Sunday 24th June 2012, 8.10pm (day 304)
Well, here we are, off again. To a country that may have massive political and social problems, but has at least heard of the notion that in June, it’s supposed to be summer.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: photography
After the flood, the mopping up
Saturday 23rd June 2012, 3.40pm (day 303)
Between about 10pm last night and 4am this morning Hebden Bridge town centre was under about 2 feet of water. (As you can see from many other pictures on this site we live 50 or so feet above the valley floor: luckily.) It drained quickly, and by the time I got down there at 10am, the flood water had gone. So no pictures of that.
But the damage had been done. At least half the businesses in the town centre were not open today and some might be closed for two weeks or more, a great dent in income in a time of diminished revenue as it is. The fire service were doing wonders, working all day to pump out cellars and basements. But although it did rain a lot yesterday, let’s also consider that most of the drains in this town are regularly blocked by dirt, leaves and debris because the Council don’t clean them: and we supposedly have a rather expensive flood defence system installed two miles up the valley (built after the last big flood in 2000) – which, for reasons no one is very clear about yet (was it not activated? Or simply inadequate despite the money spent?) – has failed. People couldn’t get hold of sandbags to protect their property. It’s the people, the businesses, of Hebden Bridge who will be picking up the costs of these mistakes.
(D)rain
Friday 22nd June 2012, 9.15am (day 302)
It’s still raining. It’s been raining all day. Heavily. The flood warning sirens in Hebden Bridge went off an hour ago: just an initial warning, but only about the third time since I’ve been living here (11 years). It’d better not: I’m supposed to be going to Russia on Sunday.
First day of summer
Thursday 21st June 2012, 8.45am (day 301)
Astronomically, today was the first day of summer. Ha ha. It’s throwing it down here. Even the ducks look depressed.
Incidentally, what you see here is the original bridge, dating from around 1510, for which the town of Hebden Bridge is named. It’ll have seen drier 21st Junes in its time.
Waiting for the train to Manchester
Wednesday 20th June 2012, 8.55am (day 300)
Which, of course, is something I do frequently: though not as often as some. Either the 0652, if I don’t have to take Joe to school, or the 0856, if I do. Today I did. It was a nice sunny morning, and though I got a couple of other decent pictures throughout the day, I’ll stick with this one: it’s nice to be on the way to work and still feel quite mellow about the day, and the shot captures that I think.
The Starbucks riot squad
Tuesday 19th June 2012, 5.55pm (day 299)
Looks like something’s going down in Starbucks. What is more interesting is the guy on the right striding off in the direction of ‘The Wonderful World of Waxing’. Did he have an appointment? Inquiring minds want to know.
Tomorrow (Weds 20th) is day 300 of this blog, so I’ve added some more pictures to the ‘Best of the Rest’ page to mark the occasion.
Old BBC building, Oxford Road
Monday 18th June 2012, 2.20pm (day 298)
A couple of years ago the BBC moved a substantial portion of their operations up to the new Media City complex in Salford Quays. Apart from the wounded pride of a chunk of the London media set, fearful of having to deal with Northerners on a regular basis, the other casualty was the old building on Oxford Road, pictured here. Now completely empty, it is fenced off and – according to this sign – awaiting demolition.
In its place will be built an eco-friendly, natural piece of parkland, along with some discreet business premises and workshops that will ask for a peppercorn rent and be reserved for local enterprises who otherwise could not afford to be based in Manchester city centre.
Or possibly I imagined all that and it will just be turned into another supermarket.
Fire buckets, Keighley station
Sunday 17th June 2012, 2.50pm (day 297)
We were on Keighley station a couple of weekends ago, but hey, here we are again. We had a free ticket and it was something to do. I choose this picture today partly because of the colour and shapes, but mainly because the sign above makes it look like these are the rudimentary toilet facilities. I mean, I know this heritage railway is preserving how things were a hundred years ago or whatever, but this seems to be taking it a bit far.
Making pickle
Saturday 16th June 2012, 11.40am (day 296)
Nutclough Pickle. Ingredients: 1 cauliflower, 1 cucumber, a few small onions, 2 pints of vinegar, mustard powder, turmeric, 2 cloves garlic, some salt, 300g sugar, nutmeg, allspice and a few tablespoons of flour. Cook up together and bung in a jar for a few weeks, then give to relatives and keep some for yourself.
June storm
Friday 15th June 2012, 1.25pm (day 295)
Today in Donetsk the Ukraine v France game started, but was then suspended for an hour because of heavy rain.
This June in Hebden Bridge spring started, but has since been suspended for a couple of weeks because of general crappiness, of which today saw more; including this attempt to emulate the weather in the Ukraine, except it’s nowhere near warm enough for a decent thunderstorm. It’s just rain.
Being 42 