This minor street in Manchester city centre was previously pictured, relatively intact, back in April 2014. Since then it, like most of the rest of the city centre, has been chewed up in a big way. This is a less tidy shot than its previous appearance, but that’s just the way things are in Manchester at the moment.
Sometimes there’s plenty of good light in the day and things to see, but just no time to stop and take photographs (at least, not ones that are any good). Today was one of those days, so here’s me not making the most of it. I suppose this one isn’t bad, but lampposts never help a shot.
Latest in the series “Back streets of Manchester city centre: often walked past, never photographed before”. This picture makes Norfolk Street look more important than it is — the restaurant you see here is about the only establishment with this as its address, I reckon.
The bridge over Oxford Road has been removed. Underneath, the premises that used to be (on the left) the Spar and (right) Ryman stationers’ wait for their conversion to an eco-friendly community learning centre. Well, perhaps.
There’s a lot of junk in this street scene isn’t there? Well, as I said a few days ago, the whole of Manchester city centre is littered with junk and building debris at the moment. Two days in a row in Manchester for the first time in two months — which I guess is as good a sign of impending autumn as anything.
Conference in Manchester today — this was the venue. I like taking architectural shots like this but am aware that without some crane or giant scaffold, the angles will forever be that little bit wrong. This can be seen here with the perpendiculars around the wedge of sky. Ah well.
The whole of Manchester city centre is currently a building site, has been for months, and is scheduled to be so for many more months yet. But it seems to be spreading beyond just the new tramline (the ostensible reason for the chaos) and into the associated demolition of various other locations — the building being torn down here was the one on the right on this shot, for example. Who knows what the final plan will be.
First day in Manchester for a while. Ominous clouds, but they passed over without molesting us. I like this shot — trips to deepest Africa notwithstanding, one of my favourite ones for a while.
And why not. It was a warm day, and a Friday. I felt the same way today, I must admit.
Sir John Barbirolli was conductor of the Hallé orchestra, the UK’s oldest extant symphony orchestra, from 1943 until his death in 1970. The Hallé now reside at the Bridgewater Hall, built in 1996, and this bust of Barbirolli sits outside the venue — as you can see. I hope to be doing a fairly big project here over the next couple of years so expect to see more of this place, if all comes to pass.
Being 42 