On and around the Galloping Goose

Some of you may have no idea at all what you're getting into here. But isn't that wonderful? A new experience, learning new things, it's all good. I'm pretty sure this is going to be a wildly digressive blog today, so you might want to fasten your seatbelt, ensure your tipple of choice is topped up, and get ready for anything.

I'm going to start with a video I saw last night. It's called "How an 18th Century Sailing Battleship Works", it's 25 minutes long, and it's absolutely riveting. The animation is superb, and the narrator's voice is nice to listen to. It proceeds at a nice pace, starting with the keel, and moving up deck by deck in an orderly way. There's a comment thread with corrections that are respectfully done, and are extremely minor points. Someone really did their homework on this.

I'd read about the age of sail, featuring wooden ships and iron men, and knew some of what went into making and operating this ships, but I'd barely scratched the surface. These are enormously complicated machines, and I have a whole new respect for the people that built and sailed them. 

The video is mostly modelled on HMS Victory. The ship didn't spring into life fully formed; it was built on the evolving knowledge of previous generations of ships. As the needs changed the ship evolved, but eventually became unfit for the purpose as that evolved. It was one of the few ships designated for a new purpose, and eventually became a museum ship.

All too often when things are no longer fit for purpose, and can't be repurposed, they are demolished. It can be sad to see something that people put so much effort into, just go away, and usually be forgotten. The current book I'm reading is about the demise of film photography as a major industry, and how the buildings were so specialized they typically could not be repurposed, and were demolished. Fortunately for us film photographers, film is still being made. 

It's another example of the modern world's imperative to keep up or get run over. At one time Kodak was the bluest of the blue chip companies, synonymous with the film industry. Then they failed to adapt to the emerging digital world, and declared bankruptcy. Like Sears, 50 years from global giant, to bankruptcy.

But it points out that all things have a lifetime. Things are made to be used. Sometimes they are used up in that purpose, sometimes they outlive the purpose. Sometimes they are unknowingly under-built, and fail catastrophically. 

Here's another example, the Galloping Goose Trail. You were wondering when I was going to get to it, weren't you? It started as a railway line between Victoria and Sooke to facilitate cargo transportation. After that became unprofitable, it was bought by the government and turned into a walking, biking, horse riding trail.

I had assumed the trestles were original build, but I'm told that's not the case, that they were entirely rebuilt for the trail purpose, though still sturdy enough to drive a service truck across. However, I'm not able to find actual evidence of that, just that they were repaired. In any case, they're another example of items being created based on earlier designs, and repurposed as required. 

I'm quite sure that just because the bridges look simple, doesn't mean they are. There's probably a lot more that goes into the construction than meets the eye.

It's become one of my rules in life. Everything is more complicated than it first seems.

1. The Sheringham Point lighthouse. Yet another example of something built for a reason; in response to a shipping disaster. Then becoming obsolete, and repurposed. Included here only because we looked at it first, then had a late breakfast or early lunch, depending on how you look at it, at the totally awesome Shirley Delicious Cafe, then we walked some of the Galloping Goose.

2. Near where we started our walk on the Galloping Goose Trail. 

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26. That evening. This is the view from the hot tub on the Airbnb deck, looking essentially straight up. Pity about the neighbour and his UFO landing pad lighting.

Hint, you can see some of the trestles on film here, as well as beach photos.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

Peony

The bee is obvious, but can you find the ant?

Film (new) with itself having an old and new version.

This is one of the first photos taken with my GW690 after minor repairs. Cam and I took the scenic route home from Longview. At the time I was also learning to work with Negative Lap Pro, and ended up with this.

This morning I was looking for my VERO update, which is typically #momo, short for Monochrome Monday. I saw it, and wondered if I could do better at editing. Sure enough.

Film (old)