Bibliophile

Masquerade 5

2024-11-25T22:26:00.001-08:00

Ladybower Reservoir is the largest of three reservoirs of the Upper Derwent Valley in the Peak District (the other two are Derwent Reservoir & Howden Reservoir). They have a combined capacity of 464 billion litres of water.

But what was there before the water?

Ladybower Reservoir

Ladybower was built between 1935 and 1943, but 2 small villages - Derwent & Ashopton were flooded in the process. It took another 2 years to fill. At the time it was the largest reservoir in Britain.

Photo from 'Exploring GB'

The gateposts of the Derwent village school which was drowned with the creation of Ladybower Reservoir. Ruins of the village re-appear when water levels are low, as here in October 2018. On the far side of the reservoir a valve house connected with the water supply from the older Derwent & Howden reservoirs is also emerging

The River Derwent flowed through Derwent Village under stone bridges and next to it stood cottages, houses and a school. The village church of St John & St James had been built in 1757.

The church spire of the village of Derwent, which was flooded in 1943

Most of the Derwent church was pulled down but the spire was left as a memorial & could be seen when the water level was low. Unfortunately the spire was demolished.in 1947.

(Taken from a 1960s BBC film about Ladybower Reservoir)

There was also the manor house Derwent Hall, a palatial country house thar had evolved over three centuries. The imposing building was once owned by the Duke of Norfolk. Its grounds featured ornamental gardens and a fishpond. It sat peacefully by the River Derwent until plans were made to dam the valley and flood it. The Hall was compulsorily acquired in 1939 and demolished in 1944.

Derwent Hall

An intriguing part of the Hall's structure perhaps it was part of the garden terrace. It's hard to say

The village of Ashopton was larger & busier than Derwent, in December 1941, it was home to up to 100 residents along with a chapel & the Ashopton Inn - a large coaching inn which stood at a crossroads on the main road between Sheffield & Glossop, & served as a stopover on the Sheffield-Manchester route. Ashopton boasted a Post Office & General Store, an 1840 Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, a garage and numerous pretty stone houses & farms. Its industry revolved around farming and an annual wool fair was held every July.

Despite fierce local opposition, the buildings in both villages were compulsory purchased by the Derwent Valley Water Board between 1935 and 1945. The people living there were forced to move to the nearby village of Bamford.

The bodies of their relatives were exhumed from the churchyard and the buildings demolished.

The church of St John & St James in Derwent held its final service on 17th March 1943. The final service at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Ashopton was on 25th September 1939, with the last hymn reportedly being ‘The Day’s Dying in the West’. The chapel was demolished in 1943.

Not all Derwent’s buildings were sacrificed for the construction of the reservoir. A few of the houses remain.

A 17th century packhorse bridge that once crossed the River Derwent close to the Hall was saved. When the Derwent Hall was demolished, it was removed stone by stone & rebuilt at the head of Howden Reservoir in 1959.

It took 2 years for the valley to be completely flooded & culminated in 1947 with the official opening of Ladybower Reservoir. What was left of both villages was swallowed up as the Ladybower Reservoir was filled to capacity in 1945.

Construction of the Ashopton Viaduct, it opened in 1943

Ashopton village in the shadow of the Viaduct

Beneath the water's surface the remains of Ashopton village are buried in the reservoir silt. Only the arches of the Viaduct are visible above the water.

Ladybower Reservoir

Source: Rural Historia and Exploring GB

And what about the construction of the reservoirs and the dam workers in their Tin Town - that is another story...

Masquerade 4

2024-09-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

Bram Stoker was born on 8 November 1847 in Clontarf Ireland, and attended Trinity College in Dublin. He died on 20 April 1912 aged 64, in London.

Mostly remembered for the gothic horror novel "Dracula", which became the classic that many other horror novels were compared against and it spawned countless film and television versions.

Stoker was inspired by places he had visited and holidayed in.

Near Cruden in Scotland is 'Slain's Castle' seen on a foggy morning the ruins have all the elements for a horror tale.

