Funfair leaving town

Last weekend there was a funfair in town. I didn't go and only went down to take a look on Monday when they were busy packing up and getting ready to leave for their next venue.

Undressed Mannequin in Mamps

When I took this photo a couple of weeks ago I didn't know if this was just making way for the new spring collection, or the beginning of the end, as many shops don't seem to last too long these days.

The shop opened last year and has been patronised by local celebrities [link now dead].

When I passed by it yesterday afternoon, there was a sign up saying the shop would be reopening on March 31st, so I assume it has re-stocked.

Demolition under way

I posted a picture of the JNH clothing store in January.

Earlier this month I showed it ready for demolition.

Well, as you can see, that work has now started.

Garden of Tranquility

The Garden of Tranquility lies in Hyde Park. It is a memorial for those patients who suffered at the hands of Harold Shipman.

The garden includes a granite trickle fountain, designed by Mel Chantry and is surrounded by herbs reclaimed from the old Newton Lodge which once sat on the site.

Factory roofs (2)

These factory roofs lie close to the ones I showed you on March 12th

I wonder who can guess what things are being manufactured here.

Pipework

This interesting piece of pipework is on the side of Woolworths at the top of Hamnett Street.

Big Tree Memorial

This memorial to those killed in Northern Ireland is located on the area known as Diamond Row Open Space near the bottom of Lilly Street.

Not so central

I've remarked before that Hyde Central Station isn't exactly central.

All the fingers of this signpost outside on Great Norbury Street point in the same direction.

Pigeons on the dome and everywhere.

I've shown you pigeons before, on the roof of the White Lion and fighting for crumbs with the starlings.

Here they are on the Woolworth's Dome.

Love them or hate them, you'll find these birds all over the world. Want to see more? Try these links to other DP sites.

Bath ~~ Cork ~~ Gurgaon ~~ Istanbul ~~ Joplin ~~ London ~~ Malta ~~ Paris ~~ Mazatlan ~~ Sydney ~~ Tuzla

And if that isn't enough you may need to visit the specialist Pigeon Blog

Breast Cancer Care

Most Saturdays you'll find a charity stall on the market.

This week it was the turn of Breast Cancer Care who were selling a variety of home-made cakes and jams as well as the usual jumble and bric-a-bac.

Storm clouds over Manchester

A few days ago the wintry weather returned with a vengeance. We had overnight winds that turned over one of the wheelie bins. The day started with rain but then we had hailstones that covered the ground. Within an hour the sun would come out and they'd all disappear only for the same thing to happen again.

By early evening it seemed to have quietened down at last, but then we had a spectacular flash of lightning followed by very loud thunder and another deluge of hailstones.

I took this photo after the second batch of lightning. Later there was a third storm.

You may care to compare this with a view from the window taken August 2006.

I didn't get a shot of the lightning itself, but it was almost as awesome as this one from Jakarta.

Kiddies Roundabout

The kiddies roundabout on the market is a firm favourite with children. I first featured it here on Mayday 2006.

It was glimpsed in a more recent post and someone said, "A close up of the carousel would be lovely."

So here you are.

Fallen logs

Not far from the Bandstand in Hyde Park I found these moss-covered logs.

Bags for Mothering Sunday

Today is Mothering Sunday, but usurped these days by commerce as Mother's Day. The price of flowers has doubled or trebled.

My picture is of a temporary gifts stall in Clarendon, and dedicated to bag-loving Lynn of Cheltenham. The bags on this side of the stall are all priced at a fiver. There are some more on the other side but the dearest one I saw was marked as £65 reduced to £30.

Little Stonepit (or Diamond Row)

As reported here earlier, Stonepit Reservoir is being prepared for the fishing season.

At one time there was another reservoir known as Little Stonepit (see note below). It occupied the triangular piece of land bounded by Back Bower, Stockport Road and Lilly Street.

Now it is an area of open grassland with a few trees. This is looking across to Lily Street.

Update June 2008: My current information is that the area I've been referring to as Little Stonepit is actually called Diamond Row after a group of cottages that once stood on the corner of Stockport Road and Back Bower Lane.

Waiting for the Manchester train at Hyde Central

Waiting for the Manchester train at Hyde Central.

The caption says it all I think.

OK, maybe not; I'm not waiting. I'm on the opposite platform having just climbed up from Great Norbury Street to take photos.

Want to know how old I am today? Visit my other blog.

No Smoking Day

Yesterday was officially No Smoking Day. These young ladies manned a stall in Clarendon giving out leaflets and advice.

Below are links to some smoking-related posts on other DPs.

Paris (1st Nov 06) ~~ Paris (7th Nov 06) ~~ Réal (12th Nov 06) ~~ Nelson (28th Dec 06) ~~ Dubai (16th Feb 07) ~~ Greenville (11th Jan 07) ~~ Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1st Mar 07) ~~ Sydney (10th Mar 07) ~~ Greenville (11th Mar 07) ~~ Mexico City (13th Mar 07)

Nelson

I was upstairs in the indoor market yesterday. Down below outside the florists was Nelson, on this guy's shoulder.

Traffic Jam

Here we are on the bus into town, sat in a traffic jam on Mottram Road.

Factory roofs (1)

Here are some factory roofs. I'll show some more next week.

Daffodils for Eric

Spring is in the air as the daffodils under our willow tree start to bloom.

Every time we try and count how many there are, we come up with a different total.

Perhaps we should cut some and send a bunch to Eric in Paris. Eric started the whole DP movement and today his blog is two years old.

So happy birthday to Eric and Paris DP, but I think we'll leave the flowers where they are.

