Maritime Museum...

Licensed today: the Maritime Museum in Hull (originally the dock offices, built in 1871)...

West Stockwith...

West Stockwith is where the Rivers Trent and Idle connect with the Chesterfield Canal. This is the canal basin and the Waterfront Inn, where I had a beer last night...

The old man...

Busy sorting books today - bookshelf, charity shop or landfill - and came across a bookmark in Cassell’s Humorous Quotations. The book opened at one of my favourite quotes from Mark Twain… “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years”. That’s just wonderful, on so many levels. The book is in my bookcase, with the bookmark intact.

Licensed today: the Civic, an arts and leisure centre in Barnsley...

Layering...

I glanced at an article on the Guardian website, and learned that, in terms of fashion, 'layering' means 'combining items you already own'. What... going through your wardrobe and picking out items of clothing to wear? What a novel idea! So I'm layering this morning: combining a pair of trousers, a T-shirt and a fleece... accessorising with a belt and beanie hat. It feels good to be fashionable.

Licensed today: a rather uninspiring pic of the Mortal Man pub in Troutbeck...

Abersoch...

Another river, the Soch, at Abersoch, Llyn Peninsular, North Wales... licensed today...

Barmby Barrage...

Just starting to see sales of pix taken this summer, around Asselby and East Yorkshire. This is the River Derwent, taken from the barrage at Barmby on the Marsh...

For the Record...

To buy and read David Cameron’s lengthy memoire, I would have to be very, very bored, and have no other use whatsoever for the £25 it would cost. According to a review in the Observer, ‘there are lengthy tracts of self-justification as he relitigates every controversy of his career before almost invariably coming to the conclusion: “I was right”.’ Cameron could - and should - have waited until the country has extricated itself from the existential mess he left it in (and then let, say, another ten or twenty years go by) before putting his thoughts into print. I hope the book sells so badly that most of the copies will have to be pulped.

Licensed last week: a limestone kiln in Lancashire...

Walsingham...

There’s no kitsch like Catholic kitsch. These pix - the Shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham, Norfolk - were licensed today: rare weekend sales…

 

Drax, tonight...

Beauchamp Chapel...

Licensed today: the wonderfully ornate Beauchamp Chapel in Mary's Church, Warwick…

John Humphrys

I listened, this morning, to John Humphrys as he signed off after a 32-year stint as co-presenter of Today, on Radio 4. That’s a long time to be asking awkward questions of our elected representatives. In an unguarded moment he called Thought for the Day “deeply boring”, and I can’t take issue with that. In 2019 we still devote two minutes and forty-five seconds each morning, on the BBC’s flagship news programme, to a religious homily. We’ve had Muslims offering up their thoughts, but never atheists.

As a farewell to a long-serving presenter, the programme was a rather protracted lap of honour. As a contrast, John Arlott’s last words of cricket commentary, during the Centenary Test at Lord’s in 1980, were commendably brief. “End of the over, it’s 69 for two and after Trevor Bailey it will be Christopher Martin-Jenkins”. With that, the doyen of the commentary box laid down his microphone and headed home to Alderney.

Licensed today: Sewerby Hall, a Georgian mansion near Bridlington...

Beer...

Licensed this shot today: the kind for which you need a tripod...

Islamophobia...

According to Sara Khan, the government’s chief adviser on extremism, the language used by Boris Johnson to describe Muslim women, in an article, was “demeaning” and “dehumanising”. My distaste for our prime minister knows no bounds, but his comments - that Muslim women wearing burqas looked like “bank robbers” and “letterboxes” - seemed relatively mild, especially given the fact that he was repudiating, not advocating, a ban on burquas. The word “dehumanising” might more accurately describe the requirement for Muslim women to cover themselves in swathes of cloth: a collective act of cultural and religious self-erasure. 

We seem to have reached the point where any criticism of Islam - no matter how mild or measured - is automatically assumed to be ‘Islamophobic’. Any concern about the tenets of Islam is deemed to be “bigoted” or “prejudiced”, precluding the possibility that Islam might indeed have a case to answer. Our freedom of religion - a freedom we curate with exaggerated care, and which allows Muslims, Christians and others to worship god in whatever way they see fit - is, ironically, a freedom prohibited by both the Koran and the Bible.

