http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/ http://www.eblah.com en http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1226522746/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1226522746/#num1
Generally mounted on the interior waiting area, these also seem to carry notices of their existence.

However...

Wandering along the road outside the bus shelters, I happened to look up at the roofline of a few the other day, and noticed that there also cameras mounted on the exterior as well. As with the interior items, these are mounted in the recessed edge, also behind a tinted window, but with no notices or colouring to draw any attention to their existence - now that I've noticed the existence of one, I'm seeing them on bus shelters all over the place.

They seem to be mounted in pairs, looking in towards one another from the corners, so there's no blind spot between them.

I should have a pic, but never seem to be carrying a camera when I see them!]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:45:46 Apollo http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1226512930/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1226512930/#num1
That may explain the appearance of the little gem pictured below in the main street, where the shops are, and most traffic passes through.

It sits at the top of a fairly high pole, almost 10 metres at a guess, and I couldn't make out the detail of what it actually was without the zoomed pic. The camera is really small, and you can judge it from the screw heads which can be seen on the panels.

It's certainly the first of this design I've come across, and the units below the camera (with its dainty little window wiper) are horn loudspeakers.

In fact, if I do track down the supplier and data on this, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that one is loudspeaker, and the other is a directional microphone, so that suspect sound can be recorded as well as images. England already has them, and the CCTV operators use them to shout at people dropping litter, and there have been complaint about the recording of conversations without people's consent.

]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:02:10 Apollo http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1223855896/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1223855896/#num1
Equally amazing is the record which shows that the original architect and owner are unknown, given that it is considered to be the most impressive of the houses in the area, and breaks all the styling models established by the others.

Burnknowe is a large, asymmetrical, Italian Romanesque 2-storey house with a 3-storey tower/belvedere.

Original pic by Colin Kinnear

]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:58:16 Apollo http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1223416439/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1223416439/#num1
I've been a lock-picker for a few years now, restricted to cylinder types and padlocks due to availability of equipment, although I've covered the theory of lever mechanisms, I have yet to get around to making the appropriate tools. I could do the more exotic types, but the kit is just too expensive if you're not a locksmith getting paid to do fast call-outs.

I'm assuming I could bypass most of these skills if I ever get around to making some bump keys, but for the moment I can't be bothered, and prefer to keep my hand in the "usual" methods.

How easy is it? Well, let me put it this way - once you understand the theory (and if you have the touch), for the type of lock fitted to office desks and filing cabinets, instead of paper clips left lying on desks, you will see handy keys that can be used to unlock most of them.

Imagine my surprise when I came across the following two related sites, and discovered not only were they extremely interesting, and "Right up our street" as it were, but that they were also Scottish, and better still, featured content that related to past event that that I am only a matter of yards (ok, metres in new money) away from:

Safebreaking - a concise History

About safe-blowing]]> Tue, 7 Oct 2008 22:53:59 Apollo http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1221675958/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1221675958/#num1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7619731.stm

]]> Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:25:58 The Fox http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1219002290/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1219002290/#num1
http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/VillageUnknown00

Here are a few extracts from an O.S. 1897, a recent of same and an aerial. It looks like [if I've followed the directions provided] the place quoted in the link above could have been 'Boghead Rows'.







Image 1 - copyright of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland
image  2 - copyright of Ordnance Survey
image  3 - copyright Microsoft Inc.

Use of which we are duly thankful.



]]> Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:44:50 Captain Brittles http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1212521779/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1212521779/#num1 Been working in Lanark the last week or so and took the opportunity tonight to veer off the main road down a country lane to a few miles west of Carluke to see the memorial (thats whats its billed as ) to General William Roy who supervised the survey of his military map of Scotland after the '45 - aka Roy's map - and it seems appropriate that its a trig point wiith a brass plaque embedded in.  The pics were taken by my phone so not great.







multimap link
]]> Tue, 3 Jun 2008 20:36:19 Captain Brittles http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1209404860/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1209404860/#num1
The main building I am curious about was the old Ardrossan Town station building, the old building that closed in the late 60's and was reopened as a builders merchants, NOT the platform with a bus shelter that was constructed after the electrification.

It has always struck me that the building was quite impressive, especially for a smaller town like Ardrossan.  Now I see it has been demolished and replaced with what I can only call a rather characterless modern red brick unit.

Does anyone have any idea why this was done?

By the way, first post here for a while. ]]> Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:47:40 JadeFalcon http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1209339487/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1209339487/#num1
The former hosptial ground are being developed with shiny new luxury flats and townhouses, as 'Belvidere Village', while the traditional tenements across the road are sprouting metal guards over the windows as they empty, and the shops below are progressively deserted.

Tell me I'm not a cynic, but I bet an investigation in the appropriate places would eventually find that the houses in Belvidere Village will be changing hands for a healthy premium in the coming years as the buyers trade them for inflated prices prior to the game, and lease them to fans of, or participants in, the 2014 Shames.

Belvidere doctor's house as was in 1967...



And, as is, as of April 2008 at the back of the new Belvidere Village development...



Oh, as an aside, there's so much water running off the site and washing all sort of pollutants from the building site into the Clyde that ducks can go swimming on the Westhorn road down to the river...

Really, this is a dry road, photographed on a rainless day, as the run-off from the Belvidere Village site makes its way down to the river.



I'm pretty sure it would be a fairly safe bet that there's a rule, regulation, or law that says the contractor is responsible for ensuring that no potential pollutants leave the site without a certificate or similar.]]> Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:38:07 Apollo http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1209305609/ http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/forum/m-1209305609/#num1 Imagine how chuffed I was to come across both in PASTMAP yesterday - and subsequent pages on the WoSAS site - with credit too. Apollo has seen both but here are pics to remind him and links to the WoSAS pages.

WoSAS Site ID 51549



WoSAS Site ID 51550


]]> Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:13:29 Captain Brittles