Mike Riversdale

Perfect preparation Penelope Planner for popping this portal in the problem, perfect placement for a pulsating picture.

The Millennium Bridge over the River Thames in London was famous for being wobbly when it first opened. What I didn't realise was where it went from and to which is awesome.

Photo of an approach to St Paul's from Queen's Head Passage turned black and white, edited to portrait mode extreme, and filtered, I love it.

I'm slowly working my way through the recent London photographs (day 2 if anyone is interested) and I have to apologise that every single one so far has been portrait. I think it's because I love a good old building full of history and wonkiness,  St Bartholomew's Gatehouse is a perfect example: It is a 13th century arch topped by a two-storey Tudor building The name St Bartholomew’s comes from the nearby church St Bartholomew-The-Great, which was formerly an Augustinian Priory, founded by Rahere (d.1134) in 1123 Following the dissolution, Sir Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (1496/7-1567) bought the church and surrounding land in 1546/47, sub-dividing it for housing. In 1595, a Tudor, timber-framed building was added Managed to survive the Great Fire of London in 1666 due to the protection of the priory walls. At some point in the 18th century it was given a Georgian makeover and was used as a shop for two centuries. In 1915 or 1916, a nearby German Zeppelin bomb raid caused ...

It's been a busy old time with new photo collections ("albums") up on this website, so here ya go: Wellington suburb of Berhampore A collection of NZ Paywave surcharges (currently anything from 0% to 3.5%) An ever growing set of AI generated images , just for nostalgia in year to come Flying in, out, and around of Aotearoa NZ I have photos as I fly over the land WOMAD 2024 A brief walk through Newtown Festival 2024 , did you know it attracted 80,000 people! We lost but it was loads of fun in the sun, Black Caps v Australia (Basin Reserve, 2024) An awesomely entertaining time at Meow Meow's Pandemonium in February A couple of another Wellington suburb, Kaiwharawhara A glorious and eye+ opening walk through Trelissick Park Fog, Mist, and Spooky Clouds Here's one that isn't new but is finished: Waitārere Beach Surf Life Saving Club build And one final album that has a tonne more photos: Trelissick Park (Wellington, NZ) As always ALL the photos are available on...

My recent trip to the northern hemisphere kicked off with a week in London with mates. Despite two of us originating from the UK, one an absolute Cockney, all three of us revelled in being the tourists we were, wandering everywhere, taking photos of everything. This particular day, I and the loved up couple were following a route from Joolz Guides most excellent Rather Splendid London Walks Book and 'accidentally' ended up walking through Hatton Garden . Hatton Garden is London's jewellery quarter and the centre of the diamond trade in the United Kingdom. This specialisation grew up in the early 19th century, spreading out from its more ancient centre in nearby Clerkenwell. Today there are nearly 300 businesses here in the jewellery industry and over 90 shops, representing the largest cluster of jewellery retailers in the UK. I claim no influence, however they did go home to Aotearoa New Zealand engaged, just saying 😜 I think it's fair to say Keith knew what woul...

There's many things one can focus upon when researching the history of old buildings in the UK. I'm sure that the majority of the work done at the Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women * was helpful, kind, and ultimately led to better lives for those receiving the treatment. That's not what caught my eye when I read up about it, and why I have edited the photo like this. This dude worked here and likely walked up those very steps on a daily basis: William Walters Sargant (died 1988) was a British psychiatrist who is remembered for the evangelical zeal with which he promoted treatments such as psychosurgery, deep sleep treatment, electroconvulsive therapy and insulin shock therapy. He was able to use the top floor Ward 5, including "the Narcosis Room", within the hospital as he worked at St Thomas' from 1948 to 1972: .. while the amalgamation of St Thomas’ and nearby Royal Waterloo Hospital provided Sargant with a 22-bed ward for his in-patients (this...

Too many monument facts to replicate here so just pop over to Wikipedia and have a read. I will, however, send you off to the 1977 video of John Noakes climbing Nelson Column for Blue Peter  to check out the ladders tied together by ropes, OMG!

My name is Mike, and I'm awesome!

Invisible to all those around it the demon lifted the poisoned arrow and aimed. With one swift movement it fired, smiling behind its fire red eyes, another soul for it's master but not before it had a little tormented fun.

It was cute, old, and full of history, Pickering Place , a small (the smallest) London square just off St James's Street. Wanna know more, here ya go: The courtyard is the covered remains of a garden that existed when houses were first built here in the mid-1660s when the Earl of St Albans secured a lease from King Charles II. It was originally called Stroud’s Court. In 1731, some of the nearby houses and tenements were demolished. By 1734 it was renamed Pickering Court, after William Pickering, and contained the five current dwellings, with his family living at No.5. Pickering was a coffee merchant and son-in-law of Widow Bourne, founder of Berry Bros & Rudd Ltd wine merchants, whose shop still operates on the premises. The passageway from the street still has it's original 18th century wood panelling. The square was renamed Pickering Place in 1810. It is the smallest square in London. The square is Grade II listed. This is the last known place in London where a duel was f...

Not many UK families can convince the populace majority to pay for them to live in luxury, avoid laws, stand around in costumes for them, and build monuments about them.  The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family, now called Windsor  (name changed due to World War I and public relations) is one such family.

I'm not gonna share every damn photo I took of London pubs , maybe a couple more and a few interiors and that'll be it. Probably.

7am. He stood on the platform longing to be in the hotel bed, no man is built for that long in the air. It was late, so very late.

This is, I believe, is the Indonesian volcano of Semeru as seen from a Sydney to Singapore flight  on 19th September, 2023. I just happened to look out the window, cool eh! I have read that it's a fairly active volcano with big puffs every 20-40 mins and it last went boom towards the end of 2023.

