Paul O'Toole

@endodoc.bsky.social

263 Followers 503 Following

Came here to get my ProCycling news fix - but you brighten my life in so many other ways. Thanks BlueSky people.

Photo of the south side of the Hurleston tomb made from sandstone and depicting a skeleton with knees slightly bent. He holds the stem of an arrow as if stopping it from piercing the body, or pulling it out of the rib-cage from whence it would have pierced the heart and/or lungs. In his left hand he appears to hold the stem of an acanthus leaf. The sides are decorated with acanthus decorations and the cover has a spiral rope design. On the other side, the skeleton represents his wife. She holds an hour-glass and has an arrow directed towards her pelvis. There is a memorial plaque - added later - that reads: "In this vault lies the body of Elizabeth, wife of Charles Hurleston, of Newton esq., youngest daughter and coheir of Thomas Lander, of Newhall, in the County of Lancaster, esq., by Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Downes, of Shrigley, in the county of Chester. esq.) (She was beautiful) in her Person, Distinct in her Behaviour, Dutiful Daughter in her Observance, And had the (.........) long night, A Happy Mother She dyed the 19th of November 17(27), aged 32."
A bicycle rests against a white wooden gate. To the right is a footpath fingerpost in front of a hedge. Behind lies a field with a small copse of trees in the distance.
Cover of vinyl LP of The Snow Queen read by Cathleen Nesbitt
Photograph of a small cluster of blackberries. Some of them are ripe. In the background is a wooden fence.
Large black iron boiler chamber with doors propped open at each end. This was taken from the Victorian boiler house of the original Royal Liverpool Hospital (1886–92) designed by Alfred Waterhouse. The boiler house was redeveloped to contain part of the impressive modern Energy Centre for the University.
Swiss rider, Marlen Reusser (Movistar) at the finish of the Tour de Suisse after a hard climbing day on Col de Croix. She wears the yellow jersey as leader of the race. She is sitting against a hoarding and pouring water over her head, looking completely exhausted. She took the overall win in style by winning this final stage of the 5 day race.
Photo of a blue and white HGV lorry in the middle lane of a motorway. Chosen because it has my surname emblazoned on it (it's operated by O'Toole Transport - no relation). Picture blatantly stolen without permission from 'Harry's On The Road' Flickr account (sorry Harry!)
Press photo of Juan Pedro Lopez from his Trek Segafredo days - in the pink jersey.
Screenshot of webpage from British Continental announcing that the Tour of Britain Men will start from Lincoln, home of the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. Lincoln is my hometown and it’s always good to have an excuse to go back there
View of the nave of Tewkesbury Abbey taken by my brother with a wide angled lens. Shows the thick columns and roof vaults. Wooden chairs are set out for a service.
Carl Lawrenson interviewing Lauren Dickson on the podium after Lincoln GP cycle race in May 2025. She wears her Handsling Alba jersey (the Scottish team she rode for then) and holds a posy of flowers.
A juvenile blue tit who completely lacks any blue pigment. His belly is yellowish and the feathers that would normally be blue are a very light brown - including his eye stripe. This genetic abnormality is known as leucism. He is sitting on the sunflower seed feeder with ivy in the background. I know he’s a blue tit because I’ve seen his mother feeding him.
Me at the John O’Groats sign with my burgundy Raleigh Royal bicycle at the end of an unsupported, solo charity LEJOG ride - raising money for hospital equipment. I am wearing a yellow hi-vis rain jacket. 28th June 1998
Photograph of very lovely duck-egg blue steel framed road bike from 1974 leaning on a hedge. In front of it is a gate with 3 connected slats that you need to lift up to pass through. This seems to be called a concertina gate stile or sometimes a lift-up gate. Beside this is a footpath fingerpost with traditional black and white striped post. Concertina gate stiles seem to be quite common in Wirral
Oak tree in full leaf photographed from below, showing the texture of the trunk and the bright green canopy
Front-on shot of Lorena Wiebes crossing the finish line on Stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia Women, 3 bike lengths in front of Elisa Balsamo. She was subsequently disqualified for having a bike that was allegedly 20 g too light.
