Monday 26th June 2017, 10.30am (day 2,132)
How many generations of students have spent their time waiting around in corridors, until the time they are called into the room? It doesn’t change. Did I get the job? Not this time.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: gallery
Joe at the Handmade Parade
Sunday 25th June 2017, 12.15pm (day 2,131)
Having taken Friday off work because of the funeral Sunday was a day at the desk for me, but at least around lunchtime there was the distraction of the 2017 Handmade Parade, Hebden Bridge’s annual photo-fest. Having featured this event on several occasions before (it’s made it every year from 2012 onwards), let’s add distinctiveness to this year’s entry by featuring Joe in his home-made finery. As ever, hearty congratulations to all who took part, the level of effort and creativity which goes into this totally non-corporate event still amazes me.
Contentment
Saturday 24th June 2017, 12.35pm (day 2,130)
The weather may not have been all that great for us humans but I doubt a sheep judges their quality of life with respect to much more than the food spread out around them — and in that regard, this sheep clearly has things very fine indeed, going by the smile on its face. Taken on the very edge of the Lake District, the hill of Cunswick Scar, near Kendal.
Family
Friday 23rd June 2017, 12.35pm (day 2,129)
On 2nd June my aunt, Anne Morecroft, my father’s sister, died of heart failure — may she rest in peace. Today was her funeral, first at Dukinfield crematorium in Tameside, Manchester, and then the wake afterwards at Stalybridge Methodist church where I took this picture of my other aunt and uncle, Celia and Philip Hall (my mother’s younger brother). That’s the thing about funerals isn’t it: while regretting the reason these events start to become the only time you see your extended family. Should it be that way? Probably not, but I doubt I am the only person for whom it is true. Best wishes to them all, and families everywhere.
The bolt of stone
Thursday 22nd June 2017, 3.55pm (day 2,128)
Now that’s a big…. large concrete thing. Actually I have no idea what function this could serve. It just continues the trend for Manchester city centre to be devoured by increasingly voracious machines. It’s like The Terminator meets War of the Worlds sometimes — which is where I came in with this shot.
First sunset since Friday
Wednesday 21st June 2017, 8.55pm (day 2,127)
Today was the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere’s longest day. But seeing as I’ve been north of the Arctic Circle since Saturday morning this was a regression, in daylight terms. No problem with that however. The 24-hour daylight was nice in some ways but it could become monotonous after a while. Shot taken from above Manchester on the final flight home: the city centre is just visible down there in the haze.
Norwegians, thinking
Tuesday 20th June 2017, 1.45pm (day 2,126)
In this ongoing image-based narrative of my life I feel like occasionally showing that I earn my right to come to all these nice places, so here’s a picture taken at the staff development workshop I helped run today at UiT (the Arctic University of Tromsø, and there’s a cool name for an educational institution). I think I managed to provoke these people to get thinking…. which is what I do for a living, in the end.
Tromsøya, east side
Monday 19th June 2017, 4.50pm (day 2,125)
Tromsø is not on the mainland but on the island of Tromsøya: this is its eastern shore. Proof that the Arctic is not all glamorous and dramatic landscapes. This is kind of how I imagine places like Murmansk to look. And I swear I haven’t fiddled with the colours on this one — life really was this monochrome at 4.50pm today, under the pissing rain.
Descent to Tromsø airport
Saturday 17th June 2017, 5.15pm (day 2,123)
A return to Tromsø after my first visit in March. Well above the Arctic Circle, I will comfortably see no darkness for the next few days. Expect a photo of the Midnight Sun at some point. But not tonight — the views from the final stages of the flight were too good. So I probably saw more snow than you did today, at least from a distance.
Being 42 