Wonders of Second Life
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Griffon vulture feeding on the cadaver (not visible)
showing some parts of its head and neck tinged with blood.
Buitre leonado alimentándose de un cadáver (no visible)
mostrando partes de su cabeza y cuello teñidas de sangre.
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
Female Black Redstart with prey| Phoenicurus ochruros | 07-2022 | Ticino | Switzerland
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO:
So this is actually my first bird photo that I am happy with. Naturally, my underwhelming performance in the beaks-and-feather department is nobody's fault but mine (well, and the birds', obviously 😉). I just find avian photography incredibly hard; without some sort of camouflaged bird hide or a bazooka-sized zoom lens that allows you to keep a distance, our feathery friends tend to immediately spot two-legged intruders, and usually they avoid us "nature paparazzi" like the plague (and I can't blame them: after all, we humans are rarely a cause for joy and jubilation in the animal kingdom).
Building a bird hide was never going to work for me since it would conflict with my natural laziness, but what limits my photographic options even further is my stubborn insistence on concentrating solely on the fauna in my garden and its immediate surroundings. Because my garden - my little tropical paradise as I like to call it - is actually rather tiny: it's 40 square-meters, tops.
The main reason I force myself to adhere to this "strictly-garden rule" is to have a distinct profile for my website - www.lacerta-bilineata.com/other-fauna - and my Flickr gallery, because there already are millions of wildlife photographers, and most of them are vastly more talented than I am (and probably also less lazy 😉).
But operating within such a limited space also poses an interesting challenge, and it makes this photographic journey of mine more personal, because it forces me to look closer at the place I call home, and through my daily "safaris" in my garden I actually feel more connected to all the many lifeforms that share this little oasis with me.
There is an obvious downside though: Even though I've slightly "stretched" these rules - anything outside my garden is fair game as long as I don't stray further than 5 meters from the premises or I manage to photograph it from within my garden - certain animals are just very hard to capture (if they ever show up at all).
Which brings me back to my original subject: birds. And thankfully, at least some of them DO show up in and around my garden - but man, these fellas are a picky, nervous bunch. They like my garden just fine - just as long as I'm not in it. I can't remember a single time over the past year since I acquired my new camera that I had a clear shot of even so much as a feather, let alone the kind of detailed portrait I usually aim for.
Imagine my delight this summer when I realized a pair of cute black redstarts had built their nest underneath my neighbor's roof, and in order to quench their chicks' seemingly endless appetite, Mr and Mrs redstart could ill afford passing up the opportunity to hunt in a garden teeming with insect life such as mine - even when I was present.
It still took a lot of patience until mama redstart trusted me enough to get this close, but in the end I finally got my first presentable bird photo 😊
As always, many greetings from Switzerland; try to stay out of the heat and let me know what you think in the comments!
In the early days Veere was a flourishing commercial city. This prosperity can be found in the beautiful historical premises. The town of Veere arose in the twelfth century. The following centuries the town was being used to store Scottish wool. Veere still has these typical Scottish homes, which were built in the sixteenth century by rich Scottish merchants. At the Kaai in Veere, two of these Scottish houses still stand, and they remind people of the wool trade back in those days. Antique collections of the last private owners are among the things which can be admired here. Also fans of porcelain, furniture, style rooms and stitch costumes have much to look at. In the Scottish houses you can regularly go to see different expositions of the artists from Veere.
Big church
Big church Veere
The big church is from 1348 and it is a really great sight. As from 1811 the church was being used by Napoleon’s soldiers as a military hospital; the church was a beggars house and a barrack for a while as well. You can still clearly see the traces of an eventful past.
...City
While Rome is the Eternal City one might call Berlin the eternal building site. Or The Unfinished City. Construction cranes are as prominently featured in Berlin's skyline as sights. And it can happen that, if you haven't visited a place in a longer while ("easy" in pandemic times), you'll find old, familiar buildings gone, while new buildings seem to pop up out of nowhere everywhere. I've taken this image last week after a visit to the Futurium (a "House of the Future", opened in 2019 – I'll post images from there soon); in the foreground you can see the river Spree, and the glass building on the left is Berlin's Central Station, the Hauptbahnhof (HBF). Noteworthy: The HBF's upper platforms aren't fully roofed, because the Deutsche Bahn (DB; the German Railway Company) wanted to open the HBF in time for the 2006 World Football Championship by all means, and it would have taken until 2008 to finish the roof. The irony: All the construction parts needed to finish the roof were already manufactured. To this date these parts are stored on the premises of Berlin's East Station. Will the roof ever be finished? Who knows... The construction site you see in front of the HBF has nothing to do with the HBF's roof. It is that of the new S 21 suburban railway line, which is scheduled for completion in 2022. Allegedly...
