Sunday 21st July 2019, 7.40pm (day 2,887)
These two have clearly had a very good weekend. And so have I.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Stranger
The winners
Friday 21st June 2019, 5.25pm (day 2,857)
People have been very much in the background of the blog in the last three weeks, if they appear at all. There have been glimpses of a foot here and there, the back of a head.
Football has also been absent from the blog over the last three weeks, but hey, all close seasons must end, mine as soon as possible. The women seen here are the from Isle of Man team and are celebrating their win in the 2019 Island Games tournament final, 2-1 over Ynys Môn, also known as Anglesey.
The connection between these two absences may be coincidental, but I like it.
Music man (and fish man)
Thursday 16th May 2019, 12.35pm (day 2,821)
Buskers have been around longer than most professions. We used to call them minstrels, but the whole singing for one’s supper thing is much the same as it was in the time of King Arthur. Fishmongers have been around for a while too.
This is a rare photowhack — the only photo taken today.
Football portrait
Saturday 20th April 2019, 4.45pm (day 2,795)
Decided early on that today’s pic from the football was going to be a portrait, and in the end, the prize of being the model goes to Brighouse Town’s number 2, Rhys Jenkinson. He’s not looking stressed out at this point, nor should he seeing as this was towards the end of a comfortable 4-0 victory. Seeing as Brighouse should make the play-offs in their league this season, and I care about this, expect to see a couple more BTFC images before the next two weeks are out.
The vegans protest
Saturday 13th April 2019, 12.25pm (day 2,788)
Well, I guess they have a point. Thanks to Lee (depicted two days ago) being vegan I have basically been vegetarian this week but that seems not to cut it for these people. I try, though.
Waiting under the clocks
Sunday 7th April 2019, 12.05pm (day 2,782)
Flinders Street station is the main central railway station of Melbourne and a common meeting place — you meet ‘under the clocks’, a line of timepieces out of shot above. And this is why I was there, to meet my friend Mariam for a great lunch and a nice afternoon out. All these other people seemed to be doing the same thing.
The cameraman gets ready
Wednesday 3rd April 2019, 9.40am (day 2,778)
My last day in Vietnam — this time — but I certainly hope there will be further visits. I have had a very fine few days and want to return. The day saw me do the one bit of work I had committed to while here, a talk at the RMIT Saigon campus, and this guy was setting up to film it; I like the random arrangement of table legs behind him, they give the shot some background texture.
The M in RMIT stands for Melbourne — and that’s where I’m heading off to next. Today is the halfway point of this trip as a whole.
War tourism
Saturday 30th March 2019, 12.20pm (day 2,774)
This blog is both commentary, and record. So there is one part of me that regrets there is such a thing as ‘war tourism’ exists — that the dreadful conflict between the two parts of Vietnam, with the interventions of the USA, that lasted for some ten years from 1964 or so should now be something that people have come to feel is merely the background for a family photo. On the other hand — I went to the War Remnants museum in Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh CIty) today; I too was a war tourist. So should I feel guilty? The place was even-handed enough, there were some fascinating things to look at (most of all, the gallery of war correspondent photographs from both Vietnamese and European/American photographers), it passed most of the day. I learned, and that’s surely what matters. But could I stand and smile for the camera in front of a death machine? That’s something else.
Pride Park press box
Wednesday 13th March 2019. 7.35pm (day 2,757)
Work to do tonight in my occasional moonlighting role as a football journalist, seeing me in the press box at Pride Park, Derby, and afterwards, with work to do to make a crap game of football (Derby 0 Stoke 0) sound interesting. As did these other guys, many of whom exuded a sense of ennui about it all. Does it matter that the principal subject of this photo is not reflected in the screen of his own laptop? If so, well, that’s just the way it worked out.
Up on the gantry
Saturday 9th February 2019, 3.35pm (day 2,725)
A rather precarious place to be positioned on a breezy day. But they did get to see the mighty Brighouse Town march to a 3-0 win that keeps them second in the table. And, I won the Golden Goal sweepstake, £30 return on a £1 ticket! Result!
Being 42 