Fleetwood Tram Sunday 2015

Last Sunday was the Fleetwood Festival of Transport Tram Sunday. We went down early in the morning to get a look before the crowds got too big.

As it is Tram Sunday, here's the first vehicle we saw. One of Blackpool's current Flexity trams (ugh - light railway rubbish...) There were a couple of the classic trams round the corner. Now known as "heritage" trams, they no longer go up and down Lord Street during the day as all the modern widening of pavements and narrowing of roads to accommodate the raised platforms for the Flexity trams creates bottlenecks of crowded people in the roadway. It also reduces the space available for static displays of buses and classic cars.

The first car we saw was an absolute cracker. A 1962 Volvo P1800 Registration 71 DXC. The registration plates were overlaid by ST 1 plates whilst on display as this car is the original one, purchased for the TV show The Saint and driven by Roger Moore. The car has its own website for anyone interested in its discovery and restoration.

The passenger seat was fully reclined and a woman said to the owner "Oh it's got a bed!" - that Saint you know... his halo has slipped a bit...

A Leyland Tiger PS2/5 with half cab and a Burlingham body built in Blackpool. Made in 1950 and entering service with Ribble Motor Services, it was one of three Tigers purchased in 1960 by Southport Corporation Transport. They converted them to open top bodies for summer service circular tours around the town. It was No.12 in the Southport fleet and was withdrawn in 1985, 11 years after Southport Corporation Transport had been taken over by Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (MPTE). It was subsequently left to deteriorate in Rhyll following some time with a North Wales operator and has only recently been lovingly restored.

The much loved Morris Minor 1000. The Moggy Thou as it was affectionately known was the third model of the Morris Minor in this body shape - the first Morris Minors dated from 1928-1934 which had a totally different body shape. A gap of fourteen years followed before the more familiar shape of the Morris Minor revived the name in 1948. The Series II model came in 1952 when both Morris and Austin were merged into the British Motor Corporation. The Minor then became the recipient of the Austin engine developed for the A30 (see below).

The Minor 1000 was the new model from 1956 and featured a curved glass single pane windscreen and a larger engine. The old-style semaphore indicators were replaced with more modern flashing lamps to front and rear. In 1962 a new model, still called the Minor 1000, had a new instrument layout and toggle switches on the dashboard and the front indicators were now integrated with the front sidelights as in the model shown. The car was produced until 1972 when it was officially replaced by the Morris Marina.

The 1956 Austin A35 was a modification to the A30 which had pretty much the same body shape. The A35 had a larger rear window and semaphore trafficators were replaced by flasher units. It had a painted grill with chrome surround rather than the A30's fully chromed grill. The A30 had been Austin's response to the Morris Minor and was available from 1952 and priced at £62 less than its rival. It had only a single windscreen wiper and sun visor both on the driver's side, but passenger ones could be added as optional extras.

This was included in the programme as a Jaguar Mark 1 (1955-1959). Officially called the Jaguar 2.4 Litre or Jaguar 3.4 Litre depending on the engine size, the "Mark 1" only became so known when the Mark 2 replaced it in 1959. And I'm positive that this is really a Mark 2. It has a Mark 2's sidelights and indicators - the Mark 1 had vertically oblong sidelights where the indicators of this one are situated and the two spotlights would be grills on the Mark 1. The other giveaway is the very narrow nature of the pillars between windscreen and side front windows. The Mark 2 had a massive 18% more glass than the Mark 1 and thus much improved visibility. My brother had one of these for a while. A lovely car to ride in.

This is a bit later! The Ford Cortina MkIV (1976-79) has a certain nostalgia for me as I had one myself, though it turned out to be an ex-taxi and although only three years old when I got it, it was somewhat knackered in the engine department! This was the first Ford to have a top model labelled Ghia and this 1978 example is one such. It disappeared from the roads faster than any other Cortina model. Apart from wide use as a fleet model and taxi both of which uses added mileage quickly, it did tend to rust quite easily! The Mark V which replaced it looked very similar externally but had wrap-around front indicators that could be seen from the side.

