Wednesday 9th May 2012

No sooner were we back from our visit up north, and I was working again, this time it was a photography job at Hindhead Dental Clinic. I’ll be making two trips there, today’s was to take photographs of some of the staff who would have been unavailable to make my second visit.
This job is all part of a much larger project that Andrew at Fix 8 is spearheading as the creative director and will all feature on the clinic’s forthcoming website.

Andrew and myself had already spoken about the look and feel of each image and had agreed that it be post-produced in monochrome with each member of staff represented in their working environment. I’ve never been a huge fan of posed portraiture, I find it ridiculously boring, whereas somebody doing their job, or doing something in a photograph adds another element of interest.
Anyway, today’s 365+1 shot shows one of the dentists in his working environment… you’ll be able to see all the photography I’ve done, once the website is complete, but for the moment clicking on the logo above will just take you to a holding page.

WORD OF THE DAY: Ptosis

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 283-366: The Extractor (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)

Tuesday 8th May 2012

Today, as you’ll no doubt be aware, is my Dad’s birthday, so happy birthday, Dad! Sadly though, it was time for us to return down south, our thoroughly enjoyable break was over. As I say every time we see my parents, no sooner do you arrive and the time just flies by. We did have plenty of time to see my Dad open his cards and presents… he has more friends than Tanya and myself put together.

We set off at around 11:45, banking on the fact it would take us about four hours to drive back. It just happened to be a perfect time to set off, and we actually made it to the halfway point in just over two hours… as a matter of interest, we take the M61, M60, M62, M6, M6 Toll, M42, M40, A34, A272* A3* (*this is usually the M3, M27, only the A272, A3 is shorter in distance but takes much longer, depending on time of day).

Anyway, apart from our trip back, which was as good as effortless, little else happened today, so I thought I share a very interesting PDF download issued by EuroRAP and the Road Safety Foundation which features every motorway and A road network in Britain. Although all of these roads represent only 11% of Britain’s road length, they carry 54% of its traffic, and half of Britain’s fatalities. The map indicates each road with one of five colours, dependant on its risk rating… one thing that did surprise me were the locations of the high risk roads…
See the map for yourself by clicking here, alternatively, you can visit the Road Safety Foundation website by clicking on the logo above.

WORD OF THE DAY: Fecundate

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 282-366: Frosted Flowers (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)

Monday 7th May 2012

Today was mine and Tanya’s turn to be totally mysterious, for Tanya had found (and booked) a very special day out for my parents, my Dad in particular, since he’d be 74 tomorrow. Some time ago, Tanya had started looking into all kinds of things we could do on our visit, the favourite being something to do with the old steam railways in and around Lancashire, especially as there are at least three within an acceptable distance.
The one based at Bury in Lancashire seemed the likely candidate, that was until Tanya realised it was Thomas the Tank Engine on over this bank holiday weekend… not quite my Dad, we thought.

Anyway, to cut a long story short (I lost my mind? – Ed), Tanya found the perfect solution, a narrow boat trip on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal… I had a great feeling both my Mum and Dad would absolutely love it, so Tanya booked it in good time and printed off the receipt and address of where it was, since I’d heard of the place, only my map of the north navigational skills definitely aren’t what they were.
We set off on the scenic route to our destination, taking us through Grimeford Village, Atherton, Rivington, Belmont, Abbey Village and finally Hoghton. Despite driving slowly, we arrived with too much time to spare, so had to kill some time before going to the destination. Hoghton Tower was very close by, so we decided to drive there… something was going on which meant paying quite a large parking fee, and since we had less than an hour to kill, we decided against. The good thing was, we will go there on our next visit up north, so all was not lost.

My Mum and Dad said there was a great pub a little further down the road called the Boar’s Head, so we decided to head off there instead. The slight downside was the fact that it was 11:45 and it was shut, with no signage anywhere stating their opening hours… luckily though, there were so great cooking smells coming from the pub, so I assumed it would be opening at 12 noon, and I was right.
Ever the real ale fan, I chose to have half a pint of ‘Sunset’, a 4.2% ABV fruity blonde ale by a brewery I hadn’t heard of before, Morecambe-based Cross Bay Brewery. It’s a refreshingly crisp ale, with tangs of orange and lemon and a lovely frothy head. A superb ale.
To find out more about the brewery, please click on the pump clip above.

