One of those highly uneventful days when even everyday scenes are hard to come by. Still, the sun shone, and on such a day, drifting along the canal has a certain appeal, whether you’re human and have to use artificial contraptions to do so, or a goose, who can just use what nature provides.
At age 16 Joe has his first, but doubtless not last, bout of major school examinations — the GCSEs. The first week is done — the whole show lasts about another month yet, though. Today’s revision schedule: Physics. But we did let him out to go to the cinema later.
Social commentary? Irony? Or just a decrepit but visually interesting corner of the urban world? Interpret it how you will. I was just passing.
Buskers have been around longer than most professions. We used to call them minstrels, but the whole singing for one’s supper thing is much the same as it was in the time of King Arthur. Fishmongers have been around for a while too.
This is a rare photowhack — the only photo taken today.
Back in Hebden Bridge. In the afternoon, a sudden storm, but with enough sunlight around to make the drops glisten and shine: beautiful, but not if you were out in it. This is taken from the shelter of home.
It was Zagreb, Croatia, to where I was travelling yesterday. When I was here just under a year ago I said it was quite possible I would return, and so it has turned out.
Amongst its other charms Zagreb is home to the quite brilliant Museum of Broken Relationships, where are exhibited objects, and associated stories, that represent break-ups of one kind or another whether through desertion, death, infidelity, geographical separation or whatever. The poignancy of that place — and it can truly be said that of all the museums I have ever been to, this was the first one in which I genuinely inspected every single one of the exhibits on display, and with emotional contact too — was highlighted by then coming back to the Lower Town via one of those panoramic viewpoints of the city (one of its churches in the background) where young lovers choose to set a padlock, to represent their undying commitment. It seems so permanent, yet in the end has taken just a few moments in time. I wonder how many of these can still be said to be meaningful. I’m not trying to be cynical. I genuinely hope most of them still are.
Second day in a row of some solitary bloke wandering around Manchester. Which is appropriate enough, because that’s how I’ve felt as my Unsabbatical continues this week. I have been walking past the bottom of these steps fairly frequently since the blog began, they make it today because of what I think is a happy combination of pedestrian and tree, the latter framing the top of the shot in a pleasant wave. A split second later and I’d have been too late. But then again I was feeling sluggish at 7.30am on a Thursday.
Another rather unexciting day on campus — the last two weeks have been more like an ‘unsabbatical’. A few shots might have made it today but I pick this one simply to manipulate the stats slightly, as this is taken at the same time as yesterday’s shot, 12:05pm: the first time there have been two consecutive days with the same time since Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd June last year (both at 3.50pm in London). These are the little coincidences that keep me pushing on with this project… well, sometimes.
Another day for spring foliage to fill up the bandwidth. 2,803 days in and there are still some corners of the home town worth depicting. The bridge has been here since 1510, or thereabouts, and seems good for a while yet. Whether the same is true of the photographer, who knows…?
Plans to minimise my time in Manchester while on sabbatical have not been successful this week (or next). The weather turned during the day, as well, and it was quite cool and rainy by the evening. A pleasant morning on HB station though: just the latest in a number of occasions where the arrangement of fellow passengers on the platform has interested me.
