Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

[Geo the Sarge]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

Surprised you've not been up here Tom, although it's a bit of a mess at the moment with all the Tram works going on. Fantastic history, especially around the Royal Mile. Ask TK about the story of the Nelson memorial on Calton Hill I told him.

If you ever get up here, let me take you on a tour of the Royal Mile and the castle, truly fascinating.

Geo

[tikay]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

Visit the Bridges, Tom - Queensferry I think the area is called. Quite splendid, almost feels & looks like England, with the houses beautifully maintained, & no KFC's, Burger Kings or that sort of nonsense, just Olde-England Tea Shops & suchlike. Really nice. Litter-free, too. And the Forth is like a birdlife sanctuary, all sorts of birds swooping around.

[Rod Paradise]

From where does it derive it's name, Tom? (Spix).

I did a quick search & couldn't find that - but the good news is that there are still 70-odd Spix's Macaws in captivity & they are being bred with the intention of re-introducing them to the wild. So at least they're not quite drawing dead - they still have outs.

Do you have a link please Rod?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spix's_Macaw

Also found this :

In 1817 Dr Johan Baptist Ritter von Spix set sail from Gibraltar on the start of what would be an arduous and debilitating journey to Brazil collecting birds. Two years later - in a vast peculiarly thorny area of woodland known locally as caatinga - he shot a long-tailed blue parrot. As Tony Juniper writes in this remarkable book, “Spix didn’t realise that he had just taken the very first specimen of a bird that would one day symbolise how human greed and ignorance were wiping countless life forms from the record of creation”.

[Geo the Sarge]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

Visit the Bridges, Tom - Queensferry I think the area is called. Quite splendid, almost feels & looks like England, with the houses beautifully maintained, & no KFC's, Burger Kings or that sort of nonsense, just Olde-England Tea Shops & suchlike. Really nice. Litter-free, too. And the Forth is like a birdlife sanctuary, all sorts of birds swooping around.

That reminds me TK,

you refered to the Fort Rail Bridge in your diary, there is no such thing. There is the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge. In Scotland it is never reffered to as the Forth Rail Bridge, merely the Forth Bridge.

A bit like saying the Union Jack instead of Union Flag.

Geo

[tikay]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

Surprised you've not been up here Tom, although it's a bit of a mess at the moment with all the Tram works going on. Fantastic history, especially around the Royal Mile. Ask TK about the story of the Nelson memorial on Calton Hill I told him.

If you ever get up here, let me take you on a tour of the Royal Mile and the castle, truly fascinating.
Geo

Not wrong, Holyrood Palace (?), too, though it's been ruined by that dreadful new Parliament building next door.

And that statue of that dog, Greyfriars Bobby is it?

Royal Mile, a great walk, & again, lots of cosy tea shops, with tea served in china tea-pots, & fresh cakes.

[Rod Paradise]

What sort of bird is this then?  It's by my backdoor and it's scaring me.  I'm sure it's a bad omen.  I don't want to touch it though.  Will a cat carry it off in the night?

I think it's a pied wagtail. Do you have a glass back door that it could have flown into?

[Geo the Sarge]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

Surprised you've not been up here Tom, although it's a bit of a mess at the moment with all the Tram works going on. Fantastic history, especially around the Royal Mile. Ask TK about the story of the Nelson memorial on Calton Hill I told him.

If you ever get up here, let me take you on a tour of the Royal Mile and the castle, truly fascinating.
Geo

Not wrong, Holyrood Palace The Palace of Holyrood House(?), too, though it's been ruined by that dreadful new Parliament building next door.

And that statue of that dog, Greyfriars Bobby is it?

Royal Mile, a great walk, & again, lots of cosy tea shops, with tea served in china tea-pots, & fresh cakes.

Parliament building is a complete eyesore compared to the bildings of the old town aound it, however it is situated at Holyrood Park within which is located "The Radical Road" from where we in Scotland say the rhyme as:

Round and round the Radical Road the Ragged Rascal ran, where as in other parts of thecountry it is substituted with "the ragged rocks"

Geo

[WarBwastard]

What sort of bird is this then?  It's by my backdoor and it's scaring me.  I'm sure it's a bad omen.  I don't want to touch it though.  Will a cat carry it off in the night?

I think it's a pied wagtail. Do you have a glass back door that it could have flown into?

Ha, yes I do actually.  I'll check it for bird blood stains.  Jeez, it would have flown in my house had the door been open.  Lucky escape.  I won't sleep tonight now.

