Tuesday 12th July 2022, 3.05pm (day 3,974)
I’d say ‘it’s that time of year again’ but this is the first mid-July since 2019 where there have been such scenes around campus. Ceremony does matter: it’s good to see these return.
Graduation photography
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Temporary caring responsibilities
Monday 11th July 2022, 7.50am (day 3,973)
“Who are you then? I haven’t seen you before.” Nope; and they won’t see me again: but this morning I found myself temporarily responsible for these (roughly) six-week-old chickens, living still in their plastic incubator and definitely in need of plenty of liquid on these hot days. I conducted roll call, watered them and left them to it.
Dundee station, Sunday morning
Sunday 10th July 2022, 10.50am (day 3,972)
For the duration of this visit, and certainly today, its final morning, Dundee has basked in balmy sunshine that is atypical for the city. It contributed to a pleasantly chilled out wait for the train heading back south, which I think this couple epitomise. (My journey was fine all the way to Bradford, after which it descended into a farce of the kind only Northern Rail seem able to manufacture, but that’s another story, hours in the future.)
Self-portrait, after Picasso
Saturday 9th July 2022, 2.10pm (day 3,971)
So precisely has my reflection been split by this bevelled mirror (in Frew’s Bar, Dundee) that the sprouting of hair above my ear appears on the lower part. I like this cubist homage as it was an occasion where the shot I sought was precisely achieved.
Indoor tyre yard, Dundee
Friday 8th July 2022, 12.10pm (day 3,970)
In the Blackness area of Dundee there is this huge old industrial complex, now abandoned and crumbling. Open doors and windows allow views inside here and there, like this one, which I nearly entitled ‘Arson attack waiting to happen’: tyres burn most satisfactorily, and for a long time. The place is for sale, and I wonder whether there is profit in buying it and keeping it this way, as a film set or somewhere that urban explorers can simply be let loose to play.
The Firth of Forth, from the train
Thursday 7th July 2022, 1.55pm (day 3,969)
My son might have chosen to live out his university years in a place (Dundee) that is about as far as he could have got from us in West Yorkshire, while staying in the UK. But, there are compensations. Over in the distance, Arthur’s Seat and Edinburgh. Closer to the camera, the Firth of Forth, all taken just before passing through Burntisland station.
Filament
Wednesday 6th July 2022, 4.30pm (day 3,968)
What beauty there is in this filament. As if it is a whole swirling galaxy of electric light. Worlds within worlds, within such an everyday thing.
Joe pays a visit
Tuesday 5th July 2022, 12.45pm (day 3,967)
It’s three-quarters of an hour into the afternoon, he’s still in his dressing gown and wearing odd socks. Guess a first year at uni hasn’t changed Joe all that much.
Double ticket whammy
Monday 4th July 2022, 2.30pm (day 3,966)
One reason, among many, that I hardly ever drive into Manchester is the enthusiasm of its traffic wardens: this seems to particularly apply around the King Street/Booth Street area, as the driver of this car will doubtless realise when s/he returns to it and its double ticket whammy. When I saw this I recalled this story from The Register, which noted that:
One council operative, identified only as badge number MC1192, issued 5,662 of the council’s 14,887 parking tickets for the month [May 2020], raking in £69,864 with a further £155,266 allegedly outstanding on MC1192’s tickets alone by the end of the month. This workrate is the equivalent of 35 tickets issued every working hour of the month, assuming a generous 40-hour working week with no bank holidays or days off.
….and that was in lockdown. I’ll stick to public transport, thanks.
Fresh ingredients
Sunday 3rd July 2022, 4.55pm (day 3,965)
Summer fruits and rosemary. All picked from the garden just before this picture was taken: and all eaten, one way or another, within an hour afterwards. Most enjoyable.
Being 42 