So, now that ample time had been killed, we could now make our way to the main event of the day, and it just so happened we’d actually driven past it on the way up, only neither Tanya nor myself had actually realised it was there, even though both my Mum and Dad had pointed out the place as we drove past it! The great thing was, both my Mum and Dad had had ideas about where we were going for our mystery tour, both of which had been scuppered as soon as we started heading in a totally different direction. As we arrived at The Boat Yard Inn at Hoghton, they were still slightly flummoxed, that was until I took the ‘canal boat cruises’ car park, though the last time my parents were here, neither of them recalled canal boat cruises going on, it was just a pub at the time.

It wasn’t long before we found our narrow boat, ‘Romance’ and boarded it ready for our 3hr cruise along the Leeds-Liverpool canal, taking us through Ollerton Wood, Miller Wood, Ramsbotham Wood, Denham Wood, finally arriving at The Top Lock at Wheelton, where the boat then went through two of the seven locks at Johnsons Hillock flight. Whilst on the boat, every passenger was treated like royalty, the staff making sure everything was to everyone’s satisfaction… we already knew there would be sandwiches on board and our table was laid out beautifully; we had a mixture of cheese and chives on brown bread, ham on white, though the margarine may well have been applied with a plasterer’s float, together with cream scones and strawberries, all served on a two-tiered tray… very English with a touch of aristocracy almost.

The whole afternoon was just perfect, and even the weather behaved, regardless of the fact that forecasters had advised otherwise. It was great seeing some of the other narrow boat names along the canal, such as ‘Cheeky Rascal’, ‘Grand as Owt’ and many others, yet my favourite of the day had to be ‘Del Buoy’… very clever.
Anyway, to find out more about the award-winning company, who run all kinds of events on their canal boats, ranging from days like we enjoyed to weddings or charity events, hen parties to team building days, please click on the logo above.

WORD OF THE DAY: Repudiate

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 281-366: Del Buoy (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)

Sunday 6th May 2012

Having had two full days of being ‘bloody tourists’, today was a much more casual day. My parents often go to church on a Sunday, so it meant Tanya and myself could take our time with getting up, having breakfast and getting showered. We had talked about driving down to Middlebrook, a large shopping complex, home of the Reebok, to get some petrol, ready for tomorrow’s big surprise (OMG, you’re not pregnant are you? – Ed). In the end, we didn’t bother, and quite glad too, since it was Bolton’s last home match against West Bromwich Albion, so it was as well to avoid the area.

It wasn’t long before my parents came back from church so we waited to have some lunch before heading off out to a relatively local tourist attraction called Turton Tower. It’s only about half an hour’s drive away from my parent’s house but we needed to take a route that would incorporate a petrol station, since I’d chosen to drive. After all of that, we did find ourselves stuck in the queue for the Reebok but it didn’t hinder us in any way, plus it was great to see all the devoted fans still making their way down there (Probably all Baggies fans – Ed). The match ended up 2-2, West Brom managing an equaliser in the 90th minute which means Bolton HAVE to win their last match against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, whilst Queens Park Rangers have to lose their last match against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium… as a matter of interest, Manchester City have to win if they want their first top flight league title in 44 years…

Turton Tower is a manor house located in Chapeltown, North Turton, Borough of Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, England, and is a scheduled ancient monument and Grade I Listed building. The oldest part of the building, which was probably built in the early 15th century, is the two-storey stone peel tower which measures 45ft in length from north to south and is 28ft in width. It is about 35ft in height with walls four feet thick. In the north-west corner of the tower the shaft of a garderobe projects from the main structure. The tower had three low storeys as evidenced by the blocked window openings. Its walls are rough with large corner quoins.

