New Lease Of Life

This shop has been empty for several months now & then suddenly the other day, things were happening inside. Workmen were building, painting and generally working towards creating a new store. I have no idea as to what they will sell. But when it opens, I will of course take a photo for the record.

A Bridge Too Far

At the moment, the bridge on Carrington Street outside the railway station is being reinforced with lots of steel and concrete. The work is causing a fair amount of congestion for the traffic going over it. I took this photo while they were pumping concrete over the steel gridwork.

Reading Between The Lines

These two highlighted headlines from our local evening paper are completely unrelated, but the fact that they both mention £1.5m, gives it a possible connection. The station in question is the local railway station & the tennis ace isn't that well known, but it looks like he might be paying for the improvements.

Heads or Tails?

This display is at clothing store Limeys. I wasn't really drawn to the clothes, as they don't look anything special. What interested me was the photographic heads of the manikins. The middle one is especially clever, as he can rotate his 180 degrees!

As an historical aside, this store on Wheelergate used to be a Waterstones book shop, and before that it was a well known stationers & book shop called Sisson & Parkers, which had been on the site for years.

They've Got A Ticket To Ride

Another corrupted Beatles song I know, but it seems so apt for this photo. Believe it or not, this bus is carrying passengers. I don't know how they can see out of the windows, as they have all been covered up by this giant advertisement for a finance company. It must have cost the company a lot of money to completely cover the bus, both in having the transfer created and renting the ad space.
I wonder if it was a deal on wheels?

Baby, I Can't Drive My Car

Whilst walking over the bridge from the Victoria Centre, I spied this scene of these policemen who'd stopped this young motorist. There was obviously something wrong with his vehicle. But what? The tyres, the bodywork? Whatever it was they were causing some congestion down Lower Parliament Street.

Cloak And Dagger

Today, a very special exhibition opens at Nottingham Castle. A number of costumes, props etc from the recent series of Robin Hood are going on display for a while. I will take a look this week & see if I can get some photos for the site. But for now, you'll have to make do with this giant advertising poster.

Hello, Good Evening And Welcome..

So said David Frost, at the start of most of his television programmes. I don't know what this reporter was going to say, as he was getting ready to rehearse his report about the monthly farmers' market in the Old Market Square. I don't know the name of the reporter and unfortunately I missed the BBC's East Midlands Today, so I may never know who he is.

Digging For Victory

There's quite a few building sites around the city centre at the moment, and here's a photo of the latest. It's on Castle Boulevard and is quite a large site. At this moment I have no idea of what will be erected. Maybe another hotel or office block, as it's a bit out of the way for shops. I will visit regularly to see what progress is being made. And for fans of heavy machinery, here's a view of a bulldozer getting down and dirty.

Preparing For Take Off

It's getting towards autumn and the mornings are a little colder now. These geese at Highfields are preparing themselves for the long flight south. I'm not sure what they are eating. I don't think it's grass. But I wouldn't have thought there's that many worms around. We should start to see the well known "V" shapes in the sky shortly, as they all fly to warmer climes.
I'd like to fly south for the winter too. Sydney would be my choice. And we could meet up with Sally and sip a glass of wine next to the harbour bridge.

Power To The People

As I was walking through the square yesterday, I saw a group of old people beginning a demonstration about the inequality of the council tax. This is a payment nearly everyone has to make to pay for council services. It is a bit of a flawed system, in that it's based on the size or banding of the home, rather than the value of it, or how much money people earn.
I decided to have a go at turning my photo into one that looks like it belongs in a newspaper.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

One of the country's building societies called Northern Rock is going through a bit of a sticky period at the moment. I won't bore you with all the details & they can be found on most news websites, but people who have savings with them are starting to panic. And as in my photo have been queuing up to withdraw all their money. When I took this shot, there must have been about 60 people waiting to go into the branch. Unfortunately due to the bus shelters being in the way, I can't show you the line in full.

Vapour Trails

We live only a few miles from the East Midlands Airport, so lots of planes fly over our house everyday, either going to, or returning from some sunny destination. As the planes are still flying high, they leave vapour trails in the sky.

The Big Cheese

As per the comment from yesterday, here are two photos of the Ratatouille roadshow that is taking place this weekend. I'm not entirely sure how it is promoting Disney's new cartoon film and the new Nissan Note car. Alas I'm not going into the city centre this weekend, so I won't know until Monday. But it has bought a splash of colour to the rather drab market square.

