X Sign

An X in the sky meant when I took this photo one of ABC Wednesday's tricky letters was sorted.  The crossing here is of road, rail and cycle path and the only steam train ever seen is the one painted on the sign as the line is for freight

to the docks. I didn't take any photos of the railway lines because I thought I had some already, which was true, but they are inaccessible at the moment and in the depths of my very poorly old laptop although I do have my memory cards,  which I haven't labeled, xxxx!  

International Nuclear Services Terminal

The rail tracks can just be seen in this photo.  We have had some strange weather patterns this year and the day in May these photos were taken was no exception, sultry, with complete hazy cloud cover,

the lines between sky and water only distinguished by their texture.  The ship is the Oceanic Pintail which makes it sound quite benign but in actual fact it is a carrier of high level radioactive waste so you could say it is x rated.  On its journeys around the world they will turn off the AIS (Automatic Identification System) and if returning via the Suez Canal the canal cameras will be turned off to keep secret its course. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative means that the Plutonium it carries will end up somewhere near the Savannah River in the US. 

'Normal' nuclear waste will trundle up and down the coast to and from the port but on the occasions more exotic nuclear materials are transported then the level of police buzzing up and down the road is usually a pointer to transportation of something potentially more dangerous.   

but not on a quiet November day when the even the rails on this coastal railway seemed autumnal.  

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at X here  

    

ABC Wednesday - Dock

Looks nice enough to be a swimming pool, down the ladder, splash, so cooling on a hot day. Not wishing to dampen any enthusiasm but it is a darkling dock.  This is the old entrance to the Victorian graving dock or dry dock which is now a museum.  If I had pointed my camera the other way and not been mesmerised by all the blue then I could have shown you the building.  I also discovered when I was about to post this that I have never taken any pictures of it, inside or out, a dearth of images, I must declare I'm discombobulated..  So lets not dally here and walk further on round the corner to the home of
a handful of fishing vessels who tie up at this dockside on the Walney Channel.  The letters BW on the side indicate that Barrow is its Port of Registration.

The only other vessel docked on this day, the houses of Walney Island in the distance.  What else denotes a fishing dock, well perhaps

nets and of course

 seagulls, no coastal town is without its Herring Gulls, which despite its name has a catholic diet with some regional variations but essentially an opportunist eater.  Wonder what its got its eye on here.

Drop in at ABC Wednesday where there will be many different posts of words starting with D