Help , we need help , we're stranded on a desolate island ...we need food and water.We need to be recued soon.

It requires energy to climb the wall's steps because they are very steep. When you get to the top of the Great Wall, you can see the Great Wall lying along the winding mountains like a dragon

Taken @The Great Wall, Beijing, China

A giant tortoise at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz

Galapagos Giant Tortoise

The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (Geochelone nigra) is the largest living tortoise, native to seven islands of the Galápagos archipelago. The Galápagos tortoise is unique to the Galápagos Islands. Fully grown adults can weigh over 300 kilograms (661 lb) and measure 1.2 meters (4 ft) long. They are long-lived with a life expectancy in the wild estimated to be 100-150 years. Populations fell dramatically because of hunting and the introduction of predators and grazers by humans since the seventeenth century. Now only ten subspecies of the original twelve exist in the wild. However, conservation efforts since the establishment of the Galápagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation have met with success, and hundreds of captive-bred juveniles have been released back onto their home islands. They have become one of the most symbolic animals of the fauna of the Galápagos Islands. The tortoises have very large shells (carapace) made of bone. The bony plates of the shell are integral to the skeleton, fused with the ribs in a rigid protective structure. Naturalist Charles Darwin remarked "These animals grow to an immense size ... several so large that it required six or eight men to lift them from the ground.". This is due to the phenomenon of island gigantism whereby in the absence of natural predation, the largest tortoises had a survival advantage and no disadvantage in fleeing or fending off predators. When threatened, it can withdraw its head, neck and all forelimbs into its shell for protection, presenting a protected shield to a would-be predator. The legs have hard scales that also provide armour when withdrawn. Tortoises keep a characteristic scute pattern on their shell throughout life. These have annual growth bands but are not useful for aging as the outer layers are worn off. There is little variation in the dull-brown colour of the shell or scales. Physical features (including shape of the shell) relate to the habitat of each of the subspecies. These differences were noted by Captain Porter even before Charles Darwin. Larger islands with more wet highlands such as Santa Cruz and the Alcedo Volcano on Isabela have lush vegetation near the ground. Tortoises here tend to have 'dome-back' shells. These animals have restricted upward head movement due to shorter necks, and also have shorter limbs. These are the heaviest and largest of the subspecies.Smaller, drier islands such as Española and Pinta are inhabited by tortoises with 'saddleback' shells comprising a flatter carapace which is elevated above the neck and flared above the hind feet. Along with longer neck and limbs, this allows them to browse taller vegetation. On these drier islands the Galápagos Opuntia cactus (a major source of their fluids) has evolved a taller, tree-like form. This is evidence of an evolutionary arms race between progressively taller tortoises and correspondingly taller cacti. Saddlebacks are smaller in size than domebacks. They tend to have a yellowish color on lower mandible and throat. At one extreme, the Sierra Negra volcano population that inhabits southern Isabela Island has a very flattened "tabletop" shell. However, there is no saddleback/domeback dualism; tortoises can also be of 'intermediate' type with characteristics of both. The tortoises are slow-moving reptiles with an average long-distance walking speed of 0.3 km/h (0.18 mph). Although feeding giant tortoises browse with no apparent direction, when moving to water-holes or nesting grounds, they can move at surprising speeds for their size. Marked individuals have been reported to have traveled 13 km in two days. Being cold-blooded, the tortoises bask for two hours after dawn, absorbing the energy through their shells, then becoming active for 8–9 hours a day. They may sleep for about sixteen hours in a mud wallow partially or submerged in rain-formed pools (sometimes dew ponds formed by garua-moisture dripping off trees). This may be both a thermoregulatory response and a protection from parasites such as mosquitoes and ticks. Some rest in a 'pallet'- a snug depression in soft ground or dense brush- which probably helps to conserve heat and may aid digestion. On the Alcedo Volcano, repeated use of the same sites by the large resident population has resulted in the formation of small sandy pits. Darwin observed that: "The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf; certainly they do not overhear a person walking near behind them. I was always amused, when overtaking one of these great monsters as it was quietly pacing along, to see how suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its head and legs, and uttering a deep hiss fall to the ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead." The tortoises can vocalise in aggressive encounters, whilst righting themselves if turned upside down and, in males, during mating. The latter is described as "rhythmic groans". The tortoises are herbivorous animals with a diet comprising cactus, grasses, leaves, vines, and fruit. Fresh young grass is a favorite food of the tortoises, and others are the 'poison apple' (Hippomane mancinella) (toxic to humans), the endemic guava (Psidium galapageium), the water fern (Azolla microphylla), and the bromeliad (Tillandsia insularis). Tortoises eat a large quantity of food when it is available at the expense of incomplete digestion. Its favorite food is grasses. The tortoise normally eat an average of 70 to 80 pounds a day. Tortoises have a classic example of a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with some species of Galápagos finch. The finch hops in front of the tortoise to show that it is ready and the tortoise then raises itself up high on its legs and stretches out its neck so that the bird can pick off ticks that are hidden in the folds of the skin (especially on the rear legs, cloacal opening, neck, and skin between plastron and carapace), thus freeing the tortoise from harmful parasites and providing the finch with an easy meal. Other birds, including Galápagos Hawk and flycatchers, use tortoises as observation posts from which to sight their prey. Mating occurs at any time of the year, although it does have seasonal peaks between January and August. When two mature males meet in the mating season they will face each other, rise up on their legs and stretch up their necks with their mouths open to assess dominance. Occasionally, head-biting occurs, but usually the shorter loser tortoise will back off, leaving the other to mate with the female. In groups of tortoises from mixed island populations, saddleback males have an advantage over domebacks. Frustrated non-dominant males have been observed attempting to mate with other males and boulders. The male sniffs the air when seeking a female, bellows loudly, and bobs his head. The male then rams the female with the front of his shell and bites her exposed legs until she withdraws them, immobilizing her. Copulation can last several hours with roaring vocalisations from the males. Their concave shell base allows males to mount the females from behind. It brings its tail which houses the penis into the female's cloaca. After mating (June-December), the females journey up to several kilometres to reach nesting areas of dry, sandy ground (often near the coast). Nest digging can last from hours to days and is elaborate and exhausting. It is carried out blindly using only the hind legs to dig a 30 cm deep hole, into which she lays up to sixteen hard-shelled eggs the size of tennis balls. The female makes a muddy plug for the nest hole out of soil mixed with urine and leaves the eggs to incubate. In rocky areas, the eggs are deposited randomly into cracks. The young emerge from the nest after 120 to 140 days gestation later (December-April) and may weigh only 80 grams (2.8 oz) and measure 6 centimetres (2.4 in). Temperature plays a role in the sex of the hatchling: if the nest temperature is lower, more males will hatch; if it is high, more females will hatch. When the young tortoises emerge from their shells, they must dig their way to the surface, which can take up to a month. All have domed carapaces, and subspecies are indistinguishable. Galápagos Hawk used to be the only native predator of the tortoise hatchlings, as Darwin remarked: "The young tortoises, as soon as they are hatched, fall prey in great numbers to buzzards". Sex can be determined only when the tortoise is 15 years old, and sexual maturity is reached at 20 to 25 years old. The tortoises grow slowly for about 40 years until they reach their full size. Reproductive prime is considered to be from the ages of 60–90. The shape of the carapace of some subspecies of the tortoises is said to have reminded the early Spanish explorers of a kind of saddle they called a "galápago," and for these saddle-shaped tortoises they named the archipelago. Up to 250,000 tortoises inhabited the islands when they were discovered. Today only about 15,000 are left.

