There has been a considerable amount of travelling evident over the last two months, and it’s not quite finished yet: I have one more trip to make, coming up. But this week it has been time to settle in back home, and expect most of July and all of August to be much the same, I have writing to get on with. Meanwhile, though, a hole in an old bucket. It might not be in Canada, or Namibia, but it’s still something to enjoy.
Bradford has featured on here reasonably regularly, this being its 27th appearance. It is one of those places that seems to be in a constant state of urban ‘renewal’. Presumably because it is to be the UK’s City of Culture in 2025, at the moment, a big pedestrianisation project seems to be consuming the whole of the city centre. This may be a good thing, in the end. On the other hand, the big Marks & Spencer store has closed — and in the UK, this is as good a marker as any that a retail centre is in trouble. This picture is taken early on but it wasn’t a great deal busier when I came back through at lunchtime, on a sunny summer’s day. Will all this beautification take so long that by the time it’s ready to go, there’s nothing left? (The bus station has fallen down, too.)
I imagine this scene may well have looked much the same 100 years ago. Only the blue plastic Co-op bag really gives it away. A good day today — proof that while travel can be good, it’s almost always nice to come home. And the sun was shining too.
I spent the whole day, from 1.30am in Toronto when we boarded the plane, until 6.45pm when arriving back in Hebden Bridge, on a series of rather overcrowded tin pipes. If we included Heathrow Airport itself as number 2, this train at King’s Cross was the fourth, and the most overcrowded pipe of all — the East Coast main line going into spasm once more thanks to some ‘operational incident’ or other. But at least I was in a seat. Home now, anyway, and no more flying aboard for a while. I need a rest.
My last day in Toronto. I could say ‘on this trip’ or I could say ‘forever’ and the fact is I don’t know at the moment, ‘cos it’s the future, and as yet undetermined. But I do hope to return.
Waiting out a 6-hour flight delay was made more entertaining by watching Spain v Italy in the Firkin pub on Yonge Street: location for what remains my favourite shot yet taken in Canada, namely this one on 14/10/2021. Both these guys were cheering for the same team, specifically Spain: and both went away happy, as they duly won, 1-0.
‘Pioneer Village’ really is the name of this district, with the building on which the letters are sat being the Toronto Subway station of that name. But I doubt the pioneers, of whatever nation, who first explored the regions north of Lake Ontario quite anticipated their village would end up looking like this. Decent sunset, though.
I have nothing against the Chelsea Hotel in Toronto — if I had I would not have come back here to stay for another two weeks, on top of the time I spent here earlier in the year. But I would like to go home now, and instead, I ended up for various reasons obliged to spent almost the entire day locked in my room, working. This semi-abstract architectural shot — one wing’s worth of floors 14-27 I reckon –thereby epitomises the day. A photowhack too, meaning, the only shot taken today.
I have mentioned before that there are many murals adorning the walls of buildings in Toronto, and this is at least the third to feature on here, mounting up at a rate of one per trip. I do hope this isn’t my last visit to the city — though we will see — should I return, though, there are plenty more to document yet.
There’s certainly an eclectic mix of exhibits in the Royal Ontario Museum: your basic dinosaur fossils, a mocked-up bat cave, Chinoiserie, suits of armour, totem poles, the list goes on. It is interesting but would have been even better if half of it hadn’t been closed for renovation: we noted they still charged the full $23 entry fee though. The board on the left, one of those walling off a big chunk of the second floor while telling us about all the marvellous things we might see if only we would come back in a few months’ time, is included in recognition of this issue.
Some might say 1pm is a little early, even on a Saturday, to be camping it up in full drag queen mode, but clearly this opinion is not shared by the entertainers at the Church St Garage in Toronto. Taken from across the street while enjoying lunch on another pleasant, sunny day here. The other guy is just passing through, but I like the juxtaposition, two people in their own world but in the same world, maybe.
Being 42 