more correctly the scarlet robin (Petroica multicolor), is more closely related to crows and jays than it is to the European robin. It belongs to the family Petroicidae, whose members are commonly called "Australasian robins". The red-billed leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea) is sometimes named the "Pekin robin" by aviculturalists. Another group of Old World flycatchers, this time from Africa and Asia, is the genus Copsychus; its members are known as magpie-robins, one of which, the Oriental magpie robin (C. saularis), is the national bird of Bangladesh.
Description
The adult European robin is 12.5–14.0 cm (4.9–5.5 in) long and weighs 16–22 g (0.56–0.78 oz), with a wingspan of 20–22 cm (8–8.5 in). The male and female bear similar plumage: an orange breast and face (more strongly coloured in the otherwise similar British subspecies E. r. melophilus), lined by a bluish grey on the sides of the neck and chest. The upperparts are brownish, or olive-tinged in British birds, and the belly whitish, while the legs and feet are brown. The bill and eyes are black. Juveniles are a spotted brown and white in colouration, with patches of orange gradually appearing.
Distribution and habitat
The robin occurs in Eurasia east to Western Siberia, south to Algeria and on the Atlantic islands as far west as the Central Group of the Azores and Madeira. It is a vagrant in Iceland. In the southeast, it reaches Iran the Caucasus range.[1] Irish and British robins are largely resident but a small minority, usually female, migrate to southern Europe during winter, a few as far as Spain. Scandinavian and Russian robins migrate to Britain and western Europe to escape the harsher winters. These migrants can be recognised by the greyer tone of the upper parts of their bodies and duller orange breast. The continental European robins that migrate during winter prefer spruce woods in northern Europe, contrasting with its preference for parks and gardens in Great Britain.
In southern Iberia, habitat segregation of resident and migrant robins occurs, with resident robins remaining in the same woodlands where they bred.
Attempts to introduce the European robin into Australia and New Zealand in the latter part of the 19th century were unsuccessful. Birds were released around Melbourne, Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin by various local acclimatisation societies, with none becoming established. There was a similar outcome in North America, as birds failed to become established after being released in Long Island, New York in 1852, Oregon in 1889–1892, and the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia in 1908–1910.
Behaviour and ecology
The robin is diurnal, although it has been reported to be active hunting insects on moonlit nights or near artificial light at night. Well known to British and Irish gardeners, it is relatively unafraid of people and drawn to human activities involving the digging of soil, in order to look out for earthworms and other food freshly turned up. The robin is considered to be a gardener's friend, and from the traditional association of the red breast with the blood of Christ, the robin would never be harmed. In continental Europe, on the other hand, robins were hunted and killed as were most other small birds, and are therefore more wary. Robins also approach large wild animals, such as wild boar, which disturb the ground, to look for any food that might be brought to the surface.
In autumn and winter, robins will supplement their usual diet of terrestrial invertebrates, such as spiders, worms and insects, with berries and fruit. They will also eat seed mixtures and suet placed on bird-tables.
Male robins are noted for their highly aggressive territorial behaviour. They will fiercely attack other males and competitors that stray into their territories and have been observed attacking other small birds without apparent provocation. There are instances of robins attacking their own reflection. Territorial disputes sometimes lead to fatalities, accounting for up to 10% of adult robin deaths in some areas.
Because of high mortality in the first year of life, a robin has an average life expectancy of 1.1 years; however, once past its first year, life expectancy increases. One robin has been recorded as reaching 19 years of age. A spell of very low temperatures in winter can, however, result in higher mortality rates. The species is parasitised by the moorhen flea (Dasypsyllus gallinulae) and the acanthocephalan Apororhynchus silesiacus.
Breeding
Robins may choose a wide variety of sites for building a nest. In fact, anything which can offer some shelter, like a depression or hole, may be considered. As well as the usual crevices, or sheltered banks, other objects include pieces of machinery, barbecues, bicycle handlebars, bristles on upturned brooms, discarded kettles, watering cans, flower pots and hats. Robins will also nest in manmade nest boxes, favouring a design with an open front placed in a sheltered position up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) from the ground. Nests are generally composed of moss, leaves and grass, with fine grass, hair and feathers for lining.
Two or three clutches of five or six eggs are laid throughout the breeding season, which commences in March in Britain and Ireland. The eggs are a cream, buff or white speckled or blotched with reddish-brown colour, often more heavily so at the larger end. When juvenile birds fly from the nests, their colouration is entirely mottled brown. After two to three months out of the nest, the juvenile bird grows some orange feathers under its chin, and over a similar period this patch gradually extends to complete the adult appearance of an entirely red-orange breast.
Vocalisation
The robin produces a fluting, warbling song during the breeding season. Both the male and female sing during the winter, when they hold separate territories, the song then sounding more plaintive than the summer version. The female robin moves a short distance from the summer nesting territory to a nearby area that is more suitable for winter feeding. The male robin keeps the same territory throughout the year. During the breeding season, male robins usually initiate their morning song an hour before civil sunrise, and usually terminate their daily singing around thirty minutes after sunset. Nocturnal singing can also occur, especially in urban areas that are artificially lit during the night. Some urban robins opt to sing at night to avoid daytime anthropogenic noise.
Magnetoreception
The avian magnetic compass of the robin has been extensively researched and uses vision-based magnetoreception, in which the robin's ability to sense the magnetic field of the Earth for navigation is affected by the light entering the bird's eye. The physical mechanism of the robin's magnetic sense involves quantum entanglement of electron spins in cryptochrome in the bird's eyes.
Conservation status
The European robin has an extensive range and a population numbering in the hundreds of millions. The species does not approach the vulnerable thresholds under the population trend criterion (>30 per cent decline over ten years or three generations); the population appears to be increasing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature evaluates it as least concern.
Cultural depictions
The robin features prominently in British folklore and that of northwestern France, but much less so in other parts of Europe. It was held to be a storm-cloud bird and sacred to Thor, the god of thunder, in Norse mythology. Robins feature in the traditional children's tale Babes in the Wood; the birds cover the dead bodies of the children.
The robin has become strongly associated with Christmas, taking a starring role on many Christmas cards since the mid-19th century. The robin has appeared on many Christmas postage stamps. An old British folk tale seeks to explain the robin's distinctive breast. Legend has it that when Jesus was dying on the cross, the robin, then simply brown in colour, flew to his side and sang into his ear in order to comfort him in his pain. The blood from his wounds stained the robin's breast, and thereafter all robins carry the mark of Christ's blood upon them.
An alternative legend has it that its breast was scorched fetching water for souls in Purgatory.[49] The association with Christmas more probably arises from the fact that postmen in Victorian Britain wore red jackets and were nicknamed "Robins"; the robin featured on the Christmas card is an emblem of the postman delivering the card.