Again looking much more like an Alvis TD 21 than the described TC 21 in the programme is this rather spiffy looking convertible with the wire-spoked wheels. The TC 21 had a different body shape altogether, more reminiscent of the 1950 Rolls or Bentley. This looks like a TD 21 Series 1 (1958-61) but has the tiny front sidelights of the car it replaced - the Alvis TC 108G (1955-58) of which only 37 were ever produced.

Back to Roger Moore's secret agent cars! The Lotus Esprit was featured in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977 and turns into a submarine after driving off the end of a jetty to avoid the gunfire of the lovely Naomi, played by Caroline Munro, who is pursuing him in a helicopter. The Esprit was produced from 1976 and the one shown, being an "R" registration is one of the first year of production. Please note that if you have one of these cars, it is inadvisable to test its submarine capabilities by driving it into the sea...

Wooden piped fairground organ. It sounded lovely and chatting to the owner I found it was much more recent than I would have thought, having been built in 1990.

In the days before The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, the name Ford Prefect meant one of these. The name came into being in 1938, though the model shown, the 107E is the last of eight models and the second of those with the new body shape. Previous models had running boards, huge swept wings over the front wheels and a stagecoach style boot. The 107E was in production from 1959-1961. The Prefect was the 4-door saloon and the Anglia was the two-door variant. When the body shape changed in 1953, the old "sit-up-and-beg" Anglia E494A continued in production as the Ford Popular 103E until 1959.

The Mini. Not the current large car that holds that name and is debatedly misrepresenting itself, but the proper 100% wonderful mini Mini! It came out in 1959 and lasted all the way to the Millenium. I had a 1972 model from new which would have been the Mark III. The engine was fitted in sideways, the doors of early models were opened by yanking on a bit of string and it had one of the worst safety records for drivers in a crash as the engine was already almost on your lap before the crash.

It had front and rear subframes in place of a chassis and many cars could be seen running slightly off-skew with the rear wheels following a path to one side or other of the front wheels! But it was a fun and wonderfully nippy car that could be hurled round corners due to the the front wheel drive and it did very well in rally sports. Many were used as police cars and there were so many variants it was almost untrue - the early Austin version was called an Austin Seven and had the "v" turned sideways so it read Austin Se7en, there was the Mini Clubman with an increased crumple zone to address the previously noted safety risk, a Cooper S for the rally drivers, the Wolseley Hornet and Riley Elf versions with a sticky-out boot and somewhat pretentious upright narrow grill as used on the makers' larger models... The Wolseley even had an illuminated badge on the grill.

I had a Morris Mini 850, the smallest engine they came with. I customised it with yellow metalflake over the blue paint and added not two but four cone-shaped sports wing mirrors. It attracted vandals like moths to a flame...

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index

Memorabilia Show November 2014

We had a run out today down to Birmingham to meet up with some friends we've come to know over the years. The Memorabilia Show is run twice a year at Birmingham NEC and also has a slot in London. This year it was teamed with a Comic Con - one of those conventions where a sizeable proportion of the visitors dress in costume. There were super heroes, manga characters, Jedi knights, Tuscan raiders, Jawas and a couple of Princess Leias from Star Wars, a few Jokers, a lot of Harlequins (some quite sexy, some quite gross) and a plethora of Poison Ivys from Batman and er... a couple of Lego men...

There were also lots of Gothic horror characters from the likes of Twilight, Hunger Games and so on. Apart from all the weaponry, there were acres of flesh on display, much of it concentrated on just a minority of people... eeeew! Costumes ranged from slinky, to really authentic looking to... yes, well, there was at least one made of painted corrugated cardboard.

It made for a much more geeky Memorabilia than when it was teamed with a sports theme, but we were there to meet some friends we've made over the years, most of whom were first met at such shows.

Caroline Munro (Career highlights [will follow this approach for all artists below]: The Spy Who Loved Me, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Journey To The Centre of The Earth, Dracula AD72 etc) has been a friend since 1997. We first met at a quite early Memorabilia show, when she was sitting with that other lovely star of the big screen, Ingrid Pitt. I remember her days as a model who appeared regularly in Amateur Photographer and Practical Photography in the late 1960s. Then she won a ten year contract starring in adverts for Lambs Navy Rum.

