Tuesday 24th August 2021, 5.50pm (day 3,652)
The roller coaster as symbolic of the seaside holiday. The roller coaster as a metaphor for life; are we on the upslope or heading down?
Life as a roller coaster
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Urban scene
Joe visits Manchester
Wednesday 18th August 2021, 11.10am (day 3,646)
Three weeks and two days until Joe goes off to university, the psychological implications of which (for us all) remain unexplored. But at least we can get the logistics prepared, so he accompanied me to Manchester today to pick up practical stuff, plates, cutlery, you know, things that mean he won’t have to eat off the floor. Will this be the last shot of him in this particular city? Impossible to say what the future will bring.
The condiments are ready
Wednesday 11th August 2021, 9.55am (day 3,639)
They start serving early at the Old Gate pub/restaurant in town. The condiments are set and prepared even before 10am. Off they stretch into the distance, like little table-set skyscrapers.
The Goole giraffe
Saturday 7th August 2021, 12.55pm (day 3,635)
Taking photos for its own sake means that almost anywhere becomes interesting on a first visit. When the destination is a landscape of industrial decline, on the scale of this one — the town of Goole, in East Yorkshire — there’s enough to keep me going for the whole day, and it’s a shame, in this case, that I just restrict myself to one photo per post. This is my choice — the first giraffe to appear on here? Well, it looks like that to me.
Windsor Road, Hebden Bridge
Friday 6th August 2021, 6.20pm (day 3,634)
Most of Hebden Bridge, as it stands today, was built between about 1850 and 1900. This gives it a uniformity of appearance that is part of its appeal. But add to that the creative solutions that the architects and builders adopted in order to cope with the place’s steep topography, and sometimes, there is real beauty to it. I love Windsor Road, seen here — it’s just so regular in its steps up the hill. How precisely are these houses placed in relation to one another. Could you do this? I couldn’t even think about how to start on such a project.
Maid Marian Way
Wednesday 4th August 2021, 8.55am (day 3,632)
Here’s 1960s town planning for you. Build a concrete monstrosity of a street in the centre of your city, with a car park on top of it, and name it after a female character from that city’s history who was alluring enough to appeal to its most dashing hero. Maid Marian’s appeal is at least hinted at by whomever decorated the wall, but that’s scant consolation.
View to St Ann’s, Nottingham
Tuesday 3rd August, 1.20pm (day 3,631)
An afternoon out, and another County Top bagged; it was a decidedly urban one, that of the city of Nottingham. I thought this shot had a notable 1970s feel to it, so toned down the saturation to fit the mood. The blue plastic bag adds to the desolation. I no longer just walk in the glamorous places…
Nightjar Hawks
Wednesday 28th July 2021, 10.30pm (day 3,625)
Latest shot, and first shot after 10pm, since early October last year. Nights out are still not entirely a thing of the past. The Nightjar bar sits under the Hebden Bridge Picture House, and if you don’t see why I’ve appended the ‘Hawks’ to its name in the title of this post, well, maybe this painting is familiar to you.
Hats, Keswick
Sunday 25th July 2021, 11.55am (day 3,622)
Hats! And much needed — it’s still damn hot out there, particularly for the Lake District in late July.
Unexpected rain
Thursday 22nd July 2021, 5.45pm (day 3,619)
After another hot and dry day it was a surprise when Hebden was drenched by a substantial storm in the early evening; such things can be expected in high summer, of course, but the surprise came more because there weren’t really all that many clouds around, and the sun mostly kept shining throughout. But rain it did, and hard; these two were not the only ones scuttling for cover.
Being 42 