1505 : Sore Thumb Of Style On A Bruised Fist Of Decay

NatWest Bank Building, Mexborough, South Yorkshire

This building dates back to a time when the excess profits of banks were as likely to be diverted into ornamentation as they were into director's bonuses. It stands on - appropriately enough - Bank Street in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, sticking out like a sore thumb of style on a bruised fist of decay.

1504 : Wapentake Days

Autumn in Tickhill (WRWP : Strafford and Tickhill, Lower)

A few days ago, My friend Steve and I went out on a Wapentake Day. Our project requires us to visit each of the fourteen ancient wapentakes of the West Riding of Yorkshire and, between us, produce a photographic record of them. Tuesday was the turn of the Lower Division of Strafforth and Tickhill - and this particular photograph was taken in the village of Tickhill itself.

1503 : Mornington Crescent In Blue

Railway Line, Mornington Crescent - 10 October 2016

We stayed in London in a flat overlooking the end of Mornington Crescent and the main railway line into Euston. There was a balcony from which you could watch the sun rise and set - highlighting the graffiti, the stucco, and the power lines. For some reason the haunting melody of an old Scott Walker song - "Mantague Terrace (in Blue)" - kept going through my mind.

"The window sees trees cry from cold

And claw the moon"

1502 : A Question Answered

Deckchairs in Bridlington. Scanned 35mm B&W Negative (c. 1978)

I took this photograph some forty years ago. In Bridlington. As I took it, I seem to remember thinking "What do old people think about all day as they float, semi-comatose, towards the evening of their lives?". And now I know. They think "I remember taking a photograph once. In Bridlington ..."

1501 : Cover Calendar

Manhole Cover : Sanctuary Of Our Lady Of Hope, Calasparra, Spain

For years now, I have been taking pictures of manhole covers. One day I intend to gather them all together, select the twelve best and produce a calendar. I'm not sure what to call it, however!

1500 : Milestones / You Must Believe In Spring

I have just noticed that this is entry number 1,500 in my Photographic Blog (which started life as Alan Burnett's Daily Photo Blog and somewhere along the line changed its name to the equally descriptive Picture Post. That is a lot of days and a lot of posts. To mark the milestone, I have a picture from Saturday's gig by Mark Nightingale at Jazz@The Keys, Huddersfield. It would have been rather nice if he had been playing the Miles Davis tune, Milestones, when I took this photograph but I suspect it was Michel Legrand's You Must Believe in Spring. Perhaps that is an even better adage for the last nine years of picture posts.

1499 : The Miracle Of Calasparra

The River Segura in Murcia, Spain flows by the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Hope, Calasparra. Pilgrims come from miles around to view the church which has been hewn out of a natural cave - a cave where a miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary was supposed to have been found. Their journey will be well worthwhile, not for the religious relic, but for the sight of the river flowing through the gorge cut deep in the landscape. The river has a form of natural luminescence which in its own way is truly miraculous.