Looking forward to another lovely month of all your gorgeous photos.

May I be the first on this months thread? I took this photo of Bristol from the balcony of
a pub called 'The Scotchman and his Pack'. (An odd name for a pub, I hear you say. It's located
at the bottom of a very steep hill. A scotchman was employed to place a 'scotch' from his pack
behind the wheels of a cart to stop it rolling backwards down the hill when it stopped.)

I was fortunate enough to have a day out in London with one of my Autralian team mates who was on a UK visit. We did the British Museum, John Lewis, had a lovely meal, oh yes, and had a few drinks!

I thought that for the start of October I'd share some of the British Museum treaures - the Museum by the way is still FREE to enter.

So, we start with some of the Elgin marbles

I have been putting more plants in the garden, not that they show at the moment.

This weekend's reason to go downtown was "Flavours of Fall", which involved lots of things to do with pumpkins (including cake and pie) and rides on horse drawn wagons. Here are some of the pumpkin carvings.

Another bit of the Elgin marbles

I've been going through the film archives again to get the remainder online, this is the sea front at Bexhill from the De La Warr pavilion taken in 2002

A pond on Ham Common

cool pumpkins!

Mummified cats

St Edmund's Wolf on the cliff top near Hunstanton. There is a story about Edmund and the wolf. He was the Patron Saint of England until St George took over after the Crusades.

Please can this be stickied to the top? I keep nearly missing the new posts.

The Empire State building from street level. (Or how to look like a tourist in New York.)

Great view!

I don't even know what these are called but it's to track speeding and truck driving times.

"I don't even know what these are called..."

"Big Brother" (as in Big Brother is watching you) comes to mind.

It's a camera gantry, and your fonts appear like our pre-1953 for the numbers and similar to the 1953-63 for the letters, but not the same.

The Chiltern hills in Wendover

Yes. Yes. I've often thought the same thing ...
I just know there's a sign out from them that has a name on it .. something along the lines of a Truck Survellience Photography Unit no doubt.
Do you have them over in the west, MG? Bit hard for truckies to avoid this one as it's too far out of the way on crappy roads to get around it.

"Do you have them over in the west, MG?"

I don't know - I've never seen any that I can recall but I don't get out onto isolated roads all that much.

Once I couldn't collect old train tickets any more I shifted to old road signs, and have become something of an authority as I run the pool on Flickr so need to know all the details. It's sad how most things were designed and often built far better in the past than they are now, so I hold on to as much as I can before it's gone forever as the signs are all at least 48 years old and been on death row ever since.

Anyone spent a penny in a waterfall recently?

I think everyone must have been working today apart from me!

Golders Hill park (as yesterday)

A conceptual picture I made called "Let There Be Light".

...in a world of dark ignorance.


I love conceptual photography.

Very cool!

This bird sat on the edge of my deck for ages the other afternoon. I swear it knew Precious was watching, and couldn't get at it, and just stayed there to tease her.

lol ... teasing cats can be a dangerous game to play!

Some clouds the other day.

A pond on Richmond Park by the one in Ham.

Nice setting, SatG - I think I would have been disappointed if it didn't have the ducks, all ponds need ducks. It should be a law!

A salt lake on our place .. very grainy just took it with the ipod while out and about this morning.

I saw this giant guitar in the Hard Rock Café at Yankee stadium, hence the pinstripes. It's been
signed by a number of the players - I can see Alex Rodriguez between the pick-ups.



(Bad pun time: Wooden body, wooden bridge, wooden pick-ups, wooden play.)

Still some apples left on the tree that I havn't been able to reach to pick.

Obviously the sandwiches are made with bread puns

I spotted this horned caterpillar on our gate yesterday. I loved the bright yellow colour but have no idea what family of moths or butterflies it belongs to:



Edit: Looks like it's a Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda), a moth of the Lymantriidae family, found in Europe and Anatolia.

A Birthday tea for my niece a few weeks ago

Yumm yumm!!!

New modern houses have been as rare as hen's teeth in the last 20 years, but in this road where the cheapest houses are a few million they are still the norm, with many being completed in the last couple of years.

Here we are in the 'lobby' of Yankee Stadium:

We took advantage of some really warm, sunny weather today and visited a local orchard store before having Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house. There were all sorts of things going on, including a corn maze, hay rides, music and the buying of apples. There were also chickens, ducks and a pot-bellied pig, but they'll keep for another day. For now, here are some of the apples, guarded by an oversized wooden carving of a farmer.

I love the Lettuce Eat There is a radio show in England on Absolute (Dave Gorman on a Sunday morning) that does Pun STreet and has all businesses that have names as puns. This would fit right in.


same lake - different side with some sun flare to top it off. Being grainy makes it look like a painting. :p

"I love the Lettuce Eat There is a radio show in England on Absolute (Dave Gorman on a Sunday morning) that does Pun STreet and has all businesses that have names as puns. This would fit right in."


