Saturday 20th January 2018, 2.00pm (day 2,340)
He did do so, a couple of minutes later. Yes, I do have a photo of that moment as well, but there was too much flare on it and anyway they can keep their privacy in that respect.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Stranger
Asleep
Tuesday 19th December 2017, 9.35am (day 2,308)
This was the first photo I took today, and while I did in the end go on to take more, I didn’t really need to. As soon as I saw this, I thought – this is me, today. This is how I feel.
Hamilton Academicals get ready
Saturday 9th December 2017, 3.00pm (day 2,298)
Another stop for Joe and I in our efforts to see lots of different football competitions in one season — today was our 13th, the Scottish Premier League. Hamilton Academical have a great name and I like their red-and-white hoops. I can identify the player on the left as their captain Xavier Tomas; not sure about the other two however, but let me off — we were not even supposed to be here today, having headed for a different game entirely which was postponed as we arrived in Glasgow, hence this emergency replacement, which made all my prior research irrelevant. Accies should have won, but their failure to put the ball in the net when given clear chances to do so meant they lost 1-0 to visiting St Johnstone.
In University Place
Tuesday 28th November 2017, 9.30am (day 2,287)
She’s about to stand up, so this was my one chance to get this picture — hence, it’s fiercely cropped and could be a lot sharper. But…. I still kinda like it. You can’t really go wrong with rimlight like that.
Full-on CTS (Cattle Truck Status)
Monday 20th November 2017, 7.20am (day 2,279)
Monday morning, and it’s raining, and you’ve just bought a weekly ticket for the first time in ages (meaning you’re going into Manchester every day this week) and the 06:59 turns up as a two-carriage piece of obsolete shit as it always does, only today the previous service through was cancelled so by Littleborough it’s already achieved full CTS (Cattle Truck Status) and we haven’t even had the Rochdale passengers on yet. Happy Mondays.
IT helpdesk
Tuesday 7th November 2017, 1.55pm (day 2,266)
How many IT helpdesks round the world look like this, I wonder? Still, they did help. On an iatrogenic problem, though.
Workshop, ECIL 2017
Tuesday 19th September 2017, 6.00pm (day 2,217)
All the travel hassle did eventually get me to the destination, namely the 2017 European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL). In the past this has been responsible for the appearance of Dubrovnik, Tallinn and Prague on the blog; this year we are in St. Malo, France, a beautiful town, of which a picture will appear at some point I am sure. But for now, some work. I am the keynote speaker this year so I’d better show willing.
Jazzmen
Saturday 26th August 2017, 4.10pm (day 2,193)
Happy birthday to me — fortysomething again. I’m sure if you have been following this blog long enough you know the exact figure. With me being on my own in Urbana this week it was never going to be the most sociable anniversary but I did my best back at the Sweetcorn Festival’s second day. The New Orleans jazz band were the best feature. Another talent I wish I had — I seem to recall some forty years ago playing the clarinet in the school orchestra and so maybe I should reword that, ‘another talent I regret losing’. Still, perhaps I’ve picked up others along the way. Onward, onward with my 49th year on the planet. Whoops, there you go — I gave it away.
The owner of the ‘Iron Post’
Friday 25th August 2017, 10.20pm (day 2,192)
The Iron Post is a pub in Urbana. Many years ago — well, twelve anyway (in 2005) — this place saved our bacon on the 4th July when it was the only pub in the city that was open for food and drink. I also remember being here in 2006 and talking to this guy — he had a beard then — on the day that the state of Illinois passed the ordinance which forbade smoking inside any public building. It’s safe to say he wasn’t happy. He won’t remember me, but when I returned this evening for a beer and saw him sat in the far corner of the bar doing his books, or whatever it is, I recognised him.
And so ends the sixth full year of this blog. I set out to do one — I’ve done six. I may as well keep going, there are still things in the world worth depicting. Are you sticking with me? Good, let’s do some more.
Rolling up
Friday 18th August 2017, 9.15am (day 2,185)
Well, I assume he’s rolling a cigarette, but perhaps he might just be playing a tune on the world’s smallest harmonica.
Last day in Manchester for a fortnight, anyway. If things work out — I have, let’s say, a logistically complex next 72 hours, but the payoff will be good if it does…
Being 42 