Hollow oak tree in full leaf with a dark opening at the bottom of its trunk. Set beside a footpath on a hillside in Northern Spain. My photo from last Summer.
Luca Vergallito posing with his bike in costume, wearing a wide brimmed hat and black bandit mask.
Portrait of Benjamin Jesty that I came across in Sherborne Museum. Surprised that, despite my medical education, I had never heard of him. He was eventually recognised for his contribution in 1805 but never received the financial rewards that were lavished on Jenner.
Screenshot courtesy of Bondmovies.com
Screenshot from Swift showing rain pelting down
Photo of 2 laundry capsules - each contains 4 comma-shaped compartments with blue, white and purple liquid detergent. The old one on the left is significantly larger than the new one on the right.
Carving depicts a naked male human figure bending to the left so that his upper body is parallel to the floor. With his left hand he is pulling his left buttock to release a fart.
Podium of Lincoln GP
View of the cobbled finish line of the Lincoln Grand Prix International with Lincoln Cathedral in the background.
Church from the outside with my bike propped against it.
Photo of the impressive trunk of a large copper beech tree with some of its typical purple leaves in view. It is set in an area of grass with white cow parsley and a few bluebells. Photo courtesy of my brother at Adept Photography.
The Wirral Stone comprises 3 rectangular blocks of sandstone, each larger than the one before, arranged to create steps, as is often the case for mounting blocks. Around the stones, dandelions are in bloom. An information plaque can be seen to the left and behind is a metal fence. The largest stone bears a benchmark - but its location is slightly wrong on the OS benchmark map and there is no annotation to show its location or height above sea level.
Poster from the 1979 film Breaking Away, directed by Peter Yates. It shows actor Christopher Dennis as Dave Stohler riding fast on a bicycle. He wears a yellow and blue jersey, black shorts and a yellow Campagnolo cap with stripes - worn backwards - and classic knitted half-finger gloves. More importantly, he rides a Masi Gran Criterium in red, with yellow bar tape. Masi were originally built by the legendary builder, Faliero Masi at the Vigorelli Velodrome in Milan, but the bike in the film was produced in California after the company name was bought by an American businessman. Despite this, the Masi tradition continues; there is still a workshop producing classic steel bikes at the velodrome. Saw this film at a local film club and it changed my life.
Headline from this week’s New Scientist reads: “Male octopuses have an arm they mostly use for sex”
Gruesome medieval bench end from St Mary the Virgin church, Gillingham, Dorset. It is carved in dark wood and shows a grotesque head with tongue out, nailed to the chin. This was apparently a punishment for being a scold.
My bicycle rests against the stone wall of a cobbled bridge over the River Dee. Behind it you can see the still water of the river. The far bank is covered with grass with 2 trees just coming into leaf. Beyond that is the tower of Bangor church
View down the nave of St Bavo cathedral showing columns and high vaulted ceiling
Photo of a deciduous woodland in North Dorset, England. In the foreground is a mossy tree root and the whole of the woodland fall is carpeted with bluebells.
Orange and white flag blowing towards the finish line. The KBC 25m marker is seen in foreground.
1970sTV cartoon character Mr Benn peeps into frame. Created and drawn by David McKee. He wears a black lounge suit and bowler hat.
Cartoon of an American politician pointing to a series of x’s drawn across the tip of UAE extending into the Strait of Hormuz. The caption reads: “Why don’t we just bomb a canal through this bit here?”
Memorial Chapel from 1922. Coursed, squared rubble construction with thatched roof, gabled west. Round apse and north transept. Small wooden bellcote. Thatched wooden north porch. Windows are lancets with diamond pattern leaded-lights in graduated triplets to the nave.
Screenshot of Jonas Vingegaard wearing a mutilated pair of bib tights over his cycling jacket and extra arm warmers during Paris-Nice today.
