Monochrome Madness – From Pyrenees to Pennines

City Boats

Boats eh? Brian wants us Messing About in Boats for his turn at the helm of The Good Ship Monochrome Madness, captained by Leanne.

I looked at all my shots of attractive little harbours, busy little fishing ports all along the coast of the Spanish Maresme, where daughter Emily and family live. I thought back to our seabourne days in Sweden. But in the end, I settled for city-centre boats, set against not the wide open skies of the ocean, but with a backdrop of skyscrapers, warehouses and townish busyness.

My header image is taken from near Greenwich, now firmly part of London. I’m not overlooking the elegant naval buildings of Greenwich itself, but gazing across the Thames, with its little flotilla of small boats, toward the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf and beyond.

And here’s another. These busy barges and boats look more workaday. They’ll be conveying goods and services up and down the Thames, which is every bit as busy a highway as any other major route in London. London new – The Shard and London old – Tower Bridge provide the backdrop.

But London can offer quieter scenes, even in the centre. I was only five minutes walk from Kings Cross Station when I snapped this scene at the Regents Canal – houseboats.

Off up north to Leeds now, and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. Once mucky, rubbish infested and something of a no-go area, the canal basin has been transformed into a relaxing city-centre destination to while away the time with friends, or perhaps to have an informal business meeting.

I’ve got two slightly left-field images to finish with. One’s from Portsmouth (yes, I know it’s by the sea, but it IS a city, and this shot was not taken on the seafront) and shows small boats after they’ve been put to bed at night.

Last of all is from Cádiz, which also sits by the sea. But this shot comes from the city’s museum and shows small maquettes which were, I think, for stage sets at the theatre there. I found them rather charming.

And that’s me done. Why not join in yourself, and link back to Brian’s and Leanne’s posts? Or failing that, hunt down some more posts illustrating this challenge. You’ll find we’re not all in the same boat.

A Final Glance at Scarborough in Black and White

Here we are in the hidden corners of Scarborough: where fishermen keep their kit and a hopeful seagull hopes a bit of fish has been left behind. Where flats in multi-occupation have young tenants with bikes rather than cars. And where a neglected chapel is too far gone to allow anyone to get past its gates.

Multi-Occupation Crescent.

A chapel with no congregation, no visitors, unloved and falling to pieces.

And that’s Scarborough for now. We enjoyed our time there. We’ll be back.

For Leanne’s Monochrome Madness.

Buying and Selling in Black and White

Buying and selling. Where to start? Well, if you’re selling, setting your wares out appetisingly is probably the traditional way to go, so my featured photo is of a front window in Betty’s, Harrogate’s well known tea room and bakery.

The soft sell continues inside. But when curiosity prompted us to stick our noses through the door of this jewellers’ in Seoul, we very promply departed, realising this was Not Our Scene. Or budget.

Of course, sometimes shop window and point-of-sale are one and the same, as with this sales van, where all the driver has to do is park up, leave the driver’s cab and pop behind his built in counter.

These days though, shopping can be all about the shopping mall. Clean, cool seductive surroundings are intended to sooth us into opening up our wallets and come prepared to spend, spend, spend. Here’s the Victoria Gate Shopping Centre in Leeds.

Life couldn’t be more different in another modern shopping centre, Mercat dels Encants, Barcelona. Crazily juxtaposed ceiling mirrors reflect the scenes below of bartering, haggling over anything from rolls of cheap fabric to flea market goods that look as if they’ve been around for decades.

My favourite shopiing experiences are often serendipitous. On our way to Scarborough last week, we paused in a small town, Kirkbymoorside, to stretch our legs and have a coffee. It turned out to be market day. And there was someone selling rather exotic mushrooms: some that he’d foraged – others that he’d grown himself. We couldn’t buy as we weren’t going to be home that night. But his enthusiasm had him talking to us for quite a while as he described his wares in detail, even though he knew he wouldn’t make a sale to us that day. He now has two loyal fans who will hunt him down very soon.

So what can you tell us in monochrome photos about buying and selling? You may have seen someone shaking hands on a deal. You may have visited a trade warehouse and seen forklift trucks going about their business. You may have visited a cattle market, or an auction. Or you may just like to show us your weekly shop. When you have a post ready to publish (do join in!) please link it back to this post, and to Leanne’s Monochrome Madness page, as without Leanne, there would be no Monochrome Madness.

For Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

Scarborough in (Almost) Black & White

We’ve just enjoyed a couple of days in Scarborough, once Yorkshire’s premier seaside resort, with thousands flocking here once the railway came to town in 1845. More of all that another day. But for today, let’s just enjoy sea and sand – in black and white, just because … and in nearly black and white, because that’s what the camera saw early on Thursday morning. Here we are, walking along the several beaches that Scarborough enjoys. And ending with a gull, because herring gulls, usually intent on stealing your fish and chips, are constant companions here.

