Sunday 14th July 2013, 4.30pm (day 689)
Well, it’s something to do on a nice sunny summer Sunday, isn’t it. Good results, too.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Interior
Chess v Jenga
Friday 12th July 2013, 5.45pm (day 687)
“So we turned up for work this evening, like, and there was this bleedin’ great pile of BRICKS on the board. Well, not my problem. No point asking me to shift it, is there, when I can only move forward one square at a time.”
Subway, Hebden Bridge station
Saturday 6th July 2013, 10.40am (day 681)
One of the criteria for choosing which pictures get onto this blog is whether one encapsulates the day on which it was taken. That is not true of this photo. I had a busy day today, visited my parents and then had a Saturday night out with Clare, in Blackpool – and one could do an entire photo essay on the subject of ‘a Saturday night in Blackpool’ (though I think it might be a job more fitting for a war correspondent than a humble amateur like myself). There was great light today, a beautiful high summer’s day, and I took plenty of photos I was happy with.
Nevertheless, this wins. If the art of photography is not about capturing moments, those coincidences of place and time which raise any experience above the mundane and everyday, then I feel happy with what I’ve done here. This place could not be less exotic really, just a tunnel I pass through at least two or three times a week when I am here in town. But this morning I loved the way the light was spilling down the steps and giving it a warm feeling. This photo is exactly what I wanted it to be when I took it, and that happens only occasionally.
Books on the floor of Joe’s room
Thursday 4th July 2013, 4.10pm (day 679)
While citizens of the USA were presumably celebtrating their Independence Day today, I had a day spent mostly at home writing. These books caught my eye later on though, bathed in a small pool of afternoon sunlight. It would be nice to claim our Joe was a voracious reader but I think these are on their way to the car boot sale. Indeed it would probably embarrass him to reveal to the world there are still around 20 Thomas the Tank Engine books visible here. So I won’t point that out.
‘The Constant Gardener’
Tuesday 2nd July 2013, 8.00am (day 677)
As being uploaded on the train to Manchester this morning, by the inefficient but highly effective data collection form known as ‘reading’. The book in the background, by the way, belongs to my fellow Manchester academic Mike, whose surname I can never remember but who teaches English & American literature so reads things far more obscure than my relatively populist novel.
Bunting, baby shower party
Sunday 30th June 2013, 6.40pm (day 675)
The weather isn’t exactly bad at the moment but the light is consistently flat and grey, hence the prevalence of interior shots at the moment. Little to add except to explain that I don’t normally frequent baby showers, but this one was held in a pub, so that drew me in.
Arndale Centre, Manchester
Saturday 29th June 2013, 4.05pm (day 674)
In the 12th century we built castles. In the 15th century we built cathedrals. In the 19th century we built factories. In the 20th century we built shopping malls. We might not like them but sometimes you just end up there.
Newcastle station bar
Thursday 27th June 2013, 4.35pm (day 672)
Went to Newcastle today for a training course. Spent 90% of my time there (including lunch) sat in a computer cluster on said course, 7% of it getting myself to and from Newcastle station through the drizzle, 2% of it in this bar at the station and 1% on the toilet. I think this was the best subject matter. The guy bending down gives it some interest I think.
Tea break, Research Support conference
Monday 10th June 2013, 11.25am (day 655)
I know there are plenty of you who read this and probably don’t think I do any work, but here you go, some evidence of it anyway. Not that anyone is ‘working’ right at this moment, except the Italian chap silhouetted against the window. There was a spectacular view of the Oslo hinterland from this venue (the well-named Soria Moria hotel), but this is the first interior shot since my return to Europe on 28th May. I know it would have been better to get all the lines on the carpet straight as well as those on the wall, but hey.
My luggage, at Circular Quay Station
Sunday 26th May 2013, 11.25am (day 640)
Here is my luggage awaiting what amounted to the second leg of my 9,000-mile journey home: the train journey from Circular Quay station to Sydney airport. Circular Quay must have one of the best views of any railway station in the world — accepting stiff competition from Durham in the north-east of England (look it up…) – so you’d think they might clean the windows now and again.
Being 42 