[tikay]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

Visit the Bridges, Tom - Queensferry I think the area is called. Quite splendid, almost feels & looks like England, with the houses beautifully maintained, & no KFC's, Burger Kings or that sort of nonsense, just Olde-England Tea Shops & suchlike. Really nice. Litter-free, too. And the Forth is like a birdlife sanctuary, all sorts of birds swooping around.

That reminds me TK,

you refered to the Fort Rail Bridge in your diary, there is no such thing. There is the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge. In Scotland it is never reffered to as the Forth Rail Bridge, merely the Forth Bridge.


A bit like saying the Union Jack instead of Union Flag.

Geo

I stand corrected Geo. I was not sure how the two bridges were titled.  Pretty cool bridges though, especially the Forth Bridge. There appeared to be some little "islands" with rigs on them just downstream of the Bridge, but I have no idea what the rigs could be for.

Surprised I got this one through, though.....

Queensferry I think the area is called. Quite splendid, almost feels & looks like England

[Geo the Sarge]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

Visit the Bridges, Tom - Queensferry I think the area is called. Quite splendid, almost feels & looks like England, with the houses beautifully maintained, & no KFC's, Burger Kings or that sort of nonsense, just Olde-England Tea Shops & suchlike. Really nice. Litter-free, too. And the Forth is like a birdlife sanctuary, all sorts of birds swooping around.

That reminds me TK,

you refered to the Fort Rail Bridge in your diary, there is no such thing. There is the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge. In Scotland it is never reffered to as the Forth Rail Bridge, merely the Forth Bridge.


A bit like saying the Union Jack instead of Union Flag.

Geo

I stand corrected Geo. I was not sure how the two bridges were titled.  Pretty cool bridges though, especially the Forth Bridge. There appeared to be some little "islands" with rigs on them just downstream of the Bridge, but I have no idea what the rigs could be for.

Surprised I got this one through, though.....

Queensferry I think the area is called. Quite splendid, almost feels & looks like England

Nice link here for details of the Islands and there historic usage. Most were fortified in defence of Edinburgh, Leith and Rosyth (large Naval Base.) Some of the fortifications were apparantly built so that from the air some of the islands resembled warships (still do) in an effort to make enemy aircraft attack them thinking they were warships leaving/entering port instead of attacking the port itself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firth_of_Forth



Geo

[tikay]

Had a quite wonderful day at Edinburgh's botanical gardens last week Tom. These bushes provided a superb backgound for pics of the grandaughter.

Geo.

I've never been to Edinburgh Geo, it's on my "To do" list.

Great pic of the wean btw. I bet you spoil her rotten.

Visit the Bridges, Tom - Queensferry I think the area is called. Quite splendid, almost feels & looks like England, with the houses beautifully maintained, & no KFC's, Burger Kings or that sort of nonsense, just Olde-England Tea Shops & suchlike. Really nice. Litter-free, too. And the Forth is like a birdlife sanctuary, all sorts of birds swooping around.

That reminds me TK,

you refered to the Fort Rail Bridge in your diary, there is no such thing. There is the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge. In Scotland it is never reffered to as the Forth Rail Bridge, merely the Forth Bridge.


A bit like saying the Union Jack instead of Union Flag.

Geo

I stand corrected Geo. I was not sure how the two bridges were titled.  Pretty cool bridges though, especially the Forth Bridge. There appeared to be some little "islands" with rigs on them just downstream of the Bridge, but I have no idea what the rigs could be for.

Surprised I got this one through, though.....

Queensferry I think the area is called. Quite splendid, almost feels & looks like England

Nice link here for details of the Islands and there historic usage. Most were fortified in defence of Edinburgh, Leith and Rosyth (large Naval Base.) Some of the fortifications were apparantly built so that from the air some of the islands resembled warships (still do) in an effort to make enemy aircraft attack them thinking they were warships leaving/entering port instead of attacking the port itself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firth_of_Forth



Geo

Good grief. Given a thousand guesses, I'd never have got that. How extraordinary.

[AlexMartin]

What sort of bird is this then?  It's by my backdoor and it's scaring me.  I'm sure it's a bad omen.  I don't want to touch it though.  Will a cat carry it off in the night?

I think it's a pied wagtail. Do you have a glass back door that it could have flown into?

great shout.

[RED-DOG]

I thought it might be a long tailed tit.

[Colchester Kev]

Tom, do me a favour ... go look at the RSQ thread in "The Lounge" and tell me what you make of it