As noted before, a trip to Ayr really does need a planned response to registration numbers if you are at all interested, and don’t want to go nuts!
Either look, or don’t look, because you will be spoilt for choice if you do.
We had MP 1 just a few posts back, now we have 1 FR.
Sadly trapped on an obsolete stinky old hulking 4×4 SUV diesel tractor Land Rover Range Rover from 20007 which, despite the ‘exclusive’ Overfinch badging, has a poorly fitting front bumper. A little oopsie at some point?
Not cheap, a set of nice wheels from them could set you back in the order of £12,000 to £16,000.
I’m not really picking on Overfinch, but I was walking past one near Parkhead Cross, home of Celtic, and the lout/yob driving it noticed I had taken a look (just to confirm the badge/name), sneered at me, and shouted “BET YOU WISH YOU COULD AFFORD SOMETHING LIKE THIS!”
I could have sneered back with ‘No thanks’, and laughed since his ‘tank’ then took over 13 sec (on paper, so how slow in the real world) to reach 60, while both of the cars I had at that time did the dash in 5 sec, but not my style, and I just ignored him, and carried on walking.
So, was he, as I have always assumed, a Celtic fan, or maybe even one of their lovely players?
I might add that I remain up to date.
Today, your Range Rover Sport SV EDITION ONE can come from the factory (no need for Overfinch) with 626 non-stinky petrol horses under the bonnet, a mild-hybrid Twin Turbo V8, reaches 60 in 3.6 sec (and it will, not just on paper), and go on to 180 MPH.
The first time I encountered The Entitled was when I pulled in behind a car leaving the side of Shettleston Road, as I was headed for my insurance broker’s office to pay a premium.
The space was in front of Cross’s butcher’s shop, and as I locked the door a guy wearing a white coat and butcher’s apron came running out of the shops and shouted at me, “MOVE YOUR CAR, YOU CAN’T PARK THERE, THAT’S FOR OUR CUSTOMERS”!
I was, frankly, taken aback once I realised he was shouting at me, and it was me he was telling me to get my car away from the space in front of his shop.
I think I just told him to take it easy, and he’d have his space back in a few minutes as I was just dropping a cheque off to the broker, almost next door.
He was NOT a happy little butcher, and didn’t seem to be able to understand why I had not immediately jumped back in my car and cleared HIS space for HIS customers in response to his orders.
Had I not been at work, my car would have sat there for the rest of the day (but in those days, parking was restricted, and they DID materialise a random Parking Warden!).
It should go without saying that other than the right to use the public road within the constraints of whatever laws, local by laws, rules, regulation etc apply, NOBODY has exclusive rights to any particular part they take a liking to. This is, of course, quite different from any private land or space they may own, and generally have the right to control.
That includes the road outside your house too, although some homeowners think otherwise. You may have come across them, such as this one I found in Ayr.
Let me take you in closer.
Recently, closer to home
I came across another one recently, closer to home this time.
I thought some poor sod had broken down, and left a note on their car.
It may not be obvious in the dark but, while it’s not exactly the middle of nowhere, this road is almost nowhere, and NOT in front of anyone’s house. It’s actually near a railway station, near a motorway slip road, and an apparently derelict shop, which used to serve snacks, but I haven’t seen the shutters raised in months/years, and is a mess.
What I’m really saying is that there’s nobody twitching at curtains, waiting to pounce on a parked car on THEIR piece of road. In fact, other than passing train passengers, there’s nobody.
And the note?
Of course, whoever left did not identify themselves, or give their authority for issuing a parking instruction on a piece of public road, or details of what rules are in force (other than their ‘ENTITLEMENT’).
The County Buildings, standing on the edge of Wellington Square and the Low Green, have an interesting past, not least being the goal that once sat on the western side, looking towards the sea (yes, this did lead to some interesting nicknames about the seaside and holidays).
That facility is long gone now, of course, having been demolished by the prisoners (officially!) – a spot of hard labour they might not have objected to – and much was removed by horse and cart.
