Category Archives: Portrait

Oct 13 2016
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

Dina and Ellie present at ECIL2016

Wednesday 12th October 2016, 1.05pm (day 1,875)

Dina and Ellie, 12/10/16

Dina is from Greece but works in Scotland. Ellie is from Iran and works in Australia (she helped look after me when I went to Brisbane back in 2013). Both are here presenting in the Czech Republic at the  same conference session as me (from the UK) and other delegates from Croatia and Belgium, helping, in our small ways, to advance knowledge worldwide.

This is why Brexit and the isolationist, racist mentality it provokes is so utterly stupid. I don’t just mean that as a random insult. I mean vicious, ridiculous stupidity of the most damaging kind.

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Oct 11 2016
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

U Malého Glena

Monday 10th October 2016, 5.50pm (day 1,873)

U Maleho Glena, 10/10/16

“U malého glena” apparently means “the little glen” and is the name of this bar in Prague. Well, this is one of the world’s great beer-drinking countries, so I was inevitably going to end up in a bar or two while here…

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Oct 06 2016
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

Under the viaduct, Charles Street

Thursday 6th October 2016, 4.25pm (day 1,869)

Under the viaduct, 6/10/16

Well, the weather’s still very pleasant, that is undeniable. I told my students today, most of whom are from overseas, “you do realise that it’s not always like this, don’t you?”. But these things happen, in 2013 I think I got about the best two weeks of autumn weather that New Zealand had had in recent memory. It’s hard not to just sit down and chill out in it. It won’t last…

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Oct 04 2016
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger, Transport

Cattle truck

Tuesday 4th October 2016, 8.20am (day 1,867)

Cattle truck, 4/10/16

11 years of using the Calderdale line, and one learns which services have CTS (Cattle Truck Status) and which are safer. I will never aim to catch the 1726 from Manchester, for example. It just ain’t worth it. The 0742 from Hebden (depicted here just about on its arrival to Manchester) is usually not so bad but today, for some reason, it suffered from a massive case of CTS.

Why monochrome again? Because it hides a multitude of white balance sins.

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Sep 21 2016
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

Welcome meeting

Wednesday 21st September 2016, 10.55am (day 1,854)

Welcome event, 21/9/16

Every year at this time the campus goes from being peaceful and quiet to a heaving mass of people. Still, if it wasn’t for them none of us would be doing what we’re doing. Sam Harris of the International Society at Manchester says hi to the gathered new postgraduates in Education: who collectively I am now responsible for…. (there are a couple of hundred more in the room than pictured here). Let’s hope they all fulfill their potential over the next 11 months or so.

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Sep 17 2016
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

Bobby Gillespie (Rock God)

Saturday 17th September 2016, 7.30pm (day 1,850)

Bobby Gillespie, 17/9/16

It was in 1990 that I first heard the band Primal Scream, when my then-flatmate Dave played me their eponymous second album. In the two and a half decades since they have released some complete shite, it has to be said, but also many moments of brilliance (like the whole album XTRMNTR for a start). And in those 26 years despite never giving up on them and them refusing to turn into their own tribute band (like so many of their peers) I have never seen them live.

Until today 🙂

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Sep 14 2016
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

Cherub

Wednesday 14th September 2016, 4.50pm (day 1,847)

Cherub, 14/9/16

With hair — and rimlight — like this, how could one go wrong? Another beautiful day today, may it last for a while yet.

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Sep 13 2016
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger, Transport

At Rochdale station

Tuesday 13th September 2016, 9.05am (day 1,846)

At Rochdale station, 13/9/16

Second shot in a row of one or more of my commuting colleagues. Possibly he is lamenting the loss of his sunglasses — though I suspect more likely just to be tired…

More distinctive, though still trivial, is the fact that after years of passing through this place on a regular basis, this is the first of these blog posts to be definitively taken in Rochdale; we were stopped taking on passengers at that station. Place 176 on the official list, anyway.

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Aug 31 2016
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

In the café

Wednesday 31st August 2016, 2.05pm (day 1,833)

Caffe Nero, 31/8/16

Oxford Road again, but further up toward the city centre this time, and inside the café instead of outside. So ends August, a moment in time that feels like one candidate for ‘end of summer’ but I’m not declaring it over yet.

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Aug 26 2016
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

John B and Carol

Friday 26th August 2016, 5.15pm (day 1,828)

John B and Carol, 26/8/16

So let me start this blog’s 6th year, and mark my 47th birthday, by putting up a photo of someone else… After so long doing this, people are going to start reappearing after a gap of some years and this is true of John B, who first graced these pages back in November 2011. Carol can join the cast for the first time.

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