So after my weekend trip to Copenhagen, I’ve been busily back to work at Burnley Arts Centre, but have also found the time to do a few other bits and bobs. Just last week I nipped back over the border to represent the UGRL Scholarship scheme (see what I’ve been doing with them recently here and here) at the University of Leeds Freshers’ Week stalls, and naturally I took time to enjoy the best of what Leeds has to offer once more, with a trip to Layne’s Espresso for a coffee and some Colours May Vary literature…

I also had managed to scoop two free tickets to The Glass Menagerie at West Yorkshire Playhouse, and so in the evening my dad joined me in Leeds and we headed down town to watch the production.

The show was surprisingly good, with a narrator guiding us through the series of flashbacks and memories which formed the dramatic storyline. With both acts of the show taking place in the same setting (a city flat) and with a very limited collection of props, the four actors did an amazing job of communicating events, personalities and emotional traumas which cropped up along the way.

I was, then, completely gutted when I realised that we’d miss the very end of the play, as we had to head off about 10 minutes early to ensure that we didn’t miss the last train home! It has, however, inspired me to hunt down a copy of Tennessee Williams’ career-changing play, if only to see what happens at the very end! I shan’t be posting any spoilers here…

Sooner or later, as ever, I was back in Burnley and decided to head out of my house for a quick walk with the camera to try out some photography tricks in the evening. Having had a lot of them fail, I was very happy with this long exposure of a road at night.  The orange haze of the streetlight eerily glows in what seems like broad daylight, but what was in fact the last remaining glimmers of twilight.

Before winding down to prepare for my holiday (more on that in just a moment), last Saturday I made the impromptu decision to pick up Danni and head off to Nelson for a food festival!

Although we didn’t eventually have much time to eat much food, we did have time to grab a pizza and some ice cream in the uncharacteristically sunny weather, and had a good ol’ laugh and catch up as we always do.

But anyway – some exciting news! I am literally five minutes (my dad just shouted me from downstairs and I’ve had to beg for an extra five just to finish this blog post!) from being whisked off to Manchester Airport (once again!) with my mother to head off for a week in Spain!

We’re flying out for a relaxed few days at my auntie’s apartment down in Murcia on the southeast coast, before I’m heading off by myself on a train to Madrid, to go exploring and eat as much tapas as humanly possible.

Do not fear, I will be back of course with a brand new post next weekend documenting my time in Spain. Until then, it’s time to grab a glass of sangria and practice the ol’Spanish…

¡Hasta la semana que viene! ¡Chao!

Just before jetting off to Copenhagen this weekend (a post for which will be coming very soon), me, my dad and sister wandered off down to Colne for the Great British R&B Festival. Naturally, I took the camera along – but even before we set off, the sky treated me to a display of sheer beauty right outside my bedroom window, arcing over Burnley.

After I somehow (given my total lack of vehicular control) managed to perilously park our car on what felt like a 45º incline, we scrambled up the cobbled hills of Colne and began weaving our way between angry taxi drivers, drunk punters and hot-dog stalls.

With all the pubs and clubs overflowing, we decided to keep on wandering and soak up the atmosphere as the sun set. Passing a church where me and my dad had stopped for a bacon buttie at last year’s festival, we were soon wandering past an overflowing Weatherspoon’s and to the extremities of the festival.

We did take time to stop off at a Briggs family favourite, of course: the legendary Jim’s Café. It was packed out, however, much unlike the quiet family meal we’d had just the week before, so we took a couple of (very bad, hence their non-inclusion here) photos and headed back to the car.

After such a busy evening of wandering round and doing next to nothing except clicking a shutter button, I concluded that I most certainly deserved a bath, and so lobbed a rather vibrant Lush Bath Bomb in the tub and clambered in. Their Intergalactic bomb was amazing – I couldn’t help myself but dash to grab my camera and take a photo. I leave you here with it’s beguiling blue and pink swirl…