Apologies for my absence these past few days. I not really been in the mood for blogging. I’ve been kept busy with other things and really couldn’t find either the time or the inclination. Besides, what I’d have penned would have turned into more spleen-venting on the state of the country and the Tory party in particular – so at least you’ve been spared that! Normal service will resume shortly.
I’ve been spending much of my time cooped-up here in Bigland Towers for one reason and another. It could be worse as the weather here in the Pennines has been dank and dismal so being in the warm and dry has had its compensations – such as being warm and dry!
I’ve also managed to wade through a backlog of pictures which have now been filed away on multiple hard-drives or added to my Zenfolio website which has been good timing as Zenfolio have started archiving galleries’ on people’s websites that haven’t been updated for over three years. It’s a pain as many of mine are historic galleries that I can hardly update as the subject matter disappeared years ago! Still, it’s given me the impetuous I’ve needed to begin slimming down and consolidating the number of galleries on my website. They’ve got a bit out of hand in the past 12 years. It’s a big task as it’s a slow one. Zen’s a bit cumbersome when it comes to moving pictures around so it’s going to take some time. On the bright side I’ve been looking through pictures I’ve not checked out for years. Hopefully, the process will be finished by the Spring.
In the meantime, there’s plenty of other things to keep me occupied. It looks like I’ll be doing a lot more writing for a living in 2024, which is no bad thing. I enjoy it and it gets me out and about almost as much as taking pictures.
Talking of pictures, here’s today’s. It being autumn woodlands are bounteous places. Our local squirrels are certainly making the most of the seasons largesse. Unfortunately a lot of it seems to be getting added to my pots and flowerbeds! Here’s one thing we don’t have in our area. Sweet Chestnuts. The woods around the hotel where Dawn and I stayed in the Lake District were full of them. As soon as I have time I’ll be writing a review of the Wild Boar as it’s well worth a visit. In the meantime, here’s what covered their woodland floor.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
‘Tis been a quiet weekend here at Bigland Towers. Partly because the weather’s been so bloody awful, but partly because it’s been nice to have the downtime and the opportunity for the two of us to spend some quality time together as well as to catch-up with various chores and bits.
I’d quite fancied the idea of attending a local firework display but the one’s I could find were on Saturday when the weather was crap. I’m glad I didn’t book as I ended up getting soaked just nipping out for some shopping. Standing around in the rain, trying to look up when you wear glasses wouldn’t have been much fun at all. I might as well have stayed at home, stayed dry and stared into a Kaleidoscope! Instead we had a quiet night in with me cooking, enjoying air-fried chicken thighs with a lovely honey, chili and soy sauce glaze, dressed with spring onions and Coriander and served with steamed veg. Bugger, I forgot to take a picture!
Today’s been better, the rain has (mostly) stayed away, allowing the two of us to get out for an evening stroll which eventually led us to our local pub for a drink and a warm by a real fire. Yes, they’re very un PC in these days of Climate Change, but when it comes to my contribution (or not) towards screwing up the planet, they’re the least of my concerns. If you want to help the planet survive, don’t have kids and don’t vote Tory…
Talking of voting Tory (or not, if you have any sense of community, decency or self-preservation) I couldn’t help but wonder what the latest gaffe from our Home Secretary, Cruella, sorry Suella Braverman is meant to be a dead cat for? I mean, suggesting that to want to ban and fine charities from giving tents to homeless people because homelessness is a ‘lifestyle choice‘? Even she can’t be this stupid (oh yeah? Ed) so what’s this a distraction for – the Covid enquiry? The sooner we’re shut of these asset-strippers, feather-bedders and shysters the better. But I’ll bet they’ll hang on as long as they can to remove all the fittings they can get money for. And the next election will be dirty and divisive. The Tories will fight the ‘culture wars’ as they can’t defend their 13 year record on the economy (they’ve trashed it) all they’ll do is pick on minorities as a tactic to appeal to their ageing and intolerant vote-bank – and their friends in the media will cheer them on.
Right, I wasn’t going to vent any spleen tonight, it just sort of happened. So now I’ll leave you with a picture of the day which isn’t in any way political and should hopefully make you go ‘awww’ Back in December 2022 I was standing in a queue to get through the ticket barriers at London’s St Pancras and felt this pair of eyes on me. Then I looked down and saw this.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’ve long said that the UK’s ‘green’ movement is hypocritical and unfit for purpose. Their years-old stance of opposing us building HS2, the new spine of the British railway network is the classic example of this. The Green Party of England and Wales (The Scots are separate, and sensible) have a mad policy where they support building a new North-South high-speed line ‘in principal’ but vehemently oppose it in practice. So much so that their energies go into trying to stop a railway whilst giving road construction a free pass.