In the 1960s, in a vote publicised by The Times, the robin was adopted as the unofficial national bird of the United Kingdom. In 2015, the robin was again voted Britain's national bird in a poll organised by birdwatcher David Lindo, taking 34% of the final vote.
Several English and Welsh sports organisations are nicknamed "the Robins". The nickname is typically used for teams whose home colours predominantly use red. These include the professional football clubs Bristol City, Crewe Alexandra, Swindon Town, Cheltenham Town (with Bristol City, as of 2019, Swindon Town, and Cheltenham Town also incorporating a robin image in their current badge designs), and, traditionally, Wrexham A.F.C., as well as the English rugby league team the Hull Kingston Rovers (whose home colours are white with a red band). A small bird is an unusual choice, although it is thought to symbolise agility in darting around the field.
The Dofasco emblem should have given me a clue where this FP9A was built, but it took me time surfing the web this AM before I realized that the 2 A units were former Algoma Central units acquired from the WC.
The chase ended at Good Hope when the sun set, and I didn't check out LaHarpe where I now understand that there are two more AC A units which are used as a parts source.
Topic given by Zynab Noor. Will people mourn for me and miss my existence? Will i be thought of and loved even though I'm gone? Will I be remembered at all? Or will my death just flow away with my ashes? Life needs us to make the most of ourselves every step of the way. We should never lose the chance to make ourselves better people - people who BELIEVE in themselves. We should make sure that when we leave this world, our thoughts in others' minds should never fade. So.... What if I die today?
This is a bin my grandpa found in the trash at work. He took it and gave it to me. What a lucky find!
Note:
This photo may be copied, used, or reposted as long as the website is written(www.flickr.com/RepublicServicesFan) is visible or credit is given to RepublicServicesFan for capturing this photo. As a courtesy, please let me know where it's been used, (I'd like to see it too). Thank you!
My wife was given a set of old photographs from her family in The Netherlands. Unfortunately, nobody knows who the photographer was or even when the photographs were taken. They are positive emulsions on glass. Some are quite lovely. I tried scanning, which doesn't really do justice to them (many of the details become completely black). The fish net in the background makes us wonder if the picture was taken in Petten, a village on the North Sea where much of the family lived. We suspect that the woman in the picture is a relative of Inge's, but we don't know who.
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No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Four metres at 11:33am on Friday 9th November 2018, off Reynishverfisegur 215 and bjodvegur at Reynisfjara black sand beach and Reynisdranger Basalt columns on the south coast of Iceland.
This is located close to the fishing village of Vík í Mýrdal.
Reynisfjara boasts several enormous basalt stacks and powerful, roaring waves off the Atlantic Ocean, and was voted as one of the top ten non-tropical beaches to visit on the planet by National Geographic. The Reynisdranger basalt stacks are named Langsamur, Landdrangur and Skessudranger or Háidrangur.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 24mm. Hand held with Nikkor VR vibration reduction enabled on Normal setting. Shutter speed 1/250s Aperture f/5.6 iso100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 8256 x 5504 FX). Colour space. Adobe RGB. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto 0 white balance (8030K). Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 63d 24m 8.20s
LONGITUDE: W 19d 2m 29.50s
ALTITUDE: 4.0m
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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 26.80MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.01 (16/01/2018) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
For today’s Guy Wulfrunian photograph, we have moved to one of the depots acquired by West Riding in 1950 when they took over local rival Bullocks & Sons. Featherstone depot was closed in the 1980s but is the location where we find a vehicle that was intended to have been supplied to Johannesburg Municipality in 1962 as their fleet number 976.
It is a demonstrator for a tri-axle high-capacity replacement for earlier conventional Arabs. Unfortunately for Guy, there was an extended dock strike at Southampton and the vehicle was trapped inside the docks for over four months, during which time, the operator had a change of mind and when it eventually arrived in South Africa, the customer refused to accept it, saying that it had arrived too late. It was returned to the UK later that year.
Commenting on the fiasco at the time, Sidney Guy, who had retired from the company in 1957, called it “an embarrassment”.
In 1962, the UK’s new Construction and Use regulations allowed buses up to 36’ to use the roads, so Guy sent it north to the Crossgates factory of Charles H Roe, who had built the body, to have the destination aperture altered and to have it re-painted it into the livery of the West Riding Automobile Company of Wakefield. West Riding was already a committed Wulfrunian customer, so they had agreed to take it for evaluation.
On its return to the UK, it had been registered in Wolverhampton as 7122UK but, on arrival in Wakefield, it was given the cherished registration number from West Riding’s Chief Engineer Ronald Brooke’s Rover P4 company car, FHL104. It did not carry a fleet number
After only two weeks use at Featherstone depot, and after two serious incidents where various items of street furniture on bends and corners were knocked over, the recognised trade union refused to allow further use of the vehicle so it was towed ceremoniously to Belle Isle depot where it languished for a few months before being dismantled for parts.
What a waste.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE
LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY
Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.
In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.
In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.
The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five day dances seeking trance,prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.
Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god). The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.
In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.
In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.
The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug
In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow"). Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.
In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.
In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:
1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.
2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.
3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.
4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.
5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.
6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!
7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.
8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events
Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....
There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.
The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.
Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.
Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone
Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm. They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!
They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.
Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1. That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.
A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans. Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.
Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.
Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!
Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades.Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!
They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.
In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN
Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.
Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the mechanisms as the mirror slapped back and forth.
The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....
I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....
On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.
A further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.
I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with it's mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance. What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from it's mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation. The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rambunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.
Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum.Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time. In October, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months.
Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!
Paul Williams June 4th 2021
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty three metres at 15:25pm on a summer afternoon on Tuesday 8th June 2021, of an adult Carrion crow (Corvus corone), standing beside some ground covering Geranium macrorrhizum off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 460mm Shutter speed: 1/800s Aperture f/7.1 iso250 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (4600k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.35s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.48s
ALTITUDE: 54.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.80MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.40MB
PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
The Evergreen vessel Ever Given which blocked The Suez canal is seen at The Port of Felixstowe some would say better late then never. Photos taken from Shotley.
Ian Sharman - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission..
I've given you a large version to experience. Because you simply have to see the gossamer fairy dust gown that spring is wearing this season. Quite ebullient indeed.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Two hundred and thirty five metres, at 13:48pm on Saturday 18th September 2019 off Ainslie Point Road and Canal Road at the summit of Mount Norman on South Pender Island in British Columbia, Canada.
The summit is nestled within the forrest within the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, and here we have a view out across to North Pender Island, and the Soutrhern Gulf Islands of British Columbia.
