I found this incredibly striking image on Reddit yesterday. (Today the whole site is down, incidentally.) I think the photo belongs to the Toronto Star. I can’t stop looking at it, it’s stunning.
Not so long ago British folks also toppled one statue of a terrible man, whose name I shall not bother to mention. At the moment it’s in a Bristol museum, in much the same condition as it was when knocked off its pedestal:
And I love that. I think it’s the perfect way to display these statues: no longer towering over citizens and also covered in statements about what kind of person the subject was. Perfect! After all if a statue can be preserved for the sake of history, why shouldn’t the same apply to protests against that statue?
There’s not many good things happening in the world right now so here’s a compilation of nice things, in case you’re doomscrolling through the internet as I so often do. Not so much intended to be escapism so much as… reassurance?
A couple of weeks ago it snowed here. So I went out to take some photos, as you do, and I lost my glasses. I was so upset. I managed to get new ones but uggggh, it sucked, since I need them to function and everything. However now that that time is over I remember I never posted any of the photos I took!
Only three of ’em were even remotely interesting, alas.
Ahaha I forgot I ever took this. This is Morena Baccarin at a con back in 2008. I didn’t meet her but I did photograph her from the queue! This is before cons started getting really funny about cameras being allowed anywhere near the stars.
Apple harvesting time
Kitty cat admiring, or possibly being disgusted by, all the snow
MY OLD TOY SHELF! Some of these I actually still have, lots of them I have no idea what happened to though.
BEAUTIFUL damn sunset over my old back garden
A less brightly coloured but no less appreciated sunset over Cleethorpes beach
An unimpressed fish.
The windmill at Caldecotte Lake. (I have no idea if it’s still there, I hope it is.)
London as viewed from the Tate Modern art gallery.
Here’s some I particularly like. (Most of these probably weren’t taken by me, though honestly no-one is sure anymore.)
Me getting a copy of Watchmen for my birthday in 2006. I still have it, and a couple of years after this photo was taken I got it signed by Alan Moore. I now have much more mixed feelings about Watchmen and (especially) Moore though. Ya grow.
A sky that looks like it was painted.
A sea lion at Whipsnade Zoo.
Some really colourful flamingos!
Me in my childhood bedroom, dressed up for prom. (Prom is much less of a big deal in Britain. Or it was.) That’s a Darth Maul photo signed by Ray Park in the background. Might be worth a bit less now if recent rumors are anything to go by.
Ashridge Forest and what I only just learned today is called the Bridgewater Monument.
A beautiful contrail.
Skypocalypse
Me on the Cleethorpes beachside minigolf course in 2006. It’s gone now, and I’m not surprised, because they built it on a slope
A pair of lurking lions.
This was from I’m guessing about 15 years ago. I don’t know who took it, probably my dad. It’s Willen Lake at Milton Keynes, but to me it looks like something from Lord of the Rings.
After four months of going nowhere but the occasional field I have been to Bradgate Park in Leicester! Oh thank god. It’s so nice to BE OUT.
No-one else was wearing masks… apart from this elf we found in a tree on the way there.
I took a panorama with my phone once we got there. Surprisingly there are no deer in it (they are everywhere)
See, here’s one. This deer has an expression on his face I cannot read.
More deer.
Dave took most of the above photos (only numbers 2 and 6 are mine I think) and he also took these AMAZING ones of a white deer chilling in the ruins of Lady Jane Grey’s estate. There was a wall in the way but he STILL MANAGED IT!
The Romantic/gothy side of me likes to think, maybe that’s Lady Jane’s reincarnated spirit wandering around there.
Meanwhile I took a picture of an interesting wall.
Dave then got this amazing photo of a dragonfly which are very hard to photograph-
It’s much harder to get to than it looks from here, trust me.
I took this photo halfway up:
It’s worth it for the views, if your legs can take it.
Here’s some pictures I took at the top!
Here’s a couple of slightly more imposing-looking ones I took with my phone.
And then just before we left suddenly a noisy peacock flew overhead! Sadly neither of us got any photos of it in flight, but I WAS able to get close enough to it to take this:
And that was I think everything, and oh my god my legs are killing me.
Currently there’s a social media campaign going on to celebrate Leicester. I also want to celebrate Leicester because it’s the best, kindest place I’ve ever lived in. I wasn’t born there but I consider it home.
Here’s some of my favourite pictures of the city I’ve taken over the years.
The last one, with all the people? That’s my favourite.
