I love Italian cafes. One of my favourites is in Bowness-on-Windermere. The Old Pump House nestles by the lake at the southern end of the town, close to the marina.
When Tess the Collie needs a longer walk, I drive us here. We try for a space in the free public parking by the pitch & put then use the ‘chucker’ to throw her ball (permitted) across the small golf course which climbs steeply, to finish looking down on the town. After this – and with Tess sensing what lies ahead – I get pulled down the hill onto the lake shore, with its Italian cafe – the Old Pump House. The staff make a fuss of her and she gets treats, so she always remembers the way!
The success of The Old Pump House is in my opinion, due to the quality of its coffee… and the views from the jetty behind…
The interior walls have a very 1950’s feel about them because of the arty photos. Many of these are reproductions of what at first appear to be 50’s Italian ‘tin plate’ posters for the great coffee served in that lovely and friendly country. Only later do you notice that many of them also carry subtle humour in their wording.
Complementing these are some equally arty and period pictures of classic scooters of the time.
My mother had an Italian scooter in the late 1960s – a Vespa. As a teenager, I would come home from school, put on her helmet and race it up and down the small interior drive of our bungalow – a journey lasting approximately five seconds.
Two seconds accelerating, one second to savour ten miles per hour, then two more to stop before you hit the garage door. I got very good at emergency stops! And the garage door remained (largely) free from dents…
Occasionally, mum would come out to check that I wasn’t lying on the flags, bleeding. But I never had an accident, and it prepared me well for future two-wheeled adventures. It also annoyed the hell out of the odious woman next door.
My love affair with scooters was brief. Soon, I discovered the more stable motorbike, and from my 16th birthday onwards, rode these more powerful steeds. But my admiration for the styling of the scooter never waned.
But back to scooters… Go to any Italian city and you will see them at their best; parked practically anywhere, and seemingly requiring minimal protective gear on the part of their young and stylishly-dressed Italian riders.
My mother was less fortunate. She had two narrow escapes where she ended up sliding across roads on her back with only her helmet and anorak for protection… minus the scooter which would be inserted into some hedge to mark the bend that she’d missed.
Realising she was a terrible driver, she gave up – and we all heaved a sigh of relief… She lived to be 95 years old, finally leaving us this February. Until recently she still joked about her adventures on ‘Jenny’ – her Vespa scooter.
The Old Pump House takes me back to the happiness of those times. It’s nostalgic but with a self-deprecating smile. The world moves on – its walls seem to say – but here there’s a different rhythm.
I hope this little photo-journey ‘took you back’, too!
Ciao Bella ❤️
——-o——-
©️Stephen Tanham, 2025.
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It was blazing hot in Arnside on Friday. I was walking the collie along the shoreline when a flash of red from the road above caught my eye.
The pier steps were nearby, so I coerced a reluctant Tess to come up with me, promising her a treat and a quick return…
I used to have an MGB soft top. It’s throaty twin-carb engine was a delight; in many ways the best and most affordable of British sports cars. I loved it.
I wasn’t sure which model it was. The MGs of the 1940-1950 period were classics with a deliberately old styling – to make you dream of open-topped journeys along country lanes with the girlfriend’s hand resting on your thigh…
I suspect it was a special ‘racing edition’ MGA or MGT. Those in the know kindly advise. All I know is that I wanted to sling my leg over and take it for a spin, which I didn’t, of course.
You can only stare at a car for so long without being rude…
A few more moments and we had to go. One final glance back…
©️Stephen Tanham, 2025
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In a fading sway of notes rehearsed
The music stills like clouds dispersed.
From the empty grass the subtle hiss
Of a gentle breeze with a greener kiss
Accompanies those whose hearts contain
What happened here…
———-
No finer hour – nostalgia ‘brassed’ so well
That warmed the hearts of those who smiled
Young and not so…
Dwellers now, in later years, and by
Whose sides, grand-children’s gentle hold reveals
That aging fingers’ pain is not concealed.
———-
Darker tones yet richer chords play out within
The elders’ smiles: his hand in hers and theirs
Below, where grand-children’s grasp, small and loving
Speaks silently of day well spent… and are content
To snooze in back of car while homeward bound.
———-
Steering safe on quiet roads, his hand seeks hers again.
A single glance. A sense of time entranced.
