Friday 2nd August 2024, 11.15am (day 4,726)
The sun is still shining. A few attics need airing, skylights need opening. Ours too — this photo was taken by sticking my head out of the roof.
Attics get an airing
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Urban scene
Working, but not inside
Thursday 1st August 2024, 2.20pm (day 4,725)
The weather is warm and pleasant at the moment, and very unconducive to staying indoors, even if I did have to work. So, I didn’t. Stay indoors, that is. The other thing comes with the territory, for a bit longer in my life at least.
Entrance to Granary Wharf
Wednesday 31st July 2024, 6.40pm (day 4,724)
And so ends July 2024, another month that has felt extended over quite a long time — at the start of it we were still in the Isle of Wight, and that was surely ages ago. But apparently not. Anyway, the month ends with an evening in Leeds. No particular significance attaches to the chosen picture — I just like the colours. Which is, of course, probably the reason that the designers of Granary Wharf’s visual elements did this with the lights.
Items for collection
Thursday 25th July 2024, 4.20pm (day 4,718)
Not quite the latest pic in the ‘abandoned shoes’ series, as there is a pair here. Along with the other items they seem to have been placed beside the Keighley Road pavement deliberately, for collection and subsequent use by anyone who needs them. So if anyone in Hebden Bridge does want an old telephone, a plastic wine glass, a nail file, the shoes or the other things which were in the pile but unseen — feel free to go and inspect.
Red chilli with bikes
Wednesday 24th July 2024, 11.05am (day 4,717)
This is one of those occasions where an often-seen view suddenly struck me, for the first time, as possible material for a picture. And with a long zoom, it seems to have worked out. I like the details, such as the panda face to the left. Doubtless if you are Chinese, there will be more. Though apparently, the banners read “Happy New Year” (if the very small writing at the bottom of each is to be believed): proof that this particular culture is no more fastidious about taking down the seasonal decorations than are the English.
Advertisement?
Thursday 18th July 2024, 9.35am (day 4,711)
This sits on my usual walking route to campus so I know it hasn’t been up for long. I wonder how many other artists who have been dead for 30 years might still receive such tribute. Or perhaps it is a political message. Perhaps the reference is to hidden subliminal messages in Bobby Brown. Perhaps all those 12 key changes in every track will assist in unlocking the secrets of the tellurian currents. But I’m probably not going to start listening to Zappa — I did try, a couple of times, but it really didn’t work out.
Condiments
Wednesday 10th July 2024, 2.55pm (day 4,703)
Only the tenth Hebden shot in three months, but as I have already noted, there will be more of these coming up. Whether they get more exciting than this one is as yet undetermined but up to me, I guess. This at least represents a pleasant lunch out with the wife. It’s nice to be home, for now.
Two piers
Sunday 7th July 2024, 2.40pm (day 4,700)
Since the 10th April, which was day 4,612 and hence 88 days, or 12.5 weeks ago, there have only been 8 pictures taken in Hebden Bridge, a sign of how much travelling I have been doing. But today was the last full day of it all. I may still get another Brighton or London picture on my way home tomorrow but after that I am at home for most of the rest of the summer. It’s been good to use my sabbatical properly, and valuable to have a change of scene: but I also want to go home, not move around so much, settle back in to home comforts, food, the movie collection, friends, that kind of thing.
To bring it all this to an end, then: more Brighton. Both piers, the active and the ruined, have appeared on here before — but not together, I think. Farewell to the south coast, for now: how long before I am back? No idea.
The ruin of Bradford
Sunday 23rd June 2024, 10.00am (day 4,686)
Bradford has featured on here reasonably regularly, this being its 27th appearance. It is one of those places that seems to be in a constant state of urban ‘renewal’. Presumably because it is to be the UK’s City of Culture in 2025, at the moment, a big pedestrianisation project seems to be consuming the whole of the city centre. This may be a good thing, in the end. On the other hand, the big Marks & Spencer store has closed — and in the UK, this is as good a marker as any that a retail centre is in trouble. This picture is taken early on but it wasn’t a great deal busier when I came back through at lunchtime, on a sunny summer’s day. Will all this beautification take so long that by the time it’s ready to go, there’s nothing left? (The bus station has fallen down, too.)
Hebden Bridge market, c. 1924
Saturday 22nd June 2024, 3.35pm (day 4,685)
I imagine this scene may well have looked much the same 100 years ago. Only the blue plastic Co-op bag really gives it away. A good day today — proof that while travel can be good, it’s almost always nice to come home. And the sun was shining too.
Being 42 