Category Archives: Hebden Bridge

Jan 12 2012
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene Gallery

Blackbird in tree

Thursday 12th January 2012, 1.45pm (day 140)

Blackbird in tree, 12/1/12

There have been a run of animal photos lately (and yes, the Norwegian Blue counts!). But I make no apologies for including another one, as it successfully encapsulates a glorious day. And more to come, according to the forecast. Which is good, because I’m going to the Lakes for the weekend – though probably without Internet access, so regular visitors might bear in mind that it is unlikely any more photos will be posted until Monday 16th. I will be back then… never fear.

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Jan 04 2012
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Hebden Bridge, Uncategorized, Urban scene Gallery

The parents taking shelter

Wednesday 4th January 2012, 2.55pm (day 132)

Taking shelter, 4/1/12

The weather today was as foul as it’s been on any day of this blog so far. I was on picking-up duty from school. The only place to shelter there is this gazebo-like structure. By the time I arrived it was already full of other parents. 15 minutes later Joe ambled out and then wondered why he didn’t get a treat on the way home.

Joe’s fantasy, by the way, is that his school gets flooded. Well, it’s called Riverside for a reason. If this rain keeps up he might get his wish.

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Jan 03 2012
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna, Hebden Bridge Gallery

High water, Hebden Bridge

Tuesday 3rd January 2012, 8.45am (day 131)

High water, 3/1/12

2012 has been a very wet and windy year so far. This picture may look worse than it actually was – these small trees are pretty much on the edge of inundation most of the time anyway – but I hope it does capture the way the water was thundering down through the town this morning.

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Jan 01 2012
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene Gallery

Hebden Bridge, 1.30am, New Year’s Day

Sunday 1st January 2012, 1.30am (day 129)

HB town centre, 1/1/12

Having stayed up past midnight for obvious reasons – and it’s a rarity for me – this first post of 2012 becomes the earliest in a given day by far. Usually when I see anything before 6am it’s because I’m up early, not in bed late.

Hebden Bridge seemed pretty laid-back when we walked back through it after leaving the party. Maybe it was the incredibly mild weather – unseasonably warm, we were able to sit outside at 1am having a final pint of beer with no sense of cold or discomfort. I like this shot because of the mixture of lines and textures, even if it is a bit blurred (but you try taking photos like this at 1.30am with no tripod!). I also like the mysterious, solitary blonde on the right. (As a compositional device, you understand.)

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Dec 30 2011
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene Gallery

Calrec Audio (as the cover of ‘Physical Graffiti’)

Friday 30th December 2011, 4.20pm (day 127)

Calrec Audio, 30/12/11

This has not been an active couple of days. I have spent almost all of both of them at home working. Fortunately I have yet to exhaust the photographic possibilities in the immediate area. This is the factory across the street (see also 5th September, for instance), looking to me like the cover of Led Zeppelin’s finest moment(s), the Physical Graffiti album. But perhaps it’s been a long year, not to mention 33 hours in the house on my own not talking to anyone, and I am starting to hallucinate.

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Dec 15 2011
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Landscape Gallery

Moon over Hebden Bridge

Thursday 15th December 2011, 8.30am (day 112)

Moon over Hebden, 15/12/11

I don’t feel I’ve been here much lately. However, I’ve now got four weeks at home – more-or-less – so get used to photos of this place (and occasionally Manchester). On mornings like this, it’s no hardship – though the rest of the day was rather worse.

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Nov 30 2011
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene Gallery

Stubbings School, Hebden Bridge – closed

Wednesday 30th November 2011, 9.55am (day 97)

Stubbings is closed, 30/11/11

The public sector comprises people like teachers, refuse collectors, immigration officers, police officers, nurses, gravediggers…  performing those tasks which are essential to the functionality and health of a society but which are difficult to ‘market’, unglamorous, dangerous, non-profit-making or all of the above. The UK government has, since taking power in a right-wing, private-sector-led coup that followed the inconclusive May 2010 general election, launched a sustained raid on the pensions funds of these groups, using the proceeds to pay off bankers who privatise and tax-dodge with their profits, but nationalise their debts – the perfect scam – and spending them on nuclear weapons that will never be fired (see October 3rd commentary).

The public sector unions responded by today calling a widespread strike, which will be excoriated in certain right-wing papers tomorrow as a matter of course, despite being supported by 61% of the British public, according to one opinion poll. Had Joe’s school been open – it was not – I would have kept him off anyway as a show of support. I hope there are more. Something has to make the bastards crack. They’re a Coalition for heaven’s sake, all it takes is the Lib Dems to stop pimping our arses while the Chancellor stands behind, shafting away.

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Nov 26 2011
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene Gallery

Burst water main, Market Street, Hebden Bridge

Saturday 26th November 2011, 10.05am (day 93)

Burst water main, 26/11/11_low-res

So we move into the second trimester of this blog. End of November, December, January and most of February – the winter months. Expect lots of pictures of the cold and wet. I get several trips abroad in this period but they’re all to Norway (to where I head once more, tomorrow), Russia, the Netherlands – you won’t be seeing any winter warmth.

This picture was the only really interesting thing to happen today but is deceiving. The flood has been caused not by rain but by water flooding out (literally) from a burst mains pipe and drowning the road.

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Nov 02 2011
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Transport Gallery

Waiting for the late train, Hebden Bridge station

Wednesday 2nd November 2011, 9.00am (day 69)

Hebden Bridge station, 2/11/11

What irritates me most about the public transport in this country is not the unpunctuality (which tends to be concentrated on certain lines at certain times of the day, and after a while you just learn to avoid them – if you can, of course). No, the thing that gets me the most is the stupid ‘no growth in numbers’ contracts which the train operating companies have signed.As a result, public transport is an utterly backwards industry in which there is actually no business incentive to increase custom. (Undergraduate education is becoming another one.)

There is one, and only one, reason why such a state of affairs is tolerated: it’s because every journey by public transport represents  a little redistribution of tax income. The government like collecting tax, so encourage us to use cars, which are enormous sources of tax revenue. They don’t like paying tax back out. so don’t want us to use public transport, which is ‘subsidised’ (I call it ‘invested in’). As a result Britain has the highest public transport costs of almost any country in the world.

But despite everything, it’s still a damn sight better than using a car.

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Nov 01 2011
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Landscape Gallery

View from my house

Tuesday 1st November 2011, 10.20am (day 68)

Autumn view, 1/11/11

Hebden Bridge in autumn plumage. Definitely a good time of year to be here.

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