Tuesday 1st February 2022, 7.05pm (day 3,813)

Serious combat in the Railway this evening. Somehow black and white photography seems appropriate for this subject matter.

Serious combat in the Railway this evening. Somehow black and white photography seems appropriate for this subject matter.

This trip down to London also offered the chance to pick up a County Top (see the other blog); specifically Bushey Heath, the highest point in the historic county of Middlesex, swallowed up by London in 1965 although at least it still retains a county cricket team. It wasn’t major mountaineering, though. Clare here strolls through the woods near Bentley Priory (an ecclesiastical relic? no, a premium housing estate) in one of those shots that chews up the bandwidth thanks to all the foliage.

“God’s Own Junkyard” — and that’s its official name — is a bar/café in Walthamstow, London, but that doesn’t even begin to describe it. In fact it’s a museum of neon; what you see here is barely 1% of the whole stock. I wonder what their electricity bill is like.

The Emley Moor TV transmitting station can be seen from almost everywhere in West Yorkshire, particularly anywhere even vaguely elevated: but then again, that’s the reason why it was built where it was. It’s still the tallest free-standing structure in Britain. Except that it has a companion at the moment; a temporary mast designed to take the load while repairs are conducted, apparently. Yes, I am frustrated by the electricity wires on this shot but this was another day with not much to see, so I’m taking what’s there.

My friend Geri was one of the very first people to appear on this blog: that’s her in the foreground of the shot of Joe on day 9. In the intervening time she, like me and everyone else, has got ten years and nearly five months older, and in her case that has led, today, to a birthday with a 0 on the end — though I will spare her blushes by not specifying which one. We’re still in the same place, however: not just the same pub, but the same room. Happy birthday to her.

Evening on Hebden Bridge station, platform 1. But am I leaving town, or coming back? That’s for me to know. Perhaps it is all the same thing in the end.

I return here to a theme developed on Friday, but bear with me, it’s not an exciting time. Here we see the cones shamelessly deployed to ensure Sgt Cawood of Happy Valley always gets a parking space outside her house. I did wonder if they needed an extra for the role of “man with long coat and Brighton & Hove Albion shopping bag” but I don’t think that would have fitted the Yorkshire ambience, necessarily.

The Sunday market in Hebden Bridge is a significant contributor to the fact that Sundays are probably the busiest day in town, at least, when it’s not raining. There are some varied combinations possible — like here, Italian food and the dog-related stall next door to one another.