This is the main square in the centre of Hebden Bridge. You have seen it before (like on March 18th and March 6th, for example), but not this late at night. Then again you’ve seen very little of things this late at night, because I am not much of a dirty stop-out. Tonight was an exception: we went to the cinema.
Yup: that pretty much sums me up, musically. And all at £2 off, as well.
The weather was not wet, nor that cold, today, but it was so dull. So to cheer me up and make things feel more springlike, here are some pretty blossoms for May Day.
It’s also day 250 of the blog, so I have made some new additions to the ‘Best of the Rest’ page.
I put up this photo today for two reasons. The first is that I have been starved of sunlight for a week but here is evidence that the morning was a beautiful sunny one, and the whole day stayed reasonable. The last time I had a photo on this blog illuminated by sunshine was 21st April, and even that had just been a momentary break of sun in an otherwise rainy day.
The other thing is that I see this view of Manchester Cathedral every time I leave Victoria station, and keep thinking, OK, it’s not a particularly impressive church (the parish church in the Sussex village where I grew up is larger); but it is a cathedral, thus the centre of a bishopric, the ecclesiastical centre of this, a very large city, God’s house, all that jazz. And in 1974 or so someone went, ‘I’ve got an idea. Let’s build a sodding great white concrete thing right beind it.’
The non-democratic British government, and the private capitalists they get to do their dirty work with public services, are so inept they can’t even do the weather right. Last week we were all told that the country currently resides in a state of drought. Since then it’s hardly stopped raining.
It’s not a ‘drought’, anyway. What we are being told is that the private water companies have inefficient water capture systems and a lack of any real conservation strategy. But that’s an undesirable message as far as they’re concerned, and one easy to spin into ‘It’s the Weather. Honest guv. It’s out of our hands.’ No it isn’t. If the government just gave everyone a water butt for free we could sort out a lot of the ‘problems’ by tomorrow morning.
This is one of those photos that I could take almost any morning that I walk to the station, as this view just presents itself to anyone walking over the bridge that leads there. In a sense then it’s one of the ‘reserve’ photos that I have been saving for when there’s not much else to document. The weather is poor at the moment, the light flat; but there’s always the reflections to give some interest. And speculation as to what it’s actually like to live on one of these boats, which many people do.
No particular story behind this one, just a photo to encapsulate what was a nice, sunny day – although a chilly one.
Back to work tomorrow after 11 days off. Well, I suppose it’s gotta be done now and again.
Am still off work so was going into Manchester tonight, for an evening out, as opposed to passing this place on the way in to work in the morning. It’s actually not ‘Urbis’ any more – a failed museum of ‘city life’ it is apparently being converted into the new National Football Museum, though there’s little actual sign of that happening right now. Took me a couple of minutes to get this exact photo as lots of other people were walking past, I kept hoping that a) the light would stay b) the girls wouldn’t just get up and leave and c) no one would arrest me for pointing a camera at them for ages.
Historically, as eggs were not supposed to be eaten during Lent, but you can’t persuade chickens to stop laying them for the duration, there would always have been a surplus of them at Easter. Hence, the practical usefulness of the tradition of the Easter egg. Apparently.
This display currently decorates the window of the Yorkshire Soap Co. in Hebden Bridge. Incidentally I like the very mild risque touch in this picture of confectionery, thanks to an unanticipated reflection.
Most of the Netherlands didn’t even exist until the 12th century, and Maastricht (from the Roman Mosae Trajectum) is the only genuinely venerable city in the country, having grown around crossing points over the river Maas (or Meuse). And here is the newest, the Hoge Brug or ‘High Bridge’. As you can see, it was something of a grey and dull morning, though not as bad as at home, where the early summer of two weeks ago has reverted to snow. Glad I’m away for a little while.
