I was supposed to be in Manchester today but with the outflow of yesterday’s floods still wandering past, I gave the travelling a miss. But how great is videoconferencing? Photographically I hope it is also interesting to depict the random pile of crap that has accumulated at one side of the dining table… then again, I am surely reaching.
After it became apparent, around lunchtime, that flooding was going to cause some, er, interesting wrinkles in my journey home, I headed back early — and it still took me over three hours to get home from uni, whereas the normal itinerary is about an hour and twenty minutes. The major obstacle was the need to get a taxi from Rochdale, way over the tops, thanks to the direct road and rail links from Todmorden to Hebden being under several feet of water, apparently. Photographically, I did my best — the red spattered throughout this shot seems somehow symbolic. But I could have done without it.
Reggie and Annie are as true a couple as I have ever met. Somewhat out of focus though it is, I like this photo because it demonstrates that fact.
First day on campus in 10. I just like this one as an abstract. Maybe I should make that a separate category for posts on the blog.
Artistic merit is one thing but the photos on here have to somehow epitomise the day, and as my journey home occupied the whole of the first ten and a half hours of 4/11/19, this was what had to be shown. It gets the ‘very early monring’ photo count up a notch, as well. Shot taken out of my window seat at 44K on the Jeddah – Frankfurt leg of my trek.
In many cities, the historic districts, with the older buildings, are the most desirable locations to live and stay. Jeddah is not one of those cities. The Old City still covers a decent expanse of land, but much of it is now ramshackle, and Saudis themselves do not live here. Instead the area is home to poorer migrants, such as from Yemen and Somalia, and there are signs of habitation in buildings that in many other places would be condemned. Then again, a reason they are still standing is because the city is now trying to preseve and restore the area, and there are visible signs of regeneration. I thought it was also a fairly friendly spot. Saudi Arabia definitely feels way more liberal than it did when I first came 11 years ago. (Not that I could have a beer with dinner, mind.)
Here I am for the weekend in Jeddah, second largest city in Saudi Arabia and home of some very tall things. For a start, visible here, the world’s tallest fountain, which fires tonnes of the Red Sea some 900 – 1,000 feet high (depending on how it is measured) into the sky. Somewhere not far behind me as I took this was the world’s tallest flagpole as well, and they’re working on what will become the world’s tallest building, apparently. But then again isn’t every modern city with aspirations, these days.
This is the blog’s first trip to Saudi Arabia, but my second. I went to Riyadh in 2008, which I just found weird (but with good food). Jeddah is more liberal, and also a lot more humid than expected. Food’s still good, though.
I am speaking at a conference this weekend, so today was my first flight since the EasyJet Iceland debacle back in July. (Never ever again, EasyJet.) Fortunately all went perfectly today. As to where I flew to — well, you can find that out tomorrow. The flight meant it was my first opportunity in those four months to get shots like this. All of Europe seemed to be covered in cloud today; only these peaks made it up above the grey. I don’t know exactly where this is, somewhere toward the eastern end of the Alps so maybe Austria or Slovenia, but this will have to join the list of locations in which I can’t even identify a country for certain.
Back home — at least for a day. It’s Halloween but I don’t really go for The Festival of Cheap Plastic Tat. I did have a couple of online classes to run however, so I let my totem make an appearance. Perhaps the Mac is also a totem — or a familiar? It’s certainly hard to weave any magic without it, these days.
On my way home, visited the Wallace Monument in Stirling, built to commemorate William Wallace, Scottish hero (yeah yeah, Braveheart, Mel Gibson, etc.). Three things about it are steep — the stairs to the top, the walk up the hill to it, and the £10.50 entry fee. These are just about compensated for by the view, however, which takes in the Ochils (where I walked yesterday), Stirling, the Highlands to the west and to the east, the valley of the River Forth. This is perhaps the least glamorous direction, but photographically the most interesting — today, at least.
Being 42 