Monthly Archives: December 2020

2020 vision. What a year to look back on!

31 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by in Musings

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Somehow, I suspect few people will be glad to see the back of this tumultuous year. It was always going to be a rocky one due to Brexit, but who knew that the next letter in the alphabet would come along with an even bigger challenge? Covid has pretty much cancelled out 2020 as its decimated the calender from March onwards, expunging events, holidays, jobs and even people. It’s been a year of terrible losses and anxieties, but there have been bright spots and positives too.

Not that it felt that way when the Covid storm arrived. I could see the way things were going and that a lockdown was imminent back in March. I managed one last job in Birmingham visiting the HS2 high-speed railway construction site at the end of March, just a few days before lockdown was announced. Then everything dried up. As a freelancer it was a bloody awful time. All the events I can normally rely on were cancelled outright or postponed indefinitely with no realistic chance of them being rescheduled so my income dried up. To make matters worse, the plummeting markets wiped out a large chunk of my investments. I’ll be honest, when you see £44k disappear in the space of a few weeks it causes some sleepless nights! Our good fortune was that Dawn’s job was secure and she continued working throughout – albeit based at home. We converted a corner of the living room into an office so that Dee could work downstairs whilst I worked upstairs. What saved me was the fact that I have more than one string to my bow. I’m a writer as well as a photographer and RAIL magazine gave me a string of commissions that kept me busy scribbling (and sane). The other project that’s kept me busy has been scanning 1000s of old railway and travel slides. The lockdown’s have given me the space to plug away at getting them onto my website and into the public eye – in some cases over 30 years after I first took them! Now, I’m within sight of the finishing line and expect to have them all finished by summer 2021 at the latest. If there’s one positive from Covid, it’s this! Plus, I still have several writing jobs to keep me occupied, so even if lockdown is re-imposed I can survive. This year I’ve managed to add over 6,200 rail and travel pictures to my Zenfolio website, which is a record – despite the fact I’ve spent so little tine travelling. You can find the most recent additions by following this link.

Gradually, as the year went on, my investments recovered. Ironically, this is partly due to Brexit! Because I could see what was likely to happen in 2019 I consolidated all my investments back with a new firm who were very proactive and who’ve done an excellent job managing them throughout the economic shit-storm caused by Covid. At least now I can be optimistic about 2021. The people I really feel for are the ones who haven’t got any financial cushion and who were living from one pay-check to another. These really have been tough times and they’re not going to get any easier for the foreseeable future.

As for Brexit, well, what can I say? The positive is that I was one of the many who could see what was going to happen so I’m not under any illusions. No doubt there will be some people celebrating tonight but they’ll be the really dim ones who think blue passports are a ‘win’. Sadly, a lot of our media have done a very poor job of explaining what Johnson’s deal with the EU means. Some (like the Daily Mail) have outright lied about it – but then so has Johnson himself. It’s been left to the media outside the UK to do the real analysis, along with some UK bloggers. Here’s some of the home truths the New York Times explained to its readers.

Sadly, it’s going to take quite some time for the truth to dawn on a lot of people. There’s not going to be one single revelation that will make folk see that the promises the Brexiters made were lies. Remember this one?

Or this?

Nor is tomorrow the ‘end’ of Brexit, it’s actually just the start of years of wrangling over trade with the EU and other nations who we no longer have trade deals with. The Tories, the party who used to boast about making ‘bonfires of red tape’ have now tied us up with masses of it – and with absolutely nothing positive to show for it. So, 2021 is going to be an interesting experiment in ‘lightbulb’ moments as those who so enthusiastically cheered for Brexit start to understand what ‘Caveat Emptor’ really means. Sadly with a lot of those people I’m afraid the lightbulbs are rather a low wattage…

A blogger who’s explained the realities of Brexit at great length is Chris Grey, Emeritus Professor of Organization Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. I’d urge you to read his blogs, starting with this one “So this is Brexit?”

The fact that we have such an incompetent and lying Government led by a lazy and incompetent liar for PM doesn’t exactly fill me with high-hopes for 2021, but then the great things about having low expectations is that you can’t really be disappointed. I’ve got plenty to look forward to in 2021 so that’s what I’ll be focusing on and keeping my head down and cracking on with other stuff in the meantime. The news that the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine has been approved and will start to be rolled out from Monday is excellent and brings hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Personally, I expect things to get worse before they get better (another reason for keeping ones head down) and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if things don’t start to pick up until Easter. But I’m prepared for that.

