A commenter on my flickr account (who calls him/herself Fifeborn 48) has said that this building, which featured at no. 12 in my Kirkcaldy Art Deco series, was Ford dealer Harry K Brown’s show room – the garage was across the other side of the road.

Here again is the photo of the modernised exterior.

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Dysart was once a separate town from Kirkcaldy but now the two run together. Kirkcaldy’s Ravenscraig Park ends just above Dysart Harbour. Its War Memorial has only names from the Great War on it. I assume those from World War 2 are on the main Kirkcaldy one.

There is another memorial in Dysart and that is to the memory of the men who died underground in variuos accidents and disasters at the Frances Colliery.

As you can see from the dates on the section with the names there were many instances of such tragedy.

Two more ships and an old favourite.

This is the cruise ship M S Rotterdam heading out of the River Forth last week en route to Invergordon! Apparently 100,000 cruise passengers dock at Invergordon every year, which is somewhat baffling. One of my work colleagues comes from Invergordon (as often as possible.)

This is the Rotterdam in the Netherlands six years ago (photo from Wikipedia.)

Just off Dysart is the rather rakish from of the cargo ship M S Troms Capella. She’s been hanging around for well over a week.

Here’s our old friend Solitaire from the same vantage point above Dysart harbour that I photographed the Troms Capella.

Behind her stern that’s North Berwick Law on the opposite shore.

For a good few years now a pair of swans has lived on the pond in Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy.

The cob is a vicious so-and-so, he often chases the geese and other birds which inhabit the pond even if they are not in anyway threatening him or in his space. We once saw him try to drown a goose, grabbing its neck and holding it under the water. After a struggle the goose escaped eventually. We have heard that the cob did manage to drown a dog once, though.

Despite his tendencies he and his pen have not produced many successful offspring. Up to this year only one of their cygnets has made it to adulthood.

This year they hatched two. This is them in late springtime.

Here they are against a wider background including leisure boats, some of which are swan shaped pedalos.

This was the family a couple of weeks ago with the cygnets much bigger.

Looks like the parents may be getting the hang of raising their young.

I showed the High Street aspect of this building, the Café Continental, Kirkcaldy, in this post.

At that time this rear side (actually the entrance, off Oswald’s Wynd) was being refurbished.

I feel they could have accentuated the horizontals and the curves by painting them a different colour from the rather drab grey they used for the whole building. As it is they kind of fade into blandness.

You wait all your life to see one pipe-laying ship… and then two appear at once.

Solitaire has been joined by the Audacia. This was the pair of them yesterday afternoon.

Here is the Solitaire foreshortened.

And the Audacia aftshortened. (You can just see the Bass Rock in the background to the right.)

By this morning, when conditions were much hazier, they had swung around.

Here’s a close-up of Audacia from today.

The link to the Audacia above has a cracking picture of her as well as a couple of promo videos!

One of the interesting aspects of living in Kirkcaldy is the ever changing view out to sea. There are usually quite a few ships either at anchor or moving up and down the Forth.

For the last week one in particular has been prominent. Here it was along with another about a week ago.

As you can see the one on the left has a peculiar shape. The good lady remarked that it was the shipping equivalent of a Swiss Army knife what with all the bits hanging off it.

Here is a crop of the above.

The ship is still hanging around and I finally looked it up on a shipping movement website. It turns out it’s the Solitaire, the largest pipe laying vessel in the world.

I don’t know if it’s actually been laying any pipes.

This is a picture from the ships and harbours photos site.

The Olympic Torch passed through Fife yesterday and today.

Not through Kirkcaldy, though.

Even if it had I would not have gone out of my way to see it. I don’t see the Olympics bringing much benefit to this part of the world. I very much doubt that they will do so to London either.

However, a few roads in Dunfermline were closed today. As a result I had half a day off in the afternoon.

Some good came out of it then.

But where are all the voices moaning about how such disruption is damaging to the economy?

Two examples of, at best, very minor deco. Certainly 1930s though. Both are in Balwearie Road, Kirkcaldy, right next to Beveridge Park.

This would look better with the original glazing but unfortunately its eyes have been poked out. The arched doorway has nice detailing.

Note the chimneys and brickwork picked out in dark red on this next one. The garage has had an extension built over it.

The archway above the door is well echoed in the doorside windows.

This is Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, a fine example of Victorian Scots baronial architecture.

I have been inside this building once. Not that I was accused of anything – I was called for jury duty. And there’s a curious tale there.

The details of the charge were read out (I forget now what it was – a minor drugs offence, perhaps) before the jurors were chosen. After the ballot, the successful/unlucky ones were asked if there was any reason why they could not try the case.

One woman stood up and said she couldn’t. On being asked why not she said, “I saw the accused … emmm ….” but did not finish her sentence, though her implication was clearly that she had seen the accused act in a criminal way.

The sheriff did not question her about it but merely told her she could go and another juror was chosen. It obviously had not occurred to him that her reason may not have been valid and that she may just have been trying to avoid jury service.

But a more important thought struck me. Hadn’t what she said possibly prejudiced the jury against the accused?

I don’t know if it did since I didn’t see the outcome of the case as the sheriff immediately then dismissed the other potential jurors. I had not been chosen so I left for home.

The Sheriff Court has a nice setting off the same square as Kirkcaldy Town House.

However, a less cropped picture shows the extension (built in the 1970s?)

What on Earth were they thinking? The two parts do not match at all.

Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court also used to feature in the BBC Scotland comedy series Chewin’ the Fat, though in name only as it was filmed in any likely location.

Here’s one of the clips.

Another extract (less suitable for work) is here. It features a Victorian building which isn’t, though, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.