Giant advent calendar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.  I love my city.

Abe Lincoln FC

Abe Lincoln is a United fan [ok ok ok…FC United went a little crazy with their bar scarves in town, but YEAH LINCOLN FOR THE CAUSE. or something.]

Going to York next weekend, so i’m sure i will have some more important and more interesting content to share with the masses as i have been trying my best to stay under my rock and avoid the Parklife shitehawkery of the weekend.

xo

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[Stan Chow’s excellent ram done for Lunar New Year as projected onto St Anne’s Church, St Anne’s Square, Manchester. view more of his work here. and buy a print or six.]

The Great Manchester Wheel. File under: Things I’m Obsessed With.

I’m kind of obsessed. no filter, just adjusted the white balance. Blackberry z10 while walking home from the bus. not bad. can’t complain. life is good.

BBC Studios. Media City, Salford UK

The BBC Studios, Media City. Salford, UK. 30 October 2014.

I went on an adventure to Media City yesterday. ITV, BBC, an ice skating rink, and a TARDIS. There’s something so…lovely about glass buildings. Lovely seems so boring, but i don’t really know how else to describe it? glass buildings make me happy in general. -insert something about glass and the fragility of life- it’s nice for me, at least, to get out of the normal neighbourhoods that i see every single day and go to other places in the city…it’s funny that once you’re out and about that you realise how close everything is. Media City isn’t really that far from the city centre and right across the street from Old Trafford which is a little walk to the Tafford Centre. it kind of reminds me of Manhattan where everything seems so far apart on a map, but once you get stuck in and walking around, things are really closer than what you think they are.

Plus…we went across the way to the Lowry and bought chocolate bars as big as our faces at the Cadbury outlet because there’s a Cadbury outlet and because why not?

My view. Every Day. Picadilly Gardens, Manchester.

Back in April, I posted a picture of the Great Wheel of Manchester and I said that I couldn’t talk about it. Well…I can talk about it now because I live here. That’s right. The cat’s out of the bag. The big secret’s out. I’ve packed my bags and moved to Manchester and it’s wonderful. This is the view from my study / reading spot and honestly…who is going to complain? After all…based on this photo, I’ve clearly only moved to England for the weather 😀

Le Tour Eiffel, Paris. 2012

Le Tour Eiffel, Paris. 2012

Because sometimes you really just need a cliché photo of the Eiffel Tower to make you happy. The first day that I was in Paris, I do what I always do: I take an orientation walk around the city and make mental notes of what I would like to see and what I would like to add to my itinerary. The good thing about Paris is that no matter where you are, the Eiffel Tower is always there so no matter where you are, as long as you can find it, you can never get lost. This day, I had lunch at the Tuileries and walked towards the Champs Élysées, just a little stroll; nothing more. I walked around the round a bout, [not in traffic, bien sur!] and saw the top of the tower and…well, there we go. I decided to take the back roads, stopped for a pastry, stopped to people watch, stopped for a beverage, etc. and there it was. It was like a cartoon, the trees pulled away, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. It was perfect.

Back in October i posted that picture, not knowing too much about this métro stop and it’s decorations, only that i was enamoured by it. this morning, one of the instagram accounts that i follow, loftgallery, posted the same stop this morning with the following description:

Kiosque des Noctambules by JEAN-MICHEL OTHONIEL In 2000, a century after Hector Guimard, Jean-Michel Othoniel transformed the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre into the Kiosque des Noctambules: two crowns made of glass and aluminum conceal a bench designed for chance encounters in the sleepy city. #jeanmichelothoniel #frenchartist #france #louvre #palace #sleepycity #KiosquedesNoctambules

The more you know!

The Wheel of Manchester, Manchester UK. 10 April 2014.

The Wheel of Manchester, Manchester UK. 10 April 2014.

I am not at liberty to fully discuss the importance or significance of this photo, but this was taken a few days ago on a rather…enlightening trip to Manchester. While the 10th itself was unbearably stressful, the results of that day made it all worth while. [this was taken from my instagram. sorry, not sorry.]

N’oublies pas que je t’aime…

Somewhere in Munich, Germany. 2004.

I have no idea what this building is, though, i’m fairly certain that it’s the hostel that I stayed in in Munich. if anyone has any clue as to what, exactly, this building is (or was) i would appreciate any information. This was taken by my old camera. Sometimes the prints come out beautifully; sometimes the prints come out looking like they were taken with a potato, and then there’s this. i would like to think that it falls somewhere in the former category, though, if i didn’t know any better, i would think that it was taken on 35mm and printed from there. it isn’t the best composed picture, and it certainly isn’t the most interesting picture, but there’s something about this that i really like. maybe it’s the colouring or maybe it’s the overall ambience. Maybe it’s the memories that i don’t realise that i’ve buried. i’m not sure.

[no colour correction, only minimal white balance and contrast adjustments.]