I don’t make a habit of getting the 06:59 service from Hebden Bridge to Manchester — a two-carriage cattle truck most days. But when I’ve a 9am meeting that can’t be missed, it’s the safest choice. At least it is getting light at that time now. Don’t normally frequent the waiting room either, but it was raining outside today. Welcome to Monday.
Our multimedia guy, Peter, gets himself set up ready to film me talking about something or other in my office. I had to sound reasonably intelligent but really, it’s not going to make your day more interesting if you knew what the subject matter had been.
It’s the half-term holidays, meaning a week where it’s necessary to find ways to keep Joe productively occupied, at least to some extent. The ‘vertebra’ is actually a crankshaft for a model internal combustion engine — at least, that’s what it says on the box that has been hanging around since arriving at Christmas. Apparently, it’ll be a fully working model when the kit is constructed — as long as one doesn’t lose any bits along the way. Like springs…. now where did those damn springs go again?
The room full of vintage arcade and computer games at the National Media Museum in Bradford is a cheap form of entertainment during weekends and school holidays — and as a result has featured on this blog before. This family seem to be enjoying their time on the collaborative game, Gauntlet — if you grew up in the 1980s I’m sure you remember it…
The Railway pub was shut for nearly a year after being mostly destroyed in the flood of 26th December 2015. It has reopened in what feels like a few separate stages; the latest arriving today, when seating finally made a reappearance out at the front. Matt enjoys this fresh luxury, while trying not to mark his coat on the wet paint of the new battleship grey facade.
There is an excellent photography exhibition on at Manchester Art Gallery if you get the chance to go and see it. “Strange but Familiar” — Britain through the eyes of foreign photographers, from the 1930s to the present day. I saw it first time back in December but went back today, taking the family, trying to engage the boy in some media studies. Plenty of people there, including this guy, peering aesthetically at the ‘Swinging London’ section. The shot continues the run I mentioned yesterday, though that will be the last (10th) day of it — tomorrow will definitely be spent entirely in Hebden Bridge.
Mr Cope becomes the latest rock star to feature on the blog: looking every inch the part, he nevertheless is these days as much a mixture of solo busker, stand-up comedian and raconteur (particularly about old megalithic monuments) as he is anything else.
A curiosity: the ninth photo in a row to be taken outside Hebden Bridge, even though I have spent some time at home on each of these days. This is the longest such run: all other long runs of non-HB photos have been accrued thanks to some kind of travel away from home.
I don’t make a habit of photographing work colleagues in their natural environment, but here I did think a nice portrait unfolded itself as Stephanie prepares to launch the 2-4pm session. Thursday is generally a Meeting Day — so there’s a level of appropriateness to it./
Accompanied Joe to an evening st school sorting out his choices of GCSE options in year 10: the latest step in the process by which dreams and aspirations become squeezed into systemic categories. But he seems keen enough. Here, am I trying to represent said aspirations? Is it a moody and atmospheric shot (in the unglamorous surroundings of the bus stop in Mytholmroyd)? Or just a bad photo?
Evening game at the John Smith’s stadium, Huddersfield — but let’s not talk about it past this point. Suffice to say that only here, when the teams were coming out, did we Brighton fans feel particularly optimistic.
Being 42 