Shooting The Shit

I was determined today to make a little more time for photography at lunchtime, stopping to chat with a few people, some new folk and a couple of old regulars. What never ceases to amaze me is that so many of these people have grown up together. I got to hear a few stories about some of the characters on the street from when they were young. Nobody seems to have changed much!

That has to be contrasted to the guys at the office who have been brought together from all over the place: Algeria, Latvia, Syria, even Scotland! Include their partners and we have France, Ireland, Lithuania and Romania added into the mix. Our Christmas parties are highly international affairs. I think that is why Shipley is so fascinating to me, because it is an equitable mix of those folk with deep roots here in Yorkshire and those whom have landed from all corners of the world. Different approaches to life, directed by different kinds of necessity, with different pros and cons. They all appear, on the surface at least, to be good lives.

You've met both Jazz and Ronnie here before. They have banned smoking in the doorway of the pub now so they have to shift a few yards sideways to Home Bargains!