OCCUPIED COUNTRY

Walkin' Blues

"Yes I woke up this mornin', lookin' 'round for my shoes, you know 'bout that babe, got them walkin' blues." Ah yes, Mr Johnson sure hit the nail on the head with that one. I really do know how he feels as I've become a (supposedly part-time) postman. Anything to get me out of the house I thought to myself as I signed on the dotted line and kissed goodbye to lie-ins for the foreseeable future. The word that immediately springs to mind is "mistake", "big mistake".

Now don't get me wrong, a postie's life can be a good one and a lot my new colleagues have been in the job for decades and absolutely adore it. Not me though. I can't wait to hand my notice in and take off to pastures new, it's just that no other fucker seems to want me so, for the time being (aka "the busiest time of the year to work for Royal Mail") I'll be schlepping up hill and up hill (there's no down hill where my round is) until someone with a proper job welcomes me with open arms.

It pays an absolute pittance as well. Ho hum.

Eldest, who always sees his glass half full was encouraging me to look on the bright side of the job though and I must admit, the weight has been falling off me like an anorexic. My face is noticeably thinner and my belly is looking all nostalgic. The belly of a younger man. So not all bad news then. Honest.

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I've still been out snappin' though. The light trails on the M60 motorway in the picture above is a particular favourite. I've joined up with the Manchester group of Flickrites and I've attended my first Flickr meet which consisted of walking around Manchester city centre and immediate surroundings photographing this and that to our hearts' content. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I met some great people with a healthy attitude to life in general and photography in particular.

In the past my interest in photography led me to join camera clubs and the like in an effort to understand the whole process from taking the picture to getting in the Darkroom. Sadly all I met in such places were sexist blokes with delusions of photographic splendour and a penchant for the "glamour" side of the medium. They came across as patronising and condescending to a young lad (which I was at the time) who soon thought "fuck 'em" and went on to plough his own furrow.

The Flickr group's different though. It's essentially amorphous. Nobody's in charge and you don't get borish twats sitting in judgement over your efforts.

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So, to finish off, here's a few recent efforts. (It's getting a regular thing this isn't it?)



The Mancunian skyline from a nice little vantage point five minutes walk from my front door.



Self indulgent bourgeois fuckers it says in the Temple of Convenience toilets, Oxford Road, Manchester. The Temple actually used to be one of those pleasant underground toilets that most cities used to have. Actually, when you're in there you can tell it was a bog but ssshhh....don't tell anyone.



Bust of Sir John Barbarolli in Manchester Town Hall. I love this sculpture.



After the battle. We've just been on another cruise. I caught this late afternoon shot as we pulled out of some nondescript port towards some other nondescript port somewhere else.



On deck. Backlit sunbeds waiting for pasty holidaymakers.



Manchester Town Hall in the evening sunlight with its poppy.