It is still September. It is still the first half of September. But the Gospel Oak pub, in Tipton, West Midlands, cares nothing for such pedantries. Here, it is Christmas already, so they can advertise their seasonal ‘wear a shite jumper’ dinners (starting November 11th, if you’re interested). There is something deeply depressing about this.
An excuse to see friend Doug, and have him make his sixth appearance on the blog, provided by the fact that Oldham Athletic (known as the Latics) were playing in Halifax, and D. can be minded to raise it for the Latics now and again. The Three Pigeons lies between railway station and ground and is rather obligatory on such occasions (see also here, for instance, which I’m pretty sure is exactly the same table). I like this one thanks to the brightness of the guy behind, who interrupts the dark line of people quite agreeably. It finished 1-1, by the way.
As good a reflection of an afternoon in the Railway as any other shot I can think of. Happy Wednesdays. I should have been somewhere else, but that’s a different story.
I used to smoke tobacco, but quit in 2008 (it remains the only one of my addictions which I can claim to have truly quit). Still, I couldn’t care less whether others still want to use the stuff, and it does sometimes look good. This is, of course, an optical illusion, but an effective one.
For some reason this looks and feels like a collage. The streak of the bus in the background and the overlay of the reflected lettering on the guy’s head are what make it, I think. The whole thing seems to sum up my Monday night, anyway.
Well, that’s what it looks like. In truth we were all, Doris the dog included, enjoying the sunshine; there’s not been that much of it to be seen in northern England this year so far but summer does appear to have broken out over the last few days, at least.
This is, very much, a picture chosen because it is a person I know looking very much themselves, and in exactly the right context, too. All he needs is the bike in the background, and it really wasn’t far away.
Only the tenth Hebden shot in three months, but as I have already noted, there will be more of these coming up. Whether they get more exciting than this one is as yet undetermined but up to me, I guess. This at least represents a pleasant lunch out with the wife. It’s nice to be home, for now.
The whole flower-in-pub theme appeared a few days ago, but let’s return to it: it is, at least, a different pub, different flower, different day. Limited horizons this week but that ends today as 10 days off work now beckons, so let’s see what trouble I can get into.
There has been a considerable amount of travelling evident over the last two months, and it’s not quite finished yet: I have one more trip to make, coming up. But this week it has been time to settle in back home, and expect most of July and all of August to be much the same, I have writing to get on with. Meanwhile, though, a hole in an old bucket. It might not be in Canada, or Namibia, but it’s still something to enjoy.
Being 42 