She was the female lead in Golden Voyage of Sinbad and became the only actress contracted to Hammer Films, appearing in Dracula AD72, I Don't Want To Be Born (aka The Monster) and Captain Kronos, Vampire Killer. She memorably eclipsed Barbara Bach, the female lead in the James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, playing Naomi, the beautiful assistant to the villain Stromberg. She is memorably killed when pursuing Bond and Russian Agent Amasova when her helicopter is blown up by a missile fired from their submerged car-submarine. Her wink at Bond as she flies past him is always included in the top Bond film sexy moments.

We've had the pleasure of showing Caroline some of the better places to eat in Blackpool and whenever I'm in London we try to meet up for a drink and a natter. A nicer person you just couldn't hope to meet.

Martine Beswick (From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde, One Million Years BC, A Bullet For The General, Slave Girls, etc) I met Martine through Caroline and spent a couple of hours one afternoon acting as her minder at a signing. She was one of the fighting gypsy girls in From Russia With Love and met a sticky end as Bond's colleague Paula Caplan in Thunderball. She was the brunette counterpart and main rival to Raquel Welch's blonde in One Million Years BC and was the female Hyde to Ralph Bates' Dr Jeckyll in Hammer's Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde. Few men would disagree that her dance in the Hammer film Slave Girls (aka Prehistoric Women) is something every man should see before he dies...

Carole Ashby (Chariots of Fire, Octopussy, 'Allo 'Allo, Bergerac, Minder, Dr Quinn Medicine Woman etc.) Carole is probably best remembered as Louise of the Communist Resistance in TV's 'Allo 'Allo. She was one of Octopussy's gang of female circus gymnasts. A real character is Carole - she once had me sitting on her knee for some photos with Helene Hunt, one of her colleagues from Octopussy - how could I refuse...? The first time I met her, a sound technician was feeding a mini-microphone up her shirt and out of her neckline. A tough job, but someone has to do it... She's a delight to talk to.

Shane Rimmer (This could take all day even sticking to the highlights: Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Saint, UFO, Rollerball, Space 1999, Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope, The People That Time Forgot, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman, Hanover Street, Secret Army, Superman II, Ghandi, Superman III, Lace, Out of Africa, Whoops Apocalypse, Coronation Street, Lipstick On Your Collar, Batman Begins, etc etc etc...) A modest Canadian with the oh so recogniseable voice - yes! Scott Tracy from Thunderbirds!!! He has an amazing list of 154 credits on the Internet Movie Database going right back to 1957 (remember Hawkeye and the Last of The Mohicans? I didn't mention at least three other James Bond films and he was in just about every TV series in the 1960s including Danger Man, Dr Who, Orlando, The Saint, The Persuaders, The Protectors, Quiller, Hadleigh... - the man is a legend!

He was in The Spy Who Loved Me with Caroline so I got to know him as he was often sat next to her and we'd chat when she got busy with other fans. He was telling me he has even found time to write a book, a thriller called Long Shot. You can buy it as an Kindle book at Amazon.

Now, this lady I hadn't met before. Margaret Nolan aka model Vicki Kennedy is probably best known for playing the masseuse, Dink, in the early stages of Goldfinger. She too has a list of credits as long as your arm, including A Hard Day's Night, Crossroads, Carry On Cowboy, The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery, Witchfinder General, Nearest and Dearest, Carry On Henry, Carry On At Your Convenience, The Persuaders, Steptoe and Son, Carry On Matron, Budgie, Carry On Girls, Carry On Dick etc. Very friendly and the beauty of that 1960s glamour girl is still there shining out!

Fenella Fielding (Carry On Regardless, Doctor In Love, Doctor In Distress, The Avengers (TV), Doctor In Clover, Carry On Screaming, Drop Dead Darling, The Prisoner, Lock Up Your Daughters etc.) The legendary vamp who played up her man-eating image in a couple of Morecambe and Wise TV shows, Fenella Fielding is the only person featured here that I didn't meet through the Memorabilia shows. I first met her at one of Ingrid Pitt's birthday parties-cum-fan club dinners when, to the envy of all other men in the room, I found myself sitting next to her for the night. There was a very glamorous blonde sitting opposite me too - either Ingrid was looking after me or she was trying her best to get Miss Franny sore at me... Anyway I spent the evening acting what I like to call "charming and witty" and what others like to call "like a prat"... I've met Fenella a couple of times since and she always remembers me - hopefully for all the right reasons! Sorry for the awkward pose, there wasn't a gap in the tables at this point and I wouldn't expect a lady to climb over...