Slain's Castle was the source material for Dracula's Castle. Stoker visited the area staying at the hotel from 1892 till 1910 and began writing "Dracula" there in 1895. He describes its octagonal room in the novel.

But truly many of its rooms with bricked up doorways, long narrow passageways and circular towers of spiral stairs lend themselves to the eerie and mysterious.

Especially the underground cellar-room of very crypt-like storage niches.

The other important Stoker "Dracula" location is Whitby on the Yorkshire coast. Again Stoker stayed here, and gained inspiration from the wreck of the ship Dimitry/Dimitri which did run aground below Whitby's East Cliff. Atop the cliff stands the stark ruins of Whitby Abbey and the churchyard of St Marys.

Another inspiring location, deemed possible, is the grave of Lucy Westenra (the friend of Mina who becomes a vampiress) believed to be in London at Highgate Cemetery - the sun rises over Hampstead Heath, where Lucy was buried.

Highgate Cemetery has been utilised many times as a location for both books and film.

All hauntingly beautiful and spectral.

Masquerade 3

2024-07-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Thirds

I’ve encountered elements of Sir Walter Scott three times.

Firstly at the Wallace National Monument in Stirling, secondly at Scott’s View between Melrose and Dryburgh, and finally at Scott’s burial place at Dryburgh Abbey.

Scott’s bust in the Hall of Heroes at the National Monument

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh on 15 August 1771. As a child he was raised listening to the stories of the people and histories of the Scottish Borders, a voracious reader he enjoyed historical, romantic, poetical and prose works. Walter also explored his natural environment, developing a lifelong appreciation of the natural beauty of the countryside and its role in the struggles of the Scottish people.

‘Scott’s View’ Lookout overlooking the River Tweed valley

His early life laid the basis for his poems and novels. His best remember poem "The Lady of the Loch" of Ellen Douglas. While among the favourites of his novels are "Rob Roy", "Ivanhoe" and "The Waverley novels. all heavily influenced by his Scottish heritage.

The Scott Chapel at Dryburgh

Sir Walter Scott died at his home Abbotsford near Melrose on 21 September 1832 and was buried with other members of his family in a chapel of Dryburgh Abbey. It was said that as the funeral procession passed his favourite lookout, his horse paused for one final time.

Masquerade 2

2024-07-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

A second bite.

Dublin and Trinity College are both associated with literature.

It is the home of the Long Room - the grand library with its barrel vaulted ceiling and shelves of historic Irish literature bookended with busts of literary greats. The room has been an inspiration for J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts, and used as the Jedi Library in "Star Wars".

The most famous book at Trinity though is "The Book of Kells", the Medieval monastic manuscript of the four gospels. Transcribed on the island of Iona, it was transported to Kells for safety and later gifted to Trinity.

Oliver Goldsmith’s statue in a poppy field beside the main entrance to Trinity College. Oliver was born in Lissoy County Westmeath. He studied at Trinity as did his brother Henry. A writer and poet, he is best known for his novel “The Vicar of Wakefield”.

Always known for its strong musical traditions Ireland has supported many musical forms from folk to rock, and one of her sons Phil Lynott, the lead singer of Thin Lizzy, and the voice of the parson on Jefff Wayne’s musical version of “The War of the Worlds”.

Masquerade 1

2024-06-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

Our first stop - London, home to many literary references/places, here are just a few in Highgate Cemetery.

I still remember the demand for library copies of Alan Sillitoe’s “Loneliness of the long distance runner”, he was born in 1928 and died in 2010 and his headstone is in Highgate East Cemetery.

The headstone of author Alan Sillitoe

Douglas Adams most famous for the Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy series. People who visit leave pens, plus some ‘42’ references (Deepthought’s answer to the ultimate question) & there was also a towel, now somewhat weathered.

Highgate is also the resting place of Mary Ann Evan’s, known more famously as George Eliot. She was a female novelist of the Victorian era who wrote “The Mill on the Floss”, “Silas Marner”, “Adam Bede” and more.