The inhabitants...state that they can distinguish the tortoise from different islands; and that they differ not only in size, but in other characters. Captain Porter has described those from Charles and from the nearest island to it, namely Hood Island, as having their shells in front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle, whilst the tortoises from James Island are rounder, blacker, and have a better taste when cooked.---Charles Darwin 1845

There were probably twelve subspecies of Geochelone nigra in the Galápagos Islands, although some recognise up to 15 subspecies. Now only 11 subspecies remain, five on Isabela Island, and the other six on Santiago, Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, Pinzón, Española and Pinta. Of these, the Pinta Island subspecies is extinct in the wild and is represented by a single individual (Lonesome George). In the past, zoos took animals without knowing their island of origin. Production of fertile offspring from various pairings of tortoises largely confirmed that they are subspecies and not different species. All the subspecies of giant tortoise evolved in Galápagos from a common ancestor that arrived from the mainland, floating on the ocean currents (the tortoises can drift for long periods of time as they are buoyant and can stretch head upwards to breathe). Only a single pregnant female or breeding pair needed to arrive in this way, and then survive, for Galápagos to be colonised. In the seventeenth century, pirates started to use the Galápagos islands as a base for resupply, restocking on food, water and repairing vessels before attacking Spanish colonies on the South American mainland. The tortoises were collected and stored live on board ships where they could survive for at least a year without food or water, providing valuable fresh meat, whilst their diluted urine and water stored in their neck bags could also be used as drinking water. Of the meat, Darwin wrote: "the breast-plate roasted (as the Gauchos do 'carne con cuero'), with the flesh on it, is very good; and the young tortoises make excellent soup; but otherwise the meat to my taste is indifferent." In the nineteenth century, whaling ships and fur-sealers collected tortoises for food and many more were killed for high grade 'turtle oil' from the late 1800s onward. Darwin described this process thus: "beautifully clear oil is prepared from the fat. When a tortoise is caught, the man makes a slit in the skin near its tail, so as to see inside its body, whether the fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not, the animal is liberated and it is said to recover soon from this strange operation." A total of over 15,000 tortoises is recorded in the logs of 105 whaling ships between 1811 and 1844. As hunters found it easiest to collect the tortoises living round the coastal zones, the least decimated populations tended to be those in the highlands. Population decline accelerated with the early settlement of the islands, when they were hunted for meat, their habitat was cleared for agriculture and alien mammal species were introduced. Feral pigs, dogs, cats and black rats are effective predators of eggs and young tortoises, whilst goats, donkeys and cattle compete for grazing. In the twentieth century, increasing human settlement and urbanisation and collection of tortoises for zoo and museum specimens depleted numbers even more. The Galápagos giant tortoise is now strictly protected. Young tortoises are raised in a programme by the Charles Darwin Research Station in order to bolster the numbers of the extant subspecies. Eggs are collected from places on the islands where they are threatened and when the tortoises hatch they are kept in captivity until they have reached a size that ensures a good chance of survival and are returned to their original ranges. The Galápagos National Park Service systematically culls feral predators and competitors where necessary such as the complete eradication of goats from Pinta. The conservation project begun in the 1970s successfully brought 10 of the 11 endangered subspecies up to guarded population levels. The most significant recovery was that of the Española Tortoise, whose breeding stock comprised 2 males and 11 females brought to the Darwin Station. Fortuitously, a third male was discovered at the San Diego Zoo and joined the others in a captive breeding program. These 13 tortoises gave rise to over 1000 tortoises now released into their home island. In all, 2500 individuals of all breeds have been reintroduced to the islands. However, persecution still continues on a much smaller scale; more than 120 tortoises have been killed by poachers since 1990 and they have been taken hostage as political leverage by local fishermen.

Santa Cruz

With the largest human population in the Galapagos archipelago, Isla Santa Cruz is the most important of the Galapagos Islands. Meaning Holy Cross in Spanish, this island is also known as Indefatigable, after the HMS Indefatigable landed here long ago. The second largest island terms of land area at 986 sq km, Isla Santa Cruz is home to the key town of Puerto Ayora, the Charles Darwin Research Station and the headquarters of the Galapagos National Park Service. With its own airport on Isla Baltra a few miles away, Isla Santa Cruz is where most visitors who come to the Galapagos Islands usually stay. With a number of bars, hotels, restaurants and shops in Puerto Ayora, most tours of the Archipelago also usually begin from here.

Galapagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands (official name: Archipiélago de Colón; other Spanish names: Islas de Colón or Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, some 900 km west of Ecuador. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site: wildlife is its most notable feature. Because of the only very recent arrival of man the majority of the wildlife has no fear of humans and will allow visitors to walk right up them, often having to step over Iguanas or Sea Lions.The Galápagos islands and its surrounding waters are part of a province, a national park, and a biological marine reserve. The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of around 40,000, which is a 40-fold expansion in 50 years. The islands are geologically young and famed for their vast number of endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

we're here, face down.

My first FDT

Try #3-

Fulfilling the needs of the American and British automatic riflemen, Sweetwater's Kodiak™ light machine is on the top tier of infantry automatic weapons. The Kodiak was designed and tested to surpass the needs and replace the FN 249 SAW; The Kodiak beats the 249 in almost ever needed criteria -Kodiak weighs 12 and half pounds unloaded, features a simple gas tappet system, is capable of changing to .300BLK and 6.8SPC with barrel removal, is more versatile and is cheaper to produce. The Kodiak standard fire rate is less than the 249's at about 850 ROF and has its barrel chrome-lined for accuracy and flutted for reduced weight. The extractor geometry is designed to keep hot brass away from the shooter's arm and reduce extractor wear. The US Army's 173rd Airborne Combat Brigade tested the Kodiak while on a 1-year deployment and reported that the weapon system sustained zero jams while in the field, was easier to carry and shoot, required little maintenance, and didn't overheat as quickly as the 249.

Credit to the following...

View in lightbox!

*No Drone Required*

The wide breadth of the adjacent Mississippi River makes BNSF's H NTWGAL9 06A look rather small as the 82-car train of mixed freight from Minneapolis-Northtown coasts downgrade along the calm morning waters past the neatly tucked away community of Genoa, WI. Trailing close behind a St. Paul to Chicago intermodal Z, this train is working railroad east out of La Crosse and will continue to follow the Aurora Subdivision before swinging south onto the Barstow Sub at Plum River near Savanna, IL for the remainder of its trip to the classification terminal at Galesburg. The recent introduction of amateur drone technology has made overhead views like this easily obtainable for anybody. However, there is a certain satisfaction one feels when shots like these are captured as a result of doing things the "old fashioned way" using commitment, sheer will and the sweat of your brow, such as the nearly 20 minutes spent hiking uphill to this obscure rocky outcropping overlook. Like this one, the many high bluffs in this region that skirt both the BNSF and Canadian Pacific across the river offer a variety of really spectacular views for photographers.

AZUL Darcy Dress

► COMPATIBLE WITH ◄

GenX Classic | Lara | LaraX | Legacy | Legacy Perky | Reborn

**May require using Alpha HUD**

CONTENTS ◄

Fitted Mesh Dress | Fitted Mesh Fur Stole | Texture Changer HUD

[HWT]Prom Black Tuxedo Raccoon

comes in holdable version

SENSE EVENT: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DreamsLand/107/130/1589

RAMA Marylyn

LaraX

GOS Mia flared

ORSINI Jewel Care SALMA Choker, earrings

STUN Sydney 4

Some basic knowledge of technic is required. Unless your brick collecton is completely insane, you -will- have to buy parts to complete this model.

