Sunday 10th April 2022, 11.50am (day 3,881)
Actually, home, in the strictest sense, is a little to the right of this shot. But this is, near enough, where I’ve located myself for the last 21.75 years. There are reasons.
The home district
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Art and architecture
In the Piece Hall
Thursday 24th March 2022, 1.30pm (day 3,864)
Since Halifax’s Piece Hall was renovated a few years ago it has become by far the most pleasing urban space in the town. The quadrangle is currently displaying a number of sculptures by Sophie Ryder, this being one of them; I recall a similar huge grey rabbit/woman at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park around a year ago, making me think, with hindsight, that this is probably the same artist. Incidentally, as far as I can ascertain, no actual rabbits have appeared on this blog in its 3,864 days.
Anwoth Old Kirk (Wicker Man reference)
Monday 21st March 2022, 1.45pm (day 3,861)
A brief stopover on the way home from Newton Stewart. If I was filming a classic 1970s British horror movie in the Dumfries and Galloway region, and I wanted an abandoned church as a location, I’d come and use Anwoth’s, just as did the makers of The Wicker Man. (See this page.)
11 different locations in 11 days — Manchester, Burnley, Brighouse, Mytholmroyd, Leeds, Hebden Bridge, Huddersfield, Carlisle, Polbae, Glen Trool and Anwoth. That’s the second time there’s been such a long run of variation in place.
The Leeds-Liverpool canal, at Burnley
Saturday 12th March 2022, 1.00pm (day 3,852)
One wouldn’t think Burnley would be on a direct route from Leeds to Liverpool but the canal bearing that name does take a rather roundabout course. It’s a pastoral spot in a town that doesn’t have a reputation for rural charm. The rule of thirds works well enough on this shot.
Manchester still rises
Tuesday 8th March 2022, 10.15am (day 3,848)
Nearly two years ago today (9/3/20) I was in Manchester and depicting much the same area of the city, albeit from higher up. On the left of this picture, the Town Hall remains swaddled in scaffolding and Prince Albert’s memorial on the right is also still under wraps. Shortly after 9/3/20, the stupidities of lockdown began and there were only three more Manchester pictures for the subsequent five months. None of that this year, thankfully. And if anyone ever tries it again I will ignore them.
Vulcan (not the Star Trek one)
Saturday 5th March 2022, 1.40pm (day 3,845)
To Trek fans Vulcan is a desert planet inhabited by a race of sophisticated, logic-driven and mildly telepathic humanoids. As I discovered today, it’s also a planned village, built in Victorian times to house the workers of the Vulcan foundry, which apparently forged rails for most of northern England. It’s now slowly being swallowed up by the town of Newton-le-Willows. But if you want to pay your respects to Spock, Sarek et al, you’ll be pleased to know that there remains a Vulcan Inn and Vulcan FC as well as the white-painted rows of the houses themselves. A pleasant spot — but it did take some patience to get a shot in which there weren’t cars running up and down the street.
Moon over Hebden
Friday 14th January 2022, 4.20pm (day 3,795)
The evenings obviously get lighter through January — though it takes a while for the mornings to catch up. The moon is on the wax at the moment, Boris Johnson is an idiot (just thought I’d mention that) and the weekend is here.
The chimneys of Windsor Road
Tuesday 4th January 2022, 1.55pm (day 3,785)
A return to work, whatever that means these days — for me it was mainly email. But the sun was shining outside, and on the rooves of houses up the valley. 2021 was only four days old when it cranked to a halt, but things are going better for ’22 thus far. Just about.
Misty morning
Friday 17th December 2021, 10.35am (day 3,767)
Friday, and the last day of work before Christmas. Spent at home, but it’s all done now, and the views were good in the morning.
The Nutclough cliff
Sunday 5th December 2021, 11.30am (day 3,755)
I haven’t done one of the Hebden housing for a while but it’s always there to catch the eye. So steeply do these dwellings rise from the valley bottom below that I am sure they affect the microclimate. I swear that at times I have seen rain falling on one side of our house — precipatated out by the enforced rise up the walls — but not on the other.
Being 42 