Designated as the fortieth national park in 2003 and covering 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi) of area with 16 islands and more than 30 islets, reefs and surrounding waters, it also contains Douglas-fir trees as well as Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, red alder and Western red cedar.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 70mm Shutter speed 1/320s Aperture f/16.0 iso160 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Cokin GND4 resin filter . Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 45m 31.06s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 14m 28.13s
ALTITUDE: 235.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 40.90MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
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Brief History of Maryborough.
This fertile area of Queensland was the fifth area to be settled when it was still part of NSW. The first settlement in QLD was at Redcliffe (and later Moreton Bay) as a convict colony in 1824. This was followed by white settlement at Ipswich in 1842 and further inland in the mountains at Warwick in 1847. The NSW government sent explorers to the Mary River area in 1842 which was when the river was named. Then in 1847 inland from the Mary River a town was surveyed but not gazetted until 1849. It was Gayndah which now claims to be the oldest town in QLD. The establishment of Gayndah is remarkable given transport difficulties. Near the coast Maryborough was the site of a wharf for pastoralists in 1847 and later a small town was created in 1850 making Maryborough the fifth settlement in what is now QLD. The first land sales at Maryborough were in 1852 although a general store had opened before this time on leased land in 1848. The new town of Maryborough was sited on the Mary River which rises near the Glasshouse Mountains inland from the Sunshine Coast. It generally flows northwards to enter the sea a few miles downstream from the town of Maryborough. The Mary River was named after Lady Mary Lennox the wife of the Governor of NSW Charles Fitzroy. The little town struggled to establish itself but once QLD got independence from NSW in 1859 Maryborough began to grow more quickly as free white settlers spread around the new colony. The delays in growth were partly caused by local Aboriginal resistance to the white pastoralists. Between 1847 and 1853 twenty eight white settlers were killed by Aboriginal people. A white massacre of around 100 Aboriginal people in the early 1850s brought some calm to the area and broke the resistance of the Gubbi Gubbi people. The Gubbi Gubbi people were called the Gin Gins by white settlers hence the name for that town north of Maryborough. Like so many Australian towns Maryborough’s growth was fuelled by mining discoveries. Maryborough was declared an official QLD port in 1859 and the first ship load of immigrants disembarked directly at Maryborough in 1860. Most were female and instead of obtaining work as servants immediately accepted offers of marriage from the men of the district. Maryborough became a municipality in 1861. It soon had a Customs House, a Courthouse and School of Arts but it really grew with the discovery of gold inland at Gympie. Maryborough served as the pot for goods going to and from Gympie from 1867 onwards. The QLD Land Acts of 1867 also opened up the pastoral leasehold lands to farmers for the first time. The main crops grown were maize and sugar. At about the same time as the Gympie gold rush Maryborough got its first sugar mill, a timber mill and John Walker of Ballarat opened a foundry and engineering works to produce mining equipment just as he had done previously in Ballarat. The port expanded and the town grew. A new Post Office (1869), hotels and general stores opened to cater for the miners and the townspeople. By 1871 Maryborough had 3,500 residents with its own newspaper’s, churches and schools. The wider district population was 9,000 people. By 1876 the population had swelled to 5,700 people. The first railway opened in Maryborough in 1881 when a line connected the port with Gympie gold fields.
The Port of Maryborough.
The town actually began with a wharf as once prospective settlers learned that the River Mary was navigable white pastoralist and cotton and maize farmers moved into the district upstream from around 1848. Then in 1859 as the colony of Queensland was created from New South Wales a new international port was created at Maryborough. The town had moved from West Maryborough to the present site. Consequently the first Customs House was erected in 1861. In 1860 the first vessels arrived at the port of Maryborough direct from Europe with a load of immigrants. In 1869 nearly 7,000 immigrants had landed in Maryborough and by 1878 nearly 16,000 had landed here. In fact between 1860 and 1900 around 22,000 immigrants arrived directly in Maryborough from England and Europe. Maryborough also had a coastal steamer service to Brisbane and Rockhampton. From 1867 it also handled all the goods going into and the gold coming out of the goldfields at Gympie. In the last quarter of the 19th century the port of Maryborough handled saw timber, sugar, wool, meat, gold, maize, etc. Before the end of the 19th century when river ports like Maryborough were about to be forgotten because they could not handle larger steamers its imports and exports were roughly in balance in terms of value. The most valuable exports were: gold, silver, copper, fruit, hides and skins, sugar and wool. Of these the most valuable were sugar £50,000, raw and refined, followed by silver/lead £33,000, gold/silver £9,000 and skin/hides £8,000.
Among the early immigrants were shiploads of German settlers from 1860. As the numbers grew the first Lutheran pastor arrived in 1864 followed by a second in 1867. These and later pastors came from Germany or Denmark, mainly the Schleswig district, which was occupied by Germany from 1864 after it defeated the Danes. Between 1860 and 1891 around 180,000 immigrants arrived in Queensland with an assisted government passage and some rights to lease land. Around 16,000 were non British mainly Germans, Danes, Norwegians and Swedes. Other Australian colonies only gave assisted passages to British immigrants except for Tasmania and Queensland. Most of the non-British immigrants were German but the QLD government’s agent I Germany also recruited Scandinavians, Swiss etc. Queensland became the colony with the greatest number of Danes and it had almost as many Norwegians and Swedes as NSW. Some of these non-British immigrant’s landed in Maryborough with the first ship load arriving in March 1871 on the Reichstag from Hamburg. The Scandinavians especially settled at Tiaro and Tinana near Maryborough, around Bundaberg, Pialba at Hervey Bay and in other places like Kingaroy where Sir Jo Bjelke-Petersen lived. The town of Eidsvold, near Gayndah is a Norwegian name and it was established by the Archer brothers from Larvik in Norway. As most of the Scandinavians were Lutheran (but some were Catholic), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish names are often linked to the Lutheran churches of the Maryborough district. Some Scandinavian names (mainly Danish) of Maryborough early settlers include the Jocumsen, Claussen,Madsen, Kehlet, Weinberg, Okeden, Boge, Möller, etc. Many Danish and other Scandinavian names can also be found in the Polson cemetery at Pialba Hervey Bay such as Christensen, Hansen, Mortensen, Nielsen, Petersen, Thomsen etc.
Given to me when my Mother passed away , by my lovely friend Kim. This rose smells so lovely in my garden
2011 Ford Crown Victoria PCF with the California Highway Patrol. I was given the chance to photograph it somewhere that was not in a station parking lot or next to a brick wall, rather out in its natural habitat! Most of us know that this car was retired in recent months from CHP Contra Costa (320). All of these photos are located in Brentwood, CA making for beautiful scenery! It racked up quite a bit of miles, I believe it was around 188k which is not much compared to some of its sisters. The officer loved it to death, and never wanted to get rid of it but time goes on. Never forget the polar bear!
This is my response to the challenge given to me by the twirl-tastic Ruthlesscrab for Round 13 of the Get Pushed group.
