I was asked if I could take a couple of photos for the Broadfield North labour newsletter.

They wanted a photo of the new K2 leisure centre and a photo of the shops. And could I make the Barton look ‘relatively attractive’. I took that as a challenge. And failed.

It was a bright, clear, sunny day today so I thought maybe, just maybe, everything would look better in the sunshine. I went down to pick up a Grauniad at about 11 in the morning, but forgot that at this time of year the sun is low in the sky which limits the angles you can choose from. Also, half the shops had not opened up and still had their steel shutters down, and there were only one or two shoppers there as well.

I like the photograph above for its perspective effect, but there is no way you could say that it makes the shops look anything near to attractive. Might as well try polishing a turd, as they say. Lets face it, the parade is run-down. It was not particularly well-designed, it has had no investment in it for ages, and even the individual shopkeepers seem to take no pride in their own shops.

The K2 leisure centre, on the other hand, was looking splendid. There is still some work to do on landscaping the car park, but the building looks fine.

While I was there I investigated the bollards. When we were picking the kids up the other night I thought they looked like they were made from CDs, it it turns out they they are made from CDs! On the top of each one is what looks like some photovoltaic cells, so maybe they are intended to be self-illuminating.

They did not seem to be lit up the other night but maybe there is not enough daylight in November or something.