At first, I wanted to process this as a monochrome, because the scene is rather busy. But I liked all these colours. So I thought "embrace the chaos, embrace the construction site and all those cranes", and do it in colour ;) The final image is an HDR made from three images (in HDR Efex), with further processing / sliding steps in Color Efex.
Happy Sliders Sunday, Everyone, stay safe and healthy, and take care!
Die Unvollendete
Rom ist ja bekanntlich die Ewige Stadt. Und Berlin könnte man getrost als die Ewige Baustelle bezeichnen. Oder auch als Die Unvollendete. Baukräne gehören zur Berliner Skyline wie seine Sehenswürdigkeiten. Gerade in Pandemiezeiten, wenn man manche Orte schon lange nicht mehr besucht hat, kann es dann auch passieren, dass alte, vertraute Gebäude plötzlich verschwunden sind, während allerorten Neues entsteht. Dieses Foto des Hauptbahnhofs mit einem Seitenarm der Spree im Vordergrund habe ich vergangene Woche nach einem Besuch des Futuriums (2019 eröffnet, Fotos von dort zeige ich demnächst) gemacht. Die Baustelle am Europaplatz, die Ihr hier seht, bedeutet allerdings nicht, dass die Deutsche Bahn nun doch das Dach für die oberen Bahnsteige des Hauptbahnhofs verlängern würde. Die dafür nötigen Bauteile, längst fertiggestellt, lagern weiterhin (hoffentlich gut verstaut) am Berliner Ostbahnhof. Diese Baustelle gehört zur neuen S-Bahnlinie S21, für die ein unterirdischer Bahnsteig gebaut wird. Geplante Fertigstellung: 2022. Warten wir's ab.
Ich wollte das Foto erst als SW / getöntes Monochrom bearbeiten, weil hier ja ganz schön viel los ist. SW sah mir aber zu trüb aus, weshalb ich bei Farbe geblieben bin. Das Foto habe ich in HDR Efex aus einer 3er-Belichtungsreihe erstellt und für Sliders Sunday in Color Efex noch den einen oder anderen Filter (ich weiß wirklich nicht mehr, welche Filter genau) angewendet.
Habt einen guten Wochenstart und passt weiterhin gut auf Euch auf!
Normally, I don't let Rooster out until I know Mama moose has left the premises but she came back so it was a surprise that her and Rooster met up. Now, If any of you wonder what would happen if you encounter any wildlife on the trail how your dog would react....well, they bring them back to you. That's right, Mama moose came galloping right past me down my driveway. She doesn't perceive me as a threat so I was safe. Imagine if that was a bear? Something I learned from this picture is when a moose is perturbed their ears go comically sideways. She has never showed me that facial expression.
Of course, Rooster thinks it is all a game, just another horse on the property.
As a side note, sadly Rooster got ran over by a truck just outside my ranch gate by a passerby going about 80, he was rushed to the Dog ER on Sunday. He suffered a pulmonary contusion so he is on bed rest and as you can imagine not happy about it now that he is on the mend. All a very traumatic ordeal, I will forever be haunted by his cry as he got run over. Hope he has learned his lesson about cars as I never had a dog that didn't respect motorized vehicles. Had I known, I wouldn't have rescued him, there is only one ending, but apparently Rooster has a guardian angel. BTW- ER Vets think you shit out money, just saying. $1600 a night. This dog is going to give me a heart attack yet. Where is my beloved Sadie Dawg when I need her? Heavy sigh....
The James Ryan Ltd Retail and Wholesale Distributors buildings are part of the Ryan Premises National Historic Site located in the Town of Bonavista on the Bonavista Peninsula in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador Canada
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This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. They may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
A very pretty demansia vestigiata that was photographed on the Fraser Coast.
This lesser black whip snake was picked up as result of a call out from the local hospital who wanted it removed from their premises. Once captured it was observed to have an injured tail. The flesh was blackened and foul to the bone indicating necrosis. After a quick vet trip for an operation it went on to spend a couple of weeks in care. That care involved oral pain medication and antibiotics given daily. No part of this exercise did the snake appreciate…
The snake was successfully released back into the wild sans part of its tail #venomous #elapid
A photo taken inside the premises of Yamada Ryokan.
