Another University of Leeds building today, the one on the left is the Office of Wellbeing, Safety & Health.
I’ve noticed that I have a bit of a trend of using tree branches to fill in empty parts of photographs where I can. I like the effect it gives and, while the sky isn’t uninteresting in this picture, it would help to mask it if it were.
Day 5 of the throat infection and I think I’m feeling a bit better today. Not well – I still feel pretty ill – but not as bad as I did yesterday (and certainly much better than I felt on Thursday or Friday when I was more or less incapacitated). Hopefully I will start to feel noticeably better in the next day of two. Maybe I’ll even be able to swallow food properly again and perhaps eat something solid with enough calories to sustain me. As of today I’ve lost half-a-stone in weight since this began last week!
Part of Leeds University campus, this building is named after botanist Irene Manton who served as Professor of Botany at the university between 1946 and 1969. It was built in 1969, the final year of her posting. Like much of the architecture in the area it is in a brutalist style and very striking. I was only in the area for a short time so didn’t really explored the place in any depth, but I don’t doubt that there are many, many photographic opportunities present shoud you cast your eye about the place.
As the Yashicamat 124G is a TLR camera, it was a simple thing to place it at ground level to get a more imposing perspective of the viewpoint.
In other matters, I’m now in day four of my throat infection and, while it’s still pretty unpleasant, it does feel like I’m feeling perhaps just a little better today. Eating is still very difficult as my throat is quite constricted and it was quite a surprise to get weighed this morning and discover I’ve lost six pounds since Tuesday. I was attempting to lose weight anyway, so this is not a bad side-effect, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend the method to anyone. I’m hoping I might feel well enough to go and take some photos on Monday (tomorrow is probably pushing it), assuming the weather is ok. We shall see.
Another photo from Leeds University today – there will be more to come too.
I’m still feeling pretty ill today. My visit to the doctor’s this morning revealed that I have a bacterial throat infection, or strep-throat as it’s often known. I was prescribed some antibiotics and given the choice between capsules or liquid form. As I’ve been struggling to swallow, I felt that the liquid might be the best option, but I’m now wondering it was the right call.
It turns out the liquid variety is meant primarily for children, so I now have three bottles of the stuff, all with a chirpy yellow sherbet flavoured concoction within. It doesn’t taste very nice at all and, with hindsight, I might have been better served taking my chances with the capsules.
On Tuesday night I had a bit of a painful throat. Yesterday night it got much worse. I was feeling shivery in bed and had to call in sick at work today. I felt awful this morning and basically climbed into bed fully dressed to try and feel warm. My throat is swollen, making it difficult to swallw, and I’m now wondering if I might have a bout of tonsilitis. I think I might have to call the doctor tomorrow to find out what is the matter – it certainly doesn’t feel like the regular type of sore throat I sometime get when I have a cold.
Here’s a photo I took a few weeks ago at Leeds University when I visited the Photo North exhibition.
Tucked away beside this pond in the middle of the Leeds University campus, sits this duck house. I didn’t witness any ducks coming and going, but that was because they were happily parading their new brood of ducklings around the place.
Yesterday I mentioned my “magical lawnmower adventure” – which I also stated as not being magical or adventurous. Whatever the case, I thought I’d explain…
Last week my dad asked if I could get him a new lawnmower as his old one had broken. He’d seen one in a local DIY store that he liked. I looked online, found the model, and bought it via click and collect. The next day I went to the store, collected it, and took it round my dad’s house. All sorted, I thought.
On Sunday, we met my eldest son and his fiancé for a meal and, as they’ve only recently got their first home with a garden, and as they’re recently engaged, told them we’d buy them a lawnmower as a gift to keep their garden tidy. We decided to buy the same model that my dad had bought, and ordered it from the same store (again, using click and collect).
Then, yesterday, my dad called asking if I had the receipt for the mower. When I asked what the problem was, he told me that he couldn’t get the blade off the machine in order to alter the cutting height. As my dad is in his eighties, I told him I’d call round and give it a try after work. I decided to pick up my son’s mower on the way there.
When I got to my dad’s, what I’d assumed would be an easy job turned out to be anything but. The bolt holding the blade in place was super tight and I couldn’t budge it. If I’s had a suitable gauge spanner, I might have been ok, but all we had was a plastic spanner / wrench thing that had come with the mower. This was next to useless on the tightened bolt, just coming loose with not way to secure it in order to generate any real force. After a few attempts I decided I’d have to take it back to the store to see if they could sort it out. So I dismantled it, put it back in the box, and headed back.
At the store I explained the situation to the woman at the customer service desk and she called for assistance. A guy soon appeared to help and, upon hearing the issue, told me I wasn’t the first person to come to the store with the same problem. He had a go at loosening the bolt, but had just as little success as my dad and I. So he went and fetched another mower from the warehouse. We opened it in the store and attempted to take the blade off the replacement. It was stiff, but after a few goes it came loose. So we put it back in the box, and I drove back to my dad’s with it.
When I arrived I decided that I’d put it all together there and then to ensure there were no further issues. Inside the box were no instructions or other documentation, but two of the plastic spanner / wrenches! As it wasn’t tricky to put together, I did so without guidance and was able to test-mow a small section of his grass. However, as the documents are important for when my dad wants to maintaing the mower, or register the warranty, I told him I’d go back to the store again to see if I could grab the documents that were in the original machine’s box. So off I went.
At the store, the same woman was on the customer services desk and seemed a little surpised to see me back. I explained the situation and she called the same guy, who had already moved the faulty mower back to the warehouse. A few minutes later he appeared with the manual and other documentation and I was able to leave for, hopefully, the final time (for lawnmower-related activity at least).
I’ll let my dad have the documents when I next see him, and my wife is dropping our son’s mower off at his house at the weekend. I only hope he can remove the blade when he needs to…
So, there you have it. The full story. Maybe someone will find magic and adventure in there, but I think they’ll need to look hard.
I thought I’d post both these pictures today – they’re the same subjectj just from different points of view. They feature no lawnmowers.
Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
I’d intended to post more today but my evening has been unexpectedly swallowed up by a magical lawnmower adventure*. Maybe I’ll get to say more about that tomorrow, assuming I’m given the chance.
Here’s a random picture of a tree in some snow, just so I don’t miss a day on the blog. 🙂
* Neither magical nor adventurous.
Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
A bit cheeky this picture (or the blog post, at least) in that it’s exactly the same snowy country lane that I posted a picture of yesterday, albeit taken from slightly further down the hill. The picture I posted yesterday was taken somewhere around the telephone post with all the ivy. I felt it was worth posting this one too as, well, I like it and, well, I forgot to add it to yesterday’s post because I was very tired at the time. 🙂
The farm at centre left is the one where I was chased off by the sheepdog.
Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
Another very quick post as I’ve been out all day and only just gotten home. It was a great day, but I’m cream-crackered (as they sometimes say around these parts).
Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
I had to go out straight after work to take a new lawnmower to my dad’s and have only just gotten back. I need a shower, a drinks and some end-of-week R&R, so this is a short post. 🙂
So here’re some power lines in the snow.
Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
Steel City Snapper photography 