Pilot Palmour

45 years ago I was a reluctant pupil at Rossall boarding school. I was also a reluctant member of the RAF cadets [no choice]. I did however enjoy flying a chipmunk plane above Southport.
Two things I remember
Pilot "When we do a loop it can be pretty unsettling"
Me "Yes I can imagine {unsaid - please don't do one}"
Pilot "Here we go then..."
Coming out of the loop I was amazed to see the ground where I thought the sky would be.

then

Pilot "I'll just switch the engine off. Now find a field to emergency land in"
Me "OK"
Eventually he put the engine back on - a bit of an adventure though.

Shooting into the Sun

It was a beautiful sunny autumn day at Nottingham for the rowing.

Rowin Rowan

We drove down to Nottingham to deliver a chest of drawers to Sarah & Markus, then watch Rowan who was rowing for Warwick on the Trent. We then took her for a meal then she caught the train back to Lem. A good day. This shot is from the suspension bridge over the river looking down on Rowan in her coxed four, she is second nearest the camera.

Elmet

Saw Michaela, a work contact, on Friday; always good to keep connections going when you are freelance. Saturday went for lunch with Bev & Steve at the Rattle Owl - company better than the food.
I am reading Elmet by Fiona Mozley, a young York writer who was Booker shortlisted this year for the book. It is set in what I call the badlands between York and Doncaster. It is an area that has fascinated me anyway [the Sustrans cycle route runs right through it] and the writer has really caught the vibe of the place. Not uplifting by the way; but really really good, and amazing for a first novel.

The photo is of Danielle looking out of her office window in York. Can you spot her?

Creative Writing

Danielle and I went to a creative writing session at Quaker Meeting house which was a bit odd but strangely inspirational. As we are both aspiring writers this could be the push we need: breath should not be held.

There are some impressive buildings going up in Wuppertal.

Busy

Monday was the opening of the new Paul Nash exhibition at York Art Gallery. It was a packed event, and the curating was a bit loose but still good to see some of his great paintings.
Tuesday was the second part of Patrick and my tour of the 12 best pubs in York as declared by CAMRA. We took in the Blue Bell [too small for me, but very cute for tourists] and the Maltings which was good. The beer is pretty great in all these sorts of pubs nowadays.
Then Wednesday a group of 15 of us went to see Knee High Theatres production of The Tin Drum at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. A really great production, recommended.

So here's another shot of Wuppertal

Interaction of different transport modes often leads to a good shot.

Back to Wuppertal

Well that rest from the monorail didn't last long. I don't think I got any absolute killer  shots, but I like this one with the curve.

Home

Back from Germany [left Wuppertal at 11, back home by 7pm] Friday we collected the dog from his foster family [thanks Shirley] and headed to the Wolds for a walk. Gloomy and magnificent as ever.

Last Monorail ... for a while

I will try not to post too many photos of monorails, but Wuppertal did leave an impression. This is in a cafe where the surreal sight of trains passing the window high up and without wheels made less than zero impression on the locals. I was agog.

Schiller

Schiller is a pretty massive electronic music band in Germany. I had never heard of them, until we found they were playing a gig in Wuppertal at the Historische Stadthalle. So we went. It was really great, a beautiful old hall, an attentive and dedicated crowd, good music and light show, no words to worry about. We both really enjoyed it.

Another shot of the Schwebebahn [it took ages to stick that heron on top of the track]

Another Day in Wuppertal

We got the Schwebebahn to the end of the line at Oberbarmen, got some stocks of apple strudel then set off walking on an old railway line high above the town contouring the valley side. It is a great trail to follow, with plenty of cyclists, walkers and runners using it too.

Schwebebahn

I was full of anticipation to see the Schwebebahn monorail system in Wuppertal; it was why we had come. It totally lived up to expectations. It is, technologically amazing, socially essential [used every day by thousands of local people], artistically peerless, beautiful, unbelievable, easy to use, perfect ...
I could go on, but don't want to overdo it - it really should be a UNESCO World Heritage sight.
Anyway this is the first shot of many that I am posting.

En route to Wuppertal

One of the first film makers I really got was Wim Wenders. When I saw Mike Gregovic in Hackney last week he introduced me to people he knew in the area "This is Simon, who dragged me down to Dalston the first time when he brought me to watch a Wim Wenders film at the Rio" I had just about forgotten doing this, but it was a good way to remember. I don't Wenders films too often these days but his imagery and ambiance and real understanding of modern life influences me hugely. In Alice In The Cities he sets the film in Wuppertal in the Rhur and uses the 1900's monorail as a key image and motif. It then featured casually and [too me] amusingly in the background of his film Piva of a few years ago. So for 40 years I have always wanted to see this amazing looking train. Now seemed the perfect chance.

We changed onto the slow train to Wuppertal at Koln, waiting by the Currywurst stall. My sense of anticipation was high.

Being [nearly] Sixty

I might be the youngest in the band, but I am still about to end my sixtieth year. As part of the celebrations, Danielle and I went to Germany. We took the train to Kings Cross, hopped over the road to St Pancras, caught the Eurostar to Brussels where we took this shot of our ICE train about to leave for Koln. All will be explained later.

