The heading of this post is somewhat superfluous bearing in mind this bridge. In April 2014 I took this picture from more or less the same spot, one of the touristic epicentres of London, and so not at all what it used to be in my youth etc. etc. when Camden was the place to come for your cheap, punk clothing.
I don’t know whether the 19th century did outdoor seating and umbrellas in quite the same way as the Stubbings Wharf pub does in 2023, but otherwise this picture could well have been taken 150 years ago: man (with beard) waiting for nearby lock to fill, and trying to stop the boat floating away while he does so. It’s a slow way of life on the water, which I guess is why plenty of people like to live it.
Holyhead railway station is one of those that is definitively The End Of The Line. A terminus, a cul-de-sac, all change please. You get off into a tangle of docks and railway lines and have to depend on this bridge to take you over all this and into the town. I like this shot as (unlike yesterday) it was one of those that has turned out exactly as I hoped when I pressed the shutter.
Back on November 4th 2020 I stood under the south end of the Humber Bridge — the right-hand end as this picture shows it — and took this shot. It was a day of considerably nicer weather than today, despite this being August. Anyway, this gigantic construction can join the Forth Bridge and Tay Bridge as great bridges to have appeared twice. I believe that this one is so long that the two stanchions are slightly out of parallel with each other, to allow for the curvature of the Earth, and I wonder whether you might even be able to see that on this shot, though probably that’s my imagination.
Hebden Bridge has its share of risky parking spaces — there’s the ‘Wing Mirror Two Inches From That 40-Tonne Truck Descending At Speed’ variety and more than a few ‘Garage Perched Precariously On Thin Pile Of Bricks (Above Terrifying Drop)’. But this is a new variety. I assume Storplan have good insurance.
I reckon doing this kind of thing well takes a certain skill. Like many of us this guy’s doubtless hoping they’ll never train a robot to do his job; or replace this board with a digital version, that sucks up that little more of the world’s energy supplies.
While we’re on that topic, note for Absolut (other vodkas are available) — making bottles out of recyclable cardboard sounds neat, but isn’t glass recyclable too? Or maybe I’m missing something.
Found myself hanging out for the afternoon in the bits of Manchester that are so far out they are actually Salford, or is it Trafford. Salford Quays is a good-looking spot on a day of sunshine and showers. There were three or four shots that could have made it today. But I’ll go with this one: the shapes are pleasing.
My last day in London, this time. I did the Thames as a subject on Sunday, but I’m doing it again. A glorious morning: the two walkers seen here, and me, were considerably overdressed. I’m not sure that the bridge ahead has a name, but it takes the suburban line over the river to Chiswick. This is a very attractive part of the city, which is why I will never be able to afford to live there.
It is known that birds are relatively intelligent creatures for their size, so as I crawl through this null time before Christmas, trying not to think about work, questions come to mind, such as — do they deliberately crap on people’s heads, or is it all an accident? This old metalwork crosses over a street in Hebden as it links two buildings, and whatever it once was, it is now prime pigeon perch; and always worth a look upwards, before any attempt to pass beneath it.
A fairly standard ‘tourist’ shot of my home town, but what the hell, it was a nice day and it does look good from this particular angle. I nearly took it monochrome, but that meant the two figures on the bridge became very camouflaged, and I think they set it off nicely.
Being 42 