It’s the midsummer weekend, but right now the weather isn’t so as you’d realise this. If it were midsummer weather these benches would be packed, but it’s chill and rather grey so only Paddy braves the pub forecourt, and that’s only because he needs a cigarette.
Amazingly we managed to get money off the university this year to have an end-of-year dinner. Why this particular stone started shedding blood for the first time in my 10 years there, I have no idea. Dan (left, student) and Gary (right, colleague) wait to place our order in the highly distinctive surroundings of the old vault — check out those safety deposit boxes — in the former bank building which now houses Jamie’s Italian in Manchester (its second appearance on the blog, after this one 15 months ago).
A highly unexciting day, in all senses including photographically. But exploiting the back of the coffee machine may have given some surrealist quality to my creative efforts this afternoon.
You know the score by now I am sure, and in any case had a week’s advance notice of this year’s Handmade Parade in Hebden Bridge. The sun shone and a fine day was had by all.
At least I had finished my work for the day by this point. Sometimes you just have to like the photo you got, while simultaneously wanting to apologise to the innocent model. There is still wine in the world, at least.
Going on how dominant his team were today in the FA Cup Final, I guess he has a right to be happy — and this was only half time. The Villa fans and neutrals around him can raise little such enthusiasm.
We are all paying attention, honest. Not an exciting photo (with due respect to the people in it) but I should somehow depict the conference which actually got me to Paris. Last day here, a mixed break, to put it mildly, but life goes on. It’s certainly a fine city, undeniably a world centre.
Going a bit out on a limb with this shot because it’s out of focus, but I think it captures quite well the atmosphere of this totally unreconstructed bistro which we stumbled across at lunchtime. Food, wine, this is why I came to Paris… (well, OK, I came for a conference, but y’know).
So as you might have gathered from yesterday’s post (I said, don’t ask), we have been in Paris for a few days. France becomes the 22nd different country to feature on the blog. Not a new country or place for me, but it’s been a while (2003 was the last visit to France and around 2000, I forget exactly, to Paris). We were staying near Montmartre, a good place to amble around on a warm sunny day and enjoy the view over the city from the steps below the Sacre-Coeur, as these people (and several hundred others) are doing.
Clearing up after the Bank Holiday crowd. Saturday’s walk notwithstanding, it has not been the most eventful eight days, but there’ll be a burst of activity from tomorrow.
Being 42 