A slideshow of some funny pictures I found on the net

Salvage of the US Airways A320 Airbus

The stricken US Airways A320 that landed in the Hudson River was salvaged in January.

The operation of the lift was hampered by swirling river currents and floating ice around the plane. The lift of the plane, its weight 39,500kg plus the weight of the water, took 8 hours through the night.

Here is a short clip of the lift

Once the lift was completed, the Airbus was loaded onto special road transport trailers and hauled through the streets of New Jersey, as seen on this short clip.

Lake Thun (Switzerland) Region in winter

In late February, Switzerland experienced a last downpour of snow for the winter. No exception in the Region of Beatenberg high above the lake of Thun. Fritz Bieri, a nature photographer captured the following scenes on one of his walks. He has a fabulous web site with lots more pictures of this beautiful place on earth. To visit his web site, click on the link at the bottom of this post.

Lots of snow is putting pressure on the roofs of houses

Driveways to properties have to be cleared

Snow ploughs clear roads to make them drivable

Fritz Bieri's own driveway has to be cleared

Fairy-tale pictures on the Niederhorn mountain above lake Thun

Fairy-tale views on the Niederhorn mountain above lake Thun

Walking through deep snow is difficult but worthwhile

Riding up to the Niederhorn on the early gondolas

offers a great sight, as the snow will not last too

long in the sunshine

One has to be careful with fresh snow, as it could

collapse which could land you much nearer the lake

Fabulous view towards Thun

The trees are carrying a heavy weight

Winter can offer wonderful views

Sled and walkways have been cleared

A descend on a sled is a great experience

And still the snow keeps falling

To visit Fritz Bieri's wonderful web site, 

click here www.beatenbergbilder.ch

Switzerland is Beautiful

Switzerland is a beautiful country with many varied views and sights:

Castle Oberhofen on the Lake of Thun

Federal Square - Bern

Hoher Kasten Mountains Canton Appenzell

Basel on the Rhine with cathedral

Matterhorn Mid Afternoon

Matterhorn an hour later

Castella Canton Ticino

Sunset on Lake Lucerne

Eiger Mönch and Jungfrau Mountains Bernese Oberland

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Rock on the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen

Glacier Express in Canton Graubünden

Rhine Bridge Basel

At the beginning of summer the farmers move their animals up onto the alps where the grass is greener. There they milk the cows and goats every day and make mountain cheese.

Up they go

They stay up there until autumn when they come down laden with lovely cheeses

Madonna del Sasso cloister above Locarno

Kleine Scheidegg under the Eiger north wall

The Jungfrau mountain

'Top of Europe'

More Papua New Guinea from the 60s

I dug up some old black and white  photos I took while working in Papua New Guinea between 1967 and 1970. I was fascinated by the culture of the people up there and went with my cameras to every cultural event possible. I had my own darkroom where I developed black and white photos.

The first lot of picture here were taken in Port Moresby in 1968 at the Cultural Centre. These people performed for the passengers of a cruise ship in the harbour.

Very colourful costumes

My brother-in-law David Speakman was the Deputy Clerk of the House of Assembly (National Parliament) and got me to take some photos of John Guise who was the Speaker of the House.

I was employed as an electrician with Carrier Air Conditioning and in this shot here, supervised a couple of locals in the disassembling of a switchboard in a government building.
Metu and Tommy, two of our nationals who were employed as tradesman's assistants who helped the Electrical department.