The illegals – J5 NYS

While I can understand the temptation to create an illegal numberplate by distorting characters and/or spacing them not in accordance with the regulations, I don’t think I’d want to risk a potential £1,000 fine, or MOT refusal, for something that was not an obvious gem.

I can’t figure out how the chaps with the ‘chequered bunnets’ regard them either. While the plates seem to run around me quite happily for years, and vehicles that have been subject to MOTs keep them year after year, I’ve seen drivers getting pulled on the TV road traffic shows for the mildest of such offences.

Maybe they were just unlucky, and it was a quiet filming day, and the director issued the command: “ANYTHING! JUST PULL SOMEBODY FOR ANYTHING AT ALL!”

Anyway, I have no idea what J5 NYS spaced to appear as J5NYS on this 2023 stinky diesel 4×4 Chelsea Tractor hulking great brick, oh sorry, Land Rover Defender 75th Limited Edition MHEV, is meant to read as.

They finished this refurbishment on Ayr’s High Street – while I wasn’t looking

It’s almost as if the workers in Ayr were waiting for me to be unable to watch what was going on there for the past few months.

Almost every refurb or similar seems to have been finished while I wasn’t able to drop in for a look.

I was mainly watching this former art store be erased from the High Street, while the rest of the building was being refurbished, and was beginning to wonder if they would ever finish.

Here’s the link to an earlier post on this view: Lucky find of old(er) Ayr High Street

Seen in 2016.

The view’s a little different now.

As is the whole building.

EAT up

Suffice to say this is one of my neighbour’s I haven’t ‘collected’ before.

But things are getting dire these days, with little new or interesting appearing.

EAT 678Y makes a neat business plate – can you guess what for?

🥐 🥓 🥔

They demolished the last Ayr high flat while I wasn’t looking

Another surprise found on my delayed return to Ayr.

One of the three original high flats built in Ayr, this third example was temporarily spared demolition thanks to a contract in place to use its high roof as the site of a cellphone antennae installation.

More notes here: Lucky catch – Last of Ayr’s high flats before demolition

Seems they decided to take advantage of my not watching for a while, and demolish it before I made my return.

Then again, the contract was set to expire at then of 2025, so no great surprise – but they were quick.

I was lucky to catch it on this visit as I wasn’t supposed be here, and had only spotted the missing building because I had to walk through Wallacetown, and should have been able to see it from the street – but couldn’t.

Chilled buds

By no means anything like we’ve seen in some recent years, but I’m always impressed at how the emerging buds seem to be able to shake off the cold that always returns after a hint of spring’s approaching warmth.

Often seen sheathed in frost, the first to appear of this year’s buds may be getting a cool reception, but are (so far) not being welcomed by frost.

I spotted these guys daring to pop out for a look.

They’re joined by the grass, which has already started growing in many areas, and is already long enough to need cutting after being levelled at the end of last year’s season.

I was intrigued to learn of ‘freezing rain’ a few months ago, which I don’t think we see here, or if we do, it’s nothing like that I saw someone report in Canada, where the temperature gets (and stays) low enough to prevent it from melting as it forms, so it accumulates.

Freezing rain is rain/water which can exist below the freezing point of water, and only becomes ice when it touches something that triggers the freezing process.

While it’s just interesting when it happens on a small scale, it becomes a serious hazard if it forms during a storm. In that case it can form an ever-growing shell around trees and branches, gaining sufficient mass to cause them break them off and fall to the ground, Even if that doesn’t happen, the sheer weight of ice can weaken branches to the extent they have to be removed after the ice melts.

They demolished Ayr Police Station while I wasn’t looking

One of the things that slipped my mind while I was unable to get to Ayr in recent months (I can now), was the impending demolition of Ayr Police Station, built in the 1970s then, somewhat ironically, abandoned a couple of years ago when it was deemed no longer ‘Fit for purpose’, and not upgradable. The irony continues with the staff moving a short distance away, to Newton House, a building around 100 years old, and which WAS able to be upgraded to become ‘Fit for purpose’.

Dear oh dear 😩

Find a few posts from the closure here: Ayr Police Station

Having watched the building being closed, then sealed, then prepared for the arrival of the demolition crew, I was thwarted in my idea of catching one or two shots of the place as it was removed.

By the time I was able to get back, the job was done, and the crew was just tidying up, collecting the pieces and feeding them into a demolition crusher to turn them into aggregate.

This was all that was left.

The removal has led to a whole new and unseen view of the former Orient cinema, previously blocked.

It’s also opened a similarly unseen view onto the Newton Wallacetown Church.

Formerly, the entrance.

Looking at the site of the former building.

I didn’t realise how wide the site was from this angle, so had a second shot of the view.

By chance, happened to catch my bus on its way back to Glasgow!

😂

The EWS sign

I wasn’t sure quite how long ago it was that I learned of this lonely reminder of World War II in the east end of Glasgow.

Well – THIS is disappointing.