The land of giants, dragons, and wonder is just across the waters and well within anyone's reach, you just have to try.

Save yourself dollars and get a Hobbit Jesus AND a shining bird AND Socrates AND Bernadette Soubirous, French hula hoop champion 1864 to 1869. Bargain.

Brian Tamaki* was full of hope for the 2023 general election and spent his ill-gotten gains on posters around the poor / gullible places of Aotearoa New Zealand. Miramar was one of those targeted places and some absolute genius of a person popped the dummy into his poster mouth. * a pretend religious conman in the true evangelical southern states of the USA style. But here. He calls himself a "Bishop", coz fuck it why not.

The Majestic Centre is a relatively old tower in Te Whanganui-a-Tara tāone  opening in 1991, after 4 years of construction , being occupied and open for most of it's 33 years! It's very photogenic, especially at dawn and dusk .

There's nothing like a live show as other human beings show off their talent in front of you. Wicked , the stage show, is fine and dandy. The story is cracking but read the novel , it's much better. The production values and the costumes in the 2023 Wellington version I and a few mates saw was astounding. If I recall though the first half is really long, and the songs are a bit meh.

The framing of my friend in the mirror was pure luck and I've only just noticed it* * as you know none** of my daily photo's are shared on the day they were taken. ** almost, I am catching up with myself.

🎶  I am the god of hell fire, and I bring you: Fire, [doo doo doooo] I'll take you to burn. Fire, [doo doo doooo] I'll take you to learn. I'll see you burn! 🎶

The Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth is a genius idea to utilise an unused plinth to showcase art. Each piece is installed and stays for 2 years before another takes it place. Outside Te Papa there are 4 small plinths that were also unused for a while and a great idea always wants to spread and take root in different places eh. This Pukeko one of four 'origami' pieces, a panda, monkey, and something else, by Ben Pearce was called #PaperPalsAotearoa .

It's becoming a classic piece of graffiti known throughout Wellington. Alongside #InternationalWomensDay , and Spotlight Spider Webs this photo completes my first ever triple, three daily photos taken from the camera roll directly after each other - this makes me smile 😁

Here's to all you wahine!

National Hockey Stadium in Wellington, yes we have one of those.

Inside the Welsh Dragon Bar (Wellington NZ), on the wall near the fire is a series of photographs that many people ignore. A friend of mine (see her show ) was telling of her student days in the mid-1960s and how she was a member of the relatively short lived Pooh Club. A lovely, enthusiastic, and silly club that once clambered upon this very building declaring it an independent state. All terribly silly and absolutely driven by 'high spirits' at the start of university. "Oh, there's a photo of you and the Pooh Club on the wall!", and she had a lot of fun seeing herself sitting on top of the Taj Mahal (as it was nicknamed) alongside other Pooh Club members. Everyone has great delight informing anyone within earshot that, "The Dragon Bar used to be a  toilet." It's true it did, between 1928 and 1964, gaining it's Taj Mahal nickname due to the quirky design. It's now 60 years since the toilets closed down but there will always be someone happ...

Google Pixel 7 Pro |  f /2.2 • 1/1475 • 1.95 mm • ISO47 | Sunday, 20 August 2023 • 3:03 pm | Snapseed, Android 14

The tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one detects an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none. Pareidolia is a type of apophenia. I wallow and thrive with face pareidolia and love it when a face with expression pops out of the environment around me.

Having recently(ish) returned from the UK this a continuation of a short series of " Things I've noticed whilst being in the UK" posts. A couple about food and drink, just silly things I noted down whilst I was in the UK for a few months. UK only does small flat whites, I don't know why. Now, a flat white coffee was invented in New Zealand in the 1980s - don't listen to those pesky Aussies they're just jealous.  And so I'm fairly cognisant with a flat white and how to order one, in fact anyone who knows me is aware that it's, "a large flat white please, thanks so much." But not in the UK, there is no such thing and no-one could tell me why not. Someone did suggest that a large fw would just means it's a latte but, nah. Weird eh, it's just not a thing in the UK, I wonder why this came to be. Meat in shops is v average.  NOT in actual butchers, let me make that very clear, there the meat is excellent. Move away from butchers, as most p...

Bumble dates eh, they can be quite the moment.

I know, it's pathetic that I keep ramming this "joke" down people's throats but here we are yet again . "There's no bath in there!"

2024 here in Aotearoa New Zealand and it is already March 1st, Welsh St David's Day (and the glorious thing about time zones is it will also will be March 1st tomorrow, in Wales ). Hope your 1st March is a happy one for you all and that you are eating leeks, speaking Welsh and singing (just to perpetuate all the myths) to the best of your abilities. Random Acts of Welshness (2022) St David’s Day - the day we celebrate our patron saint and all things Welsh, from the coast and inland . When we remember his famous guiding words: gwnewch y pethau bychain - do the little things . What better way to celebrate than to bring those words to life with an outpouring of hwyl and kindness. Fly the Draig 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wear a leek Cwtsh (also known as a cwtch!) 🤗 Give a spoon Say it in Cymraeg Buy David a pint 🍻 Say it with flowers Wear Welsh Dance 💃🏽 Eat some cheese 🧀 Plant a tree 🌳 Share Welsh cakes 🍪 Visit a castle 🏰 Don your Welsh hat Gwlad, Gwlad! 🎶 Eat a leek  Listen to some m...

There are some glorious house colours around Aro Valley (Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa). This yellow dwelling, amongst the vibrant green plants, definitely caught my eye as I was snapping away.