I am not the monster .....

..... I am made out to be.

This morning I had a trip in to Leeds to visit the new Trinity shopping centre that has opened today. It was the retail hell that I was expecting it to be full of chain stores, fake smiles and giant mascots handing out balloons. I may be sounding a bit bah-humbug, but I much prefer Leeds market where the characters and smiles are real and all the shops and stalls are independently owned. The only person who caught my eye in a good way was the chap I have blipped. Although he looks like he is in a costume he was just another member of the public amongst the thousands visiting the shopping centre today.

After an hour of being crushed by crowds trying to grab as many freebies as possible, I'd had enough and had a visit to the market before heading over to Bradford to meet up for a cuppa and cake with Wendles56. We had a wander around the Tom Wood exhibition at the media museum and Wendy has given me blip bear to look after for a short while until he moves on to his next blipper.

It was lovely to meet up with Wendy again and after we had said our goodbyes I headed up to my favourite café in Bradford market and had a lovely lunch of liver and onions with chips, mushy peas and gravy, all washed down with a mug of builders tea. As usual the café was full of the regular local characters and I had fun listening to in-depth conversation on diverse subjects from the evolution of mankind to early 20th century dance styles. One of the older regulars, Stanley, saw my camera and we had a really interesting chat about analogue photography as he used to work as a technician in a college photography lab. There is probably a series of photographs somewhere amongst the regulars in the café, but for now I'm happy just to enjoy the food and conversations in there.

I have added a few more photos from today here. Earlier today myself and Wendy were discussing the way photos are titled and I have chosen the text from the Richard III badge on this chaps hat to title this blip, so today's blip is .....


..... I am not the monster I am made out to be.