To get to the overview page, look here:

www.flickr.com/photos/28134808@N02/sets/72157626089946815/

A video of the end result can be seen here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOuP_w0FZi0

If you like these instructions, please consider a donation on this paypal adress:

me[a]mahjqa[.]com

(this email adress is not used for communication of any kind)

Luss Highland Games 2018

Welly throwing, also known as welly hoying, welly wanging and boot throwing, is a sport in which competitors are required to throw a Wellington boot as far as possible.

Millions of years of weather eroded the canyon walls. Water froze in cracks and crevices, splitting the rock. Before construction could begin on the dam, this loose rock had to be removed. Special men were required for the job, men called "high-scalers."

Their job was to climb down the canyon walls on ropes. Here they worked with jackhammers and dynamite to strip away the loose rock. The men who chose to do this work came from many backgrounds. Some were former sailors, some circus acrobats, some were American Indians. All of them were agile men, unafraid to swing out over empty space on slender ropes.

It was hard and dangerous work, perhaps the most physically demanding work on the entire project. Laden with tools and water bags, the men would descend the canyon walls. Jackhammer drills were lowered to them, and powder holes were drilled into the rock. The jackhammers weighed 44 lbs. and had to be maneuvered into position by hand Once the holes had been drilled into the rock, they were loaded with dynamite. After the shot, broken rocks sometimes had to be levered free using crowbars.

Moving about on the cliffs was difficult and dangerous. Live air hoses, electrical lines, bundles of drill steel festooned the cliffs. The scalers had to carefully pick their way through the resulting maze. The danger from falling rocks and dropped tools was extreme. The most common cause of death during the building of the dam was being hit by falling objects. The men began making improvised hard hats for themselves by coating cloth hats with coal tar. These "hard-boiled hats" were extremely effective. Several men were hit by falling rocks so hard that their jaws were broken by the impact, yet they did not receive skull fractures. Because of these "hard-boiled hats," men survived accidents which would otherwise have killed them. The Six Companies contracted for commercially made hard hats and issued them to every man on the project. The use of hard hats was encouraged, and deaths from falling objects were reduced.

The risk and high visibility of the job lent it a certain status which appealed to some types of men. When the foremen weren't looking, they would swing out from the cliffs and perform stunts for the workers below. Contests were held to see who could swing out the farthest, the highest, or who could perform the best stunts.

It wasn't all done for fun and games, though. For several weeks, scaler Louis "The Human Pendulum" Fagan transported a crew of shifters around a projecting boulder on the Arizona side. The man to be transferred would wrap his legs around Fagan's waist, grasp the rope, and with a mighty leap, they would sail out into the air and swing around the boulder. Fagan then returned for the next man in the crew. This acrobatic commute was accomplished twice a day until the job was finished.

Perhaps the most famous feat any of the high scalers ever performed was a daring midair rescue. Burl R. Rutledge, a Bureau of Reclamation engineer, fell from the canyon rim. Twenty-five feet below, high scaler Oliver Cowan heard Rutledge slip. Without a moment's hesitation, he swung himself out and seized Rutledge's leg. A few seconds later, high scaler Arnold Parks swung over and pinned Rutledge's body to the canyon wall. The scalers held Rutledge until a line was dropped and secured around him and the shaken engineer was pulled, unharmed, to safety.

Information taken from the Bureau of Reclamation website page about the "High Scalers"...

www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/hscaler.html

The bronze figure seen here was created in the 1990s by sculptor Steven Liguori, in conjunction with a group of concessionaires who operate the businesses on government property around the landmark. The statue was based on a photo of one of the last of the high scalers then alive -- Joe Kine. The statue was installed in 1998, and hangs against a dramatic cliff face, a spidery metal tower in the background (a conveyor that ferries dam workers and their equipment to otherwise inaccessible spots).

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

And maybe another wheel?

Cowley Road Oxford

9/365v4

I love reading. I always have been an avid reader. When I was a kid each summer I would read about 40-50 books. I read all the books required by our school curriculum usually 2 years before we even got to them, I didn't know they were to be there, I just read everything :) I was also very lucky to have a great teacher who gave me advice on what good books are out there.

That said as in any field there are great books, good books, bad books, terrible books, absolutely rubbish books and then there is 50 shades of grey.... What the what was that? It is not as much the topic at hand as it was the writing that terrified me, I couldn't go past page 40. This has the level of language mastery usually reserved for 3rd grade school assignments from the least talented of the group. When this "book" became popular I realized that reading books isn't necessarily a virtue. So now when somebody says they love to read I suspiciously enquire after some titles they might have enjoyed... ;)

The book I have in hand is Horečka by Václav Hrabě. Only novel from this amazing poet.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Hrab%C4%9B

He was a Czech beatnik who died at young age of 25 and sadly his work was buried by the regime so it never really gained any momentum and wasn't translated into other languages. I think it is a horrible shame.

This book and his other works had very deep impact and influence on me during my teens. It has only been printed twice originally in 1967 and a reprint in 1994, so this copy is very precious to me as I wouldn't be able to find the books anywhere now.

Special terrain requires special vehicles. Ever since I was little, my family went skiing every other year or so. And for a little kid, the snow groomers of course were the most fascinating thing moving around in those mountains. So every time I got back from one of those vacations, I wanted to build one of them. I tried in the past, but usually I didn't have enough bricks. Last week though, I decided to give it another try in LDD. For simplicity's sake, I went with something less complex and more in line with official lego sets. No complicated snot.

The design is loosely based on the Kässbohrer Pistenbully.

And for scale, I threw in my own Snowmobile design.

My submission to the first of DuckBrick's Community Fanon Contests. Originally built for TTV's (now cancelled) Canon Contests.

GB Railfreight Class 92, 92006 prepares to depart Crewe on 0Z92 Crewe ETD to Wembley InterCity Depot.

The 92, reinstated in July 2019 after 13 years in store, had spent almost two months at the depot receiving attention for various persistent issues which had restricted its duties in previous months.

Peeking round the corner is the current Crewe Thunderbird, Direct Rail Services Class 57/3, 57309 "Pride of Crewe". It was not needed, though, as 92006 completed a successful run to Wembley.

A new contract for Fastrack B was awarded to Arriva Kent Thameside from Sunday 4th August 2019 which required new (or rather newer) vehicles. Therefore fourteen newer vehicles (Enviro 200 MMC) have been transferred from Gillingham to Northfleet with a similar number of the current Fastrack fleet (Wrightbus StreetLines) passing in the other direction.

One of the first transfers from Northfleet to Gillingham was 4320 GN15 CXT which is seen here devoid of its Fastrack branding on Dock Road, Chatham whilst working route 166. Saturday 10th August 2019.

Wrightbus Micro Hybrid StreetLite DF 11.5m MAX (Ex-Arriva Kent Thameside - Fastrack)

Students at the elementary school of the Kazanchi-Urael parish of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (Lutheran) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

©2014 Patrick J Bayens

Required:

1. Speaker Wire (cut to length)

2. PP3 Clip x2 (9 volt battery clips)

3. 15 LED's (which I forgot to include in the shot)

4. Soldering Iron & Solder

5. Push button switch

6. Phono Socket x2

7. Phono Plug x2

8. Insulation Tape (electrical tape)

9. Extra bit of wire

Optional

Torch & Shrink Tubing (cleaner than tape)

Wire Cutters & Strippers (or a pair of scissors)

Helping Hands (makes it easier to do the soldering)

Duro Dakovic Yugoslavian-built 'USA' 0-6-0 tank No.62-111 stands in the rain raising steam pressure before being able to make any further progress along the 5-kilometre branch line with coal empties for the colliery on 26th February 2015. The 'USA' tank was never the most aesthetic of steam loco designs, but to see this one remaining of a once ubiquitous class of workhorse active in industrial service in 2015 was a delight.

© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission

Don't spam my Photostream! Comments or invitations with banners will be deleted

That hairdo was pretty high maintenance, but that was in style at the time. She called it her "helmet head" 'do. It required lots of extra firm hairspray.

For best viewing click on the arrows in the upper RH corner of your screen & hit F11

507021 at Sandhills with a service from Kirkby to Liverpool Central on 8th December 2019. A unit that may not see survival after the crash at Kirkby. Although it was the rear set, the impact will require a full assessment before it's returned to traffic and whether that will happen with the impending arrival of the 777's remains to be seen.

Subsequently the unit was repaired and returned to traffic.

by instagram Finding the best views of space from Earth requires Matthew Newman (@matthewnewmanphotography) to brave the darkness. “Most people find it kind of scary ... You’re out in the wild by yourself most of the time,” the professional window-tinter and night photographer from Medford, Oregon, says. “Many people don’t have the opportunity to experience the night sky the way that I’m able to,” Matthews says; due to light pollution, most of the world’s population can no longer see the Milky Way with the naked eye: “I try to capture it as best as possible, as natural as possible. Hopefully, it will inspire people, more than anything, to drive away from the city and actually go see it for themselves.” Photo by @matthewnewmanphotography ift.tt/1ZmMYcO

© All rights reserved — any use, reproduction, or curation requires prior written permission via Flickr mail.

On an early Easter Monday bank holiday morning, I set off towards Bradgate Park under a biting wind, with my car showing just 4°C. Despite the cold, the land was clearly awakening with spring, quietly signaling renewal in every detail.

As I stepped into the park under the soft morning light, there was a rare stillness—no people, just nature beginning its day. Instead of the usual robin, I was greeted by a Eurasian chaffinch foraging on the ground. Around me, small birds were busily flying back and forth, carrying nesting materials in their beaks into tree hollows.

Continuing my walk, I noticed a group of fallow deer on my right. Among them, a young deer fixed its curious gaze on me, and I believe I captured that exact moment of connection in a single frame. Between us flowed the River Lin, its subtle elevation difference and fresh greenery adding depth to the scene.

As I observed the group, something remarkable caught my attention in the distance. Eurasian jackdaw were landing on the deer, pulling out loose fur and flying off to line their nests in ancient tree hollows. This interaction seemed less about parasite removal and more about building soft nesting material.

I waited patiently as the light shifted and the sun rose higher, creating a beautiful backlit background. Finally, the moment came—a female deer allowing a jackdaw to pull fur from her back. I captured this frame at ISO 4000 and 1/1250 sec.

It’s also worth noting that the deer are currently shedding their winter coats, which the jackdaws are clearly taking advantage of. Interestingly, not all deer tolerated this behavior—some females resisted, perhaps due to discomfort.

Nature’s balance and these subtle interactions continue to fascinate me, often leading me to reflect more deeply on the connections within the wild.

I hope this story adds another layer to the image and helps convey the moment beyond the frame.

Wishing you all a peaceful and joyful Easter Monday.

Deer and jackdaws often form a quiet, mutually beneficial relationship in spring. As the deer sheds its winter coat, jackdaws gather the soft fur for their nests while also removing ticks and other parasites.

A brief encounter nature’s own balance, where one lets go and the other takes. Often observed in Bradgate Park.

I've captured some unforgettable moments with my camera, and I hope you feel the same joy viewing these images as I did while shooting them.

© All rights belong to R. Ertuğ. Please refrain from using these images without my express written permission.

If you are interested in purchasing or licensing them, feel free to contact me via Flickr mail.

Lens & support:

Nikon AF-S TC-14E III — hand-held or monopod, SPORT VR enabled.

Aperture set to f/8, full focal length.

All images were converted from RAW to JPEG.

During long walks, I use either a Nikon cross-body strap or a monopod.

Monopod setup:

Gitzo GM2542 Series 2 4S Carbon Monopod

Really Right Stuff MH-01 Monopod Head (Standard Lever)

Really Right Stuff LCF-11 Replacement Foot for Nikon AF-S 500mm f/5.6E PF

Your comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to explore! 😊

Free download under CC Attribution (CC BY 4.0). Please credit the artist and rawpixel.com.

Floral illustrations from one of the most influential botanical artists, Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708–1770), German botanist and entomologist. He started his career as a gardener's apprentice traveling and working across Europe. Ehret was known for his Linnaean style of botanical illustrations since he closely worked with the "father of modern taxonomy", Carl Linnaeus. Ehret collaborated with Carl Linnaeus and George Clifford on his first botanical collection. We have digitally enhanced some of his botanical plates into high resolution printable quality. This floral collection is free to download and use under the cc0 license.

Higher resolutions with no attribution required can be downloaded: https://www.rawpixel.com/board/1257982/vintage-botanical-illustrations-public-domain-i-high-resolution-designs

It is believed the barber trade originated around 5,000 B.C. Barbering is one of the oldest professional fields, requiring barbers to be exceptionally skillful in using sharp tools.

Around 335 B.C. Alexander the Great made his soldiers shave regularly for the purpose of gaining an advantage in hand-to-hand combat. His soldiers were able to grasp an enemy by the beard, while the enemy could not do the same. Barbering first appeared in Rome around the same time, and barbers quickly became both prosperous and popular. Their shops were gathering places for daily news as well as gossip. All free men of Rome shaved their facial hair, whereas slaves wore beards. The term barber comes from the Latin word barb(ar), which refers to beards.

Later, barbers evolved to do much more than merely cut hair. During the Middle Ages, they were called Barber-Surgeons. Barber-surgeons not only furnished haircuts and shaves they also practiced dentistry and surgery–including bloodletting–rendering their services to lower-income clients who could not otherwise afford a classic physician’s medical service. If they got any kind of real illness, most of the time the only available alternative was a barber-surgeon. Bloodletting was usually performed by a monk, with barbers providing assistance because they had not only the sharp tools for the job but the skills to use them. But at the Council of the Tours in 1163, the clergy was prohibited from the act of surgery. From that point on, surgeons were separated from the clerics and barbers. Later, the role of the barbers was determined by the College de Saint-Côme et Saint-Damien, established by Jean Pitard in Paris in 1210 as the academic surgeons of the long robe and the barber surgeons of the short robe (the modern barber’s tunic may be a throw-back to this distinction).

Barber-surgeons started to form powerful unions such as the Worshipful Company of Barbers in London in the mid-1600’s. By the turn of the 19th century barbering and barbershops started to become more influential in society, and over the next several hundred years barbershops became a common business where people would go to have their hair cut by a professional barber with good equipment. The barbershop also became a cultural fixture for socializing.

Many of the stories about the origin of the barber pole and its colors reference imaginative theories of blood and bandages (a common one being red for arterial blood, white for bandages, and blue for venous blood). The reality is less imaginative and more bureaucratic. The colors of the barber pole as a trade sign may have its genesis in Renaissance-era Amsterdam: barber-surgeons used a red-stripe on their tunic to indicate that they were prepared to bleed their patients, a white-stripe to indicate they set bones or pulled teeth, or a blue stripe to indicate they would perform a shave if nothing more urgent was needed.