He looks at her, she holds his stare
Each knows their thoughts are one
From daughter, son, both raised and flown
To these delights who sleep with smiles, behind
———-
A life within vibration; harmony as love
A choir, a band, A fullness of sound.
The longing for a tune enduring
That these, so young
Can ride their growing melody to the future.
———-
©️Stephen Tanham, 2025.
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Continued from Part Two.
With a final look back, we say goodbye to the American Falls. It was worth the trip, alone, but now a deeper resonance calls us round the dark headland that partly obscures the larger Canadian basin.
Our boat now passes close to a dark headland from behind which a far great roaring sound is coming – one that speaks of millions of tons of cascading water being pounded into vapour by gravity.
Once clear of the protective rock, we are saturated by a curtain of cold spray – and stay that way for the rest of the trip. Thank goodness we have the red plastic outfits!
As the new falls come into view, there is a surge of passenger movement towards the front left of the craft. These are very stable boats, and there is no undue effect
One benefit of this is that I get a nice line of deep red with which to contrast the cold blue-green of the water. The photos are enhanced by my lack of visibility … but this soon changes as the ‘vertical shock’ of Niagara’s Canadian Falls comes into focus through the spray!
The tour boat has to take a wide curve around the headland. This propels the boat into the middle of the upper basin which gives us a clear view of uptown Niagara City.
But that view is immediately surpassed as hush falls over the ship and the mist clears. Before us is something the like of which few have seen in their lives.
A giant horseshoes of vertical water roars in front of us. It is curtain-like, but no human hands have ever crafted a curtain like this. Simply put, Lake Eerie is flowing into Lake Ontario.
Our entire horizon is a thick and massive wall of fast-flowing, vertical water. The eye tries to track single points on this torrent, but each changes so fast that it is impossible.
‘Impossible’ is the key sentiment. A seemingly impossible volume of water is thundering from the top to the bottom of our field of vision. The deep sound that goes with this is equally awesome.
We can only stand and stare, registering the ‘impossible’… Perhaps the photos can convey what the words cannot. I focus on a single flow of water to try to convey the proximity of this majesty and photograph it. I hope it conveys what was happening.
All too soon, the boat begins a slow turn to the right, and our eyes are left tracking the majesty that is now fading.
Few lives are unchanged by Niagara. The quietness of the returning passengers says it all.
Once more onshore, our sodden red plastic is deposited in recycling bins and we make our way, quietly, through the wide exit system.
All images by the author.
©️Stephen Tanham, 2025
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Twilight can sometimes be the photographer’s best friend. Although the light levels are poor, you can still take a good ‘mood shot’ if you can jam the camera (iPhone here) against a solid object and let it absorb what it needs.
The presence of an harmonic single colour in the scene – as here with the orange/peachy shed light – can set a contrast that brings everything into harmony.
The harbour, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
©️Stephen Tanham 2025
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You emerge from the metro station, climb a few steps and bang! It’s there, seemingly an illusion because of its size.
But it’s real – and stunning.
Suspended between two large office blocks and connected to their walls, it looks ‘too present’ to be really there…
It’s a brilliant piece of art and architecture.
It was erected in June 2022.
The sculpture weighs around 23,000 kilograms (51,000 lb), spans 30 metres (98 ft) and cost over 5,000,000 Canadian dollars of taxpayer and private money.
The sculpture is heated to prevent snow buildup, and has vibration dampers to prevent damage during high winds and possible earthquakes.
It’s amazing, as is so much of Montreal.
©️Stephen Tanham, 2025. Photos by the author.
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The lower basin of Niagara Falls, from which the water-borne tours originate, can be approached in many ways; some more expensive than others!
Most visitors arrive on foot, being funnelled into the large and streamlined ticketing system, which culminates with the issuing of the ubiquitous red plastic raincoats that are recycled at the end of tbe trip.
Niagara comprises two giant waterfalls. They lie along the border between the two countries, the USA and Canada.
Both are spectacular, but the Canadian falls – the farthest from the ferry point – are curved in a giant half-horseshoe and are simply a ‘bigger experience’.
Both falls are visited by the standard boat tours so there is no need to choose between them.
The American falls are more easily seen from the descending road above, whose foliage often obscures the larger horseshoe of the Canadian falls. This makes the size of the Canadian horseshoe a shock and a surprise when you finally get to them by water.
