Right – I’m back! My enforced absence from blogging is coming to an end. From now (and for the foreseeable future) normal service will be resumed. There’s plenty for me to blog about as my travels around the UK rail network will resume shortly, along with magazine articles and site visits.

On Friday I spent time with friends from the nearby Mytholmroyd station group who were having a planning meeting to give new members the chance to have their say and offer idea on the groups 2024 programme. This year sees the 150th anniversary of the opening of the station building they’ve worked so hard to restore and bring back into community use. Here’s a couple of pictures from the event.

A you can see, there wasn’t just food for thought on offer but an excellent supply of pies, quiches, sandwiches and other goodies sourced locally from Jo’s kitchen.

My weekend’s been spent at home, sorting out the contents of my office in order to have a good clear out of stuff I no longer need but that’s been hanging around for ages. In some cases since I moved here from London. Our shredder’s been working overtime to deal with a mound of old bank statements and other confidential paperwork. The local charity shops and our recycling centre are getting a fair share of trade too! Part of the clear out saw me having to take a trip into Halifax itself and a visit to the market, so I couldn’t resist trying out my new Nikon Z9 and 50mm lens I’ve just bought to get a few shots whilst the refurbishment of the building is underway.

The multi-faced clock which dominates the centre of the covered market in Halifax.

Meanwhile, Monday has seen me busy as Bigland Towers, continuing the office clear-out and lining up various activities for the coming week – although some are dependent on the weather behaving itself, which is looking doubtful. Mind you, it’s Valentine’s day on Wednesday so my focus (as you can imagine) will be elsewhere! To add to the weeks entertainment we have two by-elections on Thursday, one in Wellingborough and the other at Kingswood near Bristol. Both were Tory safe seats but with the Conservatives being as popular as a fart in a spacesuit the chances of both seats being lost is very real. Expect lots of wailing and gnashing of Tory teeth on Friday. My reaction?

Either way, I’ll try and keep you entertained with comment, analysis (and pictures) on a regular basis from now on. Cheers…

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