Seeing Things!

Yellow lines by the roadside remind drivers of parking restrictions. Here, in my part of Lancashire, the lines seem to have been repainted so many times that the paintwork is cracking and breaking up. I was just crossing a side street yesterday morning when I came across this strange creature walking by. It reminds of a creature that, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name. I think a latin name would be apt. Anyone have any suggestions?

Tree Cemetery

It was a fine sunny afternoon in the Dunsop Valley. The sky was very blue and the clouds were spectacular. Sitting on a rock close to the river, I looked out at the distant fell and noticed what looked like a cemetery. It was of sorts. It was the site of a long gone forest plantation The trees had been harvested but the sun-bleached stumps that remained looked like rows of white headstones.

According to Wikipedia, the nearby village of Dunsop Bridge is one of two main contenders for the location of exact geographic centre of Great Britain. Dunsop Bridge's claim is calculated on the fact that it is the gravitational centre of the Island (although the exact point is at Whitendale Hanging Stones, near Brennand Farm, 7km north of the village. It is just one small part of a landscape running through to Hurst Green in the Ribble Valley which is said to have been the inspiration for Middle Earth in J R R Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings!

Little Tich!

I watched a wonderful documentary this evening by Jools Holland about the Sounds of London. It included some remarkable footage of the Music Hall star Little Tich. Enjoy! According to Wikipedia, Harry Relph (July 21, 1867 – February 10, 1928), known on the stage as "Little Tich", was an English music hall comedian. He was noted for the characters of The Spanish Señora, The Gendarme and The Tax Collector, but his most popular routine was his Big Boot dance, which involved a pair of 28-inch boots, commonly called "slapshoes" in the days of vaudeville. He was also popular as a pantomime dame; in one season he appeared with Marie Lloyd and Dan Leno also in the cast. The surviving film of the Big Boot dance, made by Clément-Maurice for the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre in 1900, was described by Jacques Tati as "a foundation for everything that has been realised in comedy on the screen". Relph was a polydactyl, having five fingers and a thumb on each hand, and six toes on both feet.

Bird Cloud

I saw this little bird high in the sky. What do you see in the clouds?

iPhoneography 3 - Longridge

Having looked at telephone poles (!) in my last iPhoneography post, I turned my attention to hedgerows and stone walls. The light was just right and, again, I am pleased with the results from my iPhone 4. It also helps that Longridge and its surrounds are so picturesque.