Tag Archives: gallery

Abington services, again

Saturday 7th January 2023, 12.45pm (day 4,153)

Abington rainbow, 7/1/23

A bit of a cheap shot perhaps, but when one spends most of the day on a motorway, there aren’t always many opportunities. This does give a reasonable impression of the weather conditions in which the drive was done. Abington has become a ‘service station of choice’, purely because of timing: by the time we reach there, somewhere in the wilds of South Lanarkshire, there always seems to be the need for a drink, or lunch, or a pee. Sometimes all three.

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Sheep at the trough

Friday 6th January 2023, 3.15pm (day 4,152)

Feeding sheep, 6/1/23

There is just such a look of contentment on the face of this sheep, as it has a rest from its communal troughing. I guess with all those fleeces on each side it must be pretty warm and stuffy down there; no wonder they were all taking breathers now and again.

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Public retraction

Thursday 5th January 2023, 5.00pm (day 4,151)

Public retratcion, 5/1/23

There really isn’t anything happening at the moment; and not a great deal to be done about this, until the weekend anyway. In the pub, our landlady feels the need to retract a statement presumably made over the Christmas period. The grammar is not mine, no complaints please.

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A thousand reasons not to go out

Wednesday 4th January 2023, 3.20pm (day 4,150)

Raindrop view, 4/1/23

Radiohead had a track on the Hail to the Thief album that basically screamed, ‘The raindrops!’ for a few minutes. I know the feeling. Train strikes don’t help either: there was no reason nor encouragement to leave the house today.

Taken at the same time as yesterday’s shot — and only five minutes after Monday’s. This is as near as I have ever got in 11 years to three consecutive shots at the same time of day. I swear I don’t do these things deliberately, even in the most boring periods.

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Fire just lit

Tuesday 3rd January 2023, 3.20pm (day 4,149)

Fire just lit, 3/1/23

Opening time at my local pub is 3pm on Tuesdays, and a nice thing about arriving early is that I get to light the well-laid fire. The lump of lava on the right is a firelighter doing its job: within a few minutes this whole construction will be alight. Sometimes the interest is in the details — such as the paper to the left, what series of numbers goes 3, 10, 50, 70, 100 I wonder?

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Football in the sunshine

Monday 2nd January 2023, 3.15pm (day 4,148)

Eccleshill United, 2/1/23

I’m sure 2023 will involve plenty of football matches, just as its immediate predecessors have. It was in 2017 that I started going to at least one a week, and 2022 saw me attend 77 in total. I don’t put every one on here to avoid (too much) repetition but sometimes they deserve to appear, particularly when the light is good, as it was this afternoon at Eccleshill United, based in Bradford and playing at the 9th level of English football. Cold though, as you can see from the breath of the home player in blue, but it is January. End of my Christmas break — sadly, it’s time to go back to work.

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Mouth of the Lune

Sunday 1st January 2023, 1.30pm (day 4,147)

2023 starts with a walk, not strenuous (I was somewhat tender in the morning) but picturesque — at least, if mudflats are your thing. The River Lune debouches into Morecambe Bay not far to the right of this shot. On the far side, Glasson Dock, still a working port and marina. Taken from Sunderland Point, which is unique as the only settlement on the mainland of Great Britain which is still cut off, twice a day, by the high tides: though these were not due until some time after this was taken, which is why I was able to be there.

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New Year’s Eve

Saturday 31st December 2022, 8.50pm (day 4,146)

New Year's Eve, 31/12/22

It’s been a while since I bothered going out on New Year’s Eve, and the last one spent away from home was the one at the end of 2014, but this year I did try to reawaken my dormant social animal. Anyway the in-laws were having a party: on the far right is Rachael, my sister-in-law, I think this is her debut on here (even after 11 years, four months and five days). Joe pops up in the background, too. A good time was generally had. Happy New Year to you all.

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The Isle of Man ferry

Friday 30th December 2022, 2.50pm (day 4,145)

Isle of Man ferry, 30/12/22

Off it goes across the Irish Sea, from Heysham, the sea wall of which I was stood on as I took this shot. The Isle of Man has not yet featured on this blog although I am due a visit at some point, to bag its County Top. Maybe next year… there is still time in my life, I feel.

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Jubilee Tower

Thursday 29th December 2022, 2.55pm (day 4,144)

Jubilee Tower, 29/12/22

The first of the drives (mentioned yesterday) is completed. This was a somewhat gloomy day with occasional bursts of light, as the shot suggests. The tower sits on the edge of the moor, above Lancaster. One of those constructions built purely for the hell of it: it contains nothing, provides no service except the rooftop platform from which one can see the good view. So it counts as a folly, I suppose: I’m not even sure whose ‘jubilee’ it celebrates.

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