Waterfront Wonders

Flooded trenches and mounds of mud fill the Stourton Park and Ride construction site. Crows fly on the wind across the site looking for food. Blue sky is a welcome sight after yesterday’s heavy rainfall. News reports tell stories of flooding in Pudsey and Farsley. Further south, people are trapped inside Meadowhall Shopping Centre after heavy rain caused flooding in the area.

This morning the landscape looks like it has been washed clean. Cold, crisp air fills my lungs and wakes me up. A jogger runs up the Middleton Ring Road waring a baraclava and layers of sporting clothing. Whilst a plane heads north towards the Leeds Bradford Airport.

On the way to Thwaite Mills I pass a plaque stating that this area is part of the Leeds Waterfront Heritage Trail which was opened in July 1993 by John East OBE. By the car park for Thwaite Mills there is ‘Not the Whole Story’ a sculpture made by members of Pyramid Arts an organisation for people with learning disabilities.https://pyramid-of-arts.org.uk/

Not the Whole Story by Pyramid Arts.

Sunlight illuminates the red breast of a robin in a hawthorn bush by the riverside. Water shimmers over the Knostrop Weir, unseen by a man who stares at his phone whilst walking his Akita. .

Further upstream two cormorants perch on a tree stump lodged by the river bank. Behind the cormorants, new apartment buildings tower over the skyline. A blue barge is moored a bit further up the river by Rose Wharf. The barge has been moored here for several months, who does it belong to and what is it doing there?