Now overlooking the war memorial, that face carries the town’s coat of arms, and motto.
GOD SCHAW THE RICHT.
The arms were granted on June 23, 1931.
The arms have four quarters. The first has a castle from the arms of Ayr, the second has a red chevron on silver for the Carrick district, the third has a black shakefork on white for the Cunninghame district and a blue and silver fess on gold (The Stewart arms) for Kyle.
The motto is from the tomb of Captain Thomas Crawford.
Ayrshire was originally granted arms on July 8, 1890:
Hardly a surprise, but Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump’s never ending stream of lies (AKA utter fantasy and rubbish) and misinformation is dangerous as his uneducated cult members are unable to separate fact from fantasy, or even question the veracity of his claims.
They just accept anything he says a absolute truth without question.
Their moronic hero worship of a worthless lump of orange fat is simply incomprehensible.
Recall this post, only from February – notable for my ability to forget, as I had no idea where the subjects were, although I did find them again.
What I never mentioned was ANOTHER piece of oddness, as I couldn’t find the other nice lady I’d photographed then, at the same time.
No idea what happened to her, other than the obvious ‘painted over’ (not with anything noteworthy, there was nothing on the other wall worth looking at), but there was nothing worthy of note on the other wall (I couldn’t even find matching surface marks) – and she had to have been there, the time stamps on the two original pics were only seconds apart, so I didn’t fend in two different places.
While a handy glance out a bus window had let me find the forgotten spot, this time things were not so good – and I spotted that the nice lady above was no longer to be seen.
Sadly replaced by a pretty poor graphic and some politically motivated spiel.
I wouldn’t even have taken the pic, but for the illustration of what had replaced a decent mural.
Make your point if you must, but don’t vandalise the good stuff in the process.
I don’t even care about whatever point was being made.
OK, I’m not that mean, even if I’m not happy, and the technical execution of this is actually quite good, and the shadow effect works well.
Unfortunately, the first pics I took of this slightly unusual structure just didn’t seem to show it as anything recognisable – I somehow managed to pick viewpoints that produced abstract views that might be fine for posting along with pics that show the structure better, but on their own, make almost no sense at all.
Hopefully, this one that survived the cull as I worked through what I had collected does the job, and shows at least on decent view. It was almost a surprise when I got there and caught first sight of the thing – the first pic I saw made it look like a tunnel, or covered/enclosed crossing, and nothing like the actual structure.
It would be nice to take pics from some of the windows overlooking the crossing – but that’s not going to happen, for me at least.
I will have to revisit this, and choose better viewpoints armed with the knowledge I gained on this slightly abortive visit.
While I was there, it only showed the white lighting seen in the pic. However, in earlier pics it was washed in various colours. No idea of that was just a temporary effect installed for the opening, or now just doesn’t work.
Approach from Glasgow city centre
Not a complete disaster though as this feature covers a large area, with some interesting aspects.
This is the approach to the bridge from Baird Street, which has the stairway shown for pedestrians, and an almost hidden serpentine ramp with a shallow grade for cyclists., which can just about be made beginning on the centre right.
You need to open the full size image to see it.
Most of this pic is ‘real’, but I had to avoid the very bright street light on the right, with the dark sky/cloud behind. I now know this will seriously knock back the exposure of a scene like this, and ruin the shot by making it much too dark.
I took more than one shot, ensuring the light source was NOT in any of them, and stitched them together, meaning there was no upper right corner, so had to make that up, but the dark cloud is real.
The scene came out very much like an old sodium street lamp view (although the lighting is white LED), and I had to reduce the effect.
I believe this was caused by the effect lighting on and around the bridge, which has a number of reddish floodlights on those curved poles, as well as a few white ones.
Approach from Sighthill flats
As if to prove it’s never a good idea to give up on pics before trying all the options.
I ended up with this half decent result after playing with some advanced processing tools which recovered the central horizontal area of the pic, which included the bridge.
