Bridging the gap on the ship canal

View from the Lowry Centre bridge looking along the Manchester ship canal to the Media City footbridge. I am not sure if this bridge art is part of the cultural Olympiad festival or not, but either way I like it.

You can read my latest Smitten By Britain guest blog post on the London Olympics...bicycle road races .

Also, Mancunian Wave is linking today to the Our World Tuesday blog.

Coffee for cubists?

A photo with more than its fair share of squares and rectangles. Maybe it's a case of count the cubes over coffee and cake? Round the back of Bake Station cafe at 225 Deansgate.

Apologies for not commenting on blogs much at present- I am in London this week with limited internet access, but will be blogging a little about the Olympics at the Smitten by Britain blog, and will put links up when available.

2002 Commonwealth Games swimming pool

This is the entrance to the Aquatics Centre which was a legacy of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. I like the fact it retained a statement of its provenance.

Evidently this £32 million swimming complex was the only one in the UK to have two 50 metre pools. (I guess the London Olympics now have similar?) 

This website has a interesting look at the north-west regional legacy of those 2002 games: http://www.gameslegacy.co.uk/cgi-bin/index.cgi

Sporting Union

The Professional Footballers' Association is based here in Oxford Court, perhaps smelling of roses because it's the close season. It was formed in 1907 and is the world’s longest established professional sportsperson’s union.

Commercial-free Olympics? BBC

The BBC's television and radio sport departments are now based here on Salford Quays, although they are covering most of the Olympics live from the east London stadium.

At least being a public broadcaster they will have to keep coverage commerical-free, unlike the hypocritical sponsors who are largely responsible for the western obesity crisis and have nothing to do with the health and vigour promoted by most Olympians. Two American burger and fizzy drinks companies, and a UK chocolatier spring to mind... Rant endeth.

The pop up bar called Dock, see the pink umbrellas, is proving a popular meeting spot for BBC and ITV media this summer. ITV's Granada Studios are currently building a new complex next door to the BBC and will move from their central Manchester studio in due course. 

More Weekend Reflections.

Olympics at Old Trafford

Manchester failed in its bids to host the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, but instead hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2002. Ten years on from that, Manchester United's Old Trafford ground is hosting some of the London 2012 Olympics' football tournament, starting today.

Olympics at Old Trafford.

• 26 July - Men's football - UAE v Uruguay - 5.00 p.m. & Britain v Senegal - 7.45pm
• 29 July - Men's football - Brazil v Belarus - 12.00 p.m. & Egypt v New Zealand - 2.45 p.m.
• 31 July - Women's football - USA v North Korea - 5.15 p.m.
• 1 August - Men's football - Spain v Morocco - 5.00 p.m.
• 4 August - Men's quarter finals
• 6 August - Women's semi-finals
• 7 August - Men's semi-final

ABC Wednesdays: B is for birds, breadcrumbs & benevolence

A hot and steamy day in St. Ann's Square and this kind lady, laden with her Marks and Spencer carrier bags, feeds the much maligned pigeons. See more beauty beyond boundaries at ABC Wednesday.

Arcadia: Barton oh so British

The Barton Arcade was built in 1871 and I imagine the jingoism around the union flag raising we see here would not have been out of place back then. Likewise in other years that royal occassions were marked, such as Queen Victoria's jubilees in 1887 and 1897.

I'd surmise that there was also much celebrating and flag waving in here after the British Empire's triumphs in the Boer wars of 1881 and 1902. Yet here we are 140 years on and, while so much has changed, some attitudes around nationalism still remain entrenched in a distant past... A lovely building though.

Linking today to the Ruby Tuesday blog. My apologies for not being able to comment on people's blogs the past few days. I am travelling a lot with work this week too with little internet access, but will catch up when I back on terra firma ;-)

Isaac Newton's apple trees

These six "Flower of Kent" cooking apple trees are in the grounds of the University of Manchester, at the UMIST campus. They are scions of the tree at Grantham where Isaac Newton is said to have come up with his theory of gravitation. A modest statement of his from 1675 is one of my favourite quotes: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".

Bright futures

A memorable day for these graduates outside the Manchester Museum by the main University building.