Myth Of Sysiphus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus 

OK. This week's sepia saturday
is themed around 'BRIDGES : BUSY SCENES : TRAMS : TRANSPORT : STREETS'
i suppose my obvious choice might have been 'Hebden Bridge' my recently ex-hometown.
But rather, I have picked a photo from my childhood in Halifax.
no trams,no bridges,no people...just  a single lonely kodak-hintered street of the 1960's.
Significantly for me ,a row of buildings long demolished.
I bet most Halifax people would be hard-pressed to recognise this perspective now.
It's King Cross Street.(just near where Wynsors Shoes now searches for fresh footfall.......)

in the 50/60/70's I lived with my mum & dad & brother Zyg nearby (left of photo..and out of shot....)
These long gone shops included two Chip Shops :a hardware shop:Halifax's only off-licence:2 Paper shops( one of which i delivered newspapers 1964-1966)

Although.In my Minds-I , i remember this road as being steeper...as  I carried my big bag of newspapers up it....
I dont know about you  .But I still dream of wandering such architecture.
A bit like a phantom limb or the gap where a tooth used to be.......
God Bless & long live these Kodak Sponsored Dreams!

Are you leavin' Bein' alone

 Always made you so sad 

I got memories of the city Followin' me everywhere I go

 Are you mad with heartache Got a country home And you a Parisienne 

Gonna take all your sorrows 

Right along with you when I'm gone And I got to go away

 Only need a couple of days I got one more chance to sing it And I ain't gon' waste my time 

'Cause everything including you Is on the line 

 Are you troubled Feelin' bad And no one seems to care

STEPHEN STILLS 

Brexiteer spotted on  Corn Market today , Halifax.

"......We all live lives afflicted to greater or lesser extent by sin; but it isn’t our state of being that makes us sinful; it’s what we intend when we do things, to ourselves, to others, to God."
Fr Alec Mitchell
Manchester
Guardian Letters:Saturday 13 January 2018  

*....an intended victim writes. although, knowing it occurs doesnt stop it still happening to others....*.

Happy Birthday Mr Rumi

https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Manchester11thJanuary-2018/

Lovely meal today at mowgli + visit to Manchester Art Gallery;s Waqas Khan's exhibition with our friends Don & Margaret in Manchester .
+Thanks For The Dylan!
Waqas Khan in conversation with Fareda Khan, Head of Speacial Projects, Manchester Museums and Galleries Partnership from Manchester Art Gallery on Vimeo.
 this exhibition opened on Rumi's Birthday https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi The artist produces art in a trance; the art is a record of that trance: by looking at his art the trance resumes & it is shared with me/you.[The singular becomes communal ]: I like that idea.......!

one careful owner

We moved house  just before Christmas.
The place we are renting ( for approx 6 months) is much smaller.
Some things like furniture  have gone into storage.
However ,I have a load of electrical tools that Bob in Bacup is very kindly looking after for me.
 If there is anything you would like to borrow/buy ,email me at zmnsnt@aol.com
and we can talk more.
you can see the full list here

Bob (right) Ken (left)

after Brexit , I hope the ladies of Halifax get their Charm Schools back.......

'ats

another of Brenda's Saranac Photos .Lots of fine hats & bonnets......Part of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival

my contribution to the first sepia saturday of 2018 is around the theme of "hats". 

To see the contributions of others , visit here

I dont own a hat. I tend to borrow from others........

in 2008 i was a member of Grant's Stag Party in Benidorm.Most of the lads were from an Oldham rugby club .Grant was ,at the time,on St.Helens books. Mick (pictured with me) is an ex-prop forward with Oldham RLFC.We all went as members of Village People ( i was the token Polish Plumber).It was so fucking hot.....I had hold my moustache as the sweat prevented it sticking properly.......see other photos here

2005 in the car park of a shoppimg mall in Northampton,Massachusetts.it was Febuary & freezing...My son,  Chris,pictured next to me.We were guests of my good Muslim  friend Ayse who was studying in New England at the time. a grand photo i took of Chris & Ayse.https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-ff4c2/i-7Q9TK8x/O

at the 2015 Peterloo Massacre Memorial in Manchester.See more photos here .( i took a lot of photos of famous TV & Movie 'faces')  Actually that IS my own hat...but I look a bit of a prune wearing it.(Its in a drawer, somewhere.........!)

n.b. See more of my photos https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/

ßest Wishes for 2018

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fire-Fury-Michael-Wolff/dp/1408711400

love isn't done

love & respect at Christmas to you my visitor.

