I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

On Hanging About In Men's Toilets

I am not the sort of man who spends his time hanging about, Tom Driberg style, in public toilets (honest). And I do not, normally, take pictures in them.

I make an exception though for the beautifully preserved and maintained convenience at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. Three pictures below should suffice:

Anyone who remembers the toilets in Carry on Screaming, where Dan Dan The Lavatory Man meets a watery end, will understand the style here. All roads, and ferries, should lead to Bute!

To read more about the history of what is described as a "jewel in the santiarian's crown" there is an excellent little article on a website called The Coracle.

A Britain without coal?

The picture below is from the Isle of Wight Steam railway. I took it during a visit to the railway sheds earlier this week.

For pretty obvious reasons, heritage railways rely on coal, as that is what steam trains used. The Isle of Wight Steam railway long had a choice, if it wishes to continue operating, between using coal from this country, or using imported stocks from overseas. If the UK completely abolishes any coal production, the only option is to import coal, bringing it thousands of miles by sea, and likely from countries with lower environmental and labour standards than ours.

The examples given here are Kazakhstan or Colombia.

Britain clearly needs coal mines - for energy independence, for heritage facilities like this, and as a reserve fuel whilst other alternatives are developed. The noise of campaign groups like Just Stop Oil should not drown this reality out.