Ruth's challenge to me was as follows:
So that's my challenge to you, if you choose to accept it. A fabulously scrumptious, beautifully lit food (solid food, not just a beverage) image that involves something with at least three ingredients, on a plate or in a serving dish or cooking vessel, WITH at least one piece of cutlery in the shot. Natural light if possible. It should look delicious enough that people will want to lick their monitors.
So, this is probably not what Ruth was expecting, but while I cook nice tasty food it is rarely visually appealing and I needed an option that I could play around with without having to cook loads. For pure simplicity beans on toast wins, fact.
You may also be saying to yourselves "Well, there is clearly only two ingredients there; "Beans" and "Toast". But you have missed the most important ingredient, the thing that must always be added, and which can be seen in the background - the wonder and joy that is Lee and Perins Worcester Sauce.
Thanks for the fun push Ruth, I hope you don't mind the small liberty I have taken with the shot. I'm assuming you can all read this after being overcome with the urge to lick your monitors obviously!
Also slipping delicately into ODC "money can't buy", because if there is one thing that money can never seem to buy enough of, it's food to feed the whole world.
And as an added bonus, my latest blog post on finishing this 365 can be found here
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 38.135+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Three hundred and sixty four metres, at 11:44am on Monday 12th September 2019 off the Trans Canada highway 97 between Kamloops and Monte Creek on the North bank of the Thompson River in British Columbia, Canada.
The Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) is also known as the North American brown bear and found in abundance in North America. There are four recognised subspecies and coastal bears tend to be larger than inland ones. Originally from Eurasia, they travelled to North America 50,000 years ago and male adults can weigh up to 360kg and stand over six and a half feet tall.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 260mm Shutter speed 1/500s Aperture f/5.6 iso1100 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Hand held with Nikon Image stabilization VR enabled on Normal mode. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150Con adapter for Lee 100 rings. Lee 100 67mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 Circular polariser glass filter. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 50d 39m 14.17s
LONGITUDE: W 120d 4m 50.60s
ALTITUDE: 364.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 30.80MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Given that the 25 was needed in a roadworthy condition imminently, a replacement registration plate was quickly sourced - RB need every serviceable single decker they can get at the moment, so having one out of action with such a trivial issue wouldn't be a good situation.
The old P&R livery is not going away as quickly as I want it to. I mean, there's nothing really wrong with the livery itself, but my circa 2018 application of it to the models is... utterly dogshite terrible. For the same livery but decently painted, see ELC Vyking 31, which has been treated to a repaint but kept the old-style P&R livery. Eventually it'll be the base for something else, but like most things with the model fleet, it's an "it'll happen one day. Probably."
Robertson Buses 25 - P709 VEX - Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Enviro-Dart
Robertson Buses 29 - HF03 ODU - Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7TL
For some time I've been thinking that if I was given a WWII battledress, Captain's cap and stick I could do a passable impression of Captain Mainwaring (on the left) with a little practice. Certainly, if I was invited to a fancy dress do I think I might give it a go. I can still watch the shows over and over and still find them funny.
You might notice that in recent times I've commented on the state of the world and the growing confusion I have for what is right and wrong, good and bad....... So when I saw a piece in The Daily Mail this morning I was easily able to slip into character and follow the dialogue below.
Now if you are not British, and not at least 40 you might not get this, so see if you can get in the swing of things by watching this clip before launching into the text below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAAbw7udjMI
We're all going to be beheaded! DON'T PANIC! (A short play by Richard Littlejohn)
The Government wants to recruit a Dad’s Army squad of ex-military men to supplement overstretched police firearms and anti-terror officers. Why not just bring the Walmington-on-Sea platoon out of retirement? Enter Captain Mainwaring . . .
I say, Wilson, what are those peculiar flags doing hanging outside the church hall?
Flags, sir?
Yes, Wilson, flags. One is a hideous rainbow-coloured affair and the other is black and white and appears to be covered in badly-drawn Nazi warplanes.
They’re not warplanes, Mr Mainwaring. They’re sex aids.
Sex aids? One of them looks just like a V-1 flying bomb.
It’s not a doodlebug, sir, it’s called a Steely Dan.
Sounds lethal, Wilson. Hang on, how do you know what it’s called?
I accidentally found one in Mrs Pike’s sewing basket.
Sometimes I worry about you, Wilson. That still doesn’t explain why these flags are flying outside the church hall?
It was the vicar’s idea.
Has he been at the communion wine again?
No more than usual, sir. The rainbow flag is the official emblem of the Walmington-on-Sea LGBT committee.
What on earth is that?
It stands for Lesbians, Gays and, oh, I forget. Bi-something or other. And I think the ‘T’ is for Transvestites. Men who like dressing up in women’s clothing.
Like Old Mother Riley, you mean?
Not exactly, sir, no.
And what’s all this got to do with the vicar?
He’s chairman of the LGBT organising committee. They’re having a march through Walmington on Saturday, for Gay Pride week. They’re also protesting about British military aggression in the Middle East.
Not in my name, they’re not. We’ll soon see about that. Where is the vicar?
Conducting a marriage ceremony next door. Two women from the bowls club.
Who are they getting married to?
Each other, sir.
Good grief. And the vicar is performing the ceremony, you say? In the church, of all places? Is nothing sacred? I’ve always had my doubts about that man, Wilson. Bit of a nancy boy, if you ask me.
Oh, I don’t know. I think it’s rather sweet. Two women, or two men, getting married. To each other.
You would think that, Wilson. It’s exactly what I’d expect from you decadent, namby-pamby public-school types, just like that Old Etonian Prime Minister chum of yours.
Anyway, they’re having the reception in the church hall. So we’d better hurry up with the parade.
They can jolly well wait, Wilson. Don’t they know there’s a war on? Fall the men in, at the double.
Come along you chaps. Would you be so awfully kind as to get in line?
Now pay attention, men. As some of you may have heard on the Home Service, the barbarians are at the gate and the future of our scepterd isle is imperilled once more. The enemy hordes are massing on the other side of the Channel and it falls to us to form the first line of defence. Wilson, I want you to get down to the ferry terminal and arrest any suspicious character trying to sneak into Britain.
Do you think that’s wise, sir?
What do you mean?
Under the Human Rights Act we have to give asylum to anyone who turns up in Walmington-on-Sea claiming to be fleeing persecution.
You don’t believe any of that guff, do you? Trained assassins from Isil are pretending to be refugees in order to murder us all in our beds.
(Corporal Jones): Permission to interject, Mr Mainwaring.
Go ahead, Jones.
What’s Isil?
(Pike): It’s that shiny toilet paper, silly, ever so hard, like what you get at school and in public conveniences. My mum doesn’t like me using it, says it’s unhygienic and it don’t half chafe . . .