The merger of the Worshipful Company of Barbers and the Fellowship of Surgeons by an act of Parliament in 1540 formed the United Company of Barber Surgeons of London (precursor of the Royal College of Surgeons of England). The creation marked the beginning of some control of the qualifications of those who performed operations: a statute required a barber to use a red and white pole and a surgeon to use a red pole (a red pole with a basin attached became common in France).

The reason for the addition of a blue stripe, particularly in the United States, is not well documented and probably more of a nod to patriotism than anything else.

sharpologist.com/barber-pole-origin-history-symbolism/

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/

Today's proyect required lots of patience.

First I should say that I live near two airports (VNY/BUR) the nearest one is local and the second one with domestic flights, right outside my terrace I could hear when Airplanes are passing over my apartment, few months ago I was shooting car trails, the ones when you leave your shutter open for couple of seconds and you see the back/front lights of a car leaving a light trail, today I did the same concept but now using Airplanes instead of cars.

1) Setup my camera on a tripod using my Canon 40D with a 24-70 mm wide open I framed right on top of the building next to mine, I prefocused and leave it in manual focus, fired a couple of test shots until I was satisfied with the exposure, so the ideal setting was:

30 seconds at F/5.6, 100 iso and lots, lots of patience.

I started shooting at 6:17pm and the last shot was taken at 9:55pm ( There was not air traffic at that time, and since I had my window open I was freezing in my living room that's why I wrapped everything up few minutes before 10 pm)

Some of the light trails are from big and small planes, also a few choppers where flying around so I was paying attention to what was happening outside my window.

One thing I noticed is that the aiplanes heading to BUR (longest trails) they were flying at the same altitud, is like and invisible road, at one moment I saw 5 airplanes passing with a diference of minutes between each plane.

The white little spots are star trails.

2) at the end of the project I opened all 24 images in photoshop and place them one on top of the other in layers, then I started with the top layer and changing each layer to 'lighten' in the layers blend modes, then I merged all layers to get this final image.

I'm pretty happy with the result I migth go near BUR and spend the night shooting from a different perspective one of this nights.

last but not least... if you like it feel free to comment, share it and fav it!

Best!

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Cockburn, South Australia, is a small settlement immediately adjacent to the border with New South Wales near Broken Hill. It was established because the New South Wales government refused to allow locomotives of the South Australian Railways to operate in its jurisdiction, requiring locomotives to be changed at the town for 84 years until 1970, when the route was converted from 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) to 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge.

Huge ore deposits were discovered in Silverton, which in 1884 prompted the government of South Australia to offer to the Government of New South Wales the building of a narrow gauge railway line from the limit of its jurisdiction at the border to Silverton, since horse-drawn drays over rough tracks could not meet the transport task for the journey to Port Pirie. This offer was rejected by the New South Wales government. In response, investors formed the Silverton Tramway Company in 1885 to build the railway line from Silverton to the border; as the railway was privately owned, it could not legally be referred to as such, hence the use of the term tramway.

The town of Cockburn, named after South Australian Premier Sir John Alexander Cockburn, came into existence in 1886 on the South Australia side of the border as a place for trains to exchange locomotives and crews. On the New South Wales side of the border, the Silverton Tramway Company built the Burns station and transfer sidings.

For 84 years, until 1970, Cockburn exemplified a busy South Australian Railways interchange station. Locomotives were serviced here and concentrate trains brought from Broken Hill on the Silverton Tramway were marshalled for their 350-kilometre (220-mile) journey to Port Pirie.

Pressure for the expansion of Cockburn was increased with mineral discoveries at Thackaringa and Umberumberka from 1883 onwards. The silver-lead-zinc discovery at Broken Hill led to the railway line being extended from Silverton to Broken Hill in 1887. The route was extremely important, as it provided balanced trading for locomotives with a momentum grade 'up' from Broken Hill to Cockburn and a rising grade 'down' from Cockburn to Broken Hill. This was the main advantage of the route to and from Cockburn.

By 1892, the town of Cockburn had become sizeable, with a population of 2000. Cockburn boasted two hotels, two general stores, three boarding houses, schools, and churches. It included within its business sector a blacksmith, butcher, baker, produce merchant and carrier. Stationed at Cockburn were two engineers, a stationmaster, customs officer, locomotive superintendent, and a miner. A locomotive shed and related work facilities were recorded as existing in 1892. Seven trains regularly ran between Petersburg (now Peterborough), Cockburn, and Broken Hill, and included passenger trains. 83 194 passengers travelled through Cockburn in 1892.

Cockburn also has a role in industrial relations history in Broken Hill. Tom Mann, a political "disruptionist", was barred from speaking publicly in New South Wales. In 1908, 3000 passengers came from Broken Hill to Cockburn to hear him speak. From the front of the hall, next to the Cockburn Hotel, he addressed the crowd. This was the beginning of a dispute known as the 1909 lockout. Broken Hill mining unionists were locked out of the company gates for rejecting pay cuts which would have been below the minimum wage.

The standard gauge railway line, officially opened in 1970, is south of the surveyed town limits of Cockburn. A new station and a passing loop were built but the station is now disused. In the early 1990s, the South Australian government proposed to close down the small communities along the Barrier Highway, leading to a strong and unified resistance from the local communities. The 2016 census recorded a population of 56 in the immediate vicinity of the town.

Nothing remains of the infrastructure of the railway yard other than an elevated locomotive water tank, repurposed as a bushfire emergency asset. The last buildings, six railway employee houses, were demolished or removed in 2009.

The Border Gate Hotel is technically within the boundaries of the New South Wales border.

There is no Local Government Area (LGA) for the communities of Nackara, Yunta, Manna Hill, Olary, and Cockburn.

Sir John Alexander Cockburn:

Sir John Alexander Cockburn (1850 - 1929), premier, Federationist, and medical practitioner, was born on the 23rd of August 1850 at Corsbie, Berwickshire, Scotland, second son of Thomas Cockburn, farmer, and his wife Isabella, née Wright. His father died in France in 1855, and his mother migrated to South Australia in 1867 with three of the four children. John, educated at Cholmeley (now Highgate) School, remained behind to study medicine at King's College, University of London (M.R.C.S., M.B., 1871; M.D. and gold medal, 1874), although he briefly visited his family in 1871.

Believing the medical profession to be overcrowded in England, Cockburn settled in South Australia in 1875, and set up a lucrative practice in Jamestown. He was elected its first mayor in 1878 and held the office for three and a half years. In 1881 he was appointed a commissioner of the North Midland Road Board. He was also vice-president of the Rifle Volunteer Force and captain of the Jamestown company as well as a lay reader of the Anglican Church.

Cockburn's ambitions did not lie in medicine and in 1884 he won the House of Assembly seat of Burra. He immediately made his mark in parliament as a picturesque and eloquent speaker. As minister of education in Sir John Downer's ministry in 1885 - 1887, he was mainly responsible for the inauguration of arbor day. He also established an inquiry to report on the best means of developing technical education. Although he lost his seat at the 1887 election, he won Mount Barker, which he represented until his retirement.

In 1888 Cockburn was appointed chairman of the council of the new School of Mines and Industries but he resigned when it opened in June 1889. In the same month the Thomas Playford government was defeated and Cockburn formed a ministry as chief secretary. In August next year Playford successfully moved a motion of no-confidence, Cockburn was again chief secretary in F. W. Holder's ministry, June-October 1892. He was one of three former premiers in the cabinet of Charles Kingston, formed in June 1893, and he remained as minister of education and agriculture until he resigned in April 1898 to become agent-general in London.