But the sea … and the gulls, are always there.

For Leanne’s Monochrome Madness.

Urban Sweden

Many of you know about our trip to Sweden earlier this year. We Country Mice found much that was accessible in the Swedish towns we visited. Pedestrians came first, bikes second, and motorists toed the line and halted to let either of the above pass in front of them. So meandering in Malmö, going round Gothenburg, sauntering in Stockholm, knocking around Kalmar, these are a few of the sights we saw on the urban paths we choose, totally unbothered by passing traffic. There was none..

Malmö’s past and present.

Gothenburg’s watery industrial quarter.

One of Stockholm’s many waterfront views. The featured photo is its skyline as seen from the coastal path below our apartment.

And finally, here we are kicking our heels in Kalmar, within metres of the railway station, the university and a busy shopping mall. Oh, and a fine castle which you’ve already seen. My kind of urban landscape.

For Leanne’s Monochrome Madness.

You Know the School Holidays are Over, When …

… you see a van packing up the elements in a Town Treasure Trail for the amusement of all those children drummed into summer shopping expeditions for new uniforms, pencil cases and serviceable rucksacks. In this case, it’s Harrogate’s now annual Lego Trail, this year featuring Dinky Dinosaurs. Whatever next for these rather charming little monsters?

For Leanne’s Monochrome Madness.

Swedish Seascapes, Swedish Horizons

This week’s Monochrome Madness, hosted by Dawn features horizons. I decided this gave me the chance to whip us back to Sweden, which offers horizons in every glance. Mainly watery horizons, it’s true. Or are they cloudscapes? Whatever they are, they offered me, whether urban or when island hopping utter peace and contentment.

A view of Stockholm from our apartment there.

A different view of the same view, and with a different cloudscape.

My featured photo was taken on one of our many ferry journeys, where we saw – unlimited horizons.

A Number of Images

This week, for Leanne’s Monochrome Madness, our host Sarah (of Travel With Me fame) would like us to find a number of numbers. Well, here goes. The featured photo comes from Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Can I remember who the sculptor is? Not a chance. But this piece is big and bright and gloriously technicolored. I wonder if it’s still there?

Altogether more godly, righteous and sober is the hymn board in Masham Church announcing the choices of hymn for – presumably – the previous Sunday’s service.

Equally useful is this board spotted at Beamish Museum. As far as I remember, they’re the tokens used by employees to check in and out of work as they came and went.

Not quite so useful, but a lot more fun is this book, bought to delight my granddaughter and her parents, and anyone else lucky enough to have the chance to read this highly entertaining story.

And spotted once in France, a house number designed to include a small arithmetic lesson as you wait for the door to be opened for you.

Oh look! It’s past my bed time. I’m off …

Monumental Madness

Figures in the built environment, That’s what Sue of Words Visual fame would like to see us produce images of this week for Monochrome Madness. She’s big on street photography, is Sue, and good at capturing a telling shot of a peopled urban street. But Leanne in her own post has gone down a different route, and as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so shall I.

I’m going with Monumental Statuary, and beginning on Greenwich Peninsula, with Damien Hirst’s Demon with Bowl.

Then I’m staying in London, and going to St. Pancras Station, to a statue I love to hate, finding it unutterably cheesy: Paul Day’s The Meeting Place.

Here are some details, including one of the vignettes at the bottom: lookers on.

St. Pancras Station is next to King’s Cross Station. Let’s catch the train to Leeds, and the ongoing bus to Harewood House to view Jacob Epstein’s Adam, naked as God had intended.

My featured photo is a few years old. ‘Around the Corner‘ was a literary trail designed in 2020. Scattered near Peter’s Hill (just south of the cathedral), these gold-lettered plinths read: What, are, you, going, to, meet, if, you, turn, this, corner? and is a quote from Virginia Woolf’s novel, Jacob’s Room. And I managed to introduce a small person into the shot, thus perhaps satisfying Sue with a spot of traditional street photography.

A Quick Overnight in Hamburg

I am leaving colourful Sweden today (I’ll be back in later posts), in order to whisk to our last overnight stop abroad on this holiday: Hamburg. We arrived later than planned (more rail-travel misadventures to come) so explored the city not at all – this time.

Hamburg suffered catastrophic devastation during WWII, most notably during a relentless series of Allied air raids in July 1943 codenamed Operation Gomorrah. The bombing campaign caused a massive firestorm that killed over 35,000 civilians, destroyed more than 60% of the city’s housing, and left nearly a million people homeless. This sombre state of affair indicates why, though Hamburg is a city with apparently lots to offer, we didn’t see it at its best. We were so near to the centre which was first destroyed, then hastily put back together in many cases. These views were taken from the roof-top terrace of our station-handy hotel.

For Leanne’s Monochrome Madness: a theme-free week.