It's Mobile Phone madness!

For anybody still out there in the quiet almost deserted backwater of the Blogosophere?! In possibly one the last of my current musings and comments about this mad world and way of life.

Recently whilst on one bus journey travelling into central London, I noticed two 'suicidal' mobile phone users! caught up in their crazy insular mobile phone world - maybe isolated from reality and the real world and its people.

The first one was a man, walking out from the traffic lights, whilst they were still green for the road traffic, towards the front of the bus. Luckily the bus driver was driving slowly, and at the last second, the obsessive phone user looked up from the tiny display screen and noticed the vast bulk of the rapidly approaching bus! then decided to make a quick retreat.

The second incident within minutes, was a woman walking out from the pavement into the traffic, whilst fixated pressing the keys rapidly in succession, and not even noticing the oncoming traffic, with it's potentially fatal consequences for even her mobile phone! This time the bus driver had to give a loud blast on the horn, and must have been feeling just a bit fed up now of pedestrian's antics!
She jumped back suddenly to the side of the road, after being 'snapped out' of the all encompassing mobile phone trance, and decided that she valued her life more than apparently continuing on with texting!

You wouldn't want to argue with a London
double decker bus, would you?




Why do people shut out the real world and other people, whilst using these often annoying electronic gadgets, whilst also irradiating the brain with ultra high frequency penetrating radio waves?

It's also surprising that not many more people are killed and seriously injured on the streets and roads, whilst engrossed with the dreaded phone. Must be luck?!

End of the calm now in the clear blue skies?

On a bright sunny day, today is the first day that almost normal flights have returned over British and European skies. Ironically in the past week of cool clear sunny spring weather; its been since last Thursday  when all flights were stopped, because of a 'pesky' small Southern Icelandic volcano erupting, creating  a possible threat from the high altitude volcanic dust cloud, thinly spreading itself across the airways.  

The damage to aircraft cannot be underestimated, since a search and rescue helicopter which had to go out to an emergency call in Scotland, returned with its engines seriously affected by the fine volcanic ash, and had to be grounded for extensive maintenance repairs.

Interesting to note, that an unusual silence fell across London and the rest of the U.K. skies for days, where even faint birdsong could be heard again! Terminals and roads were empty at the airports, from the usual throng of busy traffic. And aircraft were parked up 'nose to tail' in every available space remaining.

Yesterday morning in a few minutes, I saw the now rare and strange sight of three passenger aircraft at high altitude, vapour trailing as they hurriedly headed west towards the North Atlantic. Whilst all aircraft were grounded at airports in Britain?!

Was there over reaction, to the size of the potential dangerous dust cloud over Europe? Time will tell.











Now the economic recriminations begin; between the airlines, the Meteorological Office, and politicians, about who is responsible for the cost, the delays, and the hundreds of thousands of stranded passengers!
Not forgetting the vast amount of perishable airfreight stuck in cargo warehouses at the airports, rapidly rotting away!

Is this a timely and 'gentle' reminder about the fragility of air travel and our over reliance on it, and taking it for granted?

Amble around 'cheerful' Brompton cemetery!!

Fairly recently, I ended up at Brompton Cemetery, doing some local field research regarding the original history of the Kilmorey Mausoleum.

With the background of Chelsea football ground, and the incongruous sound of the cheering crowds drifting in and out in the distance, on a Saturday afternoon in the quiet of the cemetery; whilst I was on a photographic exploration of the historical grounds. With also a few joggers around me, and some people walking through the park like grounds, taking a short cut through the area.

The Brompton Cemetery was opened in 1840, as an example of the first privately financed and run cemetery in London.
It was also the first to be nationalised soon after, due to financial difficulties! and is still publicly owned today.


Giving the impression of fading away into the infinite distance, of one of the colonnades viewed in the Great Circle.

 The stylised coiled snakes represent entering the dark underworld through the iron gates, and into the eternal circle of life and death.






And into the deathly dark, dusty, forgotten and silent unending world of the catacombs.....


























In the mid 19th Century, the Egyptian style was very fashionable, and was finding its way into Mausoleum design.

This early example called the Courtoy Mausoleum, built in grey granite, and seen crumbling today, was built for the very wealthy and secretive Courtoy sisters, and was regarded as highly controversial in its day. Various rumours were spread around at the time, regarding pagan influences and rites carried out with the structure.

It also has a legend spread around, that it was designed as a time machine by a Victorian eccentric inventor, to allow the interred to travel in different dimensions of time and space!!
Pity that it can't travel in time itself, and repair the large chunk of stone that broke away from the pyramid style roof!

More strange information can be found at this link!

The Mausoleum provided the inspiration for the grander Kilmorey Mausoleum, with no expense spared, constructed in 1854 in Circle 1 originally.
See the Blog website link for the Kilmorey Mausoleum, as it is today.








The Circle 1 as seen today, crammed with more profitable single graves!

Views of 'poor relation' generic kit style Mausoleums, also still around the Brompton Cemetery.

Other ornate monument designs can also be seen.

Another no expense spared Gothic Church/Chapel style Mausoleum still around, built by by the co-founder of Standard Oil, the largest and most powerful oil company of it's day.

A final view of some of the local residents perching on the monuments. A fitting end to an interesting photographic afternoon experience, on a cool windy day!