Street art

I had an unexpected trip into town today after an unexpected email from a friend from New Zealand.  Was nice to catch up with them fleetingly whilst they’re in the country.  I hadn’t expected that at all.

Anyways, my trip into town took me to an area I don’t usually go to.  It was quite bustling out there with people: shoppers & students alike rushing around or meandering along .  In the midst of it all I saw this street art which I thought was worthy of a photo and which becomes today’s photo of the day.

Interesting use of black & white and a great way to fill up an otherwise uninteresting wall.  Not sure that all walls should be arted up though.  But it certainly makes a change once in a while.

Illuminating

Sometimes a late night out supermarket shopping throws a whole new light on a city.  Here’s a picture of a building which apparently was just too boring & uninteresting as it was.  It needed to be spruced up.  So what did they do?  Illumination of course.  And not just any illumination, no.  Brightly coloured illumination at that!  Hmm, not quite convinced it works tho.  What do you think?

Night-time

Tonight my evening class re-started at The University of Sheffield.  So today’s photo is of some of the university buildings in Sheffield city centre – snapped on my mobile.  I thought they looked rather nice illuminated in the darkness.  We do have some great architecture around, if only we spent the time looking at them.

Cave dwelling

I stumbled upon this online earlier today.  Wow, and wow again!!  Ok, so I’m a glutten for photos and beautiful photos at that, but these images are just amazing.  Oh how I’d love to have the opportunity to take photos like these.

I’ve never been a fan of caves myself & I absolutely hate complete darkness (I have memories of them switching the lights off in Peak Cliff Cavern in Castleton – shiver) but these pictures have made me look at caves in a whole new light, literally.  They really are breathtaking.  Wouldnt you just love to live in one of these?

Some would say that perhaps they are not entirely realistic for those of us here in the UK.  But me, I say they’re fantastic and something for us all to aspire towards, perhaps?  And if nothing else, we can just admire the skills of the craftsmen who built them as we gaze upon their beauty from afar.

back to the 20s

How would you like to go back in time?

When would you choose to go back to?

It’s something I was thinking about recently (long story) & I decided on the 1920s and Paris!  Ok, so I didnt exactly choose that at random, somewhere gave me a list of suggestions & that was the most appealing but the more I think about it, the better it actually sounds.  Perhaps I have the wrong idea about that period of time, but the 1920s makes me think of fun & laughter, a time when life was simpler & more enjoyable, a time of great fashion, fun music, lively theatre.  In fact a time when life was just more exciting & easier!  It was between the wars, so there were none of those atrocities happening, terrorism wasnt a daily fear hanging in the air, people werent so tied up in themselves and in what they could get out of life.  Instead, they spent time with their families and didnt crave the materialism of today.  Certainly sounds good to me.

And Paris?  Well, I love Paris.  My ancestors are from Paris & the opportunity to meet them would be great.  Every time I go to Paris, I wander down those streets admiring the Parisian architecture & imagining my ancestors strolling down those self same streets.  :)

Ok, so perhaps I’m being too idealistic & just looking at it all through rose tinted glasses.  I’m sure that the people back then had problems of their own, but from this distance, 90 years later, it seems like a pretty good era and location to be living in.  Would I swap it for today?  Hmm, tough one & not really something I can actually do, but oh how I’d love to get in that time machine & go take a sneak peak,. just for a little while ….

Revolving skyscraper!

Wow!

This looks amazing, quite the eye catcher, particular those simulated views at night.

80 floors of building that rotates, moves, and changes shape? It’s even going to be a self-sufficient building with its own turbines to generate energy.

I say it again, wow!
Yes, this is going to be an amazing feat of architecture and engineering and an incredible sight to see.

But what’s the point?

Can you imagine living there? Going home after a late night out & wondering “what does my house look like tonight?”

And do we really need it?
Surely there are better things we should be investing such huge amounts of time, skill & energy into? And as for the costs involved in such an ambitious projects, $700m to build it! :O Is that really justifiable for what will, in reality, just be a building, albeit a unique and impressive one?

Have we not lost sight of what’s really important somewhere along the line?
Hmm ?