An advanced liberal, Cockburn was held by his critics to be an impractical visionary, easily swayed by the writings of reformers such as Henry George and Edward Bellamy. His intellectual eclecticism was paralleled in practical politics by frequent changes of mind; he was not a strong leader in an era of faction politics. Nevertheless Cockburn initiated a number of notable pieces of reform legislation. He was active in the struggle to secure payment for members of parliament, and he helped to change Kingston's mind on adult suffrage. He also introduced unsuccessfully a bill for a progressive land tax.

Cockburn was an ardent Federationist, representing South Australia at the 1890 conference, and the 1891 and 1897 - 1898 conventions. He was also the only notable South Australian to attend the unofficial People's Federal Convention at Bathurst in 1896. At these conferences he supported moves for a more democratic constitution. At the same time he wanted a strong Senate, basing his case on 'State rights'—his decentralist sentiments were declared at Sydney in 1891: 'Government at a central and distant point can never be government by the people'. He and Kingston were the only two delegates in 1891 to support Sir George Grey's proposal that the governor-general and the State governors should be elected by the people. Cockburn argued the governor-general would be a dummy and the office useless; many other delegates believed that an elective governor-general would have pretensions to real authority. A collection of his articles and speeches was published in Australian Federation (London, 1901), dedicated to his close friend, Sir J. Langdon Bonython.

Fears were expressed when Cockburn was appointed agent-general in 1898. The conservative Register wrote that "the Doctor of Fanciful Notions would be more congenially employed in a library studying mystical lore and in resurrecting impracticable political schemes from 'Plutarch's Lives' than in directing the commercial and financial operations of the government in London. The outgoing incumbent of the office, Thomas Playford, in a letter to the under-treasurer Thomas Gill, pointed out Cockburn's lack of knowledge of finance but felt that 'if he holds his tongue and refrains from gassing upon socialistic fads he may do well." As it turned out, Cockburn was a successful agent-general until 1901; he never missed an opportunity of advertising the State and its products.

He was appointed K.C.M.G. in 1900. Patrick McMahon Glynn noted with disbelief in his diary that "Mr. Cockburn, the political mystic and interpreter of the democratic spirit as understood by himself, the paper-disciple of Rousseau, the chief South Australian exponent of philosophic equality and scientific methods of social progress—has been made a Knight". In 1901 Cockburn was appointed knight of grace of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. That year he hoped to enter Federal politics, but his friends failed to nominate him in time. Shortly afterwards he was placed in an embarrassing position by the government of J. G. Jenkins, which wished to downgrade the agent-generalship to that of a State agent, at a reduced salary. Cockburn's term of office was not extended, as had previously been the case, and his retirement reflected rather poorly on his former political colleagues. The Critic commented sourly that electors "would hardly recognise their old friend with the ultra-radical views … [who] dressed 'carelessly', wore his hair long like the typical anarchist of the papers illustrated, [but is] now immaculately frocked and has somewhat changed his views".

Cockburn remained in England for the rest of his life as a sort of unofficial ambassador for South Australia, many of whose citizens he entertained at Dean's Hill, Harrietsham, Kent. He made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the House of Commons at a by-election for West Monmouthshire in November 1904, standing as an Independent Tariff Reformer supported by Joseph Chamberlain and the local Conservatives; however, he had nothing else in common with them. He held directorships of the English, Scottish & Australian Bank, the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co. Ltd, the Australian Mutual Provident Society, and the Central Insurance Co. He also became chairman of the Australasian Chamber of Commerce in London, the Nature Study Association and the Swanley Horticultural College, and was vice-chairman of the court of governors of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Cockburn was president of the Entente Cordiale Society, the National Association of Manual Training Teachers, the London branch of the Child-Study Society, the Men's International Alliance for Woman Suffrage, and the International Philological Society, and a vice-president of the Royal Colonial Institute. He was also a member of the council of King's College, University of London, from 1900. In addition, he did prominent work for the London County Council on elementary education, and was a prolific writer on Australian, Imperial and educational topics. Greatly interested in freemasonry, he had been deputy grand master in South Australia, and in England he became president of both the International Masonic Club and the Society for Masonic Study, and wrote extensively on the symbolism of freemasonry.

Cockburn was a short and handsome man. His obituary in The Times described him as "stamped with the zeal and courtesy of a past generation'. He was proud of his extensive library, and bookbinding was one of his hobbies. He died in London, at King's College Hospital, on the 26th of November 1929, survived by his wife Sarah Holdway (d. 1931), née Brown, whom he had married in 1875, and by a son and a daughter. His estate was valued for probate at £20 442. A bust in bronze by Alfred Drury is in the possession of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Source: LocationSA Map Viewer (location.sa.gov.au/viewer), Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Dictionary of Biography.

No description required.

Utata ip 271 requires:

1. Your front door

2. Thicker than thread but thinner than rope

3. Orton effect/ dreamy glow

This was extremely difficult until I gave it a try with my phone camera, which dealt much better with the light and dark. I had to desaturate a bit because the Orton filter made the colours very garish.

Here you have the inside of my front door on the left; there is a small Afghan amulet hanging on it but it's quite hard to make out. Part of the kitchen (what a mess!) reflected in the mirror. The door seen through the strings of a tinkling glass mobile.

I have been away for some time...

Yes, that terrible cold kept me inside the house for a whole month...From 2nd January all started with a simple coughing, just the ones you get this time of year, the ones that certainly do not require a visit to the doctor. Going to the doctors is not like going to the movies, for coffee or going to work. This is my thinking and I only go to doctor when it is necessary.

This time it was. Only a week ahead that coughing had deteriorated very much. So much it was unbearable. I couldn't go to the gym that I go three days a week, I couldn't go out with my friends. That was it! I paid a visit to my doctor and the diagnosis was Τracheitis...Yes, that was it! Since that day and until last Sunday I was with antibiotics. I slept up to 12 hours at night and never left home. Very very irritating doing nothing at all. Even when I am unemployed I am always on the move doing things, gym, walking etc...and here I was forced not to do none of the above mentioned...

The only thing I was able to do is to prepare, think, work on a couple of photo projects I have in mind for some time...I have not even started to set things on a row, this is how serious I have taken this. I start, reach to a point and then erase and restart...But as I said I will go forward with this and if it works out as planned I will let you know about it. I believe in what I have planned but what comes next...well I try to be optimistic but I also try not to be be very much enthousiastic, you know what I mean of course...our time is hostile to the ones who dream...

Anyway, the past 4 days were extremely cold to go outside and to be honest I didn't want to become sick again with the 0's and the minus...But now it is gone and I am getting back on my scedule.

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Motorcycle riders without helmets or any other type of safety equipment

Malé, Kaafu Atoll, Maldives

For my video; youtu.be/IW-UtSWZ_yY

Waste Management and Texarkana have delivered these huge trash and recycle bins that we are REQUIRED to use starting on Monday. They are way too big and I will bet that most of them will stay street side in many neighborhoods in TXK. Don't get me wrong, I am all for recycling and we have been doing it since it was instituted in TXK years ago. But these cans are too big. We wouldn't fill the trash can or the recycle bin up in 3 months! They are 8 inches taller than the brick wall we have built to hide the trash cans. And on top of that the outrageous color stands out like a sore thumb. I called the city spokesman Vicki Melde when this was proposed and got no answer when I asked if they were required and expressed concern as to the size. They have this is Shreveport LA and the trash cans just stay on the street in many areas. I am starting a picture campaign on my flickr site of UGLY trash cans in Texarkana, I may start a group if I get enough pics.

