Earlier today, I was wandering around arepeejee’s flickr (you may remember him from such blog posts as What were the skies like when you were young? and Eccy Rd Hoff Stolen), having seen a link to this masterpiece.
It was there that I saw the full version of this superb photo: “Sheffield Sky”
…which I have thinned (as I am wont to do to sunsets) and which, thanks to The Guru, can now be stretched to 678px without disrupting the sidebar.
Winning.
Proboscine readers may recall this post about Silent UK, in which I remarked:
I must say, I’ve never really though of trespass as a hobby before and I can’t bring myself to agree with it. I can, however, appreciate some of the fantastic photographic results and the images of otherwise secret history that their naughtiness generates.
And I stand by all of that. But I was still somehow saddened to read today that the protagonists recently got nabbed and of the decision which that has forced upon them:
Regardless of the punishment I am to receive, the irrevocable damage has been done, the confidence built over six years gone. Now even the thought of entering the Underground I have spent the past four years of my life wandering, makes me sick to my stomach. I never want to go through that again, unfortunately the only way to completely avoid this, is to stop. The effect this has had on my life, my studies and even my career has been unbearable. Even as I write this I realise it’s not over, no guarantees that it will end when I next answer bail.
However, they’ve decided to go out with a bang, publishing an account of a recent outing to St Paul’s Cathedral and some absolutely incredible pictures taken while they were there.
And thus, it would appear that Silent UK will not be updated from here on in. I just hope that they keep the site up anyway as some of the photographic work on there is absolutely stunning.
Yes, Sheffield football is currently suffering, but I was recently reminded by a friend on Facebook that there was a time – however brief – when my beloved Sheffield United were top of the Premier League league – and Man U were bottom:
Fans of the Manchester club may want to look away rather than watch that YouTube clip as Brian Deane and the Blades tear through Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce and Peter Schmeichel et al (see line ups below) on the way to a memorable 2-1 victory which I still remember.
And while – 19 years on – the Red and White Wizzzzzzaaaaaaards find themselves in unhappier times, it’s somehow reassuring to note that some things never change with a (slightly younger) Alex Ferguson er… blaming the ref for the defeat.
Whodathunkit?
That season we beat (amongst others) Liverpool (1-0), Chelsea (4-2) and Spurs (6-0) at Fortress Bramall Lane, finishing in 14th place overall with 52 points. Brian Deane ended the season alongside Hughes, Cantona and Le Tissier with 15 goals.
Happy days.
Sheffield United 2-1 Manchester United
Bramall Lane, Sheffield
15th August 1992
Goals: Deane (5) 1-0; Deane pen (50) 2-0; Hughes (61) 2-1.
Sheffield United: Tracey; Gage, Barnes, Gannon (Hartfield, 86), Beesley, McLeary, Bradshaw, Lake, Cork, Deane, Hodges (Bryson, 68). Substitute not used: Kelly.
Manchester United: Schmeichel; Irwin, Blackmore, Bruce, Ferguson, Pallister, Kanchelskis (Dublin, 68), Ince (Phelan, 7), McClair, Hughes, Giggs.
Referee: B Hill (Kettering).
Sky News today is reporting that there are moves afoot to ban “Chinese” Lanterns in the UK because of their potential “deadly impact”. Apparently, these lanterns can drift for miles and land on farmland, where their metal frames can be devoured by livestock:
Agriculture Minister Jim Paice has urged people to think twice about letting them off at celebrations this summer.
“Anyone who’s seen sky lanterns at night knows how spectacular they are, but they probably don’t know how they can cut a cow’s insides to ribbons and be devastating to the countryside.”
Unpleasant indeed, and a compelling argument for banning them rather than:
The lanterns have also caused the death of a foal, which was put down after injuring itself on a fence after being spooked by the mysterious floating light.
Which would also necessitate the banning of planes, cars and celestial bodies such as the spooky moon and the extremely environmentally unfriendly sun.
Also, did the foal (awww. baby horse. heartstrings tugged.) tell the farmer that it was spooked by the lantern? Or was this just a handy excuse for the insurance claim over this tragic equine incident involving some poor quality fencing?
Apparently:
the lanterns are frequently mistaken for UFOs as they drift across towns and cities.
If you think about it though, if the lanterns are airborne and people don’t recognise them as being lanterns, then they are, by definition, Unidentified Flying Objects. So there’s no actually mistaking involved at all.
But I digress. Often. The fire risk from these things along is surely reason enough to ban them – as they have already done in Germany, New Zealand, China [cue irony klaxon] and Australia (mind you, they recently banned swearing there too).
And, as ever, there are calls in the comments to ban fireworks as well, because they scare cats and dogs. Well, hard luck.
While “Chinese” Sky Lanterns may be a relatively new phenomenon in the UK, fireworks have been around for hundreds of years. And therefore, instead of getting all uppity when your pet gets scared by the bangs (one whole night a year), perhaps you should have thought about that at the time of purchase rather than complaining now.
It’s like buying a cat when you live near a busy road: and then whining about banning cars in case your cat gets run over.
Killjoys.
If you should be feeling particularly creative here’s a great post on how to make your own sky lantern. Don’t let it land near any cows or float near any baby horses though, obviously.
And they’re not being funny, either.
Who could forget Alexander Armstrong’s kind words about my hometown last year? And those were followed up by Michael Legge last month, which were emailed to me by regular reader, Darthfarter. I would probably have got to this sooner, but I only found it by chance in my deleted spam folder last night while I was desperately trying to find an ancient email to prove my wife wrong on some inconsequential matter or other.
(Needless to say, I lost.)
But Legge’s blog made for good reading.
I’ve never been to Sheffield before until this weekend. I’m not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t this. I’m not saying that I was just assuming that Sheffield was one big coalmine. No. It’s just I didn’t think it would be… well… beautiful. But it is. I genuinely can’t think of a nicer city I’ve visited in Britain.
I arrived on Thursday and spent the night in two bars in what looked like a pretty boho area of town. This must be the nice part of Sheffield. I’m sure the centre of town is constantly on fire with rapists, murderers and Hitler drinking, puking and shouting outside every branch of Greggs. Also, I thought, every shop in Sheffield will be a branch of Greggs. It was good to spend the night in these two cool and relaxing bars because surely seeing the centre of Sheffield tomorrow will be a nightmare of biblical proportions, if The Bible was written and directed by Wes Craven.
But of course, it wasn’t. And it’s not just the vibe, the atmosphere and the architecture of Sheffield that Legge enjoys. Even the people are great (as those of you who have met me will happily testify) (or else):
Here’s the most important bit: I have yet to see a Sheffield dickhead. Every single person has been friendly. Properly friendly. Like you know when you go somewhere and you say “Oh, I like it there. People are very friendly there” but you realise you only met about 3 people so you have no authority at all to claim people are friendly there? Well, I must have met 50 people since arriving in Sheffield and they’ve ALL been lovely. And how many people are there in Sheffield? 70? 80? Something like that, so I’m definitely right to say they are friendly in Sheffield because I’ve met nearly all of them.
It’s another feather in the cap for Sheffield, further evidence that the dark days of the 1980’s (which I still actually quite enjoyed) are passed and another reason for people to put away their misconceptions and take a visit to the Steel City.
I do realise that it’s a bit out of the way for South Africans.