Masquerade

2024-06-26T23:33:00.000-07:00

While the Bibliophile blog has been in recess for some time, now is an ideal opportunity to bring it out of semi-retirement, masquerading as a literary travel blog.

Hopefully In the next few posts will be some photographs and a small amount of information on locations real & imagined as seen in books and films & tv.

Posts will be authored in the field on a phone - so no levels of sophistication or formatting, and subject to varying or non-existent connectivity.

Stay tuned...

Yah, for the Long Tail

2023-03-12T16:25:00.001-07:00

Colour collision

2022-02-25T19:58:00.003-08:00

When two waves collide at the perfect time of day.

In a similar vein to my previous post Ocean Waves, is this Chris Bryan video, if you team water with colour it can be spectacular.

via Gfycat Posted by u/MyNameGifOreilly

Long live our huts

2021-05-29T02:35:00.005-07:00

"Work to rebuild a series of culturally-significant Australian High Country huts razed by the Black Summer bushfires is still to begin, as concerns grow it might never get underway.

A dozen of more than 100 huts constructed up to 120 years ago by stockmen and prospectors, and later the Snowy Mountains Authority, were destroyed or severely damaged by the monster fires of January 2020.Government says it will continue working closely with stakeholders in 'determining the next steps for these important sites'".(From the story "Fears razed high country huts lost forever" by John Kidman AAP)

Sawyer's Hut between Kiandra & Adaminaby. A staging post for coaches on the way to Kiandra. It was badly damaged in the 2003 fires, re-built in 2008-09. Had its walls re-oiled just prior to the Kosciusko fire where it was totally destroyed only the chimney and concrete slab remain.

Some videos from ACT Nat Parks of Namadgi NP firstly the battle to save the historic Orroral homestead & woolshed (an aerial tanker dropping retardant on the Orroral fire, coming in from the Tracking Station and (nearly) dumping the load on the woolshed. The photographer would have their back to the homestead, 29 Jan 2020) Orroral 2020 and now - Orroral homestead (which is still closed to the public) and the burnt areas surrounding it Orroral 2021

The Kiandra Court House a well known landmark beside the Snowy Mountains Highway. The bluestone building was erected in 1890, and many photos feature it in snow drifts. When the fire swept through it left only the stone walls and melted aluminum and glass (amazingly the toilet in the carpark survived)

Seriously hoping this doesn't come to pass. You have to admire the fortitude & perseverance of those who have restored huts only to see them burnt out again. With the increase in the population holidaying locally and the boom in caravans & camper trailers taking to 'The Bush', national parks and hut sites in particular are becoming the focus for more and more people, and how wonderful to have something to showcase and for them to appreciate.

Orroral Homestead

Have documented just a small selection of huts in previous posts - High Country huts and From Dimb to Basalt Knob not just as a record of their existence, but because they are so iconic and make a simple but compelling statement about us and our past.

Long live our huts & our resurrected huts.

Big Bell abando

2021-05-04T14:51:00.001-07:00

Great drone footage of the Big Bell Hotel about 30km from Cue in Western Australia.

Big Bell is a ghost town now, but had a thriving past. A distant relative John Harold Urbahns originally surveyed the town site.

The Big Bell was a gold mine which expended in 1935, a town was planned for the mine workers. In 1936 The Cue Road Board was asked to suggest a name for the new townsite and recommended "Townsend" as a suitable title and Coodardy street as the principal thoroughfare.

Mr. and Mrs. Townsend were the original settlers at Coodardy. The proposed names for the six streets in the residential area: —Paton Street (after one of the original owners of the mine); Pitt Street (after the present manager); Wittenoom, Meehan and Lefroy Streets (after prominent pastoralists of the district); and Urbahn Street (after the Government surveyor).

The Big Bell Hotel was constructed in the classic art deco style and opened in 1937. It reputedly had the longest bar in Australia. The mine closed in 2003.

Which kind of bookseller are you?

