Sirharris.com

Hello all. I am now well into my second week of living in Pennsylvania, USA. As you can all imagine, it is radically different from my comfortable little existence in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. What is very similar, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know, is that both places are very enjoyable. At present my time alters between the office and my apartment, as I know you are familiar, there are a thousand things required of you in a move.

Sirharris.com will continue to exist. Once my feet have been found I shall look to bring more features and the usual kinds of posting.

Don't remove me from your bookmarks, there is still life left in me yet.

Once again, I am in the midst of moving internationally. It's my third time now. I have just under two weeks left in the United Kingdom.

My lovely little flat in Leamington Spa is to be no more, transfered to boxes, awaiting my arrival in Pennsylvania. For those I know who are here in England, I'm bidding a goodbye to you for now. For those I'm about to see in the United States, hello. This move will be a permanent one, if that doesn't work with you, consider this a formal invitation to visit - I love (scheduled) visitors.

As a interuption from inactivity, here is something pretty by Samsara entitled Radiant Railway:



I trust you are all taking care of each other.

It's the start of a new week, like a deprived child in my care, I have left you bereft of any thing to stop and stare at for some days now. So I'll spare us all a little of the prerequisite ramble and produce something pretty. Let's have some gorgeous scenery, I know you love that:







The quality is provided by Gogoboy, Fib and MonkeyC respectively.

I want to briefly share a link to a pleasantly thought provoking site I found. I have had sufficient occasional mails and comments from you to know some of you are very much interested in conserving, recycling and budgeting:

It's called: Simple Living America, and will certainly fit most people wherever they reside.

This is the finale of our Seven Modern Wonders - The Panama Canal:

This 48 mile passage cuts in half the Isthmus of Panama, downgrading a 14'000 mile journey around South America into a much more sensible 6'000. The Panama Canal earns it's place in the modern engineering wonders, having completely changed international shipping between the continents of North and South America.

Since the 16th century, man has planned the Panama Canal. The French gave it a very good try in 1880, but ultimately it was the United States that completed the canal in 1914. By the year 2002, 800'000 ships had crossed the canal, equaling around 203 million tonnes of cargo per year.



This image belongs to Jungle Boy and is part of a great series of photos depicting Central America.

View this wonder on Google Maps

We've arrived at the penultimate feat of our Seven Modern Wonders - The Netherlands North Sea Protection Works:

Over one third of The Netherlands is below sea level, therefore protecting against the elements is a predictably mammoth task.

These defences combine 19 miles of dam, completed in 1932, with an immense dike which is just over 90 metres thick. Amidst all this construction is the Eastern Schelde Barrier, two miles of gates hung between huge concrete piers, able to lower forming a wall when storm-waters approach. A testament to both the ingenuity and engineering might of the Dutch.



This work is the product of Coanri and suitably titled Delta Works.

View this wonder on Google Maps