thanks to you both for looking and commenting. @mfohl - i hope that's a good thing ;-) @mike - this is a section of a wall surrounding a house/property here in the kansai region of japan; i'm not sure why one part of the wall is overlapping another part, and i think the unusualness of the scene was what caught my attention.
N+ is Normal+ development, meaning you develop longer than normal. This produces a contrastier negative which, printed on the right paper, can, for example, enhance the appearance of textures.