Half Moon

Cafe seen here in Roberts Park, Saltaire this morning on our walk.

We set out in rain ( not too heavy) but it had stopped by the time we got here. Walking from the Leeds Liverpool canal at Dowley Gap we took a different route via Milner Field ( the site of Titus Salt Jr's family mansion - http://www.milnerfield.co.uk - now no more) to Saltaire and then back on the canal side. Roberts Park is named after James Roberts who bought Salts mill and Milner Field after from TS Jr's widow.

The Half Moon Cafe hasn't been open since the floods on Boxing Day 2015. (In the picture you can see a statue of Sir Titus Salt above the cafe and his Alpacas used for cloth in front of the cafe.) Behind me as I took this photograph is the River Aire and beyond that the canal. The river flooded badly, like many others on Boxing Day and three months on much is still to be put right. On the other side of the river is the Boat House, another cafe/pub that has been closed since Christmas.
We had a conversation with a gentleman doing some painting at the cricket pavillion. He said the Boat House building is dry but they are still waiting for insurance to pay out. He himself was doing renovations, again required due to the flood, that the council was supposed to do but they had been waiting 8 weeks!

Both cafes represent someone's livelihood and also they had employees. Apart,from the mess the disruption to lives is enormous and I don't think Shipley and Saltaire even made the news.

The upper weir by the boating club has been almost washed away. It may be Spring but winter's wrath can still be felt.

The rest of the day has been sunshine and heavy showers. I've sorted out all my post digital photo albums (far too many and only about half of them)and together with my photo books made over the last 5 years put them in a new cupboard in the guest bedroom. I have also made celeriac and leek soup so now I'm ready for a sit down. Hope you've all had a good day.