So, once a week, we are required to drag this UGLY trash can out to the street for 3 bags of trash. We are not allowed to used a smaller can or put the bags on the street. Sounds like discrimination to older and handicapped people to me. I understand you can call the city and make arrangements to have the can moved to the street for you. Are they going to come back and put them back in place every week? I would really like some answers to these questions, but get none when I call the city.

Another problem. When I dragged these out for the picture, they had ice on them. Later when I went back to put them back, the ice had melted and I didn't notice it. When I pulled it back to roll it, well you know where the water went. This will be fun with all the rain that we have here.

NOTE: This Photo-Shoot requires some imagination on your part, dear viewers. The models are suppose to be "leaping" in mid air :)

BNTM Episode 07: The Girls Who Take a Dive

Photo-Shoot 07: Jumpsuit Editorial

Now on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwTS-ctnUHg

Vote for Model of the Moment: bntm.tumblr.com/post/6628465501/model-of-the-moment

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Maryland DNR Land

Bae-Aérospatiale Concorde: 21st January 1976 - November 26th 2003

Yep, I'm on another one of my Concorde bouts again, but I don't consider that a bad thing if I'm honest because I've never known anyone who really doesn't like this aircraft. The thing about Concorde is the fact that it was, and still is, probably one of the most beautiful and sophisticated creations mankind has ever made, up there with the likes of the Saturn V Rocket. With smooth crisp lines and a long sweeping body, Concorde, although very much a plaything for the rich, showed the world that Supersonic travel is not just reserved for Fighter Pilots, but for the fare paying public as well, and took us to a place where I sadly feel we shan't return to, not in this day and age.

So where does Concorde's story begin? Well, our ability to break the Sound Barrier is a good start, with the early Spitfire pilots of World War II inadvertently doing so, and then a flight by the experimental Bell X-1, which was launched from the underbelly of a bomber and jetted off into a world very much of its own. Following these breakthroughs in speed, the first considerations for a passenger alternative were considered as far back as 1950, and in 1954 the first meeting of the Super Sonic Transport (SST) Committee was held.

Original intentions were to build passenger aircraft to similar principles as the X-1, but these were shelved due to impracticality. Instead, a new design known as the Delta-Wing was looked at, being used on the likes of the AVRO Vulcan. Ideas were created, and tests carried out on the similarly designed Handley Page HP.115, a purpose built aircraft for the intention of making the perfect testbed for the future SST. Eventually, the Delta design chosen was dubbed the Ogee Platform, derived from the Ogival Wing design. The most important intention of the design was to place the wing's centre of pressure as close as possible to the centre of gravity so as to lower the amount of control force required to pitch the aircraft, and the Ogee Platform came closest to this requirement.

Final design requirements came down to the design of the airframe itself outside of the wings. Essentially, the aircraft was similar in design to contemporary Delta-Wing fighter jets, with a long streamlined nose and a smooth body to reduce resistance as much as possible. Problems came with the actual operation of the aircraft's basic functions, most notably the cockpit, which had to be designed with streamlining in mind, but couldn't use conventional aircraft windows, with the strengthened window frame obscuring the view forward for takeoff and landing. In response, designers created a Drooping Nose, where the streamlined visor could be raised and lowered, with conventional aircraft windscreens behind to provide a view similar to that of a regular aircraft. Due to the length of the aircraft, the plane was fitted with a small wheel at the rear of the frame so as to absorb any potential tail-strikes during takeoff and landing.

During supersonic flight and transit through the Sound Barrier, fuel would be distributed between the forward fuel tanks and a small fuel tank in the rear whilst the aircraft was accelerating and decelerating so as to alter the centre of mass, essentially acting as an auxiliary trim control.

But one of the most endearing parts of the design was the point on the nose, which is not there for stylish flare, but for a very important reason. Without the point, aircraft attempting to transit the sound barrier would face much greater resistance as the airframe is much larger and more obtrusive, the point on the other hand breaks the sound barrier ahead of the actual aircraft itself, meaning the transit effect travels around the frame of the aircraft rather than against the hull.

Of course, the most difficult part when it came to getting the SST to go are the actual engines themselves. For the greatest efficiency, the new SST couldn't use conventional Turbofan engines as their cross-sectional area was too excessive. Instead, Rolls Royce was commissioned to build a set of Turbojet engines that could be slung in streamlined pods underneath the wings. The result was a quad set of Rolls Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 engines that had been developed from the Bristol engines used on the Vulcan bomber. In all, only 67 of these engines were ever built, and had an overall maximum thrust of 38,000lbf, pushing the SST to beyond the speed of sound.

By the mid-1960's the designs had been near enough perfected, and after signing up with Sud Aviation of France (later to become Aérospatiale), the combined efforts of British Aerospace and Aérospatiale resulted in the construction of two prototypes in 1965, these aircraft being dubbed 'Concorde', the French word for Harmony, Agreement, or Union. Concorde 001 was built in France at Aérospatiale's factory in Toulouse, whilst Concorde 002 was built at the BAC works in Filton near Bristol. The first flight of a Concorde aircraft took place on the 2nd March 1969, with Concorde 001 flying from Toulouse. On the 9th April, Concorde 002 made its first flight from Filton, and on October 1st, 001 made its first supersonic flight.

Both aircraft were presented at the Paris Airshow of June 1969, alongside one of their rivals, the Boeing 747. But Concorde was not the world's first supersonic commercial airliner, as the Soviet Union had beaten them to the punch in June of that year with the Tupolev Tu-144, an aircraft of almost exactly the same principles of Concorde that had been hastily put together between 1965 and 1968 after blueprints and designs had been obtained by Soviet Agent Sergei Fabiew. The Tu-144 made its first supersonic flight in June 1969, and made its first supersonic commercial flights with Aeroflot in May 1970.

However, the 'Concordski' (as it was known by the West), had many serious flaws, which came to bear in a series of horrendous crashes. The first major crash was at the 1973 Paris Air Show, where during a display flight, the first production Tu-144 aircraft broke apart over a suburb, killing 6 people on the aircraft and 8 on the ground. Another major incident took place in May 1978, when on a routine test flight an improved version of the aircraft known as the Tu-144D crashed on landing, resulting in the withdrawal of the 144's from commercial service after only 55 flights. They would remain cargo aircraft until 1983, after which they were used for the training of Soviet Cosmonauts for the Buran Space Shuttle project.

Concordski however did have a profound effect on Concorde, especially after its crash of 1973. Confidence in the Concorde was rumbled by the failure of the Tu-144, and thus many potential buyers pulled out. Originally, airlines such as American Airlines, Pan Am, Japan Airlines, Eastern Airlines, United Airlines, and Air Canada had all put in orders, but by 1975 only Air France and BOAC (later nationalised into British Airways) orders remained. At the same time, Boeing and Lockheed of the United States attempted to create their own SST's so as to combat Concorde, with Boeing creating the 2707, and Lockheed the L-2000, neither of which went beyond concept models.

Eventually, 14 production Concorde aircraft were handed over to their respective airlines between 1976 and 1980, with the first aircraft being delivered to British Airways on the 15th January, the first flight taking place to Bahrain on the 21st January. Simultaneously, Air France made its first flight to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar in Senegal. However, the Transatlantic routes to the United States were the main points of contention, as the fear of Sonic Booms caused protest, resulting in a ban being passed by Congress. Although permission was given to fly to Washington Dulles on the 24th May, the New York Port Authority continued to ban Concorde due to the noise. The result was a risky training program by Concorde pilots to land at JFK Airport without using any power at all, meaning that from the start of their descent over the New York area, no power could be applied so as to keep the noise levels to a minimum, doing the whole approach in one. Eventually the ban was lifted after it was found that Air Force One, a Boeing VC-137 (converted Boeing 707), was louder than Concorde, and thus commercial services to JFK began on November 22nd, 1977.