Honkan (本館, main building) in the right was built during the Edo period before Meiji Restoration in 1868, Kura (蔵, treasury) in the left was built in 1885, and the buildings in the back in 1914,
The main building was originally built for Touji (湯治), a traditional form of tourism for therapeutic bathing to improve health and/or to cure disease and injury. Guests cooked foods for themselves and stayed for weeks at the spa. Therefore a communal self-catering kitchen is still attached to the establishment.
Touji had been a popular leisure activity rivalling pilgrimage before modern tourism was introduced after Meiji Restoration.
The James Ryan Ltd Retail and Wholesale Distributors buildings are part of the Ryan Premises National Historic Site located in the Town of Bonavista on the Bonavista Peninsula in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador Canada
James Ryan Ltd. was established in the Bayley's Cove section of Bonavista in 1857 where it operated a pub as well as a retail store. The main operation was relocated to its present location on Bonavista harbour in 1869 and liquor was only sold in bulk and the fishery became the main focus. The company bought and sold salt cod, supplied salt and other materials for the cod fishery, and sold general merchandise. By 1895 James Ryan Ltd exported 100,000 quintals (approximately 5,000,000 kg) of salt cod, approximately 10% of the total for Newfoundland.James Ryan Ltd. exited the fishing industry in 1952 and continued on as a general store until closing in 1978. In 1987, the Ryan Premises at Bonavista were designated as a National Historic Site. Parks Canada took over the property and it was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II on June 24, 1997 to mark the 500th anniversary of John Cabot's landfall at Bonavista.
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This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. They may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
The Make and Brake Engine on display at the Ryan Premises National Historic Site located in the Town of Bonavista on the Bonavista Peninsula in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador Canada
Make and break inboard motors were among the first technological advances to help revolutionize fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador. They allowed fishermen to save their strength for fishing, not wasting it on paddling or hauling sails as they had done before. Most often installed in trap skiffs, the hull was first cut away to accommodate water intake and output, which helped cool the engine. The large motor was then bolted to the inside of the boat, usually in a motor house, with the propeller advancing through the stern, driving the vessel forward. These dependable, sturdy, single cylinder, gasoline engines have been called many names, and while make and break is the most common, putt-putt engine, one-lungers,or pik-a-puk, are all used to describe the same type of engine.
Researched and written by Joelle Carey, May 2012.
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This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. They may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
Ryan Premises National Historic Site located in the Town of Bonavista on the Bonavista Peninsula in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador Canada
The Ryan Premises is a National Historic Site of Canada located in the town of Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is preserved as an example of a large-scale merchant operation in a Newfoundland outport.
The site consists of the proprietor's house, a carriage shed, a retail shop, a retail store, a fish store and a salt store. The staff house, adjacent to but not part of the historical site, is a Registered Heritage Structure. Earlier, the premises also included a larger salt store, a cooperage, a powder magazine, a telegraph office, wharves, fish flakes, a lumber yard and a shipyard.
James Ryan Ltd. was established in the Bayley's Cove section of Bonavista in 1857 where it operated a pub as well as a retail store. The main operation was relocated to its present location on Bonavista harbour in 1869 and liquor was only sold in bulk and the fishery became the main focus. The company bought and sold salt cod, supplied salt and other materials for the cod fishery, and sold general merchandise. By 1895 James Ryan Ltd exported 100,000 quintals (approximately 5,000,000 kg) of salt cod, approximately 10% of the total for Newfoundland.James Ryan Ltd. exited the fishing industry in 1952 and continued on as a general store until closing in 1978. In 1987, the Ryan Premises at Bonavista were designated as a National Historic Site. Parks Canada took over the property and it was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II on June 24, 1997 to mark the 500th anniversary of John Cabot's landfall at Bonavista.
©Copyright Notice
This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. They may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
from the archive (2009!!)
it's so interesting to look back on what one made over a decade ago...this was one of my own favourites....from my obsessions with premises undergoing refurbishments....not sure what that says about me.
Multi-storey car park of the Zeche Zollverein on the premises of the coking plant
Parkhaus der Zeche Zollverein auf dem Gelände der Kokerei
Last week went to a destination wedding and was pleasantly surprised finding 32 species on the premises. Grand Palladium Cancun Mexico.
The Great view of Humayun tomb in delhi. The foreground shows a gardeners/caretakers cart that makes it easier for the worker to inspect and maintain the premises.
Town of Bonavista Flag on display in one of the Ryan Premises National Historic Site of Canada buildings in the Town of Bonavista on the Bonavista Peninsula in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador Canada
©Copyright Notice
This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. They may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
Not quite golden, but yellow painted thick chains strung across bollards at the end of a carpark at the rear of a business premises.
