Another week that I am glad to get to the end of. There seem to be a lot of these lately, at least where work is concerned. No matter, it’s Friday evening, and there was some half-decent music down in town courtesy of this gentleman and his relatively portable retro equipment.
Only in Britain do we really try to create seaside resorts on north-facing coasts at latitudes like 56º above the equator: but Redcar, near Middlesbrough, just about gets away with it thanks to having a really excellent beach that stretches for miles. Even when the sun is out, though, you still need to be quite hardy to make a day of it, but obviously this family have the necessary genetic qualities.
Going on the visual and auditory evidence on this Friday in August, and the occupancy rates of nearby car parks, I might have been the only person to actually be present for work in the Ellen Wilkinson Building today. It was certainly a quiet one, anyway. I like the patterns on this shot, and a general feeling of monochrome calm.
It was a nice café and I certainly needed a decent breakfast this morning. Getting down to the fine details of the compsition, I’d rather the pole in the centre wasn’t there, but otherwise this works for me — though of course if she had been smiling I might not have used it. So it goes with irony.
Apologies to this stranger for the somewhat unflattering portrait, but it’s a picture of myself, really: particularly as I was feeling on the train into work today. At least the summer holiday is now clearly in view ahead.
You can see where I was when this was taken. Newcastle marks more-or-less the halfway point on the rail journey between Dundee and Hebden Bridge, at least in terms of time taken. I just like the shape she makes and the way the pink jacket in the background sets off the rest.
I was taking a shot of the dog, when the guy turned around as well to finish it off. Yes, the 2025-26 football season — at least, some its ‘pre-season friendly stage’ — is up and running…
These curious new black boxes have appeared on most of the telegraph poles round here, perhaps they are installations for the great system of surveillance that has doubtless, by now, permeated every aspect of our lives. Though I suppose I do offer up plenty of information about my whereabouts on a voluntary basis. I doubt I would be happy spending my working life fifteen feet up in the air but presumably he’s used to it.
I have had one of those weekends where I did virtually nothing but still reached the end feeling no more refreshed than I was on Friday afternoon. The Handmade Parade, in all its colour and movement, had been taking place earlier in the day but I do not feel I got a representative picture of it — the day was much more as seen here, kind of soft-focus and dim. The recent run of interiors therefore continues.
A stop off on the way north to Dundee. There are various routes available, things not yet seen, including the Great Tapestry, with 160 panels created collectively by over a thousand people between 2012-13. So not as old as this blog, but with more history in it, if you see what I mean. What is seen here is just the first few panels, chronologically. Having toured the country for a while it is now on permanent display in Galashiels, which makes that the 499th different place to feature on here, and number 500 should be along before the week is out, possibly tomorrow.
Being 42 