I seem to have a lot of pictures of people’s backs today, but at leats this one brings in the face of the guy in yellow so offers a touch more intimacy. They’re all still depicted through glass, however: which is perhaps meaningful, perhaps not. We were having a drink before going to the cinema, which stands directly above this bar, but the less said about the movie, the better.
The substitutes of Stafford Rangers FC ponder the fact that, about ten minutes into their game with a team from a lower division, they are already 1-0 down and are going to go on to lose 4-0. OK, it might have been a pre-season friendly but it’s not a great omen for the season to come. And none of these people were even in the starting XI.
I do wonder what the guy on the left of the shot has seen to distract him: assuming all the others are watching the current action on the pitch, he’s certainly not.
The sun comes out, and with it, various bits of English skin that have not had much opportunity for solar exposure in recent months. And it shows. Clare, who has never been one for tanning much, decides to display possibly the whitest legs in Europe as we enjoy an end-of-week beer or three. They’ve some catching up to do on the arms, for sure.
This is, very much, a picture chosen because it is a person I know looking very much themselves, and in exactly the right context, too. All he needs is the bike in the background, and it really wasn’t far away.
Not that I’ve had anything to do with the preliminaries since completing my marking duties in January, but graduation season is here. Congratulations to all. Although I’d take these three more seriously if any one of them looked a bit happier about it.
My last day in Toronto. I could say ‘on this trip’ or I could say ‘forever’ and the fact is I don’t know at the moment, ‘cos it’s the future, and as yet undetermined. But I do hope to return.
Waiting out a 6-hour flight delay was made more entertaining by watching Spain v Italy in the Firkin pub on Yonge Street: location for what remains my favourite shot yet taken in Canada, namely this one on 14/10/2021. Both these guys were cheering for the same team, specifically Spain: and both went away happy, as they duly won, 1-0.
Some might say 1pm is a little early, even on a Saturday, to be camping it up in full drag queen mode, but clearly this opinion is not shared by the entertainers at the Church St Garage in Toronto. Taken from across the street while enjoying lunch on another pleasant, sunny day here. The other guy is just passing through, but I like the juxtaposition, two people in their own world but in the same world, maybe.
Clare has flown out to Toronto to join me for a few days, and why not, it’s a fine city to explore and also to look at. The skyline seems very well balanced and the CN Tower sets it off excellently. The best view of it is from the islands just offshore in the Lake, which is why a lot of people go there on a nice day — though she made it before the weekend. I like the shape her shadow makes on this one.
Professor Carl Bereiter, Emeritus of the University of Toronto, is someone I’ve been lucky enough to, if not exactly work with (at 94 years of age, Carl doesn’t exactly turn up to the office very much any more) but certainly meet, talk with, hear from. He is genuinely one of the pioneers of the academic field of computer-supported collaborative learning, in which I have occasionally been known to dabble. And please, don’t ask which one of the people in this picture is him.
It’s been a few months since I did a self-portrait, and the prospect of this one did occur to me while sat having a pre-meeting cup of tea in Tim Hortons, pondering how we can find ways to continue the collaboration that has brought me here three times now. I am here sat in more or less the same spot from which I took this shot in October 2021, and armed with the knowledge of the venue, the building in the background and Google Maps you can probably pinpoint the exact location should you wish to.
Being 42 