Wednesday 22 January 2014

Fotos



Sloth and apathy have joined together to stop me offering a review of a book received at Christmas. You may cry 'Boo! Hiss,' at this point if you wish, what?.....oh!  It will turn up one day I tell thee!  So as the football is about to start I find I have no time to write and instead offer a foto of Edinburgh.  This was taken yonks ago and I find the conjunction of a Zebra grazing with the wild Pentlands looming (faintly) in the background somewhat incongruous myself.   You will know Scotias capital has lots of Zebras running around. People are always crossing them.  You will understand that I spent a wee while going through the old albums this afternoon.  This saved prevented me from working on the seven projects I ought to have been working on but allowed me to remember just how many poor fotos I have hidden away.  It is now unusual to finger actual prints, especially Matt ones, and as they have been encased in plastic for so long many show signs of wear, a wee bit like me.  Not that I have ever been encased in plastic....


So many fotos taken who knows when!  I think I took this up the Highlands some years ago but it may indeed be the Ochil Hills as seen from Edinburgh.  I asked the sheep to pose for me, I know I shouted "Hey ewe, over here," but they ignored me and kept chomping.  I suppose one hill looks like another to a 'townie.'   I canny mind taking it but in those days I dwelt in the centre of London and wide open spaces were a strange delight, indeed a few days of such views remain delightful, not many hills round here. 



The Thames about twenty five years ago.  I think that is Wapping over there and all those warehouses are high priced flats.  You can guess how much they cost!  Not very exciting but I like this sort of view. That afternoon was spent wandering along the south bank far from the tourist spots, finding those rough back streets which often contain historical treasures and one or two strange people.  Pleasure boats awaiting tourists and the occasional barge awaiting use. Just forty years ago all this was crowded with boats from across the globe carrying cargo one way or the other. Hundreds of 'lighters,' also and thousands of men nicking things as fast as they can assisting the economic development of the nation. The river is vastly cleaner than it was in those far off days, a huge effort to clean it, the loss of shipping leaving oil all help the improvement.  Had I been less lazy I could have kicked stones around the banks of the river and discovered odds and ends going back years, possibly to and beyond the Romans. If you know what you are looking for artifacts are constantly being dug up by man and tide, all you need is a wee bit knowledge and history is yours.  Of course you might just find sewage!   

.

5 comments:

the fly in the web said...

I remember mooching round Dockland before it was turned into a place for the rich....and I remember having my stomach pumped out when I fell into the Thames downriver, so filthy was it then!

Lee said...

Phun photos....I hope you had phun taking them. And I hope you had phun watching the phootball.

Some donkey painted stripes on that donkey, I bet!

Adullamite said...

Fly, I wandered around the Isle of Dogs many years ago, a place desperate for renovation. I think if I went now I would prefer it then! By the way I was always told 'Don't drink and walk by the Thames.'

Lee, How did you know about the painted stripes?
Your spelling is poor also, are you American?

Jenny Woolf said...

These are all very interesting. I am fascinated by the Thames, I remember it being like that too. I always used to think I wouldn't like to live near it cause it was so run down most of its length. Just shows, eh. As for the zebra, it gave me a slight shock to see it. Is it a real photo? I thought it must have been photoshopped!

Hope you post some more soon!

Adullamite said...

Jenny, No indeed it is real. Edinburgh Zoo sits on Corstorphine hill and near the top animals such as this have large compounds. Just don't tell the wolves nearby!