(5/5) Premises by premises, public space by public space, inch by inch we hand over our belongings, our ownership to be treated back to safety and security. We trusted to be treated the way we should. We are trading our lives now. When our quarantines are broken, permissions issued, it is the system that is ready to 'treat' us, us and our diseases, us and our corpses, us and our insurances. Pegs return to stations, ready to turn and let turn.
Interestingly, an equality comes with this disease. We all have to line up to get inside the supermarket to get toilet paper or bleach. We all have to buy the unpopular pasta brand now. We all have to report to the young admission desk clerk to walk into the clinic. It is all military and we must be grateful. We certainly don't want to die like those people who are not as fortunate as we are.
What we treasure more, some consciously and some not, is the untouchable world inside, the ocean of consciousness, the land of the truly free. We hide in it, take refuge in it, treasure it.
With the question of how are you doing these days, we take our defenses up. What? Now you need to know what goes inside? "I'm all right. It's a small price to pay."
The fact is it is a huge price to pay. Here in America being was limited by confusion due to an abundance of options and now we are limited by our inabilities or even worse by lack of permissions. We lost permissions and those who do not want it, have to learn how to live without.
Old confusions due to a plethora of options are gone. Old choices are gone, old options, old confusions. We are limited by lacks, lack of permissions.
Now confusion belongs to those who push the limits without permissions or beyond permissions. Confusion belongs to those trying to separate themselves from collective security that government aparatus promises with no guarantee.
Private premises of
Lord Aberconwy.
Bodnant Garden is a National Trust property near Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy, Wales, overlooking the Conwy Valley towards the Carneddau mountains. Founded in 1874 and developed by five generations of one family, it was given to the National Trust in 1949.
I love domestic history, and I am known to often end up like Alice : lost down the rabbit hole, in my case a rabbit hole of historical facts. When history is coupled with one of my other passions - haberdashery, in particular cotton spools with beautiful thread heads with elegant graphics - then I am in heaven! This is one such example.
D. H. Evans was a large department store along the major West End shopping strip of Oxford Street. D. H. Evans was opened in 1879 by Dan Harries Evans at 320 Oxford Street. Evans was a Welshman who had trained as draper and had moved to London in 1878. The store quickly grew and by 1885 it had absorbed three of the stores adjoining it. In 1893, the store moved into further new premises at 290 to 294 Oxford Street and became a limited liability company. In 1897, Dan Evans resigned as Managing Director but stayed on the board, and was replaced by Harrods manager Ernest Webb on the advice of Harrods and D. H. Evans director Richard Burbridge. The business continued to expand by purchasing the business of neighbors James Goodman and Arthur Saunders, and in 1906, announced the rebuilding of the collection of buildings on the west side of Old Cavendish Street. In 1915, Dan Evans retired from the board and was replaced by Ernest Webb's son William Wallace Webb. By 1928, however, D. H. Evans realized they could not expand without further investment, and due to the relationship with Harrods agreed a merger with Harrods being the senior partner, with William Burbridge becoming the chairman. 1935, land bounded by Oxford Street, Old Cavendish Street, Henrietta Street and Chapel Place was acquired and demolished for a new store designed by Louis Blanc, which opened in 1937. In 1954, Harrods was purchased by House of Fraser, and D. H. Evans become a trading arm within the Harrods group. A second D. H. Evans store was added in Wood Green, London in 1980, and the Oxford Street store was refurbished twice between 1982 and 1985. I began to shop there during this period. In 2001, the store was rebranded under the House of Fraser name. The store closed permanently in January 2022.
This small spool of creamy white thread has never been used, and comes from D. H. Evans' heyday in the Edwardian era of the early Twentieth Century. I acquired it from a collector in Dorset, divesting herself of some of her pieces as she downsizes her home. The spool has been photographed on a piece of heavily embroidered Art Deco patterned organza which I bought from a specialist shop that has a particularly wonderful range of unusual fabrics that they sell by the quarter metre (just enough for my purposes).
Excerpt from www.tourstcatharines.com/tours-oldtown.shtml:
117 St. Paul Street is a typical 19th century business premises of red brick, with Italianate windows, beautifully restored.