Café Culture

When we moved to York, nearly 20 years ago, it was hard to find a place to get a decent cup of coffee. Now it is hard not to trip up over another new place opening. We found one opposite Banks Music Shop, and around the corner from Danielle's office; it also serves this perfect haloumi, humus platter thing. Great for vegetarians like us.

Old Photos

Danielle is more of a Facebook person than I am. She gets stuff posted from her old school and college; including this photo of when she was at university in Grinnell in Iowa long long ago.

Opera North

Band practice today, going well, first gig in December.
Last night we went to Opera North in Leeds as guests of Robert and Helen [who is the CFO there]. Good night out - two short operas Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana. We had not seen them before but really enjoyed them. Good singing and direction.

Anticipating the Opera

Not always

Sometimes a photo just fails to live up to what it promised when taken on the camera. On the canal last week I saw this reflection of the water against the stone of an old bridge over the canal. It looked amazing, but once frozen in time the magic disappeared and this is what was left. Oh well ...

Canal Walk

Many of the canal that we walk by were derelict and even concreted over as recently as the 70s. The fact that they are now such a joy and a national network of paths is a real achievement.

Along the Calder navigation.

Canal Buildings

The old mills and warehouses that line the canals can be beautiful in their austerity; this one is at Brighouse, a town on the Calder I had never visited before.

Canal Walk

Sunday we completed another part of our canal walk; this time from Huddersfield to Halifax on the Calder & Hebble navigation. As usual it was really interesting and a good work out for the three of us.
Saturday I delivered the first batch of photos that have been chosen by a client for the Artillery project. Then in the evening we went to see the new Blade Runner movie; it was OK but too long and too violent. Still some great images and ideas but could do with a real good edit.
Friday Fay & Edward and Sue & Eddy came round for a meal - a really good evening.

Helicopter Rescue

I was walking across the Moor when I saw this helicopter hovering close to the Minster; a bit strange so I took a snap.

I got home and found that it was involved in the rescue of someone taken ill on the Minster roof.

And more

Next stop was to see Maria who I had not seen for a good ten years or so; lives in Hackney, a professor of psychotherapy and full of life. Andros her son was there who I last saw when he was 17 and I cycled with him and his brother all the way to Southend from Tottenham; that was 27 years ago. He still remembered my soup and wanted the recipe, which was an extremely surprising but welcome request.
So I got the tube to Leicester Square [so far on this trip I had walked everywhere] and checked into an AirBnB place in Soho. It was a council flat built as a street in the sky on top of shops running up Charing Cross Road. It was perfect for Danielle and I. We walked over the road to the ENO in St Martins Lane and saw Aida with the brilliant Texan soprano Latonia Moore. Not the greatest production but good singing and good company with the other folk in the cheap seats up high.
Next day I walked some more around Regents Park and Camden and got home in time to take my photography class at the school.

The view from our Soho street in the sky.

People people people

I have had a pretty intense few days. Sunday evening a pint with a friend who has split with his wife; after many years, two kids just left school. He looked well.

Monday I caught up with Mike in Dalston. Life is hard for him, but he is in good emotional shape and well integrated in the community; hard not to feel a deep sadness though. Then it was on to a tapas bar in Crouch End to see John for the first time since his wife Anne died earlier this year. He seemed well, and I hope he gets up to York soon; a great white rioja we had too. Next step was to stay with Paul and Coral in Muswell Hill. It was great to see the whole family [two daughters, one choosing universities, one in year 5] looking well. 

Tuesday I nipped round the corner to Rob & Kath for a coffee; very happy empty nesters. It is always good to see them. Next stop was to see Mark, a publisher friend who works off Pentonville Road in Islington. Another friend whom I had not seen for a good few years, and another friend who it seemed I had seen only yesterday. We had a coffee and a chat, he gave me a couple of books from his own company and off I went. 

Atop the citadel in Buda

Selfie

Soho 2017

Rowing

Rowan sent us this video of her rowing last week as part of a pre-term training camp for Warwick University rowers.

Beer Festival

Danielle and Patrick enjoying the beer at the festival.
This weekend there was a hot air balloon festival, next weekend it is the York Marathon. Always something going on.

Velo 100

Here I am crossing the finish line at the Birmingham 100 mile ride last week: just about recovered.

Beer Festival

The annual York Beer Festival, which Danielle and I really love, took place last week. We went with long time companion Patrick and had a good time. As you can see it is very popular, but never horribly crowded; just a really good event.

Through The Roof

Sitting outside having breakfast in Budapest I looked up and saw this shot through the "roof". I like it.

DNA

You may remember that Danielle got a DNA test on the dog, to find out his [very] mixed heritage. Milo was 25% Alsatian, 25% Labrador, 25% Australian Cattle Dot, 25% Unknown.

I had my DNA analysed and very interesting it was too. Here are the results:

53.5% Irish, Scottish & Welsh

25.7% Scandinavian

10.1% Sardinian

4.6% Greek

3.2% Balkan

2.9% English

So I have barely any English heritage at all; it all makes sense to me. The 10% Sardinian is  intriguing, actually it is all intriguing.

