Tolerable weather this morning so I left home without any equipment. On the two-mile walk back from my office to the railway station, I decided happiness would have been a small frame of wire with some synthetic material stretched over it, even if it had been red with black spots and had two comedy eyes poking up from the top. I’m still damp now, several hours later.
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.
Same train in so I pass through the same parts of Manchester at the same time. Off I go to work one way, this guy goes a second way, the bird goes a third. I wonder if pigeons sometimes wake up in the morning with a headache, and just don’t feel very much into the day, but set off anyway through a sense of obligation.
After 12 consecutive days in Hebden Bridge or the immediate area, I made it into Manchester for the first time since graduation day (Dec 14th). Started early enough for it still to be dark even after my 50-minute train journey in. This shot is of what looks like the cleaning crew reporting for their own early start, at Selfridges department store on Cross Street.
Why do I like this shot of such a mundane moment? I like the stripes of light, I like the fact that the focus is as good as it could be (bearing in mind the low light levels) on the illuminated guy in the grey jacket, and I like that as soon as Joe saw it he said he thought the two lightsabers were cool.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
Back to Manchester. Xmas market still full of stuff this morning. Isn’t it a little late to be expecting to get rid of a few dozen Christmas trees and ten reindeer seemingly made out of compost? Maybe, but what do I know.
