Category Archives: Urban scene

Bridges and joggers

Sunday 7th September 2025, 10.35am (day 5,127)

Banks of Clyde, 7/9/25

There are thirteen people in this photo — notice the two up on the bridge heading at right angles to everyone else’s trajectory — and with the exception of the woman in pink in the background, every one of them is jogging, some more speedily than others. In Glasgow city centre clearly the banks of the Clyde are Jogger Central on a Sunday morning.

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Courtyard and mural, Glasgow

Saturday 6th September 2025, 4.40pm (day 5,126)

Glasgow mural, 6/9/25

I took a picture of this mural on a visit to Glasgow a couple of years ago, but didn’t use it at the time: in fact, the one I took then was possibly better as from outside the pub courtyard we see her left hand coming down to pick up little insect-like pedestrians on the street. But from the courtyard of O’Neill’s pub the ‘Girl With a Magnifying Glass’ (look it up on Google Maps) seems to be inspecting the drinkers, somewhat scientifically…

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Vintage (open daily)

Monday 1st September 2025, 3.05pm (day 5,121)

Vintage shop, 1/9/25

It is far easier to buy this kind of stuff in Hebden Bridge than it is to purchase, say, socks, or useful modern technology. This is just one of at least three shops of this kind here, and it’s not even that big a town. There is something of an optical illusion going on here — things are not quite as big as they seem…

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Hough Top, Leeds

Sunday 31st August 2025, 11.50am (day 5,120)

Hough Top, 31/8/25

Going on somewhere between me and these two was a Sunday morning football match — the guy on the left started out as the goalkeeper but after about 15 minutes, having conceded two, he decided his shoulder wasn’t up to it so pulled out. First game of the season, too. At least his girlfriend was in attendance: which might have influenced the assessment of the injury’s seriousness. Behind them both — a bit of Leeds. August finally comes to an end; it seems a long time since I was in Orkney.

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Clothes stall, with legs

Thursday 28th August 2025, 10.20am (day 5,117)

Clothes and legs, 28/8/25

Thursday market manoeuvers. “I know it’s in here somewhere — I just have to move a few things around to find it…”

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Guerilla advertising (presumably)

Thursday 21st August 2025, 2.10pm (day 5,110)

Feel-good scheisse, 21/8/25

I have a feeling this billboard, found under the arch that takes the railway over Princess Street in Manchester city centre, has been subverted before. I don’t see how this can be anything other than guerilla advertising; it’s certainly a valid point.

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In Halifax, late

Wednesday 20th August 2025, 10.25pm (day 5,109)

A day riddled with negativity in at least two ways, each related to totally different aspects of my life. I was glad when 20/8/25 was over, but it lasted until later than most of my days do at this time. Negativity doesn’t do much for creativity, so here’s a picture of a car park. But I suppose I like the redness and seeming randomness of the pillars, and it’s the second-latest shot of 2025 so far (beaten only by the turtle on Ascension Island in April).

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Fan and pharaoh

Wednesday 13th August 2025, 5.55pm (day 5,102)

The portable fan had obvious application today, as it was very warm. The candle shaped like the bust of an Egyptian pharaoh, possibly Khufu (commissioner of the Great Pyramid in Cairo)? Less obvious. But there they both were.

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Drained

Tuesday 12th August 2025, 4.20pm (day 5,101)

Drained canal, 12/8/25

Even in Manchester, the Rochdale Canal usually looks a bit more aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps this is an accidental draining — it happens, people sometimes leave locks open. Or there is some big clean-up about to happen. Future archaeologists will love all this crap. Meanwhile, the runner on the left ponders whether a) he will be allowed to proceed more than another few yards and b) whether he is about to step on a pigeon.

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Moonrise

Tuesday 5th August 2025, 9.05pm (day 5,094)

Moon and rooves, 5/8/25

The moon looks much the same from Bradford as it does from everywhere else, I imagine (until you get down below the Equator, when it does this weird turning upside-down thing), But here we have a nice conjunction, I think. Will it come out unscathed after its journey along the serrated edge? Probably.

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