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Newport, Tennessee

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I am about to retire, and came across some photos when I was clearing out a drawer at work. Remember when photos were things you could put in a drawer? These date from a business trip I took in the late nineties to Newport, Tennessee. Myself and a guy we will call Pete were visiting a company called Flura Corporation.  A US businessman had been given a large quantity of a certain perfluorocarbon in lieu of a debt, and he had approached my company about it. This liquid is used as a coolant, and some of it may have been used for the Manhattan Project (not itself radioactive though!). The businessman approached us as we have experience purifying and marketing the compound, but it was felt it would be better if the work was done in the US. Hence, two of us went to see if Flura Corporation had the capability to do the job. Back in the day we had no internet; if you wanted to order a fine chemical, you looked in a catalogue. Aldrich was the big one, but Flura Corporation had thei...
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Crosby Beach

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Crosby is a relatively upmarket suburb of Liverpool, just to the north on the way to Southport. For the purposes of this walk, I parked near Waterloo station (not the one in London), and got the MerseyRail two stops to Hall Road. The station was the site of an accident in 1905 that killed 20 passengers. A local train was reversing here, and had been shunted into a side. An express was following behind, and the signalman was unable to change the point properly, and the express went into the siding too at some speed. The station buildings on the east side are well preserved and have a Blue plaque that remember the event. The station is less than 600 m from the beach, but before we get there, you see Burbo Point Apartment. Apartments were first available to buy in 2008 - for £1.7M. And so we get to the beach. This is the view looking north, towards Formby. It is an excellent beach. - although it looks a bit pebbly here, the vast majority is sand. And unlike nearby Southport, it does not s...
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London Pubs

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While I did sample some of these, the majority I only saw from the outside! The photos were taken over several years, from 2019 to 2026. Corner Pubs The archetypal London pub is on the corner of the block, and three- or four-stories high. The Blue Posts The Botanical Tavern The Cambridge The Cheshire Cheese The Coach Makers Arms The Courtfield The Elephant's Head The Duke of York The Fitzrovia The Fitzroy Tavern The Flying Horse The Flying Horse (an unusual name, so strange it is one of only two repeats here; this one is near Liverpool Street Station) The Glassblower (near Regent's Street) The George The George and Dragon (Shoreditch) The Golden Eagle The Hand and Flower The Hat Tavern The Jack Horner (this pub on Tottenham Court Road had to be one the cormer) The King and Queen The King's Head The Leicester Arms The Marylebone The Masons Arms The Marlborough Head The Marquis Cornwallis The Marquis of Granby The Museum Tavern (near the British Museum) The Nags Head The Nell...
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