We've been away for a few days. How strange it is to be able to say that: how quickly the unusual has become normality, and how threatening the world outside can appear when you have been locked indoors for too long. So we left lockdown behind and visited Chester and Nantwich: enjoyed good times with … Continue reading Catching Up
Breakfast On The Morning Tram
One of my favourite Stacey Kent songs has always been Breakfast On The Morning Tram, which was written by Jim Tomlinson with lyrics by Kazuo Ishiguro. I've always imagined some exotic European city setting, but having come across a short piece from 1918 in the Illustrated London News, I am wondering whether he had early twentieth century Halifax … Continue reading Breakfast On The Morning Tram
Dripping With Colour
Halifax Borough Market - dark and light, hard and soft, functional lines and extravagant curves ... and dripping with colour. Come to think of it, that could be a suitable description of the town itself.
Town Halls, Sewers And Chapels
The Victorians were good at Town Halls: built with equal parts of civic pride, cheap labour and local taxes. Town Halls, sewers, churches and chapels - the Victorians were big on them all. Elland Town Hall never functioned as a seat of local government; but parts of it have been used as all manner of … Continue reading Town Halls, Sewers And Chapels
High Church, Halifax
The ethereal spire of All Soul's Church seems to almost float above the mills, shops and apartments, as though it's determined to grab the spiritual high ground. This is high church, Halifax style.
Pain And Suffering In Downtown Halifax Part II
This was one of the first posts I ever put up on my blog, I posted it fifteen years ago in 2006. It came to mind because .... this morning started with a visit to the dentist! Actually, in the intervening fifteen years the dentist has moved, even closer to the town centre. Whist waiting … Continue reading Pain And Suffering In Downtown Halifax Part II
New Normality
A day out in Skipton - a return to normality of types. I am sure, however, that normality used to involve wild parties, exotic travel and racing through the sun-soaked countryside in an open-top E-type. Ah well, we had a cup of tea and shared a chocolate muffin and then came home for a snooze. … Continue reading New Normality
Reclining Figure, Halifax 1970
One of the least known of Henry Moore's monumental sculptures is his 1970 Reclining Figure which has been on permanent display in Halifax for the last fifty years. In order to overcome the civic antipathy to major arts projects, Moore cleverly disguised the sculpture as an overpass.
Stream Of Visual Consciousness
The Rose Revived, Newbridge, Near Whitney. Scanned Negative c1980The Strange Thing In The Sky - The Moon From My Back GardenWhisky and Photoshop VII : Night Sky And GlenmorangieYorkshire Miners' Gala, South Yorks (c 1982) Scanned Negative
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