Struggling for inspiration in this lockdown^ ? Boredom is the wallpaper I've got used to lately. Going for walks with people has been something that has punctuated this and really made things way more bearable. So not sure why I decided to take my camera on these 2 as I was enjoying the company anyway, this just interrupted a good thing. Maybe I was thinking of filling the evenings to come (and this afternoon as I'm typing this). Anyway sorry, Rhian, Bryan and Jess for me cutting away to take these, frankly poor, photographs. All that said I do enjoy the magic of home development, more so when using caffenol (homemade devloper made from cheap instant coffee, washing soda, vitamin c and salt). So this has been nice.
There used to be a cement storage depot here that I've photographed before (here for example). Rhian used to play around here (it's at the back of where we used to live) and used to call it "the rocket factory". We started this walk taking this bit in to pay our respects. Anyway it's going to be housing. I'm going to miss it and this part of my neighbourhood being a small green bleb along the canal.
Evans' weir. River was high on this day. Just imagine the sound.
Go on, imagine.
Building work going on elsewhere in the canal basin. Lots of student accomodation (I think). Shame it dwarfs the original canalside buildings, but at least some of them (the thread storage building with the golden goat weathervane for example) have been preserved.
The Demostaph. Pointless and whimsical. I really liked it. It was demolished 2 days after this picture was taken (I didn't know this at the time of taking). Nice to see the Leicester wormy guys getting to it just before it expired, local legends.
This used to be all factories, it's just fields now. I've just realised I'm the reverse of most people in this, bemoaning concrete loss. Anyway Rhian's friend Holly from primary school used to live over there overshadowed by factories.
Lovely quiet offshoot of the canal. A bridge photographed from a bridge.
Rhian and Bryan, my companions on this walk (there are 2 walks on this film, not sure I said that). They have been a lifeline to me company wise this last year or so. Much loved.
I like this shot. It's how the walk felt to be on (if that makes sense).
Trees on a flooded patch of grass. We had to divert because the floodwater had got very deep at this point, nice reflections being a pleasant side effect.
More reflection porn.
Bridge on the way to Watermead Park. Have no recollection of this view (as in exactly where it is). Nice though.
OK the 2 above ^ were an attempt to show a weird confluence of the river and a side tributary, one being coloured like builder's tea ther other kind of grey. Doesn't really show as well as I'd hoped in black and white .
This was meant to be a nice, candid, contemplative picture of Rhian and Bryan, but a) Bryan has his phone out and b) I've focussed on the trees 20 feet behind. Shame.
The entry to Watermead Park. Destination for the day.
Graffiti opposite the previous picture.
Swan gracefully swimming on normally dry land (although the walkway suggests flooding is not a shock here) as we headed home.
Rhian and Bryan brave the floods.
And we move on to walk number 2, with the slightly less desirable destination, namely, Poundland. Jess putting her purchases away.
Graffo near the King Power Stadium. Sums it up eh? I'm hopefully getting the vaccine on Thursday, have an appointment anyway.
Security fence. No idea why I took this. Was keen to use up the film, so selectivity (always an issue for me) becomes a bit incidental.
Structural feature of the King Power. Very shaky cam here (generally my focus is disappointing in these pictures [and always], maybe due to low light).
Jess on her phone. I'm a fascinating conversationalist.Nice shot though (if unfocussed), makes me smile.
The Evil Tower of Mordor (or DMU student accomodation, take your pick). Other universities have identical towers (Southampton for one). It's really... stark.
Two pictures of a bridge over the canal. Somehow managed to not see the couple walking over it in the first one so... sorry. I like the ironwork and the tramline effect. Industrial. Prince Charles hates me.
I mean words fail me, but not the writer, obviously.
Water birds. David Attenborough I'm not. Jess fed them crackers.
Blurry non-specific shot. The light was going.
View back to the Evil Tower of Mordor (or DMU student accomodation, take your pick).
The light was amazing here, doesn't really show up in the pic, but the small piece of emulsion having dropped off leaving a mark bottom centre spoils it more.
More from Leicester legends the wormies. I really do love them.
The light was really going here, but I love the grainyness and haze it creates here.
Ivy growing over some graffiti. I was really struck by it being hard to think of graffiti being subsumed by time and decay, and not being the new thing.
Sinister face graffiti.
Finishing the film off as there was zero light.
Mixed bag of results, but lovely as a memory jogger of 2 really fun walks with people who mean so much to me.
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