Broithe

Put the kettle on before you click this...

Wandering back from the pub in Rathdowney, I would often glance northwards and wonder why there was one red light in the middle of a few sodium lamps at Donaghmore. This bemused me for many years. Last winter, I suddenly realised that I was actually seeing the lamp two miles further on, on the top of the mast at Ballybrophy. Things just happened to line up from my viewpoint. One very small problem solved.

Cold air balloons would be the safest method, if only they would fly. When I had a proper job, we used sulphur hexafluoride gas, both as an insulator and as a blast to control and extinguish arcs as a circuit breaker opened. It is a truly weird substance, chemically inert (before it's had a good bit of arcing to degenerate it), but extremely dense, about six times that of air. A balloon filled with it was a strange thing, it would just fall straight down and stay there, not even bouncing. There are a few videos of demonstrations on You Tube, where a tinfoil boat is floated on a fish tank filled with SF6, appearing to just float on nothing. Being chemically inert did mean that you never knew it was there, although it would affect your voice, in a reverse way to the often seen 'helium effect' - but this had its hazards, as it was quite possible to drown in it, without any sensation of drowning, as your lungs barely noticed the physical difference from air. This made entering vessels that had been filled with it a practice that required your full attention, even if they had been pumped out. My practice was to drop a vacuum cleaner pipe in to the bottom and run it for half an hour.

10:50pm? Probably just caught him checking his phone whilst waiting for a pint to settle...

I would need a general anaesthetic.

The ultimate city air terminal - no need for a rail link, just a lift.

I came across this earlier today. The short-term airship terminal in Glasnevin, before the airport really got going properly.

I remember seeing Heuston in those days and being amazed at the sheer quality of the place, compared to the semi-derelict stuff I was used to on the Big Island at that time.

It came from here :- https://www.cie.ie/ga-ie/Who-we-are/History-of-CIE/History-Carousel

I have a 'memory' of them at Heuston - and, yet, this picture is 1973. I would have been there a couple of times in the late 60's, though. I might be remembering the ones at Crewe...

Puts me in mind of the "farmers v meat factories" dispute of a few years ago. At the local picket line, they became aware of a visit to the factory by a Chinese deputation and, so that they wouldn't be confused as to the technicalities of the issues under dispute, somebody had the superb idea of getting the lads in the nearby take-away to translate the placards properly.

He's hoping for a retrospective discount - as "shop soiled"..?

Ah, I noticed this sign at the hotel car park entrance today. https://www.google.com/maps/@52.9075934,-7.3528357,3a,15y,164.98h,88.15t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIwP4AZGTZTHIR5TNybt5zw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DIwP4AZGTZTHIR5TNybt5zw%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D29.58199%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu Also 'in context' with the historical location, but I doubt there was ever a level crossing there. I would presume that, with the closure being 60+ years ago, the current 'flat route' of the road' adjacent to the old bridge, would have been implemented after that point, as the practicalities became easier and the bridge became a bit 'tight' for the level of traffic at the time.

Ah, you're too hard on yourself - and it'll be OK once you've weathered the whole thing.

I hope so... But, I am not reliable. I once tried to explain to a French chap on a French campsite that there was a crowd of midges every evening, where he was pitching his tent. I'm not sure what I was actually saying, but it wasn't "flies", it might have been "handkerchiefs" or even "mountain goats". I was also interrogated by an old boy at the last house half-way up a mountain. I think I got the tense slightly wrong in his question - I thought he asked me "Where are you from?", so I told him and he got very animated. Thinking about it later, I think he actually asked "Where have you come from?" which was only the town at the bottom, which would probably have been less impressive to him. I do believe that he thought I had walked across Europe specifically to go up his hill.

Moulin de Chateau Ruisseau.

The Channel Island are also in that 'economic limbo' situation, handy for avoiding/evading tax. There used to be quite a business selling vitamin supplements from the Channel islands, VAT-free. It didn't seem to be worth the bother of dealing with them as imports - or maybe it was just owned by somebody's brother-in-law and blind eyes were turned?

Bangor (or at least one of them) is nearer than it was. I remember the first time I drove to Holyhead using the new A55, after years of battling up the A5 through the barely mobile roadblocks made from caravans. Barely a couple of hours into the journey, I saw a sign for Bangor - "Blimey" I thought, "Another Bangor, that'll confuse people. Then I found myself on the Menai Bridge. I ended up sat at the front of the queue looking at the ferry for ages...

Dirty pictures - that's what most of us got the internet for. Absolute perfection of dirtiness here!

It may be more of a heater than a light. https://picclick.de/Vintage-Red-Nestill-Paraffin-Heizung-in-Lampe-umgewandelt-186114764036.html

That was a particularly good month.

I managed to catch it better on the return service - not sure if there was a catering trolley onboard, the steamed-up windows reduced visibility of the interior. At least the guards turned up to check for ticket evaders. Good shot of the coupling there - for those interested in modelling this arrangement.

Getting ready to stroll into town, I just heard the approach of the 10:15 service in time to grab a picture.