San Francisco, Parte the Seconde.

I has returned, as you can see. I brung with me some more photos that you may or may not be interested in seeing. That said, if you've got this far, well done and I hope you enjoy them!



So the Golden Gate bridge we saw, well, we had to - I wanted to. It's brilliant, elegant in form and orange in colour. Well, International Orange, to be precise. We walked about halfway out, and then came back, had some nice views of SF and the bay too!




And it's worth noting that while the Golden Gate has it's own police, the California Highway Patrol (or CHiPs as I like to call them) still drop in from time to time. I love the gold and blue helmets! They're on BMW R-1200 (I think) bikes now, not the classic Kawasakis, but it's still great to see em.



I mentioned in my earlier post that the cables for the cable car system are all run from the same location. Credit to my disorganisation and poor blog post planning, I kept that photo for today! You can see the main power and gear units in the foreground, and the cables run over the big pulleys. In the background you might see the tension pulleys which move further away as the cable stretches, these keep the cables nice and tight for the grips on the cars.



That brings me to the end of today's few photos - there are more at the album on pix.ie if you're interested!

Next might be the transit to Yosemite....

Some Monasterevin Photographs

Last weekend (feels like it's a week ago!) I had a bit of time on Sunday afternoon. It was a nice day, so I took some photographs on the (round-about) way to the shops for bread and milk and stuff. These are the results - many were deleted, and this is kinda bridge heavy, but as I've said before, there are photographs everywhere, you just have to get out and about and go to them!

This road leads to Monasterevin - I love these old signs, lots of character and texture still in them. That's a mile there, by the way, not a kilometre....!


My travels took me to the train station. The bridge linking the platforms is (naturally) defended by fencing, so I couldn't take the photo I thought I wanted, so this would have to do...


Off I went to recursive infinity after that...


Then down by the Barrow I got a few photos of the Pass bridge, the viaduct and the aqueduct. In the picture below you'll see the rail viaduct and the aquaduct (Grand canal over the river Barrow). For more pictures, follow the link in the title, and enjoy!


Oh, by the way, does anyone know if blogger is broken on chrome?

I've been playing with my new Tripod, and enjoying comedy! Not in that order...

Tonight, for a change, I took some photographs. But only after I saw some funny.

Thanks to the guys at Schnitzel, sorry, Schnitzel comedy club, there was a very enjoyable Diet of Worms show at the riverbank this evening. Preceded by Gearoid Farrelly, Alan Bennett (MC) and Mikey, who isn't 26, these guys made me laugh a lot. Again. Having seen them before (call of the puffincat) I was expectant of ribtickling, but this was a hilarious play (and well-acted, too) rather than a hilarious live sketch show.

Set in Strollinstown, the main character is a developer who's been hiding the Recession from his wife. Liberally sprinkled with hilarity, there's also a sense of satire in that maybe we've all been hiding from the recession a little bit.... all good comedy is intelligent too. And this was, and is, good comedy. Go and see it if you get the chance.

And now that I have a tripod, I've been able to take some of the photos I was aching to take for ages - St Conleth's church in Newbridge is very nicely lit up at night, as is the extended bridge in Liffey. Width-wise, that extension was, not lengthwise - the Liffey hasn't expanded. Much.

So, here they are, linked in all their photographical glory to my pix.ie account - enjoy, if you can! Comment if you like!


It really is well lit up. I'm sure that more can be done with this photographically, but I chose to stick with a 50mm prime and see how it worked. Lovely lights, you'll agree!


Interestingly, and I'd hoped I'd timed it properly, the red and green lights are simultaneously on in this image! Some nice light trails there, but they were a bit overpowering. More traffic would be needed for this, so maybe earlier than 2230 for the next shoot! Also it was cold. :(



Does this make sense? I like it!

The bridges of Monasterevin, or, how you cross the canal without getting your feet wet

There are many bridges in Monasterevin, definitely scope for a project one day - It's got Engineering all over! Rail and road viaducts, a canal aqueduct, I've heard it said there are 12, and that you can see them all from one place - must be somewhere high, but maybe I'll find it someday. Gotta count em first!

Anyway, the lifting bridge on the Portarlington Road was recently replaced with a modern one (in the same style) and whilst waiting on a badminton game, I took this one evening.

Saucers, clouds and upside-down egg boxes...

The sum total of this week's contribution to amateur photographic "art" - 2 skyscapes, one picture of saucers, one of Monasterevin's lifting bridge, as well as fog and egg boxes.

This one, taken of saucers lined up ready for the morning coffee rush, is my favourite from the week since last Friday. I like the patterns created!

Then there was the foggy day at Dunamaise last Sunday, and some of the sky ones I showed you last weekend aswell.

During the week I tried to catch the local canal harbour in Monasterevin. Interesting light trail along the bridge!

It really can be quite picturesque down here! More experimentation possible there.

Photo of the day continues...

Today's picture:

I was able to go for a little spin today, it being a Bank Holiday, and I found a bridge under the M7 where I saw this graffiti!

New Bridge

Nah, not that Kildare place, but the new bridge in Dublin city has been finished, and has been tugged over from where they built it in Holland. Looks spectacular, pictures here!

Engineers - again.

Engineer's Eye this evening was all about the Boyne Bridge, that impressive cable-stayed bridge (viaduct) which carries the M1 motorway over the Boyne river on the way up from Dublin to Belfast and environs. Another interesting programme after last weeks, but I felt that the engineer discussing his work this week didn't have the same common language, if you like, that his counterpart did last week. That's not to criticize the programme, only that, well, he was inclined to use technical terms and jargon which might not have been known to a non-engineer. Uh oh, I'm going to get in trouble for being patronising, amn't I?

Here's a very informative paper on the bridge. It's a pdf file, so might take a while to load up.

I have forgotten what else I wanted to mention this evening....

I must upload some piccies of the recent Italian excursion - more later. I have just remembered something.

This blog made it to no.1 on a google search! What for, I hear you ask. Well, nch, rugby and typeface. Here's the proof!

I have found something very cool, and I have a new name for it

I didn't design or have anything to do with this, but I think it'd be cool to call it a "Brunnel". It's a bridge with part being also a tunnel to allow ships to pass, instead of a lifting section. I think Brunnel would be a good name for this bridge-tunnel, and also sounds a little like the famous historical engineer, Isambard K Brunel!

I also have some ironing hints. This evening, I carefully sorted the ironing into 1-dot, 2-dot and 3-dot piles according to the care label. I started ironing at 1 dot.

I finished the first item on the super-heated nuclear steam setting and realised that care labels mean nothing. You should all know that. Goodnight.