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

Calrec Audio (as the cover of ‘Physical Graffiti’)

Friday 30th December 2011, 4.20pm (day 127)

Calrec Audio, 30/12/11

This has not been an active couple of days. I have spent almost all of both of them at home working. Fortunately I have yet to exhaust the photographic possibilities in the immediate area. This is the factory across the street (see also 5th September, for instance), looking to me like the cover of Led Zeppelin’s finest moment(s), the Physical Graffiti album. But perhaps it’s been a long year, not to mention 33 hours in the house on my own not talking to anyone, and I am starting to hallucinate.

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Dec 29 2011
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Daily Post, Interior Gallery

Breakfast on bed

Thursday 29th December 2011, 9.05am (day 126)

Breakfast on bed, 29/12/11

In the 126 days of this blog, few have been harder than today was when it came to finding inspiration. I worked at home all day, not leaving the house; the weather outside was flat grey skies and rain; I didn’t even have the other family members as subjects as both were out from early on and aren’t coming back until tomorrow.

But I have a duty to fulfil, so here is my best effort – given a little tweak by going black & white, which works on this shot, I think (and disguises how faded is the coloured fabric of the duvet cover). It also gives the eagle-eyed among you a chance to vet my sense of humour and football-related reading matter.

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Dec 28 2011
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Daily Post, Landscape Gallery

Phone mast, late afternoon

Wednesday 28th December 2011, 2.40pm (day 125)

Phone mast, Hebden Bridge, 28/12/11

Few chances to take a good photo today until the sun began to go down. When you live in a valley the sun drops earlier than elsewhere and today the mast that is otherwise a minor blemish on the view marked the point at which it dipped below the horizon. Stonehenge – mobile communications mast – same thing? (From our house on Dec 28th each year, at least.)

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Dec 27 2011
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Daily Post, Family Member, Portrait Gallery

Clare at the Centre of Britain

Tuesday 27th December 2011, 2.55pm (day 124)

Dunsop Bridge, 27/12/11

Drove home today via the scenic route, and took some landscape shots I’m quite pleased with (two others have already made it onto my other photography sites – see the links at the very bottom of the home page).

However, this picture is more fun. Said scenic route from Morecambe to Hebden Bridge takes us through the remote (well, remote for England) Forest of Bowland and through the little village of Dunsop Bridge. According to the nice people at the Ordnance Survey, Dunsop Bridge’s telephone box is the exact geographical centre of Great Britain. So here we are at the centre of the country.

No one seems exactly sure how this is measured, however. Is it just the island of Great Britain? Or do you count all the satellites, like the Shetlands? Or is it the UK, which should therefore include Northern Ireland?

Let’s not worry about it. Few people seem to, anyway. The box is in a bit of a neglected state to tell the truth, I don’t think BT are really that bothered about it. I doubt anyone actually makes calls from here.

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Dec 26 2011
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger Gallery

Matchday hospitality, the Globe Arena

Monday 26th December 2011, 2.00pm (day 123)

Matchday hospitality, 26/12/11

I’ve never heard a satisfactory explanation for why we call it Boxing Day. Whatever it means historically, these days it usually means, for me, attending a football match if there’s one in the vicinity. Today therefore becomes the Globe Arena’s second appearance on this site (after September 23rd). We did this one rather differently, however; our Christmas present for Carol & Dave, our in-laws, was to sample the full matchday hospitality package, with dinner in the suite under the main stand. Interesting experience.

This lady appears today for no other reason than I think she looks good in this photo. She becomes, begging her pardon, the oldest person so far on this blog.

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Dec 25 2011
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Daily Post, Family Member, Portrait Gallery

Joe tries out his Christmas present

Sunday 25th December 2011, 12.15pm (day 122)

Joe the photographer, 25/12/11

Hard to know quite how to encapsulate a day like Christmas without cliché. But here is Joe using one of his Christmas presents…. a chip off the old block? Who knows?

The game, by the way, is mölkky, a version of skittles for which I developed a liking in Finland last midsummer. Very tactical. Worth a try, if you have a piece of flat land about half the size of a tennis court to play it on.

Also, today is the end of the 4th month of this blog. I feel like I have been doing it forever. Actually I have twice as much left as I have already done.

And a happy Christmas to you all….

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Dec 24 2011
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Daily Post, Landscape Gallery

Morecambe, Christmas Eve

Saturday 24th December 2011, 2.05pm (day 121)

Morecambe Bay, 24/12/11

And so this is Christmas…. we effected a transfer to the in-laws’ this morning. They live in Morecambe, a strange place, quite run down in many ways but located on a slice of genuine physical beauty, the bay to which it gives its name. I’m happy with this pic but I suffered for it – this was taken into the teeth of a vicious gale.

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Dec 23 2011
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Daily Post, Interior Gallery

Joe & Tom playing table football

Friday 23rd December 2011, 2.25pm (day 120)

Table football, 23/12/11

The rain came down again. It won’t be a white Christmas this year, unlike the last two. When my sister & her family came round, indoor games were the order of the day. I like this shot for its signs of movement. Joe’s 4-1 up, but I don’t know what the final score was. His tactic is usually to twizz both spinners round at maximum velocity for the entire game. Sometimes it can be devastatingly effective.

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Dec 22 2011
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna Gallery

Flying south

Thursday 22nd December 2011, 11.35am (day 119)

Flying south, 22/12/11

I probably come across as someone who disagrees with the way Britain is currently being run – which I admit. But despite it all there are still a lot of things about this place that I really like. One of them is how, after days and days of cruddy weather, you can wake up one morning, even in midwinter, and be immersed in an utterly glorious day. Such a day was today. If we thought it would last, you might even say these birds had made the wrong decision. I suspect, however, they are more sensitive than I.

By the way, another good candidate for today can be seen on my Flickr site, unused because I thought there had been too many HB scenic views and this one was more unusual. I still like it though, both are good reminders of a spectacular morning.

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Dec 21 2011
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Daily Post, Interior Gallery

Winter solstice celebration

Wednesday 21st December 2011, 7.20pm (day 118)

Solstice meal, 21/12/11

24 people from the neighbourhood gathered in the ex-pub over the road to eat good home-cooked food and drink wine. Call it a ‘Solstice celebration’ (for today was the shortest day of the year), or a pre-Christmas get-together; it doesn’t matter, the good food and the good emotions remain either way. This is Christmas, for me: forget the presents, the best thing about it is the excuse it offers to push the boat out a little further and indulge in some really excellent eating for a few days. Tonight’s meal was great, and I didn’t have to lift a finger.

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