Beautiful plumage. But if it hadn’t been nailed to the perch, it would have been pushing up the daisies. It’s run up the curtain and joined the choir invisibule. This…. is an Ex-… Parrot.
Which, no kidding, arrived in our mail today. I bet you didn’t get one.
2012 has been a very wet and windy year so far. This picture may look worse than it actually was – these small trees are pretty much on the edge of inundation most of the time anyway – but I hope it does capture the way the water was thundering down through the town this morning.
Another day spent mostly inside, working, and I saw about 15 seconds’ worth of sunlight today. Fortunately at that point I was outside, getting my one dose of fresh air today, up at our allotment garden (Hebden Bridge being what it is, our garden is a few minutes’ walk away from our house). What to photograph in this one burst of light? Only one candidate really – the last edible vegetable remaining there from last spring’s planting. I like leeks, not just because they taste good but because they just keep growing, and even my black fingers (the opposite of green fingers) don’t seem able to prevent this.
I probably come across as someone who disagrees with the way Britain is currently being run – which I admit. But despite it all there are still a lot of things about this place that I really like. One of them is how, after days and days of cruddy weather, you can wake up one morning, even in midwinter, and be immersed in an utterly glorious day. Such a day was today. If we thought it would last, you might even say these birds had made the wrong decision. I suspect, however, they are more sensitive than I.
By the way, another good candidate for today can be seen on my Flickr site, unused because I thought there had been too many HB scenic views and this one was more unusual. I still like it though, both are good reminders of a spectacular morning.
I started this blog on August 26th, which means today is the end of my third month. Thus, I am a quarter of the way through the planned whole year, 12 months, 366 days (it’s a leap year next year, remember). I guess I’ve done quite well so far, but today I really lacked inspiration. Only this little, 3-month-old pup in the pub this evening really stood out. It was him, or another picture of Hebden Bridge, anyway.
I like ducks: handsome creatures, in my opinion. Tasty, too 🙂 I wonder exactly what is going on to the left of this shot, it’s clearly something of interest in the duck world.
By the way, this is the third shot in a row taken at almost exactly the same time of day.
I grew up in the South of England but left 20 years ago and don’t tend to come back if I can help it. This place, however, is the one exception. Sometimes I wish they would swap it with Blackpool – the one carbuncle on the face of the North – then all the really good places would be up there and all the naff places down South, But it’s probably better this way round. However, a warning – there are plans to build some huge ‘observation tower’ in front of the ruined West Pier. Remember, if there is anything cool and beautiful, someone, somewhere, is planning to fuck it up.
Growing out of a tree trunk, in the woods over the road, spotted while walking off a big roast dinner. Well, OK, it’s probably not a real leprechaun village, but who knows for sure.
Mind you, come to think of it, I don’t live in Ireland.
Some pictures you just take by chance. This was supposed to be a picture of some workmen, and they’re still there in the invisible three-quarters of this significantly cropped image, but as I took it, this flock of pigeons flew across. It’s not a bad shot, though the birds are quite blurred and that branch that goes across the lower centre of the picture unbalances it a bit. But though I took some other nice pix on what was a pleasant morning here, with all the others, I could probably take them again. A shot like this may only happen once, so I’m nominating it for today.
Today was the first day of the new academic year in Manchester. I skulked at home and hid away so profoundly that I never even left the house, the first such day while doing this blog. So I had to find inspiration at home. My old Victorian house is helpful in that regard, if only because of its occasional decrepitude. This is by my front door step – the furthest I got out today. I’ll meet the new students tomorrow.
Being 42 