Aug 20 2020
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

The Crescent, Buxton

Thursday 20th August 2020, 1.20pm (day 3,283)

Buxton Crescent, 20/8/20

Every British spa town worth its salt in the 18th century — Bath being the archetype — included a great sweeping crescent like this.  Buxton, a little town stuck a thousand feet up in the hills of north Derbyshire, therefore has this magnificent monument to Georgian good taste plonked in the middle of it. Buxton Mineral Water is mined literally from underneath it.

This Crescent has been empty for a long time, then years of wrangling about who would foot the bill for its restoration ended with it being converted into a hotel, due to be opened in May until you-know-what. But as its rebuilding is not yet over, that means there are no cars or other accessories defacing its facade — once the camera is lifted over the fencing in the way, anyway (visible to bottom left).

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Aug 20 2020
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

The ironworks guide, Blists Hill

Wednesday 19th August 2020, 3.50pm (day 3,282)

Blists Hill ironworks, 19/8/20

Once a derelict patch of post-industrial ruin, the area of Blists Hill in Telford has become a ‘Victorian town’ — a home for retired residential, commercial and industrial buildings, rebuilt or replicated in the valley of the Ironbridge Gorge.  It’s a tourist attraction, sure, but a pretty interesting one.  This chap shows off some machinery in the old ironworks that is clearly his pride and joy.

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Aug 20 2020
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Daily Post, Landscape

The Wrekin in mist

Tuesday 18th August 2020, 5.10pm (day 3,281)

The Wrekin, 18/8/20

This would be a nicer photo without the bushes in front, but I took it from a car, stopped in the middle of a road, in order to capture the sight of this hill wreathed in mist.  This is the Wrekin, a well-known protuberance in Shropshire, and one that Clare and I had just hauled ourselves up in weather much like this — on occasion there was mist and cloud, in other parts, clear skies. Another County Top done, anyway.

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Aug 17 2020
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Daily Post, Family Member, Portrait

Clare at Clitheroe Castle

Monday 17th August 2020, 12 noon (day 3,280)

Clare, Clitheroe castle, 17/8/20

Clitheroe Castle is at least 910 years old but despite having been in a state of general ruin since the English Civil War, that is the 1640s, it is just about still standing on a spot with a really good view (as castles should have).  On our first day of a week off work for the both of us, Clare enjoys said view — ignoring the rain coming in behind.

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Aug 17 2020
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Ragwort

Sunday 16th August 2020, 1.40pm (day 3,279)

Ragwort, 16/8/20

Ragwort, or Jacobaea vulgaris, is one of those plants that demonstrate environmental priorities.  Its bitter leaves are full of alkaloids and poisonous to horses and cattle, so farmers are supposed to keep it under control and there are acts of Parliament that declare it, by law, a ‘noxious weed’. But apparently horses don’t eat it anyway, as it tastes vile.  Meanwhile, it is highly beneficial to pollinating insects: indeed, for some, its their only source of food.  So let that ragwort grow, I say.  This large clump of it currently flourishes in a field above Hurst Road.

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Aug 16 2020
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Daily Post, Interior

A joke? Maybe, maybe not

Saturday 15th August 2020, 1.10pm (day 3,278)

Possible irony, 15/8/20

There were several other photos that could have made it today and they were all more artistic than this one.  But I have gone with this one simply to provoke some consideration.  Is this sign a joke?  Or is it meant seriously?  What’s more to the point is that right now it’s actually impossible to be sure, and that alone is a sign of how screwed up things have become.  I will continue to document the world that I see, but it doesn’t mean that I understand it any more.

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Aug 15 2020
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Dog for sale?

Friday 14th August 2020, 3.20pm (day 3,277)

Dog on stall, 14/8/20

Friday market, Hebden Bridge.  Things for sale: boots, bags, boxes…. and this dog perhaps? Or maybe it was just selling off a few of its spare possessions.  There was no human in sight.

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Aug 13 2020
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Waiting

Thursday 13th August 2020, 11.25am (day 3,276)

View from Uni Place, 13/8/20

In the last 145 days, this is only the third picture in Manchester. Which considering I nominally work there, shows the impact of lockdown.  But today I went into campus as is normal and occupied my office and generally hung out in the places I tend to hang out when down there.  The amount of re-motivation this gave me was very noticeable.  Those vested interests who want to keep us locked up, who profit from it, not only don’t need to account for this kind of thing, they strive to actively ignore it.  Always ask — cui bono? Who benefits?

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Aug 13 2020
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Let hostilities commence

Wednesday 12th August 2020, 1.20pm (day 3,275)

Two daddy longlegs, 12/8/20

What is the plural of daddy longlegs?  Daddy longlegses?  Daddies longlegs?  Neither seems very satisfactory.  Anyway, these two members of the genus Pholcidae were either about to square off with each other — or possibly mate.  As I type this the following morning, I’m looking at the same spot in the corner of our living room, and neither of them is there now, so it was either a devastating battle or a good party.

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Aug 11 2020
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Daily Post, Interior

Poetry and plant

Tuesday 11th August 2020, 1.25pm (day 3,274)

Poetry, 11/8/20

The second day in a row with an explicitly circular theme.  The scene appeared during my first use of C’s treatment room as a work venue for a few weeks, in which time some changes have indiscernibly happened among the decorations and words to ponder.

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