Licensed last week: a steam loco on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway...

Franchise cricket...

A remarkable summer of cricket has ended with an England win. Those unable to see the games live had to catch the action on Sky. The only game shown on ‘free to air’ TV was the final of the World Cup: one of the most exciting sporting contest in living memory. Nevertheless, I’m sure that a lot of people engaged with test cricket - the longest form of the game - as well as the one-day game. Test cricket may have its longeurs; sometimes it can seem attritional. But there’s something special about the fluctuating fortunes of a sporting occasion which takes place over five days.

Next summer the ECB is introducing The Hundred: yet another form of cricket, even more abbreviated than Twenty-20, which will feature city-based franchise teams rather than the traditional counties, with each match designed to be completed within a three-hour ‘window’. There’ll be music, fireworks, dancing girls, and every other ball will be hit for four or six. Will I be supporting a team of cricketing mercenaries, called the Northern Superchargers, based at Headingley? Not a chance.

The River Hull, today, near Beverley...

Regeneration...

Sixty-nine English towns are to get a share of a £95m regeneration fund. Yorkshire towns to benefit include Selby, Skipton and Wakefield… but not Goole (and, God knows, Goole could use a bit of TLC)…

Still shooting pix of Drax power station...

Spotted crake...

It’s not every day that I see a new bird. I sat in a hide at Blacktoft Sands, with the reedbeds illuminated by the last rays of the sun, and watched - with about a dozen other people - as a spotted crake crept in and out of the reeds. A little stint, the smallest of our wading birds, probed the mud-flats. In the last few days all three of our harriers - marsh, hen and montagu’s - have been seen here (but I only saw the marsh harriers)…

Spotted crake (pic: Creative Commons)...

In God We Trust...

When students in Kentucky returned to school recently, they found the words ‘In God We Trust’ on prominent display. Thanks to the efforts of a coalition of Christian nationalists, this is now law, as is the promotion of Bible classes in public schools. The words ‘In God We Trust’ also appear on banknotes, despite the fact that the American constitution guaranteed a separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson will be turning in his grave.

Licensed today: Harlow Carr Gardens, near Harrogate...

Oxfam gold...

Licensed today... to South Korea...

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Cricket...

Despite the distinctly autumnal weather, the last Ashes test match starts tomorrow. I've only got half a dozen pix of village cricket at Hartley Wintney, but they've all sold... including this one, today, for the highest price of the summer...

Public/private spaces...

I was shooting pix outside St Stephen’s shopping mall in Hull when I was approached by a member of the security team (he’s the guy in my pic with his hand outstretched) who told me I was on private property and photography wasn’t allowed. The public are allowed - in fact, encouraged - to venture into into these private spaces, but only in the role of compliant consumers; in any other guise we may find ourselves excluded. If we’re carrying a wallet, we’re welcome; if we’re carrying a camera, we’re not. I wasn’t even inside the shopping centre, but on the pavement outside.

I’ll go back to the shopping centre, next time I’m in Hull, and resume my picture-taking. I would like to test the powers of the mall security guys. If they threaten to call the police, I’ll say “OK, go ahead”. These public/private spaces are proliferating in every town, and now include arcades, streets, squares and other open spaces, where we are free to shop, but not sit... comply, but not complain...

Life support...

A five-year-old girl, Tafida Raqeeb, has been on a life-support machine since she suffered irreversible brain damage in February. Doctors want to remove her life support, while her parents want her to receive treatment at a children’s hospital in Italy. It’s a terribly sad story - with no good outcome possible - especially now the case is going to court over who has the right to decide the fate of the child.

The parents say “It’s for God to take life and not mankind”, and also emphasise the young girl’s religious beliefs, “despite her tender age”. I hope the court is able to disregard the idea that a five-year-old child can be said to have any religious beliefs at all, and will come to the decision that the kindest course of action would be to let her die with dignity...

Cobbles...

