So we are being more hopeful this year, it's been dry most of the month so far, touch wood. Touch Wood is a strange expression which has been around in various forms for so long that most people But just say "touch wood" and everything will be fine. ancestors who believed in animism, which is the belief that spirits inhabit inanimate objects like wood

sheep, most of which given hundreds of square miles to eat, much prefer standing on or around the only roads Incidentally the white line on the road is what passes for the pavement or sidewalk should you wish to on a stick out first before you step out yourself, because that pavement also serves as part of the road

February 2021- Where we live just off the main coast road but in the lee of the Prawle peninsula, we We love going east but since New Year that main road has been completely closed, to repair a major landslide Because this is a tourist hotspot in summer, all major road repairs that cause closures happen in the This road is the only bus route. But yesterday the road reopened so we could get to the coast road again.

This was on my photo search for thatched figures on roofs. Well, as aerial as you can get from the road that runs along the cliffs at Strete Gate. On good days you have to be there by 10.30 at least. The kinks in the road reflect major rebuilding phases when the road was washed away in storms. Comestible- an item of food.

However, as you can see from this photo on top of the car park roof, right in the centre of the city, The altar-table would have disgraced the sleeping room of any servant. Close to the pulpit is the entrance to the rood staircase, part of the stairs remain, but the upper doorway The rood loft was a type of mezzanine floor above the chancel, long ago removed, probably in Tudor times , with a modest covered way over the street, of stone posts and a pitched, lead roof.

Originally published on Photoblog by Gethin Thomas SEPTEMBER. 01, 2020 And I didn't even see these until I edited the photo in Affinity. Couldn't believe the detail. I was pointing almost into the sun and the interior was just total black. It was the stone wall I was interested in. But really it was the timber interior that made the shot. Funny story about the camera too. I bought it in San Francisco about 12 years ago, Canon Power Shot A2000 IS. I think it may have been $300 US. Fantastic little camera and it has followed me around all over the world. Then last year on holiday I dropped it onto a concrete floor and that was it Kaput. I was so disappointed as it was just perfect for travel. So I decided to Google a modern equivalent as a replacement. After sifting through reviews and search results, the very same camera came up on Ebay, £19.95 including postage. I thought it must be a scam right? But I was prepared to risk less than £20. It turned up a day later and was absolutely immaculate, better than my old one, not a mark on it. It didn't even look like it had ever been used. Has to be one of the best bargains ever.

This area was raised up so gave a view over the site above the screens around the site.

of the Smith family, the visitors were confronted by the main hall, panelled in English oak, with a screen are wood-blocked. and motor house, are near Princetown road lodge. Wikipedia The ornate ceiling of the former Dining Room. The Elizabethan style fireplace in the former Dining Room.

Originally published on Photoblog by Gethin Thomas JULY. 13, 2020 Or to give them their full title Prefabricated Housing. In Birmingham, England there still remains a row of seventeen 1940s’ Phoenix design prefabs. The Grade II listed Phoenix prefab bungalows were designed and manufactured by John Laing, McAlpine and Henry Boot, as part of a consignment of 2,428 prefabs supplied to the Ministry of Works under the Temporary Housing Programme during and after the Second World War. In the war about 250,000 homes were destroyed and two million more were badly damaged. These temporary homes were only expected to be in use for ten years but 70 years on they are still in use. There are no other known surviving Phoenix prefabs still lived in which makes these extra special. All but one of the prefabs are owned by Birmingham City Council. I'll leave you to guess which one. Back in 2014, Birmingham Conservation Trust became involved and commissioned an Options Appraisal on behalf of the City Council to look at the potential for the Trust to take on one or more Prefabs to run as a museum and holiday lets.

Originally published on Photoblog by Gethin Thomas OCTOBER. 07, 2020 [63-365] 7th. October 2020- "West Country thatchers have been making straw figures for centuries, a tradition that can be traced back to the dollies placed on hayricks. These were used to identify the owner and deter foraging birds – and at one time were also intended to ward off evil spirits and witches. The descendants of these old talismans are now proudly mounted on some of the most exclusive country properties. Traditionally straw finials were made of tightly twisted wheat; now they are usually encased in protective wire netting. As the wheat decays, the straw body collapses and is blown to pieces by the wind. Left behind are empty shells: shadowy outlines, hovering above the rooftops like ghosts." (The Guardian) All of these examples are in one tiny hamlet, Stokenham in the South Hams.

So why is a road "metalled " in the first place? Metalled roads are so called, from the Latin metallum, meaning 'quarry'. So an unmetalled road is not Tarmac and could be anything, expect the worst. Probably more like a road an ancient Roman would have been familiar with. Why Tarmac? Actually Tarmac (short for tarmacadam) is a road surface material patented in 1902 in the UK.

In addition the only back up I made corrupted the full images so I have used screen grabs of those temporarily something reasonable out of the camera unedited, which means I am taking more care to get a level horizon, good