My cousin and her ex used to own a fish-and-chip shop called "Get Stuffed" and you could take that however you wished. They did do extremely generous servings so no-one could complain they didn't get enough to eat. But it was also my cousin's attitude to life. I've got photos somewhere - I'll have to dig them out and scan them.

When I lived in Spain there was a fish & chip place called "The Codfather" next door to a jazz bar called "Sax on the Beach".

I can feel a thread coming on

Giant tea cups in the garden at Hatfield House

Thanks for the inspiration Christina, I hadn't done any new photos this week so here's another from guess where.

Always pleased to be of help satguru.

The Central Exchange Newcastle upon Tyne



The Central Exchange building, which was built by Richard Grainger in 1836-38 to the designs of John Wardle and George Walker. The Central Exchange is a triangular building which was intended to be a corn exchange but became a subscription newsroom. The building was ravaged by fire in 1867 and again in 1901

That is a lovely building!

I went out and took some photos yesterday .. looked at them on my camera .. came back to download them to the computer and they aren't there! Bugrit. Will try again this arvo!

The Central Arcade Newcastle



The Central Arcade in Newcastle upon Tyne, England is an elegant Edwardian shopping arcade built in 1906 and designed by Oswald and Son, of Newcastle. It is contained within the Central Exchange building. The building is bounded by Grainger Street, Grey Street, and Market Street with entrances serving all three streets. It houses several shops.

That's lovely. In style and design it reminds me of the Burlington Arcade in London. Both are probably around the same era.

A fast shutter speed.

A typical London suburban scene, a red bus in Finchley. Following rules advice re number plates I have just edited my first photo for image removal. Yay!

Central Arcade Newcastle



Below the glass barrel-vaulted roof all is glistening Burmantofts ceramics in shades of browns, buffs and yellows: huge panels, little niches, grotesque animal heads and elegant lettering

Way cool, zebra101!
How did you splash the berry?

Wow!(I mean everyone Wow!)

This is the sea front at Illfracombe, North Devon. This was about 5 years ago but I doubt that
it's changed much. The white circular thing in the middle is a merry-go-round which looks quite
spectacular at night when it's all lit up. I have a photo of it 'somewhere'. If I can find it, I'll
scan it & put it up here.

Thank you! I used my sink spray nozzle.

What was Finchley tax office.

Something more modern and utilitarian than the Central Exchange. The building on the left is Eldon Square Indoor Shopping Centre which houses todays equivalent of the Central Arcade. Car park on the roof and bus station in the basement, shops in between

Hatfield House from the gardens

A pretty dandelion.

Modern sculptures in Hatfield's gardens

Those gardens look very interesting!

More from the salt lakes. We went for an adventure out there yesterday for something to do. On top it's about an inch thick of salt, looks like an ice sheet, and underneath it's the blackest mud.

Me again.
Jess looking majestic

Seen at a local garden show. Some days I think I really should get one of these and put it by the front door as I seem to get grumpier as I get older.

Christinap, I'm sure that as we get older and wiser, we realise just how much there is to be grumpy about.
I have my very own terra-cotta warrior who has guarded the path to my front door for many years.
Allow me to introduce Brando, the Surly Cat!

Love him, he's wonderful!

This may be a cue for a 2 week thread. Garden stuff?! Hmmm

In that case I'll save a couple I was going to post for that.

Exactly 150 years ago today (17th October 1861), the railway line between Forres and Grantown opened. Closed by Beeching, it's now a good long distance path. This is what it looks like now, near what was Rafford station. It actually goes over a small road just before those pine trees.

Centre For Life Newcastle upon Tyne



The Centre for Life is a pioneering science village based in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne where scientists, clinicians, educationalists and business people come together to promote advancement of the life sciences.

A bit of grass that has blown on the salt lakes and grown crystals.

The river Mole just before it meets the Thames

More of my fascination with paths, this is the one by the river yesterday

Cressing Temple Barn in Essex. This is the oldest complete medieval threshing barn in Europe. Built by the Knights Templar it once stood at the centre of a thriving estate. The medieval site is now preserved by the local Council and includes another smaller barn of the same era, the fish ponds in which the Knights would have kept carp for food, various agricultural outbuildings including stables and grain stores, a pump room, a 17th century farmhouse and a Tudor era walled garden which would have been used mainly for vegetables and herbs as well as bee=keeping. This has been restored in recent years and now has bee hives in it again. Chickens have also been reintroduced to the site as they would undoubtedly have been there in medieval times. The barns are completely original and the supporting timbers inside them have been carbon dated to the 13th century

St James' Park home of Newcastle United Football Club

That temple barn is amazing!

