UK2013: Bradford

I went to visit my friend Diane, who lives in West Yorkshire. I've never visited this part of the UK before, so I was looking forward to seeing something of the local area.

A train whisked me from Bury St Edmunds (after a nice lunch with friend Rob, in the Cannon Brewery) to Peterborough, then to Leeds, and finally to Hebden Bridge. Diane lives a short walk from the station there, although we took the circuitous route via a nice Thai restaurant by the canal for some dinner :-)

Diane had some places she wanted to show me, and we started the next morning with the City of Bradford, a half-hour's journey back along the train line. I had no idea what to expect from Bradford, except perhaps a good curry.

We found a shop that sold hand-made crafts from local residents. And naturally it also contained this Tardis, because what self-respecting shop doesn't have a Tardis inside?

I was admiring the architecture already and we'd only been there five minutes. This building looks like a church from a distance but from close range it becomes apparent that it was an old merchants' trading hall; the Wool Exchange.

Inside, we have a statue of a prominent local manufacturer and trader, Mr Richard Cobden.

Why is he surrounded by books? Because this is a branch of Waterstone's Bookshop, that's why. And a truly fabulous job they have made of the restoration of this building.

Look at this gorgeous roof! It lets in a ton of natural light. You can see in the previous picture that most of the electric lights are around the edges.

Here's a close up of one of the roof supports. It has beautiful wrought ironwork and a figure looking out over the hall. I'd like to know who the various shields are for; each figure holds a different one.

The outer edges of the hall are supported by stone archways. They are carved in a variety of floral and organic themes.

This one is ringed in oak leaves, while the vertical part shows grapes being eaten by a hungry Gryphon.

This is the outside of the building, with old stonework reflected in the modern glass wall that houses the cafe, from whose staircase/balcony I took the elevated shot showing the whole hall, above.

We took a walk around a bit, mainly up the hill, and I found Bradford to be a curious mix of excellent architecture, housing some very ordinary shops. Waterstone's aside, this is a pretty typical British city as far as shopping is concerned. There were a couple of interesting markets; this being Bradford there is a heavy Indian influence, some of the stalls having beautiful fabrics on sale.

Going back down the hill, we made our way towards the clock tower that had been enticing me all day. This turned out to be attached to Bradford City Hall; a building of this magnificence which I was not expecting to find. I think that somewhere in my brain, I wasn't expecting Bradford to be as big a city as it is.

I could probably have spent all day examining the walls of this place. Too bad it was closed or I'd have had to have gone inside. You can see figures standing on the upper storey of the building - two on the pillars, and two more against the windows; they are every King of England, and they ring the entire frontage and around the sides.

The two figures either side of this most splendid wrought iron entrance gate are Queen Elizabeth (left) and Queen Victoria (right).

Here's a close up of the clock tower, just for kicks.

Moving on past the building (we walked to the right, from the point of view of the previous shots) one crosses over a large shallow basin, with fountains. At the time of day we arrived, these had dry walkways remaining.

Later on, they fill it up more with water and turn it into a visual playground of water and light. Lots of people were playing about; getting their feet wet, too :-) Diane told me that this whole area - Centenary Square - had been renovated over the last few years. Behind us was a row of pubs and restaurants; there was a Wetherspoon's in which we later took refuge for a quick pint. This is all flanked by raised grassy areas that kind of enclose the space and make a counterpoint to the bricks and stone.

Just across the road from all this lies the National Media Museum which we spent several hours in. This houses an excellent collection of animation history, computer history, film and television archives and computer games. You can browse through a large folder of old TV shows and watch them in booths - shows that haven't been on broadcast TV since you were a kid. Very cool stuff.

This is an animation set up for the character 'Morph', who any British folk that used to watch Tony Hart will recognise.

Here's a tiny segment of the computer museum. The computer with the orange keys is a BBC model B (with a whole 64K of RAM), on which I spent many, many hours as a kid, and I still have that machine :-)

They had a whole timeline of machines - computers, phones, games consoles, etc - from very early days right up to modern times. It's interesting to see how the styles of technology have changed as well as the horsepower; especially in the last few years when everything has gone black and silver and tiny and shiny, instead of the large beige boxes we used to know.

