In the Navy

Well since leaving Uni ive been involved in a bit of shipbuilding, and as you can see above, there is certainly no expense spared in the latest Navy vessels being built! An excellent standard of accommodation for all the crew.

Feeding time at the Zoo

Quite literally feeding time at Blackpool Zoo on Saturday for the splash of sealions. Part of the incentive for this jumping spectacle by "Isabelle" the Sealion was a tasty Mackerel for her Luncheon. Certainly made for a rather impressive sight!

Clover over Dover

Looking at these fine cliffs, a natural first line of defence for our islands for many a year, its hard to argue with Blur on the point that " . . . if I jump its all over". Anyway, another excellent trip down south this summer saw me around Kent again, in the Big Smoke, and across la Manche.

About toon

Coming to the end of my days living in Newcastle, so some final shots are offered. To make up for lack of updates ill put a fist full to peruse. Enjoy.

Pining for the Fjords

If your not familiar with the comedy that is Monty Python, then you wont appreciate my title. If you do, then well done. Above is the Princess of Norway leaving North Shields ferry terminal an hour late a few weeks back. Im off on her tomorrow for a few days on a trip to Bergen, via Stavenger and, of course, the Fjords. I find these "minicruises " too cheap (3 nights for £ 50 with breakfast - its cheaper than the train home!) to resist, and of course theres the excuse its marine engineering related for my studies. I may get some nice shots in Norway to share on my return, if final months of degree madness allow time for such.

Anyway, the "Princess" has got around a bit. Built in Germany in the 80s, then sold to spend the 90s plying the waters between Melbourne and Tasmania in the Southern Hemisphere, and now back to Northern Europe. Think of all the people off Neighbours who have been to Tazzy- maybe if Paul had organised his Lassiters party on the boat instead of that plane, all those people wouldn't have died in the crash, or maybe Robert would have bombed the ship, she would have endured a long painful sinking, Paul would have got mangled by the propellers, and i wouldn't be able to go to Bergen.

Here she is in her former Guise last year before she got a paint job. Although the above shot is quite dull and dark, i like it, kinda atmospheric.

Wild life

Back in Preston for Easter, so an afternoon ramble in the countryside was called for. Spring must be in the air as these 2 pheasants were have a bit of a ruckus, probably fighting over some eligible lady pheasant (much like drunk lads in a club one could say). Anyway it was quite entertaining so fired a few shots off and combined 4 of them them into the above flapping of feathers. Enjoy.

When its spring again...

Ill bring again, Tulips from Amsterdam, or so the song goes! Its not technically srping yet, thats on the 21st, and it has to be said the weather tonight is bitterly winteresque, despite the warm spell last week. This was taken a few weeks back on a cheeky voyage to the Dam again, all the fun of a southwesterly force 9 was had on the way out and with nothing but grey, the tulips above, and of course the red lights, were the most colourful thing on offer.

Virgin train crash.

If any of you have seen the news today im sure you will be aware of the Virgin train crash in Cumbria last night. Well here is a picture from my archives, the 21st August 2006 to be precise, taken here, which is only half a mile from the de-railment site (in the distance on the mid left of the pic you can just see the top of the overhead wire masts at the crash site) . Ive used both the section of line and the train involved many many times heading between Newcastle and Preston over the last few years, and this has to be my favourite bit of the journey anywhere on UK rails, with such outstanding scenery and fast curves.

Suffice to say the media frenzy erupted with allsorts of non-sensical speculation, mainly from people who know nothing about the technical aspects of railways or engineering, and much rubbish was quoted. Stupid questions and demands were being put on whatever people they could get to be interviewed, asking Richard Branson personally why all his trains don't have seat belts, why all the trains were not being taken out of service immediately, and any other sensationalist and emotive crap they could think of. I don't know why this annoys me, but it does . . . . perhaps its the fact that trains are so safe (i will still feel perfectly safe taking this same journey in a few weeks). Maybe its the fact that one tragic death overshadows the 10 that have occurred on the roads since the accident, or maybe its the "lets attack and blame someone as soon as possible" attitude they have with everything. No one knows exactly why whats happened has yet, and will not until the technical experts finish their investigation, weeks or months from now.

Ages ago (see "crossing the border", June 06) i was banging on about the safety of the mk4 coach. Well today i think is evidence enough of the excellent design, manufacturing and engineering of the Pendolino - looking at the pictures of wreckage its amazing so many people walked out - even the majority of windows didn't smash (including the drivers windscreen) and the majority of the carriages look to have remained structurally intact - impressive when according to my crude calculations it had a kinetic energy of 420million Newtons to dissipate in seconds. Testament indeed to the skills and importance of good engineering, which ultimately can be the difference between life and death. As a final point i was on this very same train (City of Glasgow) on this very stretch of line just 3 weeks ago on the 3rd Feb, and whilst being very bored sitting at Carlisle, below i took a pic of what the inside looked like before the accident, the exact same coach is labelled 1 and seen here, sitting in a field.

Green Market

This is the Green Market in the Eldon Square shopping centre, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. It contained many small stalls, such as a cobblers, florists, sweet shop, and the Fish market to name a few. I assume it opened at the same time at the main shopping centre, 1977, hence why 30 years on it looks pretty dated, brown tiles being long out of fashion. These pictures were taken on Friday (26 Jan), about an hour before it closed for good, to make way for the re-development of the area and a new Debenhams. So I thought a few snaps to capture a "70s indoor market style" of the past were in order, the available light requiring a high ISO and hence post image smooth processing. The Green market stalls are now moving to the Grainger market across the road, or equally as close, a new Green market in another corner of Eldon Square.

Happy new year!

Remember, a dog is not just for Christmas, save some for boxing day! The flat screen TV on the other hand is good all year round, and doesn't need walking 3 times a day in the rain. This, I conclude, is why it gets put on a nice cabinet in the lounge and not in a box under the stairs.

Happy 2007 to all