Friday 4th November 2022, 11.05am (day 4,089)
Onto campus for a day that was less-than-inspiring, but at least the sun was shining. This tree caught the light very well as I transitioned across Oxford Road for a much-needed cup of tea.
Flame tree
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Urban scene
Local area view
Thursday 3rd November 2022, 3.05pm (day 4,088)
After getting out and about yesterday, I kept closer to home today. But it’s also a nice part of the world. For once, I don’t object to the cars on this shot, which I think help give it a sense of scale and perspective.
Rochdale evening
Tuesday 1st November 2022, 9.00pm (day 4,086)
Why was I in the depths of Rochdale at 9pm on a Tuesday evening? Photography reasons, of course. (OK, actually it was a football match.) The substantial tower blocks in the background are locally known as the ‘Seven Sisters’, I believe. As is often the case, going monochrome disguises some dubious sodium-lighting yellowness and the odd bit of lens flare. Plus it just seems like a black-and-white kind of place, to be honest, befitting the first day of November.
Exchange Square, in the dark
Friday 28th October 2022, 7.30am (day 4,082)
We have yet to put our clocks back, and so the level of darkness in Manchester this Friday morning is somewhat boosted by the extra hour, but even after this weekend things will catch up soon enough and this will be a common enough sight for me in the run up to Christmas. For now, Halloween tat is in charge. The spectral yellow blobs to centre right may or may not be evidence of spiritual involvement.
Lonely shoe, King’s Cross
Monday 24th October 2022, 10.05am (day 4,078)
The latest in an occasional series on this blog — Abandoned Shoes, n+1. (A previous episode is here, for example.) As this one is waiting at the top of the subway that leads down and into King’s Cross station, perhaps it’s just trying to get home. I am reminded of a joke from an early series of Red Dwarf about “shoes having souls”.
On stage, Southampton
Friday 21st October 2022, 8.15pm (day 4,075)
There aren’t many British cities where I’ve never set foot, but until tonight, Southampton was one of them. Boarding port of the Titanic and still one of the UK’s major ports, though still probably not as significant as Portsmouth nearby, which may rile Sotonians, but I am ignorant of the details of the local rivalries. This is the smallest picture, in kilomegabytes, to be uploaded for a couple of years.
Campus morning, not busy
Wednesday 19th October 2022, 9.15am (day 4,073)
Two mornings in a row on campus. Well, I should put in a bit of effort now and again. Not that many other people were doing so today. The solitary, distant figure on the left is the only one to make it into this shot.
Sunday, Calder Holmes Park
Sunday 16th October 2022, 12.25pm (day 4,070)
Tried to get on a train today to go somewhere other than home, but when it turned up 20 minutes late and dangerously overcrowded, I remembered, only then, that Manchester United were at home (not to mention Leeds and Liverpool), and the hourly Sunday service was really not up to the job. I therefore returned home: but there were things to see on Calder Holmes Park that were just as interesting as what I might have encountered elsewhere. So the bad planning (mine, and the train company’s) didn’t matter in the end.
Scaffolded home
Thursday 13th October 2022, 9.20am (day 4,067)
As I post this on Saturday, I already know that both Thursday and Friday were highly uneventful, even by recent standards. Changes to this state of lethargy are afoot, but not this week. In fact the most exciting thing to happen lately was the erection of scaffolding around our house, meaning you can climb up to have a look in our windows if you like; though we’d rather you didn’t. It’s not even for work we need doing: we are just passively wrapped in metal for a few days. That’s scaffolding two days in a row, isn’t it?
Weather defence
Wednesday 12th October 2022, 8.20am (day 4,066)
I recall a time when I imposed a block on further pictures of building sites in Manchester, but needs must. The Town Hall is still undergoing its years-long renovation — first pictured back in January 2018, for heaven’s sake. On this picture, no endorsement is intended: other weather defence options are available. I presume.