While this was a wider view of the bridge and its surrounding, the lighting at the time – between the sky and the brightly lit line of light along the path in the foreground – meant it was just a dark area of shadow, with no detail apparent.
Sometimes even I’m impressed at what can be coaxed out of the darkness.
Guess I don’t need to go back now, for a general view, and can look for more interesting detail in future.
I didn’t know how to get to the bridge from the city centre at first (by bike), and first ventured there by going to Speirs Wharf, which I now know well.
It’s a corner of Glasgow I have seldom visited, and was almost surprised to find RS was on the next street along from the bridge – but it did explain why the place looked familiar.
It’s not too bad to get to, apart from the slightly steep climb from George Square to Bath Street, but after that there’s a ‘Quiet Cycle Route’ leading to the bridge.
It cuts out all the busy streets from Argyle Street to Cowcaddens if heading to Speirs Wharf, and could be a handy alternative to that fairly busy route.
At the moment, I’m avoiding it as the Cambridge Street section is a disaster, while works are in progress to properly install the cycle route that was set up there a few years ago. Granted it will be even better once the work is done, but after negotiating the diversion for the works, I found it easier to just stay on the road, and avoid it altogether.
Maybe the rusty bridge route means there’s simply a way to get to Speirs Wharf and the start of the towpath cycle route – I’ll have to try at a few times.
Convicted felon and insurrectionist Donald J. Trump exposes deficiencies in the Constitution of the United States combined with corruption in the Supreme Court, which has ignored and already refused to apply even the existing provisions of the Constitution.
The writers never envisioned something as corrupt and evil as Donald J. Trump being able to win, or buy, a presidency, so never thought of including the necessary provisions to deal with it.
I find these crossing to be a little bit irritating – there is another to be found on one of the roundabouts on the road to Monkton, on the perimeter of Prestwick Airport.
Not, I hasten to add for their presence, but the apparent absence of any information about them being placed online, either in websites belonging to the relevant road authorities, or even just some related blog (other than this one, of course).
I couldn’t find anything last year, when I first came across this crossing, nor can I find anything as I write this follow-up post, months later.
The only reason I know anything about them is because I contacted the local authority.
There are no instructions, or information for users, either on foot, or on the road, so nobody really knows what to do.
Pedestrians who approach it via the drop kerb are rewarded with automatic presence detection, and flashing amber lights, directed towards the traffic but, unlike a controlled crossing, or zebra crossing, drivers are largely taken by surprise. They usually stop for any actually on the road and crossing, but don’t give way to anyone waiting to cross, and who has triggered the lights.
I see many pedestrians just cross BESIDE this crossing, thereby NOT triggering the presence detectors, so no amber lights.
While I’m NOT commenting on the crossing or its concept, those behind it seem to have missed something essential – there’s not much chance of evaluating the usefulness of an idea if you just throw it at people, and don’t give them some clues – especially if it involves legal rules, and road crossing at least require guidance from the Highway Code, which generally relies on specific laws for it
After almost a year, I think I should be able to find some documentation or guidance online about these crossings.
Convicted felon Donald J. Trump just continues with his endless lies.
He goes on and on like a toddler who has no conscience and no morals, concept of right and wrong, or of the consequences what he says might have for others.
But that’s no surprise, for someone who has no hesitation in throwing everyone else under the bus so long as he looks after Number One.
Almost a follow on from the previous post on the abuse of power and apparent lack of accountability in the Supreme or higher level courts of America is emphasised by the way Judge Aileen Cannon is able to favour convicted felon Donald J, Trump with her rulings and endless, ridiculous unchallengeable ‘Paperless Orders’.
The lack of accountability in this part of the American legal system is unbelievable.
From outside America, it’s become increasingly unbelievable to see that there seems to be NO mechanism to remove people from high office when they reveal just how unsuited they are to be in such positions, all the way from Congress with its MAGA leaders, and the Supreme Court which is fast becoming a farce as many of its members clearly have no right to be in such a position of power.
Secret Scotland 