Bridge.

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay!
With your numerous arches and pillars in so grand array
And your central girders, which seem to the eye
To be almost towering to the sky.
The greatest wonder of the day,
And a great beautification of the River Tay,
Most beautiful to be seen,
Near by Dundee and the Magdalen Green.

-- William McGonagall


A triumph of engineering, the Tay Bridge took 6 years and a workforce of 600 men to build, officially opening in May 1878. The work was challenging and extremely dangerous, and at least 20 men died during the construction.

On the evening of December 28, 1879, just some 19 months later, part of the Bridge collapsed during a severe gale as a train passed over it, killing all 75 people on board.

A local man, William McGonagall, wrote 3 poems about the Bridge - one when it was originally built, one when it collapsed, and then another one when it was rebuilt. Unfortunately, these poems earned him the unusual reputation as one of the worst poets in the English language. Now, he's no Rabbie Burns, but that's pretty harsh ... erm, actually maybe not, they are pretty awful.

Well, there was no storm today but after the nonstop snow yesterday, my journey to Perth for today's workshops was pretty treacherous. I took this photo on my return to Dundee, and the pavements by the water were sheets of thick ice. I'm amazed I didn't fall over (I usually do)!

Home now. Feeling under the weather so I'm all cooried in for the night.