Many forms of security, all to achieve the same end

In the harbour at St Petersburgh we saw this armed patrol boat which had a team of scuba divers aboard, checking and maintaining the safety of the cruise liners.

 Next stop Oslo where these two patrol cars were parked up near the Parliament building,  obviously Police cars,  no need for a Gaelic translation like we have here in Scotland.

 Two very pleasant young lady officers patrolling in the park area between the Parliament and the Royal Palace in Oslo.

 And finally, although we saw this plane on the second day of our cruise as we sailed through the Keil Canal,  obviously a military plane which kept circling over the MV Balmoral,  however we eventually saw that it was doing circuits and bumps on an airfield not far from the Canal zone.

Rhys Prentice, RIP

Very sad to hear of the death of a young Police Scotland officer based in East Lothian,  Rhys Prentice died when involved in a road accident with a motor car while riding his motorcycle on the A7 near Galashiels.   From comments made he was a very popular young man, a good police officer, who will be missed by family, friends and colleagues alike.
It is a reminder of the dangers of motorcycling, and brings back memories of another young Police Officer, Graeme Allan who also died on that stretch of road a few years ago.

Two wheels where they should be.(off the road)

For those who know me you will be aware that I have a bit of a thing about bicycles and their riders, fed up with groups at the weekend taking up the road to Whitecraig, and then even single riders who you have to follow because of double white lines and no overtaking.    However,  on holiday I saw the following cycles,    In Stockholm, outside the ABBA museum we saw these wooden cycles which could be hired, no chance of them rusting, but beware of the woodworm.

In Tallin I spotted this yellow cycle hung over the side of a balcony, it fitted in n icely with the colourful surroundings. 

 Think this was in Oslo, where there were weird and wonderful adaptations  designed to ferry tourist around the City

 And, in St Petersburgh, this bicycle was hanging on the wall, about six floors up in one of the communal blocks we passed, hundreds of houses in one block, makes the "banana flats" in Leith and the large block in Newcastle look tiny by comparison.

Tall ships and the Queen Elizabeth.

Not quite a room with a view, even better than that if you have a head for heights. We were docked in Cobenhagen when the sail training tall ship returned to port having been away for a month off the Portugese coast.  If you can zoom in you will see all the cadets who have climbed up onto the rigging, looked spectacular and most certainly would not have been me !!!

This young lady,  on the other hand, seated at the edge of the harbour, appeared to be quite bored with all the comings and goings, not even phased by the tourists with their cameras,  but at least I can say that I have seen her.

 This is the other Lady of the Seas, the Queen Elizabeth, which was docked in St Petersburgh, here seen with a bunker ship transferring fuel.  The last time I saw this cruise liner it was leaving Gibralter last November.   And it is small compared to some of the other liners. The new harbour at St Petersburgh can take six of these big liners at any one time.

Aunt Eva Singleton, RIP

Had a run down to Durham yesterday to attend the funeral of my Aunt Eva Singleton,  (my mother's sister in law) who passed aw\y lat week aged  ninety six/ Cannot praise my cousin Peter enough as he has had to care for her for the past ten years, much to the detriment of himself and his close family, Jill, Jack and Evi.   It was strange to meet up with folks who could remember me as a two year old !!!
With my current health issues it was a bit of a long day,  twelve hours away from the house so today has called for a bit of a break.     Proud of young Evi who is now a member of the Newcastle Youth Choir and will be singing a classical piece at the London proms in the Albert Hall next week.   A few stories from the past as I stayed with aunt Eva and Uncle Bill in the mid sixties when I was a Cadet in Durham, and through them had a posting in Chester Le Street.

Went South via Soutra, Greenlaw, Coldstream and Morpeth, and came back Ponteland, Carter Bar, Jedburgh, Galashiels and Peebles.       Had planned on using the Steed of Steel but in the end took the car which I suspect was the sensible thing to do.  Did note that none of the reservoirs I passed were very low despite the dry spell.

No photos,  but that man is here in the UK, and as usual lots of arguments about his appearance.   There is no question of the fact that he just speaks his mind and rubs folks up the wrong way.  BUT being the President of the USA he is certainly entitled to pass some comments.  I do believe that he is entitled to certain degrees of respect and there is no excuse of the Mayor of London to be acting the way he has.  The UK is now far too PC , time we clamped down on these bloody dissidents and immigrants who are shafting the system.  I suppose, at my age  I will not be here to see the anarchists get their way.

Not sure what the full story is yet, but I think the police have recovered a container with the nerve agent which was used on the former soviet spy in Salisbury,  will be interesting to hear the followup.

At he end of the day, feet up in front of the TV watching Jane McDonald and Friends, excellent programme, lovely person and great singer, time to relax, and of course a glass of "The Full Fifteen" is a great help.

We had Bill and Ben the flower pot men, but in Tallin, Estonia,

Long afternoon and evening watching the tennis at Wimbledon, the epic semifinal  which Anderson won, although I apparently slept through the second, third and fourth sets!!   I then, either watched the remainder or listened to it on the radio while working outside after the first heavy rain in nearly three weeks, great for the garden.

 Way back in the days of black and white TV there was a children,s programme called Bill and Ben the Flower pot men, with a guest appearance or "Weed".     So, when we were recently in Tallin, Estonia, a stunning city, we stopped for a coffee and beer at a small cafe in the Walled City where they had these decorated flower pots along the frontage. Really nice and eye catching.

 I obviously have many photos but too many to fill up the blog.   We had a slow wander through the old town, and even had a ride on one of the "tourist trains" which was hellish over the cobbled streets, but nice once it got out into the tarmacked main roads in the modern part of the town.   Eventually ended up in the main square for another coffee and beer, which was reasonably priced and not a shock to the system like my friends experienced in Bergen last week  £26 for a latte and £9 for a 1/4 pint -  I would have needed CPR after that.  It was even cheaper than the main square in Prague  where the lovelies, the posers and people watchers pay over the odds for being allowed to preen themselves in public.

The ship, The MV Balmoral was only docked for the day,  but it is certainly a place worth going back to.  The ladies managed to find themselves a small market and treated themselves as usual.

Stadium and power company, St Petersburg

Resorted back to the lap top to get some photos and interest into the Blog.  Thought that as France and Belgium were playing tonight in the stadium at St Petersburg might be worth showing the stadium and adjacent spectacular bridge which is a bit like the Queensferry Crossing. From what we were told by our tour guide the whole seafront which includes the stadium, a motorway, two new bridges, the cruise liner port are all built on land reclaimed from the sea over the past ten years. The cost, in the Billions has caused a great deal of resentment by the locals who would have preferred better housing and other facilities.

 The MV Balmoral, seen here docked in the new cruise liner dock which can accommodate six large liners at the same time, only issue being that with the really big ships, each disembarking around three thousand passengers there is an amazing logistical exercise to get all the passengers, (twenty thousand plus)  into the city or onto the many tours.  On these days the local museums are packed out.

 This tall spire like building is the office building of the power company, the tallest building for hundreds of miles.  Initially the power company wanted to build it in the City, however there was such a public outcry that planning permission was refused and they had to build it well outside the City.   Due to the relatively flat landscape it can be seen from many miles away. Although not yet completed it is quite a spectacular building.  This photo was taken from the cruise terminal on the other side of the mouth of the river using a telephoto lens.

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