Up North

And so yes, after the subterfuge of the last couple of days, I find myself in Sheffield, attending to a little family business.
I walked into my parents’ house yesterday, “somewhat surprising” my mother who thought I was 6000 miles away. I’d totally recommend doing this to your parents at some point if you can. It’s fun.
And the cardiologist says she should make a full recovery.

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There was time this afternoon for a quick walk in Sheffield’s Botanical Gardens. It’s not quite Kirstenbosch, but it is free and it has a million squirrels. Despite the onset of autumn, there is plenty of colour too. I’ll get some photos up soon.

Flightaception

This is cool. Tracking your flight on FlightRadar24 while you’re actually on your flight that you’re tracking:

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Other good news: I have a row of four seats to myself. And the wifi is free because of a special Eid deal. And we’ve made it safely over Syria. And I’m very, very impressed with Emirates: food, service and entertainment are all awesome.

More on why I’m actually on the flight that I’m tracking later.

The photo that I wanted to share yesterday but couldn’t because the dog ate the internet

Yes. Weekend readers will know about the difficulties I encountered this weekend in blogging what I wanted to blog, when I wanted to blog it. And yes, I do have mobile interwebs at home, but until we get the new cell tower we’ve been promised (and which some people in the neighbourhood have objected to because of a natural news article), it’s not that great.

But anyway, here’s that amazing photo, from Chris Wormwell (yes, this guy and this guy):

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Largitude here.

That’s St Michael’s Isle in the bottom right hand corner of the Isle of Man. It’s a place of great historical significance:

There is evidence for human activity on the island from the Mesolithic period onwards and there are two ancient buildings situated on the isle. Both are in a state of ruin and closed to the public, though there are a number of walks which allow visitors to explore the surroundings.

Obviously, one of them (St Michael’s Chapel, built in the 12th Century) is evident in the photo above. You can learn more here, or if you need to know the best bus to catch to get there, try here.

As for the photo: the atmosphere, the peace, the place, the solitude, the muted colours.
Beautiful.

Thanks Chris

Oh Danny Boy

Danny MacAskill (you may remember him from such posts as Epecuén and Imaginate) is back, and this time, he’s in the Skye. The Isle of Skye to be exact.

Well, there we go. Fairly astonishing once again.
Scenery, cinematography, colours, skills – and this image:

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Music this time is by Martyn Bennett – it’s called Blackbird. And do click on that link, because his story is hugely inspiring too.

October

Dawn awaits a sleepless English town of coloured grey.
Here I roam the streets without you as summer fades away…

It’s been a while since we’ve had any a-ha on the blog, so here, on the 1st of October, is…er… October from the 1986 Scoundrel Days album*. This isn’t the official video (I don’t think one was ever made, as the song was never released), and you can easily deduce that because One Canada Square (the Canary Wharf building) featured in the video wasn’t built back in 1986.
Yes, I suppose that the Millennium Dome is a bit of a clue as well.

Still, the song is the real deal.

* still probably my favourite a-ha album.