Here comes summer!

The garden's looking good at the moment and for once we had a day where we could just sit back and enjoy it. I spent the afternoon sat out with a drink and some ice cream, and even brought out the laptop to surf the internet from my garden table!

Of course Erin didn't want to be left out, and before long she was pushing the laptop and books out of the way so that she could sit on my knee instead. I got the photo using the webcam (I'd never used it before) - and was quite pleased with the image quality!

Industrial Heritage at Greenock

Greenock is on the southern shore of the Firth of Clyde, and when walking along the waterfront it's immediately clear that once this was an important port, with plenty of heavy industrial machinery still around. These days some of the old warehouses have been converted into modern apartments, and parts of the old dockland area has been reclaimed and developed into a business park, but there's still plenty of the older industry to see too.


The dockland area to the east, near to where I was staying with work, is known as James Watt dock, and is more recent than I thought, dating from the 1880s. Watt is Greenock's most famous son, known for 'inventing' the steam engine, though actually what he did was improve Newcomen's earlier atmospheric engine, by adding a condenser, making steam power much more efficient.

Anyway, I digress. James Watt dock is still in use today, and the huge hammerhead crane still dominates the landscape. Once this area was used to offload sugar cargoes from the colonies, but today it's used as a berth for the Caledonian Macbrayne ferry.

Further to the west sits the Clydeport Ocean Terminal, the modern port area in Greenock. After a bite to eat, I walked along the pleasant esplanade with views towards the distant cranes, and looked out for the sun setting behind the hills of Argyll in the distance.

Sunshine on fathers' day

The sun came out today for fathers' day, and as the weather was playing ball, we could get the barbecue out for a proper summer treat with traditional burgers and sausages.

We had the usual photo session in the garden, which is looking good at the moment, and of course plenty of laughs too.

Double booked

It seemed like I'd made an error of judgement last night... A couple of weeks ago we booked to see 'The Hired Man', a musical at the Octagon which had received some good reviews, however afterwards I realised it clashed with England's opening group game at the World Cup, against group second favourites America. What should I do??

What swung it was that we'd also booked at the theatre restaurant beforehand, where the food is always excellent, so a plan came together involving switching off all communications with the outside world, so that I could record the game and watch it the next morning.

Having just watched the game now, it's clear I made the right choice; the show was superb and at least I could fast forward through the mediocrity which followed our early goal. When's the next game?

The Three Graces of Liverpool

The sun would be out again today, so with camera choices to make we decided to visit Liverpool on the train for a little shopping and a stroll around the waterfront. It's several years since I'd been there, so I was interested to see the changes that have been happening recently, with the new canal extension and lots of modern developments.

In amongst all these changes, the famous Three Graces still stand prominently on the banks of the Mersey. The Royal Liver Building is the most famous of the three and perhaps the most recognisable building on the waterfront, but it is surprisingly modern, dating from 1911. It's a hugely significant building to Liverpudlians everywhere, but architecturally it is also significant, being one of the first buildings in the world to be constructed out of reinforced concrete.


The Liver Birds that top the building are, according to legend, keeping watch - one looking over the city, the other looking out to sea. The origins of the bird as the emblem of Liverpool are lost over time, but there are many theories of the type of bird they are; it is thought that originally the symbol was that of an eagle, but later theories believe it to be a cormorant.

Another legend warns that if they should fly away, the city would cease to exist, so understandably they are chained in position. The birds are made of copper, so when they were originally fixed in position they would have looked quite different to the oxidised green colour we see today.




Next door is the smaller Cunard building, the headquarters of the Cunard shipping line until the 1960s. The smallest of the three, it is now home to a number of smaller firms. The third is the Port of Liverpool building, until recently the home of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.

The whole waterfront area here used to be dockland, called George Docks, but in the late 19th century MDHB decided to fill in the site and develop it. This included a new building which would become their head office, and this was completed in 1907. In 1994, MDHB relocated and the building was sold to property developers, who have recently completed a restoration and conversion to exclusive apartments and offices.

We spent so long by the waterfront and neighbouring Albert Docks, that it was soon time to head back to Lime Street station, so we didn't get to the camera shop and my new purchase would have to wait a little longer.