I’m also looking forward to catching up on some blogging in 2021. 2020 has been a record year. I’ve had 40,000 visitors reading over 83,000 pages of my rambles and spleen venting, so thank you for having nothing better to do! I hope I can keep you even more entertained in 2021. Thank you one and all!

Right, it’s time for me to go. We’re not doing anything exciting this evening other than staying in with the TV. We did get out for a ramble in the snow earlier, but now I’m on cooking duties and I’ve a pickled chicken curry to prepare.

I hope you all have the best year possible, wherever you are – as I’m amazed at how many countries appear on my readers list. In fact, some of you will already be in 2021!

Happy New Year!

Paul

PS, picture of the day will return tomorrow.

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Thank you!

29th December picture of the day…

29 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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On rolling up the bedroom blinds this morning I found we’d had the first real dusting of snow of the winter. Unlike last month the snowline was low enough to include us although the valley bottom was still clear of the white stuff. Even so, the view from the house was rather attractive – especially as I knew I didn’t need to venture out to slip and slide my way to work!

Instead, the pair of us have spent most of the day indulging in some DIY in order to rejig the bedroom and create more space in the cottage by relocating some shelves over the bed. A simple task normally, but this is an 1850s cottage that doesn’t contain a straight line/flat surface anywhere! Just drilling a hole into a wall as an adventure as you never know what you might find, or rather – not find. I sometimes think the interior walls were made of Emmental cheese that someone just roughly slapped plaster over. Hoping for a solid surface to drill into is like playing Russian roulette in reverse! Still, we got there in the end and the relocated shelves look rather dandy.

Having carried out my DIY duties and whilst Dawn finished some decluttering I ventured out for my daily constitutional before dark descended – although it was a close-call. The Mercury was already plummeting and the roads and pavements were becoming glasslike. Even so, it was lovely to be out for an hour as everything is really peaceful at the moment because so few people are sallying forth. I didn’t encounter anyone in our local woods and the promenade overlooking the valley contained little more than a couple of folks walking their dogs, so I was left to admire the valley views on my own. These Covid times to have their compensations…

Having been busy all day with other chores I’ve had no time to scan more old pictures, although I did break out more and install them in glass mounts ready for action. So, today’s picture is topical to say the least – if more mundane than most I’ve been posting recently. It’s the view from our bedroom window this morning…

I’ll be back at the grindstone tomorrow as I’ve a couple of blogs I want to write before we finally wave goodbye to (or put two fingers up at) 2020…

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If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

27th December picture of the day…

27 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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This year the interregnum between Xmas and the New year is certainly an odd one – not that Christmas was exactly normal itself! I’m sure I remember a certain Prime Minister claiming back in September that life would could be back to normal by now but then he wouldn’t be the first person to claim that “It’ll all be over by Christmas”. You’d have thought people would have learned by now. New Year won’t be normal either. Forget the festivities as most of us will be in one form of lockdown or another. Hogmanay? Humbug!

Even so, I’m determined to make the most of this time. I can’t go to the pub or see friends? Never mind. There’s plenty of other things to do that I’ve never found the time for, so I might as well make the most of it – and that’s my pragmatic attitude to the situation we find ourselves in.

Mind you, the weather here in the Pennines hasn’t been tempting me to venture far anyway. Storm Bella passed without any major impact but the area’s certainly damp – but without any flooding, which is a bonus. So I’ve been hunkered down in the office to continue the slide scanning marathon whilst trying to catch up on on few household chores. Oh, the humdrum lockdown life!

My intention with the new week and what remains of the year is to clear the decks ready for 2021 which is going to prove to be another ‘interesting’ year – although it’s one I’m remaining resolutely positive about. The Covid vaccines are going to be rolled out and the world will start to re-open – well, the bits we haven’t cut ourselves off from with Brexit, anyway! – so I’m really looking forward to making up for lost travel-time and getting out and about in next year. This has been one of the great frustrations of 2020. I’ve spent so much time scanning pictures of beautiful parts of the world I’ve visited in the past whilst knowing I can’t get anywhere near them right now! One of today’s old slide scans is the – picture of the day…

I took this shot in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia on the 12th January 1999. Ballarat was a town made rich from Gold mining and some of its civic buildings reflected that status, including this one, which is the railway station dating from 1862 – and yes – that clocktower is part of the station!

