Jul 06 2026
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Daily Post, Interior

Bibliotheca Almae Materis

Monday 6th July 2026, 2.20pm (day 5,429)

“Alma Mater” doesn’t seem to get a translation out of Latin to English, it just comes up the same on Google. “The place where one went to university” is the windier but more colloquial version. It’s been a while since I have been back to the campus of the University of Leeds, which guided yr. humble blogger through two, or was it three, degrees (astonishing!) and then five years of employment (staggering!) between 1993 and 2005. And, yes, I put in my time in the rooms behind the doors to the right of this shot. I like the red lines to top right, which contrast the No Smoking sign and is the only reason I might get away with the latter blemish.

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Jul 06 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

The pipework

Sunday 5th July 2026, 3.40pm (day 5,428)

White Swan drains, 5/7/26

Some Sundays are eventful and interesting days. This was not one of them, although neither was it unpleasant. But photographically there wasn’t much to look at, so 5/7/26 will have to be marked by a study of drainage. Important stuff, though — you try living without it for a while.

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Jul 05 2026
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Daily Post, Interior

Collection point

Saturday 4th July 2026, 1.15pm (day 5,427)

Wrexham Wetherspoons, 4/7/26

Having celebrated Hebden’s attractive qualities yesterday I am also permitted to be relieved that the football season has restarted so I have excuses to leave it on Saturdays, when it becomes too full for its own good — and go drink in some other town’s pubs instead. Like Wrexham in North Wales, for example. Which, this being taken in a Wetherspoons (if you have ever drunk in the UK surely you know of these places), looks much the same as anywhere else, of course. But I don’t mind them.

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Jul 05 2026
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Landscape

Home, for 25 years

Friday 3rd July 2026, 2.50pm (day 5,426)

HB from graveyard, 3/7/25

Having exchanged contracts the day before, it was on 3rd July 2001 that Clare and I moved into our house in Hebden Bridge: separately, I recall, as on the day I came in from our previous place in Leeds with the help of my Dad while her family brought her over from Morecambe with stuff from there. And we’ve been there ever since. I’m not sure we expected to stay for a quarter of a century — but it’s how things have panned out and right now we have no plans to move out.

It seemed appropriate to get a shot of the town and of the house within it for today, so here you are: as seen from the little, overgrown graveyard at the top of the Buttress. Our place is pretty much in the middle of the shot, part of the ‘castle walls’ that line the Keighley Road. Hopefully they’ll still be standing in another 25 years, or indeed another 125: maybe we’ll still be there after the first span of time, but not the latter.

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Jul 03 2026
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Goose lunch spot

Thursday 2nd July 2026, 12.05pm (day 5,425)

Geese lunching, 2/7/26

These three looked like they were having an amiable little chat while nibbling on the foliage that is exposed on the weir in the centre of town. Why shouldn’t they get together for lunch? Like humans, Canada geese seem a sociable enough species — at least, with each other. (World Cup reference: Go Canada!)

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Jul 02 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene, Hebden Bridge, Art and architecture

Working in the dry dock

Wednesday 1st July 2026, 4.40pm (day 5,424)

Dry dock artwork, 1/7/26

At first sight the dry dock on the canal in the centre of Hebden Bridge is another thing that gives it a sense of industrial-age authenticity. Except that up until about 30 years ago, the site was occupied by a petrol station. Not everything is as old as it seems. Still, I quite like having it there: even if the chance to take pictures of arc-welding sparks and so on has now been reduced thanks to the addition of the artwork, with obligatory domain name.

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Jun 30 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

The pain of defeat

Tuesday 30th June 2026, 8.00pm (day 5,423)

Ivory Coast defeat, 30/6/26

I have been watching some of the World Cup; games in which I feel I have some kind of personal interest. Like, thanks to last week, Norway, whose casting as something of a one-man team was not harmed today by Haaland nicking tonight’s winner, with a goal that was better than it first seemed (watch the slow motion — he knows what he’s doing). Clare, as pictured, and I commiserate with the losers of the Ivory Coast but they’re going home, the Norwegians stay for at least one more match.

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Jun 30 2026
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Daily Post, Landscape

I can see the office from here

Monday 29th June 2026, 1.05pm (day 5,422)

Walker and Manchester, 29/6/26

Well, it’s somewhere over there, anyway. But far enough away to be mostly out of mind. Better and more uplifting things were to be found today on the summit of Kinder Scout, in the Peak District; you can read more about this on my other blog.

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Jun 29 2026
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Portrait, Stranger

Cookng manoeuvres

Sunday 28th June 2026, 2.10pm (day 5,421)

Market cook, 28/6/26

Whatever is cooking away under the lids, I have no idea, but as with every Sunday, the general miscellany of the market on St George’s Square proves attractive. Food, trinkets, old military uniforms — nothing as useful as a pair of shoelaces though. For such things, we are forced to leave town.

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Jun 28 2026
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Loganberries are go

Saturday 27th June 2026, 2.45pm (day 5,420)

Loganberries, 27/6/26

Fruit is just so much easier to grow than vegetables. You really don’t need to do much work and that suits my gardening style. While we were in Norway, the garden experienced ten days of warm weather with occasional showers, and things have responded accordingly. I didn’t pick these two today — they’re not quite ready — but there were plenty more around the place.

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