During the early 16th century two cruck framed buildings were added to the tower and later an extension at the front of the house created the entrance with its imposing front door. Inside the building this Tudor architecture can be seen including part of the cruck structure along with exposed and restored sections of the wattle and daub and lath and plaster wall panelling. The entrance and entrance hall belong to the rebuilding of 1596 when vast changes were made and the tower raised to its present height. The new upper storey was built in ashlar stone separated from the old rubble walling by a moulded string course. The old floors were removed and the walls raised to 45 feet to the top of the battlements. The narrow windows were blocked up, and replaced by large three, four, and five light mullioned and transomed windows, transforming the appearance of the old part of the building. During the 17th century the cruck buildings were clad in stone and the structure remained unchanged until the 19th century.
After 1835 the Kay’s were responsible for Victorian renovations including the Dutch gable façade.

After local government re-organisation in 1974, Turton was split and the tower became part of the new Borough of Blackburn, and was administered by Lancashire County Museums Service. Following changes to the Lancashire County Museum Service, the tower was taken over by Blackburn with Darwen Council.
For much more information, please click on the logo above.

On the way home, we stopped off at ASDA in Astley Bridge, an urban district of Bolton, because I wanted to buy some real ale for tonight, since Syl and Graham (my Mum and Dad’s friends, and ours) were coming round for a few drinks and nibbles tonight. I managed to pick up eight ales I’d not had before, three from Liverpool-based Cains Brewery, they were ‘Dragon Heart’, a 5.0% ABV brown ale, ‘FA Formidable Ale’, also 5.0% and ‘Double Bock Beer’, a 7.5% ABV continental style Bock lager. I also found two ales from Manchester-based brewery, Joseph Holt, they were ‘Thunder Holt’, a 5.0% ‘storm in a bottle’ and ‘Manchester Brown Ale’, a 3.8% ABV brown ale. The final three ales were Burnley-based Moorhouse’s ‘Pride of Pendle’, a superb 4.1% ABV ale, Coniston Brewing Co. with their 4.2% ABV ‘Bluebird Bitter’ and finally Stockport-based Robinson’s Brewery with their 4.1% ABV ‘Cheshire Black’, a superb rich roasted stout.
Needless to say, we had a very entertaining and incredibly funny evening and look forward to the next time we see them.

WORD OF THE DAY: Billycock

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 280-366: The Pike (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)

Saturday 5th May 2012

Prior to our visit up north, Tanya had been looking into places to visit, deciding on a trip to Bolton Abbey. Now then, with a name like Bolton Abbey, you’d expect it to be in, or near, Bolton… it’s in Yorkshire (That doesn’t surprise me – Ed). There’s an area of Yorkshire called Wharfedale, concentrated around the area around the river Wharfe. It’s quite a drive from my parent’s house, so we’d categorically asked to be up and out early, and without meaning to sound sarcastic, we remarkably were.

With the journey being at least an hour’s drive, we wanted to be out of the house by 10am at the latest, to give us any chance of enjoying a full day out. Bolton Abbey sits at the foot of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and is located due east of Skipton, a historic market town.
The whole Bolton Abbey estate covers some 30,000 acres of beautiful countryside, with over 80 miles of footpaths and ample space to enjoy the views and the fresh air. The main attraction for Tanya were the ruins of the much-photographed Priory, which is where we visited first. We spent quite some time walking around them and then going into the Church of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert. We all ended up taking many photographs, although the ones I took on my iPhone ended up being some of my favourites.

We then walked down to the River Wharfe and I decided I was going to walk across the famous 57 Stepping Stones that span the width of the river (Hardly going to be the length is it? – Ed). I started off incredibly confidently, thinking I was going to nail it on my first attempt, only half way across, I froze, totally froze, to the point where I was contemplating just throwing myself in. The distance between the two steps I froze at was the widest along the route, the river at its fastest and deepest… I wasn’t a happy bunny, especially as I now had an audience and could hear kids saying to their parents, “Look, he’s stopped and is turning back”. Little blighters. Yes, I bottled it and literally sprinted back.

