Ladybank is a village in Fife only a few miles away from Son of the Rock Acres. It’s no longer on the direct road north to Dundee so we don’t often go there.

It does, though, have a 1930s garage, now Ladybank Tyres:-

It’s the stepped roofline that speaks for Deco:-

Apart from the different-sized doors there’s also a nice symmetry to it:-

Last summer we were in Dundee and when walking past the Railway Station I spotted this platform sign. It has ‘Dundee’ in both English and Gaelic. I couldn’t tell you when Gaelic was last spoken in Dundee on a daily basis.

On coming back the other way I noticed that above the entrance to the station the sign has the Gaelic phrase, “Faìlte gu stèisean Dùn Deagh,” under the English, “Welcome to Dundee Station.”

My knowledge of Gaelic is not even hazy so is there a reason for there to be two spellings of ‘Dundee’ in Gaelic, Dùn Dè on the platform, Dùn Deagh on the entrance? Or do they just make it up as they go along?

There was an exhibition from the archives of the Dundee Publisher D C Thomson at Dundee’s McManus Galleries on at the time. D C Thomson were/are publishers of the comics The Beezer, The Topper, The Beano and The Dandy as well as Dundee based newspaper The Courier plus The Sunday Post – which gave us Oor Wullie and The Broons. The gallery was temporarily renamed The McMenace in tribute to The Dandy‘s denizen Dennis the Menace.

Dundee is proud of the D C Thomson legacy. There is a statue of Desperate Dan and his dog in the city centre.

One of the exhibits was this montage of comic characters set against the backdrop of the Galleries:-

D C Thomson’s offices overlooked the playground of Dundee High School. The writers and drawers of The Bash Street Kids apprently took inspiration from the goings-on there!

Comic characters and Dundee High School:-

This impressive monument greets you as soon as you leave Langelinie Pier in Copenhagen, Denmark, the second* stop on our recent Baltic cruise.

The winged female figure of Remembrance (modelled on Nike of Samothrace) is dedicated to those Danish merchant mariners who lost their lives in the First World War.

*(Our first stop was actually in Dundee. For some reason the trip cost £200 less – each – from Newcastle even though the ship was doing exactly the same journey.)

Penguins are a feature of Antarctic life.

Outside Discovery Point Dundee stand four penguin statues. The road is just behind here so not all the Discovery Point Museum building is in shot.

View from Museum. The new Dundee Railway Station building is across the road behind the penguins:-

Watercolour of “Penguins at Cape Crozier” painted by a member of the Discovery Expedition, Edward Wilson:-

The Discovery’s crew even had their own newspaper to keep their spirits up. A bound version is in the Discovery Point Museum:-

As is the ships’s harmonium – also good for keeping up morale I should think. It’s behind glass so difficult to photograph. Its cast iron pedals say “mouse-proof” on them.

Brass struts:-

Salt boxes. The salt absorbed any water that entered between the inner and outer hull and between the frames, so helping preserve the timber:-

Panting beams plaque. These beams go from one side of the ship to the other, preventing the ship’s hull from flexing when under way and helped in resisting crushing by the ice:-

Equipment room:-

Store room:-

Gangway:-

Science cabin:-

Root of main mast:-

Mizzen mast:-

Chart room:-

Office:-

Engines:-

Plaque for the engines’ builders, Gourlay Brothers & Co Ltd:-

Due to the need for hull strength to withstand the crushing forces of the Antarctic ice, the RRS Discovery had no portholes. Instead internal illumination and ventilation were made possible by the use of mushroom vents in the deck. The crew nicknamed these ankle crushers as they presented obstacles to easy movement.

Mushroom vents:-

This deck structure also contains “portholes” pointing skywards:-

Steering wheel and binnacles:-

To the right above you can see the plaques denoting the location of the steering wheel, the binnacles and the ship’s cuddies.

Shipbuilders plaque. Dundee Shipbuilders, Panmure Yard:-

See previous posts on RRS Discovery here and here.

RRS Discovery Wardroom. Fairly sumptuously appointed:-

By contrast here’s the Mess room. The ‘men’ lived and slept here, in hammocks:-

Galley:-

Junior Officer’s Quarters. A grade or so up from the ‘men’ you’ll note:-

These do look reasonably comfortable – but they were apparently the coldest part of the ship and the mattresses could freeze under the sleeping officer:-

Senior Officer’s quarters, a bit less spartan:-

Shackleton’s Quarters weren’t quite so plush:-

Scott’s, though, seem very salubrious:-

High Art Deco (and huge) brass wall panel from an ocean liner. Floor to ceiling in the exhibition space -see wall lighting photo below:-

Art Deco lamp from an ocean liner:-

Wall light:-

The exhibition’s wall lighting was in keeping with the deco feel:-

Ocean liner Art Deco wall decoration:-

The liners catered for all tastes and persuasions. Art Deco Torah Ark:-

For some reason one of the exhibits was a model of a Le Corbusier building. (The Art Deco metal jug behind it surely dripped when used.)