Month: March 2025

In Praise Of Picture Postcards

I miss picture postcards: that unique combination of image and words and that alignment of the public picture and the private message. They have survived a century or more and provide us with a bookmark for all our history and for all our yesterdays. This one - featuring the Scottish town of Alexandria - was … Continue reading In Praise Of Picture Postcards

Living In The Stream

There is something rather sad about the fact that this is an unknown family member - such a characterful face, such a promising pose, should never become unknown. But she lives on, she graces multiple streams of social media, she continues to radiate charm, long after the horse-hair stuffing has deserted the armchair.

A Surrealistic Vision

It is now sixty years since I came across this scene - somewhere above Claremount Road in Halifax if I remember rightly - but it's a sight I'll never forget. It's almost as though someone had carefully composed the scene, bringing together car, cart, bathtub and a couple of old masters in order to create … Continue reading A Surrealistic Vision

Selo – The Fast Film

I went digging in one of the endless boxes of old photographs that are slowly taking over our house and came up with not a photograph, but a colourful envelope used to deliver negatives and prints back in the 1930s. Oh, you digital slaves of Smarty McSmart phones, you don't know what you are missing … Continue reading Selo – The Fast Film

Repetitive Halifax

In the best part of the five years I have been sharing my picture-a-day calendar, I have tried to avoid using the same image more than once, but occasionally I have slipped up. I now realise that I used this photo of mine of Halifax in the 1980s back in September 2024. This is a … Continue reading Repetitive Halifax

Robin Hood And Philosophy

I live my life in line with a number of philosophical precepts - one of the most important of which is "never walk past a pub without taking a photo of it as it might not be there the next time you pass!" When I passed the Robin Hood pub in Brighouse back in 2009, … Continue reading Robin Hood And Philosophy

Steps Into Halifax

I'm not entirely sure which stone staircase in Halifax this was; there were - and there still are - dozens of them: over rivers and railway lines, over roads, and over nothing in particular. We just like steps in these parts; they break the monotony of life, they keep us fit, and they create dramatic … Continue reading Steps Into Halifax

A Spanner In The Works

I've given this photo the title "Albert and the Giant Spanner". As far as I can be certain, that is my father, Albert, on the left, which would mean that the photograph was taken about 1930 when he was a young apprentice in Bradford. I'm not sure what the giant spanner was used for, but … Continue reading A Spanner In The Works

Old Friend, Old Pub, Old Ship

A very good old friend came to visit yesterday and we went for lunch to a very good old inn. I've been visiting the Old White Beare in Norwood Green for more than half a century, but that's only a moment in the life of this 500-year-old village pub. Some of the timbers within the … Continue reading Old Friend, Old Pub, Old Ship