A paw print

Copago, the whole site is wonderful actually. The Council have gone to great lengths to protect it. They do have carefully selected events there, antiques fairs, that sort of thing, but not very often. It is actually a very tranquil place to walk round and a real wild life haven as well.

Dollis Valley walk in Barnet, alongside Dollis Brook which eventually ends up in the Thames at Brentford, passing very near my house on the way.

Precious, caught in the act of her most recent idea of being a "cute kitty"! (Hoping the faces on the TV are blurry enough to pass muster.)

Mollie



No words needed

Part of the restored walled garden as Cressing Temple Barn

The view from one side of my bedroom which was built in the loft. The people opposite can see far more from theirs as they can look south and beyond the buildings in my way as well.

Love the salt pan pics Copago! Geology and geography fascinates me.

I went to Melbourne last week and on a couple of days I woke to find hot air balloons floating across the city.

This is where I spend many daylight hours. My little greenhouse-cum-propagating shed is just big enough to swing a cat. Not that I would, of course!
It has also come in handy once or twice if I needed to isolate one chook from the rest.

This decorated funnel on a canal boat is for szabs. Toot toot!

Hi all. you must have noticed I have not been my usual slick, fasy-moving , efficient self lately! I am off for a while, probably to Castle Peak Mental Facility. Dear Leo Da Vinci of Book Club and Tipping Comps as agreed to take over for a while. Please take care of him and don't reduce him to a gibbering wreck like me. Jill , of course is still here, So welcome Leo!!!

I hope you're going to be fully repaired and recovered Ren, and I certainly didn't notice anything myself, and look forward to seeing you as soon as possible back to your best.

These road signs were trialled for a while but only introduced nationally in 1960, and then replaced with a new version in 1963 officially, thus making them one of the rarest made, especially as they were restricted to minimal locations so people didn't get too used to seeing them and ignored them. There is one in Barbados, but so far the only one I know in the UK is thank goodness over the river from me and still doing a fine job 50 years on.

Mist plus spiders web

Hope you're feeling better soonest Ren!

Here's a flower for you from the Treasury Gardens in Melbourne.

I am not ill, just up to the proverbials in work! But all the same thanks for your kind wishes and the flar is gorgeous. XXX

That's a relief Sara, you had us all worried there for a bit!

A typical country main road outside London, mainly taken to make sure I have something for that particular map square and many of them have nothing accessible but similar roads but they all count on my mapping site.

Sunflower

Part of the Tudor walled garden at Cressing Temple Barns still under restoration. You can clearly see the old walls in this which are all being retained and restored with original Tudor bricks.

Another Strelitzia in Melbourne, this one being foraged by a New Holland Honeyeater.

Sunset over the M3 motorway in Longcross

I like that one, satguru!

I couldn't resist taking some photos of the clouds this evening.

Thanks Liz, a lot of photos are down to good luck, either someone else does the hard work, like a gardener, or nature comes along and makes something pretty ordinary look artistic. This one's down to the gardener today. My local park from 1965-93

Found on the wall beside the front door of the house this afternoon

More from my park

That's lovely David. I love the drop down bit along the front. Is it a ditch? Looks as though it might be a brick wall.

That's the Mutton Brook, it flows from East Finchley along the North Circular Road and into the river Brent around Brent Cross. That goes into the Thames at Brentford. It also has a few more tributaries arriving around Hendon, the Silk Stream which comes from Edgware and Dollis Brook which comes from Barnet.

This is the riding school I went to every week and more for a good few years until I became too allergic to horses to carry on when I was 13. I must try again if I can find anywhere local that actually opens to the public to go riding now.

Latest Purchase



Snow Shovel. That should mean the snow will give Tyneside a miss this year

The Crab Cactus are coming into flower again. Most of these grew from one cutting given to me years ago by a wonderfully eccentric old lady.

This is the north end of Edgwarebury farm on the edge of London in Elstree

A mushie in a flowerbed, Carlton Gardens, Melbourne.

This is what's been keeping up busy the last few days. She's a bitzer, 8 weeks old from the RSPCA and called Jinx.

Awww, what a cutie!

She is adorable!! And she's only 8 weeks old? She seems very tall for 8 weeks. I love how her ears are two different colours. Aww I want a puppy now..

Some people go to great lengths to make Halloween special for the 'trick or treaters' near them.
I saw this house on my way home from work. The lady of the house was dressed as a witch with
bright green hair, but she disappeared into the house before I could get my camera out.

Chrysanthemums grown for the first time

Hallowe'en candy waiting to be distributed. I had close to 50 Trick or Treaters, but still have candy left...

More of my favourite sort of houses, these are near Woking