The pollen is definitely fruiting on this one, baby. Well, I guess that’s the point of summer, isn’t it.
Unsure of the species of this flower — a two-person search on various floral web sites has not turned up a definitive identification. Any botanists out there?
POSTSCRIPT: It appears to be a Geum ‘Queen of Orange’ — see http://www.easytogrowbulbs.com/p-1543-geum-queen-of-orange.aspx
There must be some big student event going on this evening at Manchester because the south-western quadrant of the campus has become ringed by this security fencing. I like this picture because of not noticing at first the arms belong to two different people and the litter bins which look like some kind of waste disposal robots.
At least I had finished my work for the day by this point. Sometimes you just have to like the photo you got, while simultaneously wanting to apologise to the innocent model. There is still wine in the world, at least.
This very pleasant square is where I am currently working when I am in London (well, on one of the buildings which border it, anyway). The statue is of Mahatma Gandhi and has been there since 1968. The other model was probably just passing through.
Sometimes when doing this blog I take shots a few times before I use them. They’re not one-offs, I know where they are and that they’ll work if the light’s right, but each time I capture a version, something else comes along later in the day and usurps their place. This is an example. I pass through Leeds station often enough, and this abstract is actually a view from platform 14, looking south, through grating to the BT building behind. I must have taken something approaching this shot three or four times by now — but until now, not used it. Here it is today, however: which means I’ll have to find something else to grab in the future, when I’m on Leeds station on a morning and the light is right.
The Handmade Parade is probably Hebden Bridge’s best annual photo-opportunity, explaining why it’s appeared in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and will again next Sunday. But, for the first time, here’s a capture of the preparations, with me not bothered this year that I know what Clare and Joe’s costume will be in advance. I love the chaos of this shot; imagine all the parade squashed up inside a single building, and there you have it.
We are all paying attention, honest. Not an exciting photo (with due respect to the people in it) but I should somehow depict the conference which actually got me to Paris. Last day here, a mixed break, to put it mildly, but life goes on. It’s certainly a fine city, undeniably a world centre.
Going a bit out on a limb with this shot because it’s out of focus, but I think it captures quite well the atmosphere of this totally unreconstructed bistro which we stumbled across at lunchtime. Food, wine, this is why I came to Paris… (well, OK, I came for a conference, but y’know).
So as you might have gathered from yesterday’s post (I said, don’t ask), we have been in Paris for a few days. France becomes the 22nd different country to feature on the blog. Not a new country or place for me, but it’s been a while (2003 was the last visit to France and around 2000, I forget exactly, to Paris). We were staying near Montmartre, a good place to amble around on a warm sunny day and enjoy the view over the city from the steps below the Sacre-Coeur, as these people (and several hundred others) are doing.
Welcome to Paris. Don’t even ask.
Being 42 