ABC Wednesday - B is for Bench

I found this bench about a week ago in Vernon Park at Stockport, Cheshire.

That isn't dirt on the seat - it is ice, but it is quickly being melted by the bright morning sun.

For more B posts visit ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday - A is for Ashton Market Hall

In May 2004 the famous market hall in Ashton under Lyne burnt down.

These photographs were taken a few days after it re-opened in November 2008 following extensive refurbishment.

The first one is from the Bow Street entrance and the second from the Market Ground.


For more information on Ashton Market see Ashton-under-Lyne.com

For more A posts visit ABC Wednesday

Turnstones

Our good friend at Ramsey Daily Photo just posted a photograph of a turnstone but her bird is very camouflaged and difficult to see properly. So I thought I'd show you the ones I saw last March on Paignton Harbour.


They were walking around pecking at the concrete and checking out the puddles quite unconcened about the people passing close by.


The Arenaria interpres are intrepid wee birds that can fly at 40 mph and cover 350 miles in a day. They winter in the UK and then pop off to the Baltic, Greenland or Canada for the summer to breed.

Sky Watch Friday: Mossley

Last week, my contribution to Skywatch Friday was a photograph of the chimney at Tameside Hospital.

After my appointment, I took the bus up the road to Top Mossley. This is the view across the burial ground of St George's church. The peak in the distance is known as Alphin Pike.

The snow and ice melted the next day and we had several days of fog. Now although it is milder, the winds have picked up and instead of snow we have had rain and hardly any blue skies since I took this photograph.

There will be more winter weather to endure before spring comes, but at least we don't seem to get the extremes that other places have to cope with.

The Perils of Tea

I mentioned recently somewhere that I was being advised to cut out/down on drinking tea.

My news prompted a response by Big Titty Angel and a warning about the perils of Orangina.



At the moment I am trying to acquire a taste for Jasmine - that's the green tea not the murdering bimbo in Emmerdale.

ABC Wednesday - Z is for Zoo (again)

A year ago I did Z is for Zoo but then I took you to Tenerife. This time we are nearer home in Blackpool on very wet November day. As the visit was part of the holiday-package we didn't forego it just because of the precipitation.


We got there just before the sea-lions were been fed so went there first. A party of school children were watching and others were watching too.


At the flamingo pool the birds were grouped in a circle.


They had their heads in the water and as the heavy rains started we were getting just as wet.


Even the dromedaries turned their back on us.


Soon we returned to the entrance area, which houses a gift shop, cafe and excellent clean toilet facilities. We dried ourselves out; had tea and a sandwich; watched the TV on the wall of the dining area. As there was still over an hour to wait for the bus to take us back to the hotel, we put our anoraks back on and ventured out again to the Dinosaur Safari.


This is quite an interesting display with models of prehistoric creatures and information boards which didn't bother reading. The path wended its way around and we could shelter a while behind a waterfall.


The domed building seen in this last photograph is the "Rain Forest Exhibition". I thought it was a hothouse with a glass roof, but we discovered it was open and the exotic birds were all sheltering under the vegetation.

Next door was the Elephant House whose occupants were busily moving straw about. Not having a stick with a horse's head handle, we decided to go back inside and wait for the bus.

If the weather had been fine we would obviously have enjoyed it a lot more. But then, if it had been full of screaming kids and much busier, perhaps we wouldn't.

More Z posts can be seen on the ABC Wednesday Anthology blog.

Others can be found via the ABC Wednesday with Mister Linky which carries a registry of participants.

Sky Watch Friday: Hospital Chimney

I had to visit Tameside Hospital on Tuesday for a routine check-up - nowt much wrong with me - keep on taking the tablets - give up drinking tea - come back in four months.

It was a bitterly cold day with snow on the ground, but as I came out after my appointment I saw this chimney blowing out white smoke into the blue sky and thought "that could be my contribution to Skywatch Friday this week".

ABC Wednesday - Y is for Yorkshire (again)

words © Susan Shand; photograph © Betty Longbottom.

A year ago I posted Y is for Yorkshire in the first round of ABC and introduced you to haiku in Yorkshire dialect.

I now bring you the work of Susan Shand.

kids laikin'
next doors do a moonlight flit
t' 'uddersfield

up Bingley 5-rise
roses spred all ovver t' walls
even on t' barges

dawn on t' Otley Chevin
747s off t't' sunshine

I have combined the first of these haiku with a photograph of Houses at bottom of Outcote Bank by Betty Longbottom, used here with permission, to create a haiga.

