I assume the visual pun is deliberate. Is that Minnie Mouse, or her male counterpart? I think Minnie. Either way, the first mouse to appear on here in 12+ years…. kinda. Taken through the window of one or other of Hebden Bridge’s innumerable cafés, I forget which one this is exactly. Perhaps it would have been nice to have not had the reflections, but it is what it is.
I know this blog has had its banal moments over the last 12.6 years but depicting the weekly supermarket shop is pushing the boundaries. Yet it was (mildly) interesting today if only because it took place in a different venue from normal, for the convenience on the day: and the trolley park caught my eye. I like the deep blue colours that contrast the dominant greyness. But is it exciting? No, that I am not claiming.
Amongst other things that 2024 has lacked (like, my teaching, a ceasefire), I do not yet recall one of those ‘first day of spring’ moments: the kind of day, in England anyway, where it suddenly warms up, the sun starts shining and everything goes, ‘Hello….’. If it has already happened, I missed it. And 12/3/24 wasn’t it either.
Ebrington is a former British Army barracks sited above Derry: the big flat space you see here would presumably have been the parade ground. Not so much a case of swords into ploughshares, but more, swords into luxury hotels-with-spas, artisan craft beer shops and restaurants. But it does retain a good (strategic) view of the city. And it’s a good spot to learn to ride a bike. (The ‘X’ is the Peace Bridge, which featured, along with the also-prominent Guildhall, back in August ’22.)
The Butchers’ Arms is a football ground, home to Droylsden FC of east Manchester, but there is no intention to class this as a football-related shot. I am pleased with this one because it was the shot I wanted to capture when I pressed the shutter — and it’s always nice when it works out that way, particularly in the evening when there’s not much light to work with. The lonely ‘Book Your Party’ sign is definitely part of the composition.
A metaphor of some kind? Quite possibly. We are all waiting for something. But at least the sun was shining on Hebden Bridge station this morning.
Several public houses premises in and around Hebden Bridge have lain empty for years. This is the old Crown Inn in the town centre: at my back as I took this photo was Marshall’s Bar; neither of them made it through 2020 and have remained closed and empty since. Some pubs on the approach roads to town (like the Woodsman Inn) have been lying derelict for two decades now. Yet the contradictions of the property market are such that it seems now, by law, only new café-bars and restaurants are allowed to open in the town. It is clearly cheaper and more desirable to convert a former bank into a pub than convert a former pub into a reopened pub.
A pleasant day for sure. Long may it last (it probably won’t). I’m sure the dogs appreciate it just as much as the walkers do.
Halifax town centre lies hard up against a very steep hill that mostly cuts it off very sharply. But this being Yorkshire, some buildings still manage to cling to the slopes. I imagine that safety fence is needed for various reasons.
This was not specifically a photo of the bus station, which is crowned by the scaffolded tower seen here, but it does prompt me to note that this still isn’t finished after what feels like about two years of reconstruction. The last photo of the old version of Halifax bus station was taken at the end of 2021. It’s now partly in use, admittedly, but the works are definitely still going on… it’ll be nice when it’s done, but will it ever be?
Since I last passed this way in October, this particular piece of random art has acquired a head — and a rather demonic head it is, at least to my eyes. Impressive though. What this is, and why it sits in a yard next to Low Moor railway station, I still have no idea.