To save face, we scarpered out of there quite quickly and made our way up to The Strid, which ended up being even more spectacular than the Priory ruins. In a nutshell, The Strid is where the usually broad River Wharfe suddenly becomes very narrow, making the water rush with extreme force. The etymology of the word Strid is from the fact that the river is a Stride wide, although it would be incredibly dangerous to attempt crossing since it is actually wider than a stride across, the rocks are incredibly slippery and the river basin is around 30ft deep. The whole area of the river was formed by the wearing away of softer rock caused by the circular motion of small stones and rocks in hollows, forming a series of potholes which, in time, linked together to create a deep, water-filled chasm. From there, we then walked along the river footpath up to Barden Bridge before heading off back to the car.
For much more information about the Bolton Abbey estate, please click on the logo above.

We then tried to have a cup of tea and some cake at Bolton Abbey railway’s café, it was late on in the day, probably two more trains due to arrive at the station, neither of which were photogenic, and they still expected us to pay for a platform ticket… bare-faced cheek if you ask me, really was, and put a slight dampener on the excellent day we’d had… although we did stop off at the Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream Farm on the way home, which we’d spotted on the way up to Bolton Abbey.

So that’s where we ended up. The only slightly off-putting aspect of it was the fact that it was swarming with children. If you can cope with that, you’re fine… not only that, the weather was okay, so they were all outside in a rather large and incredibly unique playground (more like an activity area to be honest). Obviously ice cream coupled with amazing playgrounds is going to send kids into a frenzy, so just be warned!
I suppose you’re now wondering how a 50s-style American Diner ice cream parlour and fast food establishment came about in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales… well I’ll tell you… it all started with Gary, the ‘big cheese’ who remembers how it all started for him. Aged only ten, he was put in charge of his Dad’s ice cream van down at Bolton Abbey. He probably ended up eating more ice cream than he sold, plus he had to cope with silly questions from boys much older than him like, “How much is a 10p lolly?”… anyway, despite all of that, he quickly realised that the world of ice cream was his destiny, to the point where one shift can churn out a staggering 1,200 litres of ice cream per hour.

Now that they were firmly on the map, the next ambition was to build an ice cream parlour at their farm base. They knew it had to be special , whereby it served ice cream and everything associated to it in a fun and exciting way, hence the major inspiration from 50s America… gleaming soda fountains, vintage advertising and iconic music… ‘Billy-Bob’s Ice Cream Parlour’ was born.
It truly is a superbly kitted out parlour, full of little and large incidentals that make it a truly special place to visit… and as I said, it’s full of children of all ages, ranging from toddlers right through to 70+ year olds, so if you’re a child at heart, you’ll absolutely love it, just be aware that there are a lot of children there.
To find out more about Yorkshire Dales Farmhouse Ice Cream or Billy-Bob’s Ice Cream Parlour, please click on either logo above.

We finished the day off with a Chinese takeaway from the Golden Harvest in Horwich and caught the second half of the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool, which ended up 2-1 to Chelsea.

WORD OF THE DAY: Flagellate

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 279-366: Bolton Abbey (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)

Friday 4th May 2012

So, we had landed safely at my parent’s house and had had a good natter before going to bed at around 1am… we hadn’t really planned anything for today so it meant a welcome lie-in, although anything after 8am in bed and I get agitated (unless of course I’m suffering like hell with a hangover or something).

After discussions about various destinations, we chose to go to MediaCity, the new home for the BBC, ITV, Coronation Street, SIS and the University of Salford. It’s all located at Salford Quays, on the banks of Manchester’s historic ship canal and has all been developed by The Peel Group.
The complex was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen and the bespoke community features a wide range of office and retail leisure space, as well as having one of the biggest HD studio developments in Europe. The spectacular five-acre piazza also boasts 378 apartments, a hotel and a brand new tram stop… more about that later.
To find out more, please click on the logo above.

