Category Archives: Urban scene

Sep 17 2013
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Manchester Town Hall

Tuesday 17th September 2013, 9.40am (day 754)

Manchester town hall, 17/9/13

In case this hasn’t been apparent from the pictures, it’s been raining for about three days now: not heavily, but persistently. As it always seems to around now, just in time to welcome the new year’s students to Manchester: hi, here’s that grey rainy city you were being warned about. Wanted to get a picture today that encapsulated their arrival, but with such flat grey light it was better, in the end, to do one like this. I know I could have been more at the necessary right angle to the facade, but hey.

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Sep 16 2013
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene

The construction site, as babysitter

Monday 16th September 2013, 3.30pm (day 753)

Watching the building, 16/9/13

A bit of a repetition, after my picture of the same crane last Friday (the ‘unexpectedly large object‘), but the building works going on down there are attracting attention from all comers, as shown by today’s shot of a grandfather and grandson (the relationship was obvious when you saw them from the front) getting some quality time in together, watching the action.

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Sep 15 2013
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene

Farmers’ market in the rain

Sunday 15th September 2013, 1.00pm (day 752)

Farmers market, 15/9/13

Very few people bothered today, on either side of the tables. Not surprised, though — the weather was dismal.

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Sep 11 2013
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene

Unexpectedly large object

Wednesday 11th September 2013, 2.05pm (day 748)

Crane, Calrec, 11/9/13

Now that’s something I don’t see out the back window of my house every day. Hence, it gets recorded on the blog. On days working (marking) at home, seeing something new is what keeps it going. The building work has been going on down there for some weeks now, but this was distinctive enough to be worth devoting a day’s photo.

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Sep 10 2013
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Central Street, Manchester

Tuesday 10th September 2013, 4.15pm (day 747)

Central Street, 10/9/13Just another one of those corners that pop up at the periphery of my life. I had very little time as I half-ran back through Manchester today, to catch the best train home, but I did pause along the way to catch this shot. It’s not of anything in particular, it’s just a combination of cloud and architecture and light that I like.

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Sep 02 2013
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Bislett Stadium, Oslo

Monday 2nd September 2013, 2.45pm (day 739)

Bislett stadium, 2/9/13

I got pictures of a few Oslo landmarks today but I have chosen this one because, firstly, I sort of stumbled across the place, having taken a wrong turn on my walk back into the city after finishing work at the university (comfortably early, but that’s Norway for you, where they do things early — 11.30 is a typical time for lunch).

Second, this is the scene of something I remember watching at the time, and even then, aged 11, I thought it was quite impressive. With 32 years’ hindsight, what Sebastian Coe did on 10/6/81 must be counted as one of the most astonishing athletic performances of all time, setting a world record for the 800 metres (1:41.73) that was not beaten for 16 years and has still only been bettered twice. Which is quite mind-boggling, when you think about how records tend to fall in that sport. And here’s where it happened.

[Having checked these facts on Wikipedia I feel duty bound to point out that the women’s 800m record was set by Jarmila Kratochvila in 1983, which is, perhaps, even more amazing.]

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Aug 27 2013
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Apothecary, Haworth

Monday 26th August 2013, 2.35pm (day 732)

Apothecary, 26/8/13

I was born on 26/8/69, so today was my 44th birthday. It was thrice blessed, being also a public holiday in the UK, and finally, a hot and sunny late summer’s day. We went to Haworth – as indeed did about ten thousand other tourists, but somehow the place seems to fit them all in without collapsing into some kind of over-commercialised netherworld; I like Haworth, in fact. Of course one cannot escape the Brontë references, even in this store, though the present owners are almost apologetic in pointing out that the main contribution it makes to literary history is that it’s the place where Bramwell Brontë once bought his opium.

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Aug 22 2013
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene

Still life, in the rubbish yard

Wednesday 22nd August 2013, 4.35pm (day 728)

Wheelchair in trash, 22/8/13

Back home, but don’t get used to it. Beautiful sunny day today. Why someone had dumped this hospital wheelchair, the pile of metal chairs and the old stove in this little corner, I have no idea, but at least it provides some variety.

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Aug 21 2013
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Daily Post, Urban scene

South Beirut

Wednesday 21st August 2013, 9.15am (day 727)

South Beirut, 21/8/13Of course this is a city with its problems as well as its good side. This is South Beirut, where last Friday night a huge car bomb claimed the lives of 15 people. The sectarian divisions within this whole region are too complex for an outsider like me to truly understand. I would also say they are too complex for outsiders like the US, UK, French, etc. governments to understand too, but that doesn’t stop the latter group dipping their hands into the mix anyway. Perhaps appropriately for day number 727, this was taken from the plane seconds after take-off, as I returned home this morning.

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Aug 21 2013
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Daily Post, Urban scene

The American University of Beirut

Tuesday 20th August 2013, 1.35pm (day 726)

College hall, AUB, 20/8/13

AUB was founded in the 1860s and is probably the most prestigious university in the whole region. It has a spectacularly beautiful campus, perched on a wooded hill with views of the Mediterranean (yesterday’s picture was taken not five minutes’ walk from this one). They have been gracious enough to invite me to spend this short but enjoyable time in Beirut. Here are some of the delegates from the MDLAB conference which I’ve been speaking at, waiting for our tour of the campus. We are standing under College Hall, which was bombed in the Lebanese civil war, but restored in around 2001.

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