2021-04-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

Garth Nix's latest - 'The left-handed booksellers of London' Left-handed booksellers are the fighting warrior side, while right-handed booksellers are the other side of the coin - the intellectual ones.

Reminiscent of his 'Keys to the Kingdom' series, but this is aimed at a more adult audience.

Set in a slightly alternate London in 1983 (you can tell from the social history remarks) Susan comes to London looking for the father she never met. In the first page she meets the unusual Merlin, a young left-handed bookseller (an extended family armed with magical abilities, charged with policing the tenuous boundary between the mythic & legendary Old World and the modern world as we know it) and along with his sister Vivien-a right-handed bookseller, they endeavour to find out why mythical creatures and the criminal underworld are attempting to capture Susan, (and why fantasy authors have a lot to answer for).

A page-turner setting a hectic pace (with not enough time for a decent meal), and armed with lightning-fast sword fights and swarms of predatory birds. Hope it is the first in a series.

Don't play with your food (too)

2021-03-04T19:49:00.005-08:00

Helga Stentzel is a Russian-born visual artist based in London. She works across a wide range of media including illustration, photography, video and stop motion animation.

She has built a large following for her playful art that often uses everyday objects and household items in creative and unexpected ways.

Especially love the dog ones

Port Fairy cottages

2021-02-04T00:31:00.006-08:00

The Port Fairy lighthouse from near the cottages

Just browsing the Victorian Collections site, and their Featured Story - Lighthouses: the romance and tne reality by Catherine Bessant caught my eye. Scanning their images and the stories, I came across this old postcard depicting the Port Fairy lighthouse on Griffith Island, only this image had the keepers cottages still standing (the buildings were demolished in 1956, now only a replica gateway remains)

Postcard from the Port Fairy Historical Society Museum and Archives

The only other picture I'd seen of the cottages was a very vague photo on the information board at the site

The lighthouse & cottages c1915

However the information board did include a map showing the outlines of the buildings.

The lighthouse would be to the bottom of the map

For Australia Day 2021

2021-01-14T01:50:00.002-08:00

Great ad, watch for all the little vignette stories...and the last scene

"Australia 2031. Our once united nation has been divided by the great state walls. Only Aussie lamb has the power to break down the borders and reunite the states together around a lamb barbie. Because what unites us is more delicious than what divides us. Share The Lamb."

Empire 3D

2021-01-10T23:46:00.001-08:00

Finally setting my Rone photos in an album, when I returned to Rone's Empire site to check one or two details. Imagine my amazement to find you can now do a 3D virtual tour of his Empire project.

The Dining Room (Rone)

Firstly what was Empire -

High in the Dandenong Ranges, a sprawling art deco mansion lies empty, nature creeping through its crumbling walls. This was Burnham Beeches. Built in 1933 for the Nicholas family (Alfred was a wealthy industrialist and founder of the Aspro brand), it is an Art Deco Streamline Moderne style mansion. It has been a research facility, childrens hospital and luxury hotel, before being closed in the late 1990s. The whole property was purchased by Adam Garrison & Shannon Bennett in 2010, but the mansion remained empty.

In early 2018 Rone was offered the opportunity to utilise the building to create a series of murals. His idea was of a unsuspecting visitor walking into an abandoned residence and discovering what has been left behind in the remains of the lives lived inside the mansion. It was Rone's most immersive installation to date, his hauntingly powerful portraits augmented by sound, light, scent, interior and botanical design elements, in addition to VR and AR technology.

The Lounge (Rone)

It took more than 12 months, for the work of painting and styling to transfer the former derelict building into Empire. Roll video...

For those lucky enough to get the limited tickets, there was a 6 week season where you could stroll through the installation, before it was all stripped away and returned to sterile white walls.

For those unlucky enough to miss out, and for those like me who want to re-visit again and again, there is now the 3D virtual tour.