And I suppose a town with a Tardis wouldn't be complete without a Dalek ;-)

We emerged after soaking in as much as we could, and visited Bradford Cathedral. It's definitely not one of the most elaborate cathedrals I've ever seen and it was closed by the time we got there, so I will have to speculate what is inside, and no more.

Here's the Cathedral from the opposite corner of the grounds. Only the outer door was open, the inner door was locked.

There were some pretty snowdrops in the gardens, however. The daffodils hadn't quite come out yet; it was too long and cold a Spring, yet.

Remember how I thought we might get a decent curry? Diane knows a good curry house! So we went there - a place called Omar's. They are known for the size of their Naan breads. The portion sizes of the rest of the food are fairly normal - and it was damn tasty food; Proper British Curry, yay! - but check out the size of the bread in this picture. This is supposed to be for one person! Diane told me that if they serve a family size bread, they have to bring another whole table to put it on....!

We ate half the bread and took the rest home. We used it the next day after finding some curry on a market stall in Hebden, but I'm getting ahead of myself there.

There were plenty of trains back to Hebden but we didn't want to be too late, since their frequency drops dramatically after a certain time of night. So we left the curry house and walked back to the train station via the City Hall again. By this time, night had fallen, and the lights had come up.

Coloured fountains play all around the lake. Here's some with a bit of the boardwalk in the foreground.

And some more - gone green, now. They rotated through various different colours at different times.

Finally we got a good look at the illuminated front of the building. Then we dashed to the train station and jumped on a train, just in the nick of time :-)

Feline Progress

Here's a couple of gratuitous cat pictures for you.

Sunshine Cat is settling in very nicely. She is so sweet. She loves nothing more than to sit on you and purr. She sleeps with us at night, too. Smokey only sleeps with us in the cooler months and he has vacated that position for the summer, so we don't have any conflicts there at the moment.

I think she has been very well house trained. She doesn't jump onto tables or chairs or kitchen counters, but she will jump onto the bed or your lap. She has done her business only in her tray, which is nice.

Sunshine is not very happy with me this afternoon though; she is skulking away and hiding. I put some anti-flea juice on her this morning, the kind you put on the back of their necks. She's got very quiet and dozy this afternoon. It has the same effect on Smokey; I think it just knocks the wind out of their sails for a little while. Hopefully she'll be back to normal by the morning.

This was taken yesterday when she was out exploring. We have a very wide open plan front room, of which she seems to be enjoying the discovery. I think Smokey has smelt her on his cat tree though...

To even the score, here's Smokey, sitting outside this afternoon. He knows something is Up. He keeps detouring via the bedroom door when he comes into the house, to see if he can spot anything going on.

So far, we have had the door open a crack to let them see each other, while giving them treats. There has been some growling and hissing, but slowly does it and we're getting there. Hopefully they will be integrated soon...

Sleeping spots

So, you get a new cat...

And you buy her a nice new bed...

And then you find her in your sock basket.

Introducing... Sunshine Cat!

Yesterday afternoon, we inherited a Cat! She is named Sunshine, which we will keep. Sunshine is a pretty name and a pretty cat :-)

She came to us via a friend of Alan's - Marla - at his work. Marla's mother lives in San Angelo out in West Texas, and she had a friend who sadly passed away recently, leaving her cat in need of a home. We had been thinking to get another cat for a little while, so this seemed like a good match.

Sunshine is about five years old. She arrived at Marla's mother's house, pregnant, and had a litter of kittens. Marla's mother kept one kitten, found homes for the others, and gave Sunshine to her friend, where she spent the next three years as an indoor cat. She's been neutered and microchipped and came with vet records, which is handy. She certainly seems to have been well looked after, and is super-friendly.

Here's a few pictures... the one at the top is from this morning, when she sat on my lap for the first time! She's difficult to get a picture of since she's always curling around your legs or head-butting the camera... Hopefully better pictures soon.

We have her isolated right now, and she will remain so for a week at least, before beginning a very slow introduction to Smokey Cat.