Wow... Wish I could write this sort of article every day lol!

Limone, Lake Garda

Monday 20 August. Once again we are up to catch the 9:00am ferry from Riva, sailing down Lake Garda to Limone.

It's the first stop on the ferry's way to Malcesine. We arrive at Limone after 40 minutes of pleasant cruising down the lake and arrive to an almost deserted landing stage. Once the ferry is tied up to the jetty though, people start to appear from where they have been hiding from the sun!

Limone is spectacular in that the sheer cliffs fall almost vertically into the lake. Here tunnels have been blasted through one section of cliff to make a throughway from one side of Limone to the other. Shops occupy caverns within the tunnel.

We make our way through the shops with only a few near monetary losses and have our morning intake of latte machiatto at this cafe bar.

It had some wonderful small octagonal lamps that I had to work into a photograph.

From where we are we have a good view of the lake and watch the ferries come and go whilst we have our drink. The small piazza where we are has a fountain and a small viewpoint with benches.

Then it's back into another row of shops. Fran's purse is jumping in her pocket, desperate to get out and fling money around... She stops to touch a leather jacket - as an ex-leather worker she can't walk past a leather shop without both breathing in deeply and casting a critical eye over every piece. Luckily this time it is just touch and go...

We pass a museum of tourism that looks as though it might be diverting for a few minutes but as I've rushed Miss Franny past the shops, she is not going to be tempted by a museum...

We come to a wide promenade and stroll along enjoying the sunshine that is cranking up the heat and encouraging tiny beads of perspiration to form and roll down my back. I hate it when my hair gets all flat and plastered to my head... well... I seem to remember that I do...

It really is hot. We sit down for a moment with a limonate - a lemonade. Very refreshing. It is decided that I can go in the museum on my own, leaving Fran free to go looking at the shops.

"Take your time..." says Miss Franny, "no need to rush in this heat..." Oh dear... this sounds expensive...

The locally produced drink is limoncello, sometimes called limoncina, a lemon based liqueur packaged in a range of bottles some of which are shaped like the lake as seen from above or on a map.

I go into the museum. It has a few 3D exhibits and a whole host of old photographs, tourism adverts and posters and snippets of history about the lake's past including industries and the ferries. The exhibits include old cash tills, marked in Lira and quite nostalgic for anyone who, like me, has spent part of their working life in a shop. There is a jug and ewer set on a stand, a reminder of hotel rooms (or any bedroom) in the days before running water.

There's a huge book of clippings from when the James Bond film crew descended to film the car chase from Quantum of Solace that opens the film. A few show a crane fishing a rather banged up Aston Martin out of the lake near Torbole… Whoops!

We head back to the landing stage to check on times. The Brescia is approaching. As the engines rev a thick plume of smoke comes from her and we can see that it is passing through the space occupied by passengers. We decide to have lunch and then go back...

The ferry turns to go. You can see the haze of black smoke on her left hand side. Standing in the sun, reading the timetables, we realise why everyone chooses to find some shade rather than queue for the ferries!

And on the way back to Riva, there's a good view of the road tunnels, right at the bottom of the photo. It is through these that Daniel Craig as 007 James Bond, throws his Aston Martin about in a desperate chase and gun battle with the baddies! The tunnels and roads were made by Mussolini's army during the 1930s.

When we get back to Riva, we see that a stage is being set up for a concert. We hear the orchestra whilst we are eating our evening meal in the hotel and as we eagerly arrive at the piazza to catch the end of the concert - they reach it...

We hang about in hope that the orchestra might come back - as no one was starting moving equipment or instruments away. However when they did come back they played the quieter bits of Scheherezade that you just couldn't hear at the back of the square with everyone talking and Italian mothers screaming at children. Ho hum!

Return to Lake Garda 2012 Index

On The Buses

I have never described myself, or even thought of myself as a bus enthusiast. But a few photos went through the scanner recently of a commercial vehicle rally in Blackpool from 1983.

These used to take place every year along the Middle Walk - and still may do these days for all I know. Though the last event I noticed seemed to have lots of modern buses and a drivers' competition and seemed by far more about today's bus companies than about nostalgia and older vehicles.

