A game that no-one wins

It's been a tough day today, with the news coming in from Manchester.  It doesn't help when you've a teenage daughter who has tickets for a very similar concert in Belfast later in the year.  Just when we thought we'd got rid of all that nonsense in this part of the world, eh?  My thoughts are with the families of those murdered and injured.

This blog is not the place for politics.  I generally don't comment. But for some reason this one has got my dander up.  Let me say my piece and then no more.

In this part of the world we had 'The Troubles' where there were bombs going on and off for the best part of 30 years.  I'm lucky - I chose good parents.  I lived in a place that was relatively immune from it all.  And I'm stupid enough to realise I could have a very different outlook on life given different circumstances.

It's hard to make sense of anything these days, it really is - the more I read, the more I despair about the human condition.  Well, perhaps not the human condition per se, more so the way the world is going, I suppose.  I do see the struggle that certain communities have to survive and thrive in difficult environments and there are grass-roots movements which offer hope.  That, I think, is where the future lies, even if those voices aren't heard by the large part.  What I don't get - and never will - is the point where a person thinks that detonating a bomb in a place where innocent men, women and children are going about their daily business is a Good Thing.  For sure it gets people attention, but at what cost?

In this part of the world we have what is called the politics of 'What-about-ery'.  For every Bloody Sunday there is a Kingsmill.  Arguments dissolve into a 'He started it' slanging match and before you know it we're talking about events that happened hundreds of years ago.  What-about-ery is often used to justify anything, no matter how base a deed. It's a bloody game that no-one wins.

But you didn't come here for this.  Life must go on - 'tis the nature of the thing.  As trivial as it seems, here we go - back to the usual photographic observations on the state of play in the North East Liberties of Coleraine in May of 2017.

The symmetry of these two parked up on Portstewart Prom last week caught my eye:

Notice the flashy new chromed railings and the new pavement, part of a large refurb last year.  I like the railings - they should be good for lines and that.  We've got fancy new LED street lights as well, but Mother doesn't like them.  I don't either - they're dark in colour and keep getting in the background of me snaps and standing out like a sort thumb - like in this one of Missy here from a few days ago.

Taken on the 'Blad/50mm combo.  I cropped it, just to see:

Not sure which I prefer.  I might try a lith print next, just to inject some, well, lithiness to it. You never know...