Whizzing through flickr (I have got my camera back, after all), I spotted this and loved it:
It’s the inside of a cooling tower at Satsop nuclear power plant in Washington state and it’s even more striking bigger and on black.
And yes, that tiny black rectangle at the end of the walkway is a door. So yes, the scale and size are incredible.
Photo credit: Rustyjaw on flickr
Perusing Brian Micklethwait’s latest offering, I simply had to borrow his photo of the Crystal Palace mast in South East London.
At 219m in height, it’s London’s fourth tallest structure and provides TV signal for much of the city.
I love the juxtaposition of it against the smaller neighbours – the church tower and the streetlight – in this photo.
Thoroughly knackered this evening, so as ever in such situations, it’s quota photo time:
This was taken at Babylonstoren on a blistering hot day back in December. As we arrived for lunch, the thermometer in the car reached 42C and so I was more than happy to make the acquaintance of this guy and cool off in his stream of aqueous vomit.
Just a quick reminder of that view from our big flat rock:
Always good to remember amongst all the negativity.
Cape Agulhas lighthouse is undergoing some much needed repairs at the moment, as this photo clearly demonstrates:
Taken by Mrs 6000 yesterday, you can see that the work is fairly extensive. And it needs to be: the winter storms on the Southern Tip show no mercy.
The lighthouse will have seen a few of them, having been built in local sandstone in 1848. And the damage that those storms can do was shown clearly in the late 1960s when the light was moved to an aluminium tower nearby (note to self: find picture of this), as the sandstone had eroded and the building itself was in danger of collapsing due to excessive weathering.
Thankfully (and rightfully), it was declared a national monument and it was restored and recommissioned in 1988.
The focal plane of the light is 31 metres (102 ft) above high water; the range of the 7,500,000 candlepower lantern is 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi). It rotates, giving off one white flash every five seconds. When they’re not repairing and restoring it,visitors are able to exercise their right to suffer terrifying vertigo by climbing the tower and examining the seemingly flimsy railings around the top.
Right now, I’m back in Cape Town, copying the lighthouse by having an external support structure around my right leg, which is being repaired and painted in bold red and white hoops before winter [don’t push the analogy – Ed.].
I miss Agulhas and I’m desperate to get back down there as soon as possible. But the 3 hour drive isn’t conducive to getting this ankle sorted and I know that sacrificing a visit this weekend is going to get that process over more quickly.