When I saw this scene I was reminded of those arithmetic puzzles we used to be given at school.... 'If it takes two men three days to fill in a hole in the road, how many days would it take five men to fill in the same hole, starting on a Sunday?' I never could work them out. Anyway, it was a Sunday and, in theory, the infamous Saltaire roundabout was a little quieter than usual. So this gang got to work with their tarmac and brushes and a roller. I think they were probably filling in a pothole. The bad winter we've had here has left the roads in a terrible state. I am using my mum's car at the moment and I have found you really need to keep your wits about you when driving, even on the motorways, as there are some dreadfully big holes around and they don't do your car a lot of good!
In the background, you can see the pub now called The Countess of Rosse. It seems to change hands with regularity and tries to appeal to a younger crowd with live bands, quizzes and Sky Sports. Not my scene! I am far more interested in the Countess herself, Mary Rosse (1813-1885) - a Yorkshire lass who was an accomplished blacksmith, pioneering amateur astronomer and photographer. She sounds a remarkable woman. She also found time to give birth to eleven children, though only four survived to adulthood.
PS: Found a bit more about Mary Rosse here. Fascinating.
Lively shot, but I can see one guy leaning on his shovel.Have you ever passed a work crew and NOT seen a shovel leaner. hee hee. The Countess pub wouldn't appeal to me either but she herself sounded an interesting lady.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your compliment re group shots. Actually I don't think they are very good because they are taken with my little point and shoot camera as I don't like taking the big DSLR into restaurants. BTW one of the shots was taken by the waitress. I also crop them heavily.
Men working on sunday?!
ReplyDeleteThis countess seemed to be quite a woman. But most of them were, considering that not only countesses had so much children, and lost a lot of them..Women are all times heroes!
Beautiful street scene.
ReplyDeleteCostas
Whenever I see the Sky sports sign on a pub it puts me off. I just don't want to watch it while I'm trying to enjoy a meal or a drink. (Don't really want to watch it at all! :) )
ReplyDeleteWe have loads of pot holes round here too. Not sure when they'll get round to fixing them. There's a new financial year starting this week though so there could be some budget for repairs in the near future.
I don't think I have ever come across the Countess of Rosse before : either in her human form or in her pub form. Shame on me on the first count, although, if your description of the target market is anything to go by, I can be excused on the second count.
ReplyDeleteEleven children?! That's enough work for anyone for a lifetime! And then to see so many die. Disheartening to say the least.
ReplyDeletePotholes are also disheartening. We don't have too many here because of the warm weather, but we have some and when they fix 'em they don't fix 'em very well and soon it's crunch time again.
Love the photo...great slice-of-life. I'd pass on the pub, too. These days I like peace and quiet and booze that softly bubbles (or something like that!) ;-)
They work at night here sometimes to avoid all the traffic. Mary sounds like quite a woman!
ReplyDeleteThe countess sounds fascinating! I wonder if anyone's written about her?
ReplyDeleteI am more interested now about the history of the building. It looks like someone's fine house. How come the pub was called after the talented photographer and astronomer lady? How come she was a countess?.... With blogging, one thing just leads to another!
ReplyDeletegood blog
ReplyDeletego to my blog
I remember those puzzles too. They bear no resemblance to reality do they
ReplyDeleteThese men seem to be working; I won't be critical of them. You always research your posts so well!
ReplyDeleteYour streets sound like ours - bumpy with holes.
ReplyDeleteAaw! I was hopeless at arithmetic...why did you have to remind me and get me into a tizz before I'd read your whole post...I couldn't concentrate after that, as I felt certain there was going to be a trick question and you'd trip me up!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Jenny...just thought I'd try a different approach today, since everyone else had already said all the politically correct, appropriate things and I didn't want to sound repetitive, or worse still, that I'd cheated and read their comments first! Hope you don't mind my silliness...I know this is a more serious-toned blog and I risk being dismissed for good unless I behave myself.
Fascinating woman, that Countess of Rosse... I followed your link. Now the sun is peeking out so I am off for my walk. :-)
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