Category: Geographical

Image of the day – 77

This looks like a window that would invite you in if you were a friend, but sternly resist if you were trying to break in or up to no good!

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

(I plan to return to some more images from our Irish holiday for a while, before getting back to more Cirencester images in the near future.)

Click to enlarge

I felt I really had to share this delightful little farmhouse window with you. Donna had booked an AirBNB near Castlewellan and it was right next to the farmhouse across a little, cobbled yard.

I love the heavy, stone construction and the little wooden frame – so rustic, so pretty, and a young conifer is trying to get in on the act in the lower left corner. This looks like a window that would invite you in if you were a friend, but sternly resist if you were trying to break in or up to no good! I’ve never before thought of windows as having personalities – but this one certainly does!


Images from our Irish holiday 2024

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Irish holiday images:

28th Jul – Welsh Botanic Garden, Robin, Fishguard
29th Jul – Wicklow Mts, Glendalough, Powerscourt, Rose, Greystones
30th Jul – Liffey, Temple Bar, St Patrick’s Cathedral
31st Jul – Newgrange, Battle of the Boyne
1st Aug – Monasterboice, Mourne, Thrift, Window
2nd Aug – Spelga Dam, Hydrangea, Pipework, Lough Neagh
3rd Aug – Coagh, Springhill, Portrush
4th Aug – Beach at Portrush
5th Aug – Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, Portrush

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Jonathan Fink

Silicon Curtain will expand your knowledge and background of the war as well as current events as they unfold. He posts frequently so the interviews are bang up to date.

Jonathan Fink is deeply interested in Russia’s illegal and barbaric invasion of her neighbour, Ukraine. He interviews all sorts of interesting, knowledgeable, and influential people in depth on his channel Silicon Curtain.

The background

Jonathan speaks at length with western politicians, retired army generals, Ukrainian commentators, visionaries, exiled Russians, and more. His interviews are always fascinating and he draws his guests out, always kind and measured, but also always probing and perceptive. Silicon Curtain is well worth watching and will expand your knowledge and background of the war as well as current events as they unfold. He posts frequently so the interviews are bang up to date.

With Mark Galeotti

Here he is, for example, talking with Mark Galeotti, a British historian, academic, and writer as well as being a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).

With Chuck Pfarrer

And here interviewing Chuck Pfarrer, a retired US Navy Seal team leader and a respected military analyst and commentator, author and more.

Do take time to browse Silicon Curtain, you will find interviews on every aspect of the conflict here with experts who know their topics really well.

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Image of the day – 65

Today, a lot of high street shops have closed as the retail trade has moved more and more towards business online. The future of high streets and shopping arcades is now in doubt.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

Click to enlarge

Towns are always continuing their growth and development to make them more suitable for the current inhabitants. The photo shows Bishops Walk, a covered shopping area linking Cricklade Street with the Brewery car park and the pedestrian space containing the modern version of the hare mosaic. It was opened in 1990, thirty-four years ago.

Today, a lot of high street shops have closed as the retail trade has moved more and more towards business online. The future of high streets and shopping arcades is now in doubt, I wonder if Bishops Walk will still be here in a further thirty-four years. Perhaps it will find alternative uses, or perhaps it will be replaced by some new structure.

For the time being it seems safe enough, shopping under cover is possible in all weathers; and some of the businesses in Bishops Walk appear to be thriving. I wish this place all the best for the future.

Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Image of the day – 64

Living in Cirencester always gives me a sense of history and the slow but unstoppable passing of the years and centuries. Will the hare mosaic still be available to see 1700 years from now?

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

Click to enlarge

This is the same hare that we looked at in the previous Image of the Day, but this time it’s a modern interpretation of the Roman original, installed in a public space between Brewery Arts and Waterstones bookshop.

It’s great to have the hare mosaic out in the open for visitors to the town to discover as they explore; perhaps it will encourage some of them to visit the Corinium Museum to view the original as well. But I wonder what the owners of the town house where the mosaic was found would have thought about public display some 1700 years in their future!

Living in Cirencester always gives me a sense of history and the slow but unstoppable passing of the years and centuries. Will the hare mosaic still be available to see 1700 years from now, in the year 3724? Will the town even exist in 3724? What language will be spoken here in 3724? Certainly not 21st century English! Will we have cities on the Moon, Mars, and beyond by then? Deep time, both backwards and forwards, a fascinating topic to ponder!

See also:
Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Image of the day – 51

We can imagine the people travelling here for celebrations and for remembering previous generations.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

The entrance to Newgrange

This is the entrance to the passage grave at Newgrange near Drogheda, north of Dublin. Some of what you see here is Neolithic; all of the larger stones are ancient, but there has been some recent reconstruction using smaller, fallen stones. The reconstruction has been somewhat controversial. The decorative, spiral carvings are original and are quite typical of Neolithic art in general.

Whatever your opinion about reconstruction, the tomb is most impressive and the nearby museum provides an excellent overview of the site, the construction and purpose of the monument, and its place in the landscape. There are many other Neolithic structures nearby, the entire area seems to have been a special place for the Neolithic people who lived in Ireland at the time it was in use.

We can only speculate, but we can imagine the people travelling here for celebrations and for remembering previous generations. It must have been a busy place during times of festival and ceremony. You know what that’s like; visitors need food and drink, and they may want to take home objects to remind them of their visit. Just as the visitor centre has a restaurant and gift shop as well as a museum, so 3½ thousand years ago, there would have been the same kinds of activity for exactly the same reasons. Food for sale in some shape or form, objects available to take home, as well as explanations about the deep history and purpose of the extraordinary structures in the area. Stories to be told, myths and legends as well as shared and handed-down memories to be recited.

Deep history indeed!


Images from our Irish holiday 2024

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Irish holiday images:

28th Jul – Welsh Botanic Garden, Robin, Fishguard
29th Jul – Wicklow Mts, Glendalough, Powerscourt, Rose, Greystones
30th Jul – Liffey, Temple Bar, St Patrick’s Cathedral
31st Jul – Newgrange, Battle of the Boyne
1st Aug – Monasterboice, Mourne, Thrift, Window
2nd Aug – Spelga Dam, Hydrangea, Pipework, Lough Neagh
3rd Aug – Coagh, Springhill, Portrush
4th Aug – Beach at Portrush
5th Aug – Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, Portrush

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!