TWANG!

 

It's interesting to consider the relationship between archery and the English language and surnames.

• Bowman
• Archer
• Fletcher

and

• Going for Gold
• A-quiver
• Straight as an Arrow
• etc.

OK, mildly interesting. To some.

Bonus - 

Oh ... A Flower

 

Technically, possibly just a weed.

But I guess that this weed struggling to flower in the parched scrubland of Ibiza made a pleasant change from spotty teenager acting like idiots on a school trip.

Bonus - 

Phew! What a Scorcher!

 

The traditional British Tabloid headline staple.

Tho' as today is a Bank Holiday, the other staple "Bank Holiday Washout" seems less appropriate. Britain has had it's hottest day in May EVER,

So, today's slide is sort of appropriate. It's been a while since the last School Goes Abroad For Easter Holiday image, and this is from the 1973 Ibiza box. Teenagers lazing on  beach, saving energy for fumblings in the evening.

Bonus - Utterly Pointless

And the band played Happy Birthday

 

Nothing like a bit of improvised truck-bed trad-jazz to enliven the mood.

Incidentally, today is the 62nd birthday for two Olympic Gold Medallists : Liz McColgan and Adrian Moorhouse

Bonus - The Story of Colours

Baby Girl

 

AI guesses 

This image shows a vintage photograph of a child smiling while sitting on a foldable outdoor chair. The style of the white frilled dress and the background setting suggest the photograph was taken in the 1950s or 1960s.

The child is wearing white socks and white shoes, a common children's fashion style for that era. The photo appears to be a personal snapshot or family photograph.

Reality - Yup. Image is from April 1962.

Bonus - 

The Duchess and The Dog

 

It might be nothing, but this set of slides does feature a bunch of slides from Chatsworth House and other Derbyshire attractions.  And some from a Mobile Home on some moorland.

And this lady does have an aristocratic bearing...and does look a bit like Debs, The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire   .

So, I'm NOT saying it is...but .... I have made a career out of being wrong.

Bonus -  Underwater Snow Exists All Over The Globe – And Beyond

( Not ) The Chelsea Flower Show

 

This week may be the Chelsea Flower Show at ...(checks)... Chelsea, but this image doesn't appear to be from there.

So, it COULD be the Saffron Walden Women's Institute's Ornamental Garden...but ...I dunno.

Bonus - https://reformornot.uk

Sky, Sea, Bloke, Sand, Log

 

The only remotely interesting thing about this slide is that the bloke's name is Gaylord.

Maybe.

Bonus - 

Roofless and Awesome

 

This slide is probably of the interior ruins of Tintern Abbey in Monmouthshire, Wales.

• Historic Significance: The abbey was founded in 1131 by Cistercian monks and became a prominent Gothic masterpiece.
• Dissolution: The abbey fell into ruins following the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in the 16th century.
• Cultural Legacy: The ruins inspired famous artistic works, including the 1798 poem "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth.
• Yay for AI

Bonus - America Made Its Most Toxic Lake. Now We Need What's Inside.

Geoff's Defiant Pose

 Remembering his catwalk model training, Geoff struck a pose.

Bonus - 

I wonder where this is...

 

Ah.   Bath.   In the city of Bath.

Nice.

Bonus : BREAKING: Reform UK Candidates Lambast the State of.... Reform UK Candidates

The Mysterious Girl

 

Alas, this was a very under-exposed slide, so getting any sort of image out of it was difficult.

So, why did the photographer keep this one?

There's a clue written on the slide - "1964 Me in Waterlow Park".

We photographers didn't take many self-portraits back in the days of  35mm slides.  Nowadays, with digital images, it's an epidemic.

Bonus - 

The Long Gallery

 

This was an Ektachrome slide that suffered from extreme colour deterioration,  giving it a heavy red cast. So, this images is just the blue component.

According to the slide, this was Parham Park, Sussex and the Long Gallery. Fare enough.

n architecture, a long gallery is a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In Britain, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were normally placed on the highest reception floor — the uppermost level designed for entertaining guests (usually above the hall and other ground floor rooms) — of English country houses, usually running along a side of the house, with windows on one side and at the ends giving views, and doors to other rooms on the other. They served several purposes, and were perhaps especially used by the women of the family. They were used for entertaining guests (probably only the more favoured ones), for taking exercise in the form of walking when the weather was inclement, for displaying art collections, especially portraits of the family and royalty, and acting as a corridor.

Bonus - 

What ARE the doing behind that fence?

 

Today's Tedious Tuesday slide might be more mysterious than tedious.

They might be building a road, but they could be mixing the world biggest pancake mix.

Interesting (-iah.)

Bonus - 

Still Not In Kansas

 

OK, I'm making a leap of logic here - It doesn't LOOK like Kansas, and there are no tornadoes / Totos in sight.

The slide dates from 1987, but it it really a timeless image.

Bonus - Fascinating Tales from The London Dead

I'm Back

 

Dam!

Well, clearly my week away attempting mediate between Trump and Iran was fruitless, so I'm back. And how better to mark that with this mysterious, unlabelled slide.

However ... This is a view of the Hoover Dam, a concrete arch dam located on the border between Arizona and Nevada.The dam, constructed between 1930 and 1936, impounds the Colorado River to form Lake Mead, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world.The structure is 726 feet (221 meters) high and 1,244 feet (379 meters) long, serving purposes such as flood control, hydroelectric power generation, and agricultural irrigation.

Girl with a Spring Bonnet

 

OK. It's probably an Easter Bonnet, but Easter has passed, so.... whatever.

No info on this slide (as usual), so I'm assuming that this is Cathy, from Boston, in 1961. Feel free to correct me.

Bonus - 140 Chickens Die After Wedding DJ Decides To Crank Up The Bass

Bonus 2  - Parish Notice. There may be Radio Silence for a few days. I'll be back.

