Apologies for the lack of blogging these past few days but I’ve simply not found the time to do any! Instead, I’ve been scribbling for a living, writing my latest article for RAIL magazine which will be appearing sometime in the next few weeks. The article’s not on my usual subjects but about a mental health and crisis charity based at Huddersfield station. I’ll say more bout that when it’s published.

Besides scribbling I’ve continued scanning old slides and finished off yet another album. The last one contained a plethora of pictures from around the UK taken in 2000-2001 which has provided me with a rich back-catalogue for picture of the day, as will the next one in the queue. The latest album goes further back in time – to 1993-94. It starts off in India, then back to the UK before moving on the Denmark, then Bali, Indonesia. There’s some wonderful memories locked into these images but also sad feelings because so many pictures feature Lynn, who died 8 years ago now, in 2013. Even so, it’s lovely to look back and remember, especially now that my wings are clipped by Covid and our virtual ‘house-arrest’! At least I have the pictures to remind me what the wider world looks like – as well as give me inspiration for places I want to return to when lockdown is finally released and life starts to return to normal. In the meantime, I’ll keep occupied and wait for my turn to be vaccinated. I’m not one of these people worried about possible side-effects of the vaccines. They’re mild compared to the possible side-effect of catching Covid: Death.

You may be wondering why this blog’s appeared so early in the day. Well, today’s my mother-in-Law’s 80th birthday so Dawn and I are cooking a meal for Norah and John. We’ve been in a bubble with them since lockdown began and – as Norah can’t have a party or celebrate such a landmark birthday in the way we’d like, we’ve arranged something a little more intimate – along with a little surprise…

Norah’s birthday means I won’t be around until late, so – without further ado, here’s the picture of the day.

I took this shot in Glasgow on the 21st March 2001 when I was on tour to get pictures for a forthcoming Lonely Planet guide to Scotland. This is the magnificent University of Glasgow building at Gilmorehill in the city’s West End. Built in 1870 it was designed in the Gothic revival style by George Gilbert Scott (who also designed St Pancras Station in London) with other features such as the spire to the belltower added by his son Oldrid in 1887.

You’ll be able to find this and many more pictures from Scotland (and elsewhere in the UK) in this gallery on my Zenfolio website after tomorrow. You can even buy copies.

I’ll be back to blogging tomorrow as I’ve a host of things to write about. I’m hoping to (finally) produce my much-delayed blog on progress with building the new HS2 high-speed railway…

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!