Oct 05 2026
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Daily Post, Interior

Minor drain on the economy

Monday 5th October 2026, 2.50pm (day 5,520)

Plant and coins, 5/10/26

I am led to believe that the amount of loose change kicking around under sofas, in forgotten jars and, as here, on window sills is an aspect of the money supply on which economists are obliged to keep at least half an eye. After all, here is around €3.70 in currency which has been exported from the economy of the Eurozone, specifically Luxembourg, and if I forget it’s there the next time I head across the Channel it may never be used again. Have tens of millions of people leaving their loose change around and you are draining capital that might have build a school or two. Though not, of course, as much as your average tax-avoiding billionaire.

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Oct 05 2026
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Garden, produce and resident

Sunday 4th October 2026, 2.05pm (day 5,519)

Ladybird on apple, 4/10/26

One’s things for sure about the weather of 2026: our fruit have loved it. The apples are the last in the series but like everything else, there’s plenty of them and they taste very fine. The ladybird seems content enough, too.

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Oct 04 2026
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Castell Conwy

Saturday 3rd October 2026, 4.30pm (day 5,518)

Castell Conwy, 3/10/26

This magnificent building has featured before, just over 10 years ago in August 2016, when I made my first visit to the town of Conwy and was rather taken with the place. Returning today with Clare for a day out gave me no reason to change my opinion.

The castle really is something, particularly as it’s been officially ruined and unoccupied for half its existence (completed in 1287, it was slighted after the Civil Wars, so has been unused since about 1650). This was no rustic little fortress, but a seat of kings: at the time, one of the most significant construction projects in Europe. Anyone who thinks history is irrelevant is an idiot, as how Edward I treated the conquered Welsh at that time still impacts on British politics today.

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Oct 04 2026
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

Brian

Friday 2nd October 2026, 9.15pm (day 5,517)

Brian, 2/10/26

One of those Fridays that drifts through a day of working at home, then I find myself in the pub as usual, and it’s well into the evening before I start wondering whether I do, or do not, have a decent photo of anything at all. And, it turns out, I don’t. So this one will have to do, as it sums up this gentleman to some extent, and his ‘oldest swinger in town’ demeanour. But classy portrait photography this is not, I admit.

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Oct 02 2026
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Daily Post, Interior

Frame by frame

Thursday 1st October 2026, 4.10pm (day 5,516)

Animation tracks, 1/10/26

Broke off work early today to go to a movie with a 4pm start: this was The Incomer, which was OK I suppose, though the claim on the Picture House’s advertising blurb that it was set in Orkney (this being the main reason I went) was a falsehood. In fact it was filmed in Ireland and in the movie itself the exact location was never mentioned.

There were some animated sequences in the film and, as I sometimes do, I tried capturing shots without much hope of getting anything of much quality, but I like this one, firstly just because of the image but also the technicalities. For what you see here is evidence that the ‘motion’ element of ‘motion picture’ is an illusion. What we actually see on a cinema screen are a large number of still pictures, shown so quickly that our eyes are tricked into seeing movement — and even in the digital age this is still true of animation. But the camera is not fooled.

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Oct 01 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Keencost no more

Wednesday 30th September 2026, 6.10pm (day 5,515)

Keencost closed, 30/9/26

Britain is too crowded to let any really extensive tracts of urban decay persist for too long, but some parts of Bradford city centre definitely qualify as ‘underused’ at the present time, and any bus heading north from the Interchange will pass through them. I guess it’s been a while since one could turn up at Keencost, pay cash, and carry away an entire kitchen. I’m not saying I have a problem with urban decay though — at least not photographically.

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Sep 30 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Set dressing

Tuesday 29th September 2026, 9.20am (day 5,514)

Fake phone boxes, 29/9/26

In the 21st century, even more than wearing hi-vis gear, the status of being in possession of a Filming Permit allows one to infiltrate public space with almost total impunity. The clutch of large and mysterious trucks, the erection of ‘No Waiting’ cones and signs proclaiming the colonisation of the area (in this case, the junction of Pall Mall and Booth Street, Manchester) until some unspecified time on Thursday…. it all cries ‘film set’ to me. The clincher is seen here, though. Clearly the production is of a period piece, 20th century stuff — because no one installs phone boxes like these any more. They’re definitely props — trust me.

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Sep 29 2026
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Dissertation, with waiting insect

Monday 28th September 2026, 3.50pm (day 5,513)

Text with insect, 28/9/26

We both had work to do. Mine involved reading, and eventually giving a grade. The insect perceives the notion of ‘work’ rather differently and would rather be off this slidy glass surface and back somewhere with, I guess, food, or maybe just less light. Our paths coincided for a short instant.

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Sep 28 2026
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Rain on the roses

Sunday 27th September 2026, 4.10pm (day 5,512)

Rain and roses, 27/9/26

Any intimations of drought round here were washed away some time ago, and if there is to be any ‘Indian summer’ this year then it ain’t turned up yet. This Sunday was a day full of showers, including the one pictured here. But it’s probably good for the roses — as is sometimes said. (I assume this is a rose, though I’m hardly one of the world’s great botanists.)

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Sep 27 2026
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Pigeons’ peaceful place

Saturday 26th September 2026, 12.05pm (day 5,511)

I mused the other day that pigeons were one of a few species who I feel do alright out of humanity, and I think that one reason is that we provide them with so many useful little places of settlement. And I pick the word specifically, because these two look very settled to me, able to rest and not worry about some cat or hawk feeling that they’re a possible source of dinner. Home is under a railway bridge, many feet above the road: I only spotted these two because I was on the top deck of a bus. I like the various colours and textures on this shot.

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