Danielle next.

Just to remind you, this is what that mix looks like [selfie in Budapest with Rowan].

Velo Birmingham

My preparation for the 100 mile sponsored ride from Birmingham yesterday was mixed. The good side was that many kind friends and family helped me exceed my sponsorship target for Alzheimer's UK in memory of my mother.
On the down side:  a) my bruised ribs from falling down the stairs has only just got better, b) I got diagnosed with a patch of skin cancer on my temple last week, so have been applying topical cream all week, and feeling a bit worried about it. c) I had a virus that has had me coughing for the past two weeks.
So I started the ride with some trepidation. But it was great. 15,000 cyclists, closed roads, really supportive local people cheering us on [whizzing through Bewdley the whole town was packed with people cheering us on, high speed high fiving, and calling our names - printed on our numbers]. There were plenty of people in villages who had set up free drinks and cakes for us on impromptu stalls - "It's like the Tour de France isn't it". An uplifting event. My time was 6hrs 16minutes which was not too bad. I came in the top 23% of the field, which I am pleased with: there were not a lot of old folk there!

The Cave

We are standing near the entrance to the Kirkdale Cave. We met a man who had "been down over 500 times". The chances of either Milo or myself going down once are non-existent; I think it great that people go down there, just not me.

Second Year

I took Rowan down to Leamington Spa where she has a room in a student house for her second year at Warwick. All seems good.

Honey

The final honey harvest of the year took place at the weekend. The total harvest for the year has been 25.4 kg, which is pretty good.

Pete is researching a book he plans to write about a scientist who investigated bones from a cave at Kirkdale in the North York Moors. So we took him to have a look. The river was in spate; we are standing in front of what is normally a ford but was totally impassable.

Artillery is Live

My work is available for rent via Artillery at https://www.facebook.com/pg/theartillery.co.uk/shop/
Scroll down and have a look.

 Me with Emilie-Rose and Ails, the two women who set up the project.

Bees

Ro and Pete came to stay for the weekend after their Wolds Way walk. Saturday we went to the Antiquarian Book Fair at the racecourse [the biggest in Europe apparently]. This was for Pete's research purposes, although Rosemary and I were the ones who ended up buying something there. I got a c1900 cycling map for York and surrounds; it is a lovely thing for which I inadvertently haggled the price down.
We then walked into York and in the Museum Gardens I tried out the slow motion video camera on my phone for the first time on these bees. They could be our bees as the Museum is well within the 3 mile radius that they can fly to.
In the evening Dave and Emma came round to eat with us all.

Myton on Swale

Work is busy at the moment, so getting in any training for my 100 mile ride for Alzheimer's UK next week is tricky. I rode on an off-road loop to Pilmoor last week; there were some beautiful spots on the way. This at Myton on Swale, a lonely spot on the site of a battle from 1319.

Budapest extra

I took this shot in Budapest; I hope it is a bit confusing. It includes Rowan, Rowan's reflection, the Parliament building reflection, a pool, and some lighting.

Milo Drinks

I have been busy working in the North West this week, so Rowan has been on Milo walking duty. She took this video of him drinking [tasting each trough] from the cattle trough on the moor.

Budapest 4

Our last day in the city saw us taking it all in, sitting in cafes and walking around. A great mini-break it was.

Budapest 3

Sebastiao Salgado is one of the best living photographers [I often get my students to look at his work], so it was good to see his Genesis exhibition in Budapest. Very inspiring, and great to share with Rowan who also appreciated his work. Having the gallery pretty much to ourselves was a bonus.

The Danube and Pest from the Citadel in Buda.

Budapest 2

Just walking round the city is what we like doing best. It is a fantastic middle European capital, really good to walk around. Tram, river, Rowan.

Budapest 1

Rowan and I flew from Manchester to Budapest and stayed in an AirBnB for three nights. Never been there before, and was suitably impressed. We both really loved it. The flat was right in the centre, very modern and with a view of the Dom across the road.

Through the Door

At Arras; I glanced over  and saw this through a door. I liked it.

This is the Modern World

Mother and daughter getting excited looking at dancing dogs on Snapchat.

Arras

The meal at Arras could not really be called unpretentious; but it did taste good too.

It's Cricket

There is always something satisfying about coming across a game of cricket on a warm sunny afternoon. Rowan and I passed this one down the road in Acomb. Everything in place, lovely green ground, players in whites, the sound of leather against willow [or mdf, whatever], a total of two people watching. Perfect.

Get Back

Sunday I managed to slip and fall down the stairs in spectacular fashion; net result was I strained my upper back and have been somewhat debilitated for the week. We all went a walk straight after [typically daft of me] and Milo enjoyed swimming in the Ouse on such a hot day.

Writing On The Wall

The light was casting this shadow against the wall in the dining room at Ro and Pete's house.

Rule 1: always have your camera ready to roll.

21st Wedding Anniversary

Friday was our 21st Wedding Anniversary. Went to Arras for a meal; really good restaurant, nearly as good as Skosh.

Big Foot Little Foot

Rowan took this shot of three lots of feet.