On 6 September 1646, Palafox y Mendoza donated 5,000[4] of his own items to the Colegio de San Juan—which was founded by him—on the condition that they be made available to the general public.[5] He wrote that "it is very useful and convenient that there should be in this city and kingdom a public library, where all sorts of people will be able to study as they wish".[4]
The exterior facade, covered with colonial Talavera pottery
More than a century later, Francisco Fabián y Fuero ordered the construction of the premises which currently house the Biblioteca Palafoxiana. He donated his own collection, and the collections of the bishops Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz and Francisco Pablo Vázquez and the dean of the Francisco Irigoyen Cathedral were gradually added, as were volumes from Pueblan religious schools and individuals.[4] Books confiscated from Jesuits upon their expulsion in 1767 were also added.[5]
The library was finished in 1773, consisting of a 43-meter-long vaulted hall on the Colegio's second floor. Two levels of bookshelves were built, and a retablo of the Madonna of Trapani by Nino Pisano was acquired. By the mid-19th century, the size of the collection necessitated a third level of bookshelves.
Shot around a temple premises in the middle of a forest. The temple rituals involve sacrifices of goats which are then cooked into a meal and distributed to the poor as free food. This happens once a week and the leftover blood attracts several flycatchers.
The Taiga flycatcher is a small flycatcher from Palearctic region that winters in India. They are not easy to sight and harder to id since the Red-Breasted Flycatcher looks very similar except for a few minor differences (like feet color, beak and tail colors). We sighted 2-3 of them and they were quite wary of some monkeys nearby. Monkeys tend to grab birds for food and hence birds fly away quickly.
Thanks in advance for your views, favorites and feedback.
The placename is probably derived from Irish Dún mBó, "hillfort of cattle," suggesting that a Gaelic Irish fort was on this site before the later castle.[3] The castle was built for the D'Arcy family in the mid-15th century and marked the western edge of The Pale. According to the Civil Survey (1654–6) Thomas Darcy owned the entire parish and on the premises there was ‘a Castle, a Church, a Mill, an Orchard and a fishing weare’.
During the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649 the Castle was fired upon from the south bank by passing troops on their way from Drogheda to Athboy, but avoided any real damage.
According to legend, the occupant, George d'Arcy, entertained King James on the night before the Battle of the Boyne (1690) and King William the day after, inspiring the couplet: "Who will be king, I do not know, But I'll be d'Arcy of Dunmoe."
The two-storey building attached to the east may be an 18th-century addition. A drawing of 1795 shows the castle intact. It was burned down during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Now only the two southern towers and some walls remain.[4][5]
Bank of England, Manchester Branch (centre image, ground level)
The cotton industry was a major source of business for local banks and merchants around the start of the 19th century. Manchester’s importance as a commercial centre was recognised when the Bank of England established a branch in the town in 1826. Some 20 years later it moved into a suitably imposing new building, designed by one of the country’s leading architects, Charles Cockerell. The location was Upper King Street, almost directly opposite the old town hall. Manchester’s importance as a financial centre was further consolidated in 1836 when the Manchester Stock Exchange was opened in Exchange Street, in part to deal in the shares of the local joint-stock banking companies.
Cockerell’s Bank of England branch building (shown above) survives in King Street but it is no longer home to the bank, the latter having moved into new premises located at the junction of Portland Street and Charlotte Street in 1971.
This information was provided by Terry Wyke.
Inside, it's on-the-premises distilled cocktails. Outside, it's classic food-truck fare. It's Friday night good spirits, at...
Independent Distilling Company
Decatur (Agnes Scott Historical District), Georgia, USA.
5 May 2023.
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Art Gallery Putti
Gallery is located in the spacious premises in the architectonically historical centre – Vecrīga – in the Art Nouveau building built in 1907 as a dwelling house with a shop on the ground floor, designed by an architect Paul Mandelshtam (1872 – 1941).
All works you see are created by artist Elita Patmalniece.
Elita Patmalniece is a Latvian artist who was born in 1964. .
Elita has created an art space as a dedication to each and every one of us. A work of art that makes you look around, feel the energy, time and the moment that is constantly changing. Visitors of the exhibition can literally enter the world created by Elita, see themselves from several sides as part of the exhibition, be reintroduced with different aspects of their personality. Entering the colourful vortex of life, travelling to the center of it, can lead us to see exactly what is important to each of us at this moment. Surviving, feeling, being grateful for what we have.
The windows at apartment block "Bulolo" in McLachlan Street, Fortitude Valley stand wide open for some winter westerlies. Happy Window Wednesday.
Here is the link to the original shot of the whole premises
flic.kr/p/2ntbLfK
Sunder Nursery, formerly called Azim Bagh or Bagh-e-Azeem, is a 16th-century heritage park complex adjacent to the Humayun's Tomb, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Delhi.