From there, we also enjoyed an unplanned visit to the Imperial War Museum North. I’d visited it on a couple of occasions previously, yet that was around the time of when it first opened, so there had been dramatic changes to the interior. It’s weird, because an awful lot of what is in there is well outside of my lifetime (You sure? – Ed), so it’s difficult to associate yourself with it, despite knowing an awful lot about the atrocities during the First and Second World Wars. My parents on the other hand, found it all very distressing and upsetting, as well as being somewhat concerned about whether the whole museum could be construed as a glorification of war, rather than putting the message of peace across (Not worth getting into a fight about it – Ed). The thing I loved the most was the propaganda art… certain pieces really do put the message across, my favourite being the one above… I wish I’d made a note of who designed it, especially as I think it’s an incredibly clever design, putting the message across perfectly.

Established on the 5th July 2002, the IWM North will be celebrating their tenth year this year. It is one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum and is also located within Salford Quays, overlooking the Manchester Ship Canal. The museum building was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and received over 470,000 visitors within its first year of opening. It has been recognised with awards for its architecture and within, it features a permanent exhibition of chronological and thematic displays, supported by hourly audiovisual presentations which are projected throughout the gallery space. Better still… admission is free.
Earlier, I mentioned about how my parents, my Dad particularly, found much of it a disturbing reminder as to what went on in both wars, whereas it didn’t particularly affect me, even after visiting Auschwitz early in 2007… that was until Tanya pointed me in the direction of something, which at first glance looked like a piece of modern art, only to suddenly realise it was something far more significant than that. The ‘piece’ was made of 5mm thick steel, much of it completely bent, crushed and warped… fuck, it was part of a window support from the World Trade Center. It totally silenced me, the realisation making me trance-like. It was within my lifetime and I could suddenly understand how my parents felt.
Please click on the logo above to find out more about the Museum.

Whilst there, we enjoyed some lunch in the Museum’s WaterShard Café before we moved on to our next totally unplanned visit, and possibly one of the most astounding of the day. Whilst looking at a map of the Salford Quays area, I noticed that a recently refurbished Tudor museum, called Ordsall Hall, had reopened last year after extensive renovation. It was quite a yomp there on foot but the weather had been relatively pleasant for the majority of the day, so the exercise was welcome.
The Hall dates back over 750 years, although the oldest surviving parts of the present Hall were built in the 15th Century. It has miraculously evaded being levelled on more than one occasion and has had a multitude of uses throughout its lifetime. The most important period of Ordsall Hall was when it was owned by the Radclyffe family, who lived in the house for over 300 years (were they Timelords? – Ed). It was also the setting for William Harrison Ainsworth’s 1842 novel, ‘Guy Fawkes’, written around the plausible, although unsubstantiated, local story that the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was planned in the house.
Its history is astonishing (and I’ve barely covered any of it), as is the setting for the Hall… slap bang in the centre of Manchester flats and industrial estates… not a pretty setting whatsoever… once inside the building though, you completely forget where you are.
You can find out much more by clicking on the logo above.

As we set off on our walk back to the car park at MediaCity, it started to rain a little, so we chose to catch the Metrolink service from Exchange Quay to MediaCity, four stops along the Eccles-Piccadilly line. The Greater Manchester Metrolink network is one of the most successful light rail systems in the UK, carrying nearly 20 million passengers every year. There are three lines which run from Bury, Altrincham and Eccles into Manchester city centre. The Bury and Altrincham lines opened as far back as 1992, which the opening of the Eccles line in 2000 helped create a network of 37 stops covering 23 miles (37km). A fleet of 32 trams served the existing network until December 2009, when the first of the new generation of trams was introduced.
For tram times, maps and lots of other Metrolink information, please click on the logo above.

WORD OF THE DAY: Tiffin

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 278-366: Sky Hook (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)

Thursday 3rd May 2012

As per fucking usual, when you have booked some time off and want to set off as soon as possible, a mega-urgent job rears its ugly head, just to piss you off… and that’s what happened, big time, over the past couple of days, particularly last night, into the early hours of this morning (hence the time of the logged blog), continuing through all bastard day, including having to work a further two hours, where we could have been well on our way up north. (Trip to see your parents? – Ed) Anyway, we arrived soon after 21:00, so it wasn’t too bad.