Shut up, Pike, you stupid boy. Anyway, that’s not Isil, that’s Izal. Isil, or Isis, or Islamic State, is a terrorist organisation dedicated to the overthrow of Western society. And it’s our job to stop them.
Excuse me, Mr Mainwaring.
What is it now, Wilson?
Apparently, we can’t call them Islamic State any more. The mayor has had a complaint from the local mosque saying that what’s going on in Syria hasn’t got anything to do with Islam.
So what are we supposed to call them?
Dish-dash, dish-cloth. Something like that.
I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life. Now get along to the ferry terminal and take Godfrey with you.
(Godfrey): My sister Dolly’s at the ferry terminal, Mr Mainwaring, handing out upside-down cakes to the migrants. She says they must be starving after travelling all the way from Afghanistan.
For heaven’s sake, man. We shouldn’t be rolling out the red carpet for these people. How do we know they’re not Fifth Columnists planning to attack sunbathers on Walmington beach?
(Jones): Permission to speak, sir. I’d like to volunteer to stop them, Mr Mainwaring. I served in Libya and the Sudan during the last lot. Fierce fighting people, they are, very keen on beheading. But they don’t like it up ’em, Mr Mainwaring. Those fuzzy-wuzzies do not like it up ’em.
(Wilson): Er, I don’t think we can say fuzzy-wuzzies any more, either. Not on the BBC. Terribly racist, these days.
I thought we’d already been banned from the BBC, Wilson.
Not yet, sir. That’s It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum.
So it is. Now then, men. I have received a letter from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, who is anxious to recruit experienced snipers to supplement his firearms officers.
(Pike): I’d like to volunteer to be a sniper, Mr Mainwaring.
You haven’t got any experience, Pike.
I’ve seen that new film American Sniper at the Roxy, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper, who was in The Hangover and is now the Elephant Man, he’s this crack marksman who is sent to Iraq to kill terrorists and there’s this scene where he’s on a roof and he’s about to shoot the world’s most wanted man from about a mile away, but just as he’s taking aim his wife calls him on the mobile to moan about the fridge being broken or something, then he gets sent home suffering from PMT. It would have been better if it had starred Clint Eastwood as the sniper, even though he’s over 80, he was brilliant in Dirty Harry — ‘Go ahead, punk, make my day’ — and the special effects are great especially when people’s heads explode. I could do that, please Captain Mainwaring.
Stupid boy.
(Enter Private Walker): Evenin’, Mr Mainwaring, sorry I’m late.
Where have you been?
Well, I popped over to Calais on a booze cruise. You can save a small fortune if you know the right people, get my drift. Practically giving it away, they are. You won’t catch me voting to leave the EU in the referendum. I’ve got some very nice Beaujolais Nouveau, if you’re interested, fiver a bottle to you, Mr M . . .
Get on with it, Walker.
Anyway, when I got to the port to catch the ferry home, the lorries was all backed up for miles because of a strike and there was thousands of young foreign blokes trying to break into containers and hide in the luggage compartments of coaches. They was coming from all over the place, wave after wave, like in Zulu.
(Pike): That’s one of my favourites, Joe, with Michael Caine and Stanley Baker and Dave, the barman from Minder. Not a lot of people know that.
I won’t tell you again, Pike. Is there a point to this story, Walker?
Sorry, Captain. Anyway, this is three days ago. It was like we’d all been taken hostage. Finally, I gets back to the lock-up and as soon as I pull in, half a dozen geezers in black tracksuits and balaclavas jump out of the back of the van, waving Kalashnikovs, and starts running in the direction of the dual carriageway, shouting ‘Allo Acton’ or something. So I phones the Old Bill and Warden Hodges but they sez there’s nuffink they can do ’cos of yuman rites and elf’n’safety an’ that, and then they only goes an’ threatens to fine me two grand a head for bringing them in, bloody cheek. So I bungs ’em both a case of Chateau Collapso and Bob’s yer mother’s wossname. Them foreign geezers, though, whoever they are, probably half way to Toddington Services by now.
(Jones): We’re all going to be beheaded! Don’t panic! Don’t panic!
(Private Fraser): We’re doomed. We’re all doomed!
A volunteer who has given 2,253 hours since joining in June last year has swapped her role as HR advisor at a bank to becoming one of our new recruit police officers on the frontline.
Emma Donbavand joined GMP's Special Constabulary to "dip her toe in the water" before making a decision to apply to become a full-time officer and after the thousands of hours she's given to the force, she's now been accepted to become a police officer this month and finished her last shift as a Special Constable last night (14 December 2021).
Special Constables are part-time, voluntary police officers who have the same powers, uniform and equipment as regular officers and work alongside frontline officers as well as police staff to help make Greater Manchester a safer place to be.
The 22-year-old previously worked as a HR advisor for Natwest but decided to join in June 2020 and wanted to do so many hours that she joined a response team of officers in Tameside - almost balancing two jobs voluntarily. Some of the her highlights include being promoted to a Specials Team Leader this year, assisting with the huge policing operation for Parklife 2021 and jumping into a river to save a man in June this year.
She said: "I initially joined the Special Constabulary because I wanted to dip my toe in the water first as I was starting to think about becoming a police officer but everyone made me feel so welcome and after 18 months, I decided to join.
"After joining and training in June last year, I've done just over 2,250 hours and sometimes I'd finish my day job as a HR advisor at 5pm and go straight to work with one of the response teams in Tameside. I've loved it and everyone in the district has made me feel so welcome."
Before becoming a HR advisor for a bank, Emma wanted to go into musical theatre but her dreams were shattered after she broke her leg.
She added: "I wanted to go into musical theatre but I broke my leg in two places on a trampoline. I still do some shows on the side and often go to London though.
"When I joined the Specials though, I quickly realised that no two jobs were the same and it's become an experience like no other so that's why I ended up applying to join as a police officer."
Emma has joined GMP under the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship and is currently underway with her training.
"Being a Special is an experience like no other - there's no other volunteering you can do that gives you such life experience where you're on the streets and helping people," she added.
The Special Constabulary at GMP is recruiting. To find out more, visit: Special constables | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)
11/09/2014 World War II Memorial, Washington DC
In remembrance of all who serve and my two grandfathers who served in WWII.
An old photo kindly given to me by the chap who I bought the B&W Preston photos off last year.
This model is one of my favourite Datsuns and I've been lucky enough to own a couple.
Late '70s photo? With its straight-six engine I'd imagine it would make a good towcar. A couple of Cortinas also visible, almost inevitably.
DVLA says it came off the road at the very end of 1987.
Thanks to Trev for sending me this photo.
Given to me a day early is my Fathers Day presents from my lovely daughter. Will enjoy this one very much indeed. 12/06/20.
