Ice Rocks

I've mentioned the Ice Stadium before, but I don't think I've shown you what the building actually looks like. Well here it is. The area in front is called Bolero Square, and is named after Torvill & Dean's skating routine, which they got all sixes for at the Olympics some 20 odd years ago.
Besides skating, the Arena hosts many concerts, as you can see Meatloaf is playing next week.

November Theme Day - Mr Blue Sky

The title of a smash hit for the 1970's rock band ELO, introduces today's theme of the colour blue. I'm afraid I haven't been very creative this month, but as the sky recently has been very bright, with no clouds (unusual for England), I thought I'd show you this rare occurrence, as I know a lot of you always see clear blue skies every day.

Yes this is genuine sky & not a piece of coloured card!

Once again I couldn't find the list of all the other countries that are participating & due to time differences, some countries may not appear yet.

Give Us Our Daily Bread

Another shot from last week's European market. A close up of the French bread stall. I didn't buy any, as I thought the prices were quite expensive and you wouldn't know how fresh or stale they were until you tucked in.

And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Here's a photo of the building that's being knocked down on Clumber Street from late last week. As you can see, it's slowly disappearing. The walls are being demolished by hand, rather than by a bulldozer, due to it's location.

Digital Wimbledon

As promised, here's one of the more striking images from last weeks' computer game fair. A Wii game of tennis, shown on a giant screen. I'm not really interested in computer games, so most of it didn't mean that much to me.

Flaming Hell!

I know I promised you a photo from the computer games event, but I decided I'd share this shot of the Italian hot dog stall instead. I wasn't near the stall, when he lit the fire. I just saw a big plume of smoke rising into the crowd. I rushed over, as I thought one of the stands had caught fire. I don't know if he is chatting on his mobile while he is cooking.

Food For Thought

Yesterday, it was very busy in the Old Market Square. Besides a computer game exhibition (tomorrow's post) there was a European market. Quite a number of stalls were selling all sorts of foods, handicrafts and gifts. As you can see from my photo, lots of people were attracted to the food smells and the opportunity of buying some different Christmas presents.

Don't Pull That Face At Me

Here's another one of those gargoyles that seem to feature quite a lot on some of the older buildings in the city. A shame they don't still do similar things with todays architecture.
Alas it's not my best picture, as it was quite some way up, and I only have a 4x optical zoom lens.

Blowin In The Wind

Autumn's here & so too is the colder weather, dark mornings & of course leaves. Lots & lots of leaves. There's so many trees in the grounds of the castle, that the gardeners there have to use blowers to round up all the leaves.

Have You Forgotten Something?

One's memory is an important thing to a person. Thinking about all those events that happened in ones life. Old Man Lincoln's stories are a prime example. So it's very sad when people start to lose their memory. I have a friend who's like that. We went to see him a while ago & he asked me about a dozen times where and when we first met. So I welcome the opportunity of publicising this roadshow, which is in the Market Square this week.

Identity Crisis

Here's something you don't see everyday, a group of Santas. I'm not sure what you would call then; flock, gaggle, blaze?
They were all in the Market Square yesterday to promote the 'Wish Upon A Star' charity.

Moving House?

Here's another in the series of decorative buses. This one is advertising a local estate agents. Here's the link to their website, should you be thinking of moving to Nottingham, or want to know what sort of property is on offer.

Face From The Past

This gargoyle or statuette is on a building on Market Street. I have walked up that road a thousand times & have never noticed it before and if it wasn't for my blogging, I might never know it was there. Besides the long distance friendship that we gain from doing this hobby, it also gives us an opportunity of looking at our hometowns differently and spotting things that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Let There Be Light

We've all been told to reduce our consumption of electricity to counteract the rise in global warming and the threat to the planet. So why were these street lights on St James' Terrace allowed to burn all day long on a sunny day? Couldn't the timer be changed so they only came on when it got dark?
Have you got similar evidence of waste?

Not Long Now..

It may be only 66 days away, but anyone would think Christmas is just a few days away with trees, decorations & of course calendars on sale. This calendar stall in Broad Marsh just seemed to appear one day & then it will vanish around the middle of Jan, when they usually sell any remaining ones off for a quid. Everyone whose ever done anything remotely famous seems to have a calendar this year.

Whose up for doing a bloggers calendar?

The Girl, The Place, The Book

I've actually read this very interesting & amusing comic book after seeing it on a recent television programme. It is a potted history of Sunderland and it's connection with Lewis Carroll and his Alice in Wonderland story. The drawings are in many different styles; from Tintin to Boys Own adventures. It took about 4 years to complete. So I had to take this photo of some advertising for it in a comic bookshop on Market Street and recommend that you all borrow copy from your library. It costs £14.99 to buy. For more info about Sunderland, I recommend Curly's DP site.

My Life In Your Hands

I was in my local branch of WHSmiths yesterday, when I saw this long queue of people. I wondered why and then saw former England cricketer Ian Botham signing copies of his autobiography. Not one for missing a blogging opportunity, I managed to get this candid shot from the side of a bookshelf.

Another One Bites The Dust

Here's the latest victim of the demolition gang. Scheduled to be flattened sometime next week. It's located on the corner of Lincoln and Clumber Street and has been empty for some time. I don't know what will be going up in its place, but I'm sure with a bit of TLC and a lick of paint, this building would look better than anything they decide to put in its place.

Light And Lace

You might not think this row of buildings was of anything particular, other than being old and slightly run down. Well the secret lies in the shape of the windows. They are specially designed to let in the most light. This was needed because lace knitting machines were being used on the top floor and the operators needed lots of light to see what they were doing and the lace was coming out right.

Dead And Gone

Following on from some of the comments about my posting yesterday, I've managed to find a photo of the old Evening Post building in one of my reference books, where the Cornerhouse now stands. It was built in 1897 and has that typical Victorian Gothic look. It was quite a big building and lots of people worked there. I've shown you the building where the newspaper is now produced. Such a difference.