Friday 24th November 2023, 12.45pm (day 4,474)
A bright day, but cold. This was a shot where, contrary to almost all other occasions, I actually wanted a car to come past. The wire annoys, but only a little.
Birchcliffe Road
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Urban scene
Bus stop
Wednesday 22nd November 2023, 4.50pm (day 4,472)
It is, of course, wholly dark by 4.50pm at this time of year. Scant weeks ago this guy would have been waiting for his bus home in balmy sunshine. But so it is for all of us.
By the Mancunian Way
Tuesday 14th November 2023, 4.50pm (day 4,464)
One of those where I was trying to get the shot before the traffic resumed and didn’t manage it — but in the end, didn’t care. This is a spot regularly passed on my walk to and from work, and occasionally photographed in the past. I’ve had plenty of chances to feature it as this is the 800th shot on here to be located in Manchester. As I, technically, work here full-time, you might have thought there’d be more, but even before 2020 I certainly never came to work here five days a week. Two is more like it — an arrangement I’ve always found suitable.
Infrastructural stuff
Monday 6th November 2023, 9.25am (day 4,456)
Dig a hole in the road and you can leave it there as long as you like, as long as you put up a barrier around it and make it look important. This has been here on Princess Street for weeks. Not often under such portentous skies, though.
Tree and Chapel, evening
Thursday 2nd November 2023, 5.40pm (day 4,452)
This week has been one of those periods where keeping this blog going is as much an exercise in persistence as it is one of creativity. Despite all the countries that have been seen in the last 12.25 years (see the stats) it’s been seven months since I have left the UK (the last shot taken away from Blighty being this one of the Pyrenees on 5th April). But this will change in 2024, with fairly definite plans for trips to Canada, the US (including New York City) and at least one return to St Helena, via Namibia. So hang in there…. Meanwhile, here’s a shot of a local tree.
Leaves on the wonky steps
Thursday 26th October 2023, 3.05pm (day 4,445)
Autumn has hit in Manchester too, of course. These steps are to be found on Princess Street, as one arrives in Manchester city centre on the walk back from work (my walk, anyway). I think of them as the wonky steps because they are, aren’t they? Why those slopes or mini-ramps are present I have no idea. Accessibility-wise they would only take, say, a pram or bike up to the first platform, with three-quarters of the steps left to go after that. Maybe the builders were just having a creative moment back in the 1970s.
Still working on the roof
Wednesday 25th October 2023, 9.15am (day 4,444)
The roofers have been working on Nutclough Mill for weeks now. Months, even. But there are worse mornings to be up there.
Today is, as you may notice, day 4,444 — twelve years and two months, more or less. I did think about finding something 4-related to mark it, but this photo was always going to be today’s shot once it was taken. Nevertheless the number is worth noting, particularly as Stafford, last Thursday, was place number 444. Which if nothing else shows I am maintaining a steady diet of one new place every ten days.
Danish guys hang out
Tuesday 24th October 2023, 4.30pm (day 4,443)
In Manchester, at some point in most weeks in the autumn there will be an influx of visitors from some European place or other, because either United or City will be at home in the Champions League — or lately, if it’s United, some lesser competition, but they did make the CL this time round. Today it was the fans of FC København (or Copenhagen if you like). They seemed an agreeable enough bunch, but didn’t see a win: United took the game 1-0.
Exchange Theatre door
Monday 23rd October 2023, 9.45am (day 4,442)
The guy’s still asleep, it seems. Quite a few of the doors of premises on Cross Street, if they haven’t been opened by this time in the morning, are occupied by rough sleepers most days.
Photographically this was one where I was planning for someone to walk past. The coffee cup’s usefully placed too.
King Edward’s Wharf, Birmingham
Sunday 22nd October 2023, 10.45am (day 4,441)
It is said that Birmingham has more canals than Venice, and it’s a believable stat once you start walking around the place.
Being 42 