This figure..er..package was given to me a few years back by a friend. I was very surprised, because up until then I didn't think it possible that a Universal Monster product made by Sideshow Toy could have escaped my radar. I was very obsessed with the stuff. All my buddy knew was someone had sent it to him, and he couldn't even remember who.
Supposedly this item is very rare. It really is a sealed package with accessories minus the Invisible Man figure. I don't know the item's origin, only that they are pretty scarce. I have researched it a bit, but it seems even Sideshow employees are sketchy on the information (Way to keep decent records of your products there guys!), but have confirmed it is authentic.
I saw someone on eBay trying to sell one for $200.00. He claimed in the item title that only five were made, and they were made for employees, but then in the description it said only three were made. I think both numbers are bullshit, and there were most likely more produced. It is very possible they were made for employees, and probably people Sideshow conducted business with at the time. If it had been a retailer exclusive, I, and many others, would know about it.
It does not surprise me that the guy's on eBay didn't sell for $200.00, even IF there were only five made. Though it is a really fun novelty, when it comes down to it, there is no figure (or IS there? muahahaha) and I don't see even the biggest Invisible Man fan paying that much for an empty (or IS it? muahahaha) package.
Sideshow are not the first to do something like this. They were obviously inspired by Invisible Jim, a figure I really wish I had. But then, maybe I do! :D
If anyone has any information on this Invisible Man, please let me know.
All Photos © Jason Jerde - All Rights Reserved
Please do not copy, distribute or use my photos in any way, without consent.
Well travelled Leon here, in quite typical Spanish condition. I don't take photos of all the Spanish plates given they're hard to locate where the car comes from, however this Seat had an interesting small size front number plate, something that fits well on the car. It's come from its home country!
Obtaining a driving license is very close to the hearts of city dwellers in Burkina Faso, where owning a car is a sign of social advancement or even a necessity, given the risks linked to traffic and a means of finding a driving job. So, “everyone” generally uses the hundred or so driving schools in the capital to obtain a category C (heavy goods) license. The training has three stages: the theoretical exam, the slot (which consists of crossing a U between stakes), and practice.
The vehicles most commonly used by driving schools are the Mercedes-Benz T2 Düsseldorfer Transporter, the Vario or the Klasse LK, which in most cases are more than 25 years old and the condition that goes with it. The photo was taken at the Hippodrome in the Hamdalaye district, one of the leading training sites for the niche.
L'obtention du permis de conduire tient très fortement à cœur les citadins au Burkina Faso où la possession d'une voiture est un signe d'ascension sociale voire une nécessité au vu des risques liés à la circulation, et aussi un moyen de trouver un emploi de chauffeur. Ainsi "tout le monde" fait recours à la centaine d'auto-écoles que renferme la capitale pour obtenir un permis catégorie C (poids lourds) généralement. La formation compte trois étapes à savoir, l'examen théorique, le créneau (qui consiste à parcourir un U entre des piquets) puis la pratique.
Les véhicules le plus couramment utilisés par les auto-écoles sont le Mercedes-Benz T2 Düsseldorfer Transporter, le Vario ou les Klasse LK qui dans la plupart des cas ont plus de 25 ans d'âge et l'état qui va avec. La photo a été prise sur l'Hippodrome du quartier Hamdalaye qui constitue l'un des principaux sites de formation pour le créneau.
Whyalla. Hummock Hill was sighted and named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 and soon after given French names by Captain Baudin. The first pastoral run was taken out in 1862. The town of Hummock Hill emerged in 1900 after BHP got leases on ore deposits in the ranges at what became Iron Knob back in 1886. The ore was used for flux in the Pire smelter. A BHP tramway was built from the coast to Iron Knob in 1901 and a port established with ore shipped out from 1903. By 1905 the settlement had a school, general store and a tin Institute. In 1916 the town name was changed to Whyalla. The new Institute opened in 1920 and the iron stone Whyalla Hotel opened in 1933 and was enlarged in 1940. From 1920 iron ore was shipped to the new steel works at Port Kembla in NSW. In 1937 BHP built a blast furnace at Whyalla and in 1939 BHP got a contract to build naval ships. The town grew rapidly because of this and the construction of a water pipeline from the River Murray ensued. The first ship was launched in 1941 named the HMAS Whyalla (650 tonnes) which is now part of the Information Centre. Defence installations were erected during the Second World War (1942) as Whyalla was a potential Japanese bombing target. After the war BHP built an integrated steel works in Whyalla (completed 1965) and built commercial ships. In 1960 Whyalla became a city. By 1976 Whyalla had 33,000 residents, the largest city outside of Adelaide but with the loss of shipbuilding the city’s population was down to 20,000 people but has now risen to 22,600. The 1940s buildings in the main street were built in local red ironstone are and quite distinctive and attractive. Mount Laura homestead dates from the pastoral era. Nicholsons took out a 288 square mile leasehold in 1919. An earlier owner M Good started building the homestead in 1910. Nicholsons built stone rooms in 1922 and enlarged it later. The National Trust acquired it in 1969. It is now their museum which includes the first BHP tin office from around 1914 which was located in Gray Street. BHP sold their Whyalla works to OneSteel in 2000 which changed its name to Arrium. Sanjeev Gupta bought the insolvent Arrium steelworks in 2017 and has revitalised it and the town as well thus brightening the future of Whyalla.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty eight metres at 10:51am on a showery morning on Tuesday 11th May 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
Here we see a Western Eurasian jackdaw (Coloeus monedula spermologus), one of four recognized subspecies of the western jackdaw and found in most of Eurtope, the British Isles and Morocco. It is darker in colour than the other subspecies and lacks the whitish border at the base of the grey nape. A passerine in the family Corvidae, it has rictal bristles covering much of the bill and is on the 'of least concern' status in conservation terms.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Aperture f/6.3 iso1000 Tripod mounted with Tamron VC Vibration Control set to position 3. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Shutter priority mode Metering mode: Spot metering White balance on: Auto1 (4570k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
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Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto MT057C3-G Carbon fiber Geared tripod 3 sections. Neewer Carbon Fiber Gimble tripod head 10088736 with Arca Swiss standard quick release plate. Neewer 9996 Arca Swiss release plate P860 x2.Jessops Tripod bag. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.09s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.39s
ALTITUDE: 58.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 92.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 24.00MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Life continues to move on and I am now sixty…how did I get there so fast?…the reality is I have! I moved into my sixth decade of life earlier this year and it has given me a renewed outlook on my cross-dressing. I do have regrets in my life, the biggest being my self imposed suppression of my transgender self. Why did I hold back? The answer is I was not brave enough. I feared the reaction of others, I feared losing my family life and I feared losing my income. I just caved in and tried to ignore it.
