Pareidolia

Pareidolia
                 Definition - The imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually                                                                 exist, as in considering that this tree has human features.

Early morning

Looking down from Mount Wise on to the River Tamar where it flows into Plymouth Sound.

The early morning ferry crossing from Plymouth to Cremyll,

to pick up commuters on their way to work in the city.

Morning Mist

At least it is not rainy yet,

An all too brief window of calm .....

.... before the next hooligan blew in from the Atlantic.

They had only just finished collecting up the floating debris driven in by the last gale.

The continuing saga of the good ship Lyubov Orlova

Last Thursday must have been a very slow local news day,

because our local evening newspaper The Evening Herald, 

carried a story with this wonderfully lurid headline,

Ghost ship full of cannibal rats 

could be about to crash into Devon coast

"There are fears a ghost ship full of diseased cannibal rats could be about to crash into the coast of Devon or Cornwall.

The abandoned Lyubov Orlova has been missing since it cut adrift while being towed from Canada nearly a year ago.

The 40-year-old liner has been driven across the Atlantic by high winds and is thought close to the UK shore.

Based on emergency beacons activated last year aboard the ship, it is feared the 40-year-old Yugoslavian liner registered to Russia could crash into the shore of Devon, Cornwall, Ireland or Scotland.

Those searching for the ship say there are likely to be thousands of disease-ridden rats on board with no source of food except each other.

The 4,250-ton ship built to carry 110 passengers was impounded in Canada in 2010 after being deserted by her crew in a debt row.

Two years later, she was towed to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped - but abandoned when she broke free".

Well the story worked because as Sam Blackledge,  a Herald Columnist, wrote a day or so later,

"Our story went live at about 9am. By 3pm it had attracted more than 50,000 hits, roughly the amount we usually get for the whole website in a 24-hour period. By the end of the day it had more than 180,000".

If property developers had their way ...........

........... only rich people would be able to live within sight of the water.

Fortunately some waterside communities are still are hanging on.

Yesterday we had coffee with the Rat Pack.

Thanks to the Barista Brothers.

At last! We wake to a day without rain.

A crystal clear sky,

with early morning mist rising from the River Tamar.

The only downside is that the car is frozen solid, 

 and it takes an age to get the doors open,

and even longer clear the windscreen.

But that is still a whole lot better than the incessant rain.

Six months to the day.

These two shots were taken from the same spot looking out onto Plymouth Sound.

One on 21 January 2014 and the other 21 July 2013.

"Live each season as it passes."

                                                                     Henry David Thoreau

More waterfront apartment blocks begin to take shape.

This development is taking place in Millbay Dock, once a commercial port and ship repair yard.

But now it is to be a large marina with the now familiar shore-side mix of

restaurants, bars, boutiques and galleries, topped with balconied apartments.

The bikes parked outside Cap'n Jasper's Burger Bar ......

....... tell you all you need to know about the quality of the food.

The first Sunfish of the shoal sighted.

This 1.7 metre high beauty, at the entrance to The National Marine Aquarium in Sutton Harbour, 

will shortly be joined 15 others which are to be located at various points along the Waterfront, where they will remain until September.

The bodies have been designed and fabricated by apprentices who work for the City Council and are being painted by local artists.

They will be part of a Waterfront Tourist Trail which will help tell the story of Plymouth, Britain's Ocean City.

Memory is a child walking along the seashore.

You can never tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things.

Pierce Harris          

No Rain. No Rainbow.

More torrential rain forecast for today.
But hey, smile, it's Saturday.

Evolution No.1

Stage Three

Stage Two

Stage One

Peeling Paint on a discarded wooden door.

Even when it is not raining ....

....... it is easy to see where the next downpour is coming from.

High Water Mark

After the recent torrential rainstorms the local rivers have been in full spate.

Coupled with some exceptionally high spring tides and gale force winds, 

every bit of driftwood in the tidal estuary of the River Tamar has been in motion.

Now, as the tides have receded, every slipway and beach is covered with debris.

Trompe l'oeil

A wall on the Waterside at Saltash.

If all you have is a hammer, .......

........ everything looks like a nail.

                                                                                      Bernard Baruch

Industrial Landscapes.

                 Nordhavn                                                                                 A Riverbank
          Copenhagen, Denmark                                                              Lancashire, England.
                    2013                                                                                            1947
                      Me                                                                                           LS Lowry

Some aspects of the industrial landscape are unchanged since Lowry's time.

The Øresund Bridge

In honour of the start, on British TV last Saturday, of the second series 

of the popular and critically acclaimed, joint Danish/Swedish thriller "The Bridge", 

here is a picture of the iconic bridge which plays a central part in the story.

It is the scene of the initial crime, and provides the physical link between Denmark and Sweden 

which allows the joint detective team to conduct their investigation.

I took this photograph last summer, as we were making our way to pass under it.

Shades

There has not been much call for sunglasses in the last few of weeks.

A very rare period, earlier this week, when the rain stopped for a few hours.

Friend?

Summer idyll, Winter challenge.

On the Cornish shore of Plymouth Sound lie the villages of Cawsand and Kingsand.

Like many Cornish villages each has a very high percentage of second homes and holiday lets.

Take a stroll around the village.

Deserted.

The Barbican Landing Stage has seen virtually no passengers, coming or going, for many days now.

The small ferry boats that normally criss cross Plymouth Sound have all suspended their services 

due to the continuing gale force winds.

The daily Cross Channel link, from Plymouth to Roscoff, in France, 

is also stormbound, and has not run for days.

Only those craft which operate in the relative calm of the River Tamar are running normally.

The Man With The Bucket On His Head.

A few days ago Tony, a lifelong friend of mine, 

encountered this street performer in the city centre shopping area.

After a long head stand on a cold and blustery day, he "dismounted",

 quickly pulled his "cloak" down to cover himself from bucket to the floor,

 and vanished through the small crowd that had gathered.

I wonder who?

And why?