The alley of China Lane lies on the shortest walking route between Victoria and Piccadilly stations in Manchester and when I’m walking between them — as I was this morning — it is always worth looking down to see if the opportunity arises for a shot — specifically, this one. Why is it called China Lane? No idea, but as it is lined with warehouses and located right beside Piccadilly Basin on the canal, maybe it’s a tea reference.
I don’t often present the shots in portrait orientation but it seems appropriate today, as the verticals are what matter here. Taken in Manchester, but don’t get used to it — even with the new term coming up. Campus will be about a hundred times busier next week than it was today, but that’s OK, because I’m not going to be there.
Castleford is a biggish place (45,000 residents) and I’ve lived not far from it for 30 years now, but today was the first time I had visited. (Yes, it was for football.) I was struck by how unreconstructed much of it was, rows of terraced houses and back alleys like this one. Most now filled with cars, spoiling the ambience a little, but this alley was clear, and with a bit of post-production I think this is not a bad facsimile of how it probably looked 60 years ago. There’s only one anachronism — the wheelie bins — but even those I will let pass.
I could have been taking a photo of all sorts of things here in this Manchester back alley. But I’m going with the eyes in the background.
Another less-than-exciting week ends with a photograph of similar sort. Life is scheduled to liven up in July but in the meantime, here we still are, Hebden Bridge on a quiet Friday post-work afternoon. Going monochrome helps the interest level a little, perhaps.
The second Manchester alleyway of the week — this one known as Reyner Street. Proof that if given a foothold, and a bit of sun for an hour or so a day, foliage can flourish anywhere.
The Huddersfield Astronomical Society must have once experienced better days, but perhaps these days is in need of some recovery work. Without getting too metaphorical about it, I’d say that’s true of a lot of things in 2022.
Spent part of the afternoon in what you might call the low-rent part of town; which is not to say that it was unpleasant. When Clare saw this photo she said ‘It has a Morecambe feel’ to it. In fact this is Laisterdyke in Bradford.
Reyner Street is a back alley if ever there was one. But it looked good today. I doubt the establishment pictured has seen much business lately, and I managed to obscure its phone number, too. Apologies to them.
In Yorkshire parlance a ‘ginnel’ is a narrow, pedestrian alley, and this is a definitive example of the genre. Not in Hebden Bridge, but Sowerby Bridge, where I went today largely for something to do to break the monotony.
Being 42 