Month: June 2014

There was a lot of noise outside yesterday. On investigation, I saw a really strange vehicle coming down Helena Road.

It turned out that they were just starting to resurface the road. We had lots of interesting vehicles so I did a bit of a photo shoot.

The lorries taking the waste were very clever in the way that they kept themselves just ahead of the other machine but also managed to move ahead and back to ensure that the whole of the lorry was filled.

 

Then they needed to clean up the rubble so the sweeper lorry came along.

 

This machine was the one that would lay the new tarmac.

The lorry behind it had to move forward at exactly the right speed to keep the tarmac falling from the back onto the laying machine. Very clever, although I guess that they have done this before 🙂

 

A small road roller ( I missed taking a photo of that) then did its job leaving the surface nice and smooth and compacted. They finished to other part off today and started on the edges. More photos when they come back. They also had men running liquid tar along the edges to seal them.

 

 

It seemed that this was all that they were going to do so I took a shot of the pot holes along the edge of the dock. I do hope that they are going to do these as well.

I showed you the hull moving from the Spirit Yacht facility. I showed you it sitting on its supports ready for a mast etc.

Well, here is Galatea in the water ready for testing.

I am always telling you just how fantastic the woodwork is on these boats. Well just look at these two shots.

I have to have an excuse to put up yet one more sunset!

 

Look at the texture in the grey bits – wierd!

BTW, they Wine Rack – thats the shell of a building that you can see on the left – has been sold. It has been with administrators for a few years since the original builders went bust in to shenanigans of 2007/2008. A local company has bought it and reckons to start building again before the end of the year. I am not convinced!

I took these photos a few days ago but have only just got around to putting them on the blog.

The Wet Dock looks like a busy place, completely taken over with yachts etc. However, there is a lot of life in and around the water. I have often used photos of swans, geese and seagulls. Over the last few days, though, the fish have been very active. We have been watching them jump out of the water quite regularly. However, to get a photo of this activity requires rather more luck then I have been blessed with. Last Sunday was a lovely day – warm and bright. Something in that brought the fish to the surface in their masses. This was taken from our balcony.

 

These are Grey Mullet and they seem to grow quite big. It is not surprising then that they should be food for one of our largest inhabitants. The Wet Dock Seal.

 

We always feel quite privileged when we see him/her swimming around. I just missed a shot of a head raised right up out of the water but this was the next best one that I caught. It is great fun trying to guess where the seal will surface when it dives down. We have sometimes seen it surface with a fish in its mouth. There must be smaller fish because we see cormorants coming up with smaller ones in their mouths but I am not sure what type they might be. Still, it makes for interesting watching. We regard ourselves as extremely lucky to witness such things.

Today is theQueen’s official birthday. It is always commemorated by the Trooping of The Colour at Horse Guards in London. Each year one of the 5 Guards regiments is chosen and one of their companies has their ensign paraded. The Colour being paraded on Horse Guards this year was the flag of Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards.

The BBC has a photo album of today’s event HERE. If I can find any videos of the event I will post them as soon as I can.

This is a really great event. If you love military band music and marching guardsmen, then this should be for you.

Here is a video of the bands marching back from a rehearsal, just to give you a flavour.

http://youtu.be/P7qlEjasGj8.

At the end of the parade, the Queen goes back to Buckingham Palace, comes out onto the balcony and watches the Royal Airforce fly past. The most amazing this is that a lot of the aircraft that take part formate over the sea and then fly in over the top of our apartment block. Yes! Really! I went over to the other side of the wet dock at 11.30 expecting them to appear around 12.00 but after one hour nothing had happened. I assumed that they had taken a different route. The reason I wanted to be over the other side was because it is better to photo aircraft coming towards you than going away. I came back and at 12.45 I heard them. I rushed out onto the balcony and at least got these shots.

We don’t get the helicopters and we don’t get the Battle of Britain group but we do get the rest.  This is the formation that they used this year

 

These are the best I got. I know what to do next year. The first image is of the 2 x HS125 and the E3D

The next is the C17!

