We went to York yesterday : the GLW to meet up with her cousin for some recreational shopping, and myself for the ride. We had what the weather forecasters call "sunny intervals" which meant that I was able to wander around the old city taking photographs. It may not sound particularly thrilling, but it is what I enjoy - and have done for most of the last sixty odd years.
It is the kind of activity that is best done alone. There is an awful lot of just wandering up and down back streets, looking for the right angle, seeking the right composition. It is a type of mind-game in which your eye - and its extension, the camera lens - battles against the ever changing lines of buildings and people until it thinks it has found something pleasing, something which - when it is transposed onto printing paper or computer screen - will be meaningful. That strange branch of humanity who call themselves photographers will know what I mean.
And when the sun had one of its intervals, there were other things to occupy my time. Sitting in a quiet pub, enjoying a rather nice pint of beer. It may not sound particularly thrilling, but it is what I enjoy - and have done for most of the last sixty odd years.
For those who are interested in such minutia, the pub in question was Ye Olde Starre Inne - which despite its silly name is really rather old - and the pint was the deliciously malty Naylor's Aire Valley Bitter.
Come on, Alan! We need to know the brewery - local or "foreign"? How about the taste?
ReplyDeleteThe Aire Valley should have been a bit of a clue. The brewery is in Keighley which makes it reasonably local and the taste was "satisfying with just a hint of gratifying"
DeleteYeah, that sounds like my days off, too - wandering around town with the camera.. And of course it's "thrilling", especially when you get home and start processing the shots; that's when you discover the gems hidden in all the mud you scooped up that day. Life is good when you can wander with a camera. Keep it up, Alan!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree Roy, indeed I was thinking about you as I wrote that paragraph.
DeleteSounds like a perfect day to me, Alan!
ReplyDeleteA little sun, a pint or two of beer, some reasonable photographs - and a shopped-out wife : what more could you want?
DeleteLove that first photo!
ReplyDeleteIf you had been there, we could have had a pint, settled all the problems of the world, and watched the river flow by
DeleteWe really need to do that someday!
DeleteAn engaging view that could be from any decade.
ReplyDeleteMonochrome does seem to have the ability to compress time, doesn't it?
DeleteYour beer and pub reviews have been sourly missed.
ReplyDeleteMore soon, I promise.
DeleteA wonderful way to spend a day. I know the pub!
ReplyDeleteTo live in the warmth of the West Indies whilst knowing fine Yorkshire pubs - the best of both worlds.
ReplyDeleteMy parents lived in York for a short while on their return from Aden. Have to add this to my Pinterest Hotels, Pubs and Restaurants in which I can remember staying, drinking and eating. Too many to mention!! I'd forgotten this one - the memory is not what it was! I think I know every pub in and around Richmond, North Yorkshire though! Never mind surrounding villages and market towns! I used to be a bar fly!!
Delete"A bar fly" - I love the expression
DeleteI love to wander and look for great shots...I could do that all day long but then I would get nothing done. I always enjoy your photos:)
ReplyDeleteI am not sure you "would get nothing done". I have seen the photographic results of your wanderings too often to believe that.
DeleteLove that black and white shot. And you're right about photography - though I'm no photographer. That beer looks good...
ReplyDeleteMr. Burnett, I was just sitting here dunking my digestive in some Yorkshire Tea and thinking of you, wondering how you are and if you are even out there in blog land any more as it's been yonkers since I;ve sadly checked. Lo adn behold, here you are, witty as ever too. Lovely. SO glad!
ReplyDeleteBTW, my mother, sister and grown up married niece (marreid to a York man) have al recently moved to Yorkshire..to Scarborough. I suspect you've been there. My mother, however, whislt she admits its lovely, misses her Norfolk cottage and apparently keeps saying, I have no Yorkshire in my blood but of course, my sisters dad was from there so there you go! Wishing you well. Cheers. Have a very very merry xmas in case I don;t talk to you beforehand. Hope you and fam are well.
Great picture of the Ouse.
ReplyDelete