The steep topography of Hebden Bridge means that many of the houses are built on top of other houses. Ours is an example: there is a whole two-storey cottage underneath our three floors, the entrance to it being behind the red box in this photo. This is the side of the terrace which catches the evening light, and the days remain beautiful and sunny here.
Warming up for Hallowe’en, the old Nutclough Tavern in Hebden Bridge puts in a bid for ‘spooky castle’ status, unfazed by a stiff recent challenge from the Beyer building at the University.
Held in the building across the road from us, and we were in attendance because of our stewardship of our allotment. Not that there’s been much of a harvest this year, because of the wet weather, but still, this wasn’t a bad event, particularly when the guitarist stopped playing.
It’s been interesting to use the progress of this blog to check the movement of the sun across the sky. Back in December it was setting behind the mobile phone mast you see here (and here); now it sets behind the houses much further round the valley. And the light hits bits and pieces of the architecture in slowly changing ways each week. Like this morning, when I looked out from my house and saw these chimney stacks lit up while the rest of the streets beneath were still in shadow.
24 people from the neighbourhood gathered in the ex-pub over the road to eat good home-cooked food and drink wine. Call it a ‘Solstice celebration’ (for today was the shortest day of the year), or a pre-Christmas get-together; it doesn’t matter, the good food and the good emotions remain either way. This is Christmas, for me: forget the presents, the best thing about it is the excuse it offers to push the boat out a little further and indulge in some really excellent eating for a few days. Tonight’s meal was great, and I didn’t have to lift a finger.
Being 42 