I have previously posted the classic view of the old pier at Swanage, but this angle is often overlooked. With the tide at this level you can see how the wooden supports have rotted away over time. I just wonder how much longer they will be there.
There may be another posting gap, as I am due to go to Italy for a couple of weeks. Hopefully I will come back with a few images to share along with the normal holiday snaps. Fingers crossed…
THe island is just off the coast of Tenby in South Wales. It is known for its fort, which was built in 1859 to defend against the pesky French. It is open to visitors, and is accessible at low tide. I have never been to the fort – too many steps for my old legs. The dark shadow below the fort is actually a passage you an paddle or swim through to the other side.
While the rest of the family went and played crazy golf, I took the chance to have a slow wander around the harbour without running the risk of boring everyone else senseless. I understand this is one of the frustrations of having someone in the family who keeps stopping to take photos. The tide was low enough for me to get down to sea level rather than having to shoot from the harbour wall, and the reflections in the sea, distorted by the gentle breeze, took my eye.
For any fan of the Harry Potter franchise, the death of house elf Dobby was one of the saddest moments. The scenes were shot in South Wales, and at the spot in the sand dunes where he was ‘buried’ people have created shrine. There are socks, stones with tributes on them, and even a couple of white plastic models of Dobby. We went with the family, and they wrote their own tributes to add to the pile. Click on each image for full size.
For the first time I have remembered to take my laptop on holiday. Oh David, where are you? The Caribbean?
Well I know it looks like it, but no, I am in Wales. This is the deserted sandy beach on Caldey Island just offshore from Tenby, home to a group of Cistercian monks and producers of very nice chocolate.
Don’t forget you can (should!!) click on each image to see it full sized.
I found that Coventry Cathedral was more like an art gallery than a traditional cathedral, so I just wanted to share these last three artifacts.
The first is called Reconciliation and was installed in 1995 to maek the 50th anniversary of the end of WW2. A duplicate casting is also at Hiroshima.
The second is the West Screen at the entrance to the new Cathedral, featuring 66 images depicting saints and angels. These were all hand-engraved by the artist, and took ten years to complete.
After the bombing raid, the cathedral stonemason saw that two wooden beams had fallen in the shape of the cross. He immediately tied them together and erected the cross in the rubble as a symbol of defiance and hope. The original is image 3, which was moved inside the new cathedral for protection.
Image 4 show a copy that was placed in the original location, with the message Father Forgive carven in the stone behind the alter.
Now I have to take some more photos I guess.
Getting to the end of the day out in Coventry, I promise. The old cathedral is everything to the left, and the new on the right (he says, stating the blindingly obvious). On the extreme right is the outside of the Baptismal Window from a couple of posts ago, next to the sculpture of St Michael’s victory over the Devil. A hollow victory possibly, as the devil still has all the best music. The reason for the sculture is that the cathedral itself is dedicated to St Michael, and a washing line of Marks and Spencer underwear would have been inappropriate. Apologies to non-English readers who may not understand the last sentence. Sorry not sorry.
Old, new, nude? In my mind it flowed. But if your twisted mind guessed correctly you possibly need treatment.
Apart from being badly damaged in the blitz, Coventry is known for the actions of Lady Godiva, who rode through the streets of Coventry naked on a horse. It was apparently not as a quite normal response to an 11th century summer heatwave, but for a more noble cause. Protesting the high taxes being imposed by her husband, he agreed he would reduce them if she rode through the marketplace naked. She did.
Did you guess right? Now guess the next one, which is very Coventry themed…
The walls of the new cathedral are breathtaking and it is difficult to do them justice. This is the Baptismal wall. The random rock in the foreground is actually the baptismal font. The three tonne boulder was presented to the cathedral by the government of Jordan as a symbol of unity between the monotheist faiths, and was sourced from a location near Bethlehem. It is also referred to as the Bethlehem Boulder.
Another thread to the story of the boulder is that the font bowl was carved by Ralph Beyer, born in Berlin, who served in the British army in WW2, and whose mother was murdered in Auschwitz.
Every day a school day…
The old cathedral in Coventry still has some amazing features still intact. On the right hand side you can see there is an entrance to the Blitz museum. Sadly quite a few of the artifacts from the second world war did not seem that ancient to me. On the left hand side is a walkway leading to the entrance of the new cathedral. Can you guess the title of the next post?