Originally known as Azim Bagh and built by the Mughals in the 16th century, it lies on the Mughal-era Grand Trunk Road, and is spread over 90 acres.
Today Sunder Nursery contains fifteen heritage monuments of which 6 are UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), protected Sundarwala Burj, Sundarwala Mahal, and Lakkarwala Burj.
During the British rule, the nursery was established to grow experimental plants, which gave it its current designation as a nursery. The "Sunder" part of the name comes from the Sunder Burj tomb located on the same premises. Although the name Sunder Nursery has still held, the park has been quoted to be a 'Delhi's Central Park' after renovations (though not to be confused with the central park in Connaught Place, New Delhi).
Fondée en 1146 dans la vallée de la Thyle par Bernard de Clairvaux, cette abbaye était l'une des premières filles de l'abbaye de Clairvaux. Elle fut très tôt protégée par les ducs de Brabant et ainsi rapidement féconde. Le XIIIe siècle marque son apogée. Entre les XIVe et XVIIe siècles, l'abbaye a connu une succession de périodes calmes et troublées, durant lesquelles les moines ont quitté les lieux à neuf reprises pour raisons d'insécurité. Au XVIIIe siècle, l'abbaye a connu son second âge d'or, marqué par une grande ébullition architecturale. Après la Révolution française, la communauté monastique a dû se disperser, puis l'abbaye fut vendue comme bien national.
Dès lors, aux XIXe et XXe siècles, le site a connu dégradations et restaurations. L'ancienne abbaye de Villers est devenue un lieu de visite romantique et pittoresque, mais bien que devenu touristique, le site se dégradait. L'État belge a donc procédé à l'expropriation des lieux en 1892 pour y entamer un important chantier de restauration.
Les ruines appartiennent désormais à la Région wallonne, relevant du patrimoine majeur de Wallonie. La gestion du site est confiée à une association sans but lucratif, laquelle organise depuis 1987 des représentations théâtrales, des expositions et autres manifestations.
Founded in 1146 in the valley of the Thyle by Bernard de Clairvaux, this abbey was one of the first daughters of the abbey of Clairvaux. It was very early protected by the Dukes of Brabant and thus quickly fertile. The 13th century marks its peak. Between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, the abbey experienced a succession of calm and troubled periods, during which the monks left the premises nine times for reasons of insecurity. In the 18th century, the abbey experienced its second golden age, marked by great architectural turmoil. After the French Revolution, the monastic community had to disperse, then the abbey was sold as national property.
From then on, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the site suffered damage and restoration. The old abbey of Villers has become a romantic and picturesque place to visit, but although it has become touristy, the site is deteriorating. The Belgian State therefore expropriated the premises in 1892 to begin a major restoration project.
The ruins now belong to the Walloon Region, belonging to the major heritage of Wallonia. The management of the site is entrusted to a non-profit association, which has been organizing theatrical performances, exhibitions and other events since 1987.
Augustus Gloop would have loved this. Remember him falling into the chocolate river and being escorted off the premises in ignominy by a team of Oompa Loompas? Well at least he would have loved it here if he were a real person rather than a fictional visitor to Willy Wonka’s magical emporium somewhere on the other side of Roald Dahl’s imagination. In fact so would a lot of people. I’d have been in there myself, filling my wellies with the stuff and taking it home for elevenses. There’d be no chance of getting a shot at all - at least not one that wasn’t filled with gourmands groaning over their excessive compulsions, lying on their backs with their feet waving in the air, distended bellies shifting uncomfortably. Probably a good job it’s not chocolate then - just a mixture of freezing water and sand, flowing across the beach at low tide in bumps and ridges that catch the eye and the imagination in bucketfuls. And instead of filling my boots with chocolate, I was crouching here in them, surrounded by the racing water, with plenty more of it falling from the heavens. But I like a challenge, and besides which, I was in good company today. And I’d fortified myself with a flaky steak pasty from my local Cornish Oven. They didn’t have chocolate flavour that day.
