Tag Archives: 50

Mar 17 2020
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Daily Post, Landscape

The healthy option

Monday 16th March 2020, 12.45pm (day 3,126)

Watson's Dodd summit, 16/3/20

I have exhibited no symptoms of viral infection. No one around me has exhibited them either. So I am not locking myself up in my house, not yet. What will be the overall impact on public health of the proposed lockdown (and along the way, creation of a police state)? On mental health, levels of domestic violence and abuse, et cetera? The UK is not the only country launching a massive experiment in depriving tens of millions of people that they have come to rather like. Maybe it will relieve pressure on the health service. But maybe it won’t.

Anyway this lockdown is not quite yet in operation. Hence, I got outside today, because there may not be many more chances in the next few weeks. This is the summit of Watson’s Dodd, above Thirlmere in the Lake District — behind, the peak of Helvellyn, at 3,117 feet the third-highest mountain in England.

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Mar 15 2020
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait

John B

Sunday 15th March 2020, 4.50pm (day 3,125)

John B, 15/3/20

Somehow it seems to be a time to say hi to old friends. It’s been a while since Mr B appeared on here.

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Mar 15 2020
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Daily Post, Sport

Acceptable levels of risk

Saturday 14th March 2020, 3.30pm (day 3,124)

Football geezers, 14/3/20

Senior football across the UK was suspended as of yesterday. I, these guys (who have doubtless been coming to the same spot, probably with the same chairs, for decades) and three hundred other people got their fix at AFC Blackpool of the North West Counties league. The crowd included a large number of fans of Sunderland FC who had been due to play in the town this afternoon but could not. Alas, it then also began to include a number of the local idiots who saw here a chance to wind up these visitors free from the distractions of police or stewards. A microcosm of a usual Saturday for various people therefore.

The point is that if this kind of thing isn’t available, then for good or bad, people will go find it where they can. I suspect Britain, and the world, currently needs sport more than it realises.

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Mar 13 2020
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

(Clarice) Starling

Friday 13th March 2020, 2.20pm (day 3,123)

Starling, 13/3/20

This was one of those where I worried about whether the focus would be on the bird or on the foliage. But it worked out alright in the end. As a big fan of The Silence of the Lambs I cannot help but call this starling “Clarice”: love the winter plumage, all the same. Nor would I mess with that beak.

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Mar 13 2020
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Daily Post, Interior

A double bill (in preparation?)

Thursday 12th March 2020, 1.30pm (day 3,122)

Shining double bill, 12/3/20

In case it’s not apparent, I’ve not been at work this week. This is not for virus-related reasons. I have no reason to suspect that I or anyone I’ve been in close contact with recently has become part of the 2020 media event of the year. But like most people, I am anticipating a period of time in the (possibly near) future where I have a couple of weeks left to my own devices, so no harm in getting some rehearsal done. I did bugger all today — except for making food, and getting through this double bill.

And for what it’s worth, I do think Doctor Sleep was a pretty worthy sequel to a classic movie, though whether Kubrick would have approved, I think probably not.

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Mar 12 2020
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Daily Post, Landscape

God’s Golf Ball

Wednesday 11th March 2020, 10.20am (day 3,121)

God's golf ball, 11/3/20

I said yesterday that Lincoln cathedral stands at the top of one of the few hills in Lincolnshire. This beauty — a radar station, apparently — stands near the summit of one of the others, Normanby Top (a County Top). This looks exactly as if God is waiting up there with his 3-wood, ready to smash it over the nearby water hazard (the North Sea) and out into Europe.

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Mar 12 2020
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

St Mary’s Cathedral, Lincoln

Tuesday 10th March 2020, 3.35pm (day 3,120)

Lincoln cathedral, 10/3/20

This is a truly monumental building, the first ever built that exceeded in height the Great Pyramid of Giza: and the only reason it lost its title as the world’s tallest in 1548 was because the spire was destroyed in a storm, and never rebuilt. Even today it can be seen for miles around, sitting as it does at the top of one of the few hills in Lincolnshire. It is proof that people 700 years ago can still show us a few things or two when it comes to engineering and architecture.

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Mar 09 2020
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Daily Post, Urban scene

View from 82 King Street

Monday 9th March 2020, 12.50pm (day 3,119)

Manchester city centre, 9/3/20

Another photo of Manchester buildings looking dramatic; but from a new angle, taken from a meeting room in a building never before visited. The framing isn’t quite what it could be, but much different and the flourescent strips inside would have been reflected in the clouds. As it is, there’s one there — but I’m sure you will let that pass. The dominant building is the Town Hall, the direction of the view basically westwards.

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Mar 09 2020
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Daily Post, Urban scene

A Sunday on campus

Sunday 8th March 2020, 12.40pm (day 3,118)

Campus on Sunday, 8/3/20

I have tried to stop making a habit of working on Sundays, but there was no avoiding it today — and on campus, too, meaning I drove in to work for only the fourth time in fifteen years. There is something post-apocalyptic about campus on a Sunday — but seeing as we might all be quarantied at some point soon, maybe it’ll look like this from this point on.

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Mar 08 2020
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Daily Post, Sport

Beneath the castle walls

Saturday 7th March 2020, 2.55pm (day 3,117)

Richmond Town FC, 7/3/20

The walls of the castle at Richmond, North Yorkshire, have been there for some 900 years now: they’re not as intact as once they were, but still form an impressive backdrop to the town — and here, its football club. I lived near here for a few years in the mid-1990s, it always seemed like the ‘big city’  in a way but it’s a tiny town in actuality, a sign of how far out in the sticks I was at this time. I don’t miss living there and haven’t been back much at all, but it was pleasant to return for a day trip today.

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