Friday 8th August 2014, 4.05pm (day 1,079)
Actually today was a relatively pleasant day — apart from this 30-minute period in the afternoon. Look in the background — even the Canada goose is taking shelter.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: photography
Cartmel Sands, Cumbria
Thursday 7th August 2014, 8.25am (day 1,078)
The UK government hate public transport, and have done so, passionately, since the 1950s when they realised that, regardless of the effects on the environment and society, they could make much more money taxing private motor vehicles. They are also the type of people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
This picture is taken from the Cumbrian Coast rail line which I happen to think is as beautiful a railway line as exists anywhere in the world. Cartmel Sands are the estuary of the rivers Crake and Leven, which empty Coniston Water and Windermere into Morecambe Bay. Every time I go over the bridge here it looks different, some alteration in the configuration of light, tide and season that refreshes the scene constantly.
I would — and do — travel on this rail line simply to see these kinds of thing, there does not have to be a particular destination in mind. But my government would never see this kind of value. They willfully refuse to, in fact.
Deer skulls
Wednesday 6th August 2014, 7.50pm (day 1,077)
I see no reason to explain this shot. It’s just an image I liked.
In the undergrowth
Tuesday 5th August 2014, 9.10am (day 1,076)
Man, today was a tough day to fulfill the daily commission. Mostly grey light, I was working indoors, very little going on. The only variety was that the house I was working in was my in-laws’, not my own, so the garden provided some minor options in one of the few bursts of light that emerged. But it’s hardly exciting. Don’t expect much different tomorrow either, I’ll warn you now…
Scene 5, ‘Hansel and Gretel’
Monday 4th August 2014, 9.55pm (day 1,075)
For 25 years there have been seasons of outdoor promenade plays in Williamson’s Park, Lancaster. This is this year’s, and the first such performance I’ve seen. We were told not to photograph it, but when faced with a scene like this I bent the rules slightly — this is not actually the performance, the audience were just starting to gather at this point. I also hope it’s considered free advertising. What a spectacularly staged piece of work.
Himalayan (f***ing) Balsam
Sunday 3rd August 2014, 2.30pm (day 1,074)
Looks nice? It isn’t. This is Himalayan Balsam, Impatiens glandulifera, introduced into the UK by some Victorian gentleman who, if he was still alive, should be made to crawl around the country stuffing the consequences of his marketing opportunity up his bottom. This is the major invasive weed around here, possibly even the biggest local environmental problem we have right now. I’d say ‘if you see this plant kill it’ but apparently the expert advice is that even that might just make it worse (as if it were a hydra, or something). The only answer seems to be to develop a taste for eating it — which no other UK species has yet managed, hence the problem.
Asleep in the cafe, Liverpool Lime Street station
Saturday 2nd August 2014, 11.05am (day 1,073)
This is also how I felt this morning after our night out in Liverpool. I hope this woman didn’t miss her train — she was asleep in the cafe at the railway station for some time.
In the Tate, Liverpool
Friday 1st August 2014, 2.05pm (day 1,072)
As if there hadn’t been enough art last week, a trip to the Mondrian exhibition at the Tate in Liverpool. “Please don’t take pictures of the art,” we were told, “but you can take pictures of the view from the windows.” Well, OK then — here’s a bit of both.
Pendle Hill, from above Mereclough
Thursday 31st July 2014, 7.35pm (day 1,071)
Had my evening meal with my parents over the border in Lancashire and captured this on the way back. Pendle Hill is 1,827 feet high, but to be honest, looks higher, particularly when one is closer to it (this image is taken from many miles away). Its name is actually the same word repeated three times; Pen from Celtic languages, ‘dyl’ from ‘hill’ in Old English, and then ‘Hill’ from Modern English. So its name basically means ‘HillHill Hill’. It is most famous for its association with the Pendle Witches, one of England’s more notorious witch-hunts.
Cat portrait
Wednesday 30th July 2014, 9.05am (day 1,070)
Wandered out this morning on some inconsequential errand or other and took a shot of some random vista with a cat in the middle distance. Said cat then came straight over to me and virtually demanded that I did its close-ups. Well, who am I to refuse.
Being 42 