Friday 15th May 2026, 4.30pm (day 5,377)
One of those occasions where it’s a case of — yes, I’ll go with that. There is nothing more to be said.
I’m fine
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: traffic
Go that way, for no particular reason
Tuesday 17th February 2026, 6.10pm (day 5,290)
For the second semester in a row I have been allocated a 4-6pm teaching slot, and, as yet, we are nowhere near far enough into the spring for me to be seeing sunsets on a Tuesday; it’s dark by the time I emerge. The walk home then begins up Brook Street, which for some time now has been consistently a traffic jam at about 6.10pm. The cause is obvious, and I’m sure all the Manchester drivers are very happy when they realise there is, as far as I can tell, nothing in particular going on in the coned-off lane.
Gathering of blue and red lights
Wednesday 14th January 2026, 5.40pm (day 5,256)
Another day with a photo that will fail to enter the world’s, or even my own, stock of Great Pictures, but it’ll be like this for a while, I’m afraid. It’s always a little worrying to come home and find an ambulance and police van parked outside the house, but whatever had been going on, it wasn’t at our place. These little moments of incident take place behind walls, and we see the outcome but never discover their origin.
Rush hour
Thursday 9th October 2025, 5.30pm (day 5,159)
In the 20 years and 2 months I have been working in Manchester I have driven into work precisely six times. Three of those were in the first couple of months: of the three since, two were forced on me due to train strikes (and for those, I parked north of the centre and finished the journey by tram) and the other one was a Sunday morning. There are reasons for this. I’m not usually still in the area for full-on rush hour/Carmageddon but I was there this evening.
Bikes and people
Thursday 2nd October 2025, 3.45pm (day 5,152)
It seems to have happened slightly later than usual this year, though that’s just a quirk of the calendar, but today was the day I could no longer avoid going onto campus and being faced by a large number of people who were not in the vicinity two weeks ago. Yes, it’s the first week of teaching. So be it.
One way traffic
Monday 3rd June 2024, 8.40am (day 4,666)
Staying over in the Premier Inn after last night’s gig provides the opportunity to observe the morning traffic on the Mancunian Way from fifteen floors up. Heading west seems to be the route of choice, but the one car going east has the preferable journey at the moment, if you ask me.
Dundas Square
Friday 2nd February 2024, 6.25pm (day 4,544)
Toronto seems one of the most civilised places I have ever been, but if it has a seedy underbelly, Dundas Square is probably it. Just these two blocks: nothing too vulgar, you know, like those USAnians do.
Roadworks, ever more
Tuesday 31st October 2023, 11.15am (day 4,450)
A terrifically dull situation, but that was my day for you, with much of the morning spent negotiating seemingly endless roadworks in order to run a relatively simple (but necessary) errand. And I did so in both directions too – this was on the way home. I was waiting at the latest red light, in case you want to report me to the traffic police.
September shower
Friday 22nd September 2023, 4.30pm (day 4,411)
The week has been a busy one but ends uneventfully. The weather was unconducive to a spell sat outside the pub, so the drinking was done indoors today. I believe this shot was captured through the window; a sensible approach under the circumstances.
Bus crash — aftermath
Tuesday 8th August 2023, 4.50pm (day 4,366)
Walking through Manchester city centre tonight it was impossible to not notice the activity around the corner of Oxford Road and Whitworth Street, with everything cordoned off by police tape and some major sweeping up under way. Turns out at lunchtime a bus took out a central reservation, for some reason (which I can quite believe involved swerving to save the life of some idiotic cyclopath of the kind who thinks his Deliveroo bag gives him the right to ignore red lights), a few people hurt but nothing serious. And the picture? Well, the pink scaffolding is impressive. Some might say there’s not been enough pink on the blog recently.
Being 42 