Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: AlmostAnything

Indonesia Sumatra, Kampong Keling market, Medan. Note the fine vegetables amongst the tropical fruit. These were grown in Brastagi a few hours drive and a few thousand feet higher to the southwest where the climate was more temperate. We lived in Medan from 1979 to 1981 when I worked for Mobil & greatly enjoyable it was. I found the people and places fascinating. Every day threw up something new & even on the walk to the office you saw different things of interest. I went back on holiday in 1997 &, unsurprisingly, things had changed. Toko Ben's - the sacks sit outside the shop entrance - had transformed into a modern supermarket no longer opening onto the market but what shocked me the most was the fact that the Mobil office building had been converted into a Pizza Hut! A sign of the times I suppose.

Waiting to board a Pilatus in the Sahara desert south of Hassi Massouad. We were en route to a seismic crew shooting a survey in the Lasmo-operated El Ouar drilling permit, Algeria. It was pretty cramped for the first stage of the journey from Hassi with a full complement of passengers in the small aircraft but after dropping off most of them at this wellsite the two of us flying on to El Ouar could spread out. It was said that El Ouar meant "the worst" in Arabic referring to the the sand dunes being the most impassable. They had a relief of up to 1000ft and were so dense that it was impossible to drive/walk around them. This meant some serious climbing was needed to progress through the area. While the dunes gradually increase in size & density from the north to the south the dune belt stops very abruptly along a southwest-northeast line. I have flown over the area since on the way to West Africa & from 30,000ft this change from sand to rocky desert is very clear & hence it is easy to locate yourself.

Dinting Station British Railways. LNER EM2 electric E26055, Prometheus, on a Sheffield to Manchester passenger train on the Woodhead route waits at the west end of the platform, Autumn 1969. The crew wait for the "rightaway" to Manchester Piccadilly in the weak sunshine. Despite being a modern electrified railway the Woodhead closed completely in 1981. One nameplate from this engine was sold in December 2002 for £10200. The nameplate is not obvious in this view but the small oval 1953 Gorton Works, Manchester, maker's plate can be seen on the cabside. The rail glimpsed in the bottom left is the line to Glossop. The current limit of the truncated Great Central/LNER Woodhead route is to the east of Dinting.

Jakarta Docks sailing ships with wood from across the Java Sea in Sulawesi. Indonesian holiday 1997-8. What a fantastic old-fashioned atmosphere - nothing but sail in sight with at least 13 vessels in view. Note the man walking down the gangplank carrying timber on his shoulder. Only the bike on the right tells you it's not a 100 years ago!