Month: April 2010

Ash Cloud – from “Joe”

Ash Cloud Eyjafjallajokull volcano
Screenshot from:

www.radarvirtuel.com/

04/17/2010 – 14:11 PM Iceland time – map of the ash cloud over Europe from the Eyjafjallajokull (nicknamed Joe) volcano eruption. This is the one with all the flight disruptions – notice – only 115 aircraft (the orange one is a Sesna) flying in the ENTIRE of Europe…. to say the least it’s…

Travel Chaos.

I’m still in Sunny, warm, (Day 7!!), High pressure Dublin, where I’ll be working remote temporarily (I hope) and maybe flying home on Wednesday (if the air clears up). That was the soonest flight I could get. Crazy!!

Otherwise, I’ve now decided to reply to the TV each time a Volcanologist is on the news with the hand thrown up and the words “Live Long and Prosper”. Why? because it’s funny. Why? Because I’m a Geek. Why? because only those who know and love Star Trek will get it, and respond with the same back. Mr. Spok, where are you?

Share

My ASH!

I went to Ireland for a few days and have plenty of pictures to process, including ones of Dun Laogahaire (pronounced Dun Leary for the uninitiated), the coast, and the castle hotel I managed to get several days at. I did manage to even DRIVE on the WRONG side of the Road… (no pictures of this) without any drinking involved. (ha ha) It was fabulous – bright, sunny, and well, relaxing as heck. Just up the road from the place I was staying was a place called Victoria Park, where after much walking up the hill, you got a beautiful view of the Irish Sea coast and the surrounding town, including Dublin (cell phone photo):

Irish sea dun laoghaire from killeny oblisk. Note the sun!

Not far off from there I went into Dun Laogahaire proper, and went to the harbour where I got to see a pair of lighthouses – which were built in the 1800’s and walk along the harbor walk in shirt sleeves. I even got a bit of sun – so my cheeks turned pink (cell phone pic):

Dun laoghaire harbour lighthouse. Again- sun in ireland.

I was supposed to go home tomorrow morning. The problem? A big huge Volcano exploded in Iceland and sent lots of volcanic ash into the atmosphere – at between 20,000 and 40,000 feet (cruising altitude). The result? All the flights from ireland are cancelled and I’m stranded.

Oh well.
At least the sun is shining (6 days straight now!) and the ash makes for fabulous sunrises and sunsets, and truly, there ARE worse places to be….

Oh – and just something I thought was cool. 30 years ago, May 18, 1980, I remember Mount St. Helens erupting – and the 1/4 inch ash fall in Georgia. Thing is that I didn’t know I remembered the scent of the Volcanic Ash (very distinctive)- until Thursday night, here in Ireland when a window was opened and I went… yep – that’s the same smell – that’s the underlying scent of Volcanic Ash powder in the air.. Weird the things you remember, eh?

Volcanic sunset in Dublin over half penny bridge.

Volcanic Ash colored Sunset over half penny bridge (upper right) in Dublin.

BTW – if anyone is counting, I’ve now been through Hurricanes, Tornadoes, minor Earthquakes, Floods… and this makes a Volcano ash fall… so – that leaves… meteorite, major earthquake, and tidal wave. 😛 Isn’t travelling fun? (MY ASH it is!)

Share

Abandoned Bärenquell Brewery

Main Barenquell Brewery Building

Bärenquell (pronounced Bear-en-quell) Brewery Originally opened in 1888, and was located in the South East of Berlin, near a district called Schoeneweide. It made a local series of beers all the way through the era of the “Communist East”. The plant complex closed in 1994. This seems to consist of several buildings including Main Brewing Facility – above, Control Room, Warehouses, Inspection, Shipping / Receiving Offices, and Administration. You can see most of the photos below, in the slideshow (click on the “arrows” in the bottom right corner to fit it to your screen).

Now, it sits empty and locked up, behind a series of gates and graffiti covered walls. However, because of it’s close proximity to Neukolln, Berlin, there are many squatters and shady characters that to come and this area, thus making it relatively easy to find a way inside (before you’re asking – there aren’t any “no tresspassing signs” – these are few and far between here). Upon Exploration, the photo group found lots of graffiti, old furniture, old drug use type items, trashed out cars and remnants of thefts of various things. Not bad subjects for a day of photography, if you ask me….

Trashed Sofa


Please check out more of the photo set here – and don’t forget to comment!

Share