Yesterday, did I mention signs of spring? Here’s another one. The sun officially clocked returning to the front of the house, after four months of being hidden behind the hill every morning. I depicted this, with a different shot, back in February 2014, (Feb 21st in that case), but it’s a notable day every year.
MediaCityUK is something like the biggest TV production facility in the UK, or is it Europe, and the biggest property development in the North-West of England, or is it the whole of the UK. Either way, during my visit there today I decided the best photo I got was this one of the local wildlife.
With a whole day spent at home working online, it was left to the sky to entertain. This looks like a hole in the space-time continuum has opened up above the houses of Heptonstall Road. Or possibly just a break in the clouds near the setting sun.
The big question is, of course — if not in the red van, then where? Inquiring minds want to know.
There have been a run of eventful days in the last week and a half — today marks the 9th different location for a shot in 9 days. (To wit: Manchester, Portmeirion, Devil’s Bridge, Aberystwyth, Llangollen, Hebden Bridge, the Lake District, York and Keighley.) But whereas last Saturday saw us exploring the surreal delights of Portmeirion, today we went to Keighley to buy a mattress. And it was peeing down. Thrill a minute stuff…. But still, a decent weekend, as I hope these guys were having in their own ways.
This is our friend George who came to visit tonight, here we are waiting for the train back home after time in York. I like this shot because of her blue hair nearly perfectly framed in the huge roof canopy of this famous old railway station.
Graystones is the modest peak to centre right, Wythop Moss the substantial swamp below. The fringe of trees is the top end of Darling How plantation, which extends down into the unseen valley over the far side of the ridge. And yes, I took the day off, well, most of it anyway, to go on a walk. But I’m working Sunday, so these things balance out, before you call the employment police (probably the Tories are considering such a step).
It could be sharper and it ain’t gonna win any wildlife photography contests, but I’m glad this baby was fishing in the river this morning when I went shopping down in the town, because otherwise I was home all day working and there was nothing to see…. But herons are always good for a shot. Handsome creatures. That neck-spring-and-dagger-beak combination must be a fish’s worst nightmare.
Broke the drive back from Aberystwyth at this cafe in Llangollen, north-east Wales. Clare and Joe ponder the meaning of the universe or possibly just a very good few days.
The reason I am in Wales is to do a talk at the University of Aberystwyth, which I did tonight. Beforehand I had a tour of this facility. Aberystwyth is well out in the sticks — for its size (which is not large), the most isolated town in Britain — and thus has a focus on rural and agricultural research rather than, say, heavy engineering. But that doesn’t mean high technology is just something other people do. This is a near-fully automated robot greenhouse, full of computer imaging equipment and automated water dispensing pipes. And you thought growing your food was just a matter of getting the weather right…
