Bits and pieces

It can be a colourful world. Without the figure this could be looking up or down a number of floors. In fact it is only someone's idea of brightening up a snack eating area on board the Cruise ship: Marella Discovery. Just below each 'window here is a personal eating cubicle with table and chairs. Enjoy full size. PiP

With multiple fences here, our eyes are assaulted with many points of interest. I am actually stood on the circular dance floor at the bottom of this six floor masterpiece of design. To the right, in gold, one of the two lifts, whisk people up to the many balconies which lead off to café’s, swimming pools cabins etc. Just below the three fenced central circular mini balconies here, is a spectacular golden railed staircase. The atrium itself is completely circular to its full height. See Pips. I wish you all, a great weekend, Herb (Ps the Ship is the ‘Marella Discovery’, formerly the ‘Royal Caribbean’ Splendour of the Seas.) As usual, best viewed full screen on black.

A soon to disappear set of fences here in Morecambe as work is shortly to start on a new Northern ‘Eden Project’ on the green land behind the fence. Hopefully the fence will still be reused and put to good use somewhere else as it is a very pretty one, tying in with the modern sea-bird theme along this big promenade. At my back, the sea beckons. I wish you all, a great weekend, Herb

The 'Trent and Mersey Canal', is an attractive peaceful water and along its banks sits a few building mostly constructed at the same time as the canal itself. Here near Great Haywood, we see one of a number of special watering facilities that include a shower no doubt for the sole benefit of the boat owners and their guest.

Enjoy these colours and lines. A prize was offered to the first person who spotted what this (or they) are :) - That has already gone to Colin, below. Off course these are the tops of some of our British Narrow boats, all moored on the 'Trent and Mersey Canal' basin at Haywood in Staffordshire.

A wonderful if not breathtaking view over Myrtos Beach, Kefalonia. A close up of this reveals that the passenger is holding strongly to her phone selfie stick. -This taken from the same spot as the adjacent photo. 2x PiPs Enjoy

My old Kodak folding camera, gets a retrieve from the attic for its portrait. Yes, I have actually taken photo's with this that required my own processing and printing too. They were not bad but the effort in bringing those photos was not what it is today with the ability to take thousands, instantly with our pocket phones and then view or send them anywhere. Ah, the good old days. PIPS of the whole camera included here too. Notice the special Autographic pen and opening window at the back of the camera that allows a date or any other info to be scratched onto the photographic film back hence displaying that on the finished negative and photo. A unique futuristic form of Exif here, well in front of its time. The back inscriptions says "Use Autographic Film No.A-120" - It appears that these camera's where made between 1904-1926. Maybe this really is a hundred years old!

Taken and heard whilst taking a stroll around the edges of the city of Faro, Portugal in the Summer of 2013. We heard this splendid guitar type music and looked up to see this musician happily playing here. Notice the cigarette hanging from his mouth. Fado is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Fado music example to listen to whist viewing this full screen here.

Seen by the Leeds-Liverpool canal at Pennington Flash. Thompson Dagnall Sculptor: "Unlocked is a book holding the secrets and stories of the canals. I aim to use the physical presence of the lock gates to stimulate each traveller’s memories of the canals and hint at the vast library of tales yet to be unearthed. The sculpture will dominate the viewer and give a taste of the feeling of entering a lock. The aim of this sculpture is to capture the essence of the canals in an up close and personal way." www.sculpturecarving.com/unlock PiPs

A view from the car park above my local Dove Stones walking area taken a year or so back now. I would like to thank you all for your many visits and kind comments on my photographs here. Wishing you all the Very Best for Christmas and the New Year. Herb

Winging it at 100 knots towards the dam wall of the reservoir. No I did not crash, but there were a lot of complaints to the CAA re my low flying in this. Note, the hills in front and to my right are the Saddleworth Moors which were alight this year. These same hills are overflown quite low by civil aircraft airliners on there approach to Manchester International Airport and so a plane such as this Piper would not be allowed to fly like this here. This scenery uses a clever combination of photo realism for the distances - so the sides of these hills are almost exactly as I would photograph them with the small ravines and colours but the 3d ground detail is added afterwards, sometimes one at a time by hand, making it less real but giving us fliers a chance to fly around solid objects to examine the other sides. Another feature for me is the incredibly realistic lighting as seen on the side of the hill and shadows. From high - it is as good as the real thing from a jet-liner passenger window. ( See adjacent photo an 4x pips too. )

Sometimes, I have to try to break the habit of landscape fences for something more urban. I saw this old, almost vintage car not far from my home some time ago now. At one time somebodies pride and joy, now forlorn behind these old gates. HFF, enjoy the weekend. This Fifty Six year Humber Imperial was the top of the range Humber. It was based on the Super Snipe series of cars and was built at the Rootes factory at Ryton-on-Dunsmore near Coventry

Spotted whilst crossing the ‘Ness Bridge’ in Inverness, this gnome tries his luck in the river Ness below. Of course he is really after catching ‘Nessie’ which he has nearly caught on several occasions. He suspects Nessie swims down here from time to time, from his home in Loch Ness, only six miles South West of here for a bit of sightseeing and a light snack. As bait, in the can, is Nessie’s favourite food mix – Haggis stewed in Irn-Bru. How could he possibly resist that? HFF, enjoy the weekend.

A few hours of snow during just a couple of true winter days here in Oldham gives me this local fence. Seen on my beautiful winter snowy tree valley walk. Spot the pet! HFF, enjoy the weekend.

Time for something different, so here is a scene on the Peak Forest Canal near the Lancashire town of Hyde. A place here where one gets fresh water and some supplies whilst on your canal barge and at the same time let the kids play on the rides. – It looks like some people have waited rather too long for their supplies though :) HFF, enjoy the weekend and keep safe.

SPC Joint Winner March/April 2020 (Porte/Doors). My fellow winner was Amelia Heath Originally in my old Panoramio account, these are actually beach huts. The title chosen because of the numbered boxes here representing in a little way our old social light gambling game: Bingo. When one won - they would shout 'House'! The game was often called 'housey-housey. Of course the double meaning was not lost on me neither :) The SPC (Secret Photographer Challenge) is one of a handful of Ipernity photo competitions. It is a fun contest giving contestants a chance to pit their skills with often something a little different from their normal Ipernity submissions. Each contestant enters up to three small photos that are not in their Ipernity account already. A winner is brought about afterwards by free votes of the SPC membership. The winner (s) have the prize of honour and also the chance to select the next subject. Please give it a try - its easy and fun: www.ipernity.com/group/2249054/discuss/190840 Enjoy

Here is a selection of the trains running on those mountains at that time, now long superceded. The Wengernalp Railway (WAB) is a 19.11 kilometres long, rack railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald via Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg at 2,061 metres above sea level, making it the world's longest continuous rack and pinion railway. The name refers to the seasonal mountain pastures above Wengen. It has a track gauge of 800mm (2'7", UK=1435mm) Originals on 35mm slide. Nice full screen.

A view of the outflow inspection bridge of Digley Reservoir -near the village of Holmfirth. The Danger sign reminds us to naturally keep of this structure but it also reminds us that we are altogether restricted from visiting such places at the moment with this Corvid19 lock-down. Here in the UK one should only venture out to such places if you can get there by foot from you home, whilst socially isolating of course! Ah well- we can look forward to a future where such visits are possible again – Notice the sun is coming! HFF, enjoy the weekend and keep very SAFE