Looking up at the bandstand

The last time I posted a picture of the Bandstand in Hyde Park we were looking down at it.

This one is taken looking up from a set of steps.

Newton for Hyde

Newton (for Hyde) station lies between Flowery Field and Godley.

Judging by the looks of this building it is probably the oldest of Hyde's stations and would once have looked extremely elegant.

Top of Hamnett Street

This is the top end of Hamnett Street.

As you can see, after the Men at Work recently it has a fresh layer of tarmac and a keep clear message that the yellow van driver is clearly ignoring.

Nor does the fact that the road ahead is a pedestrianized zone deter the driver of that car which is about to turn the corner past Woolworths with its distinctive dome.

Market Stall Roofs

A view over the roof of the market stalls to the Town Hall, which, as always, is flying the flag.

Supermarket Car Park

This is in the car park at Morrisons. The big building on the right is the Sportsman Inn

Flying in over the trees

A number of previous photos here have included Manchester Airport bound planes flying over the town.

This time I decided to make a more deliberate feature of the aircraft itself.

Yesterday, several DPs had photos of the lunar eclipse seen over much of Europe. My photos and links to the others can be seen on my Ackworth born blog.

Ready for demolition

When we went for our tea and toast yesterday at the Methodists we had to make a diversion.

The bottom of Crook Street was closed off.

As I reported in January, the old jnh clothing store is about to be demolished.

The Duke of Sussex

The Duke of Sussex stands at the North-East corner of a busy little junction.

West: Clarendon Road comes up from town past the new Police Station and the College.

East: Victoria Street leads into Newton.

North: Ashton Road is an alternative route to the main A627 road via Dukinfield to Ashton under Lyne.

South: Commercial Brow leads to Mottram Road and together with Lumn Road forms an unofficial Eastern bypass for Hyde.

Up Great Norbury Street towards St George's Church

This is the view up Great Norbury from near Hyde Central Station towards St George's Church.

Men at Work

The Daily Photo theme for March 1st is Men at Work.

Here we see the species busy on Hamnett Street.

The last time I showed you a picture of the street, there was a rainbow in the sky.

I don't know if these are the same men as the ones I saw earlier on Church Street.

Follow the links below to see men at work around the world.

1. Brussels (Belgium) ~~ 2. Greenville, SC (USA) ~~ 3. Hyde (UK) ~~ 4. Tenerife (Spain) ~~ 5. Albuquerque, NM (USA) ~~ 6. Stayton, OR (USA) ~~ 7. Rotterdam (NL) ~~ 8. Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) ~~ 9. London by Ham (UK) ~~ 10. Richmond, VA (USA) ~~ 11. Sydney by Sally (Australia) ~~ 12. Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) ~~ 13. Istanbul (Turkey) ~~ 14. Evry (France) ~~ 15. Lubbock, TX (USA) ~~ 16. Szentes (Hungary) ~~ 17. Villigen (Switzerland) ~~ 18. Chicago, IL (USA) ~~ 19. Tel Aviv (Israel) ~~ 20. Twin Cities, MN (USA) ~~ 21. Jakarta (Indonesia) ~~ 22. Houston, TX (USA) ~~ 23. Budapest (Hungary) ~~ 24. Singapore by Zannnie ~~ 25. Dubai (UAE) ~~ 26. Singapore by Keropokman ~~ 27. Madrid (Spain) ~~ 28. Mazatlan (Mexico) ~~ 29. Nelson (New Zealand) ~~ 30. Vantaa (Finland) ~~ 31. Kyoto (Japan) ~~ 32. Tokyo (Japan) ~~ 33. Joplin, MO (USA) ~~ 34. Auckland (New Zealand) ~~ 35. Sequim, WA (USA) ~~ 36. Menton (France) ~~ 37. Minneapolis, MN (USA) ~~ 38. Belfast (UK) ~~ 39. Sydney by Nathalie (Australia) ~~ 40. Sharon, CT (USA) ~~ 41. Seattle, WA (USA) ~~ 42. Anderson, SC (USA) ~~ 43. Monte Carlo (Monaco) ~~ 44. Milano (Italy) ~~ 45. Grenoble (France) ~~ 46. Wailea, HI (USA) ~~ 47. Guelph, ON (Canada) ~~ 48. Melbourne (Australia) ~~ 49. New York City, NY (USA) ~~ 50. Cebu (Philippines) ~~ 51. Bandung (Indonesia) ~~ 52. Antigua (Guatemala) ~~ 53. Hamburg (Germany) ~~ 54. London by Jonemo (UK) ~~ 55. Hong Kong ~~ 56. Paris (France) ~~ 57. Stavanger (Norway) ~~ 58. Naples, FL (USA) ~~ 59. Saarbrücken (Germany) ~~ 60. Zürich (Switzerland) ~~ 61. Shanghai (China) ~~ 62. Quito (Ecuador) ~~ 63. Joensuu (Finland) ~~ 64. Aliso Viejo, CA (USA) ~~ 65. Cheltenham (UK) ~~ 66. Adelaide (Australia) ~~ 67. Bath (UK) ~~ 68. Port Vila (Vanuatu) ~~ 69. Montreal (Canada) ~~ 70. Arradon (France) ~~ 71. Silver Spring, MD (USA) ~~ 72. St. Paul, MN (USA) ~~ 73. Nottingham (UK) ~~ 74. Mexico ~~ 75. Newcastle (Australia) ~~ 76. Mahboula (Kuwait) ~~ 77. Rome (Italy) ~~ 78. St Margaret's at Cliffe (UK) ~~ 79. Santa Clara [visiting London] ~~ 80. Ioannina (Greece)