A Christmas Card sent in 1907 from Saranac Lake by my  Grandfather in  New York State to the family back home in Scotland.....

See other photos from  my Aunty Brenda's Collection here:

 https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-bqTqB/

Read about Saranac here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saranac_Lake,_New_York 

 This is a  sepia saturday post   

Magda Davitt (Sinead O’Connor) 

With the Ulster Orchestra. Live at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland; May 12, 2008. 
lyrics 

a lovely song about Christmas time & family love & loss .......

biblehub.com/songs/1-5. 

me & Cath went to Christmas Eve Mass  in  Mytholmroyd.http://www.thegoodshepherd.org.uk/

 Tu Spoczywa 
Wladyslaw Zimnoch 
(14th Feb 1917-26th Dec1984)

great vanilla journeys

A few random images of our move from the top of the hill to the waterside.
I have    bloody awful lower back pain today.....! Removing was the cause......I find swimming helps ( must be something to do with moving horizontally rather than vertically?) Less strain on my spine.? Looks like that canal gonna come in handy....

moved

the view from our new living room......

We moved house this week!After 33 years in Hebden  Bridge.......
email me at  .zmnsnt@aol.com For new landline number:postal address;etc  (although the line wont actually be  connected until  the  20th)
[We will contact people individually  with these details eventually ,but we are running around like blue-arsed flys this week,so forgive any delays in getting in touch personally .]

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2017/12/09/open-for-business/

black teeth & a brilliant smile

the short reckless life of andrea dunbar  { Spectator}

Me & Cathy went to this talk at Halifax Central Library attending anevent  given by actor/author George Costigan & author/poet AdeleStripe.
 Much of the conversation  was around the life of Bradford writer Andrea Dunbar.Proper Northern Chops!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Costigan 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Dunbar 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelle_Stripe

https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Rita-Sue-Bob-too7th-December-2017/ 

Upper George Pub,Halifax.

https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Upper-George-Halifax-30th-November-2017/

black friday

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/23/uk-no-earnings-growth-budget-brexit-productivity-ifs

 

gentle cheeses meek and mild.........

Ladies & Gentlemen Martin Platt.   
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Platt 
He knew that Coronation Street was shit. He would rather sell you fucking cheese

https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Manchester-German-Markets-16th-November-2017/

3 studio photos

The prompt for this week's sepia saturday is "studio photos"
 I give you 3 of mine.

 My grandma Helen who died in childbirth.

My mum as a newborn orphan with nurse instead of mother.

 My poor wee orphaned Mum

All were shot in Edinburgh in the early 1920s.

 sepia-saturday-394

Boris Johnson's Head Apon a Stick!

 
Me & Cath found ourself Guests of The Commoners Choir at Hebden Bridge Trades Club tonight..
Never been "guests" before! Gold Tags and no pay ( we did buy a CD & teashirt afterwards..it only seemed fair..)
I  used to work with Mark Wyatt ( one of the 50 folk onstage tonight) Commoners Choir are rather brilliant.
http://www.commonerschoir.com/

https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Commoners-choirHebden-Bridge-Trades-Club11th-Nov2017/

Piece Hall & Square Chapel Halifax

Me & Cath were in Halifax yesterday.
I had an eye-test at Specsavers.
Then we walked around The Piece Hall:Square Chapel & Central Library.
We have (another) funeral tomorrow.zimnoch.smugmug.com/Piece-Hall-Halifax30th-October-2017/i-f9rwXnq/A
On Friday we are back at the Square Chapel to see the movie "The Death of Stalin"
See my photos here:https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Piece-Hall-Halifax30th-October-2017/

visit the Piece Hall website here:  The Halifax Piece Hall

“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears" :Rumiی

This week's sepia saturday theme is around "Parades". I share a photo below  of The Halifax  Charity Gala Parade sometime in the70's.
I was a Samartian Volunteer for 7 years in Halifax. ( n.b.The Samaritans are a suicide support line)
You can read much more  about that here 
During my searches for this post I  also came across This   
wonderful video of 1950's Halifax.Included (17 minutes in ) is the Gala Parade through the town center  and at Manor Heath..Copyright prevents me from embedding here, but it's worth a view here http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/civil-defence-exercise-etc 

my own photo from a later Gala Parade.It's not me in the bath !

