Venting!

I'm very pleased to report that it was a much quieter night here last night although everyone's still on standby for the time being. As I walked past the Magistrates' Court earlier I saw a posse of press photographers taking pictures of people accused of rioting as they turned up for their initial hearings. I did have a go at 'papping the paparazzi' but in the end I thought the results were far too dull to post here!

So... now for something completely different. Ventilation shafts!

There are 3 tunnels under the Mersey - one rail and two road. The older of the road tunnels is called Queensway and runs between Liverpool and Birkenhead. It was opened in 1934 and for a quarter of a century it could claim, at a relatively modest 3.24km, to be the longest underwater tunnel in the world - a title currently held by the rather more impressive 54km Seikan Tunnel in Japan. It was constructed over 9 years by 1,700 workers, 17 of whom were killed in the process.

The tunnel entrances, toll booths and ventilation shafts were designed by Herbert Rowse and are extremely fine examples of 'Grade II listed' art deco architecture. I never cease to be amazed by the design details on the ventilation building - which is basically just a big chimney when all's said and done! There are bas-relief sculptures and fluting a-go-go and two black basalt figures by Edmund Thompson representing Night and Day, to symbolise that the tunnel is always open. This is a picture of Day.

Apparently, scenes from 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1' were filmed in the tunnel a couple of years ago but I can't tell you any more about this, never having seen the film or read the book!

By the late 60s, traffic flow had become too heavy for the Queensway tunnel to cope with and a second tunnel, the inevitably named Kingsway, running between Liverpool and Wallasey opened in 1971. Sadly, this displays none of the architectural flair of the older tunnel!