#town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1NCiI3h1h8
2.5 hours from a legitimate grocery story is a town in the middle of the forest owned by one man. Here, the small community survives independently, with the biggest threats being mountain lions and the occasional criminal attempting to hide from the law. Join me today as we travel to one of the most remote parts of the country to see what this way of living is like.
He Bought a Whole #Town (in the #middle #of #nowhere) 🇺🇸
Beware, this is going to be a long post...
My standard longer #bike ride is a 30 km round trip to #Starcross, which is #village on the west coast of the #ExeEstuary on the way to #Dawlish. The ride is motor-traffic-free for a goo 80% of the distance. It's also through a lot of #countryside and it's my intention to photograph some of the #trees through all the seasons. However, this set contains a little more for your edification.
Not all trees are alive. For example, this one is a hulk of what was once probably a magnificent specimen.
Most #FarmFields have been replanted after harvesting and even now, shoots are appearing. Meanwhile most #Trees still have their #Foliage.
The #plants and #insects that feed off them are also a food source for these male and female #pheasants.
The village of #Starcross is small but it happens to have a #RailwayStation on the line from #LondonPaddington and #Penzance, though the #IntercityTrains don't usually stop there. This is the last part of the journey for me before I turn and head back homewards at the station itself.
Here is an #IntercityTrain passing. It is run by #GWR or #GreatWesternRailways, which was a company in existence before nationalization and which came back after privatization.
Starting to head back, you can get a good view of the other side of the #Estuary, where the #town of #Exmouth can be seen. There happens to be a nice ferry trip on which you can take your #bike between #Starcross and #Exmouth
The #ExeEstuary has a few #wrecks in it. I presume they are #NavigationHazards but I guess it would prove too expensive to clear the #waterway. Perhaps they provide a #habitat for #MarineLife. Here you can see #Birds (I can't tell whether they are #Cormorants of #Shags).
Next, we come to #PowderhamCastle, which is now a #NationalTrust property. It has a herd of #deer numbering in the hundreds.
The mild #autumn #Sun is seen shining through this #tree's #branches.
More #trees in the grounds of #PowderhamCastle.
At first glance, this may look like a dead #tree but you can see that parts of it still has #foliage.
This #tree, on the other hand, looks completely dead.
This #Pheasant is eyeing the #photographer warily.
This #cycle #bridge was installed not much longer than a decade ago. It makes traversing the #RailwayLine easy. I think there was a #footbridge before this but I'm not sure. A nice addition to #cycling #infrastructure.
From the top of the #bridge, you can see the #barracks of the #RoyalMarines in #Lympstone. Technically, this #photograph is a #Selfie too.
Getting closer to home now, here is the #M5 #Motorway which links #London to #Exeter. This #concrete #viaduct goes over the #Estuary, thankfully leaving much it intact.
Some parts around the #Cyclepath form natural ponds.
Any #journey of moderate length or longer often leaves one #reflecting. Here, you can let the scenery do it.
This #swan was preening on the #ExeterCanal (and so was its #reflection).
Lastly, this is the #bridge over the #RiverExe, which is a sign that my home is a mere 5 km away. A sight that is always welcome. The bridge is old but it a #cyclepath was constructed as an extension to it on the far side, which blends in very nicely with the existing #masonry.
Yesterday, we went on a trip to #Penzance in #Cornwall. There is a direct #RailwayLine running from here to #London #Paddington. My local station is about half way along this 6-hour route and I've been on the London leg many time and so I thought it would be nice to go to the end of the line in the other direction. There are lots of #RailwayStations with strange names, like #Lostwithiel and #StErth and so it was nice to pass through them on our way.
Looking east along the beach, you can see #StMichaelsMount, which is built on a part-time island, in that it is an island when the tide is in but otherwise you can walk to it over a #causeway. We did that a decade ago. Here are a couple of views with a #ZoomLens (I didn't have space to pack my telephoto lens).
The #town of #Penzance can be seen in the opposite direction.
Parts of the #beach have #grey compacted sand. It's firm and yet soft and when wet it forms a shimmering mirror for the sky.
From the next #headland, you can get a really good view of St Michael's Mount. I think the light conditions here were better too in the early afternoon.
Off the shore, there were several #vessels including this #ship. I'm not sure what its function is but it's certainly for some special purpose.
The #sea appeared #blue or #green depending on the underlying geology.
Here. it even has patches of gold colour looking a bit like those pools into which people drop coins.
The boundary of #Devon and #Cornwall is marked in the south by the #RiverTamar. Across it, there is an old and historic #RailwayBridge called the #RoyalAlbertBridge, which was built in the mid 1800s by #Engineer #IsambardKingdomBrunel, Here, you can see it on the approach on the #train. This was taken using my #Android phone.
Right next to it is the much more modern #RoadBridge, which is a #SuspensionBridge.
https://the.ink/p/want-to-save-democracy-watch-less
Want to save democracy? Watch less #cable $news; attend more #town meetings
A conversation with Harvard #political scientist Daniel Ziblatt about how #democracies die — and how a pro-democracy movement could keep ours alive
#ANANDGIRIDHARADAS
JAN 11, 2024
..."you have to get involved with real #organizations, where people are coming together face to face. This can mean #volunteering at your local precinct office of the Democratic Party. It turns out it's a really low bar to get involved. You could very quickly become the leader of the #local precinct office. And then you notice that nobody can meet regularly because they all have kids. So you work to set up a thing where people are sharing childcare duties, and next everyone is thinking about who should be the candidate in the next election.
...
they're voting on whether or not to introduce ranked order voting. And some of the defenders of the status quo said, "Well, I understand the national symbolism of this, but what's wrong in Lexington that really needs this reform?" Which I thought was a very good question to ask. And so people tried to make the case, "Well, if you look at who's running for office, it's all the same people over and over. Maybe if we did this, we'd have different people." So, people are engaged at the local level. And they're downloading white papers from Protect Democracy, and understanding the importance of these institutional reforms, and they can then become engaged on that level too.
That's my best answer: being engaged through real organizations, whether in local electoral politics, unions, church and religious institutions, that are addressing the real concerns of people's everyday lives.
...
There are overwhelming majorities of Americans who do value these institutions and value liberal principles, and value principles of racial equality. I was looking at some survey data on whether or not you think there should be rules, restrictions on where people can live on the basis of race. In the mid-1970s, very high percentages of Americans agreed that there should be. Today, overwhelming percentages of Americans think the opposite, conservative and liberal alike."...
Néga-roue
Une roue de fête foraine mérite-t-elle autre chose que le négatif?
#photographie #photography #photo #maphoto #myphoto #mywork #Paris #ville #town #roue
#ThePogues - #Dirty #Old #Town
https://www.bitchute.com/video/LpGe8wG1Jl4M/
The Pogues - Dirty Old Town
My heart aches: #ShaneMcGowan has #died. We all knew it was a matter of time. It feels awful all the same.... Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (25 December 1957 – 30 November 2023) Has Died Shane was an Irish musician best known as the lead vocalist ...
