Shadows

 I am a Facebook follower of some of those daft but ordinary worldwide groups, dedicated  to ordinariness.  Perhaps you are too?  Examples are "The Dull Mens Club", "Pointless Gates. Silly Signs and Other Associated Infrastructure" and inevitably,  "The British Water Tower Appreciation Society".

Thankfully for our sanity, there is a streak of childish silliness in all of us.  It is healthy and sometimes entertaining.  Formalising this on Facebook and elsewhere sharpens our wits and keeps us on the look-out for ordinary things that are, quite literally, extra-ordinary.  Nowadays we have in our pockets, the means to record those things when they occur, perhaps momentarily.  The trick then is to act fast and capture it.

Below is the sort of thing I mean - an instant in time when things all line up, perhaps never to be repeated.  My summertime morning routine, weather permitting, is to sit on one of our rooftop sundecks and attempt to do the Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword.  Good for the heart, soul and diminishing brain.  Yesterday was one such occasion.   I looked up from my crossword to see the shadow of the chain link fence which borders the deck had aligned perfectly with the vertical post from which one end is suspended.  But not for long so out with the iPhone and 'click'!  Unseen at the time but there in the station drive in the picture was the shadow of the Midland Railway water crane (the white thing to the left of the chain) as a bonus.

(The rusty cast iron pipe in the foreground is a section of the miles-long pipe which once brought the water supply to the tank from far off Langcliffe, via the railway line)