Topoiconography

- the graphic representation of the natural or artificial physical features of a place in a way which provides a unique and instantly recognisable symbol of identification.

My head has really been hurting today. Having started this job on the software I'm highly focussed on following it through to its conclusion. I just want to get it behind me and I find I have absolutely no patience for anything that gets in the way of that - and a lot of annoying things have done just that today. I feel more than a little out of sorts.

I took this shot walking to Ben Rhydding station this morning, a little variation of routine in the hope of finding something to blip before the day consumed me. It occurred to me that this skyline of the Cow and Calf crags is the defining symbol of Ilkley. It's immediately recognisable. I would guess that not too many places in the world are defined so completely by a feature of the natural landscape. Any other suggestions?

So, do you have a blip that represents your town or city or part of the world in an iconic sense? Perhaps there is a challenge here, to capture the essence of the place where you live in an image which can be scaled down to a small graphical icon? So, this is my offering, a topoicon of Ilkley. I've scaled it down to 48 x 48 and it still looks quite good. If nothing else it's an interesting exercise to think which image might most uniquely represent your locality, but it would great to see some examples.

Off home now and will try to avoid the computer for a little while. I'm hoping I'll get the chance for a long overdue catch-up with people over the weekend. I really appreciate you continuing to offer such great commentary when I'm being so abysmally bad at returning the compliment. You're all so wonderfully clever and witty with words. I love it.

PS I gave yesterday's blip a much better name following your great feedback. Thanks in particular are due to CarolineJay and Sarahhorrigan. You lot never fail me!