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Nov 30 2011
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene Gallery

Stubbings School, Hebden Bridge – closed

Wednesday 30th November 2011, 9.55am (day 97)

Stubbings is closed, 30/11/11

The public sector comprises people like teachers, refuse collectors, immigration officers, police officers, nurses, gravediggers…  performing those tasks which are essential to the functionality and health of a society but which are difficult to ‘market’, unglamorous, dangerous, non-profit-making or all of the above. The UK government has, since taking power in a right-wing, private-sector-led coup that followed the inconclusive May 2010 general election, launched a sustained raid on the pensions funds of these groups, using the proceeds to pay off bankers who privatise and tax-dodge with their profits, but nationalise their debts – the perfect scam – and spending them on nuclear weapons that will never be fired (see October 3rd commentary).

The public sector unions responded by today calling a widespread strike, which will be excoriated in certain right-wing papers tomorrow as a matter of course, despite being supported by 61% of the British public, according to one opinion poll. Had Joe’s school been open – it was not – I would have kept him off anyway as a show of support. I hope there are more. Something has to make the bastards crack. They’re a Coalition for heaven’s sake, all it takes is the Lib Dems to stop pimping our arses while the Chancellor stands behind, shafting away.

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Nov 29 2011
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Daily Post, Interior Gallery

Mural, Bergen airport

Tuesday 29th November 2011, 4.05pm (day 96)

Bergen airport mural, 29/11/11

Although feeling sometimes like I do rather too much of this flying lark I do like looking at the departure boards in airports and thinking one day, I’ll just turn up and go somewhere random. I like the odd juxtaposition of destinations on this mural. Bangkok and Orkney in the same context – that won’t happen too often. Home tonight, though not until after midnight.

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Nov 28 2011
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Daily Post, Urban scene Gallery

Site of the new Høgskolen i Bergen

Monday 28th November 2011, 5.00pm (day 95)

Building site, Bergen, 28/11/11

Those of you who are visiting regularly at the moment (and I know there are a few – for which, thank you) might be wondering where the fjord is. Well, it’s not that I didn’t get a good picture of one – I didn’t even see one. A landslide at Myrdal rail station last night, up in the mountains, led to the cancellation of my day trip. Oh, I get my money back but it’s still disappointing. Four trips to Norway have now passed and I’ve still yet to see the reason Slartibartfast got his award (and if that means nothing to you, you’ve not read The Hitch-Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy).

So here’s a picture of a building site instead. However, there is a connection – this is the site of the new Høgskolen i Bergen (Bergen University College), due to open in 2013 (or is it 2014) and, indirectly, one of the reasons I am here: the work I am doing here, in part, is helping prepare the library to move from having five separate premises into one big new space. So there is a point to the picture. But a fjord would have been so much nicer. Not this time though… or the next two (January & February), come to that.

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Nov 27 2011
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Daily Post, Urban scene Gallery

Mount Fløyen, Bergen, Norway

Sunday 27th November 2011, 3.25pm (day 94)

Mount Fløyen, 27/11/11

So here I am in Bergen again, and being a tourist for a couple of days – in all this run of visits to what I firmly believe is the most beautiful city I’ve ever visited, I have not had the chance before now to really look around (and see a fjord, particularly – which I will do tomorrow).

If anything I am slightly disappointed with the haul of pictures taken today (others can be seen in a Facebook album); none of them quite captured the glories of the view. This one is the best but there’s flare to the right of the image. But never mind, it was worth braving the freezing gale that was whipping in from the North Sea this afternoon. And it also becomes the first black & white shot on this blog, on its 94th day.

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Nov 26 2011
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene Gallery

Burst water main, Market Street, Hebden Bridge

Saturday 26th November 2011, 10.05am (day 93)

Burst water main, 26/11/11_low-res

So we move into the second trimester of this blog. End of November, December, January and most of February – the winter months. Expect lots of pictures of the cold and wet. I get several trips abroad in this period but they’re all to Norway (to where I head once more, tomorrow), Russia, the Netherlands – you won’t be seeing any winter warmth.

This picture was the only really interesting thing to happen today but is deceiving. The flood has been caused not by rain but by water flooding out (literally) from a burst mains pipe and drowning the road.

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Nov 25 2011
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna Gallery

Jack Russell pup

Friday 25th November 2011, 5.20pm (day 92)

Jack Russell pup, 25/11/11

I started this blog on August 26th, which means today is the end of my third month. Thus, I am a quarter of the way through the planned whole year, 12 months, 366 days (it’s a leap year next year, remember). I guess I’ve done quite well so far, but today I really lacked inspiration. Only this little, 3-month-old pup in the pub this evening really stood out. It was him, or another picture of Hebden Bridge, anyway.

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Nov 24 2011
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Daily Post, Family Member, Portrait Gallery

Joe, hiding

Thursday 24th November 2011, 8.45am (day 91)

Joe behind lamppost, 24/11/11

I know this pic is out-of-focus but it gave me the biggest laugh of the day, which is enough reason to put it on here. Joe is really hiding here, this is not just a random shot that happened to catch him in this position. Fellow fans of Arrested Development may share my humor if I cite the line – “you can always tell a Milford man”. But then again, they may not.

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Nov 23 2011
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait Gallery

Boris at the Christmas market, Manchester

Wednesday 23rd November 2011, 5.45pm (day 90)

Boris at the Xmas market, 23/11/11

This (on the right) is Boris, one of my colleagues from Moscow (see October 23-27), visiting Manchester for a couple of days. He is well into his 60s but has a 6-year-old daughter, which I find kinda sweet. A nice guy, if you don’t enquire too deeply into what he did in the Soviet era.

I also quite like Manchester’s German-inspired Christmas markets, which achieve the (for me) astonishing combination of being both highly Christmassy and yet not twee nor over-commercial. I like this shot because of the stallholder’s pleasant look of satisfaction as Boris decides whether to get a gift for his daughter.

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Nov 22 2011
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna Gallery

Duck parade, Hebden Bridge town centre

Tuesday 22nd November 2011, 9.50am (day 89)

Duck parade, 22/11/11

I like ducks: handsome creatures, in my opinion. Tasty, too 🙂  I wonder exactly what is going on to the left of this shot, it’s clearly something of interest in the duck world.

By the way, this is the third shot in a row taken at almost exactly the same time of day.

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Nov 21 2011
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Daily Post, Urban scene Gallery

Oxford Road, Manchester

Monday 21st November 2011, 9.50am (day 88)

Oxford Road, 21/11/11

Although my work location varies, as you can tell from this blog, Monday is most commonly a Manchester day, spent among the dreaming spires…

Dreaming spires? Well, not really. The University of Manchester campus is split in half by one of the country’s principal A roads (this is the A34 which starts here and ends in Southampton, having passed through the centre of England on the way – including Oxford, hence the name Oxford Road). It makes it the noisiest and most crowded campus I have ever visited, and believe me I’ve been to a few. My bosses are spending millions on new buildings but if you ask me a better investment would be simply to pay for a ‘university bypass’ and then grass this over to create a long garden. Who knows, one day we might realise that cars subtract from life more than they add to it and it might even happen.

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