A lot of rain overnight, and the Hebden Water was today as high as I have seen it since the floods of June/July 2012. But most — if not absolutely all — of the town was spared damage; the rain stopped just in time. Let’s hope there isn’t more before it has had time to go down a bit.
And so the shot of it at dusk exactly seven months ago (14th April) becomes the last photographic hurrah of the tree on our allotment. I said then its days were numbered. It was not wasted… it needed to come down.
I will spare Northern Rail further public shaming regarding their performance over the last two days…. oh what the hell, why should I. It’s been dreadful. I got a train this morning that was 35 minutes and two trains earlier than the one which should have got me to work on time and I still barely made it. Here, I and others wait out the ineptitude in the waiting room on platform 1 of Hebden Bridge station; the woman on the far left has busted the photographer.
A shame about the signs on the door, which rather spoil the composition. So that’s 21 days in a row of shots only in Hebden Bridge or Manchester, breaking the record for this particular sequence; and seeing as the weather forecast for this weekend is pretty dreadful, thus no Lake District walk, the run will go on for a few more days yet.
I feel these guys are lining up, ready to attack me a la Hitchcock. But they posed well enough for a photo this morning.
This is not my only walking route from Victoria to the office, but I head up and down it frequently enough. We are heading into that time of year where at the time I typically walk down it, the sunlight will be coming from straight ahead — not always easy to capture well but when it works, it’s great light. Today, the clouds helped; but there was still some flare, which led to spots of odd colour, hence the monochrome.
The building on the far left, by the way, is the Manchester Aquatics Centre, venue for the swimming and diving events of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
And a good move on the cat’s part, seeing as today was quite possibly the worst day of weather of 2015; a foul, foul day. Note the hands of the photographer reflected in the window; but I’m the one out in the cold, wind and rain.
I am sure the Muscovy duck gets as much pleasure from a good solid self-probing like this as we do a good shower. I know this picture could be sharper but this was a long zoom on a very gloomy day. A decent, stress-free weekend, but not at all a sunny one: we are heading for deepest November, the dullest period of the whole year.
After a week of gray, a spectacular sunset in Manchester city centre — I was far from being the only person trying to capture it tonight. One of those situations where if I’d had more time (instead of speed-walking the two miles from my office to Victoria station), I probably could have got a better shot.