Not quite the same as being there, but it does allow you to target in on aspects or details you missed - like the tree tunnel - a whole lot clearer without the dust cloud that pervaded it, adding atmosphere, but took my second walk-through to spy out the book leaves. And if you missed it - this is your chance to catch up, so check it out.

It was an awesome, unforgettable experience on the day, and this just adds to it. Thank you technology & Rone.

My favourite room, and the Home screen on my phone

All at sea

2021-01-04T16:01:00.001-08:00

'On the Java Ridge' by Jock Serong

Was reading this prior to and during the build-up to the American election, so decided the machinations of this fictional Prime Minister is not so unbelievable after all.

The ‘Java Ridge’ referred to in the title is the name of a surf charter boat. During the story it is skippered by tour leader Isi Natoli and her Indonesian crew. They are taking a group of Australian surf enthusiasts in search of the perfect wave, and are sheltering inside the reef encircling the remote Indonesian island Dana when a storm delivers the ‘Takalar’ and her load of asylum seekers onto their reef.

At the same time in Canberra, it is the eve of a federal election. Cassius Calvert (Minister for Border Integrity) has outsourced border security to a private company - Core Resolve, to employ a new hard-line stance regarding maritime interception and assistance to people-smuggling boats crossing into Australian territorial waters.

The story is alternately told from the viewpoint of Isi, Cassius and Roya (a young Afghani refugee aboard the ‘Takalar’, fleeing the Taliban with her heavily pregnant mother). The minor characters the doctor, the Takalar’s captain, even Cassius’ P.A. are well rounded and fleshed out.

In typical Serong-style the ending leaves you wrung out, the language and the descriptions are vivid, the plot takes you to unexpected places and scenarios.

Vintage Melbourne

2020-12-31T21:08:00.006-08:00

Definitely time for a 'Now & Then'. This is from an article by Carolyn Webb of The Age.

"History buff's vintage Melbourne Instagram site is a hit"

"Today it’s known for its street art, but 50 years ago, Hosier Lane, off Flinders Street, was part of Melbourne’s thriving clothing district.

A sign in a 1972 photo of the bare-walled lane advertises the business of Bernard Rothschild, who sells underwear, knitwear, children's wear and hosiery.

Swipe right on the photo on the Instagram page Old Vintage Melbourne, and you'll see the same view in recent years. The walls are covered in art, with a sign indicating a recent focus of the precinct: a bar called Misty.

Melbourne lawyer Chris Macheras started Old Vintage Melbourne six months ago and it has taken off, with 28,000 followers.

"It's insane," says Mr Macheras, but he is happy it's helping connect Melburnians with their history.

One comment on the Hosier Lane post states: "Wow the graffiti is so ugly ... 1972 looks much better."

But another says: "I’m loving the graffiti. The laneways are so cool."

Someone called Yael Rothschild says that "the Rothschild sign was my father-in-law’s warehouse" and that he passed away just two years ago, aged 95.

"He worked so hard. He was a great man. We have this photo framed."

One of Mr Macheras' favourite historic shots is from about 1906: a Mr and Mrs Laycock pose for a photo outside their shop in Middle Park, with ads for The Age and Cadbury chocolates.

Mr Macheras was relieved to find the building still exists, although it is no longer a shop. A modern verandah has been added and its door has moved.

He learns something new with every post.

A circa 1870s photo of Melbourne GPO, by Charles Nettleton, shows the building with two storeys, not today's three, and a much shorter, more squat clock tower than the one added later.

Mr Macheras said that during the gold rush, large sections were often added to such buildings as Victoria’s wealth and population grew.

Right: The Fish Market on the corner of Swanston & Flinders streets c1895, later becoming the site of the Flinders Street Railway Station (2020 Photo supplied by Chris Macheras)

His Instagram efforts aren't all about buildings.

When he posted a 1981 photo by Rennie Ellis of a Greek family in Prahran cooking a lamb on the spit, a woman commented, "Wow this is a great photo of me and my family. We are still a very close family and we still celebrate every Christmas and Easter together."

