A game of thrones

Word of mouth reached our editor that part of this series was being filmed at the foothills of Benevenagh. He instantly dispatched his favourite photographer to try and take a picture in order to illustrate this article.

The poor man arrived at the crossroad to St Canice's church, where he was instantly accosted by a security guard who informed him that not only did the film company own the copyright to the looks of their caravans, they did in fact own the copyright to everything.

As the term 'Everything'  includes all of Benevenagh and the universe that contains it, our poor photographer instantly realised that he was out of a job. So he smashed his camera and went home.

|He had in fact taken a picture, but the editor decided that a company as rude as this one didn't deserve a picture. Hence the photograph above is from last year's shooting of a 'Dracula' film in the Country Park in Limavady. That company had quite rightly told our man that whatever he photographed from a public road was his own affair.

One can't help wondering though if the throne games company has ever thought of going into advertising or being nice to locals!

That wind-farm industrial development in the Binevenagh Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

As was to be expected the decision about this proposed eye-sore has been taken from the planners and is now with the Planning Appeals Commission - who approved another wind-farm near the Windy Hill Road some time ago.

A local group - Binevenagh SOS - was set up to object to these proposals. They have a website at

http://www.binevenaghsos.com

This website gives a lot of information about the proposed development and enables people to send their comments to the Planning Appeals Commission from their front page. We would urge all lovers of our countryside to visit this website.

Above is the view from the Gortmore viewing point - very close to the proposed wind-farm. The new development would  have the highest wind turbines in Northern Ireland. The 125 metre high structures would dominate one of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe.

A silly sign

We haven't had an addition to our famous silly sign collection for quite a while, mainly because over the years we found and published most of them. But here is a new one.

Imagine you were - say - a tourist towing a caravan coming to this town for the first time. You are desperately looking for a car park so that you can stop and spend some money. If you saw the sign on the right of our picture pointing to the North West Regional College (i.e. Derry tech) and a car park, wouldn't you turn left?

After making this decision you would unfortunately end up in a very narrow drive way wondering just how you can get out again - all the while mumbling some not very kind words about the people who erected the sign on this rather premature spot.

A naval work of art

Those of our readers who - like our editor - love naval endeavours of any kind, might like to take a look at this rather strange example of the craft on show in the cultural centre.

Artists these days seem to love modelling totally unseaworthy vessels. Some time ago we had a Broighter Gold craft ready to sink at any time, and now this splendid example of what is bound to become a submarine the moment it is launched.

What next?

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