Not a very exciting day, nor one that necessarily made me feel good about the wider world, so this being Manchester at the moment, here’s a picture of a bloke in a high-vis vest doing something building- or roadworks-related. There’s a lot of it about. At least it’s now the weekend.
The Contact Theatre was built in 1999 and adjoins the Ellen Wilkinson Building where I work, helping close off my courtyard (you’ve seen that often enough), but it is a separate entity from the university. It focuses on youth theatre and involves young people in programming and hiring decisions, apparently. The picture also demonstrates that we have reached that time of year where I get to leave the office and it’s already dark. So be it… December it is.
I don’t know what had been going on around Manchester’s Chinese Arch but the whole area was cordoned off all day today with lines of blue-and-white police tape. But the managers of the establishment referenced here will clearly be damned before they lose any business as a result.
POSTSCRIPT: Apparently this is the result of a fire in a building, on Monday, in which two people were killed.
I assume Christmas decorations, but on this street who knows for sure.
After three days at home, working, made it back into the big city, to do some more work. So be it. I like this shot because while I’d normally feel that the newspaper stands were clutter, here I like how they feel akin to the people, randomly distributed across the field of view. And the patches of green colour to the right.
Back in the foul summer of 2012, 29th August to be precise, the blog featured a photo of this building (the headquarters of AQA, the examinations authority) with a heavy storm brewing behind it. At that time the office from which I took the picture was occupied by an admin colleague, while I was stuck in a cold and dim room on the north side of the building, without a view, that I never liked and never felt at home in, which is why it never featured on the blog (I think only two pictures were ever taken in there). Happy to say that this summer I moved, and my view is now much better — although the weather looks much the same on this shot (but it’s November, rather than August, so we’ll let it off somewhat).
An early start this morning. This slip road leads up to the flyover under which I cross the Mancunian Way each time I walk to the office.
Anyone unfamiliar with Manchester might imagine for a moment this pic is Photoshopped, but no, you really can see upward of 11 buses in a row on Oxford Road at certain points in time (not to mention the two or three more that were just to my left as I took this). On the one level this kind of phenomenon amuses me, but on the other hand I can’t help thinking of the other communities out there (like Sabden, Shap) that might benefit from having a spare bus or two now and again.
Well, I did say a few days back that there were likely to be a lot of Manchester urban scenes over the next few weeks, as that’s where I’ll be spending most of my time. Got to work now and again, I suppose. It’s an attractive enough city, at least, the bits I walk through are.
Apologies for the delay in posting. Mac fell into a coma on Monday morning. But some TLC from the Genius Bar has restored it to full health. Back on Monday, it was another lovely day in Manchester. Here’s the relatively monumental Sam Alex building (as most people on campus call it), named after a former professor of Philosophy at this august institution. I like the rim-lit shadowy figure to the right.
