Stained Glass

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Alastair

On Friday, there was a job fair in the Town Hall which I have photographed before and have posted on here. Whilst I was there, I decided to take photos of the Stained Glass windows. I figured that if I was not allowed to, someone would come and tell me, but nobody did. The town hall was built in the 1200’s and was a storeroom before becoming a “Maison Dieu” – House of God and later becoming a gaol, and then the Town Hall.

Kent in the Last Couple of Days

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Alastair

As a lot of you know, I live in the UK. England rather than Scotland, Wales or Ireland. The county I live in is Kent. Home of the Dartford Crossing, Fort Amhurst, Charles Dickens, Chatham Dockyards, Dover Docks, The White Cliffs of Dover, Canterbury Cathedral, The Channel Tunnel, The North Downs, Pluckley (Said to be the most haunted town in the UK) and many other wonderful sights and sounds.

Over the last 48 hours though, it seems like some people have been trying to cause chaos in this county, this … Garden of England. At 07:15 on September 5th, there thick fog on the bridge that links the mainland to the Isle of Sheppey. As usual, some people were driving too fast in weather that had visibility down to less than 10 yards. This resulted in an accident that has been heard about world-wide. 130 vehicles were involved and by some miracle / divine intervention, whatever you want to call it, not one person died. Eight were seriously injured, and a total of 35 people were taken to six different hospitals. A lorry driver has been hailed a hero as he purposefully jack-knifed his lorry to stop any other vehicles getting up onto the bridge and creating more damage. Nobody knows who this lorry driver was as he seems to have vanished.

On the morning of September 6th, a “suspect package” was found at the Dartford Crossing. This is a huge bridge and tunnels that travel over and under the River Thames and links Kent to Essex. For seven hours the bridge and tunnels were closed as the Police and Bomb Squad tried to work out if it was a danger or not. As this was going on, another suspect package was discovered in Dover. As some of you know, I live in Dover. This was on a coach near Dover’s Western Docks. I live by the Eastern Docks. I can see the roundabout where the coach was stopped from my balcony. 11 people were arrested under the terrorism act from the coach.

I am happy to say that the suspect packages were “of no danger”. I have not heard any more on the man arrested at Dartford for the suspicious package or of the eleven that were arrested from the coach.

The world we live in today, is full of fools who think they are immortal, and terror that seems to lurk around every corner. I know after 9/11 (USA) and 7/7 (UK) people need to be exceedingly vigilant, but we shouldn’t have to. We should be able to live together. Just because one person’s God has different preachings to another one, that doesn’t mean that they should kill for it. Do the Gods want their names used in mass death? I don’t think so. And drivers should be aware that what they drive is a massive chunk of metal. Each driver may think they are the best driver in the world, but the one beside them may not be.

I ask you all to stay safe, and drive carefully.

Dartford Crossing: Thousands of drivers stuck for SEVEN HOURS after security alert (dailyrecord.co.uk)
Bomb disposal teams at Dartford crossing (itv.com)
Dartford Crossing closed in both directions as police arrest man over suspicious item found on motorway (dailymail.co.uk)
Kent Crash (postsfromelena.wordpress.com)

A Photo A Day … May 01 2013

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Alastair

Been in extreme pain today, so I only managed a quick photo. This ship was turning to “park” in Dover Docks or turning leave. If you look at the larger image, you can see blurry images of people on the front of the ship and one on the bridge.

A Photo A Day … April 24 2013

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Alastair

Another late post today. With the problems of on old post then taking the kids out to get their hair cut, plus … other stuff. So … this is the White Cliffs of Dover. They are shoring up the cliffs by attaching more wire. Possibly because some of the cliff collapsed round the corner from me last month. I was standing on the rear balcony, and my son decided to wave to them. Naturally one of them waved back.