Following that we had the Voyager flanked by 3 x Typhoons and 3 x Tornado GR4.

These are the GR4s

Lastly and best of all, we had the Red Arrows – who were putting out white smoke!

There was a family with you boys crab fishing below our balcony. You should have heard then cheer when the Red Arrows came over!

It shows what a grey day it was because all of these images are in full colour! Yes, even the Red Arrows as you can see from this heavily cropped version – just!

Next year I will be in the right place.

I thought that I would give a good review of Suntis’ first time back since the tragedy.

She came in on Monday morning. This time she was to dock at Gasworks Wharf rather than at her normal berth on Eagle Wharf. It seems that Anglo-Norden use Gasworks Wharf once a year purely because they have permission to do so and by using it they establish that right. Hence they do it on a regular basis. It is not as convenient as using Eagle Wharf as Eagle Wharf is directly outside their gates and thus they only have to close the road in front of them between Patteson Rad and Ship Launch Road. When they use Gasworks Wharf, they have to close all the way from their gates right up to and beyond the Aurora Restaurant. As the restaurant is closed on a Monday, provided that they get the job done in one day, then there are no problems. Last year they had two cranes going and the activity was frantic. This year, they only had one and it was more relaxed but it did extend to Tuesday afternoon which left Suntis sitting outside of The Aurora for most of Tuesday evening.

Still this is not my problem. I just tell you what goes on.

Suntis came through the lock in daylight on Monday morning around 8.30.

Simple observations from our balcony lead us to think that there were more crew on board than other times and each member that we saw was in a high-biz jacket and most were wearing safety helmets.

 

We shouldn’t complain about noise or disruption because Anglo-Norden was here before we were so we came knowing that there was a wood yard next door. However, when they unload from Eagle Wharf, the fork lifts go in and out forwards and the journeys are short. When they use Gasworks Wharf, it is a bit different. They have much longer to travel; they crash noisily over the tarmac area outside the yard and they come back from loading in reverse so we get the beep-beep-beep!

I have taken a short video to explain what I mean.

The fork lifts crash quite noisily as the come over the tarmac. It’s a bit quieter when they are on the paving. Still, it is only once a year, we hope, so we can live with it. I only notice as I was here most of the day with the patio doors open in the sunshine.

They finished during the afternoon and Suntis then had to wait until high tide before it could leave. The lock gates were both open just before 10pm and so she did her usual backing out. This is always impressive.

 

I was up at 4.45 this morning. Don’t ask why! I took the opportunity to take a shot of the early morning. The light is really good.

 

The four posts sticking up to the left are part of a “Jack Up Rig”. There are quite regularly brought in to this corner of the port. The company refurbishes them.

We looked out of the window last night and saw this turning in the commercial port. It is the Floragracht, registered in Holland with a dry weight of 12178 tons.

Details can be seen HERE. She had a few tugs fussing round her and the whole thing looked very tight! She is now moored on the north side of the port.

 

 

 

 

We have a family of Canadian Geese outside the apartment block with their three goslings. It was great fun watching them get the goslings into the water. The parents stand there and duck their necks to each gosling, egging it to jump. The last one took quite some time before it went. Firstly, there as some images and at the bottom, a short video.

 

Come on – Jump!

You will never make a good goose if you stand there!

After a few dismal posts, it is time to look outwards again.

We did a trip around the Island last night and got some images of the changes since I last reported.

It was good to be able to get close to the new Sprit Yachts boat that is on stands outside their workshop.

 

I am always supremely impressed with the quality of the woodworking on these boats. The person who has bought this is getting a gem!

I also took some shots of the flats going up on Stoke Quay. They are getting close to completion.

 

As a last little note, the Revenue cutters that used to come into the Wet Dock regularly are now mooring out in the commercial port so we don’t see them up close. This is Valiant arriving yesterday.

 

Lastly, we noticed that Suntis is now underway from Goole so it looks as though the investigations are complete. They must also have shipped some new crew in.  It is now out in the North Sea but it hasn’t declared a destination yet.