Weekend Reflections: Blue Ball at Bottoms

I was walking along the towpath of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal at Bottoms near Mossley and spotted this blue ball!

For more weekend reflections visit Newtown Area Photo.

ABC WednesdayB is for Basel

We passed through Basle/Basel on our 2002 Eurpean Coach Tour.

The city then seemed grey and sombre. A lot of building work was going on, including the construction of many tunnels to take traffic under, rather than through, the city. We crossed the Rhine and then dived under a tunnel to come out at a large service area, Autogrill Pratteln, which straddled the motorway.


Here we had a long stop. I went over to the other side to change some sterling into Swiss Francs. The service area was packed with people thronging the various shops. I purchased two bananas and two apples from a stall and then we went for some lunch in the self-service restaurant. Two glasses of apple-juice plus one Schnitzel and french-fries cost an amazing twelve pounds. It was however large enough and tasty enough to split in half and satisfied both our hungers.

Since then I've discovered Yvi's Photography and can find all the things we missed.

For more B posts visit ABC Wednesday

Shadow Shot Sunday:Pippin Street Roundabout

On our way back from Southport last week our coach was diverted along the B5242 from Scarisbrick to Burscough.

While stuck in traffic at the Pippin Street Roundabout I took this photograph through the window.

I didn't know what this was but after a lot of googling (most of it futile) I eventually discovered Tollgate Road leads from the roundabout to the Burscough Industrial Estate. The roundabout features an eyecatching design linked to the estate's history as a former military airfield. The main element of the design is the use of wing-shaped markers, which have been designed as a reference to the Fairey Firefly fighter plane flown from the site in World War II.

There is another view of the roundabout on Geograph.

For more shadows shots this Sunday visit Hey Harriet.

ABC WednesdayA is for Alan Turing Way

Before the building of the City of Manchester Stadium, visible on the right, the A6010, the Manchester Inner Ring Road, ran along Forge Lane. When the area was redeveloped in 1994, a new stretch of road was built along the almost parallel line of Mill Street a little further West. Both Mill Street and Forge Lane disappeared during the creation of Alan Turing Way named after the mathematician.

In 1949 as deputy director of the computing laboratory at the University of Manchester he worked on software for one of the earliest stored-program computers, the Manchester Mark 1. His Turing test was a significant and characteristically provocative contribution to the debate regarding artificial intelligence.


The river Medlock passes under Alan Turing Way after which it flows through a culvert under the stadium, built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and now the home of Manchester City Football Club.


This view is looking back up the road past the entrance to the stadium towards the gasometer which was the area's iconic landmark prior to the building of Sports City as the stadium was first called.

For more about Alan Turing (1912 - 1954) I recommend starting with the excellent Wikipedia article.

For more A posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Weekend Reflections: Southport Primark

I went on a day trip to Southport yesterday. It rained all the way there but as we arrived the sun came out and stayed out.

I noticed how the roofs of the buildings on Chapel Street were reflected in the first storey window of Primark and couldn't resist focussing in on it.

For more weekend reflections visit Newton Area Photos.

ABC WednesdayZ is for Zuri Designs

Zuri Designs are one of the first retail units to have opened in the premises of the former Pitt & Nelson public house in Ashton-under-Lyne.

The Pitt and Nelson pub on the corner of Market Street and Old Street was one of the oldest pubs in Ashton, dating from 1685, when this corner was the junction of the roads from Manchester and Oldham. Originally it was The Smithies Arms then The Grapes and The White Hart. It became the Pitt and Nelson in 1807, shortly after the deaths of Admiral Lord Nelson and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. It closed sometime after 1989 and was later re-born as The Bedroom night club. After various troubles its license was revoked and the building remained boarded up for about two years.

I don't know anything about Zuri Designs as I'm not into fashion.

For more Z posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Flanders & Swann: The Slow Train

ABC Wednesday:Y is for Yew Tree Maze

Vernon Park in Stockport features regularly in my posts here and today we are back looking at one of its newest features. I'm fairly sure this Yew Tree Maze wasn't here last year.


As you can see it isn't much of a maze as yet. You can just look over the top of the bushes to see where you are.


Come to one of the "dead-end" paths and you can step smartly through the gaps.

In time, however, it should all knit together and prove an amazing challenge.

For more Y posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Shadow Shot Sunday:The Railway at Romiley

Strong shadows on "The Railway" public house which stands next to Romiley Station near Stockport on the line from Sheffield to Manchester.

I like how the furled England flag casts a bird-like shadow. This was taken a few weeks ago before we were dumped out of the World Cup.

For more shadows shots this Sunday visit Hey Harriet.