It seems I never created a blog post with a pic, AND the forum I was discussing the subject in doesn’t seem to be able to find my material, which I am SURE I posted, complete with pics.

Best I can do is guess this would have taken place around 2006, since that was when we were discussing EWS, or wartime Emergency Water Supplies around Glasgow.

These were large reservoirs or tanks created around the city and filled with water. During bombing raids, it was quite likely that the mains water supply would be damaged, meaning the normal supply of mains water could be lost just when it was needed most, to fight fires, hence the provision of these supplies at numerous locations.

Apparently they were not immediately cleared away after the war, and it seems there were a number drowning in them, until they were removed.

This example, only of a sign, NOT the supply, can still be found at the corner of Maukinfauld Road and Tollcross Road (just across from the park entrance there), but is fading as the weather takes its toll on the remains.

It’s much fainter than I remember it was when I first found it, and it was much more obvious.

I should add that it is NOT as noticeable as it appears in this pic, which has been enhanced to reveal as much detail as possible.

It’s just a pity that I no longer have the originals from the first visit (double/triple failures CAN happen, and it seems I lost my original files AND all possible backups at the same time 😭), or can locate my online posting.

We are at the seaside in Scotland in January – and we ARE going to go paddling in the sea!

Saturday was looking wet and miserable in my corner of Glasgow on Saturday, so I decided to head for Ayr since there was no rain forecast there. Who’d believe that on the west coast of Scotland!?

The only potential downside was the temperature, and the wind – the former possibly only about +6℃, and the wind chill likely to make it feel more like +2℃, or even less.

Can confirm the chill factor, which was biting fairly hard (more so than in Glasgow), especially when the wind gusted.

What I was NOT prepared for was a fairly busy, some might even have said ‘crowded’, esplanade. Look at the parked cars.

I’ve been there in the middle of summer, and found fewer people there on some occasions, and felt quite disappointed, and even a little sad for the town.

I thought a quick shot would make a handy reminder of the day.

I’d been so surprised, I hadn’t noticed the folk having a good time… PADDLING!

Wisely, all wearing wellies!

😂

I had no idea what the sea temperature might have been, so checked when I got back home.

According to all the sources, the sea at Ayr is currently around +8℃, which makes it slightly WARMER than the ambient air temperature.

However, that is the SEA temperature, and I suspect the water actually on the beach is closer to ambient, since the ground/sand will be affected by the air and ground temperature.

It reminded me of this handy guide, of which you can find many variations online.

But, it has to be said it’s not far off the mark with its 10℃ entry.

Haven’t visited the Ayr Bears for months – now Christmas, Burns Night, and Tam o’ Shanter all together

It’s been depressing to miss out on the Ayr Bears while unable to get to Ayr, but this week’s return was a gem, with Christmas, Burns Night, and Tam o’ Shanter all represented.

I guess the koala bears and Australian flag are for Australia Day.

Really liking the bear version of the bridge scene from Tam o’ Shanter.

Just ONE more 2025 Nativity (Ayr bonus)

I was fairly pleased to come across this scene, although I did almost walk past it, only noticing when I looked in the window while thinking about how I’d caught last year’s Nativity.

A month after Christmas, I hadn’t expected there to be anything left, and was disappointed at not being able to get to Ayr for anything over Christmas.

So, here’s the one catch I was able to make, as I didn’t see anything else still on show anywhere else. Not counting odd Christmas lights abandoned in the corners of some shop windows.

It’s the church in Fullarton Road (the name escapes me now).

Sorry, lots of reflection.

I should start carrying a polariser if I anticipate daytime window shots.

It never rains, but…

Regulars may have noticed a number of posts appearing on the theme of plumbing – because that’s what’s happing in Apollo Towers these days, with the recent cold snap having produced an unwanted surprise (NOT a burst pipe).

Usually spoiling any plans/efforts to have a nice day out, I thought my Rainman Curse had somehow moved indoors, as drops of water started appearing on the floor, below where I was working.

The only problem with this was that everything I was working on was dry, had been drained, and isolated.

When I looked around, I spotted water dribbling down the insulation around a pipe completely unrelated to what I was doing, on the hot water system – this pipe was the outlet of the header tank for the central heating!

Sure enough, when I pulled the insulation off that pipe, there was a lovely little neat pinhole, with a cute little laminar flow water jet shooting out. No force behind it, this wasn’t mains water, and there was a head of less than two feet behind it.

While I’ve never experienced anything like this elsewhere, apparently random pinholes in copper pipes are not uncommon, although this piece of pipe was new when I fitted the header tank some years ago, and Scottish water is soft.

I can only guess that the vibrations I caused hammering nearby travelled along the rafters and dislodged whatever was keeping that pinhole closed.

Oh well – just another job that will need to be tended to, although it’s not critical or urgent, or more than 10–15 minutes.

This one made me feel like Victor Meldrew – and shouting “I don’t believe it!”.