Autumn leaves

In many calendars the end of October is also the end of Autumn.

For the past three months I've been running the blog Falling Leaves a collection of haiku, senryu, tanka, haibun, haiga and other work celebrating the season of autumn as it unfolds.

Another daily photographer, Andrew from Van Buren has been helping me. Also Kris from Szentes has contributed photos to the site.

Entering the Bus Station

Here is another shot of the 201 bus coming into the Bus Station.

The End of Summer Time

I lift my head slowly to look at the clock – 6 something – but I remember that British Summer Time ended last night so it's really only 5 something. I close my eyes and try to stop myself from waking but within an hour I give it up as a lost cause and drag myself out of bed.

My wife has been awake for hours and is playing on her computer. I take her cereal and orange juice, turn on my own computer. It immediately tells me it has changed the clock. Bully for it, I think as I check my email.

Still bleary-eyed I make my breakfast and turn on the TV. I watch for a while and then turn on "teletext" to check the time. I start with the video handset and reset the clock by sixty presses on the minus minutes button and then press the OK button to send the time to the video recorder itself. Next is the "digibox" - the digital TV signal receiver - I have to cycle through three menus before just reducing the hour by one.

The carriage clock on the mantelpiece is easy – just turn the dial back. The wall clock is the same except that I crick my neck trying to fix it back on the hook. I take the mobile [cell-phone] out of my jacket pocket. The battery is dead so I have to fit it to the charger. After searching my way around the obscure menus I finally reset the time.

In the kitchen, the central heating boiler has a dial – it won't go back but it is simple enough to turn it forward 23 hours. The microwave oven is a different kettle of fish – it has to be completely re-programmed from scratch.

Before I can deal with the telephone answering machine, I need to rummage though piles of magazines and catalogues to find the manual. Like the microwave, you can't just alter the hour but have to go through various menu options and set the time up from scratch.

Upstairs in the bathroom, the carriage clock is easy to do – a manual turning back of the dial. My wristwatch is simple too. The alarm clock is more tricky. It has fast and slow advance buttons on the back and the first time I run straight past. The carriage clock in the bedroom has stopped. It needs a new battery. I turn it to face the wall and forget about it.

An hour has passed and apart from my wife's personal timepieces which she can do herself, I'm finished. My wife by now is fast asleep.

I go downstairs, make a cup of tea, turn on the TV. After a short piece about a religious sect who practice non-violence, the presenter asks "did you enjoy your extra hour in bed this morning?" Pressing the off-button, I think for a quarter of a second and throw the remote control onto a cushion instead of at the TV.

For an alternative take on all this, see my poem Limbo Time



Unlike the Town Hall Clock which yesterday showed the correct time, this one in the Clarendon Shopping Mall is some five minutes slow. Too bad if you miss your bus. The James North Clock has been a quarter of an hour slow for at least the past fortnight.

How soon all these clocks get corrected to GMT is a matter of time.

Hamnett Street

This shows the top of Hamnett Street past the Postal Sorting Office.

It leads into a pedestrianised area, but despite the clear signs, a lot of vehicles still drive through.

Looking up Treacle Brow

In July I posted a picture looking down Treacle Brow.

So here now is a picture looking up Treacle Brow.

Dogs and Cats and Lampposts

There are two notices on this local lamppost.

One is official, the other unofficial.

Since pictures speak a 1000 words, I'll say no more.

201 bus

Since this is post #201, unless I've miscounted, here is the #201 bus pulling into the bus station.

The 201 runs from Manchester Piccadilly via Denton to Hattersley.

#200

I started this blog in April with a photo of Hyde Market in Spring.

This is now the 200th post and we are into the grayness of Autumn, but the traffic light is on green, the Cenotaph on Werneth Low still dominates the skyline and, though not yet switched on, the Christmas Lights are ready.

Behind the scenes

Here is another picture from the open day at the Theatre Royal.

This shows the ropes used for working the curtains and scenery.

Looking down Richmond Hill

A few months back I showed you a picture looking up Richmond Hill.

This is the view looking down to Back Bower and the southern entrance to Hyde Cemetery

Suburban housing

These houses are typical of suburban housing in the UK.

Just beyond them the area is zoned as Green belt land which ought to mean that this is where the town/city ends and the countryside begins.

Emptying the wheelie bins

I've previously shown you a roadsweeper and a wheelie-bin in the street ready for collection. You've also seen how they empty litter bins so now here we have the refuse collection lorry emptying our black wheelie bin.

We have three wheelie bins outside our house. The black one is for general rubbish and is collected weekly. We have a blue one for paper which is only collected every two months, so we often forget when they are due to come for it.

Then there is a green one which is for glass. When they empty this, once a fortnight, they leave a red plastic sack. You put cans and plastic bottles in the sack and then put the sack inside the green bin.