Not The Wednesday Murder Club

 

I can confirm that these for did NOT inspire Richard Osman's best selling book.

This is more likely the Monday Complain About The Pigeons Club.

Instead, the slide is marked as "Rev and Mrs Floyd at Gillhouse Farm  9-Aug-1968."

That Jacket ... WOW!

 

From the present time, 2026 for those who are time-travelling, there is a temptation to think of the late fifties as a very staid, boring, conformist in fashion, music and opinion. Just wait for the Summer Of Love and Hippies to arrive, that'll shake things up.

And then you see things like this lad's jacket. Yes, it's a tailored jacket work with smart pants, but ... Wow ! That's quite a statement.

Bonus - Hamster Balls

Mozumdar Temple

 

"Mozumdar Temple " - That's what was on the slide, and it was obvious that was in, or near, India.

But it isn't. This, surprisingly, is in California, and it still exists. Mozumdar Temple . Google Streetview

Bonus - 

The Family That Poses Together...

 ...stay together.

A surprisingly modern looking family, tho' this dates from August 1961.

Bonus - 

The Young Mobster and The Young Moll

 

Springtime, and a young mobster's mind turns to guns and dames.

Bonus - A Day in the Life of an Enshittificator

Plaza de Cibeles

 This image captures a moment in time at the Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain, likely during the 1950s or early 1960s based on the vintage vehicles and trams. 

Location: The photo shows the famous plaza where the Cybele Palace (formerly the Palace of Communications) and the Bank of Spain building are located. 

Landmark: In the background, the iconic Metropolis Building is visible at the corner of Calle de Alcalá. Transportation: The scene includes vintage automobiles and a trolley bus/tram, which were common in Madrid during this era.

And now...

Bonus - A Small Typo Actually Helped End WWII — The Amazing Story About A Codebreaker

A Twee Corner of the Garden

 

No info on this slide, but there's something about that grass that looks familiar.

It could be Van Kirk Gardens, in Winnipeg. Postcard here

More Info

Bonus - Jimmy Savile and Elvis Presley, 1960. Info

A Return to High Bank

 

After a stupendous post bag of almost one letter asking for more from High Bank,  I've had a delve into the collection, and turned up ... this.

It was labelled as "High Bank Spring 1966", so ... gasp... one year on from the previous daffodils picture.

Nice.

Still don't know where it is.

Bonus - Nature festival mixed up with nudist event

OK, I thought it might be Egypt.

 

But according to artificial intelligence...

The image shows a panoramic view of the ancient city of Jericho, situated in the Jordan Valley. 

Jericho is widely recognized as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with settlements dating back to approximately 9000 BCE.

The city is famously mentioned in biblical history as the first town attacked by the Israelites under Joshua.  Archaeological excavations have revealed the remains of over 20 successive settlements at the site.

Located in the West Bank, it is positioned near the Jordan River and north of the Dead Sea.

Bonus - Hideki Tojo: The Man Who Started a War, Survived His Own Bullet, and Went to the Gallows with "Remember Pearl Harbor" in His Mouth

An Outbreak of Daffodils

 

April, and we are well into Daffodil Season, so here are the 'dils at High Bank.

Not sure where High Bank is but that's not spoiling my enjoyment.

Bonus - 

Derverlea Products - Trade Show.

 

For decades, if you popped into an English Pub, the walls were adorned by loads of horse brasses, copper pans, copper trumpets, brass salvers, etc. Save with restaurants and guest houses. Proud antiques, from a family's ancestors?

Nope. Manufactured tat. And one of the famous manufacturers was Derverlea Products, of Birmingham. And in this side, we see one of their displays at a trade show in Blackpool in Feb 1970. Shite, the lot of it, IMHO.

Bonus - 

At the end of the Day

 I've always liked this slide, tho' I'm not certain if its good photography or bad photography. The colours suggest evening, tho' it could be sunrise,

Bonus - The Horse Magnifier Game

A Glimpse of the 23rd Century

It looks like a miniature set for a science fiction movie, but it's probably just a high class, high rise hotel with impressive elevators.

In fact, I think it's the Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco.

Bonus - The British Navy Resisted a Decent Lightning Rod for Decades
 

Name That Plane - Number 409

 

Alas, another slide affected by colour drift and slide deterioration.

But, fans of WW1 aircraft may be able to identify this.

And here's a picture of the same aircraft flying more recently....with info on what it is.

Bonus - Grace Jones with Cab Calloway during his 85th birthday celebration in New York

Hey Dad! You could fit a body in here...

 

The lad didn't realise that his dad was a loyal guy in the Stromboli family, and ... I've said too much.

Bonus - 

Thatched !

 

Today's Tedious Tuesday post - is praise for the thatcher.

Not Margaret Thatcher, but the guy who applies rushes and reed to house roofs.

A quintessentially English style of house, tho' you can find examples elsewhere.

Bonus - Fulu Miziki

Cinderella Will Go to the Ball

 

The Slide, as scanned

The slide, with some manual correction of the colour cast

Side, split into Red, Green and Cyan elements. I don't recall which this was.

The manually corrected slide, passed to an online AI service, and told to "Sort IT"  tho with more guidance. Impressive

So at this year's SlideFest (What? You weren't there?) one common question was on how much I edit the slides. Normally, as little as possible. A little correction of contrast levels, or a little straightening. Usually a little cropping (for ....reasons), but nothing dramatic.

But, some old slides, particularly Ektachrome / E6 process slides, can develop a severe colour-cast. And the results can be Yeuch. So, I sometimes correct them, or just extra a single colour element, and use them as monochrome slides. 

But today, I thought I'd show you before and after, and illustrate what Artificial Intelligence can do.