21st century mermaids don’t sit on giant seashells but on plastic drums that may or may not have held toxic waste, and they wear jeans and black tops instead of diaphonous robes. But they still look like they have only one big leg and sit trying to seduce the sailors on the local fishing boats.
I’m in the Lakes again. After today, 18 to go. The picture is taken on Middle Fell, near Wast Water, but in the background is Yewbarrow, and if there was a super-dooper 100x zoom you may well be able to see the same sight as depicted way back on Sept 2nd, as that’s Great Door over there. More to come from the Lakes for the next few days, I’m here until Thursday.
This is where the Hebden Bridge trains join up with the West Coast main line, thus, trains for the Lake District and Morecambe. I spend a hell of a lot of time in Preston station – never for very long at a time, but it mounts up, and I’ve spent far longer here in my life than I have in Preston itself.
This is becoming a regular event both on the Hebden Bridge social calendar generally and also on this blog, having previously featured in October and March in this regular form as well as the one-off event for the Arts Festival in July. It is enjoyable in its own right and gives plenty of photo opportunities, not all of which can be taken advantage of due to restrictions on photography, plus the added challenge of taking pictures in very low light while tanked up with several pints of beer, like this one. It’s not bad though. Do you need faces to get a mood? The night is over, people are about to go home…
Still off work, went to York for the day – a fine city with plenty to do and see (but lots, and lots, of people in the narrow streets). Could have presented a photo of the architectural glory that is the Minster (cathedral), the Roman ruins, some of the best-preserved city walls in Europe, the National Railway Museum… but instead, let’s go with this picture of a devil puppet, attached to a busker’s fiddle so it twitched and boogied as he played. Why? Because, I don’t know, it’s cute, and had no objection to having its picture taken.
Wow, there’s something growing in the garden. Believe me, after the year of weather we’ve had, this is something of an achievement. It’s not edible yet, but we’ll see how it goes.
Just held the camera high and pointed downwards. Little more to add, about the photo or the day, but both worked quite well, I think.
I’ve been up 193 of these buggers now and of them all Catstycam is the one that most looks like a child would draw a mountain. It’s really quite a sexy beast – though as I proved today, a relatively easy walk up and down.
No work for two weeks. Took Joe to the new National Football Museum in Manchester, in the former Urbis building, which has already featured on this blog on a few occasions (amongst others, here and here). Here he is face-to-face – kind of – with Joe Hart, Manchester City and England goalkeeper. If asked however, I am sure he would claim that Ben Roche of Morecambe is better. And good for him.
Last day in Helsinki. Went on a walk this morning round Töölönlahti, which is an arm of the sea in the centre of the city, encircled by a pleasant path festooned with joggers and cyclists. Many of them stop at a terrace café high up on one side, where the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto must once have enjoyed his cups of coffee. The evidence for this statement is given above, where you see Aalto’s 1976 Finlandia building (a multi-arts venue), placed in front of the much older – and twice as distant – tower of the Finnish National Museum behind. Just look closely. What a stroke of genius, only visible from this exact spot, and all done with a lick of paint.
Being 42 