Instead of young Master Gloop, Charlie Bucket and co, I was here with Lloyd on his first togging adventure at Holywell Bay. And to add some further wisdom to the proceedings, we were joined by a certain Mr Pedlar. You know him don’t you? A man who embodies the purity of the Cornish spirit - although to my knowledge he hadn’t brought any Spingo along with him (you’ll have to look that up if you’re none the wiser - just hold onto your hats and your breeches if you give it a try). It was one of those days where you just have to embrace what the elements are throwing at you, grin cheerfully and put your shoulder to the wind. And wear waterproofs of course - lots of them. By now I was clad from head to foot in things to keep me dry, planting my tripod in the ever shifting riverbed on the sand. Even the flow of the water changes with every moment on afternoons like this here. Sometimes it’s flat and benign, spreading artfully across this wonderful canvas in gentle ripples, and then suddenly a series of ridges rise up like a serpent breaking the surface, moving along its course in one direction or the other and beguiling the senses.
I’d decided to have another try with the crop body and the recently acquired budget lens - a combination that had mysteriously broken down on its first ever outing when I was last here and an error code appeared on the screen and refused to go away. Since then it had somehow cured itself, and the screen gave me no further cause for complaint - I was keen to persist, as unlike the display on my full frame camera, this one flips out and does the hula, allowing me to see what it is I’m taking a picture of without kneeling down in five inches of icy water and craning my neck over to one side. Throw on your choice of filter, tap the screen where you want to focus, wait two seconds and then let nature take care of the rest. Oh yes, and the editing suite. And while that wide angle lens doesn’t quite deliver the sharpness of the one I mount on the other camera, it’s good enough. Good enough to allow me to see a pinnacle on the rocks that I’d never spotted before. I don’t visit this location quite as often as I might, but I’m here often enough, and always finding something new. Add to this the fact that the river seems to plot a different course across the sand at low tide with every visit, and it’s never dull.
Once I’d sifted through the images and lost the ones where the rain spots rendered them unusable, I was still left with enough material to deliver a record of the chocolate river. And with a suitable gap created by white clouds that separated Carter’s Rocks from the rest of the scene, it was just a case of picking the one with the most interesting textures in the foreground. One that featured the serpent.
I fancy some chocolate now. Nothing too ostentatious, just a few thousand gallons of it pouring past me so I can dip in a flagon now and again and do a bit of Glooping of my own. Without overdoing it of course. Wouldn’t want to come to a sticky end like Augustus did. Pun probably intended…………
Donostiako Udala, San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, España.
El Ayuntamiento de San Sebastián (vasco: Donostiako Udala) es la institución que gobierna la ciudad vasca de San Sebastián (España). Sus instalaciones están ubicadas en el antiguo casino de la ciudad junto a la Bahía de La Concha.
El edificio se construyó en 1887 en los Jardines de Alderdi-Eder de San Sebastián, junto al Club Náutico Real, para albergar el casino principal. La ceremonia de apertura contó con la presencia de la reina María Cristina de Austria. Sin embargo, se cerró como un casino después de la prohibición de los juegos de azar en 1924.
El 14 de abril de 1928 se llegó a un acuerdo para abrir en este edificio el Centro de Atracción y Turismo, para luego mudarse a un edificio al lado del Hotel María Cristina.
El 20 de enero de 1945, el ayuntamiento se trasladó a este edificio. Los arquitectos Alday y Arizmendi enmendaron el proyecto inicial en 1943 y convirtieron el antiguo casino en consejo. Hasta entonces, el Ayuntamiento estaba ubicado en la Plaza de la Constitución (Parte Vieja), ahora sede de la Biblioteca Municipal.
The City council of San Sebastián (Basque: Donostiako Udala, Spanish: Ayuntamiento de San Sebastián) is the institution that governs the Basque city of San Sebastián (Spain). Its premises are located in the former casino of the city next to the Bay of La Concha.
The building was built up in 1887 at the Gardens of Alderdi-Eder of San Sebastián, next to the Nautical Royal Club, to house the main casino. The opening ceremony was attended by the Queen Maria Christina of Austria. However, it closed as a casino after the ban on gambling in 1924.
On April 14, 1928, an agreement was reached to open in this building the Center of Attraction and Tourism, later this moving to a building next to the Hotel María Cristina.
On January 20, 1945, the council moved to this building. The architects Alday and Arizmendi amended the initial project in 1943 and turned the former casino into council. Until then, the City Hall was located in the Constitution Square (Parte Vieja), now headquarters of the Municipal Library.
Allard Motor Company Limited was a London-based low-volume car manufacturer founded in 1945 by Sydney Allard in small premises in Clapham, south-west London. Car manufacture almost ceased within a decade. It produced approximately 1900 cars before it became insolvent and ceased trading in 1958. Before the war, Allard supplied some replicas of a Bugatti-tailed special of his own design from Adlards Motors in Putney.