The above bus, NTF 466, is a 1952 Daimler CVG6 (someone will know what that means...) in the livery of Lancaster City Council. At the time and for a considerable number of years we used to see it regularly on the roads of the Fylde and Wyre districts as it was available for hire.

DGS 625 is a 1951 Leyland Tiger PS1 in the livery of Lonsdale Coaches and with a totally weird angled window across the corner of the half-cab...

Although these photos were taken almost 30 years ago and the vehicles were already over 30 years old themselves at that time, I had no problems at all in finding out the details about them, thanks to lots of interest in bus preservation. Simply by putting the registration number into Google, I found not only all these details but lots more besides.

Whilst I found scores of photos of these vehicles, some from the same event as here, I have to admit I don't get all that excited about knowing the chassis number...

But for the die-hards, here's a shot of a double decker with the bonnet up! NLE 882 is an AEC Regent III from around 1953, fleet No. RT 3775 with London Transport.

These were the real London double deckers and instantly recogniseable. Two at least achieved fame on the silver screen - one being driven to Athens by Cliff Richard in the film Summer Holiday and one being driven under a low bridge by Roger Moore in the James Bond film, Live and Let Die. I know who I'd rather drove me out of the two...

They are made of sterner stuff than the James Bond film would have you believe. Roger Moore, in his book about the filming of his first Bond film, recalls they had already cut the top and put it on runners so that it would immediately zip to the back of the bus and drop off, allowing the lower deck to drive on!

Return to Blackpool Attractions Index Page

Flickr Viewings

For the last few days I've been keeping a record on Facebook of the top scoring photographs from my Flickr collection.

Inevitably on a daily basis this leads to some repetition as my most viewed photos come top on a regular basis. But on those days I choose the No.2 or No.3 photo to feature.

The celebrity photos understandably come high up on the list of most-viewed photos with this one of actresses Carol Hawkins and Sally Geeson being all time top scorer by far. Currently (and this will change in 10 minutes or so) it has been viewed 13,452 times. Carol played Sharon in Please Sir having taken over the role from Penny Spencer. Sally was Sid James' daughter in Bless This House. Both appeared in Carry On films also, notably Carry On Abroad.

All time No.2 currently with 7,319 views is this one of me with Helene Hunt and Carole Ashby, who were both member's of Octopussy's all-girl team in the James Bond film of that name.

I'm actually sitting on Carole's knee here - at her insistance I hasten to add! We'd met a couple of times previously and she has a great sense of humour. She played Communist Resistance girl Louise in TV's 'Allo 'Allo.

Both of these photos were taken at the Memorabilia events at Birmingham's NEC. There's always a number of film and TV people there signing autographs and willing to pose for photos. Just don't expect treatment like this until you've got to know them though! And even then don't expect it!

Here's some of the quirkier photos to crop up in the top 3 ratings this week. The Citroen was found in St Tropez in 2008 and at first I thought it was a surviving 1960s Mini Moke. As seen in TV's The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan. Even the gear stick coming out of the dashboard or the chevrons logo didn't make me twig it was a Citroen based on a 2CV chassis from the 1980s until some kind soul commented on the photo!

Yesterday for some reason the focus was on this shot of Manchester Cathedral from 1998. It was Fran's birthday and we'd gone to Manchester for the day and the shopping got a little much for me so I left Fran and daughter, Gill, to the shopping and wandered round with the camera!

The black granite stone used inside is slightly oppressive I thought. A bit of limestone would have lightened the place up a bit.

Large versions of the photos: Carol and Sally, Helene and Carole, Citroen fun car, Manchester cathedral

Istanbul's Basilica Cistern

Thursday, 19 August 2010. We are back in James Bond territory again.

In From Russia With Love our intrepid hero is taken by Kerim Bey, Head of Station T for Turkey, down into this huge underground water reservoir to spy on the Russian embassy via a submarine periscope hidden behind a mousehole.

In real life the periscope would have to be a very sophisticated version because the Russian embassy is nowhere near this place...

Since 1963 when the film was made the water level has been reduced to a few feet only and a huge amount of silt removed to make the apparent size even more impressive. A walkway has been constructed so that visitors can walk about the vast area without the need to ferry them about in boats as was necessary before.