Another shot from yesterday: Prince Street in Hull...

Underwater yoga...

Spent Sunday taking pix in Hull. If anyone is seriously considering doing yoga underwater, I can heartily recommend Dawsons travel agents...

Minsmere...

Just seen my shot of Minsmere in the Observer...

On the tiles...

When my landline rings, likely as not it's someone wanting some tiling done. I just had a chat with a lady who said she'd seen my details on Yell.com. And, yes, that's my name... and that's my number. Bizarrely, I have got five stars for my tiling skills and customer relations! I've taken this screen shot, in the hope that I can sort this out. Or else do an evening class in tiling. Why not... I'm in demand!

Steve Smith...

Watched a session of Ashes cricket today at a local pub. Steve Smith’s figures are almost Bradmanesque, and getting better with every match he plays against England. We just can’t get him out. But watching him is exhausting. He seems to have adopted every mannerism - every tic, spasm, twitch and tremor - of every batsman who has ever played the game, and has added a few more that are uniquely his own. Before every ball he pulls at his sleeves, adjusts his pads, gloves and box, and counts all the fielders, while blinking, grimacing and keeping up a runnng commentary on the game. His strokeplay seems more idiosyncratic with every innings he plays, but he makes up for his eccentricity with amazing hand-eye co-ordination. He’s a run-machine… and has just reached a personal milestone of 200 runs.

Steve Smith: seeing the ball as big as a beach-ball...

Families...

Families, eh? The PM’s brother has just resigned his seat in parliament (according to Theresa Griffith MEP, this makes Jo Johnson “The first example of a politician stepping down to spend less time with their family”). The country seems to be going through a protracted nervous breakdown. However, instead of some gentle therapy for our debilitating neuroses, we seem to be intent on making matters infinitely worse. God knows where this Brexit farago is headed. I’m reminded of that Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times”.

Licenced today: The Old Neptune pub in Whitstable, Kent...

Poundbury...

Licensed today: The Duchess of Cornwall Inn, in Poundbury, Prince Charles's vanity project in Dorset. The pub is named after his wife, and sited in the town's main square, which is named after his grandmother. I can't think of another inn whose architecture was inspired by Palladio’s Convento della Carità in Venice...

Banished...

Hurricane Dorian...

I have seen video clips on Twitter of Hurricane Dorian laying waste to the Bahamas, as well as comments in support of the people who, for one reason or another, were unable to escape from the high winds and subsequent flooding. Many - perhaps most - of the comments were couched in specifically religious terms.

“Father in Heaven, please safeguard Your people in the path of Hurricane Dorian. Loose Your mighty angels to minister unto each of them at this time. Fill them with Your peace that passes all understanding. Keep them together in love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen”.

“Blessed is the Fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the our of our death. Christ have mercy!”

“Joining my sister in prayer. In the holy name of your precious Son Jesus!, who calmed the stormy seas. Show yourself MIGHTY! Father God, for the Bahamians & all in the path of Dorian. Amen”.

“May The Most High God wrap you in His arms of protection. I pray Psalm 91 over your life and those within your household. May He save you and yours with a mighty deliverance”.

“I send up powerful prayers in the name of our Father Creator and his army of angels to embrace you and protect you through this storm! Father save your people! My heart aches for you!!!”

One commentator suggested that “All we can do is PRAY!!!”, which isn’t strictly true. We can, for example, give money to the first responders and aid agencies which, at this moment, are heading towards the Bahamas. Praying, though no doubt well-intentioned, is the nearest thing to doing nothing that I can imagine. And, of course, we might wonder about the ‘goodness’ of a God who could have chosen to save people from the ravages of Hurricane Dorian… but, for one reason or another, chose not to...

Barra...

Licensed today: a motorhome on the island of Barra...

Hull...

Had a busy day taking pictures in Hull. There were loads of events taking place, under the banner of ‘freedom’, which, as a concept, is certainly better than ‘captivity’. I listened to a couple of bands, watched a group of young dancers giving their all in an ensemble performance and enjoyed some Greek ‘street food’ for lunch. Then the rain came…