You're Nicked

I have a feeling that I'm slowly turning into Ham, as I am putting on another photo from London, rather than Nottingham. This was taken in Covent Garden. There were quite a number of buskers around, but my eye caught this one who was being chatted to by a policewoman. I don't know whether she knew him, but by the look on his face, I think perhaps he was being told off, as he seemed to be on the fiddle!

Guitar Heaven

For the last couple of days I've been in London on business and have not been able to blog. Hope you haven't missed me too much!
As I haven't got any new Nottingham photos at the moment, I'd thought I'd put on one I took down by the Thames, near HMS Belfast. I was walking around the area and I came across all these giant decorative guitars, that are going to be auctioned off for charity. There must have been over twenty or so. Some were very ornate, but I was quite taken with this one, which shows the history of the electric guitar.

A Bicycle Made For Two, Or Three

Here is a new sight in Nottingham, a rickshaw that is peddled. This is the first time that I've seen it and the cyclist, so he could only have just started. Nottingham's roads being what they are, he might be able to whisk you to your destination quicker than a taxi.

Faces From The Past

These two heads are over the entrances to St Mary's Church in the Lace Market. I don't know who they are of, although the man reminds me of William Shakespeare. I think they are more pleasing to look at than some gargoyles.

Stairway To Heaven

Across the UK this weekend, various buildings are being opened to the public, that are usually closed, except to certain individuals. This has happened for a few years now. This morning I went to the roof of my local church and took various shots of Beeston from a bird's point of view. I also took a couple of snaps of the very narrow spiral staircase that took you to the top of the bell tower. It reminded me of the sort you usually find in castles.

Robin Hood

Gail and I went to an out of town retail park the other day. It is about 15 miles from the city centre. They have a food court that looks a bit like the inside of a castle, and who better to be there than Robin Hood. I think this statue looks a bit more dramatic that the one near the castle, so of course I had to take a picture.

Tanks For The Memory

I was somewhat surprised to see this armoured personnel carrier in the Market Square yesterday. I know it was there to promote joining the British Army, but was surprised that it was allowed on the recently repaved surface, as there would be the possibility of it cracking the new granite slabs. I didn't notice any, and it was thoughtful of the lads to put down an oil drip tray.

Heavy Metal

I mentioned a few days ago about the number of empty apartments there are in the city centre at the moment, and they keep creating more. Well this is a sign for an apartment block that has been converted from an old lace factory, in the Lace Market. I was taken by the design of the sign and the strange candlestick shape in the middle.

A Strange Combination

Seems a bit strange calling your courier company Pedal Express, when it uses vans (albeit electric ones) to deliver parcels, rather than bicycles. Maybe they mean the A,B,C pedals in the car? Still at least being electric, its nearly as environmentally friendly as a bike.

Sign Of The Times - Theme Day

My theme day photo is a little different, in that it is a sign of a building, rather than say a street, or place. I chose this one, as it both shows the name of my city and also I like the reflection of the trees and the buildings.

There are a number of bloggers participating in the theme. Links below:
Seattle (WA), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Singapore, Singapore - Boston (MA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Evry, France - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Nottingham, UK - Toulouse, France - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Manila, Philippines - Mumbai, India - Montpellier, France - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Moscow, Russia - Paris, France - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Lyon, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Hyde, UK - Hong Kong, China - Joplin (MO), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Chandler (AZ), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Sydney, Australia - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - San Diego (CA), USA - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Nelson, New Zealand - Quincy (MA), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Bend (OR), USA - Wellington, New Zealand - New Orleans (LA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Detroit (MI), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Selma (AL), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Arradon, France - Sheki, Azerbaijan - New York City (NY), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Tenerife, Spain - Auckland, New Zealand - Forks (WA), USA - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Chateaubriant, France - Madison (WI), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Ajaccio, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Budapest, Hungary - Lyon, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Le Guilvinec, France - River Falls (WI), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Naples (FL), USA - London, UK - La Antigua, Guatemala - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Trujillo, Peru - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Oslo, Norway - Grenoble, France - Shanghai, China - Toronto (ON), Canada - Durban, South Africa - Zurich, Switzerland - Cape Town, South Africa - Singapore, Singapore