This passage between the Manchester Central Library and the Town Hall has been closed for years, literally, while the library was refurbished, but it does now seem to be open again — at least, at this end. So this picture can be considered the latest documentary pic in the ongoing reconstruction of what seems to be the entirety of Manchester city centre.
Hot and sunny in London yesterday it may have been, but in Manchester this afternoon it was neither of these things, particularly not when I had to walk all the way along Oxford Road getting soaked. At least this girl had an umbrella, even if, like me, she was otherwise dressed for rather nicer conditions.
Unfrequented alleys in Manchester city centre are typically called “Back Something Street”. Back Turner Street is right in the city centre but looks little changed from decades ago. In fact Clare has just stared at this photo for a while before saying ‘is that 1920s America or something?’. Which was the kind of vibe I was seeking with this shot, so I’ll take that.
Amazingly we managed to get money off the university this year to have an end-of-year dinner. Why this particular stone started shedding blood for the first time in my 10 years there, I have no idea. Dan (left, student) and Gary (right, colleague) wait to place our order in the highly distinctive surroundings of the old vault — check out those safety deposit boxes — in the former bank building which now houses Jamie’s Italian in Manchester (its second appearance on the blog, after this one 15 months ago).
The university bridge over Oxford Road is considered iconic (if only because it has the words ‘University of Manchester’ plastered on it in big letters on the far side of this shot). It’s also rather dingy — see this picture, for example. Anyway, it’s going soon, being demolished, and this week Oxford Road has been closed while they prepare for the big removal. It’s so much better to have a university campus without a big fat A road running through the middle of it. Would that it were like this the whole time.
This is Alan Turing’s second ‘personal’ appearance on the blog (the other being here) not to mention that of the building named after him at university. Members of my family haven’t appeared as often. Then again, I probably walk past Turing more often.
There must be some big student event going on this evening at Manchester because the south-western quadrant of the campus has become ringed by this security fencing. I like this picture because of not noticing at first the arms belong to two different people and the litter bins which look like some kind of waste disposal robots.
Instalment n+1 in the occasional series, “Blokes Up The Sides of Manchester Buildings Doing Their Jobs” (see also here, here and here).
The St Thomas’ Centre, where I did some work today, is a converted church, and its front yard is paved with these grave markers. Which would have made an excellent photo had it not been hurling down with rain whenever I was outside: the wettest day in months, actually. So, bad photo alert. Sorry.
I was sat in the same room, a single meeting, for 7 hours today (bar toilet breaks) so you were lucky that a scene on the way back to the station distracted me.
Being 42 