You can find a dialect haiga of my own on Winter Haiku 2008/09.

More Y posts can be seen on the ABC Wednesday Anthology blog.

Others can be found via the ABC Wednesday with Mister Linky which carries a registry of participants.

Stockport Viaduct

For our contribution on the first Monday of the month to Broer som Binder [Bridges between] we have nipped down the road to Stockport to look at its famous viaduct.


This first view is from the M60 motorway Eastbound looking South towards the viaduct; the motorway itself is elevated so it is nearly level with the roofs of buildings that nestle under the viaduct's archways.

The viaduct was built in 1839/40 by the engineer George Watson Buck under the architect John Lowe.


This second view is taken from outside the bus station. The motorway is somewhere near the farthest arch to be seen in this photograph. Note how it towers over the double-decker buses in the garage.


This view is from the other side above Daw Bank near to where it reaches Stockport Station.

In 1887-89 it was widened to four tracks, 27 arches, 111 feet high and 1786 feet long, comprising 11 million bricks.


In this last shot I've used "histogram equalisation" to highlight the contrast so you can see the variations in the brickwork.

A good view looking down the railway line over the viaduct taken from Stockport Station in 2005 by Charles Rawding can be found on the Geograph site

More details of and links to other participants to Broer som Binder can be found on Visual Norway.

building

The theme for the British Haiku Society's Members Anthology 2008 was BUILDING.

My contribution was West window first published here as a haiga.

87 members contributed to this year's anthology which was edited by Charles Christian.

Copies of the 28 page chapbook are available (UK price £3:00 inc p&p – Rest of World price £4:00 inc p&p – payable via PayPal) from the publishers Ink Sweat & Tears.

Skywatch Friday: Sunset over Hyde Cemetery

This week's contribution to Skywatch Friday is a sunset over Hyde Cemetery wherein lie buried many of the victims of Harold Fred Shipman.

Happy New Year.

Hyde Photo of the Year 2008: Runner-up

A footpath runs from Four Lane Ends at the top of Higham Lane down to Lower Higham Visitor Centre in Werneth Low Country Park.

About half way along is a kissing gate which gives access to Rye Field.

Today's theme on Hyde DP is Photo of the Year. I couldn't pick just one out of all the photos I'd published this year, so selected twelve contenders, created a web page, and asked all my readers to vote for their choice. I want to thank all the people who took the trouble to vote. The winning picture is shown on Hyde DP. The runner-up is shown above.

Here are the results, together with links to the original postings and some comments from voters. All twelve photographs can be viewed together at The Best of Hyde Daily 2008

199 votes
Path from River to Canal
a brilliant image ~~ excellent artistic merit ~~ extremely evocative photo ~~ a beautiful composition and the black & white enhances it ~~ a very romantic english scene ~~ wonderful perspective.

137 votes
Kissing Gate to Rye Field
as a kid I walked through many of those same country gates when I used to walk with my grandfather on the Low ~~ Werneth Low has many happy memories of growing up a walk was always a cheap day out ~~ I love how you can see out over the town ~~ reminds me so much of the countryside around Hyde, where I was born ~~ the texture of the stone wall is awesome.

101 votes
Border Post
I love the scene depicted ~~ it shows serenity.

87 votes
Newton St Mary's
some of my relatives are buried there ~~ like the light and shadow.

82 votes
Out into the Light
The pigeon was very helpful at sitting still, you must have crept around it! difficult light shines into a tunnel ~~ love the hazy effect.

82 votes
Close-up on Time
I have looked up at that clock so many times ~~ beautifully done ~~ being an ex builder the brickwork and stonework are a delight.

76 votes
Authentic Indian Cuisine
appealing on many levels - color, composition, subject, the figure ~~ I wish I could visit this food stall ~~ it contains delicious morsels.

63 votes
Horsemen at Windy Ridge
I love anything equestrian and this is a particularly good photo, framed as it is by the plants ~~ like the fluffy willow herb in the foreground.

57 votes
Gee Cross in Springtime
purely for nostalgia as both my wife and I were brought up in Gee Cross, almost too long ago to remember ~~ for the relationship between heritage and youth.

41 votes
April Fool's Day
the boy's bored look wins it for me.

23 votes
Hole in the Road
maddening but fascinating.

17 votes
Jolly Carter
can remember it as a boy about 1937.