Yesterday, their outgoing MP for Brighton, Caroline Lucas tweeted this load of tosh whilst linking to a Guardian article on the trial and conviction of Gail Bradbrook, one of the co-founders of ‘Extinction Rebellion’.
Where to start? Was Bradbrook convicted of protesting? No. She was convicted of criminal damage, for smashing a plate glass window in protest against the building of HS2! Yep, protesting against building a new railway! Not a road, not a motorway – a railway! Criminal damage is NOT covered by article 11 of the ECHR law. It is NOT a ‘peaceful protest’ – it’s criminal damage. That some ‘greens’ simply can’t get their heads around that because of their exceptionalism is just another reason I have little time for them.
I won’t go into the rubbish Lucas has claimed about HS2 ‘destroying’ nature. Regular readers will have seen me cover that canard at length in previous blogs. I tweeted this is response to Lucas.
“Without Hs2 we won’t have the rail capacity we need to get modal shift from road/air to rail to cut #co2 emissions to tackle GLOBAL #ClimateChange. Stopping HS2 isn’t ‘green’ it’s the opposite. You’re literally doing the fossil fuel lobby’s job for it”.
This rattled Bradbrook’s cage, as she responded with two tweets, both of which sent my irony meter off the scale! The first quotes the Times newspaper and its recent attempts to fly air-cover for Sunak and the Tories by rehashing old claims of corruption with HS2 Ltd as a way of diverting attention from the mess they’ve got themselves into by cancelling parts of HS2. Never forget, who had oversight and control of HS2 Ltd? The Government. But, a founder of XR? Using a Murdoch-owned newspaper as ‘evidence’? Bless! However, it was this tweet that was the most interesting.
This is a link to an anonymous document with no provenance and no names on it to say who compiled it. Called ‘supporting facts and figures’ it’s essentially a cut and paste job a list of cobbled together reasons and ‘evidence’ of why ‘greens’ should oppose HS2. It’s a litany of lies, discredited claims and things that never, ever happened, including the classic that “HS2 is the largest deforestation exercise in the UK in over 100 years, not since WWI has the UK cut down so many trees”. I skewered that one here back in 2019!
But the real doozies are these. Amongst the list of cut and paste incoherency and contradictions the list uses ‘evidence’ and quotes from both the Institute for Economic Affairs and Policy Exchange, two of the most opaque right-wing ‘think tanks’ in the UK.
Both have been linked to being funded by oil companies. The ironies here are weapons grade! In 2018 a Greenpeace investigation linked the IEA to British Petroleum (BP)! In 2022 it was revealed that Policy Exchange is partially funded by ExxonMobil! Next is where we hit ‘through the looking glass’ territory. The Open Democracy investigation revealed that the new controversial anti-protest law may have originated in a briefing from Policy Exchange! Bradbrook is espousing the views of the very people who may have helped the Government impose the law she’s spent so much of her time protesting against and claims to be a victim of!
That a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion is circulating this travesty of the truth and actively promoting the views of climate-change denying, fossil-fuel funded ‘think tanks’ is beyond belief. Or is it? I’ve long harbored suspicions that XR is a front for attempts to discredit and sideline the green movement by showing them up as a bunch of fools who do more harm than good. Lets face it, many of their actions have had real greens holding their head in their hands. Gluing yourselves to green electric public transport to disrupt the lives of ordinary people is a bizarre way to get people ‘on side’. Many of their actions seem to be intent on alienating ordinary people and provide the right-wing media with a massive stick to beat the environmental lobby with. Is this by accident, or design? The fact the likes of Braybrook are peddling fossil fuel lobbyists anti rail propaganda looks less like stunning ignorance of who these lobbyists are and more like a deliberate attempt to further their agendas.