The old semaphore signals you see in the picture had just been taken out of commission, but the railway gates survive today, as does the signalbox – which has become a coffee shop!

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

26th December picture of the day…

26 Saturday Dec 2020

Posted by in India, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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Well, here were are on Boxing Day of the strangest Christmas I’ve ever had – although it’s not been all bad by any means. As a Freelancer of 20 years standing I’ve got used to the fact that the office parties are shit! The compensation for that has been certain events with friends which are far more convivial and enjoyable as you’re actually spending time with people you want to. Only this year that’s not been possible so the festive season’s been anything but festive as even the bloody pubs are shut!

Despite all these travails we had a lovely Christmas Day with our ‘bubble’ – Dawn’s parents. We drove over to their home in Huddersfield where Dee and her mum prepared a fabulous Christmas meal. As there was only the four of us the day was really relaxed with the courses stretched over several hours – and it was delicious! We enjoyed a mixture of Duck and Turkey breast with all the trimmings plus a wonderful home-made dessert. Even the cat enjoyed himself. We didn’t want to leave the old boy at home alone so we took him with us. He sat on a cushion on my lap in the car on the way over and really seemed to enjoy the journey. He’s always been an inquisitive cat and loved gazing out of the window.

Today (Boxing Day) the pair of us have taken it easy at home. There’s been no pressure to go anywhere as there’s nowhere to go! Storm Bella has been fashionably late, which meant we managed to get out for a long walk through the local woods and along the canal before the rain and gales hit. I’m writing this just before midnight whilst listening to the wind and rain clobbering the bedroom window.

Which brings me on to the picture of the day. It may be Christmas, but I have managed to scan one or two old slides in the quieter moments. The batch I’m plowing my way through at the moment are from the very end of regular steam locomotive workings in India, way back in 2000. Sadly, I missed the final act by a couple of weeks. But I was in time to record the demise of the final main-line steam locomotive depot in India, which was at the wonderfully named Wankaner Junction, which is in the Gujarat, Western India. I’ll blog about this at length another time when I have all the pictures scanned. In the meantime, here’s the locomotive that hauled the last scheduled steam train in India.

Here’s YG Class 2-8-2 No 3360 (with headboard) dumped inside the shed at Wankaner Junction on the 12th February 2000 after having had its fire dropped for the very last time just a couple of weeks before. The depot still contained 17 steam locos of classes YG and YP – although some were merely shells that hadn’t run for several years.

If you want to see other pictures from this Indian trip, follow this link. I’ve still a few more to add which I hope to do over the next couple of days.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

24th December picture of the day…

24 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Railways

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Well, more of a Christmas card really! Today’s been spent prepping for the big day tomorrow which means Dawn and I have been busy with different chores and cooking. In the spirit of the festive season we even had a (very) brief flurry of snow here earlier, which lasted about as long as one of Boris Johnson’s promises!

Anyway, enough of politics, Covid or anything else.

What I would like to do is wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas, wherever you are – and the statistics I see from WordPress show me that you’re all around the world! I’m both grateful and humbled that so many of you either follow my (almost) daily rambles and ventures into a range of subjects. It’s been a funny old world this year to say the least and I suspect many of us are having the sort of Christmas we never expected, but I just want to wish each and every one of you the best festive season possible. So here’s the picture of the day, which I took on a rather magical little railway in Germany back in 2007…

23rd December picture of the day…

23 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Down memory lane, Travel

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Well, Christmas is almost upon us – and for millions more UK residents, Tier 4 will follow! I’m sticking to my pledge not to get into any spleen-venting over the festive season, but I’m sure there’s going to have to be a cathartic moment before all the joys the New Year brings. Maybe I should have bought a ‘smiley’ mask that I could have worn at the right times!

Anyway, we’re determined to enjoy the festive (or should that be festering) season, starting tomorrow – so you may find there’s another gap in my blogging. Just in case, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – and, let’s face it – it’s been one hell of a one!