She has a medium-loud, squeaky mew, which she employs liberally, with quite a vocabulary! She can also purr for her country, and does so any time you're in the room with her.

Caught mid-mew.... won't be the last time, I think.

She is very long haired, too. There's cat hair everywhere already. It is moulting season, to be fair, but I think regular brushing is going to be in order.

I think this blanket is her favourite so far...

Watch this space for updates!

UK2013: Sudbury Water Meadows

Sudbury town lies alongside the banks of the River Stour. It is unusual in that the river does not run through the middle of town; instead, the town stops just before reaching the river. This leaves some beautiful flatlands on either side, which have several little tributaries and lakes running around. The land itself is ancient common land, used for grazing cattle. It is a really nice place for wandering about. I always make time to walk here when visiting Sudbury.

This footpath entrance is just outside the Mill Hotel. There's a duck pond to the left, and a small part of the river runs to the right. The painted houses make a lovely backdrop to this view.

Here's the rivulet running off behind me.

The next morning dawned very cold and frosty. I walked in a different part of the meadows, alongside the river proper. Footprint trails are evidence of early morning walkers, while the trees paint a pastel scene.

A pair of swans come to say hello.

There are many swans here.

Oh-oh, there's food on offer! A squadron of ducks in line abreast formation arrives to join the swans.

Feeding time... and a drink for the dog.

This is one of several wartime bunkers dotted around town.

Ducks and swans on the move. I think they were curious about whether I had any bread.

Footprints lead on towards the corner of the river.

Frosty, crunchy grass. The muddy areas were all frozen on this morning, too.

Tree reflections.

Another bunker, with the town in the distance.

The third morning was warmer and muddier. Here's a slow-flowing section of river further upstream.

There's a few swans here too. This guy decided to block my path. I decided not to fight him over it. The path was pretty muddy, anyway.

Lots of tall reeds and grasses line the waterside here.

I'm not sure what this tree is, but the buds were nice to see.

Likewise with these catkins and fir cones; Spring is on the way!

And some more.

One last look at the river, reflecting the morning sun.

UK2013: Sudbury Town

These are some pictures from wandering around the town in Sudbury.

Painted houses feature strongly in Suffolk architecture. The houses are made from wattle and daub; this is a technique using thin wood strips or twigs woven together to make walls, and then coated in daub, which is made from hay and earth and water mixed together and allowed to harden. This is then painted in the variety of bright colours that one sees around Suffolk.

Some older buildings have exposed timber frames.

As does this pub in town. I like the strong windows here too.

And some go for really intense colours, and not a right-angle in the place...

Paler tones abound on this street.

These houses adjacent to the cricket pitch all complement each other.

This is the Mill House Hotel, where I have stayed in the past. It is alongside the water meadows. It contains a water wheel in the bar/restaurant area, which the river runs through.

Market day is on Thursday in Sudbury, and takes over the town centre.

This stall had some lovely fruit and vegetables.

Look at all this rhubarb! You can get it in Texas but it's imported and expensive.

This is the Quay Theatre, with some early morning fishermen.

And some ducks, making patterns on the water.

This is the old Corn Exchange. It is now the town's library. I should have taken a picture on Tuesday evening when the lights were on; it has some very unusual patterns in the glass windows.

Detail of the archway over the front door. Not sure why there's fish represented on a corn market, unless the tradesmen expanded their repertoire.

The statue in front of St Peter's here is of Thomas Gainsborough, a famous English artist who made his home in Sudbury.

Close up of Mr Gainsborough in the rain, the next morning.

The dog here is a Dalmatian. His head sits on one of many red pillars around town; these form a historical trail and each pillar has something different on top. The dog is looking across the street at a memorial flowerbed/sink dedicated to Dodie Smith, who wrote '101 Dalmatians'. In one scene, the dogs come through Sudbury town, and that passage of text is inscribed on a plaque next to the sink basin.

This is the top of an archway that used to lead to a pair of schools, but is now (sadly) a parking lot. Note that the schools share the same saints names as the local churches.

Lastly, this mosaic work is above a shop on North Street. I did not see any more mosaics. There's probably a story behind this one somewhere. I wonder what happened in 1876?