Weathered wooden fingerpost with rather elaborate arrows carved at the end. It sits at the top of a high escarpment with views over Dorset countryside.
The sculpture "Dream" by Jaume Plensa, photographed on a sunny day in Sutton, St Helens, Merseyside. It consists of an elongated white structure 66 feet tall, which has been cast to resemble the head and neck of a young woman with her eyes closed in meditation. The structure is coated in sparkling white Spanish dolomite, as a contrast to the coal which used to be mined in this area.
View of the fan vaulted ceiling of Sherborne Abbey. Construction probably started around 1425. The bosses and panels were painted and gilded after the Victorian restoration in 1856 (Ref: JHP Gibb F.S.A)
Small example of Common Primrose (Primula vulgars) with 5 open white flowers with yellow centres (and one more about to open). Found on a road verge, surrounded by grass, goosegrass and fallen leaves.
A Somerset County Council finger post between Wincanton and Sherborne with 4 directions indicated. It is white with black writing. The filial is pyramid shaped with the letters SCC on it and Somerset is written vertically on the pole. There is a hedge in the background and a tree bough overhead.
3 pink cup-shaped fungi. Two of them are showing bright scarlet colour inside the cup. They are set on a bed of green moss.
Fingerpost at a 3-way junction between Sherborne and Wincanton. It is painted red with white lettering. The map grid reference is displayed on the on the finial (as is the case for all Dorset fingerposts). It's been suggested red posts mark junctions where gallows once stood. One near Bloxworth was used as a way marker for officers taking convicts to the coast for deportation. More likely, they were simply navigation aids for illiterate travellers, or perhaps indicated a junction where you could guarantee to catch a stage coach. Thanks to Terry Yarrow "The Dorset Rambler" for info. https://thedorsetrambler.com/2017/09/14/red-post-distinctively-dorset/
Left panel shows an oil painting by Edvard Munch from 1919 entitled "Self Portrait (in distress)". It features a centrally positioned man, with a troubled face, in the act of putting on his jacket. He is surrounded by a, chaotically arranged, cluttered room. He wears a dark suit with opened-neck white shirt and a scarf hanging loose around his neck. The scene conveys a sense of profound, personal agony. Right hand panel is a photo of Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire racist, watching Manchester United. He is wearing a green/grey sports jacket with pale beige trousers and has a scarf knotted round his neck. He is holding a hot beverage. His hair, beard and facial expression mirror that of Edvard Munch.
Cobbled packhorse bridge over the River Gowy. My (very muddy) titanium road bike is propped against it. In the background is a copse of bare poplar trees against a grey sky.
A leafless, ancient oak on a gently sloping hillside surrounded by green grass. A wooden pole is supporting one of the limbs. Wyndham’s Oak could be 1,000 years old, and at 9.79 metres (in 2018), possesses one of the largest girths of any tree in Dorset. It is said to have marked the boundary between Selwood Forest and the Forest of Gillingham. Also known as the Judge’s Tree, it was named after Judge Hugh Wyndham who purchased the manor of Silton in 1641. He was the Justice of the Common Pleas in the time of Charles II and used to sit within the tree and smoke his pipe to relax and contemplate. Its history takes a darker turn towards the end of the 17th century, when rebels were supposedly hanged from it following the failed Monmouth rebellion of 1685. The current owner of the farm remembers losing a cow, only to find it two days later stuck firmly inside the hollow trunk. ~ Details copied from the Ancient Tree Inventory.
Carlos Alcaraz with dyed blond hair
Screenshot of a search on DuckDuckGo for the most important question during the long dark winter: ‘How many days until Omloop het Nieuwsblad?’ The search assistant has responded with: ‘Sorry, no relevant information was found in our search’
Photograph of a Fresh & Naked “Baby Leaves” salad pack with its contents spilling out. One of the leaves is huge.
Figure from Meng, X et al "Surface optimization governs the local design of physical networks" (2026) 649, 315-322. I've cropped it and flipped it left to right. It shows a lump-like human neuron with branching dendrites extending from it.