Reflection

It's the end of another year. I don't know about everyone else, but I tend to look back over the previous twelve months highs and the lows and see if I can do things any better in the next twelve months. I've enjoyed doing the blog, although I haven't managed to post every day as I had intended, I've made a few small changes to the layout (a major feat for me as I am not good with computers) and I've met lots of nice people when I've been out with my camera, people that I wouldn't normally have met. As for next year, I don't know, I'm still thinking! Anyway, enough of me, a Happy New Year to everyone!

City Park?

This is another view of the new Bradford mirror pool. The official name for the pool, or the pool and its surrounding area is City Park, not a very exciting name really. There is some talk (in the form of letters to the local paper) of giving the project a more interesting name, but it's probably too late in the day now, City Park has already gone up on one of the walls overlooking the pool.

Bradford Mirror Pool Almost Finished

The barriers surrounding the new Bradford mirror pool have finally been taken away. There is still some construction work continuing at the site, but the pool area itself, on the left of the picture seems to be finished, although there was no water in it when I took the picture. The water can apparently be drained into an underground storage tank so that the pool area can be used for outdoor concerts and other events.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Weaving Loom - Bradford Industrial Museum

I had a look around the Industrial Museum the other day. A party of schoolchildren were being shown around the museum at the same time, they were fascinated by this model of a child at work. The teacher explained to them that at one time children worked in the mills around Bradford, the kids were really interested, probably because the child worker would have been around the same age as the young visitors. I wish history lessons could have been more like this when I was at school, instead of all those dates, dates of important battles (the ones that we won), the year the Magna Carta was signed (it didn't matter what was in it, as long as you could remember the year that it was signed in), dates, dates, dates, important I know, but nothing you could really relate to.

Steam Punk - Bradford Industrial Museum

An unusual exhibition is running at the Bradford Industrial Museum at the moment with Victorian machinery alongside steampunk exhibits. I had a vague idea of what was meant by the term 'steampunk' before I went to the exhibition, it's a sort of fantasy world of futuristic gadgets and costumes but set in the Victorian period of steam power and early electrical gadgets. The picture of the phone is part of one of the exhibits, the thing is, there were still some of these phones in use when I was a lad, (I will have to stop using that phrase, it makes me sound like one of Monty Pythons Four Yorkshiremen http://youtu.be/Xe1a1wHxTyo ) which probably means I'm a museum piece myself.

On And Off The Bike

This is one of the competitors at the National Trophy Cyclo Cross Event held in Bradford at the weekend. The riders have the ability to hop off the bike whilst still moving, sling the machine over their shoulder to negotiate an obstacle and then jump straight back on again, all done seamlessly, and at a running pace, very clever!

Anyone who is interested in cycling may find http://mandiesbikesandbeyond.blogspot.com interesting.

Cyclo-Cross - Peel Park

Peel Park in Bradford was host to round five of the National Trophy Cyclo-Cross event today. It's the first time that I have been to a cyclo-cross event and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The weather was poor, it was raining heavily, it was cold and it was dark, which perversely makes an event like this more interesting. It means lots of mud, more slipping and sliding and more jumping on and off the bike, it's a really interesting spectator sport. The picture shows a competitor in the first race of the day, the veterans event.

Top Withens - Haworth

We have had our first winter snowfall here in Yorkshire recently, it didn't snow very much and it didn't stay long on the ground and unfortunately I didn't manage to get out and capture it with the camera.

The picture above was taken two or three years ago when I had my film camera and shows the ruin of Top Withens (or Top Withins) which is believed to be the Earnshaw house in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. The building has been unoccupied since 1926 and I can quite understand why, it's usually cold, wet, and windy at this location, the clouds seeming to cling to the hilltops. I'm hoping to walk the Bronte Way this winter, it's approximately 40 miles long and passes through the Bradford area on its way from Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley in Lancashire to Oakwell Hall in West Yorkshire. I will be doing the walk in short sections over several weeks which should give me plenty of time to take pictures along the way and write a little bit about them.

Bradford Town Hall - Model

I took this picture earlier in the year when I visited the Town Hall in Bradford, it was the first time I had actually been inside the building even though I have lived in the Bradford area all my life. The model is a very nicely made and very detailed replica of the Town Hall itself, so it's a Town Hall in a Town Hall. If this was the real Town Hall, I would be stood in, or near the edge of the newly constructed and almost completed mirror pool, and there would be, at a guess, a reflection of the Town Hall in the water which should make a nice picture, I will have to wait and see. The model is, as I have said, very nicely made and very detailed, could there possibly be an even smaller model of the Town Hall inside this model, hmm...

Busker - Haworth

I haven't been able to get out with the camera much recently, so I'm struggling a bit for pictures for the blog. This busker was in the main street a Haworth two or three weeks ago, I stopped to listen for a few minutes, he was pretty good. His mame is Jonny Walker and he has a pages on myspace and facebook.

Mirror Pool Testing

This is Bradford's very expensive mirror pool which is still under construction. The project has gone way past its completion date and has also, I believe, gone over budget. The pool features more than a hundred fountains, has some kind of high-tec lighting system and can be drained and used as a public space for concerts and other events. The pool is expected to be officially opened in January although some further work may be needed to fully complete the project. What do the people of Bradford think of the pool? Well, when I take pictures of the pool someone will invariably stop and ask me what I am doing, which gives me a chance to ask them what they think of the new water feature. Generally, according to my un-scientific survey, the people of Bradford are underwhelmed by the whole thing. Personally, I think it should be pretty impressive when it is finally completed and good for the city as a whole. The picture shows the fountains being tested by the contractor. One thing does puzzle me though, the artist's impression of the completed project shows a 'Y' shaped walkway across the pool, but I can't see any evidence of it in the picture I have taken.

All French Walk With A Baguette

The sticker on this city centre mail box has got me baffled, does it have a hidden meaning, or does it mean simply what it says?

Rappin' Skateboarder

I stopped for a chat with this city centre skateboarder the other day, he loves rap music, and he loves skateboarding, he's just explaining to me what he likes so much about the music. He asked me what I do with my pictures, I told him about the blog, how I try and post a picture a day of Bradford and its surroundings. I asked him what he thought of Bradford, he paused a moment and then said "well, I suppose it's OK if you're a photographer and you like taking pictures of decay". I hadn't really thought about it, but there is an awful lot of decay in Bradford. I tend to concentrate more on the positive aspects of the area, but maybe I should include some of the negative, some of the decay.