Well, back in the year 2000, 19 tears ago, at the age of forty one I began to cross-dress as a woman. I could no longer suppress my inner desire to appear as a woman. It caused a lot of upset with my family and though I am now fortunate enough to engage in cross0dressing, it is a compromise in regard to the opportunities I have. My family tolerate it but my moments as my female alter-ego are rare. I have no wish to jeopardise my family life and work so I accepted the limited opportunities. I do adore becoming Helene and though it is rare it is always an amazing and rather emotional experience.
Now I am older and less hung up about my cross-dressing I find myself being more confident and at ease with it and having more fun when I do dress up as a woman. Last night I had a sudden opportunity to become Helene again ad I totally went for it. i was somewhat tired and not quite as focused as I would have liked, not to mention very much out of practice, but I intended to enjoy my time en femme.
Having emerged from the bath with freshly shaved, legs, chest and arms I enjoyed plucking my eyebrows into a better shape and excitedly sat down to start putting on my make-up. Part of my excitement was a new piece of equipment I purchased in December purely for my make-up application. I’m sure many of us struggle with getting a real world foundation coverage because of our beard shadows. The dreaded beard shadow , even after a super close shave, can feel smooth but the skin is bumpy due to the underlying hair follicles and this also leaves a visible shadow (unless you are fortunate enough to have light hair colour).
I usually employ all the techniques to neutralise the beard shadow cover then several layers of heavy foundation and can usually get a successful coverage result but it is rather heavy looking compared to real women. I had been looking into trying to get smoother coverage but without the thick layer result. On my male face after decades of shaving I could never get the look I hoped for ski coverage on my face.
I have new aspirations to spend more time out in the real world as a woman. I do love make-up and enjoy wearing it but to be amongst women and men in public in daylight had me wanting nice smooth makeup coverage that successfully disguised my shadows but did not look like a heavy coating on my face. As I say, I love wearing make-up and when I cross-dress in private I have no issue with wearing heavy coatings of foundation at all. For the real world though, I realised I need to up my game if I was to be perceived as a female when out and about.
This led me to look at applying foundation using an airbrush with a small air compressor. The look and finish from foundation applied with an airbrush is very good. I bought a kit and some silicone foundation for use with the airbrush and I have been biding my time to give it a go.
Last night was my chance. I set it all p, watched the manufacturers tutorials and set about spraying the foundation onto my face. It is a very different feel to the traditional method of applying foundation. It is a far more subtle approach. as you gradually build up the coverage using a light misted spray and moving in small circular motions.
I had to laugh when I began as I soon realised this required a degree of practice and my initial spraying efforts were somewhat inept. I was getting the hang of it but I definitely need a lot more practice and..patience! You cannot rush it. I think once one gets competent with it it is possible to apply the foundation considerably faster than my first effort.
Despite my poor technique I was amazed by the coverage, your skin looks amazing! It’s like a flexible, durable, long lasting coverage but none of the thick make up appearance. My skin is unavoidably bumpy around my upper lip, cheeks, chin and neck area but this cover was unlike any previous efforts and the realisation that this was going to work for real world trips in public made me dizzy with excitement. Even on m y sixty year old skin it was as smooth as I was ever going to look.
I bought the Airbase HD kit, which is bigger than I expected. In hindsight I may have been better with the compressor and airbrush alone. The HD kit comes in a se with a lighted mirror. There are alternative kits from other manufacturers such as DInair and Luminess.
If you are serious about trying to look female and avoiding the heavy coverage look during the day then I can recommend using airbrush foundation application. I will admit I have decided to book myself onto a one day training course in the late Spring in order to learn how to use it well. As I am obsessed with trying to look as female as I possibly can I think the cost of the training is a god personal investment as was purchasing the airbrush kit.
I took a lot of selfies last night and one accompanies this narrative. It was rather fabulous to be appearing as a woman once more :-)
Name: Robert Jackson
Arrested for: not given
Arrested at: North Shields Police Station
Arrested on: 15 April 1907
Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-105-Robert Jackson
For an image of his accomplice Margaret Harker see www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/16822680419/in/album-72157....
The Shields Daily News for 22 April 1907 reports:
“ROBBERY FROM THE PERSON.
At North Shields Police Court today, before Councillor J. Sanderson and Mr G.H. Stansfield, Margaret Harker, Normanby, and Janet Sanderson, Newcastle, were charged on demand with having stolen from the person of Joseph Conaty, 6d and a pot of rum on the 13th inst.
Prosecutor, who is a shipwright living at No. 2 Reed Street, stated that at 11.15 pm on the date named he was in Bedford Street, near to the Tiger Stairs, when he was accosted by the two women who asked him to go with them. They went to a room in Liddell Street and after he had given them each 1s they knocked him about, went through his pockets, and took 6d and a pot of rum. Later he was kicked downstairs by a man and upon getting outside he saw some police officers and informed them of what had occurred. PC Graham and Sergt. Wilson spoke to finding one of the women crouching in a recess in the yard of a house in Liddell Street.
Accused pleaded not guilty. The magistrates taking into consideration the fact that they had been in custody for some time, committed them only for one day.
Margaret Harker, in conjunction with Robert Jackson and Thos. Bell, were charged with loitering in Liddell Street, supposed for the purpose of committing a felony, on the 13th inst. PC Graham and Sergt. Wilson gave evidence in support of the charge. Chief Constable Huish said he had made enquiries concerning the accused and had found that they had all been convicted for larceny. Harker made her 47th appearance, Thos. Bell his 6th appearance and Jackson his 8th appearance. The last named had been imprisoned for shop-breaking and robbery with violence. The charge was stoutly denied by the accused who were each committed to prison for a month with hard labour.”
These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
The 255 has stuck with old E200 Darts forever but for its new contract, it's been given a new fleet of GB Kites which look rather smart and have all the tech you'd expect of a new bus.
This is a short route being the only Thornton Heath (TH) route to touch Norbury and it's also weird in that the southbound is fairly direct but the northbound run starts at the Yorkshire Road estate area, turns right, then right again before rejoining the main road.
LV24EKU (EKL2) is at Old Devonshire Road on a run to Pollards Hill via Streatham Hill and Norbury.
Given any second or third Sunday, I cook up a storm and this day is no different. A replenishment of the freezer packed dinners for one as time poor as I am come the working week and no time to come home and prepare a fresh dinner. A big Wok full of Beef and Blackbean and a pot of Sweet and Sour Pork.
All done and dusted, then showered, changed and ….. Pose!
So here I am back in the kitchen and fishing.
Fishing for what?
Hope you can figure that out for yourself, ‘cause we all do it, even if so very few admit to it.
Luck prevailing, or sadness and dispair from others, I will post yet another photo of myself in a week's time.
Even better Large and Dark.
Thanks to everyone for helping this one make it to explore - I'm so chuffed!
