Wednesday 28th August 2024, 5.25pm (day 4,752)

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.

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.

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.

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.

I still have one walk left to do in my Lake District project and today might have been a day to go — but no. Good weather in 2024 has been at a premium. And so, that particular milestone will have to wait another three weeks at least.

May ends with a burst of sunshine and this shot offers the chance to inspect the range of slightly-toasted pink and vaguely brown skin tones that the average English visage offers up at this time of year. My Friday evenings may seem to often be spent at the pub, and specifically this pub (the Railway), I admit — but in fact this is the first one for eight weeks.

Trixie makes her debut appearance on the blog but as she has been formally inducted into the ‘pub pack’ I am sure she will return. There are two types of people: ones who feed begging dogs snacks and ones who don’t. I am in the latter group, but I seem to definitely be in the minority.

Hugo’s third appearance on here, and all within the last twelve months. As Clare has just said to me, he is an ‘ugly little thing’, but still, endearing. Definitely one of the pub pack, anyway.

I did get very close today to the ‘having nothing to photograph’ assessment — but I did get the marking done. Justification for the latest trip to the pub, anyway: I am now officially On Sabbatical. As I ordered the first pint of this period I was reminded that I do like pub regular Jim’s habit of claiming his daily bottle of red wine. But even that, I couldn’t get properly in focus.