Category Archives: Urban scene

Still working on the roof

Wednesday 25th October 2023, 9.15am (day 4,444)

Roofers and mist, 25/10/23

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.

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Danish guys hang out

Tuesday 24th October 2023, 4.30pm (day 4,443)

FC København fans, 24/10/23

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.

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Exchange Theatre door

Monday 23rd October 2023, 9.45am (day 4,442)

Theatre door sleeper, 23/10/23

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.

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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.

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Under the M6

Saturday 21st October 2023, 10.40am (day 4,440)

Art under M6, 21/10/23

The water is that of the Tame Valley Canal. Above, thunders the M6, doing its rounds just north of Birmingham. Whoever marked the crossing point of these two transport arteries with this piece of work was inspired. Someone else’s art, again, but worth sharing.

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The eyes have it

Tuesday 17th October 2023, 9.20am (day 4,436)

Back alley, 17/10/23

I could have been taking a photo of all sorts of things here in this Manchester back alley. But I’m going with the eyes in the background.

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Roof garden dummies

Monday 16th October 2023, 12.40pm (day 4,435)

Roof garden dummies, 16/10/23

Seeing as the garden in question is on the roof of Big Hands, the micro-gig venue round the corner from my office — and no, I’ve never noticed them before — perhaps Roof Garden Dummies is to be the name of some emergent punk/student band, to be appearing (possibly) on a digital feed near you at some point in the second half of this decade. If I was in The Zone, I might consider founding them myself. But possibly Kraftwerk already did it.

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The Low Moor sculpture park

Saturday 14th October 2023, 1.30pm (day 4,433)

Low Moor sculptures

Just beyond the fence at Low Moor railway station, in Bradford, are stored these bizarre sculptures, or possibly they are some kind of carnival float. I really have no idea what story these make together, though. A close-up was no more revealing, so let’s go with this long shot under stormy skies instead.

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More protesting

Wednesday 11th October 2023, 6.00pm (day 4,430)

Pro-Palestine protest, 11/10/23

The third protest in a month, if we count the poster statement. Not hard to work out the basic focus of this one. I was just passing, not expressing a particular opinion, but I do notice that in BBC reports of the atrocities presently unfolding in the Middle East, Israelis ‘are killed’ whereas Palestinians just ‘die’. As much as anything else that helps explain why some people are pissed off.

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Cathedral Gardens works, yet again

Tuesday 10th October 2023, 9.40am (day 4,429)

Cathedral Gardens works, 10/10/23

No one seems able to leave any empty Manchester space empty for long. Cathedral Gardens is particularly prone to being built on by some temporary structure or other, if it’s not the ‘Davis Cup Fan Zone’ (that was last month) it’s whatever this twelve-hi-vis operation might become. Probably the ice rink; for after all, it’s nearly Christmas.

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