Another grim day of weather, describable, at one level, as ‘sunshine and showers’, but the sunshine was brief and brought no succour, while the showers were prolonged and heavy. Here, they coincide, but I was still getting very wet.
A foul day of weather today, definitely the worst since early April. A reasonably pleasant morning tricked us all into going out without the right gear, a mistake very apparent later on when we had to return home in foul and heavy rain, and with plenty of time to remind ourselves about just how poor is the drainage on Manchester’s streets.
After a few weeks of getting out and about, my 49th birthday was spent at home in Hebden Bridge, and this is the weather that greeted it. I’m sure it’s not a metaphor for my advancing years…. but it was rather a wet blanket (OK, that’s a metaphor). Onward, anyway, onward with my fiftieth year on the planet (good grief). But the travelling is over for a little while.
Rain…. briefly anyway. Enough to soak me on the way back from town as well as give these ducks a dousing on the river.
No social commentary intended: I think the cyclist was reporting an incident rather than being accused of one. Anyway I only realised later that I might have been picturing that. The main point of the pic was to show that in Manchester this morning it actually rained, the first substantial downpour for weeks. I have been saying how much we needed this — but it was somewhat irritating that it chose to do this when I was out in it without a brolly. I smelt damp for the rest of the day.
Not an eventful day, and it won’t be an eventful weekend. Rain fell for the first time in three weeks, but it was of the light, refreshing kind that the plants needed before everything begun withering away. No sitting outside the pub this evening, however.
I’m aware this photo could have been taken anywhere, but it happens to be in Zagreb, Croatia: making this the first place to begin with Z that has appeared on the blog in its 2,454 days.
The pigeons of Zagreb, at least, the ones pictured here, may have decided for many reasons to have a fight but amongst those may have been the fact that on this late morning it was absolutely throwing it down with rain, as is visible here (and it’s not always easy to see rain on photographs unless it’s very heavy). I have been here 24 hours now and there’s certainly been copious amounts of moisture pouring out of the sky. I think there are three birds visible on this shot, but I must admit I’m not entirely sure.
The defining feature of the day… and the last couple, to be honest…. rain. Persistent, grey, cold. But what the hell, it’s the weekend.
2018 doesn’t get off to the greatest start, as our attempt to see a second football match in three days was thwarted by the weather; Accrington Stanley versus Morecambe being abandoned at half-time due to the rain. Although my suspicion is that the referee had a New Year’s hangover and just got pissed off with being drenched so couldn’t be bothered any more. During the half-time-interval-that-wasn’t, it in fact stopped raining. We, however, had paid £55 in total for two adult and one child’s entrance fees, so I make that £1.22/minute to watch some fourth-tier football that is now meaningless. They also suggest we should now pay another £25 to watch the replay. Previous positive feelings I had towards Accrington Stanley FC largely evaporated today.
The smudges on the lens, the unnaturally reflective ground, the kind of stoically pained look of the lady with the blue bag, yes, it was another fine autumn morning in Manchester. I’m glad this week’s over, it has been very tiring. But Worktober ain’t finished yet, unfortunately.