Some people also have an optional brown bin which is for garden rubbish -- grass cuttings, hedge clippings and the like.

Simple, isn't it?

Demolition

This was formerly the site of Bell's Garage on Dowson Road. As car dealers they used to hold the British Leyland/Rover franchise, but more recently they were selling other makes of cars.

The land has been bought by a building firm specialising in Retirement Homes. It is just possible that by this time next year, we might be living here. We are though considering a number of different options.

I've recently started a personal blog, Ackworth born, gone West using a new ID to check out the blogger-beta setup before we are all expected to move over our old blogs!

Motorway Exit

Here is the exit for Hyde off the M67 if you are travelling East from Manchester.

This is the last junction before the end of the motorway at Mottram.

The picture I posted on May 5th shows the sliproad back onto the motorway from the other side of the bridge you can see.

Entrance to the Indoor Market

This is the entrance from within the Clarendon Shopping Centre to the Market Hall, commonly referred to as the Indoor Market.

By the left-hand door is a blue plague.

The second stall in is Jack Curvis's Tripe Stall.

Downstairs in the basement you'll find Berry's Sweet Shop and up on the first floor are a range of other vendors.

Footpath

This footpath runs close to Alder Community High School

Onward

Another picture from the Open Day at the Theatre Royal. Here we see the lovely decoration that is above the stage.

Click on the picture for a better view.

St George's Society of Change Ringers

Those are not hangman's nooses but the ends of bell ropes.

Behind them are plagues related to exceptional peels of bells pulled by the St George's Society of Change Ringers in St George's Church, Hyde.

Soon be Christmas

Only how many days to Christmas?

Two and a half months off yet, but already they've got the lights up on the Town Hall. I don't think they've actually been switched on yet but ...

The road to Mudd

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

This lane by the side of the church in Mottram leads the hamlet of Mudd.

Earlier this years residents complained about potholes in the road. The local council said Potholes? No, it's traffic calming! [link to news item now dead].

Mottram Signpost

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

This modern signpost stands in the centre of Mottram-in-Longdendale. Up the hill is the church of St. Michael & All Angels.

Here used to be the terminus of the 341 bus from Hyde via Back Bower but its route now continues on to Charlesworth, Gamesley and Glossop.

Manners Maketh Man

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

My history is uncertain but it seems The Old Grammar School, one of the very first such schools in the country, had become defunct. School House was started in 1794 and re-established as a grammar school in 1857. A new grammar school built in 1896 near the old one is now a Primary School

St Michaels & All Angels, Mottram-in-Longdendale

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

We are almost back home now as Mottram-in-Longdendale is politically part of Hyde. Only the estate of Hattersley lies between Mottram and Hyde itself.

The present church of St Michaels & All Angels dates from the 15th century and is a landmark seen from miles around.

Torside

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

There is a small Peak District information centre and a little cafe at Torside. It lies on the B6105 road, known as the Devil's Elbow out of Glossop to Crowden where it meets the main A628 Woodhead road.

It is also adjacent to two long-distance footpaths, the north/south Pennine Way and the east/west Trans Pennine Trail.

M60 at Littlemoss

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

Littlemoss lies on the road from Droylsden to Daisy Nook. Above we see the northbound M60. This was the last section of the Manchester Orbital Motorway to be completed. Protestors were camped out in trees at Littlemoss for several weeks.

Below you can see how it looked under construction in 1999.

Driving through Daisy Nook

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

This busy winding country lane is on the way from Hollinwood, Oldham past Crime View to Daisy Nook Country Park on the borders of Ashton under Lyne.

Sailing past Tesco

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

Past Stalybridge town centre the canal goes by one of the largest supermarkets in the area. Personally I prefer to go to Asda

Canal Lock at Stalybridge

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal flows through Stalybridge, the most easterly town in the original county of Cheshire. Much restoration work on the canal hereabouts was undertaken a few years ago.

The clock tower belongs to the Victorian Market Hall, sadly closed for a many a year.

St Ann's Well, Buxton

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

You can buy bottled Buxton Spring Water or you can collect it yourself by visiting St Ann's Well in the town.

Buxton is about half an hour's drive south of Hyde either by way of Glossop, Hayfield, Chapel-en-le-Frith and Doveholes or via Marple, New Mills and the Long Hill by the Goyt Valley.

Often there are queues of people filling all kinds of bottles. The well was been flowing for centuries. A byelaw prohibts a charge being made for the water, but bottling firms can charge for bottling and delivery.

Trafford Centre (2)

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

This is not New Orleans, USA, but the Trafford Centre, a huge shopping complex off the M60 just outside Manchester.

Trafford Centre (1)

As I'm away for a while, Pamela from Tenerife is posting a series of photographs from the environs of Hyde rather than the town itself.

These palm trees are not in Tenerife, but in the Trafford Centre, a huge shopping complex off the M60 just outside Manchester.