Up until installing Mac OS X Lion onto my iMac, I was using Bar Code Pro 6.05, and even with the latest update, I was unable to use it, so it was back to the drawing board in the hope that there was something out there, preferably free. After some hunting around, I discovered a superb, and free, program called Scorpion BarCode 2.20, plus it was 10.7 compatible… bargain!

Established in 1994, Scorpion Research is the English based division of the globally present Scorpion Institute, focusing their activities on implementing modern management techniques using innovative software products.
They develop products to a standard of consistent high quality, and are recognised as a leader in their field, continuously holding the coveted ISO 9001 quality certification since January 2000.

Scorpion Research has clients in over 46 countries with sizes ranging from small owner established businesses to global multinational conglomerates. Industry exposure includes various industry sectors ranging from manufacturing, retail, distribution, wholesaling, education, computing, medical research, trade organisations, publishing, design, service houses, entertainment, foodstuffs, accounting firms, legal frameworks, professional societies, news media, marketing, chemical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, petroleum, agriculture, engineering, construction, marine, aviation, automotive, catering, charities and non-profit organisations.
To find out more about them and to see other software products they have available, please click on the logo above.

WORD OF THE DAY: Truncated

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 277-366: Perpetual Calendar (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)

Wednesday 2nd May 2012

Every probability there will be a write-up about how crap Bolton played against Tottenham tonight, making us doomed from the Premier League… 20th March 1996 was the last time Spurs managed to beat Bolton at the Reebok, though I wasn’t holding on any sort of hope of a win.

Before the game started, Fabrice Muamba made his first public appearance since he suffered a cardiac arrest when the two teams met in the FA Cup in March. So, on with the match… Luka Modric opened the scoring in the 37th minute with a breathtaking strike which Adam Bogdan hadn’t a chance of saving and apart from that, Bolton’s defence showed resilience and the two teams went into the break at 0-1.
In the second half, Bolton possessed more grit and determination and Spurs seemed to struggle coping with their midfield play; it was the first time Bolton had managed to string a few passes together in the middle of the park and it payed off in the 51st minute with an excellent bit of passing football, for Nigel Reo-Coker to plant the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net… game on.

Sadly though, that wasn’t the case, Rafael Van der Vaart (Van der who? – Ed) put the visitors in front, some nine minutes later with a clinical Spurs counter-attack… two minutes later, Emmanuel Adebayor extended the lead to 1-3, and if that wasn’t enough, the salt was well and truly rubbed into The Trotters’ wounds with another goal by Adebayor in 69th minute, to make the game totally irretrievable. 1-4 it ended and Bolton’s chances of surviving another season in the Premier League were altogether in the balance…

WORD OF THE DAY: Defenestration

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 276-366: Truncated (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)

Tuesday 1st May 2012

If ever a newspaper was going to clamp down on grammar, it would be the Guardian and today I discovered they have a section of their website (which, interestingly enough is also a book) called Guardian Style. The section of their website, found under ‘Information’ > ‘Style Guide’ is edited by David Marsh and Amelia Hodsdon and was last updated last month… so it’s very current and presumably an ongoing educational kick in the bollocks for anyone visiting it. It’s also accompanied with illustrations by Jakob Hinrichs.

The Style Guide is in alphabetical order and includes some fascinating educational corrections, for example, most people would say, “all mouth and no trousers”, only this is incorrect, it’s “all mouth and trousers”. A clever observation under the letter ‘B’ is ‘basically – this word is unnecessary, basically’.
Under the letter ‘C’, you have ‘can not, cannot – are not the same: note the difference between “you can not eat if you don’t want to” and “you cannot eat porridge with a knife” and then, for the moment, I’ll leave you with an example under the letter ‘D’… ‘daylong, daytime – but month-long, year-long, night-time’. I love stuff like this, better than reading a dictionary!
To educate yourself to the point where you won’t have any friends, please click on the image above.

WORD OF THE DAY: Fricative

The Crazy 365+1 Project (an image a day for a year)
Image no 275-366: Planet Potato (please click on the thumbnail to view May’s 365+1 page)