A run up the town

Uptown Coleraine, to be precise, with our lovely Italianate Town Hall dominating the pedestrianised precinct.  Pedestrianised, that is, apart from the delivery vehicles and other 'Access' vehicles which in reality means hardly pedestrianised at all.  Anyway, here's my rather feeble attempts at street photography, using the M6:

35mm lens.  HP5+ on Fotospeed RCVC paper.

Since I use a walking stick/cane when I'm out and about, it's not so easy to shoot and run, so I usually find somewhere to stand to 'do' my street photography.  I was propped up against a rather large raised flower bed here, cradling the camera while hoping I was holding it reasonably straight.

I've mentioned before that as a general rule, Northern Irish people aren't too happy to have a camera stuck in their faces.  It's a far cry from New York or Tokyo, so a bit of subterfuge is generally required.

I turned around to take this one:

Greggs.  The times we live in, eh?

Burton's Men's Wear used to be on the corner there where Greggs is now.  Greggs, in case you don't have one near you, is a national chain of cafes selling pastries, sandwiches and drinks.  They seemed to spring up from nowhere about 5 years ago and are now on pretty much every high street in the UK.  Their USP is 'cheap'.  I was rarely in Burton's and have been in Greggs only once, to try their 'famous' vegan sausage rolls.  That was a damn good marketing story, I have to admit.  Once was enough.

We like our flowers in the town, as you can see.   In places they can be overdone and the town council is always messing with them but in general I'm in favour.  

This was probably the best of the street shots that day:

The magnet that was drawing the ladies in was Coleraine's bestest department store which was just to my left.  There was a guy outside, just out of shot, collecting money for 'Getting kids off the street and into fishing'...one of the more bizarre groups that you get asking for money every time you are in town. You can see his table and collecting buckets.  In the twenty minutes or so I was there he seemed to do pretty well.

The last one for today.  Another shot from the hip:

I liked the social distancing here - these guys talked for some time while the little girl stood patiently.  The older guy on the left was masked, the other one wasn't. The ubiquitous 'Poundland Shop' in the background advertising Amazing Value Everyday.  Menarys, on the right, is a smallish clothing store with a restaurant which caters for the traditional eater (home-cooked and piled high, best for potatoes and meat). The fact that it's home-cooked means I'd go there rather than Greggs but unless things are desperate I'll usually pass on both and eat at home. 

Probably like a lot of High Streets in the UK Coleraine's has undergone a bit of a revolution in recent times.  Most of the established stores have gone, or are in the process of going.  Replaced by chains of cafes, Charity Shops and £1 stores.  And Chemists/Pharmacies...Coleraine seems to have a lot of them, for some reason.  Probably as we're not a very healthy nation (see Greggs, above).