Go there!

There are a myriad different ways I can get to work in my new/temporary office. I could drive... except that it would be one long frustrating sit in a traffic jam there and back. The most logical way is to get a bus - short walk to the bus stop, comfortable bus journey into the city and another medium walk at the other end. Well, I tried that and the comfortable journey is one long frustrating sit in a traffic jam, despite there being 'bus lanes' along part of the route. So I tried the least obvious option, medium walk to the rail station, rail journey into the city and a long walk at the other end - and that is by far the quickest.  Plus, I would rather be walking briskly and feeling healthy than sitting squashed and immobile on a bus.

Anyway, the long walk means I am traversing parts of Bradford that I don't normally see. My route skirts the back of the new Broadway shopping centre (see here) and I am amused to find this sight.

The statue is of William Forster, a Liberal MP and the architect of what is known as Forster's Education Act 1870 - an Act of Parliament that set out the framework for education for all children between the ages of 5 and 13 in England and Wales. ( I remember learning about it at school). He wasn't born in Yorkshire but moved north to work and eventually became the MP for Bradford. His statue has stood in Forster Square for as long as I can remember. It was removed into storage during the years that the Square was a 'big hole' whilst the shopping centre project was delayed, but to the Council's credit it has been restored and replaced in the area where it originally stood.  There has been some controversy over the way it has been positioned facing the shopping centre - and I do think it looks a little odd.  It could be the subject of a caption competition: 'Go shopping!' or maybe he is haranguing any naughty schoolchildren who are playing truant and hanging around the shops!