MOUSTASHIE: The Morning Twilight & Evening Dusk

THE MORNING TWILIGHT & EVENING DUSK

And out of nowhere, bam comes a nice chunky photograph filled post, because dear readers, the working week is now officially over, the weekend has begun, and so I finally have the chance to collate, edit and upload all the many photographs I've been busy taking this last week, and show them to you. I mentioned this briefly in my previous post, but going on placement has conjured up some rather surprising things that I honestly never imagined would happen. For starters, it's been rather mentally and physically draining, and I've been doing so much walking this last week (over 10 hours now), that I'm actually losing weight. Now the great thing about this is that it gives me an excuse to eat any and every food I want in order to put the weight back on, as I really love the trousers I bought for placement and I don't want to have to get a new pair. However alongside this, other surprising things include the growing affection for Liverpool I seem to be developing, the sudden craving for peanut butter that appears to have sprung up out of nowhere, the fact that I actually like working these long hours, that I have a surprisingly large amount of energy, that I have the ability to ask a seemingly infinite amount of questions and that I also quite possibly have the makings to become an alright speech and language therapist.

And all these things are wonderful, if not a bit puzzling, however the most surprising thing of all is that, as I mentioned last post, I'm actually loving the commute to and from Liverpool each day. Although my initial thought every morning is 'ughh for Pete's sake how can it be time to get up again' I actually seem to be bouncing out of bed with a rather enthusiastic gust of energy, and I've actually begun to quite like my morning walk to the station. I like having my music on, seeing the flickering lights of the night before they're turned off for the day, walking against the soft pink, purple, blue hued, star studded sky. Watching the gentle flow of early morning traffic, immersing myself amongst the scattering of people who, for whatever reason, are up at that time too. Manchester, as you'll probably know, is very much like London in the sense that it's a city that never sleeps. There's always life, light, sound, noise, motion... it just transitions from one state of life to another without much pause for breath. It's very rare that you have the chance to see it when all that life is stripped away or toned down. In fact, I wasn't even aware that there was a time when you could see the city in that state, but placement has now informed me that any time between the hours of 5:30am and 8am is a good place to start. And honestly I'm not sure I've ever seen anything that quite compares to that sight of the city in the early hours. You get the beauty of the city, everything that makes it so wonderful from the buildings, people, traffic, infrastructure, goings on, but the hum of life is so much more gentle, calm. The expectation, possibility, hope of what the day might hold is so infinite and infectious, and with the powdery pink sky and early morning light, the city almost looks like some kind of dreamer's paradise. There's just nothing like it.

And aside from making me feel very, very lucky to be living in a city like this, and just glad to be alive in general, it also makes me feel so lucky I get to be a part of it. That out of all the individual frames that make up the timeline of the day, I get to be in that one. However if that wasn't enough, I then get to enjoy a morning commute on the train, where I'm treated to the many gorgeous sights that bridge the way between the two cities of Manchester and Liverpool. I never realised till now how stunning this part of the country actually is. The rest of the day, naturally, is spent working and moving to and fro from one place to another, until early evening comes and with that again comes the chance to see the world at such a beautiful time once more. Although I love those early mornings most of all, I think I love my commute back home almost as much too. The stunning warm hue sunsets across the silhouettes of the train line, the sunlight filtering across the windows and creeping into the train carriage, the miles and miles of scenery ranging from cities, towns, communities, baron landscapes, countryside. Pulling into Manchester and being greeted by that awe inspiring, amazing, gorgeous city every time, so full of life, character, electricity, whatever kind of day, and when I get to leave the train and the working day behind, and become a part of it once more. Walking all the way home feeling rather lucky that I'm doing something I love, learning all these things and I get to live in a place like this and come home to some of my favourite people.

So as you can probably guess, with my addiction to Instagram, general need to document everything and love for photographing all things beautiful, this last week has been a gigantanormous melting pot of inspiration. I've been trying to just take a step back and simply enjoy those beautiful moments, scenes, imagery, just do that simplistic art of living, I guess, (though this mostly happens when for whatever reason, I can't take the photograph I want). However for the most part, I've been snapping away to my heart's content. I simply cannot help myself. And now I want to share some of the beautiful moments I've been lucky enough to witness with you too, so you can get an idea of that magic too, as have I also thrown in a few other nice photos of Manchester from the last week for you to enjoy. I hope you like them as much as I do, and I strongly, strongly urge you, one day next week, wherever you may live, to get up at half 6 in the morning and just go for a walk. See the world at that time of day. Likewise as your day draws to a close, take note of the beauty in the world around you then too. I promise from the bottom of my heart, you will not regret it, and your love for the world, your appreciation for life, will soar to heights you didn't even know were possible.

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IT'S PHOTO TIME!