The Dog Days of Autumn

By rights, if I was a more rounded photographer, today's blip would be of a Liverpudlian street scene on a balmy late September evening, or of the sun setting through the stained glass windows of the Anglican cathedral, or indeed, most appropriately, of the lovely Folkie Booknerd, whom I had the very great privilege of meeting this evening. As it is, you get another gate leading to a field with a tree in it! I'm very much more comfortable with a landscape before me and with plenty of time to compose. I wanted to capture a sense of the unseasonably sultry heat of this day, a transport back into the summer we never really had, before we get thrown very quickly into the harsh realities of winter! This picture did that better than any other.

I was a bit fed up this morning because, with the opportunity to escape work for a couple of days, I'd come down with a bit of a bug. Felt it come on the previous evening and despite my best efforts to ignore it I woke up with a tickly cough and a sniffle. Cleared the decks in the morning and could not resist a ride on the bike at lunchtime to drink in the beauty of the day before I got the train over to Liverpool. As usual I got a bit carried away and ended up in a frantic rush to catch the train I needed, managing to leave my mobile behind in the process. I'm not as much a slave to my phone as many people, but I did feel a bit cut off without it. It meant that I wasn't able to alert my mate Dave to my plans ... but then it turned out that he had forgotten his phone too!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I actually bumped into Folkie on the street, and, quite remarkably, she recognised me from my profile picture. This actually scuppered my plans to change from the shorts and scruffy T-shirt I had been travelling in to cut a more debonair look at our arranged rendezvous at the Philharmonic Hall! It was great to be shown a few sights of Liverpool by a local and someone who is so passionate about a place and its people - as well as enjoy a bit of blip gossip! It was also quite wonderful to have obtained a last minute ticket and been able to again hear the fiddle playing of Dave Swarbrick of Fairport Convention fame. He's now turned 70 years of age and can still fiddle up a storm! Swarb provided the soundtrack to my university days. I've been reminded that with the exception of the seminal Liege and Lief, I've only got vinyl copies of their great albums. Some investment is definitely required. So thanks Folkie for the heads-up on this gig. It was a really lovely evening.

PS Thanks also for the very sweet words on your blip. I'm having trouble recognising this person you describe, but I really like your picture of me!