Looking back...

No prizes for guessing where this is - but you might be wondering why exactly it's so surprisingly quiet?   This is indeed exactly as it looks like - Charing Cross underground station in London, but it is one of the disused platforms there - closed in 1999 when the Jubilee line extension was opened - now open to the public by way of the London Transport Museum's Hidden London programme. 

I've blogged about Hidden London tours before I think -  we've done most of those they offer and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Charing Cross is a bit unique because the station has been out of use for a relatively short time and I for one remember using it when it was open, of course. These days it gets used for filming TV shows and films when a modern looking station is needed - one of the notable ones being that it was used in some of the underground scenes in Skyfall. Great fun seeing the escalator where Daniel Craig slid down in pursuit of the baddie - but no, we were not allowed to follow suit! 

Robyn

Looking back...

 

This is the interior of the Italian Chapel on the island of Lamb Holm in Orkney, taken when we visited in 2013. Built by Italian prisoners of war sent to the island to build the Churchill barriers during World War 2 - a system of barricades originally put in place to close off most of the entrances to Scapa Flow to protect the home fleet, and now forming causeways joining up Orkney Mainland, Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm, and Burray.

The chapel is quite literally two nissen huts joined together, then embellished and decorated with anything the prisoners could lay their hands on. The interior decoration was largely created with paint - what looks like panelling or tiling is pretty much entirely painted on. one of the prisoners was a blacksmith - he created the ironwork from metal rods donated by construction company Balfour Beatty. Another was a cement worker - he created what now appears to be stonework also from Balfour Beatty.

It's an astonishing place - created out of almost nothing purely to allow the men who had been sent to what must have seemed to them to be an unforgiving island to have somewhere to worship - in the end it provided far more than that as it gave them a focus, something to spend their spare time working at. 

If you want to know more of the history of the Italian Chapel, that can be found HERE

Robyn

Looking back...

 

This is Mussenden Temple - part of the Downhill Demesne in Northern Ireland. I first visited when I had some spare time on the evening ahead of the Portrush Airshow when I went across in 2014 I believe it was, and was so utterly charmed by it I have been back several times since, including on a trip with MrEH a few years later. 

From the Temple itself - perched on the edge of the cliff with stunning views in both directions, to the fascinating ruined 18thC mansion, it's a wonderful way to pass a few hours at relatively low cost - parking is now chargeable for non national Trust members, but at a very reasonable £10 per day, and there are no admission charges for the estate itself as far as I know. 

We've been discussing the possibility of another short trip to Northern Ireland at some point, and looking back at this picture and others makes me want to do that sooner rather than later! 

Robyn

Looking back...

 

Looking all the way back to 2007 for this one, yet still a day I remember really clearly, as does MrEH.

We were in the Hebrides, and hopped on the ferry across to Barra for a day trip. If I remember rightly on leaving Uist the weather was fine, and indeed, on arrival at Ardmhor where the little ferry from Eriskay arrives, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. As we made our way around the island it began to get a little more overcast, although still fairly bright...and then we arrived at Castlebay, the main settlement on the island, to find the entire place cloaked in mist! we followed through with our intention to drive a little way up the road above the Village - the plan being that it would give us a good view across that part of the island without having to physically climb a hill that we didn't really have time to tackle, but by that stage we could really see very little at all. We parked in a convenient place and got out regardless - it was quiet, that almost eerie quiet you get in really misty conditions sometimes. Suddenly with no warning whatsoever, a gap blew in the mist and we got a view across the bay with Kisimul Castle making an appearance. I had the camera handy and so fired off a couple of shots before the mist closed in again. 

For the entire day, one half of the island stayed bright and sunny while the other was stayed foggy, cold and damp - very strange indeed, and allowing for the island only being so small, it really highlighted how localised weather can be up there!

Robyn

Looking back...

 

This handsome little chap is of course a Puffin - so many people's favourite bird it seems, I suspect mostly because of their quirky and striking appearance. This one was pictured on our second trip to the Farne Islands in July 2012, and I stumbled across the photo when looking through some older stuff on the computer I use for work. I think this is actually the third time I've used this particular photo on here - but I suspect not too many folk remember the other occasions! 

Although we've been across to Farne twice, on neither occasion have we managed to have the trip we actually expected. The first time in 2008 we landed on Staple Island but then had to leave again after a few hours because poor weather was closing in more rapidly than expected. The second time was the opposite issue - we made it to Inner Farne but an unexpected level of swell meant that we couldn't do the transfer to Staple island for the second part of the trip - we did however get an extended amount of time where we were though!

We've very much decided that we fancy a further trip to the Islands - and although it is unlikely to be this year, we might perhaps manage something in the next couple of years instead. While the loss of the Great British Beer Festival is sad, it has at least opened up holiday time for us to get back to doing all sorts of other things w enjoy! 

Looking back…

In 2006 I joined in with an interesting photographic project called “26 Things” - essentially, you were given a list of prompts for 26 themes, and you produced a photo relating to each of them - the idea being that it promoted thinking creatively and taking a different look at what might otherwise be a pretty straightforward subject. Looking back now I produced some stuff I am still really proud of around that time, particularly around candid and street photography, something which I’ve never done that much of, but when I did, always enjoyed. 

The stairwell in question here is I believe the one at Canary Wharf tube station - and like the majority of the infrastructure for the Jubilee Line Extension it is stunningly beautifully designed. The symmetry, the way the light falls and the way the lighting on the escalators themselves more even than the perspective draws your eyes upwards are all key players for me on this one - I imagine that I still have the original file somewhere and it’s one I may search out at some stage and reprocess. Sadly at the time I tended to upload files in fairly low resolution and size - which fitted with the speed of internet available then but stacks up less well now with devices tending to be larger! 

No reprocessing right now though - as I have kit to sort out ahead of some rugby photography later on - MrEH’s original team he joined not long after we had moved to the town we live in now are reforming  for a final hurrah - and as I was their photographer for several years back in the day, I’m resuming that role today. Should be fun - although I bet some of the players concerned won’t use that word when they get up tomorrow barely able to move! 

Robyn.