The Anonymous Widower

Counter-Terror Officers Investigate Ulez Camera Explosion

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.

This is the sub-heading.

Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism officers are investigating an incident where a Ulez camera was blown up using a “low-sophistication improvised explosive device” (IED).

These two paragraphs introduce the story.

The explosion happened at about 18:45 GMT on Wednesday in Sidcup, south-east London, damaging vehicles and property.

The Met has said it is treating the blast as a “deliberate act”, but not terrorism at this stage.

It also appears that the camera had been cut down earlier and then someone blew it up.

I am 76 and I know several of my generation, who experimented with explosives. One, who was an American, blew his hand off.

But speaking to my children, none said they had experimented.

Is it, that my generation was born closer to World War II?

I don’t drive so ULEZs and Low Traffic Neighborhoods don’t bother me, but if some blow-up cameras and deface the signs, they must bother others.

I can’t help feeling that Sadiq Khan is introducing policies, that some violently object to!

I doubt that is a sensible policy, both practically or politically.

December 7, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ripple Rock And The Nova Kakhovka Dam

I am 75 and as an eleven-year-old in 1858, I remember the Canadians blowing up a shipping hazard called Ripple Rock, that was in a sea channel in British Columbia.

The explosion needed 1,270 metric tonnes of explosive and displaced 635,000 metric tons of rock and water. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions.

The mass of the Nova Kakhovka Dam must have been immense, and like Ripple Rock, it must have been destroyed by a very large amount of explosive, placed inside.

Surely, the Russians must have noted if the Ukrainians had sneaked a large amount of explosive inside.

Barnes Wallis would have probably used a ten-tonne Tallboy bomb to have a go at destroying a dam of this size, but you’d need a B-52 to drop it.

Someone should do the maths properly and publish them.

But judging by the pictures and those of Ripple Rock on the Internet, there must have been quite a lot of explosive inside the dam, when it was blown.

Both sides can blame others as much as they want, but I believe an explosives expert can do the maths and identify the criminal.

June 7, 2023 Posted by | World | , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lithuanian Gas Pipeline Hit By Large Explosion

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.

This is the sub heading.

A large blast has hit a gas pipeline in the Pasvalys region of northern Lithuania, near the Latvian border.

This Google Map shows the location of the explosion.

Note.

  1. Country borders are marked as white lines.
  2. The site of the explosion at Pasvalis Vienkiemii, is marked with a red arrow.
  3. Pasvalis Vienkiemii is about a hundred miles from Vilnius.
  4. About a hundred miles to the East of Pasvalis Vienkiemii, is the point, where Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania meet.
  5. Russian territory is about a hundred miles further to the East.

I have experience of the quality of borders in that area.

South-West of Lithuania and lying between that country and Poland, there is the small Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

These pictures show the border between Poland and the Kaliningrad enclave of Russia.

If the borders between Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania are as secure as this, they are almost an open invitation to saboteurs to enter and do damage.

 

January 14, 2023 Posted by | Energy | , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Everybody Loves A Big Explosion

There was only a small protest at the demolition of the cooling towers at Didcot power station, early this morning.

But they were mainly locals asking if they could be blown up at a more user-friendly time than 04:30.

This report and video on the BBC, shows that as explosions go, it was a good one!

July 27, 2014 Posted by | News | , | Leave a comment