But seriously, I hope you all find the chance for relaxation and enjoyment – even if you can’t spend time with family and friends because of the current restrictions. My heart goes out to all those people who’re feeling isolated because of the present situation. Please believe me when I say there are many people who’re thinking about you.

So, what should I choose as the picture of the day? How about this one?

Back in 2001 I was privileged to spend Christmas with friends in Denmark who had a large family. It was a riot in all the best ways. Here’s the tree…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

22nd December picture of the day…

22 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by in India, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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I was full of good intentions today but only some of them came to fruition – and catching up on blogging wasn’t one of them! I had an appointment at our local doctors surgery this morning to have may annual flu jab. Despite these trying times the surgery have been very good about keeping in touch and responding to problems although (thankfully) I’ve not required their services. Now, because of Covid, the waiting room is dark and barricaded. You talk to the receptionist via the intercom outside and wait to be collected. The practice Nurse who gave me my jab was lovely but threw me with her first question;

Nurse: “you did get the text we sent you about the flu jab, didn’t you”?

Me: “No, why”?

Nurse: “It was to tell you this vaccine isn’t currently approved in the UK. Because of all the difficulties at the moment we’ve had to source it from the USA where it is approved, do you still want it?

Me: “No problem, but if I suddenly start talking with an American accent I’ll be straight back here”!

With all the madness over vaccines and the idiocy of the anti-vaxxers, plus the strain these poor Nurses are under right now I’m glad I was able to make her laugh. Oh, and it got me out of the house and away from the computer which was an added bonus. Plus, the walk back along the canal was lovely as it was a rare moment of peacefulness and serenity in what’s an increasingly crazy country, although I’m doing my best to ignore the shit-show in order to enjoy Christmas.

I’m winding down work – including slide-scanning – to focus on the forthcoming festivities (truncated as they are). I’m actually looking forward to it as so many decisions are outside of our control, so why worry? Dawn and I are going to have Christmas day in the little bubble we have with John and Norah, Dee’s parents. After that we’ll be heading home to spend some quality time together and enjoy some walking as well as catching up on some of those jobs there never seems to be time for (did someone mention a bathroom? Ed). Who knows, I might even be able to catch up on some blogging too!

In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day, which is another nostalgic look at some of the slides I’ve been scanning from a country we’re currently banned from travelling to – India. I took this shot at the old Bombay Victoria station (as it was then) on the 14th November 1991.

British rail enthusiasts might think the body-styling is familiar. They’d be absolutely right. The WCM1 Class of locomotives were built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-Le-Willows in the early 1950s. Seven of them were manufactured to haul passenger and freight services from Bombay (Mumbai) and lasted in service until 2000. I was lucky enough to capture this one on film. Oh, notice an early Indian Railways double-deck coach in the sidings behind?

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

21st December picture of the day…

21 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by in India, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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Happy Winter Solstice folks! Today’s been the shortest day of the year so soon we can look forward to longer days – although that may take a while to kick in, especially here in the Pennines as the weather’s been thoroughly damp and dismal all day with visibility down to a few hundred metres at best, so there’s no chance of any planet gazing or observing the predicted meteor-shower tonight. I’d have been lucky to see the other side of the valley today, never mind any celestial bodies!

Instead I’ve hunkered down at home and got on with paperwork and scanning old slides. I’d hoped to get a blog written but in the end I eschewed the idea in order to get more pictures scanned that would form part of it. So, whilst the country falls apart due to Covid and our new found Pariah status do to the virus I’ve been bust taking a trip down memory to revisit a country that we’re currently barred from. India. Today’s tranche of old slides have covered a lot of the sub-continent – all the way from balmy Tamil Nadu in the South right up to Darjeeling (West Bengal) in the North, within spitting distance of the snow-capped Himalayas. The pictures were taken in 1998 and so much has changed since then, which Is why tomorrow I’ll be writing a blog about the Indian metre-gauge railway network which is fast disappearing.

There’s so many interesting and historical pictures that I’ve been struggling to decide which one to choose for the picture of the day. I’ve plumped for this one as a contrast to yesterday’s shot from Tamil Nadu. I took this shot on the 6th April 1998 at the ‘Toy train’ station in Darjeeling, West Bengal.

