Trains, and boats, and planes

….or whatever comes to hand

Bring out a little sunshine and it seems hundreds of people want to take some exercise on Sandhaven Beach, South Shields. They use whatever form of transport is at hand, this group includes a junior motorist, two dog walkers, two pedestrians, and a surfer!

Does your town have a beach? Is it busy as soon as the sun shows it’s face?

Camera details: Konica Minolta Dimage Z3, 330mm lens, 1/160 second, f7.1, iso 100

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Big Pinkies

Itchy feet?

I’ve seen loads of Ugg type boots wandering around the streets of South Shields the last few months, they are definitely de rigeur this winter, but I haven’t seen any pink boots until yesterday.

I found these at Harton Nook and with such an itchy left foot stamping up and down it got me wondering just which “old wive’s tale” is associated with it?

An itchy left foot is not a sign of impending money, so what is it?

Camera details: Konica Minolta Dimage Z3, 420mm lens, 1/20 second, f8.0, iso 100

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Making friends

South Marine Park

Well, you only need a few crumbs in your pocket, one slice of stale bread will do nicely, that’s it….friends for life!

Captured in South Shields South Marine Park yesterday when the temperature was a glorious 9 degrees Celsius, it was almost like spring.

Converted to black and white and colour tinted with Photoshop.

Camera details: Konica Minolta Dimage Z3, 270mm lens, 1/200 second, f8, iso 100

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Observe well

South Tyneside College

This is a picture of the South Shields campus of the South Tyneside College, formerly known as the Marine College, which has a worldwide reputation for the education and training of cadets intending to work at sea for major shipping companies. In the next few years these buildings will be demolished and replaced by a new college designed and built to face the challenges of the next fifty years or so.

Unfortunately this wonderful observatory and planetarium will not be replaced here, and it’s uses in nautical education are becoming redundant too as the world’s shipping relies more heavily on sattelite navigation rather than the old observance of the sun, the moon, and the stars. I’ve enjoyed some great nights sitting in the planetarium being given a guided tour around the heavens by one of the college lecturers, it’s a shame that it has to go.

Fortunately the observatory will be carefully disassembled and rebuild at a nearby facilty in the North-East of England, so at least astronomers will be able to continue using it’s equipment.

Camera details: Konica Minolta Dimage Z3, 65mm lens, 1/60 second, f5.6, iso 100

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Walk a mile in my shoes

How many miles?

Odd things like this washed up on Littlehaven Beach, South Shields puzzle me.

Did the owner ever walk on our beach in South Shields, or did they walk along the coastline in Stavanger, Norway? This one shoe may have drifted for thousands of miles across the oceans of the world before arriving in South Shields harbour, and you have to ask, how did the owner get home with only one (or no) shoes?

Camera details: Pentax K100D, 28mm lens, 1/20 second, f13, iso 800

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