Allards featured large American V8 engines in a light British chassis and body, giving a high power-to-weight ratio and foreshadowing the Sunbeam Tiger and AC Cobra of the early 1960s. Cobra designer Carroll Shelby and Chevrolet Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov both drove Allards in the early 1950s.
Using its inventory of easy-to-service Ford mechanicals built up during World War II and bodywork of Allard's own design, three post-war models were introduced with a newly designed steel chassis and lightweight body shells: the J, a competition sports car; the K, a slightly larger car intended for road use, and the four seater L. All three were based on the Ford Pilot chassis and powered by a fairly stock 85 hp (63 kW; 86 PS) 3,622 cc (221.0 cu in) side valve V8 with a single carburetor and 6:1 compression, driving a three-speed transmission and low-geared rear-end, for superior acceleration.[4] Front suspension was Ballamy swing axle, rear Ford solid axle.[4] They were bodied in aluminum by Allard's friend Godfrey Imhof. Sales were fairly brisk for a low-volume car, and demand was high for cars in general, which led to the introduction of several larger models, the drophead coupe M and P.
Allard used "J" for the short-wheelbase two-seaters, "K" for two- or three-seat tourers or roadsters, "L" for four-seat tourers, "M" for drophead (convertible) coupes, and "P" for fixed-head cars. As models were replaced, subsequent models were numbered sequentially
Sydney Allard soon saw the potential of the economically more vibrant – but sports car starved – U.S. market and developed a special competition model to tap it, the J2. The new roadster, weighing just 18.5 cwt,[5] was a potent combination of a lightweight, hand-formed aluminium body fitted with new coil spring[4] front suspension, fitted with inclined telescopic dampers,[6][7] and de Dion-type rear axle,[3] inboard rear brakes, and 110 hp (82 kW), 267 cu in (4,375 cc) Mercury flathead V8, with the option of an Ardun hemi conversion.[4] The J2 had a disturbing tendency to catch fire when started.[5]
Importing American engines just to ship them back across the Atlantic proved problematic, so U.S.-bound Allards were soon shipped engineless and fitted out in the States variously with newer overhead valve engines by Cadillac, Chrysler, Buick, and Oldsmobile. In that form, the J2 proved a highly competitive international race car for 1950, most frequently powered by 331 cu in (5.4 L) Cadillac engines. Domestic versions for England came equipped with Ford or Mercury flatheads. Zora Duntov worked for Allard from 1950 to 1952 and raced for the factory Allard team at Le Mans in 1952 and 1953.
Available both in street trim and stripped down for racing, the J2 proved successful in competition on both sides of the Atlantic, including a third place overall at Le Mans in 1950 (co-driven by Tom Cole and Allard himself at an average 87.74 mph (141.20 km/h), powered by a Cadillac V8.
J2s returned to Le Mans in 1951, one co-driven again by Cole and Allard, the other by Reece and Hitchings; Reece jumped an embankment, while the Allard car broke. They had no more success in 1952, both cars failing to finish.
Of 313 documented starts in major races in the 9 years between 1949 and 1957, J2s compiled 40 first-place finishes; 32 seconds; 30 thirds; 25 fourths; and 10 fifth-place finishes.[10] Both Zora Duntov and Carroll Shelby raced J2s in the early 1950s. Ninety J2s were produced between 1950 and 1952.
The K2 (the car seen in the photos above) is a 2-seater sports car produced from 1950 to 1952. It was offered with Ford and Mercury V8s in the home market and with Chrysler and Cadillac V8s in the USA. 119 were built.
Source: Wiki
When I first started work in London's Pall Mall at the age of 19 back in the mid-60s I was taken along to the nearest branch of Martins Bank - in the adjacent Waterloo Place - to open my very first bank account. They were a traditional and very helpful bank. Unfortunately, they were taken over by Barclays Bank a few years later. The less said about that, the better.
These old premises of Martins Bank are in the centre of the village of Dent in Dentdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Until the boundary changes of 1974 the village was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Kids who live within the premises of Dhobi Ghat.
Context:
Washerman/women in local language are called 'Dhobi'.
From the 'tourist info poster' placed outside:
1. This a 125+ years old open air laundrymat in Mumbai.
2. There are rows of open-air concrete wash pens, each fitted with its own flogging stone. Its the world's largest outdoor laundry.
3. This place has an annual turnover of approx. 2 Million USD
4. It garnered a Guiness Book record entry under 'most people hand-washing cloths at a single location', at 2011.
I wanted to write a personal note, but found this article expressing it way better. Do read.
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