I was stoodging around Cromarty harbour taking photos of the Drill ship over at Nigg, when I heard this voice say "are you Calum?".
Turned out it was fellow Flickrite Duncan Dingwall, who had taken a run up the Black Isle to see the Stena Carron.
So I took his picture....
A brand new Drill ship, at the end of her delivery voyage from Korea, tied up at the Nigg Oil Terminal in the Cromarty Firth.
Just about to go and drill west of Shetland, she was in the Firth for fuel (she has taken on 14,000 tonnes of fuel oil) and some last minute equipment.
Snapped at Terminal 5 Gates B Heathrow - just about to fly to San Francisco last month.
Terminal 5 is light and airy compared to the older parts of Heathrow, and for those of us who think that engineering, design and art are a lot closer together than apart, its a fantastic opportunity to look at aircraft from new angles.
Oh and Photograph them as well. The autumnal light on the nose of this 747 caught my eye.
Totter Mackay and Bob Cherry fishing for Mackerel of Cromarty Harbours WW1 pier extension, now starting to slide back into the sea.
Taken in August - you could not have walked on the Harbour yesterday (believe me I tried) in the first of this winters westerly gales.
South Sutor Cromarty, Ross-shire
You get a better class of junk next to MIT.
An old monitor in the Charles River, Boston MA.
:-)
Glasgow or Bolonga?
From the 14th Floor of the Hilton
The Victoria Hall - Cromarty.
The Guardian is running "52" story in instalments by Jeanette Winterson, Ali Smith, AM Homes and Jackie Kay. Bizarrely most the action seems to take place in a ceilidh in the Victoria Hall, Cromarty.
Honest.
The Space Needle Monorail - Seattle.
You know I think I used to have a toy one of these back when I was four or five - in the mid 60's. Long consigned to the great toy scrap hap in the sky, because once you put the monorail together it just went round and round and round.
Until you launched it down the stairs.......
The space needle - Seattle.
Think flying saucers, think the Jetsens, think weird 50's movies.
This structure, and the cool, cool monorail that links it to Downtown Seattle makes me think of the "The Gernsback Continuum" - a short story by William Gibson about a photographer who has been given the assignment of photographing old, futuristic architecture.
This architecture, although largely forgotten about by almost everyone, embodied for the generation that built it their concept of the future.
I suppose I kind of grew up in that future, as the house was full of science fiction, hard back, paper backs and old Amazing's Analog's, Galaxies and If's - the sort of pulp (now of course classics) that the publisher and writer Hugo Gernsback, gave us during the early 20th century.
Is still strange to see that future right there in front of you though.
Still in Seattle, though I fly home tomorrow (well today if you are Scotlands timezone).
Great city, great visit, but the 8 hour time difference is a killer.
And the Freeway - from 2nd.
We managed an outstanding shopping trip to the Microsoft company store, where we were allowed to buy goods at Microsoft company employee prices! Brand new PC and Xbox games for $20 each!!!!! (Retail in Scotland for £40-60), software for $5..... Funky tee-shirts for $10-15!!!
I stocked up for Christmas - and bought software for myself that I normally could not have justified (Home server for $35, the latest version of Flight Simulator etc)
And as I said to a couple of female colleagues:-
"If only I could have bought Ruth's Christmas pressie in there it would have been the ultimate male shopping experience"
You'll be pleased to hear they both hit me.....
Flying San Francisco to Seattle. I was at the back of a pretty crowded United 757, reading my book, when I glanced out the window and saw this.
The camera was on my lap luckily.
Early this morning in Seattle, where I have finally ended up after my trip through California. This is the view from my hotel room, the 18th floor of the Crown Plaza, looking south over the freeway.
Dramatic sunrise, and its been an unseasonably warm, almost close day - although the forecast is for a few days of Seattle rain now.
Spend the day at the Microsoft Redmond Campus - fascinating.