Mr Macheras' own family has run a hairdressing salon at 216 Tyler Street, Preston, since the early 1970s. But the shop dates from the 1930s and he would love to see old photos of it.

The Old Vintage Melbourne Instagram project started in June, when Mr Macheras had more free time as a result of not having to commute from Preston to the city for work.

He discovered vivid digital photos on websites such as that of the State Library of Victoria and started digitally restoring a few.

Mr Macheras says he is allowed to use old photos for non-commercial purposes, where no copyright restrictions apply, provided credit is given.

He hopes to write an Old Vintage Melbourne book, incorporating people's stories. It has, he says, been good for his mental health to have this creative outlet."

I couldn't copy the cool way The Age article did the swipe across the photos, so go to the original article and try it for yourself.

And check out the Old Vintage Melbourne Instagram site for more old photos and Now & Thens. Here are a few of my favourites.

This has been a great exercise for during the changes wrought by COVID, a positive. Thanks Chris, and thanks too to the State Library's photo pool.

Lost Collective

2020-09-29T23:46:00.003-07:00

These images are from Lost Collective a project by Brett Patman. It is a visual and written record of the forgotten and neglected built environments that pervade society. The key focus of the project is documenting the important roles that people and places played in shaping the communities who collectively make up the identity of our societies, engaging everyday people through evocative imagery, to reconnect with past lives and even former friends. It encourages people to share their stories, stories that would otherwise be forgotten as society progress and generations age.

Every location has a story of its past; it’s present state and in some cases, a plan for the future. From rural country towns to energetic inner-city suburbs, derelict power stations and heavy industry to the tiny farmstead. All these buildings had significance in one way or another. Finding this from the words of the people who made so is what Lost Collective is all about. Societies change, and abandoned buildings come and go, but it’s important to remember and record our heritage amongst the ever increasing rush to replace the old with the new. We only get one chance to do this.

In a recent post Brett showcased a couple of now-and-thens - the Terminus Hotel in Sydney.

He was inspired to blend a historical image into one of his own (as have I). The left side is from the Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University, taken c1970. The right is one Brett took on 19 March 2015. As well as simply aligning and blending the images, he has taken elements from each era and masked them from one into the other in the same position as they were. The vine has arguably been one of the most recognisable features of this amazing old pub, and while the vine is now long gone (the pub has since been renovated and reopened to customers), he couldn't resist brushing it back into the past over the historical image.

His other image is of the W.H Lucas/Delegate Motors garage. (Delegate is just over the border in New South Wales on the way to Bombala). To blend an old and new photo together but for it to work properly, the perspective of the two images really needs to be exact or at least very close. He has layered these images over one another and added a transparent gradient so that the old photo gradually blends into the new one. The original photo on the left side was taken by Alma Reed, c1940. The right side of the photo was taken by Brett on December 22, 2018.

Always a fan of the Now-and-then, hope he does more.

Tray planting

2020-09-22T20:02:00.004-07:00

Bonsai (Japanese: 盆栽, 'tray planting'), is a Japanese art form which utilises cultivation techniques to produce small trees in containers, that mimic the shape and scale of full size trees.

I'm obviously not enough from my bonsai, as clearly shown in this post from the Twisted Sifter people

Bonsai Fruit Trees are a Thing and They’re Pretty Adorable (11 Photos)

A recent post on reddit sent me down a wonderful Internet rabbit hole in search of Bonsai fruit trees growing both full-sized and miniature-sized fruit.

People considering a Bonsai fruit tree should know that in the winter the leaves of a fruit tree will fall and the they typically grow much faster. You can find many more tips on growing Bonsai and specific considerations for growing Bonsai fruit trees here.

To see more pictures of Bonsai fruit trees and learn more about the art form, check out Bonsai Empire.

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Ballet movements

2020-08-24T15:05:00.001-07:00

Amazing footage - an overhead view of a humpback whale surfacing through a bait ball of fish. The drone footage was captured off the coast of La Jolla, California by DolphinDoneDom. The first eruption is the best as the whale materialises from the depths.

