Yesterday I went in search of the day before. In some ways it was unchanged: the cobbles, the chimneys, the stone-thick mill walls. In other ways there have been changes: fine craft replacing hard graft, variety replacing dull monotony. The Shears Inn remains - historic and magnificent, and the beer is so much better than … Continue reading Memory Lane
Author: Alan Burnett
Shear Luck
For the last twenty years I have been a member of a disreputable organisation that used to be known as the Old Gits, which holds monthly meetings in a variety of pubs, taverns and inns throughout West Yorkshire. Some years ago we decided, in the sprit of Mao-Tse-Tung's Theory of Continuous Revolution, to re-invent ourselves … Continue reading Shear Luck
Scanning Nature
I am always being told that I should get out more and that it is unhealthy to stay in my little room scanning old images. So today I went out, and as I walked the dog down the road, I picked a few random wild flowers. I quickly returned to the safety of my little … Continue reading Scanning Nature
Red Dirt Road
New Month
Black Friar
For a time, during the late 1970s, I had a job leading parties of foreign visitors on tours of historic London pubs. One of my favourite stopping off points was the magnificent Art Nouveau Black Friar pub on Queen Victoria Street, which, back then, had only recently been saved from the threat of demolition. As … Continue reading Black Friar
Stone
Halifax does stone well. The railway viaduct could be part of a Roman amphitheatre, and the mill could be the business end of a Gothic cathedral. The wall could be an early stone version of Tetris, and the chimney part of a Gormley sculpture. And there, in the background, is the source of it all … Continue reading Stone
Stirling Scan
What better way to spend Sunday than to walk down King Street in Stirling. On the left are the offices of the Stirling Journal and on the right is the Golden Lion Hotel, and in the distance, the imposing Athenaeum building. The walk started ninety-odd years ago when someone took a photo of the scene, … Continue reading Stirling Scan
Happy Birthday
Making the love of my life the subject of my daily calendar on her birthday fulfils two important objectives. It reminds me not to forget her birthday, which, after more than half a century together, I'm still capable of doing. It also provides me with a birthday card I can print off and hand to … Continue reading Happy Birthday