Manchester has a pretty big Chinatown (hence the Chinese Arch, which has made it onto the blog three times by now). The lanterns hung in Albert Square around this time of year (see also here) are also good for a shot each year.
Four weeks after the flood, a positive message. The ‘bobby dazzlers’ in question will not include our parliamentary representative or any of his colleagues elected by constituencies flooded in December 2015, despite the financial resources we expend on furthering their lifestyle, and the moral authority they claim, on the basis that they are “representing the interests of the people”.
Possibly these are markers for waterworks up in Hardcastle Crags, as this is where Hebden Bridge’s water comes from in the end.
Or possibly these are the abandoned prototypes of tiles in the short-lived “double-letter” version of Scrabble, left here to rot when it was proven nobody could actually think of an English word that had “…PV…” in it. (I’ve been trying.)
Part of the reason I have felt uninspired lately is that I’ve been spending too many days at home, not going out. Also that the light has been very poor — I swear we’ve had half a dozen sunny days at most since the start of November. But both of those things changed for the better this very pleasant afternoon when I managed a stroll along the canal bank. Much of the towpath is still closed because of flood damage but this section, at the Callis Wood bottom lock, is still open.
Well, 1,610 days in and I’m still here…. Facebook friends may know what I mean. Maybe this is the point though… What you see here is a scene which happens every Thursday in Hebden Bridge at this same time of day. But I don’t think I’ve ever pictured it before, and even if I did it wasn’t in this light, in this slight drizzle, and so on (including heroic flare for the second day in a row). I’ll do my best to keep seeing the moments.
I feel I’ve recently been in a bit of a low point on this blog, creativity-wise. And I’m also spending most of the time at the moment sat at home. Tried to make an effort with this one, and bearing in mind that all this is being done on cheap and standard gear, this is probably as good an effort at this shot as I could manage. Let’s see the flare as a deliberate creative shot, but it’s a shame the sun ends up blurred. The high valley walls mean it disappears at least an hour before the scheduled sunset time; waiting for the moment of its transition gave me something to do this afternoon that wasn’t work, at least. The contrail and birds were freebies.
I bet you didn’t pass one of these on the way to your morning meeting. Mine happened to be in the Manchester Museum (last seen on here as the home of the vivid tropical frogs) — so I did.
After the weather conditions depicted on the last couple of days, getting gradually closer to home, I guess it’s no real surprise that today saw snow on the ground in Hebden Bridge. I like this shot because it’s essentially monochrome, except for that stripe of red in the corner — a plastic barrier put up to stop people falling off the upper path and down into the water race here. Not far off this picture here, but not the same, which is why sometimes you can get away with doing multiple shots of the same place.
David Stockdale, Brighton & Hove Albion’s goalkeeper, ponders today why he has a job that requires him to work outside on a day like this. But then again he’s quite handsomely paid for it. And, at least at one level, earned his money today, keeping a clean sheet as the Albion won 1-0 in the Blackburn snow. Snow has definitely been a key theme of this weekend.
I remain grateful for the fact that I have a job flexible enough to allow me to bring my weekend forward a day and get out on a walk on a Friday. However, I wasn’t out basking in the sunshine or anything. This was a severe-weather walk, as rough as anything I’ve ever done, as evidenced by the spindrift seen here. Heron Pike sits between the lakes of Grasmere, Rydal Water and (pictured) Windermere. More photos from this walk on my other blog when I get round to it, but that’ll be tomorrow now.
