Typical behaviour for the British climate — balmy weather on Saturday, revolting wintry crap the following Wednesday. I have to wipe off a layer of hail each time I come inside today. The blossoms bear it stoically.
Although not as mild as it has been, today felt like one of those Sundays where it was perfectly permissible to take it easy. And in my local area, there are worse places to do this than down by — or in these guys’ case, on — the canal.
I have mulled over this for a little while and come to the consclusion that this is definitely the most pleasing photo taken today, so apologies to these two entities for invading their pivacy somewhat. But if they are going to get down to it in public, specifically by platform 2 of Hebden Bridge railway station at 11.30 this morning, then that’s their decision. Warm weather has brought out the ladybirds in firce over the last couple of weeks and from the looks of it we are going to see more of them.
This handsome creature trotted over as soon as it saw me and virtually demanded that I do its close ups. Who am I to refuse such an offer?
This is, pretty much, the attitude I affected for most of the day. The weather was grim, and if it counted as ‘nice weather for ducks’, well, he’s doing his best to ignore it.
This ladybird first turned up on Wednesday in my home office and might have made that day’s shot — I got a reasonable one of it sitting by the Mac — had the cock-up at the football not happened. It then hitched a ride downstairs on a tea mug; I noticed it miments before it would have got bunged in the dishwasher, so saved its little ass from an unpleasanr death and left it sitting in one of our kitchen’s grimier corners.
24 hours later I saw it again: surely the same one, as it had barely moved. Still sluggish from waking up after the winter, I guessed — except then it sort of wriggled a bit and dumped this crust of old carapace onto, as it happens, the side my plastic lunch box. At this point I went and got the camera. And captured what might be a look of slight disdain: ‘now that stupid thing has gone I can grow a bit more and get back to terrorising aphids’. Fine by me: who wants greenfly in the house anyway. Have a good spring. mate.
I don’t think the police will be called for this one, although somewhere there may well be a small person distraught over the loss of their soulmate and demanding major investigations. To those who want to know, then, this morning it was in the Hebden Water, just upstream from the weir by the White Lion. If retrieved and given some tumble dryer attention there might even be a reunion.
Last day in Dubai. Taking a picture of attendees at the course I’ve been teaching on while here (undepicted…) there was a frisson of excitement as I pulled out my ‘vintage’ compact camera, as if usage of such things is simply anachronistic in 2026. I have tried taking photos on the phone, though, and it just doesn’t work as well when it comes to zoom and focus. I doubt this pic could possibly have been taken on a phone, not the combination of detail in the foreground and the soft-focus of the background, not from the distance at which I was standing, anyway. And it’s that combination that I like here. When this camera finally does die — and it won’t be long, I predict — I will try to get another one. And another, until we’re all so anachronistic that we’re not here any more.
Welcome back to Dubai, for my third trip here after 2019 and last year. Purely for work, well, except today when I had a day off thanks to teaching all of the weekend that is to come. Dubai Creek is why the city is here, being the inlet of the Persian Gulf around which the original settlement was founded. These days it’s just another part of the big shopping mall that the city has become, albeit with cuter buildings and some cats. Oh yes, and lots of seagulls.
The Hindu religion seems quite into its animalistic deities and idols, so I am sure that Ganesh and all his colleagues are quite happy that this superbly kitsch temple facade in Walthamstow has clearly become home to a number of pigeons.
Being 42 