Chinese Gardens - Singapore 19-03-2013

Singapore squirrel

Singapore heron

Frangipani blooms everywhere here

This lovely building is near Speakers Corner

Hampstead walk - UK 13-03-2013

Old - black tile street signs

 
Lovely design not certain of date – possibly 1910 ?

D H Lawrence lived here


Exemplary terracotta plaque 

Dmitri Orlov 1883 -1946

 

Artist Dmitri Orlov – Poster 1919 ‘Death to World Imperialism’ could be re- titled to-day - Death to Globalisation - the new behemoth

In 1920 this artist also designed another apt poster titled ‘Capitalism devours everything’

St Leonards on Sea - East Sussex 01-03-2013

Newly painted façades 

Cinque port emblem?

Low tide

Bev

Shelters on Marina built in 1936

South Downs Hove – East Sussex 26-02-2013

Foredown Tower formerly part of Hangleton Hospital built in 1881-3  as an isolation hospital for people with Smallpox, Diphtheria, and tuberculosis. In 1909 the huge cast iron water tank supported by this tower was added to provide water for the hospital. When the council restored the tower in 1992 the old, empty, water tank became the viewing area for a Camera Obscura one of the largest still used,  in the world.



Hangleton view overlooking the South Downs

Traditional Chinese figures – Right  to left - Luck, wealth and longevity!

Early Spring in Peterborough 24-02-2013

Common snowdrop (Galanthus)  meaning ‘milk flower’ – widespread in Europe thought to have been introduced to the British Isles by the Romans

Sweet fragrance - Common primrose ( Primula vulgaris )

Rededication to the International Brigaders 1936 –1938 honouring those who fought against the fascists in Spain - Manchester 10-02-2013

Farewell speech to the International Brigaders by La Pasionaria (Dolores Ibarruri ) in Barcelona 15th November 1938

Manchester Town Hall completed in 1877

Blue tiles adorn an open fireplace at one end of one of its ceremonial rooms!

Moments in Reading 07-02-2013

Huntley & Palmers biscuit factory building built in 1846 - once the largest biscuit factory in the world

Gasometer part of the old Reading gas works

Bridge built by Brunel between 1839 – 1840 as part of the Great Western Railway. Note the beautiful elliptical main archway!

Early pussy willow seen along the river Thames

Chequer board brickwork terrace – early 1900’s

January 2013

Almond blossoms in Ibiza

A Prickly pear invasion! – Ibiza

Photos by Pilar Meira

Our begonia – first flowering for years!

Seville Orange Marmalade

Bought at our greengrocers in Millbrook, these bitter oranges are available only for a few weeks at this time of year. They are imported from Spain and perhaps Ibiza! where a local supermarket sold delicious naranja amarga mermelada  (bitter orange marmalade)

Celebrating 150 years of the London Underground

Look through the window as you travel between Tottenham Court Road and Holborn on the Central Line and you'll see a station - where no passengers have alighted since 1932. This used to be British Museum station. Travel on the Piccadilly Line between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner, the tunnel wall changes from cast iron tubing to bricks. This also used to be a station. Down Street, closed in the same year as British Museum. These stations are often referred to as ghost stations.
There are about 40 abandoned or relocated stations on the Underground network along its entire 255 miles (408Km) of trackway - some subsurface and some above ground. Some have vanished without trace whereas others are almost intact, grimey time capsules of the era when they were closed.
The world famous underground map (well, technically it's a diagram not a map), was originally designed by Harry Beck in 1931.

London Underground workers building the Piccadilly Line extension at Turnpike Lane in 1930

Londoners take shelter in the London Underground during the Blitz 1940-1941

The Tube's famously dirt-disguising patterned seat fabric!

The fire-damaged escalators at King's Cross underground station in London in 1987  caused by cigarette stubs falling bellow the escalator housing. Smoking was banned throughout the London underground after this.

Oyster cards were introduced on the Tube in 2003

Torchbearer and London Underground employee John Light carrying the Olympic Flame onto an underground train at Wimbledon Station, London in 2012