DM tells me I’ve photographed this before for my blog, although then it was rusty and manky. It’s got a new lease of life with this fabulous new paintjob. I have to say I don’t remember doing it so I might have to go back and check old posts out and link the pic.

I know that Plymouth’s harbour is mostly a posh people’s playground these days – the number of working boats in the harbour is very small compared to the number of expensive toys (see the line of masts behind the equipment) – but I love the fact that there is still a nod at least to a day when things were being hauled off boats with equipment like this.

Did you know that the South West’s flora and fauna has changed beyond recognition because of the seeds and animals that were contained in ballast on boats that docked here? When the ballast was taken off the boats, the seeds sprouted and the animals found their way into our ecosystem. Equipment like this probably contributed to this phenomenon.

It sits here, looking benign and immovable but once upon a time, it was part of a revolution…now isn’t that something?