Here’s B Class locomotive no 806 shunting the station yard whilst marshalling the coaches it will haul as the 14.20 departure to Ghoom. 34 of these little 0-4-0 saddle tanks were built between 1889 and 1925 to a design by Sharp-Stewart & Co who constructed the first 12. A couple remain on the line for hauling tourist trains between Darjeeling and Ghoom, but the rest (including this one) have been preserved or scrapped. I’m glad I got to see them in the years when they were still the only locomotives working the railway as it really was like stepping back in time. If you want to see more of my old Indian railway shots, just follow this link. I have to admit, going through the pictures after all these years is really making me want to return to India and explore what’s left of the narrow and metre-gauge lines before many finally disappear forever.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

20th December picture of the day…

21 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by in India, Musings, Picture of the day, Politics, Railways, Travel

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I don’t know where to start – really…

There’s been so much going on these past few days whilst we’ve been trying to prepare for a tiered Xmas I really haven’t had time to blog – despite a spleen that’s become so engorged on political stupidity that it really needs venting before it ruptures. Hopefully next week will allow time for some catharsis.

Fortunately, we took the view that Christmas was likely to be yet another shambles way back in November so we’d cancelled our plans to head down to Surrey and stay in West Yorkshire. That said, I can’t help feeling sorry for those people who believed in this farce of a Government and banked on being able to travel to have family gatherings in the five-day window before (yet again) Johnson did a U-turn. That window never made any sense as it seemed like an open invitation to spread Covid. I can’t help feeling that this Government has completely lost control of the pandemic now. Well, what little control it seemed to have anyway. Personally, I’m resigned to the fact we’ll have stricter lockdown conditions imposed in January after the festive fiasco where Covid is spread by people who’ve lost all faith in official advice and headed back to their families anyway. The fact this is going to screw many peoples businesses for the foreseeable seems to matter not. I’m fortunate in that I’m in a better position than many to weather the shitstorm on the horizon, but I do feel for those caught up in what’s coming. And, as if Covid wasn’t bad enough, on the 1st January the UK declares economic sanctions on itself with Brexit. After 4 years of lies about ‘taking back control’ and ‘they need us more than they we need them’ we’re now just 11 days away from the the shit hitting the fan without the faintest idea if there will be a deal or not – never mind what that deal will look like. Talk about a clownshow! How on earth did we end up like this?

So, Christmas is going to be an interesting one to say the least – and New Year even more so…Forget the pubs, Xmas parties and other social events, for many people it’s going to be an isolated or introspective Christmas with little to look forward to in the New Year – unless you’re on of those brainless Brexiters who’ll be letting off fireworks at midnight on December 31st to celebrate their new ‘freedom’.

Hmm, looking back at what I’ve just written it seems my spleens already leaked! OK, so here’s todays picture of the day as a bit of light relief. I’ve been busy scanning more foreign rail pictures and the latest batch were taken in Southern India back in January 1998. To say things have changed since then would be an understatement. I’m going to write a separate blog once I’ve got them all scanned as there’s a story to tell, but here’s the first one. I took this at Pondicherry, the former French enclave on the East coast of India on the 27th January 1998.

A metre gauge YDM4 class loco waits to leave the sleepy, single platform station with a train for Villapuram Junction on the main line to Madras (now known as Chennai). This scene has totally disappeared. The line’s now been converted to Broad Gauge and Pondy station has four modern platforms. It’s a reflection of how India has rebuilt much of its rail infrastructure over the past few decades.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

18th December picture of the day…

18 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by in Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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Which is a very quick one today as most of my time’s been spent preparing for Christmas as well as continuing to scan vast quantities of old slides. There’s a huge amount that I want to blog about, including the latest National Infrastructure Commission report into new railways in the Midland and North, but I keep running up against the fact there’s only 24 hours in a day.

So, here’s one of today’s slide scans which I took in Copenhagen, Denmark on the 26th August 1994. So much of this scene has changed now as the rail yard in the foreground and to the right (which were just outside the main station) have disappeared. They’ve been replaced by new building as this area of the city has been redeveloped. It’s an object lesson in how an everyday scene can quickly become history. The site’s now occupied by the Danish Energy Agency…

Oh, and notice one of my favourite landmarks in the background? Many of the slides I’ve been scanning at the moment are also of of what are now times past – which is really starting to make me feel like an old bugger – as they seem like the blink of an eye to me!

I hope to catch up with more blogging this weekend…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!