Now red-suited passengers, we take our places on the tour boat, filling the upper deck. The boat casts off and we enter the perpetual mist that issues from the base of the American falls. Almost immediately, the volume of noise increases and we get a clearer view of the grandeur ahead.
To our left is a giant structure whose fine detail is unclear, as though there were small ‘spikes’ on the upper surfaces. As we get closer, this resolves itself into hundreds of tiny human figures moving up and down a series of viewing platforms.
Minutes later, and closer to the American bank, we look up through the thick mist and see a series of smaller falls with walkways close to the down-flow of water. In other locations each of these would be noteworthy.
The boat makes a slow arc around the base of the falls, then heads back out into deeper waters. The noise changes, and there is an increasing sense of anticipation…
We round a headland and the mist once again thickens. For a few seconds, most of the passengers fall silent, taking in the new vista…
Then…
To be continued.
©️Stephen Tanham 2025
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We couldn’t visit Toronto without taking a trip up the CN (Canadian National) Tower.
It’s now the world’s tenth tallest structure standing on land, and it dominates the view of the city from the shores of Lake Ontario.
When it was constructed, in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world, and remained so for 32 years, finally being overtaken, in 2009, by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Here are a few of the shots taken during our short trip:
Toronto is an amazing city and a busy place!
©️Stephen Tanham, 2025. Photographs taken by and property of the author.
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Passengers cling tightly to the boat’s metal rails. Everyone on board the Niagara Thunder is jammed down the port side of the vessel.
No-one is screaming… the intensity is colossal. We are all too absorbed in the sheer ‘presence’ of millions of gallons of water thundering down in front of us on the Canadian side of the falls, turning the basin of the waterfall into a massive generator of fine water molecules; a spray so fine it seems part of the air, itself.
We see these natural wonders of the world in old films or comic books when we are young. Often, they are lesser when we finally meet them.
Niagara isn’t one of those. In reality, it’s simply enormous…
I’d like to share that experience via photos and a small commentary over the next couple of blog posts.
In reliving it, I’ll be having as much fun as I hope you will reading about it – and looking at the photos.
©️Stephen Tanham 2025
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We’ve finally made it to Canada! After years of wanting to, the presence of my son on a two year contract to Toronto has enabled a week-long trip to this lovely – and very friendly – city.
We feel entirely at home here.
As a special treat, we’re being taken to Niagara Falls, today. Can’t wait!
Lots more photos to follow!
The opening shot was taken yesterday at Oakville, looking along the coast towards a distant and barely visible Toronto, but the great city is there if you look.
©️Stephen Tanham
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Alness: about ten miles north of Inverness on the famous A9 highland road to John O’ Groats and the port of Thurso.
We hadn’t planned to visit Alness but an internet lookup for a decent pharmacy showed it was the closest supermarket town to where we were staying on The Black Isle.
We bought our supplies at the supermarket then parked up and wandered down the small town’s Main Street. At its southern end the road descended quite steeply to a modern bridge over a small river.
Searching for a park to give the collie a run, we stumbled on a beautiful river valley at the southern end of the highland town.
A quick check on the iPhone showed it to be the River Averon, and its woodland course through the brough had been turned into a nature park.
Unusually for this far north, it was a very warm afternoon. I wanted to reflect this ‘sultry’ feeling in the photos. To that effect, I played about with the photo settings, using the best configuration as a template to augment each of the others.
©️Copyright Stephen Tanham 2025.
Stephen Tanham is a writer of blogs and mystically-oriented fiction.
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What secret value do I hold
That this – with dying seconds –
Bestows its once-glory on my eyes
And now on yours…?
—-
What is this act of seeing
That knits the view and viewer new
In such a way and with such love
They were not ever two but twin?
—-
And yet…
—-
And yet kaleidoscope of ‘it’
Mocks egoscope of ‘me’
For being tied to ‘here’
—-
‘It’, never the same, unparalleled
In its newness, laughs at my desire
To fix, as foe, my shifting self.
—-
This dance of eye and I is
Nature’s gift to smooth and soothe
The monkey-mind’s raw peril.
—-
When Self comes calmly knocking
Upon the cracks of it and me
To shatter Life assumed as matter
—-
Then let my arms be love and open
My mind surrender here and there
My heart, awake, stride free and far
Into the after-where…
©️Stephen Tanham 2025
Sun in Gemini 
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