Category Archives: Interior

Aug 25 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

Dead Belgian, Lancaster station

Friday 24th August 2012, 9.05am (day 365)

Dead Belgian, 24/8/12

Apparently so named because they perform the songs of Jacques Brel – but I think ‘Dead Belgian’ is a great name for a band. I don’t have anything against Belgians, by the way – I’ve never been there.

Tomorrow, you may have noticed – actually today, as I post this – will be the 366th day of this blog. Yes, providing I don’t forget to take a picture and post it on Saturday 25th August, I will have completed my original brief: to take a representative picture for each day of a year, from my 42nd birthday on. Hurrah! However, I have decided I am going to continue the blog for at least one more year: I’m doing too many interesting things next year not to document them (mainly going to Australia for five months, January – June). The name of the site will be out-of-date from Sunday – my 43rd birthday – but never mind.

What I will do is post a page of the top 10 photos I think I have taken this year, and also some statistics, for those who are interested (or need a cure for insomnia).

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Aug 19 2012
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Daily Post, Interior, Portrait, Stranger

Preston railway station

Sunday 19th August 2012, 6.20pm (day 360)

Preston station, 19/8/12

This is where the Hebden Bridge trains join up with the West Coast main line, thus, trains for the Lake District and Morecambe. I spend a hell of a lot of time in Preston station – never for very long at a time, but it mounts up, and I’ve spent far longer here in my life than I have in Preston itself.

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Aug 11 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

U-Boat Conning tower

Saturday 11th August 2012, 2.30pm (day 352)

Conning tower, 11/8/12

First day of my summer holiday, finally! I am still in Helsinki so visited the World Heritage site of Suomenlinna, a fortress outside the harbour that is the reason the city grew into the metropolis it is. An interesting exhibit there was the U-boat Vesikko, fascinating to look around but, I bet, a bitch to actually serve on. Should you be in the area I recommend Suomenlinna: though on a sunny August Saturday like today, I’ll be damn sure you won’t be alone there.

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Aug 06 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

Affleck’s Palace

Monday 6th August 2012, 2.25pm (day 347)

Afflecks palace, 6/8/12

My leather jacket, of many years’ use (but surprisingly little photographed, once I looked through the archives), died following the biblical downpour of 9th July, when it got soaked and then was never properly dried because I never thought about it as I dashed off to New Orleans. It was knackered anyway, but its fate was sealed when I next picked it off the rack and… you don’t want to know.

Fortunately, if you want any clothes even remotely in that genre and your budget is limited, there is always Affleck’s. Threatened with closure a few years ago because it didn’t meet the profile of the district’s gentrifiers, it’s pleasing to see it still open and still selling good gear of this type for – in my case – £25. Long may it reign.

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Aug 04 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

Blue Pig Beer Festival

Saturday 4th August 2012, 3.30pm (day 345)

Blue Pig, 4/8/12

The Blue Pig sits in the woods and opens at random and unpredictable times. It’s a kind of Harry Potterish pub. I quite like this shot because of the double reflection of the guy in the picture frames.

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Aug 01 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

Pop-up Shop

Wednesday 1st August 2012, 12.30pm (day 342)

Pop-up shop, 1/8/12

A few of these have emerged around Hebden Bridge in the last couple of weeks. Businesses that occupied premises that were damaged in the flood have been invited to set up shop (literally) where they can. They’re calling them ‘Pop-up Shops’ round town.,  The main road, Market Street, is still a dead zone – about 3 out of 20 shops open – but one of them, Valley Organics, has a temporary home in the Hope Baptist Chapel, pictured here. It doesn’t have electricity at the moment, as the chapel’s cellar was also flooded on both 22/23rd June and 9th July, but it’s a start. I’ll tell you one thing – a disaster like this sure helps you see who your friends are (yes, we’re looking at you, Punch Taverns).

Hey, it’s August. My birthday’s in August. That means I’m coming to the end of the first year of this blog.

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Jul 21 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

Atlanta airport mural

Friday 20th July 2012, 6.40pm [Eastern time] (day 330)

Atlanta airport, 20/7/12

On my way home. Quite liked this mural, which came in two parts, the full classical quote being ‘Let each man pass his days in that endeavor wherein his gift is greatest’, which if we can excuse the sexism and include women too, is a worthy message. What I liked about it was that it is all made up of thousands of business cards. A neat idea.

 

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Jul 19 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

Working in Phil’s pub

Wednesday 18th July 2012, 2.35pm (day 328)

Phil's pub, 18/7/12

Free wi-fi. You gotta love it. A proper working lunch.

Had planned to get a photo of a fraternity house today, this being ‘Idiosyncracy part 2’ (see yesterday) but Tuscaloosa was having a dull and rainy day and the pictures I got were not very interesting. So I stopped myself from feeling constrained by my own plans and got this different side to campus life here at the University of Alabama. Phil is not a person, incidentally – apparently it is short for ‘Philibuster’s’.

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Jul 11 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

Airport security, MAN T2

Tuesday 10th July 2012, 8.10am (day 320)

Airport security, 10/7/12

Well, I made it out of Hebden Bridge – in fact the train this morning was perfectly punctual. No water left in the town but a lot of debris around.

18 hours and a few thousand miles later, I type this sat in New Orleans, but the photo is of Manchester Airport; I boobed and did not get a window seat for the second flight in from Atlanta, thus missing some great shots of the Mississippi delta, Lake Ponchartrain and the city of NO itself, glimpsed as I craned my neck round my fellow passengers from my position on the aisle. And I’m not heading out into the city tonight – it’s too late (in my head) and I’m here until Sunday anyway, so you’ll see it, never fear. I do quite like this shot however.

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Jun 29 2012
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Daily Post, Interior

The Railway, in exile

Friday 29th June 2012, 5.45pm (day 309)

Railway in exile, 29/6/12

While I have been away in Russia, the clean-up has continued back home, and the end cost starts to be more apparent. My local, the Railway – where I have probably drunk twice a week, maybe more on average, for 10 years, is closed for two to three months. Several other businesses may not reopen at all, the cost of the cleanup not being worth the trouble. A furniture retailer in Mytholmroyd lost half a million pounds of stock in a single night. And probably the insurers will bicker about something.

Anyway, those of us who frequent the Railway have, for a while, had to find somewhere else to spend our Friday evenings. Today it was Marshall’s bar: themselves unable to serve anything on draught, cans and bottles only. It felt slightly wrong, but not too bad. I wish it hadn’t had to happen, however.

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