Scene, today, of one of those ‘ghost buses’ — it appears on all the information boards, Google Maps tells us that it is merrily trundling in our direction, on schedule — but no bus appears and we get to sit around another half hour or so for the next one. I realise this is not an injustice akin to, say, slavery, or Trumpism, but nevertheless. At least the forced sojourn did leave some time for photography.
God, look at the time. If this looks like it is taken over some misty marshland somewhere, it’s an illusion — instead it was captured from the 3rd floor of the Ellen Wilkinson Building, as I made my leisurely way to my 4pm class, which doesn’t even manage to start before sunset at this time of year. And still ten days to go until the solstice.
If a plane is this high above Hebden it’s already well on its way to wherever it’s going. On the other hand, I haven’t been on a plane since April 13th, coming back from Ascension Island, and won’t be setting foot on one for the rest of the year unless something quite unexpected happening. I guess the carbon footprint is benefiting.
Thunderstorms were coming and going all afternoon: here, we are perhaps a quarter of an hour from the next one. In response, the local rail system threw its hands up in fear and went into another one of its spasms, but I just stayed in and watched.
There was a big overflight of geese tonight. They came in waves, sub-flocks of 20-30 at a time (I count 22 in this particular group). Wherever the destination, they were leaving for somewhere else. There’s something a little melancholy about it all — the first intimations of autumn.
I’m sure birds have just as much of a developed weather sense as do humans. Why wouldn’t they? High winds, for a start, could really screw up that trip they were planning to make to, say, the local household waste centre. These guys may or may not be trying to sort some stuff out before the latest heavy shower comes rolling in, just as we might speed up our journey home from the shops in the face of a cloud like this.
We’re still not seeing a great deal of sunshine, and so this one was chosen mainly to demonstrate how the evenings are getting lighter, even down here in the valley. A place I am about to leave for a week: when I get back we should have sun at the front of the house again. Should it deign to shine.
My first Hebden Bridge picture in one whole month. It doesn’t seem like the pigeons have changed their behaviour much since I’ve been away: still the group callisthenics, tight circles around a carefully-chosen patch of town. They look impressive enough in black-and-white. Except for the one who’s broken formation, to the lower left.
I have marking to do and didn’t really leave the house all day (well, OK, I went to the pub, but it was dark by then). The snow came, and this shot seems to sum up the day well enough.
I entitled this “November morning” before I looked more closely at the time it was taken. But somehow it feels like a morning, so I’m not going to change it.
I know this is grainy. But it’s been a long time since I made a point of seeing that kind of thing as a marker of quality. This shot will do as well as any other to epitomise my day, or at least, the part of it I spent hiking up near the Emley Moor TV mast, which is as good a Yorkshire landmark as anything. I seem to still be continuing the blog so on we go with its 14th year, and happy birthday to me too: you can do the sums.
Being 42 