Tag Archives: gallery

Outside the stadium (with the Burj Khalifa)

Saturday 22nd February 2025, 7.25pm (day 4,930)

Emiratis and Burj Khalifa, 22/2/25

Getting out of the general area of the hotel was desirable so I did what I usually do under these circumstances and went to a football match; this is taken outside the Zabeel Stadium. There were far more Emiratis there than are typically seen around the city, at least in the bits that I have been (only just over 10% of Dubai’s population are Emirati).

And this also offered an opportunity to add to the blog’s list of ‘Superlatives’ (see the bottom of the stats page) — the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world at 2,722 feet/829.8 m, or over half a mile. It really is ridiculously tall. One day I might try to go up it but there’s no time on this trip and apparently the queues are outrageous anyway. I imagine going to the football is a better way of plugging into local culture.

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Breakfast buffet

Friday 21st February 2025, 9.40am (day 4,929)

Breakfast buffet, 21/2/25

I have rarely* had cause to complain about the food in the Middle East and the offerings here at the hotel in Dubai are no exception. It is no coincidence that this is the second shot from here to feature food, and in only four pictures thus far — see this similar effort from March 2019.

[*] there was one legendarily bad meal in Jeddah, though — the exception that proves the rule? Either way the memory of a liver-and-banana stew still lives with me.

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Recycling as artwork

Thursday 20th February 2025, 6.30pm (day 4,928)

Phone tableau, 20/2/25

Over the last two days I failed to mention my destination, which is Dubai — I will be here until Monday afternoon. Before returning home I may try to depict an urban scene, but it’s not a particularly photogenic place, in my opinion. Tall buildings, roads, flyovers. The Persian Gulf is over there somewhere, but getting close to it is not easy unless you are the guest of one of the resort hotels that line the beach, and I’m not: I’m here to work. (Yes, including over the weekend.)

But I did like this artwork which hangs on the wall of the pub/restaurant in which I ate my overpriced dinner. Better than landfill, anyway.

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Trapped in row 63

Wednesday 19th February 2025, 1.50pm (day 4,927)

Asleep, row 63, 19/2/25

I paid £24 to guarantee a window seat for my daylight flight and then found I was sat right over the wing — and as it was an Airbus A380, the most monstrous vehicle (with two decks, and hence stairs inside), this was such a bloody large wing I got to see nothing of the land below, and hence no photos. I was confined to seat 63A for much of the flight, too, thanks to my neighbour spending almost all of the 6.5 hour journey in this position. How anyone can sleep on a plane is beyond me, even at night; I have no idea exactly what time zone we were over when I took this, but the time stamp is what my camera said, and we were really very far from it being the hours of darkness.

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The Skyway, Manchester Airport

Tuesday 18th February 2025, 7.45pm (day 4,926)

Skyway in blue, 18/2/25

A study in blue, or possibly, ultraviolet. A study, also, in how full symmetry is so rarely possible, however hard one tries to achieve it. I will be flying out of here tomorrow, but for tonight, the airport hotel.

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Cloudscape/roofscape

Monday 17th February 2025, 4.50pm (day 4,925)

February sunset, 17/2/25

We’re still not seeing a great deal of sunshine, and so this one was chosen mainly to demonstrate how the evenings are getting lighter, even down here in the valley. A place I am about to leave for a week: when I get back we should have sun at the front of the house again. Should it deign to shine.

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King George V playing fields, Bradford

Sunday 16th February 2025, 11.20am (day 4,924)

Bradford Sunday league, 16/2/25

Heading to Sunday morning football in Bradford was better than hanging around at home doing nothing. With this shot I guess I was just hoping the symmetries came out OK. On reflction I say that the imbalance of the black windows at the top, vis-a-vis the dranpipes below, is not my problem. Anyway, why should I be the one pointing out the imperfections?

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‘Antique’ shop, Ramsbottom

Saturday 15th February 2025, 12.50pm (day 4,923)

Ramsbottom antique shop, 15/2/25

Anyone who thinks that an ‘antique’ shop these days is a guarantee that the products for sale are somehow all going to be more than about 20 years sold is fooling themselves. But these places are good to visit, and to photograph. This place in Ramsbottom even outdid Hebden’s equivalent spot. Why this mannequin is done up in bondage I have no idea, but even she is upstaged by the Dalek behind.

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Golden fungus farm

Friday 14th February 2025, 2.10pm (day 4,922)

Golden fungus, 14/2/25

The afternoon greatly benefited from the appearance of something that has not been seen in at least a week, namely the sun. Once it came out the idea of working through until 5pm was rapidly abandoned and I went out on a walk. I know fungi don’t need the sun directly, but this little clump shone in an agreeably golden fashion as a result of it. I like the little one on its own at the top — is it making a break for independence, or being shunned by its fellow gang members?

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The wife makes notes

Thursday 13th February 2025, 4.35pm (day 4,921)

Clare takes notes, 13/2/25

At least by recent standards, this has been (and will remain) a very uneventful week. But one can still take notes about it. Clare, indeed, can take notes about almost anything, a phenomenon I have been observing for more than a quarter of a century now. Note both the writing and the pointing hand: the information is being processed even at the moment of its creation…

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