Music while you walk ..

A band just ready to serenade you as you walk the streets of Prague ..

Wonder if they made much money ?

Summer - it's gone

I'm afraid that summer has gone soon to be replaced by autumn - summer seemed to be rain, rain, rain and more rain..

The swifts have set of on their travels to Africa - these will soon be followed by the swallows and house martins.

In the garden the buddleia has faded and we have red berries on the honeysuckle and shrubs - a sure sign of colder months ahead ..

And soon another year will have passed --- !!

ABC Wednesday - E for Eden

The Eden Project is a " global " garden built in a disused quarry near Newquay in Cornwall and has some of the largest greenhouses in the world.

For more information just " google " Eden Project.

This fellow can be found in the gardens - if you look closely you'll see that he's made of scrap metal and bits and pieces of discarded electrical appliances.

If you go to Cornwall you'll enjoy a visit here - allow a full day ..

Galway Bay

It looks calm here in Galway Bay, Ireland but the rain clouds are starting to form and soon it will rain.

Pleasant place is Galway .. even if it does rain !

Bulgaria - Waiting ..

Just waiting around in Bulgaria - waiting for their train to arrive.

They all seem very relaxed  - perhaps they are accustomed to waiting around 

ABC Wednesday - D for Dolmen

A Dolmen is a megalithic tomb found in Ireland that dates back to around 2000 BC.

This is the Poulnabrone Dolmen found on the Burren in the west of Ireland not far from Galway City.

The word Burren derives from boireann which means " rocky land " in Gaelic. It is basically a wild barren limestone plateau in northwest County Clare.

London - Train, Bridge, River

London is an extremely busy place - with thousands of visitors arriving each day to work in or to view the tourist attractions of the capital.

Here a train crosses the River Thames heading for one of the major stations.

London - Flags

These colourful flags were on display when we viewed the capital from an open top bus.

The nearest is the flag of Scotland but as for the others I'm not sure.

The Bank Job

Wednesday morning is still Senior Citizen time at the local Odeon cinema in Rochdale - reduced price and for those with an Orange phone " two for the price of one ". I can not complain of the cost - £3.75 for a whole mornings entertainment.

A 2008 "heist" film written by Dick Clement and Ian La Francis ( well known writers of TV series ). Story of a bank robbery that goes wrong - involves M.I.5, Malcolm X, the Monarchy, Soho gangsters, bent coppers - the lot ....

It was a very good film and I really enjoyed it - so go see it !

Starred Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows.

Vultures

The RSPB is an organisation in the UK that helps to conserve bird life not only in the UK but worldwide. 

I read in their current literature that  vultures in the Indian sub-continent now face extinction. Ten to fifteen years ago there were 40 million but today there is only one percent of that total alive.

The cause is a veterinary drug - diclofenac - now banned in India, Pakistan and Nepal that is used to treat cattle. The vultures feed on dead cattle and do not take kindly to the drug which is lethal to them.

Dogs and rats now feed on the dead cattle carcasses - these pose a serious threat of disease to the local population. The task now is to clear the countries of contaminated carcasses and start a breeding programme for vultures.

Look at http://www.rspb.co.uk/ for more information on birds in the UK and worldwide.

ABC Wednesday - C for Church

This C is the Church where I was married - many many years ago ...... in the early 70's 

This photo taken in 2008 - St. Stephen's, Westminster, London

We had a nostalgia trip and went for a nose around the church and surrounding area . Took our now quite old children to see a little bit of our history.

Spaceman

Can you see the spaceman ??

Here carved into the stonework of the cathedral of Salamanca in Spain - not a medieval stonemason I might add .

Lovely city in central Spain - just north of Madrid .. famous university and lots of language students..

WET WET WET

Well it's a normal British summer - wet

Nothing new - as a child it always seemed to rain throughout the long school holidays. Numerous cricket matches were rained off and whenever there was a Test Match at Old Trafford that would be a sure sign that it would rain.

Bad weather was always caused by atom bombs in the 50's and 60's but now it's climate change.

One good thing - no need to water the lawns ........   wunderbar ... !!