Stevenson Square, Manchester - April 2012

A return visit to my haunt of Stevenson Square, Manchester and the Northern Quarter.

As part of the Manchester Outhouse Project the art had changed once again and off I shot to Manchester on a damp Sunday afternoon to take in the sights.

- Urban Spaceman was convalescing with a bad dose of Manflu, payback for trying to escape the rather wet weather with yet another holiday in some despot country which sun and cheap beer.
 




















Off for a quick mooch round the side streets of the Northern Quarter to see what wonders I could find...

I think this one is a Ting Tong Chang ???



Spotted a few of these in the back streets



 

 


Instead of the usual back street routes I normally take I decided to have a wander up Tib Lane into Foundry Lane and found some cracking artwork.





 

















Finally a quick wander down Oldham Street on the way back to the train station.



And it's Good Night from me with a picture of Anthony H. Wilson, the legend that forever is Mr Manchester

Liwa Desert, Abu Dhabi - Carry On...Follow That Camel

Another total off topic, as today I have been finally starting putting in place plans for a return trip to the greatest city on earth ? Maybe not, but it will be once it's finished being built.

Anyway its a shame not to share these, amazing colours and it was a place to remember, if only for the heat.

I've had good fortune to do a few trips to Abu Dhabi in 2009/2010 and it was the reason I bought myself my first DSLR, I've learnt a bit since taking these, but hope you like.

On to the madness of the local motorway to leave Abu Dhabi City and off into the empty desert roads into the Empty Quarter and you enter the Liwa Desert (after about 155km of driving). Whilst driving you see signs for places like Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia - oh and Dubai (been a few times and had a McDonald's).

Liwa forms part of the Rub' al Khali Desert which is 250,000. sq miles and its hot, hitting 130f in July and August.


 


 


 





 


We drove into a camel camp, not tourist camels proper camels !!

 



 


The local farmer beckoned us in.



The farmer insisted I take a photo of this camel, his pride and joy it would seem.



Me and little Miss Fragglehunter (turns out she's not a fan of camels)





 

And off we go again

 





Some bugger kept insisting on taking my picture (from the air conditioned car I should add)
















The day was catching up with us and we needed to head back home as the motorway is like Wacky Races at rush hour and after dark your looking at something along the lines of Death Race 2000.

Hope you liked and yes next time I'm thinking of  taking a sledge....

 PS I'm not a wealthy person. Being able to travel to Abu Dhabi is down to being fortunate enough to have very good and extremely kind friends who put up with me and the girls, feed us, water us and show us wonders of the UAE, such as Liwa.

Dedicated and Jon and Val and two fingers to the UK Government for the hike in flight tax (again!!!)

Aerial tilt-shift photography

A week of illness has pretty much wrecked an overly busy schedule but anyway moving on and today is Grand National Day at Aintree Race Course, Liverpool - so here is a pic taken from over head (which has totally nothing to do with this posting).



Right, here we go with small selection of tilt-shift pictures taken from the plane around the Manchester and Bolton area, hope you enjoy.
 
First off Barton Bridge, Manchester with the sewage farm in all its glory



and another day another angle of Barton Bridge.



Manchester



Reebok Stadium, Bolton



Horwich, near Bolton, funky motorway junction - not sure what was going on this day but being the junction for Horwich, The Reebok, Blackrod and Westhoughton it's normally back to back traffic.

 

Deane Road and Haslam Park, Bolton

 

Moss Bank Park, Bolton

 

Bolton, Town Centre and Town Hall

 

Chequerbent Roundabout, Westhoughton, near Bolton

 

I'm always on the look out for plant hire type places, such as these

 




A circus comes to town, Reebok Stadium



Final shot, The Trafford Centre, Manchester.



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