Ho, ho, ho! - or bah, humbug?

Santa once again presides over the Christmas market in Manchester's Albert Square.

Old and New

New apartments and old canalside house at New Islington, Ancoats, Manchester alongside the Ashton Canal

Posted via Blogaway

The Planets

Scale models of the planets suspended above the Rocks and Minerals Gallery in Manchester Museum. To scale in terms of size. To make to scale in terms of distance from the Sun would require a considerably larger area!

Posted via Blogaway

Spring is on the way!

Crocus starting to flower under trees in Gartside Gardens, Brunswick, central Manchester.

Manchester rain

On the corner of Oxford Road and Dilworth Street, Manchester. Rain, a poem by Lemn Sissay.

Inside the Great Hall

Manchester Town Hall's Great Hall is lined with murals painted by Ford Madox Brown. These depict significant scenes from Manchester's history, from its founding by the Romans up to the early 19th Century. This one shows John Dalton, a Manchester schoolmaster, scientist and founder of modern atomic theory, collecting marsh gas from a local pond for his experiments.

For more detail click here

Aquatics Centre

An interior view of the Manchester Aquatics Centre. An impressive facility built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and jointly owned by the City Council and the Manchester Universities.

Whitworth Park, Manchester

An entrance to the park from Denmark Road. The park is owned by Manchester University and leased to the City Council who maintain it. Set by Oxford Road in a now very busy location the park provides an area of tranquillity. The park and adjacent Whitworth Art Gallery were established by Joseph Whitworth a local industrialist and inventor in 1890.

Which way will it go?

Between now and 10th December the approximately 1.9 million voters of the ten district councils that make up the Greater Manchester area are being asked to cast their vote in a referendum.

They are being asked to vote for or against a proposal which includes both major investment in public transport and a weekday, peaktime only congestion charging scheme for some motor vehicles, notably private cars.

Organisations both for and against the idea have mounted spirited campaigns throughout the region. Pictured here are adverts from both camps and the ballot paper.

John Dalton, colour blind father of Atomic Theory

Statue of John Dalton located outside the Dalton Building of Manchester Metropolitan University on Chester Street, Manchester, UK.

Dalton was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist.
(b. Sept. 6, 1766, d. July 27, 1844)

Dalton taught in Manchester and conducted experiments which enabled him to develop the ancient Greek concept of atoms into a scientific theory that laid the foundation of modern chemistry.

Dalton also scientifically described an affliction possessed by himself and his brothers which became known as Daltonism - colour blindness.

Confluence

Looking across the River Irwell to the point where the River Medlock enters Manchester's main watercourse. Also the site of Hulme Locks which link the Irwell with the nearby Bridgewater Canal. Downstream of here the Irwell was canalised in the late 19th Century to form the Manchester Ship Canal. Recently built apartment buildings flank the river and canal banks and the Victorian railway arches.

A Manchester River

River Medlock

The River Medlock rises in Oldham, to the north east of Manchester and flows through east Manchester into the city centre. Within the city much of its course is culverted under buildings etc., the river only briefly appearing where it flows below bridges carrying the roads and railways of the city. Pictured here is part of a lengthy exposed stretch of the river as it flows alongside Potato Wharf, Castlefield (on the left bank) and the New Elm Road industrial area (to the right). In the distance the river flows under the Dawson Street road bridge and then adds its waters to the River Irwell.

A new hope

Learning Centre

Oxford Road, Manchester, UK on the day Barack Obama became President-elect of the United States of America. Buildings of the University of Manchester, old and new, dominate this area.