salford quays, March 23rd
Sat on a bench by the Manchester ship canal,
just watching the water go by
and letting the lemon cake I’ve just munched on digest
as the feathered residents of the quays go by
dont think they know much about their famous neighbours
but it’s relaxing watching them travel through the water
Salford, 3rd February 2018
Detritus floating en-masse down the ship canal
Readily aided by the boats and the water
Is floating aimlessly towards the basin gates
Full stop only happening upon hitting the booms where each stick gangs
Together forming a pretty pattern on the
Waters surface
Overjoyed geese, plunder the booty, piling
One large stick on top of another till a safe place for eggs has been built, whilst
Downstream, a boat with a foriegn name (and crane) is coming to pick up the leftovers
#CFFC #LetterN #Photography
We begin with something Nautical – the Manchester Ship Canal
(or as we now know it – Salford Quays)
The various waterways are connected by a series of footbridges for Navigation around the quayside.
Located in the Northwest of England the basins are still used by ships and boats at certain times of the year. Everything from Royal Navy and Merchant Navy vessels to Narrowboats which use the waterway as part of their navigation of the canal network
![SalfordQuays[1]](https://inkdropblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/salford20quays1.jpg?w=636)
I like the narrowboats as they’re painted to the owners original design.
Salford Quays has its own narrowboat named after the painter LS Lowry, and it does cruises up and down the Canal network.
Take a day, any day
And a place, any place
Now take a time, any time
and capture it
Freeze frame
in your memory
That was the day you ate that Sandwich at the quayside cafe
and saw brave souls in Frogsuits dive headlong in the eerie
deep waters of a Salford Canal Basin
They travelled so quickly
Foam rose in the waters
and Canoe based Marshals
Bobbed around in Man-made waves
As the mercury begins its annual retreat
the angler keeps a watch
the winter water, dark and cold
as silvery sources flicker
Hot air turning to almost fog
as chair it rests on sawn up logs
and line it sits, still, with great aplomb
as angler watches for a flicker
The float bobs away
in the ice cold soup
slight winds make it bob and loop
but not yet beyond its line it stoops
Ripples in water – give something away
as down in the depths – something does play
so sat angler waits – and beef tea he does pour
whilst listening to sports news on Radio four
But then there’s some action – could that be a Pike ?
the float swings round wildly – It’s the chain off a bike
and bubbles arising ? – the laughter of the fish
who’ve stopping being put on the wall or a dish
Walking on water ? not exactly as they straddle the Locks , Quays and Rivers
of my home town
never shy of their responsiblity – they get people to their
destination from A to B and back again
easing a walker’s worry they’ll get wet in the water
revolutionary ? in their day necessity ? most definately
Salford 17th September 2017
They cut through the Earth, to create this canal.
Development led to a series of Basins being dug, which filled with water coming from, not only the canal, but the skies too.
Originally , the Wind carried ships down the canal – using their sails, but nowadays these boats are powered by fuel…and its not materials they carry, but people.
