Muriel is the title of the piece of street art seen painted on the gable-end of the building in today’s photo. It’s by local artist, Pete McKee and had been there since 2018. Sadly though, someone has seen fit to stain Muriel’s coat.
Something good that happened today…
I’ve been backing files up onto an external hard drive for a while now, but was conscious of the fact that I probably wasn’t doing it very efficiently. Today I’ve rectified that and now have a much improved, simpler, and mostly hands-off method, so I’m happy about that.
While browsing Reddit earlier I came across a post about an old British children’s programme called Spider. Spider wasn’t something I watched as a child – I predate it by quite some time – but my oldest son had an episode of it on a VHS tape back in the 90s which contained a compilation of single episodes from various children’s animated shows, and we watched this one together on numerous occasions. Seeing a single image of Spider on Reddit instantly brought back the song, lyrics and all, that featured in this episode, titled Spider in the Bath which I’d stored somewhere in my memory banks awaiting something to trigger it one day. Today was that day…
A quartet of pictures I shot one morning on my way into the office.
Park Hill Flats are a notable (and some might say, notorious) landmark in Sheffield, being one of the major landmarks visible when entering the city by rail or by road down the main arterial route from the motorway.
When originally constructed in the late 1950s, / early 1960s they replaced older back-to-back tenement housing and gave the residents the luxury of their own private bathrooms and heating. Due to the construction on a hillside it was possible to reach every floor apart from the highest from somewhere at ground level and the wide frontages to the flats were wide enough for electric milk-floats to be driven, and the name “streets in the sky” was coined.
Over time, a mixture of poor maintenance, and rising antisocial behaviour and crime blighted the development. Over time it became more difficult to house tenants on the site. In recent decades, a part-privatisation of the development has taken place, with the blocks being gradually refurbished and improved into a mixture of upmarket housing, social housing, and business units, and there are now much improved facilities on the site.
Whatever your thoughts on the brutalist architectural design, the place is certainly striking, and for a photographer provides ample opportunities for interesting pictures to be made.
Something good that happened today…
I heard today that one of the people in our team impacted by the recent redundancies has secured himself a new role, so I’m very happy for him. He’s a great young man with a lot of promise and deserves every opportunity.
The archway in the picture shared today was the entrance to the ladies public conveniences that formed part of Sheffield Town Hall. In less conscientious times, when the needs of disabled people were perhaps not considered in the same way they are now, access to the toilets was down a flight of steps. While it’s possible that I might have passed through the arch when I was a small boy and needed a toilet escort from my mum, most of my recollections are of standing at the top of the steps waiting for her (or sometimes my nan, and later my wife) to come back out.
A similar set of toilets exists for males around the other side of the building on Surrey Street. While the Gent’s didn’t have the fancy arch of the Ladies’ conveniences, if did had two separate entrances / exits, both with the same sets of disabled-unfriendly steps.
Both sets of conveniences closed for public use many years ago, so are now inconvenient for that use. While the Ladies’ are, as far as I know, completely unused, the Gent’s has been converted to an underground bar. I expect they have a customer toilet.
Something good that happened today…
I’ve spend the day with a mixture of lounging around watching TV (this morning) and then helping clean the house and then visit my dad (this afternoon). As one of my sons has gone out for his leaving do from his previous job, we got a takeaway for his twin brother (and me), and the large kebab that I chose is currently filling my belly as I type this. I’ll take that as today’s good thing, although the other stuff (maybe excepting the cleaning) was good too.
My son had a job interview this morning, which was good. I offered to drive him there as it would be at rush-hour and I thought it would allow him to prepare during the journey rather than being focused on driving. The traffic was quite heavy, but we got there with plenty of time to spare.
He was in the interview for over an hour, including a walk round the place of business, which felt like a good sign to me. Now it’s a case of waiting to see if he was successful and also if it’s a role for him. He’s hoping to apply for another vacancy that he’s been told about, so hopefully he will have a choice of options. My fingers are crossed for him.
As for today’s picture, there was something that caught my eye about this scene. The colour of the building. The interesting exhibition poster. The windows and signage on the building. And in the background, the street art.
This big boat of an Oldsmobile made for a pretty nice picture. I think the touch of corrosion on the bonnet (hood) adds to it.
I think that this is a Cutlass, but please correct me if I’m wrong.
EDIT: The owner of the car has discovered my blog post and contacted me to let me know that the car is actually an Oldsmobile Ninety Eight, which was the flagship model. I did speak with him on the day I took the picture and he told me that the corrosion on the bonnet was on his list of things to sort out, and he’s re-confirmed that, along with a few stats on the vehicle, namely that it has a 425 cubic inch engine, which means it is a 7000cc V8 engine. Around town it manages 8MPG, and 13.7MPG on the motorway.
Fujica GW690 & Kodak Plus-X (expired 2008 and shot at 100asa). Adox Rodinal 1+50 13mins @ 20°.
I don’t often photograph cars from the side, usually because there’s always something else in the way or the lens isn’t wide enough to fit it all in. But I had the chance to do so with this Austin 7 (which I think is a Ruby Saloon from 1936).
I’ve just managed to squeeze it into the frame (and I’d normally leave a little more space) but I think the shape of the car lends itself to this tight framing.
I like the way the guy is framed through the window. You can also see me in a reflected selfie. 🙂
Fujica GW690 & Kodak Plus-X (expired 2008 and shot at 100asa). Adox Rodinal 1+50 13mins @ 20°.