With the removal of 50,000 tons of silt and mud between 1985 and 1987 two fabulous Roman Medusa head carvings were found to have been used as bases for pillars. The one shown is placed upside down and the other is on its side. There are two possible reasons for this. It was one way of stopping the image of Medusa from turning people into stone. Or placed this way they were just the right height needed to support the pillars...

So here are a few facts from the excellent, if quaintly worded, information pamphlet, seemingly translated from Turkish into English by someone who had little experience of either language, (but probably just showing how lucky I am to have been brought up to speak English instead of having to learn it later). In fact why is everybody else so much better at learning foreign languages than us Brits? Because they have to learn the most complicated language where the same letters have lots of different sounds - ough... ie though, through, bough, enough, cough...

The cistern was built between 527 and 565 AD. Not long after the period in which King Arthur was supposed to be chasing Saxons out of Britain and five centuries before the Normans arrived to show their descendants what it felt like to be invaded. It is 140m long by 70m wide with the roof supported by 336 columns of 9m height arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns. It held 100,000 tonnes of water.

There are some (bloody big!) fish swimming about down there...

In fact, let's finish with my favourite bit from the official information pamphlet and I salute the translator who decided this slightly sinister phrase would tempt us down the 55 steps from street level to see the undoubtedly wondrous place where all those (thankfully absent) rats chased James Bond after he blows up the Russian Embassy. It reads...

"The visitors melt into disappearance when they are here in the cistern to see the Medusa head, in accompany of fish and a smoothing music."

Fantastic!

Return to Ottoman Treasures Index page

The Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Thursday, 19 August 2010. Following our visit to the Blue Mosque we come out of the courtyard through an archway and across the way we see our next port of call.

This is the Hagia Sophia or Sancta Sophia. Not St Sophia. In this case sophia is the phonetic spelling for the Greek word for wisdom. The full name of the church is Church of the Holy Wisdom of God.

We are in James Bond territory. In the 1963 film From Russia With Love this is the church that Bond waits in for Tania, the Russian agent to bring him the plans of the Russian Embassy. A Bulgar agent gets to the plans first, but Spectre assassin, Grant kills him and a bewildered Bond takes the plans from his body.

In the film a Guide points out this huge marble jar to some tourists.

Bond has been waiting for Tania from the dark of the side passages underneath the balcony. There are some low wooden stages with wooden railings and I stepped up on one of those to take photos of the main floorspace. Although they weren't roped off and there were no warning notices this turned out to be against the rules. Unfortunately the official who was trying to get me off was standing behind me and instead of calling out, just kept tapping on the railing. I never even heard him and it wasn't until Fran called out that I turned round.

This is an extremely old and important place. It was first built in 360 AD by the Romans and the foundations of that early building are on display today. This is the third basilica started only a few days after the destruction of its predecessor. This was in the year 532. Until the Basilica of Seville in Spain was built in 1534 it was the largest basilica in the world. Think about that - it was the largest cathedral or basilica in the world for a thousand years! It includes some of the columns from the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World at Ephesus.

The balcony is reached today by what was described as a "spiral staircase" but turned out to be a rectangular spiral ramp that had been designed to allow baggage-laden mules to reach the upper floor. No doubt the Sultans' wives would not trouble themselves to walk either! Here Fran is demonstrating how out of breath she was...

The view from the balcony is well worth the climb. We were told that the scaffolding is permanent. It just moves about a bit. With the successful invasion by Ottoman forces in the year 1453, the church was converted to a mosque.

Images of saints, apostles, and angels were either destroyed of plastered over. The removal of this plaster following the building's subsequent conversion to a museum in 1935 revealed some damage to underlying artwork, which was made worse by damp conditions due to leaks in the roof and rising damp from below.

As a museum the basilica now displays both Christian paintings and Muslim calligraphy.

There are several fine mosaics with gold and precious stones. This one shows the infant Christ held by the Virgin Mary flanked by Emperor Constantine offering a model of the city of Constantinople and Justinian, the builder of the Hagia Sophia, offering a model of the basilica. It was warm. I melted into the shadows at the back of the basilica and kept a careful watch for Bulgar agents and assassins...

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