Rain has certainly been a feature of the last couple of days. On Friday it came down mostly continuously, while today, Saturday, offered more of the ‘heavy shower’ pattern — as with what came over about 13 minutes into Halifax v Brackley, and a couple more times during the game, too. At least football is a sport (unlike tennis and cricket, say) which plays on through this kind of thing.
Went to Leyton Orient FC, of League One, today simply because I had never been there — it’s another one of those list-making things — a lunchtime kick-off making it straightforward at both ends of the day. Their two dragon mascots were quite endearing and going on the faces of the crowd behind, at least a couple of whom are clearly old enough to make their own judgments here, the locals think so too. They lost the game, though: 2-3 to Stevenage.
A full week of shots in London, then — 7 in a row. But that was the last, for three weeks anyway. At this rate, the capital will overtake the Lake District sooner rather than later and become the third most-depicted place on here, after Hebden and Manchester. I like the countryside, yes, but I must admit to quite liking London, too.
I pick this shot for the colour palette mainly — the blue of of his jacket works very well. It is taken from inside the ground, as the reversal of the lettering makes evident. As you can also see — it is raining, a lot. But the game behind me did manage to reach a conclusion. Nothing to do with Keighley Cougars, a rugby league club (you have never seen rugby league depicted on here, and unless I radically change in my remaining years, you never will) — the owners of that club decided they fancied a football team as well so simply bought one, Eccleshill United of Bradford, and teleported them here for as long as they feel like dabbling in another mode of football.
This shot somewhat misrepresents the day’s weather, as for most of my time in Solihull today (near Birmingham, and making its debut on the blog) I walked and sat in quite pleasant sunshine. But not from between about 2.30 – 2.50pm. And the seats for the match to come were not under cover. Fortunately, it stopped, and two other big fat thunderheads that looked like they were later coming in also passed us by.
Going on somewhere between me and these two was a Sunday morning football match — the guy on the left started out as the goalkeeper but after about 15 minutes, having conceded two, he decided his shoulder wasn’t up to it so pulled out. First game of the season, too. At least his girlfriend was in attendance: which might have influenced the assessment of the injury’s seriousness. Behind them both — a bit of Leeds. August finally comes to an end; it seems a long time since I was in Orkney.
With little better that was worth doing this morning I wandered over to Bradford where the local Sunday leagues were running their first round of fixtures for the season. Three games were taking place simultaneously on Peel Park and this shot is taken from a point kind of in the middle of each of them, but with this pitch slightly elevated, hence the low viewpoint. This was one of those pictures which is being used here because it was what was intended when the shutter was pressed: always a good thing.
The first part of my day was spent up the hill in the background, Ward Hill: not an easy lump of sandstone to get up or down, thanks to its steep sides (evident in this shot), but worth the bother. The second part of my day was spent at the easier-to-reach environs of Stromness FC, members of the Orkney ‘A’ League, and their match against Dounby (here in blue). I couldn’t decide which one was worth making Pic of the Day so let’s just choose one that accommdates both these pleasures.
Great Britain is the only place which tries to do seaside resorts at around 57ºN, and in a location which, as it proved today, is prone to being covered in sea mist (here they call it haar) when the whole rest of the country bathes in sunshine. But Arbroath perseveres. Get a ticket for Arbroath FC — part of one stand of it is in the background, with visiting St Mirren fans — and you can get £12.50 worth of credit at Pleasureland for just £10. Or so we were told.
I was taking a shot of the dog, when the guy turned around as well to finish it off. Yes, the 2025-26 football season — at least, some its ‘pre-season friendly stage’ — is up and running…
Two minutes to go before kick-off and someone, somewhere lets off a flare to add to the atmosphere. The two guys in the centre look pretty tense about it all. And considering their team are about to concede three soft goals in the first 12 minutes of the game that is to come, they were justified — not that they knew that at this point. Final score, Oldham Athletic 4, Halifax Town 0. This lot all go home now and wait for next season.
Being 42 