Six recent images to share with you today. All previously unpublished in this humble Yorkshire blog. Above - a spider I spotted just outside our front door. He or she had crafted a web between our little conifer tree and the bracket of our hanging basket. The arachnid is a European garden spider or araneus diadematus. It is pretty common in England. This particular one is called Jacob Rees-Mogg after an especially obnoxious politician. My apologies to the spider.
Below, as I walked past Trafalgar Square in London late on Saturday afternoon, I noticed how magically the fountain had been backlit by dipping sunshine. To the left you can see the base of Nelson's Column with its recumbent bronze lions by Edwin Landseer. I remember when I first visited Trafalgar Square as a boy there were flocks of pigeons but nowadays their presence has been hugely reduced and there are no more corn sellers.
Above - a fell runner is about to reach Stanage Pole on the moors west of Sheffield. The pole stands by an ancient track that was once trodden by Roman soldiers and medieval drovers and carriers. Below in the Nottinghamshire village of Upton I spotted a yapping hound. She was watching me but - How much is that doggie in the window?
Above, a portrait of one of Sheffield's most generous benefactors - seen in The Graves Gallery - named after him. He was a self-made man who arrived in the city from Lincolnshire with nothing. By the time of his death in 1945, J.G.Graves was fabulously wealthy having developed an extremely successful mail order catalogue company. He gave a great deal of his wealth back to the city. Like the art gallery, Graves Park is also named after him.
Below - I spotted this memorial on my way to Marble Arch in London. It remembers Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg, a Swedish architect who saved tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis and Hungarian Fascists in the later stages of World War II. He died in mysterious circumstances in Moscow in 1947 while imprisoned by the K.G.B..
A great mix of pictures and informations, quite a lot of food for thought hidden there, even in seemingly passing half-sentences such as that there are no more corn sellers on Trafalgar Square.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite here is the fell runner, no doubt about it.
My! You are up early Meike. Couldn't you sleep either? Here it is just after 5am. Thanks for being the first visitor. Have a nice day... at work!
DeleteThank you - it was actually a good day, although I hesitate calling it 'nice'. Yes, I was up earlier than usual, because I had to go to work in Munich today, meaning a 3 1/2 hour journey instead of the 40 minutes or so I usually have.
DeleteBut the Munchen Beer Fest is over!
DeleteExcellent photos, very informative. I'm going to think of you as wikipudding from now on.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're back safe and sound from that there London town.
Yes Christina, I survived to tell the tale but became violently ill when I spotted Jacob Rees-Mogg strolling back to his £5.5 million home behind Westminster Abbey. He was surrounded by a mob of coppers in hi-vis jerkins and he had his little twerp of a son with him - Mini-Mogg!
DeleteWell, he is an odious twonk, to say the least......
DeleteHis father is too!
DeleteWas
DeleteNo Philip...Christina must have been referring to the twelve year old son as that was the last "he" I mentioned.
DeleteThis is an interesting assortment of pictures! Like Meike I also love the picture of the fell runner. I am not up early though, I am actually up late.
ReplyDeleteTime for bed Bonnie!...Oh, no - I didn't mean it THAT way!
DeleteThanks for sharing some interesting photos, Yorkie.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome madame.
DeleteAn interesting array of photos to accompany my porridge this morning. You were awake early this morning?
ReplyDeleteYes.I woke at 4am and couldn't get back to The Land of Nod. Now I am on my second morning!
DeleteI’ve been to Graves Park a couple of occasions in more youthful times for cross country races.
ReplyDeleteI like the fell picture because of the sheer historical depths of the footpath.
DeleteThanks for calling by again Philip. Graves also left Blacka Moor to his adopted city. I often walk there so thanks to him again!
DeleteA delightful collection of photos. You say that the runner is going up to the pole....but he could equally be running towards the camera! I wouldn't want to walk on that surface, never mind run!!
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that you perceived that he might be running either way.
DeleteAre you sure the fell runner isn't an Antony Gormley bodyform?
ReplyDeleteThe fell runner had just trotted past me and he looked nothing like Antony Gormley!
DeleteLovely photos YP. You have an eye for detail. I love the atmospheric one of the lone runner. I also loved the web, but would have to rename the spider John Bercow. He weaves so many devious plans and is totally biased. I pity anyone caught in his web.
ReplyDeleteWe must beg to differ about John Bercow ADDY. To my eyes and ears he plays a straight bat as they say in cricket. Plays by the rules like a true neutral.
DeleteNice group of photos. I remember the corn sellers in Trafalgar Square...and the innumerable pigeons.
ReplyDeleteWe never thought of them as flying rodents. They were a happy part of the London experience...or so it seemed.
DeleteThe image of the runner reaching the top of the mountain is a winner. I alo like the determined spider.
ReplyDeleteThank you Red. I think the runner picture is the best one too.
DeletePictures of bravery today, Mr. Pudding. The brave runner having to traverse that uneven footing to reach his goal. The brave spider weaving a net to catch unaware pieces for breakfast....no matter the frightful job that it is. And, the brave Mr. Wallenberg who I have admired for years for his selfless acts of kindness with not much thought to the courage it took but just thought for those souls he might save.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I never considered the bravery link Donna. That little dog in the window was brave to yap at a big, scary man like me and J.G.Graves was brave to begin a brand new life in a faraway city and Lord Nelson at the top of his column in Trafalgar Square was brave to fight the dastardly French!
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