Last day in Manchester, certainly, for 33 days. Off tomorrow, on my most significant journey of 2019. So time for this year’s ‘cherry blossom in the Ellen Wilkinson Building’s secret courtyard’, then. I doubt it’ll still be there when I get back.
Just to show that I am still making occasional appearances on campus and, y’know, doing some work. My colleagues Susanne (left) and Pauline make a point about the concept mapping. I like that they are somewhat disembodied, but you can see that their hands are helping with the thinking time.
I needed to at least try to clear my head, in various ways. Sometimes I think that my project to walk all the Lake District twice has been over-extended, that I’d like to finish it now, or at least earlier than projected (which is some point in 2021). Then I go, and I remember why I go.
I like the walker visible on this shot, just past where the curving path seems to disappear higher up. Gives it a grander sense of scale. The valley is Borrowdale.
This year’s crop of baby leeks emerges from the soil in the seed tray on our window sill. I like this shot because though they each started out as the same configuration — a seed — they have all grown up in slightly different ways, each an individual. They all liked the burst of sunshine that came around 3pm but I hope they drank it in well, because about five minutes of sun was all we got today. The JPG file you are looking at has loaded properly, by the way. The bottom strip is the tray.
There was excitement to the day, but this came courtesy of Brighton & Hove Albion FC coming from 2-0 down with two minutes to go and still go through at Millwall in the FA Cup quarter-final; but the only photographic record of it is a selfie of me looking worryingly manic, so I will spare you that. Not much else to show however; we are clearing out the bedroom (not easy in a house with very limited spare space) in preparation for decorating it, and the unusually empty shelves are the best I can do. The film books still remained to be packed as of this morning, but they’ve gone now. The sheep skulls have not…
The 22 players of Maidenhead United FC (in purple) and Harrogate Town — along with the 1,105 people watching the game they’re about to start — hold an impeccably observed minute’s silence for the 49 victims of terror in New Zealand. May they rest in peace.
Doug visits Hebden Bridge and thus provides an opportunity to get him on the blog for, I think, the fourth time. As usual he wears fewer clothes than any other person would in similar grim weather. Then again he does have a certain amount of natural insulation. Good to see him — as it always is…
This week has seen me perambulating around what feels like half of England. I came home from Derby via Sheffield, partly because that’s how the trains work out but also because I wanted to consult a book in their university library (how terribly scholarly a week it has felt, too). This water feature outside the station always looks quite good, even when it’s not operating. The mirrored wall behind does nice things to the sky.
Work to do tonight in my occasional moonlighting role as a football journalist, seeing me in the press box at Pride Park, Derby, and afterwards, with work to do to make a crap game of football (Derby 0 Stoke 0) sound interesting. As did these other guys, many of whom exuded a sense of ennui about it all. Does it matter that the principal subject of this photo is not reflected in the screen of his own laptop? If so, well, that’s just the way it worked out.
A visit to Hereford today, and its cathedral, mainly to see the very famous and superb Mappa Mundi, or medieval map of the world, created in about 1300. A wonderful object but though I got many photos of the details, none of those would be my own art — so here’s a shot from the adjacent Chained Library. Hereford has long been a seat of learning and with books so valuable in olden times, they were chained to the shelves to prevent theft. We take knowledge and education for granted these days — although if Donald Trump keeps going with present policy, perhaps that will change soon.
