It’s been a busy week here at Bigland Towers. Despite the sunny weather I’ve been stuck indoors trying to catch up on paperwork, deal with picture requests from clients whilst continuing with decluttering – and scanning old slides. But now I’m getting itchy feet. The good weather is forecast to be around for a few more days so tomorrow I intend to get out with the camera in order to document more of the changing face of the railways. That’s getting harder to do as the Government and Dept of Transport cut many rail services from the timetable from Monday. An example is Manchester – Euston which has gone from three to one train an hour. All this just as it seems that Covid cases have peaked and are in decline, although the data is too fresh to draw firm conclusions. Mind you, with the political shambles we’re seeing at the moment I’m not expecting anything better. We have a Transport Minister who’s still trying to pretend his widely-derided (dis)Integrated Rail Plan is the best thing since sliced bread and castigates its critics, whilst everyone else outside of his Westminster bubble knows it’s a lemon. The railways are having an unhappy time of things at the moment due to a complete lack of direction and the feeling that the only people in charge are the bean-counters in the Treasury – the people who are the living embodiment of the old phrase about knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Still, I’m looking forward to escaping the confines of the Calder Valley for a while, just to remind myself what the wider world looks like again. No doubt there’ll be a rolling blog appearing…

In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day selected from my latest batch of old slide scans taken in 1996. A lot’s changed over the past few years, but these standing stones at Avebury in Wiltshire have seen millennia come and go. After all, many of them have been standing since 2900 BC!

Sadly, I can’t see myself making it to Wiltshire tomorrow, but I hope I can keep you entertained with tales from somewhere less ancient…

I’ve a favour to ask…
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