utterly random picture thread.
- Yorick
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
Great memories, camping out in the middle of nowhere with my boy back in early spring 2011, first thing in the morning getting the fire going and getting a brew on before we go off to find something for breakfast.


- Taipan
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
The cages – known as mortsafes – were used in Scotland in the early 19th century. to stop grave robbers from stealing corpses for use by medical students and anatomists.
In the 18th and early 19th century, an increasing need for fresh corpses by medical schools fueled a burgeoning trade in bodies. Anatomists and medical students needed a constant supply of fresh bodies to practice on. Legitimate supplies of bodies, such as those of executed criminals, could not keep up with the demand. Enterprising people known as resurrectionists would thus dig up the bodies of the recently interred to supply this market. Because a supply of bodies was seen as vital to the advancement of medical science, authorities tended to turn a blind eye to the activities of the grave robbers. Bodies and body parts became a commodity.
Concerned family and friends of people who had died began to take measures to protect the graves of their loved ones. Mortsafes, invented around 1816, were one such measure. Mortsafes were mainly used in Scotland. The steel cages came in a variety of designs and were intended to make it difficult for grave robbers to get to the bodies. The mortsafes were often left on graves for a few weeks until the bodies they protected were sufficiently decayed so that they were no longer of interest to resurrectionists
By Wonders Of The Past

- Count Steer
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
Burke and Hare got round that problem in Edinburgh. They didn't wait for them to die and be buried - just murdered 'em and sold the bodies to the anatomists!Taipan wrote: Tue May 26, 2026 1:55 pmThe cages – known as mortsafes – were used in Scotland in the early 19th century. to stop grave robbers from stealing corpses for use by medical students and anatomists.
In the 18th and early 19th century, an increasing need for fresh corpses by medical schools fueled a burgeoning trade in bodies. Anatomists and medical students needed a constant supply of fresh bodies to practice on. Legitimate supplies of bodies, such as those of executed criminals, could not keep up with the demand. Enterprising people known as resurrectionists would thus dig up the bodies of the recently interred to supply this market. Because a supply of bodies was seen as vital to the advancement of medical science, authorities tended to turn a blind eye to the activities of the grave robbers. Bodies and body parts became a commodity.
Concerned family and friends of people who had died began to take measures to protect the graves of their loved ones. Mortsafes, invented around 1816, were one such measure. Mortsafes were mainly used in Scotland. The steel cages came in a variety of designs and were intended to make it difficult for grave robbers to get to the bodies. The mortsafes were often left on graves for a few weeks until the bodies they protected were sufficiently decayed so that they were no longer of interest to resurrectionists
By Wonders Of The Past
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The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
- gremlin
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Docca
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Re: utterly random picture thread.



Garden office update: More colour and the Gertrude Jekyll roses I've been trying to grow for two years have burst into life. Bees everywhere
- Rockburner
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
Holy cow, have you opened a florists?Docca wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 9:41 am
Garden office update: More colour and the Gertrude Jekyll roses I've been trying to grow for two years have burst into life. Bees everywhere![]()
non quod, sed quomodo
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Docca
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
Ha!
It's been good for my mental health. Lots of colour and scents
Good to keep busy
It's been good for my mental health. Lots of colour and scents
Good to keep busy
- Taipan
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
The brick spiral staircase inside the tower of the Moot Hall in Maldon (1420 AD), England...
Tucked inside the tower of Maldon’s Moot Hall, this brick spiral staircase has been winding upward since about 1420. It was built during a time when English towns were growing in power and needed durable civic buildings to host courts, markets, and town meetings. The staircase led to upper rooms used for storage, oversight, and sometimes defense, all while taking up as little space as possible.
Unlike grand stone staircases found in castles, this one was constructed from brick, which was still a relatively modern and costly material in medieval England. Each brick was laid by hand, and no two steps are exactly alike. The tight curve and steep rise weren’t just practical; they slowed movement and made the tower easier to control if unrest broke out below.
The wear on the steps tells its own story. Generations of townspeople—magistrates, traders, messengers—climbed these same bricks for more than six centuries.
Medieval brick spirals like this were often self-supporting, meaning the staircase helps hold up the tower itself—an early example of form and structure working as one long before modern engineering formulas existed.

Tucked inside the tower of Maldon’s Moot Hall, this brick spiral staircase has been winding upward since about 1420. It was built during a time when English towns were growing in power and needed durable civic buildings to host courts, markets, and town meetings. The staircase led to upper rooms used for storage, oversight, and sometimes defense, all while taking up as little space as possible.
Unlike grand stone staircases found in castles, this one was constructed from brick, which was still a relatively modern and costly material in medieval England. Each brick was laid by hand, and no two steps are exactly alike. The tight curve and steep rise weren’t just practical; they slowed movement and made the tower easier to control if unrest broke out below.
The wear on the steps tells its own story. Generations of townspeople—magistrates, traders, messengers—climbed these same bricks for more than six centuries.
Medieval brick spirals like this were often self-supporting, meaning the staircase helps hold up the tower itself—an early example of form and structure working as one long before modern engineering formulas existed.

- Taipan
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- Yorick
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
Was a bit nerve wracking waiting to board ferry.
All the other islands have filled it up
5 campers and me waited patiently after other 50 cars boarded.
Obviously space was a premium and they work it carefully.
I was last on and they wouldn't have got another car on.
This ferry is huge.
Just hope they don't expect me to reverse off
All the other islands have filled it up
5 campers and me waited patiently after other 50 cars boarded.
Obviously space was a premium and they work it carefully.
I was last on and they wouldn't have got another car on.
This ferry is huge.
Just hope they don't expect me to reverse off
- Taipan
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- Noggin
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
Recently this warning came up on a detective series I was watching. Ok, seems a bit weird to have to click ok for every episode, but whatever!
At the weekend I started to rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I never watched it religiously so I knew there were some I'd missed!)
How times have changed; I'm certain sure us youngsters needed no warnings before watching Buffy back in the day !!! Kinda weird, although it is pretty gruesome, so probably should have had a warning - it they had existed back then!! Anyone remember watching it originally and seeing a warning about language and violence ??

At the weekend I started to rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I never watched it religiously so I knew there were some I'd missed!)
How times have changed; I'm certain sure us youngsters needed no warnings before watching Buffy back in the day !!! Kinda weird, although it is pretty gruesome, so probably should have had a warning - it they had existed back then!! Anyone remember watching it originally and seeing a warning about language and violence ??

Life is for living. Buy the shoes. Eat the cake. Ride the bikes. Just, ride the bikes!! 
- Taipan
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
The old waxworks heads from the now defunct Louis Toussards at Blackpool!


- Count Steer
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- gremlin
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- Yorick
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Re: utterly random picture thread.
Spotted cool car from Mercedes. Then spotted the serial number
Must be cool (and expensive) to get number 1.
.
Must be cool (and expensive) to get number 1.
.



