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What a great start to the day! I opened the bedroom blinds this morning to be greeted by wall to wall sunshine across the valley! Well, in my dreams anyway, the reality was rather different. It was the sort of start to the day that our Scottish cousins would describe as ‘dreich’. It was gloomy and I couldn’t even see the other side of the valley because of the mist and low cloud. Of the sun there was no sign. Maybe one day soon…
Thursday’s are one of our most varied days as we escape the confines of the Calder Valley and today was no different. After breakfast we drove over to Huddersfield to do some collective shopping for ourselves and Dawn’s parents. The roads were busier than ;ast week but that’s hardly surprising now as ‘lockdown’ is slowly unravelling. As usual, our first port of call was Sainsbury’s. Fortunately there was a tiny queue, which was just as well as for the first time since we started all this – it was raining. Standing in a queue with an umbrella was a novel experience but everyone was sanguine and the staff were there usual smiling selves and doing their best to keep everyone cheerful. As per normal, Dawn and I split up to do our respective shops. There wasn’t a huge amount of stuff on my list as we’re pretty well stocked up, it’s only really specialist stuff or fresh veg we tend to need.
As soon as we were done we nipped in to Dawn’s offices at the station to do the weekly check and pick up paperwork and the post. Today was a flying visit so there was no chance for me to go walkies, not that the miserable weather was any incentive either. Our next port of call was Johns and Norah’s to drop off the shopping. We didn’t hang around there either was the wind was biting and standing in their driveway exposed us to the tunnel effect between the houses. I’d briefly contemplated stopping to get a couple of shots on the way but even that idea was abandoned, so we drove straight back to the comfort of home and our respective offices – and I didn’t mind one bit!
The rest of the day passed in the blink of an eye. I kept busy with weeding out old pictures and paperwork as well as writing. Not the most exciting ‘escape day’ we’ve had but that’s the vagaries of the British climate for you! I did manage to find time to scan one or two more old pictures, so here’s the…
Picture of the day
I’m thankful I’ve not had to attend an event like this for a very long time now. This is a picture from the Potters Bar train crash, taken on the 14th May 2002 as a massive crane is preparing to remove the leading vehicle of the train which had been stuck under the station’s platform canopies, which is where it had come to rest (at a 90 degree angle to the tracks) after derailing on a set of points just outside the station. Tragically, seven people lost their lives. Six people on the train plus one woman who was hit by debris falling onto the main road just out of shot to the right.
I spent five days at the site (along with much of the national media) covering the accident for RAIL magazine. This particular picture has a story, as it was taken from the ITN news cherry picker.
Whilst we were waiting for events to unfold, many of the press sought refuge in the pub next to this carpark – especially when the weather was wet. I got talking to the ITN crew, including their reporter Lawrence McGinty who was due to do a piece to camera from the cherry picker in awful weather. He wasn’t kitted out for it so I offered to lend him my waterproof walking jacket, which he gratefully accepted (my jacket did what I never – made it onto the national news!) when he came down he said ‘look – if you want to get some picture from our cherry-picker, just tell the crew I said it was OK and they’ll take you up’. Needless to say – I jumped at the chance and got a scoop that no other snappers could!
Sadly, a few years later, there was another tragic accident at Ufton Nervert which saw me once again covering these events for RAIL. Who should I bump into but Lawrence, who hadn’t forgotten – so I got another scoop with access to the ITN cherry-picker there too…
I’ve a favour to ask…
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Paul Bigland 