I was lucky enough to attend an event in the former rotating restaurant at the top of the Post Office Tower BT Tower last night - given the murky evening it was not an ideal night for any long shots into the distance for panoramic views of London (also the glass was super-reflective) but with the help of Dominic's tripod (the official photographer at the event) I got a few good shots looking down to the streets below...
.. and behold - Middlesex Hospital chapel looking rather forlorn in the middle of the vaste site that was previously the hospital.
The first part of Middlesex Hospital was in Windmill Street in Soho and opened in 1745 - the site here was the second location and was built between 1755 and 1757. At the time the residents of London complained that the location was too far out of the city and that you had to cross the Soho fields to get to it. Seeing the extent of London now it's hard to imagine how this must have looked.
The hospital was extended over the years and numerous buildings were added - in 1929 a large area of the original hospital was demolished as it was in danger of collapse and was replaced with the a large seven-story 'H block' which opened in 1935 and was a familiar landmark known to all visitors.
Alongside this were a number of other buildings - notable here are the row along Nassau Street and 10 Mortimer Street. I mention these as the front walls of the buildings on Nassau Street remain and can be seen on the right of the site... 10 Mortimer Street is in the top right corner of the wasteland and is Grade II listed. Built in 1898 in red brick and Portland stone it started out as offices for an iron founders but was soon incorporated into the hospital. Interesting that the style of 10 Mortimer Street is "Art and Craft" which is the same as used by Ebenezer Howard, founder of Letchworth Garden City, my home town, as seen elsewhere in my photostream.
The chapel was started in 1891 and is rather different as the interior vaults were built in the Italian Gothic Style and are all marble and mosaic - quite stunning. The original architect was John Pearson although the building wasn't actually finished until 1929 when the demolition of much of the old buildings allowed the East window to be completed - the architect for this was one Frank Pearson, his son. John Pearson was one of the foremost Victorian church architects and if you're of a mind you can pay homage to him in Westminster abbey, which I think gives an indication of the esteem in which he was held.
The mosaics in the chapel are by Maurice Josey who's work can be seen across the country, most notably in St Pauls cathedral, Westminster Abbey and The Church of the Sacred Heart in Droitwich which is absolutely stunning Regardless of whether you're into the style I can recommend a visit if you're in the area just to marvel at the work.
The hospital closed in December 2005 and services moved to the University College London Hospital on the Euston Road - from all accounts by this stage the buildings were unable to support modern hospital requirements although the staff appear to have enjoyed the surroundings.
In order to pay for the new hospital the site here was sold for development (but not before being used as a location for a film "Eastern Promises" where it appeared as Trafalgar Hospital). The sale for £200M (thought to be some £25M over value and even £175M was way more than expected due to the rising cost of property - good news for UCL hospital though) completed in June 2006 and the site was cleared, save for the chapel and 10 Mortimer Street, and there it all starts to go horribly wrong.
The developers were (you can tell where we're headed can't you - were) the Candy brothers, Christian and Nick who planned a £1bn development called NoHo Square. Now this would be fine if London had a Houston Street and you could have South and North of Houston.. but the history of Soho has nothing to do with South of anything so NoHo is completely meaningless.
I'll spare you the details of the innovative/thrusting/blue-glass residential/retail plans - this article in Property Week is fairly descriptive and contains much knob-waving by Candy and Candy over how spanky their plans were going to be.
Roll forward to late 2008 and Famine's Hand doth Stalk the Developer's Land in the shape of Robert Peston the Credit Crunch. The upshot of this was that the Candy brothers pulled out and 'swapped' developments with one in Beverley Hills - the fact that an informal valuation of the site puts it now at £120m may have something to do with this.
So now we have an empty site owned by the Icelandic bank Kaupthing (yes - that one which was nationalised) and in the current climate little chance of movement for some time. I can only hope that the chapel survives it's lonely existence in the middle of this barren landscape.
Who knows what may happen to architectural trends between now and when work re-starts... green glass instead of blue?! The shot here reflects the multitude of styles in the area and hopefully this can be reflected in the plans. I always like the way streets appear when viewed from above at night - the tones are lovely and the way the light shines up buildings at night, reflected from the street, as opposed to down is most pleasing...
.. enjoy
P.S I couldn't help think of the song Nightporter by the popular 80's beat combo "Japan" - those of synth and haircut fame. No porters in this hospital anymore...
Could I ever explain this feeling of love?
It just lingers on
The fear in my heart that keeps telling me
Which way to turn
We'll wander again
Our clothes they are wet
We shy from the rain
Longing to touch all the places we know we can hide
The width of a room that can hold so much pleasure inside
Here am I alone again
A quiet town where life gives in
Here am I just wondering
Nightporters go
Nightporters slip away
I'll watch for a sign
And if I should ever again cross your mind
I'll sit my room and wait until nightlife begins
And catching my breath, we'll both brave the weather again
Here am I alone again
The quiet town where life gives in
Here am I just wondering
Nightporters go
Nightporters slip away
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 36.013+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on May 9th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1223341447 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,234th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty six metres at 10:28am on Wednesday 6th May 2020 off Abbey Road B213 and New Road in the grounds of Lesnes Abbey Woods in the London Borough of Bexley, England. Lesnes Abbey woods joins to abbey wood and Abbey wood open space as well as Bostall Heath and woods.
After weeks of self isolation due to the global pandemic that we know as COVID-19 Coronavirus, we are allowed to go out for exercise once per day and keep away from others. A walk in the local woodlands after the rain came today to taste the fresh air and get my limbs moving again.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled on normal setting. Focal length 16mm Shutter speed: 1/100s Aperture f/5.0 iso200 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Miniumum shutter speed 125). White blance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Actve D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1
Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4.0G IF ED VR. Lee filters SW150 holder. Lee filters SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee filters Circular Polariser Glass filter. Lee filters SW150 filters field pouch. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 12.50s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 1.56s
ALTITUDE: 36.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.50MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 40.612+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on March 1st 2021
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1304469268 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 5,343rd frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty three metres at 07:46am on Saturday 27th February 2021 off Blackheath Avenue and Charlton Way in the grounds of Greenwich Park, one of the Royal Parks of London situated in Greenwich, South East London.
Here we see a group of Drakes, or mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), running around in the park. Mallards are dabbling ducks which breed all over temperate and sub tropical Americas, Eurasia and North Africa as well as New Zealand and a host of other territories. Belonging to the waterfowl family, the males or drakes are particularly beautiful with glossy green heads and bright yellow beaks.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Tamron VR vibration reduction enabled on setting One. Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/200s Aperture f/6.3 ISO1600 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Auto ISO 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Manual mode. Matrix metering. White balance on: Auto1 (6990K). Colour space: RGB. Vignette control: Normal. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 30.67s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 0m 19.20s
ALTITUDE: 43.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.8MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 28.10MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.20 (14/01/2021) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.