ABC WEDNESDAY - B IS FOR BLACKBIRD

My other ABC is The Bay of Angels, Nice, France, which you can find on the new ABC WEDNESDAY

The blackbird above may look like it's singing, bit it's not. One simple reason for this, it's a young female, and female blackbirds don't sing. What she was actually doing was fluffing out her wings and for want of a better word sunbathing. Yes we do occasionally have sunny days here.

Another Manx Cat Myth

This little ditty it seems is authorless. Not exactly a haiku, but certainly sums up another fishy story of how the Manx cat became tailess.

“Noah, sailing o’er the seas,
Ran high and dry on Ararat,
His dog then made a spring,
And took the tail from off a pussy cat,
Puss through the window quick did fly,
And bravely through the waters swam,
Nor ever stopped, till, high and dry,
She landed on the Isle of Man.
Thus tailless puss earned Mona’s thanks.
And ever after was called Manx.”

More myths and legends to follow. Not ust the cat variety either!

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WE'ED WELCOME YOU TO RAMSEY, BUT IT'S JUST GONE TO POT

For those of you expecting one of my ABC posts we now have a brand new blog over at ABC WEDNESDAY. I will be displaying all manner of non related Ramsey pics there, mainly France if you want to stop by there and view the others. Mine is the Arc In the Park, Nice, France.

What can I say. Took a detour down a back alley. Now this is not your city "I'm going to get mugged for my Manolo Blahniks"alleyways, we have perfectly safe ones. We do however have the odd bit of graffiti. Who could resist little beauty!

The plants by the way are just weeds(oh dear I mean wild flowers officer) but I wanted to leave them in the pic just to well amuse me really and to get you to do a double take. Strangely the first part that caught my eye was the wording. Legalize spelt the American way with a z not a s.
Talk about not seeing the big picture! Then perhaps the artistic merit, the tag and the fact it was a statement rather than a question. Note the ! instead of a ?. Someone obviously has made their decision.

Now we don't have major issues with drugs of any sort on the island. There is the odd bust and raid. Boats do get caught at customs. Sure there are many a baby pot plant being green housed somewhere, but as I said it's really a low priority issue for us.

So do you agree with the author of the statement. Does the medical evidence that it eases the pain of certain types of ill health out way the steady decline to using harder drugs, psychosis, and resorting to crime for others. Anonymous answers are fine, if you don't want to name yourself. Understandable for this one.

Well this isn't my most aesthetically pleasing image, but it's going to be one of my most controversial. Hey, you know with this blog, it's always pot luck what you get.

ABC WEDNESDAY - Q IS FOR QUEENS PIER

Queens Pier, Ramsey is a post I've written before, but as it's "Q" I thought I would take the opportunity again to highlight a worthy cause, saving Queens pier.

Commissioned by the Isle of Man Harbour Board and constructed by Head Wrightson & Company, this 2241ft (679m) pier opened on 22nd July 1886 by the Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man. Costing £45,000 Ramsey Queens Pier and originally designed as a landing point for steamers plying the Liverpool, Fleetwood, Belfast and River Clyde routes.

It comprised of a wooden deck over iron piles, and had a small cafe at the far end. A 3ft (900mm) gauge horse-drawn tramway, that was originally used to transport building materials during construction, ran along the centre and was retained for baggage transport. A new wooden landing stage was added in 1899, along with a covered passenger car on the tramway.

The horse-drawn tramway was motorised in 1937 when the locomotive "Planet" was introduced. Modifications were again made to the tramway in 1950 when a "Wickham" rail car was added. Further track alterations in 1956, gave the line an overall length of 2,080ft (631m). 1956 also saw the redevelopment of the pier entrance.

In subsequent years the Pier has fallen into a state of decline, no longer used as landing port, closed to visitors and declared unsafe. The future of Ramsey Queens Pier remains uncertain.

When I did my previous post about the pier work had just got underway to secure and make it a least safe before it fell itno the sea. The work is still continuing, albeit intermittently. Rumours, suggestions and options are still being considered as to renovate or demolish. As I've said before I do hope it's the former. The approach to Ramsey, from Douglas, just wouldn't be the same without it.

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Mrs Nesbitt is the host for ABC Wednesday, where you can find details for joining, her own odd shot to comment on and a list of fellow bloggers who are playing today, who you can also comment on.