Shad Thames, London

From widefield

When the Shad Thames warehouses were completed in 1873, it was the largest warehouse facility and one of the most prosperous areas of London.

The warehouses (the largest is Butlers Wharf) were used to store tea, coffee and spices after unloading from ships.

Gradually though the ships had to start uploading further and further east, and the activity declined. The last warehouse closed in 1972. For the next 20 Shad Thames was one of the most rundown areas of Central London.

Now it has been redeveloped into bars, flats and restaurants and is a nice place to wander around.

Semi-random photo

The girls doing the Bollywood dancing had a break.

London in the Sun

It doesn't always rain in London... so to prove it here's another from the archives when I saw a film crew filming a Bollywood dance scene.

London in the Rain

Its a rainy day in London, so here's a pic from the archives - Tower Bridge in the rain.

Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm Museum

Housing the largest collection of maritime aircraft in Europe, the Fleet Air Arm Museum Yeovilton is a great day out.

But they have other aircraft as well, like the Concorde 002, which was the first British built Concorde and was used as a research aircraft.

From Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm Museum

When I was there they had a Vulcan bomber. Checking the exhibit list now it seems they don't have this anymore, but they do have the carrier display. The VR tours are really quite excellent: Hall 1, Hall 2, Hall 3, Hall 4.

From Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm Museum

Current asset list

Albatros (replica) ('D5397')
Short 184 (8359) - (side gallery)
Sopwith Camel (replica) ('B6401')
Sopwith Triplane (replica) ('N5492')
Fokker DR1 (scale replica) ('102/17')
Sopwith Baby ('N2078')
Sopwith Pup (replica) ('N6452')
Fairey Albacore (N4389)
Grumman Avenger ECM6B (XB446)
Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka II (BAPC 58)
Fairey Barracuda II (nose section) (DP872)
Fairey Fulmar (N1854)
Grumman Hellcat II (KE209)
North American Harvard III (EX976)
Supermarine Seafire F17 (SX137)
Corsair KD 431 - A Ground Breaking Project
De Havilland Sea Vampire
Fairey Gannet AEW3
Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S2B
Vickers Supermarine Scimitar F1
Westland Wessex HU5
De Havilland Sea Vixen FAW2
Hawker Sea Hawk
McDonnell Phantom FG1
Vickers Supermarine Attacker F1
Blackburn Buccaneer S1
Westland Wessex HU5
BAC Concorde
British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS1
Handley Page HP115
Hawker P1127
De Havilland Vampire T22
British Aircraft Corporation 221
Bristol Scout D
Westland Wyvern TF1
Hawker Hunter T8M
Hunting Jet Provost T3A (XN462)
Bell UH1H Iroquois (AE422)
de Havilland Vampire T22 (XA129)
Douglas Skyraider AEW1 (WT121)
Fairey Barracuda II (DP872)
Gloster Meteor T7 (WS103)
Blackburn NA39 (XK488)
Northrop Chukar (XW994)
Percival Sea Prince T1 (WP313)
Supermarine 510 (VV106)
Westland Wasp HAS1 (XT778)
Westland Wessex HU5 (XS508)
Westland Whirlwind HAR1 (XA864)
Westland Dragonfly HR5 (VX595)
de Havilland Sea Venom FAW21 (WW138)
Westland Gazelle HT2 (XW864)
Beech T34C Mentor (0729)
Benson Gyrocopter (G-AZAZ)
Focke Achgelis FA330A-1 (100545)
Gloster Meteor TT20 (WM292)
Hawker P1052 (VX272)
Hiller HTE2 (XB480)
Northrop MQM36 Shelduck (XS574)
Saro P531 (XN334)
Super Eagle Hang Glider (G-BGWZ)
Westland Sioux AH1 (XT176)
Westland Wasp HAS1 (XT427)
de Havilland Tiger Moth T2 (XL717)
Fairey Gannet COD4 (XA466)
Westland Whirlwind HAS7 (XL853)
Hawker Sea Hawk F1 (WF219) (tail section only)
Westland Whirlwind HAR3 (XG574)
Saro P531 (XN332)
British Aerospace Sea Harrier F/A2 (XZ499)
Douglas Skyraider AEW1 (WV106)
Fairey Barracuda II (LS931) (items of wreckage)
de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW1 (XJ481)
Westland Whirlwind HAS7 (XG594)
Westland Wessex HAS3 (XP142)
Fairey Firefly TT1 (Z2033)
Westland Wasp (XS527)

Minorca

From Minorca

The Mediterranean island of Menorca has had a varied past including being rules by the British for most of the period from 1708 and 1802. There are quite a few English derived words in Menorquí (a variation of Catalan) such "grevi" (gravy), "xumaquer" (shoemaker), "boinder" (bow window) and "xoc" (chalk).

Among other acts, the British moved the capital from its ancient location in Ciutadella (pronounced suit-a-dell-a) to Maó (pronounced ma-hon), mainly because it had one of the world's largest natural deep water harbors.

From Minorca

Places to see include Monte Toro or El Toro which is the highest point at 1174ft / 358 m. There is a monastery at the top, and the large statue of Jesus.

Mammoth Lakes

I'd liked to have had more time at Mammoth Lakes and Mammoth Mountain. I didn't know what was there, and in fact was just touring around after seeing the sunrise at South Tufa, Mono Lake.


I drove to as far as I could and got views of quite a lot of the long valley caldera.

There were two things I missed out on, which I'll fix later: Devils Postpile and Hot Creek. Well its what care hire was invented for!