A bait ball occurs when small schooling fish swarm in a tightly packed spherical formation about a common centre. It is a last-ditch defensive measure adopted by small schooling fish when they are threatened by predators. You can see the birds circling attracted by the bait fish and seemingly not scared off by the whale.

Edward the Emu at Sawyer Park

2020-07-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

An oldie but a goodie, came across the Wimmera Mail Times' recording of the children's story at the 2017 Australia Day celebrations.

The book "Edward the Emu" by Rod Clements was given a twist with a puppet acting out the scenes.

Thanks to Mary for the reading and the girls with the animals.

https://www.mailtimes.com.au/story/4428746/horshams-australia-day-ceremony-in-videos/?cs=240

Time lapse

2020-07-17T05:12:00.001-07:00

A couple of starry nights from Lost Collective
Firstly the Green Cape Lighthouse with its easily recognisable hexagonal tower -'Green Cape Astrolapse'.

And, this one of the Jincumbilly Railway Station

Lost Collective is a project by Brett Patman. Check out some of his other videos and photo galleries.
I also enjoyed the 'To Bourke and back' and the drone footage from 'A Place to call home' and needless to say the abandoned buildings.

Dog-gone

2020-07-10T22:00:00.001-07:00

This optical illusion that appears to be three suns shining down on the earth, is known as a Sundog or Mock sun, formally called a Parhelion (plural parhelia) in meteorology.

It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a bright spot to one or both sides of the sun. It happens when refracted sunlight is reflecting through icy clouds that contain tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.

Isn't nature neat!

Last bus stop

2020-06-20T21:41:00.001-07:00

Here is a postscript to the blog post I did on "Into the wild" and Chris McCandless aka Alex Supertramp, back in 2014.
If you're unaware of the story, check out either Jon Krakauer's book or the movie.

The Supertramp bus

And why a postscript? Because the bus Chris sheltered in has been moved, actually airlifted, (link to UNILAD post of airlift) removed from Denali and placed in a storage facility as authorities decide what to do with it.
Authorities said it had become an infamously popular hiking destination over the years with many of the hikers requiring rescuing, and multiple deaths.

On route, (from Facebook)

Just like Chris' story this has provoked polarising comment, from those who saw trekking into the bus site as a pilgrimage, and those who saw it in that location as a danger to the unprepared.

The safest thing to do - is read the book or watch the movie.

Buckle up

2020-05-26T02:50:00.002-07:00

I still remember this cover from when I read it so many years ago - High Citadel - the first Desmond Bagley I read and gradually I got to read the rest of the 16 thrillers he wrote.
So when I saw 'High citadel' as an eAudio, I thought time to give the story a second glance.
The plot is classic adventure thriller, from the era of Alistair MacLean and Geoffrey Jenkins (who I should probably tap into again too),arch-typical action plot complete with a gritty, tormented hero and his love interest, a gang of foreign villains and a crew of supporting cast member passengers - the dastardly co-pilot, the kindly elderly couple, the drunken brash businessman, the history professor, the old man with a heart problem...you get the idea.
Outnumbered and outgunned, alcohol-soaked worn-out ex-fighter pilot Tim O'Hara must save himself and the lives of his passengers when his aircraft crashes on the side of an Andes mountain range in a fictional South American dictator state. He has to deal with an assorted, eclectic group of characters to survive in the freezing thin air at altitude while attempting to outwit and outplay a squad of communist sympathetic soldiers who have gone to a lot of trouble to attempt to kidnap one of those passengers.

Is it predictable? In places but then there are also the twists that keep you page turning or listening.
Desmond wrote 'High citadel' in 1965, so it's now more than 50 years old, so you need to put aside some of that sixties staging and political thinking. Desmond Bagley loved military history and war games, which is obviously where some of the scenes for the story were conceived.
It and 'Snow tiger' are the most memorable to me. I must have read it in the 80s and now years later I could remember most of the plot.
Well worth the 11.5 hours listening time.