Category Archives: Urban scene

Oct 01 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Keencost no more

Wednesday 30th September 2026, 6.10pm (day 5,515)

Keencost closed, 30/9/26

Britain is too crowded to let any really extensive tracts of urban decay persist for too long, but some parts of Bradford city centre definitely qualify as ‘underused’ at the present time, and any bus heading north from the Interchange will pass through them. I guess it’s been a while since one could turn up at Keencost, pay cash, and carry away an entire kitchen. I’m not saying I have a problem with urban decay though — at least not photographically.

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Sep 30 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Set dressing

Tuesday 29th September 2026, 9.20am (day 5,514)

Fake phone boxes, 29/9/26

In the 21st century, even more than wearing hi-vis gear, the status of being in possession of a Filming Permit allows one to infiltrate public space with almost total impunity. The clutch of large and mysterious trucks, the erection of ‘No Waiting’ cones and signs proclaiming the colonisation of the area (in this case, the junction of Pall Mall and Booth Street, Manchester) until some unspecified time on Thursday…. it all cries ‘film set’ to me. The clincher is seen here, though. Clearly the production is of a period piece, 20th century stuff — because no one installs phone boxes like these any more. They’re definitely props — trust me.

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Sep 17 2026
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Landscape

The rain sweeps through

Thursday 17th September 2026, 4.25pm (day 5,502)

Back hone. And here was the weather: a dozen of these seemed to sweep through the valley today. What the hell, I had to go back to work.

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Sep 15 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Composition with seats and van

Monday 14th September 2026, 1.10pm (day 5,499)

Still life, yellow seats, 14/9/26

As seen on one side of the Eglise St. Jean-de-Grund, from atop one of Luxembourg’s dizzying verticals; specifically, the Rocher du Bock.

No further comment on the image itself, but I must note that something happened today which has been threatened before but never quite happened over the previous 5,499 days of this blog. Namely that I had a total camera breakdown thanks to a completely dead battery — which I could not replace today because it’s basically too old and the shop I tried did not stock it. It will therefore be out of action at least until I get home, although the kit needed replacing anyway (the camera I am presently using was always just stop-gap equipment). It’s just as well that phones take pictures these days, otherwise the blog would have ended today — and expect at least the next couple to be taken with my Google Pixel 6, itself getting a little knackered these days. Hi-tech photography this is not.

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Sep 13 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Luxembourg City

Saturday 12th September 2026, 11.10am (day 5,497)

Luxembourg city, 12/9/26

While this view is a bit “picture postcard” it would have been unreasonable not to include such a shot from this stay, for Luxembourg is a very attractive and dramatically-sited city, built around two deep gorges carved into sandstone plateaus. Pictorially, it certainly works.

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Sep 10 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Blackfriars station

Wednesday 9th September 2026, 5.30pm (day 5,494)

Blackfriars station view, 9/9/26

I have been to a few of the world’s railway stations and the view from Blackfriars, built on a bridge over the Thames, is surely one of the best there is from any station. Turning one’s back on the trains to concentrate on it is quite logical.

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Sep 04 2026
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Art and architecture, Daily Post, Urban scene

On Grosvenor Street

Thursday 3rd September 2026, 3.35pm (day 5,488)

Grosvenor Street, 3/9/26

She looks mildly disapproving, I think. But is the look for the pedestrian, or the photographer? Another one of the blue-themed pictures that have appeared over the last few days.

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Aug 16 2026
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Daily Post, Urban scene

China Lane

Sunday 16th August 2026, 10.55am (day 5,470)

China Lane, 18/6/26

The alley of China Lane lies on the shortest walking route between Victoria and Piccadilly stations in Manchester and when I’m walking between them — as I was this morning — it is always worth looking down to see if the opportunity arises for a shot — specifically, this one. Why is it called China Lane? No idea, but as it is lined with warehouses and located right beside Piccadilly Basin on the canal, maybe it’s a tea reference.

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Aug 06 2026
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Daily Post, Transport, Urban scene

Clifton Suspension Bridge

Wednesday 5th August 2026, 1.30pm (day 5,459)

Clifton Suspension Bridge, 5/8/26

Up until Tuesday afternoon Bristol was the largest city in the UK that I had never previously visited, but it can now pass on that honour to Coventry. A first full day here revealed many things of interest but to illustrate them I pick what is almost certainly the city’s most depicted feature. Why not, though? I am partial to a good bridge and in the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the place certainly has one of those: this is an extremely handsome and impressive construction, even now. The road deck is nearly 250 feet above the water below — how does one even start going about such an enterprise? OK, build the towers first, but then what? But that is why I am not or never will be Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed it — though did not live to see it completed.

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Aug 01 2026
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna, Urban scene

Kiveton Park

Friday 31st July 2026, 2.30pm (day 5,454)

Kiveton Park, 31/7/26

I admire this kind of large-scale decrepitude and collapse. It is not that the whole of Kiveton Park Industrial Estate looks like this, but nevertheless, in my opinion this was the best-looking corner of it. Somehow it seems strange that this hangar is eroding from the bottom up rather than the other way around, but see for yourselves. (Pictured on my latest County Top walk — see the other blog.)

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