Hale (again)

I like a little serendipity in my life. Who doesn't? Today, HB needed to get back down to Manchester and I needed to see a client in Hale. So it was that we were both in my car at eight o'clock this morning, driving west along the A65 to the M6.

All the roads were surprisingly clear and it was good weather for driving, so we arrived in Hale with enough time to spare for us to have breakfast together. We'd planned to stop for coffee on the way down but hadn't because we were making such good progress, so we were both really ready for something to eat and drink.

I did want to grab a photo, though. I like Hale. It's got a quaint feel about it, and you get the impression that as the nation progresses through the twenty-first century, that this is one of those towns that's lagging near the back, looking for any excuse for a sit down and a mars bar.

The funny thing is, though, that it looks different to my unaided eyes than it does through the viewfinder. Each scene that I settled upon - the tree lined street full of pleasingly non-franchised shops, for example - would, once the camera was raised, be suddenly full of cars. I don't mean that my timing was unlucky and that there was a sudden rush of traffic, I mean that the solid lines of cars down each side of the road seemed invisible to my unaided eye but were suddenly apparent when when I raised the camera. Every shot seemed like a testament to the ubiquity of the motor vehicle rather than the slightly old-fashioned suburban study I was trying to capture.

In the end, I returned to the railway station and stood on the level crossing to take this shot which was not marred by the motor vehicle. And then I went back for some breakfast with HB.