In addition to the British Airways and Air France flights to New York and Washington from Paris and London, a slew of other short lived ventures occurred at the same time. In 1977, British Airways jointly shared a Concorde for flights to Singapore via Bahrain with Singapore Airlines, painting G-BOAD in a BA/SA hybrid livery. These flights however were capped after only 3 runs due to noise complaints.

Another short lived venture was with the American airline Braniff, which leased 10 aircraft from both airlines to operate subsonic domestic services from Washington to Dallas-Fort Worth from 1978, with Braniff crews taking over from international crews after landing at Washington. These services ended in 1980 due to a lack of profitability, with only 50% bookings or less on most flights.

Over the years, Concorde also flew to a myriad of destinations off its usual Transatlantic services, including Mexico, Florida, the Caribbean, South America, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, mostly on charter flights but sometimes for short demonstration flights for fun seekers. Usually, Air France would provide the charter aircraft as their Concorde fleet was used less than the BA fleet, only operating two flights a day as opposed to BA's four.

The 1980's though were the boom years of Concorde, as this was when the money makers really spread their wings. In the immortal words of Jeremy Clarkson "For the have not's, it wasn't much fun, but the have's were having a ball!" Wealth moved from the stars of stage and screen to the stock marketing men and women of Europe and America. Investments on oil shares, and other large multinational companies meant you and your house was worth more than most countries. Greed was endemic, and the super-rich had no shortage of that. They'd have Champagne for breakfast, eat nightly at the Ritz, have a fleet of chauffeur driven Rolls Royce's at their beck and call, and would make weekend trips across the Atlantic with Concorde like it was a commuter train!

It was thanks to Concorde that Phil Collins could perform two shows for the 1985 Live Aid in one night, the first at Wembley in London, the second at Philadelphia JFK stadium, picking up Cher along the way who would join him in the finale 'We are the World.' You could arrive before you departed, and probably bump into a selection of celebrities en-route. Ex-Beatles, Actors, Businessmen, Fashion Designers, you name it, they were probably there!

These years were wild, profitable, and turned Concorde from an airliner, into a rite of passage for the money makers of this world. If you could fly on Concorde, then you'd truly made it in life!

However, as the 90's began to blossom and boom, the end of the decade brought its headaches for Concorde, and when things went wrong, they really went wrong quickly!

The recession of 1992 damaged Concorde's sales as money became much harder to come by, and the explosive era of greed began to fade away in the face of austerity. Environmental considerations began to crop up, and Concorde was singled out by environmentalists as one of the biggest culprits for noise and air pollution.

But on July 25th, 2000, disaster struck when Air France Concorde F-BTSC, crashed upon take-off from Paris Charles de Gaulle, smashing into a nearby hotel and killing all 109 passengers, plus 4 people on the ground. The cause was later determined to have been debris left by a preceding Continental Airlines DC-10, which punctured the tyres of Concorde and ruptured the fuel tanks on the port-side wing. However, the crash resulted in the grounding of all Concorde aircraft for over a year. Although test flights were carried out, and some private charters, revenue earning service was intended to return in the summer of 2001.

G-BOAF made the first service flight of a Concorde aircraft across the Atlantic from London to New York on September 11th, 2001, landing at JFK airport 30 minutes before American Airlines Flight 11, hijacked by terrorists, was flown deliberately into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, in what would turn out to be one of the darkest days in modern history. In the ensuing chaos, flights across America were grounded immediately, and Transatlantic services diverted, but this was just the beginning. Global markets collapsed and the aviation industry went into meltdown. Airlines such as TWA, Swissair, Sabena and Ansett Australia were just a few of the victims of this aviation downturn, and Concorde's return to service was delayed until November 7th, 2001.

Concorde may have stuttered back into life, but time had really caught up with this supersonic machine of the past. The maintenance costs of the aircraft were now much higher, with fuel prices rising and passenger levels dropping due to stagnation in the post-9/11 market. British Airways was making a loss on every single flight they made, and both this, with a mixture of discontinued support from Aérospatiale's successors, Airbus, meant that Concorde's fate was very much sealed.

On the 10th April, 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced the retirement of Concorde. Although the day after Virgin Atlantic and its founder Sir Richard Branson intended to purchase British Airways' Concorde fleet for a nominal fee of £1 each, citing a clause in the original agreement to operate the aircraft, the Government and British Airways denied allowing him to buy the aircraft for such a small price, demanding at least £1 million for every aircraft. This was further hampered by Airbus' refusal to continue maintenance support.

The end slowly came throughout 2003, with Air France's last Concorde flight taking place on 27th June, whilst British Airways conducted a series of farewell tours to a selection of destinations, including Toronto, Boston, Washington, Belfast, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Concorde was officially retired from British Airways service on the 24th October, 2003, but continued to operate a small number of farewell charters until November 26th, when G-BOAF, the last Concorde to be built in 1979, flew to its home base of Filton, ending the supersonic age of passenger air travel.

In all, every one of these £125 million aircraft still exist apart from two. Aircraft 203, F-BTSC, was lost in the type's only ever fatal crash in 2000, whilst Aircraft 211, F-BVFD, was withdrawn in 1982 after only 5 years of service and used as a spares donor, being cut up for scrap in 1994. The 6 prototype and 12 remaining production aircraft are now scattered across the world in museums, including Barbados, Seattle, New York, Brooklands near London, Manchester, Le Bourget, Toulouse and Chantilly in Virginia.

So, what killed Concorde and can we ever go there again? Many things killed Concorde, and when they came, they came fast. The economic downturn of the 90's and the rising environmental considerations started to damage its image, but the Paris Crash, the September 11th attacks and the ensuing stagnation of the aviation market, an outdated design becoming more and more expensive to maintain, the discontinuation of maintenance by Airbus and the fact that they were making a loss on every single flight is truly what ended Concorde's reign.

As for returning to the world of supersonic travel for the fare paying customer, in this world of austerity and environmentally bound agendas, I highly doubt it. Although Boeing considered the idea with the Sonic Cruiser, the amount of fuel required to operate these aircraft and the overall lack of interest or money to fund a project solely aimed at the 1%, means that chances are we won't see the likes of Concorde ever again.

But either way, we can be glad to say that we did it, we built Concorde, we flew it, operated it for 27 glorious years, and in doing so brought nations and continents closer together. Concorde truly lived up to its name, an everlasting symbol of peace, prosperity, speed, design and human endeavour.

Dressed as required for the Brompton World Challenge section of the Prudential Ride London event on which I did the 47 mile route but actually did 53 (85km). M6L with 44t

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The appalling state of decay of the canopy over "Platform 3" at Penrith North Lakes Station.

This platform is not really required for embarking and disembarking passengers as "P3" is really just part of the Down Passing Loop created since the demise of the former branch to Keswick.

Actually this used to be P4, as the former bay platform used to be designated P3 back in the day.

Either way the canopy is so badly decayed that it has had to be fenced off to prevent access to the general public.

I frequently have a chunter to myself about this kind of thing when I see reports of shiny new railway infrastructure "Down South".

Tiny and beautiful. Found this while crawling around trying to shoot wild asters. Can't seem to find it again ;( Perhaps a coleus?