The world is still out there, somewhere…. so we’ve been told. Across the valley, there’s a house that doesn’t seem to have removed its Christmas lights yet. Meanwhile, at home, the movie collection keeps a semblance of entertainment ticking over.
Pubs now have to shut at 10pm, and so with no nightclubs or alternative venues available for anyone wanting to carry on with their evening, everyone now mills around and gets into taxis and buses at the same time, thus compressing all those infective agents together instead of spacing them out more. And if you think this idiocy will be repealed soon, recall that the licensing restrictions brought in during World War One remained in place for eighty years.
Meanwhile, your friendly local high street is becoming a ghost town; if your place looked much different from Hebden Bridge at 10.50pm this evening (or on any given evening), then I would say that’s unusual.
The original Blade Runner movie was set in 2019 and in Manchester’s case is currently coming to look more and more like architectural prophecy. And those quasi-human replicants that infiltrate society and create havoc? We call them “Tories”.
I’m still here on the campus of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Political Administration (hence, RANEPA). It was much colder today — thanks to a biting wind; the last few days had been still and not unpleasant, but today was bitter.
This weeping willow stands at one end of the 16th century bridge over the Hebden Water after which my home town is named (viz, Hebden Bridge). It has featured in the background or periphery of several photos before, but today I make it the prime subject, thanks to the late night street lighting and the sleet which was barrelling out of a damp grey sky on the way home (see tomorrow’s picture…).
To prove I occasionally still — but only occasionally — have nights out, this is the latest shot in any given night out since my 3am aberration on 9th Jan 2016, and the latest shot in a calendar day since, embarrassingly perhaps, 15th November 2014.
Although this is timed as very early in the morning, technically this the latest picture of all 1,598 so far — because this is still ‘Friday night’. Hey, it was a good evening… but you don’t get to see any pictures of it I’m afraid.
Down in London again, and this is just the first of a double visit this week. Four nights to be spent in the acre of hotels to the south of King’s Cross. A tiny hotel room, but a decent view, of tiny little Midhope Street, and the weather is glorious — you will see more of it tomorrow I’m sure.
The Flybussen links Bergen city centre with the airport and I’ve become quite familiar with it over the years. Home from Norway this evening, the last trip abroad of 2014. Not a bad shot although it might be nicer if the emergency window-smashing hammer weren’t hovering over things like the sword of Damocles.
Lots seen today. Visited Ostia Antica, the port of ancient Rome, an extremely extensive site which once again emphasises the sheer scale of the old city. But though I had a couple of candidate photos from there, this one wins; we went to the Trastevere district for an excellent meal and I took this on the way back. What you see here is the island in the centre of the Tiber that is one reason Rome is here, as it makes for an easier crossing point on the river, that then flows through Ostia on its way to the Mediterranean and the rest of the world.
Yes, I’ve been travelling again, lucky me. Although I do intend to have four and a half months at home from mid-November until late March, because I’m getting rather tired of airports and stuff. However, there are compensations, like this, one of the world’s great views, surely. Russia is a vast country but this is its absolute centre.