جلال‌الدین محمد رومی

  Photos of me out for a curry with friends on Thursday night.

she's not there

This is a sepia saturday post  

from my Aunty Brenda's photo collection. an unknown stranger  outside her door in Perth Scotland....

I told you two  weeks ago that  we were attending  the funeral of Sue Trigg in Fixby.

What I havnt told you is that i missread the details of when the service was to be held ( despite me putting the Huddersfield Examiner's online Obituary on this blog!)
As a result ,we did go to Fixby Crematorium.
 We did attend at 2pm on Friday
But, It turns out  ,I got the week wrong and we attended on Friday 13th (not Friday 20th).
 To compound the mistake ,we followed the mourners into the 2pm service.
Now I wasnt surprised not to recognise any of the fellow mourners.
 I knew Sue from 50 years ago at School plus our various much more recent  1- to -1 meetings had been at Hebden Bridge Trades club.We  know none of her family or none of her more recent friends.
So . Me & Cath are sat at the back of the room at Fixby Crematorium on Friday 13th.
The only speaker was a Polish Priest who talked for about 5 minutes...but his accent was soo thick that I only understood about 10% of anything he said.
Although,halfway through,he did say "JILL" which set a few alarm bell ringing........
 No family members spoke. So after a short service I went to the coffin ( no photo on it). Touched the coffin. Made the sign of the cross and we followed the other mourners out the door and down a corridor.
I then shook hands with the priest, who was stood next to the framed photo of a beautiful elderly lady called (you guest it!) JILL. Me and Cath left blushing to avoid upsetting  to our fellow mourners......
I had never been to Fixby Crem before,so at least it turned out to be a 'rehearsal ' for Sue's funeral today.Although ,are not all funerals "rehersals" really?

Sue's funeral was packed today.Very moving ,and a great tribute to such a grand lass.
Lots of music! As we entered the service we were greeted by Santana playing "She's not there" playing full blast.
I couldnt help thinking that Sue ,sat in the sky,was looking down on me and taking the piss about my adventures the previous week !
During the service,the vicar asked the mourners to give Sue's  coffin a round of applause ( a new one on me).
Her service concluded with John Martyn singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".
Now,the previous week i had taken this photo of a rainbow over the crematorium.Maybe this was the real purpose of my mistaken visit to Jill the previous week? one Door Shuts:  Another One Opens I Guess.......

Finally, my most recent photos......
See all these photos in one place here

" the shortest poem is a name" Anne Michaels.

A busy week.

 Me and Cathy went into Manchester's Literature Festival yesterday. We attended a talk by  the mighty Canadian writer Anne Micheals.
Then, on Friday 20th October., we pay respect at Sue Trigg's funeral in Fixby. I went to Clare Hall School in Halifax, with dear sweet Sue.....
On Saturday night,we go to The Shay in Halifax for Dave's 60th Birthday. Also .This week. We have  had a very firm legal offer for our home in Hebden Bridge!
Two media folk from London.
One ( 3rd right) works on several big shows.Including BBC's "The Apprentice".
Lots of detail to sort out (eg where we move too!) Watch this space!

Sue at The Hebden Bridge Trades Club:you can tell her by the smile.

I have to say, I am wondering what lovely music will be played at Sue's cremation on Friday.......

Sue Trigg at Clare Hall School ,Halifax. front Row.2nd from the right.It's easy! You can tell from the smile.

if they wont let us dream,we wont let them sleep...

