James Clay Stuff

After a week in Sweden, it wasn’t long before I was back in the air. This time I was attending a conference in Thessaloniki in Greece. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece.

I have been to Greece before, visiting Zante and Kefalonia on holidays in the 2000s. However, I had not visited the Greek mainland before.

I was there for five days and the conference included a nice dinner at the Kreonidis Greek Taverna up in the hills following a visit to the Trigonion Tower.

The conference dinner itself was down on the harbourside and the conference finished off with a boat trip in the harbour which included seeing the White Tower of Thessaloniki.

I did see some other parts of Thessaloniki and had some enjoyable walks in the evenings after dinner.

Though September, it was quite hot (for me) with temperatures in the high twenties. I was glad of the air-conditioning in the hotel, the conference venue, and the Metro which opened just two years ago.

Overall it was an excellent conference and I enjoyed my time in Greece.

September 26, 2026

Mysterious Concrete Ring

Last weekend I visited Orford Ness over in Suffolk. What was once a secret military base was sold to the National Trust back in 1993.

I had sailed past the Ness as a child in the 1970s and 1980s, but had never visited there until last weekend.

While I was there I took a bunch of photographs including this one of a mysterious concrete ring in the shingle.

The information boards implied no one was sure what the purpose was.

Then three days later the BBC News published this news item on their site, Mystery of concrete ring ‘solved after 30 years’.

The purpose and function of a mysterious concrete ring at a former military testing site has been uncovered, the National Trust said. The 50m (164ft) ring at Orford Ness, Suffolk, had baffled staff and volunteers at the coastal nature reserve since the trust acquired the site in 1993. However, it said the mystery was solved after researchers Steve Clifton and Olaf Kirchner discovered the ring was part of a radar known as the R-System – designed to detect nuclear explosions and rocket launches during the Cold War.

Coincidence? Of course it was… Or was it…

September 25, 2026

Dumplings #365photos2026

September 24, 2026

Earthworks #365photos2026

September 23, 2026

Then and Now Take Two Once More – Birmingham

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

Next door to the ICC in Birmingham is a canal and there is a bridge across there from Brindley Place, and it would appear quite often when crossing the bridge I would take a photograph down the canal looking towards the what was the NIA (National Indoor Arena) and is now known as the Utilita Arena Birmingham.

Over the years I have taken this view from the bridge over the canal to the ICC quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.

This photograph was taken in September 2026 using an iPhone 17 Pro Max.