The Prom

If you're a regular reader of this drivel, you'll know what I am referring to if I talk about 'The Prom'.  Portstewart Promenade, of course - where one goes to take the air from time to time.  Actually most people seem to go to drive up and down and then if they get lucky and get a parking space it's ice-creams all round.  It's some craic down the Prom, I can tell you...

I think we had just exited from one of the many cafes which go to make up the 'shopping' side of the Prom when this view leapt up and into a very old Pentax P30 camera which just happened to be in my hands at the time.  For some reason, it ended up being printed quite contrasty this morning when I was in the darkroom - sometimes it just happens like that:

Portstewart Prom, via very very old Tri-X sloshed about in Ilford ID-11 1+1 for about 13 minutes and printed on Ilford Warmtone fibre paper.  I know what you're thinking, by the way - he's cleverly used a red filter to get the sky like that and get that amazing contrast on the chrome railings.  However, I can assure you that no filter was used in the making of this shot. It's beyond me...

I wonder if the Prom is still there?  Hopefully I'll find out sometime soon - although I'll not be wandering along the Prom for the foreseeable, even if they do lift the lockdown in the next few weeks...it'll be as busy as ever in no time at all.  I'll either choose my time (early morning) or just do a drive-through en route to somewhere a little quieter.

I have to admit there are aspects of the lockdown which I am enjoying.  Not driving being #1.  No school runs, no music lesson runs, no runs to the shop.  My body is feeling the benefits, that's for sure.  I enjoy living where we do too much to ever move, but the downside is we are pretty reliant on a car.  Public transport is next to non-existent here - well, there are buses but they are very unreliable.  Plus the thought of standing at the side of the road waiting for one to happen along doesn't exactly fill me with glee - no shelter from the elements, see.

So I could handle a few months of this without too much trouble...but I know it's driving Missy a little mad.  When you're almost 17 it's only natural to want out with your friends, instead of being stuck in with your parents.  She's reading a lot so it's not all bad...but she's reading at night...all night...and so is slowly turning nocturnal.  Actually not that slowly, if I'm being honest...