Until I retired last month,I worked with Mark Wyatt at Calderdale Council.
Here is a clip  of him singing on Sunday 1st October in Manchester with the commoners choir

Part protest against the Tory Conference being held in the city:part a dance on the grave of those UKIP cunts. ..........

Take Back Manchester Festival 2017 Programme 

I Salute you Christopher.

As  Helen
mentions in the 'comments' section below , the arrangement in the picture is unusual.It is the house ,not the people who are given prominance. The group are almost incidental......
I keep searching the many widows to check if i see anybody is peeking at  us  outside...!
So,something of a mystery is this photograph.
 I found it among my Aunt Brenda's collection after she died.gallery/n-qhJbM/
Now,it was among many family photos taken in Canada & the USA at the turn of the century.
I know that the young Brenda travelled there with my grandfather & his first wife ( she died & he remarried my grandmother about ten years later).
Now her other photos of North America are clearly labelled.But she also had two different photos of this house ( basically .one with this family group & one without).These  were not labelled  in any way.......
The people in it  dont look like my grandfather & Brenda.Tho,so far away,I could be wrong about that......
A bit of a mystery.I cant say this looks like Canada or New York State...tho ,who knows?

this is a sepia saturday

 
The Mighty Harry Leslie Smith talks with the aide of sepia  photography in the above video. 
It's the UK Labour Party's Annual Conference next week.
The following week sees my son Christopher's  birthday.

http://www.robertmontgomery.org/

midsomer murders on drugs.........

Jesus!  Only I could go to a Steam Punk Festival  and come away with a copy of the Qur'an.........

or......view on smugmug:

In Other News:......In Bristol....."Martin Parr opens gallery for British documentary photographers"  http://www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/martin-parr-launches-new-foundation/

The Dream of Mrs L.L. Nicholson from Oakland, California (1924)

This is a sepia saturday

post. 

In 1924 California’s Tribune-American newspaper ran a competition for its readers to write in with their most unusual dreams and the winning entry was made into a short film.

 This is Mrs L.L. Nicholson from Oakland’s dream of losing her baby, rowing across San Francisco Bay, picking up some fish, and eventually discovering her lost child in a most unusual place and in trouble with the law. .............

 http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-dream-of-mrs-l-l-nicholson-from-oakland-california-1924/ If you enjoyed , then check out this link for many more sepia movies......
https://archive.org/details/prelinger 

Kentucky has entered the building

One of my photos

or view on smugmug......
https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Joan-ShelleyHebden-Bridge-TradesClub-17th-Sept-2017/
"elderly people who have unfulfilled wishes..".

 love that shit! Where would you like me to begin?

the view from inside  the Hebden Bridge Trades Club today

Picked tickets up this morning.....me & Cath now go see Louisville singer Joan Shelley at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on Sunday night.
 (As is usually the case) I will keep adding/taking away stuff in this post over the next few days.
I will also  attempt the tricky task of trying to translate the post into Kentuckyanese but I'm really not promising anything on that !
At the moment I will pop a few Joan Shelley videos below.These i may replace eventually with my photos/ video from Sunday's gig

vast dignity like the night sky

This blog is now available in Malayasian look here

(apologies & regards to TT)

As I post this ,dear beautiful Cuba is being battered by Storm Irma . So this is topical.Here  is a photo I took in Habana in 1997.Two lads make a chariot/ racing car out of the top of a crate.

  So.......this week's    sepia saturday "...Cute kids using common household objects to build fantasy horses, spaceships or whatever is a theme as old as photography itself..."
My Son Chris & a toy train in the Dominican Republic.....plus,things to do with a polish chicken & english ballons.......(click each for biggary)

We laugh at children 'pretending'........I sometimes wonder if it ever really goes away? Witness Trump

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_the_Oppressed#Photo-romance

be just and if you can't be just , be arbitrary ~ William S Burroughs.

This blog is now available in Dutch! click here
to read.  
Why not join Me & Cathy this Sunday (10th) at Lister Lane Cemetery kick-off  1pm for this tour & talk...meanwhile,dear visitors,
geniet van je lezing.
listen via: audioboom 
Halifax Heritage Festival 

1965 Interview with William Burroughs  The Art Of Fiction