Tuesday 27th July 2021, 1.25pm (day 3,624)
“There’s not enough room up here. You’ll have to stay down there.”
“Ah, come on you jobsworth. Look, Bob’s up there and he’s not even grey.”
Know Thy Place
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: 51
View from the top of Eagle Crag
Monday 26th July 2021, 11.50am (day 3,623)
A third day in four spent walking, bringing to an end a very fine long weekend in the Lake District, on which all was pleasingly normal. This pointy slab of rock marks the highest point of Eagle Crag, a fine (and finely-named) eyrie from which to keep an eye on the Stonethwaite valley below. See more photos on my other blog, if you like. Back to work tomorrow — but I will return here, I will always be returning here.
Hats, Keswick
Sunday 25th July 2021, 11.55am (day 3,622)
Hats! And much needed — it’s still damn hot out there, particularly for the Lake District in late July.
Wasdale, from a precarious point
Saturday 24th July 2021, 12 noon (day 3,621)
Gave myself an adventurous walking task today — the South Traverse of Great Gable, a climbers’ path that inches its way across the face of this hulk of a mountain. For more details see my walking blog. This view of Wasdale was captured while somewhat precariously balanced above the drop; anyone going down the slope in an uncontrolled manner is probably not going to stop until hitting the fields at the bottom. But I survived it, and felt quite proud of myself in fact. See the other pictures on my walking blog, if interested.
Climbing the Bowder
Friday 23rd July 2021, 3.25pm (day 3,620)
Clare reaches the top of the steps that take one up onto the Bowder Stone — a famous attraction of the Lake District that I have never before seen. Its name is tautological, for a big Bowder (boulder) it certainly is; hollow it out, install plumbing, and I imagine a family of three could live inside in comfort.
Unexpected rain
Thursday 22nd July 2021, 5.45pm (day 3,619)
After another hot and dry day it was a surprise when Hebden was drenched by a substantial storm in the early evening; such things can be expected in high summer, of course, but the surprise came more because there weren’t really all that many clouds around, and the sun mostly kept shining throughout. But rain it did, and hard; these two were not the only ones scuttling for cover.
Friends reunited
Wednesday 21st July 2021, 4.20pm (day 3,618)
If you ask me, one of the most damaging consequences of The Great Fear is that it has driven a bulldozer through our close social bonds. It’s ripped apart international solidarity as well, taught us to fear the foreigner again, and that will ultimately kill far more than the virus, but I can’t do much about that right now. I can try to get together with mates more, though — and so today, Steve and Geri, both once regulars on here, make their first appearances on here for (shockingly) nearly three years. We’re all still here, at least.
Emergency response, 2
Tuesday 20th July 2021, 11.10am (day 3,617)
Like the shot four weeks ago, one saw the response this morning, without necessarily being aware of the emergency. There were a significant number of fire engines in town — five at least — and a sense of urgency displayed by the running fireman here, but nothing all that apparent seemed to be actually happening. It’s not as if I was being barred from the area.
Not a wedding photograph
Monday 19th July 2021, 2.05pm (day 3,616)
Photographer and bride… but there was no groom in sight, so either these two were preparing some photos for a wedding at a later date, or this was a fashion shoot of some kind. The lump of rock behind is the big glacial boulder that stands in the Old Quadrangle of the University of Manchester.
Boatman Pete, and cooling cows
Sunday 18th July 2021, 10.30am (day 3,615)
A day out on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, which takes a roundabout route between those two cities so is here pictured near Skipton — place #350 to be depicted over the lifetime of the blog. Old Master Pete, the boatman, waves as he takes the family past a herd of cows who seem to have the right idea about how to deal with the day’s heat.
Being 42 