Halloween and the bonfires and fireworks are now over so here is my October selection and it has a bias this month with this photo being a clue about where, if you know specifically, what these are.
First is this interesting shot, not of a Lidl in Torquay, where I was shopping, but a stone tower next door that stands proudly in the middle of a trading estate. There is a small clue if you look at a map, because the main railway line runs along the back of this Lidl.
The tower is an English Heritage 2 star listed building which is why it has survived and isn't buried under a Lidl store. It was built in 1847 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and is a pumping station. It was part of a failed project so way ahead of its time that the materials to make it possible had not been discovered yet. It was meant to use pumps to create a vacuum in a tube. That tube was a railway line, The Atmospheric Railway. The project failed on its only operational section at Starcross, before it reached this section of the line so that this tower was never used for its original purpose. Had it worked, towers like this would have sucked trains down to the English Riviera all the way from London. The vacuum tube only contained a bracket that pulled an otherwise normal train unlike this new proposal below.
Hyperloop is a proposed high-speed transportation system for both passengers and freight. The concept was published by Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper, where the hyperloop was described as a transportation system using capsules supported by an air-bearing surface within a low-pressure tube. Hyperloop systems have three essential elements: tubes, pods, and terminals. The tube is a large, sealed low-pressure system (typically a long tunnel). The pod is a coach at atmospheric pressure that experiences low air resistance or friction inside the tube using magnetic propulsion (in the initial design, augmented by a ducted fan).
In 1883 the Longpark Pottery Terracotta China Works, started in what earlier had been Brunel’s Atmospheric Railway at Newton Road, Torquay.
October saw the final Quayside Classics event in Kingsbridge, this one on a Sunday morning that probably turned out to be the sunniest and driest event of the season.
I recently discovered that we not only have Little Egrets living locally, but Storks, Great White Egrets and these Cattle Egrets.
In Okehampton I spotted this rather nice bas-relief showing the map of Devon in 3D with Dartmoor and Exmoor in all their sculptural detail. Devon is the only English county with two separate coastlines, a good quiz question. It is also the only county with a letter box.
Not far away along the High Street is a small chapel which I will post about separately. This is the entrance, and the small circular hole at the bottom of the door is for the cat to keep the mice in order.
Further along the High Street again is a small museum, the Museum of Dartmoor Life.
I had no idea chewing gum had such a history in Britain. Mars Wrigley is the world’s leading manufacturer of chocolate, chewing gum, mints and fruity confections. It has a manufacturing plant not far from Okehampton, straight across Dartmoor on the outskirts of Plymouth. The British chew an average of approximately 100 pieces of gum a year, 90% of which is made by Wrigley. Now I don't partake, so someone out there is chewing my 100 pieces too.
If you were foody enough to recognise the opening photo and to be honest it is a very niche item, then you may have guessed that this months bias is Greek. We are in two different locations, the islands of Rhodes and Symi. Greek Salad would have been way too obvious. Most of these are in Rhodes old town.
This is The Aquarium of Rhodes, also known as the Hydrobiological Station of Rhodes, which is a research centre, aquarium and museum in Rhodes, Greece. It was built in the 1930s, when the island was under Italian rule and is currently administered by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research.
This is the alleged site of the once famous Colossus of Rhodes. The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek sun god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name, by Chares of Lindos in 280 BC. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was constructed to celebrate the successful defence of Rhodes city against an attack by Demetrius I of Macedon, who had besieged it for a year with a large army and navy.
This next fishy building is the old fish market.
Much of the old town is restored but some work lies ahead.
I have never seen so many cats in one place. There appears to be at least one every hundred metres. This one is internet aware, having its own website.
Reflections On A Marine Venus: A Companion To The Landscape of Rhodes
by Lawrence Durrell.
With his dazzling poet’s eye and passion for excavating ancient history, Durrell recaptures the mythic Rhodes of legend, of knights and crusades, that lies beneath its war-ravaged surface. It is a place that you will never forget.
Philhellene - a lover of Greece and Greek culture.
This is the island of Symi as we approach the Panormitis Monastery. The monastery is huge but a casual passing ship with an army looking for treasure would not see it.
Now we are getting close but still no monastery.
There it is.
The village of Panormitis, to the southwest of the main town, hosts the main monastery of Simi island, a monastery dedicated to the Archangel Michael. The exact construction date is unknown but, according to an old manuscript, it existed in the 15th century. It is said that this monastery was built on the ruins of an ancient temple, but this has not been proved.
So many signs saying No, what is this place? A Monastery? Seriously though, check out that little window top left. This WC was a hole in the floor type but had the advantage of no queuing through the overcrowded cafe. It also afforded me one of the best shots of the week.
Here it is. I don't often use my camera in public toilets, I have to confess, but when I spotted this view as I washed my hands I just had to do it. The mirror was a bonus, and I have no idea what the next guy walking in thought I was up to.
Next stop was the main town on Symi, called Symi. It's difficult to believe it now but at one time this tiny town was one of the richest in the Mediterranean. In the day before synthetic materials this was the centre of the sponge fishing industry.
Until the mid-19th century, sponge fishing was done by free-divers. The divers would prepare themselves before each dive (special breathing techniques and meditation) and then leap into the water from their boat, tethered to a 15kg stone to help them descend to the bottom of the sea. At the bottom, they'd drop the stone to the sea-bottom and then circle around it, harvesting live sponges in the vicinity until they had to return to the surface for air. (Some divers could hold their breath for more than 5 minutes!) At that point, the diving stone and basket of harvested sponges would be hauled to the surface by the boat's crew, and the process repeated in a different location.
The advent of diving bells (a precursor to scuba diving) in 1863 brought about massive change to the sponge industry. First off, many divers became ill (and some even died) because of "the bends" – a result of staying underwater for extended periods and then surfacing too quickly. And secondly, the sponge beds were quickly depleted due to over-harvesting. The natural sponge industry – and the impressive feats of the free-diving sponge fisherman – declined even further after World War I with the introduction of synthetic sponges.
Symi is now a desirable holiday destination and many of the classical style mini Parthenon type houses have been restored. Others are still waiting for people prepared to walk up the steep hillside in 45 degree heat during the summer.
These are Symi shrimp, the local delicacy, which have their little heads pulled off, but are otherwise cooked and eaten whole, shells and tails included, accompanied with some bread. A crunchy but tasty experience. Hang on, I think I can detect another piece of tail wedged in right at the back of my right lower molars.
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