Yesterday, the outside of the V & A Dundee — today, the inside. Except we’re not in Dundee any more, but it’s Studio 54 in New York, circa 1979, and Grace Jones is doing her inimitable stuff with body paint by Keith Haring. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday morning. (The exhibition is on until January, if you are interested.)
Welcome back to Dundee. The last time it was pictured, on day 1,401 (26/6/15), I was crossing the Tay via the rail bridge, but this is the road bridge that heads for Fife. Plus the impressive V & A Design Museum Dundee, and a seagull enjoying the very fine weather. It looks like we wil be seeing more of this place, at least if all works out — Joe has applied to come to university here, which is why we are checking it out.
And so home again, a 7-hour train journey from Aberdeen to Hebden Bridge. My second return trip up the east coast of Scotland in the last few weeks, so a chance to revisit a theme hit not so long ago, the crossing of the River Tay. The stumps are those of the first Tay bridge which collapsed (due to crappy construction) in a storm shortly after it was built.
Left Dundee this morning after an enjoyable stay. Anyone travelling south from there by rail will begin their journey with a crossing of the Tay Bridge, scene of one of Britain’s worst rail disasters when the original, and poorly-built, version of the bridge collapsed in high winds in 1879, taking a train and 75 people with it. (The only survivor was the locomotive, which was salvaged and remained in service for another 50 years.) Fortunately for us all, the replacement bridge was built rather more durably.
I know this photo teeters on the brink of being deliberately bad but hey, I’m feeling experimental. The rain was sheeting down outside the windows as I crossed on the 0924 Dundee – Edinburgh service, so this is the best I could do. And, of course, this photo is taken from the rail bridge — but it’s a photo of the newer road bridge (completed 1967), with the still-extant shipyard behind.
I am here in Dundee to finish off writing a paper with my colleague Annalisa and this task was undertaken today at her house; and this is the man of said house. The rest of us are just staff. Milo becomes the third cat in a row to feature on this blog where I’ve known its name, after Harry and Mathilda, the last two CCSs (Cheap Cat Shots).
I’m not facing head-on the General Election that is taking place today. In any case nothing will be resolved until tomorrow morning at the very earliest, and probably several days after that if the opinion polls are to be believed. I left home very early this morning because of work commitments in Dundee, Scotland, a city I have never visited before, and this shot of the evening light there (plus the small plane — does it look like a blotch, or does it add to the shot?) makes this only the second Scottish location, after Edinburgh (April last year), to feature on this blog. It may be that the Scottish Nationalists hold the balance of power after today’s voting, so this could be an appropriate location to spend the next few days.
Being 42 