Thursday 31st January 2019, 12.40pm (day 2,716)
Up and about again today, though not very far nor very energetically. This is the kind of vibe I am trying to affect at the moment.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: photos
Chimney pots (best view of the day)
Wednesday 30th January 2019, 3.25pm (day 2,715)
Despite spending the day in the centre of London my horizons were extremely limited as I was confined to bed all day feeling ill. I basically paid my hotel £154 to rent a sick room for the day. And it was a nice sunny day, too. Poking my camera out of the window now and again to fulfil my obligations, this was the best shot I managed. Consider it an abstract?
Time capsule (from 1975)
Tuesday 29th January 2019, 10.00am (day 2,714)
This is one of those shots that is more about the personal significance than the photographic quality. When I was growing up in Crowborough we knew members of the Chappell family, who owned this pharmacy and (though it’s not so apparent on the picture) a health-food annex to the right-hand side. In fact I think I put in my first ever example of what might be considered a day’s work in the latter, aged about 13. So I do have enough of a clear memory of this place to know that in forty or more years it has not changed ONE BIT. You’d have thought that they’d have spruced up the sign at some point — but no. It’s 1975 all over again.
Seaford Head
Monday 28th January 2019, 11.20am (day 2,713)
Seaford Head is one of those unsung places that few people seem to have heard of despite it being just as dramatic as places like the White Cliffs of Dover, Beachy Head and other places that look rather like it. If you like this shot, catch it before it all crumbles into the sea, like most of the rest of the east and south-east coasts of England eventually will….
View from the 17th hole
Sunday 27th January 2019, 10.20am (day 2,712)
What yesterday’s football shot did not make apparent was that I have transferred down South for the coming week, firstly in leafy rural Sussex — specifically, Crowborough, where I grew up. This place has appeared on two previous days of the blog, back in July 2013, but I really don’t make a habit of returning. Why am I doing so this week? Well, I could elaborate on the details but basically I just want a quiet place to hang out, start my sabbatical and get some inspiration to start writing what I have to write. And, so far, it’s largely provided these things. (The fact this was taken on a golf course has no significance, I can assure you.)
One thing I always do forget about this place, though, is quite how hilly it is. Crowborough is definitely the place to bring anyone that you want to disabuse of the notion that the south-east of England is flat. We are hundreds of feet in the air here, and in the distance, those are the South Downs, some 20 miles away. The south-east may not have the mountains of the north, but it certainly has the bloody hills.
Trees (and some other activity)
Saturday 26th January 2019, 3.30pm (day 2,711)
It’s a picture of some aesthetically pleasing trees, honestly. Well, there are enough footie pictures on this blog already, aren’t there?
Clare awaits her lunch
Friday 25th January 2019, 1.40pm (day 2,710)
The liquid refreshment has arrived, at least. A slightly late lunch…. but it’s nice to be on a weekend away. These two factors explain C’s look of contentment.
Sinclair’s, Manchester
Thursday 24th January 2019, 3.30pm (day 2,709)
This is Sinclair’s Oyster Bar — oldest pub in Manchester, and also one of the most no-nonsense. Which is not to say it’s rough, because it’s not. But you get the drinks you’re given and you pay cash, and don’t expect plates of radicchio on the side. Best pub for Victoria station anyway — I know not only exactly how long it takes to walk from here, but how long it takes to specific platforms.
Still asleep
Wednesday 23rd January 2019, 7.15am (day 2,708)
What am I doing in Manchester city centre by 7.15am on a winter’s morning? I should still be asleep. Like the guy in this sleeping bag, though hopefully in a more comfortable and less public place.
Snow at Rochdale station
Tuesday 22nd January 2019, 8.30am (day 2,707)
Taken through the train window this morning, and more of an abstract than anything else: the rain (or rather sleet) drops on the window in the upper left quadrant are all too apparent. But it does at least illustrate that we had our first real snow of the winter today. Pretty feeble stuff, admittedly: but it was there.
Being 42 