Bradbrook claims to be a ‘trained scientist’. But if this is the quality of her research…
Still, I’m sure Bradbrook spends even more of her time campaigning and Tweeting about the 1000s of miles of new roads the Tories are planning to build, doesn’t she? Oh, wait. @CanburyLiberal did a search on Twitter and found this. Nada, zilch, zip, SFA…
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After a wonderful couple of days away thanks to my wonderful wife who arranged a special treat for my birthday we’re both back with our noses to the grindstone. Whilst Dawn’s been busy playing catch-up with her day to day work for Community Rail Network I’ve slipped on my CRN judges hat to spend all day wading through the entries for their 2024 awards. To be honest, it’s a pleasure rather than a chore as I get to learn about so many fabulous groups and the amazing stuff they’ve been up to over the past 12 months and more. There’s some really inspirational groups out there and the work they do is amazing. Judging them is really hard as the standard’s so high. In many cases there’s really not much in it, but we have a points based system spread over four categories, which makes life easier for myself and my fellow judge for the ‘It’s your station’ category – Mark Barker.
Now the first sift is done and all that remains is for me to fill out the awarded points on the spreadsheet and crunch the numbers. Then, in a few days time when both judges individual scores are combined we’ll meet to talk through the results and agree the final marks and winners of the four rankings (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze). My work isn’t entirely done. I still have the shortlist for the photographic competition to select, this time with fellow judge Alice Mannion from CRN. The winner will be chosen from the shortlist by public vote.
Today’s been a good day to be stuck inside as the weather’s been awful, nothing but grey skies, mist and rain – although (so far) we’ve escaped the latest storm that’s battering the South coast. It’s heading our way but we’re expected to miss the worst of it as it passes through overnight. However, I’ll see how the weather is tomorrow morning before I make any plans. There’s still plenty for me to do at home if it’s not up to much.
Tonight I’ll leave you with a picture that illustrates the work of the community rail. The work the volunteers (and staff) carry out around the network is amazing. It’s not all station gardens or posters either. There’s restored buildings, station cafes, food banks, fetes and much, much more. Here’s on example from the friends of Buxton station who had ‘Joe’ made from scrap railway items donated from the site of the old Buxton locomotive depot. You can read all about the brilliant work this group are involved in here.
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Today – in a classic example of weasel words and buck passing – Transport Minister Mark Harper has announced the closure programme has been scrapped. Harper claims that:
““The proposals that have resulted from this process do not meet the high thresholds set by ministers, and so the government has asked train operators to withdraw their proposals”
Train operators proposals? What a classic attempt to pass the buck!
Saved for now. The lovely old booking office at Bridlington was one of many proposed for closure.
This whole process was started by Harper and the Department for Transport back in July when they INSTRUCTED operators to come up with proposals to close ticket offices. It wasn’t the operators idea. Why would it be? Contrary to what some in the media and on the political left claim this wouldn’t have made the operators any more money – exactly the opposite, because under their contracts they get paid a management fee for operating ticket offices. Reduce the size of the pie and you reduce the size of the operators slice of said pie.
This whole debacle is Harper and the Governments fault. They completely miscalculated the levels of opposition to their ‘cunning plan’ and were taken aback at the strength and size of the reactions. 750,000 people responded to Transport Focus’ consultation, many of them from the Tory-voting shires. The issue of access to the network hadn’t been though out – as the results of the consultation made plain.
Don’t be fooled by Harper’s claims and weasel words and when it comes to the next election – remember who’s really responsible for (mis)managing the railways. This government.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
After a busy few days (and with more to come) it’s time for a break. As part of my birthday bash my wonderful wife Dawn has arranged for the pair of us to have a luxury night away in the lake district. We’re in no rush to get there, the weather’s hardly conducive to long walks in the countryside – we can’t even see the other side of the valley through the rain and murk here, but that’s not the point of the trip. It’s chance for the pair of us to have some quality time together in lovely surroundings. Let’s see how the trip goes…
14:50.
We’re on our way cross-country via Skipton and Hellifield. Here’s the rush-hour and sunshine at Clapham. No, not that one – the other one!
16:00.
We’ve arrived at the Wild Boar – which is rather special…
Did I mention it has its own microbrewery? Our room’s not too shabby either. Dawn’s done a fabulous job in finding this place.
18:15.
Wow! What a lovely place and way to relax. We’ve spent the past couple of hours sat downstairs by the real fire in the bar area having a drink, chatting and watching the residents go by. Now it’s time to dress for dinner. Not too dressy mind – most of the hotel guests are like us and normally wearing walking gear.
21:30.
We’re both stuffed after eating a meatfest in the restaurant. Dawn had the Venison and I had the Mallard. Both were gorgeous, and not something we’d cook at home hence us ordering them. The irony? The dish we both enjoyed the most was a side dish – roasted Butternut squash with pickled Walnuts!
Mallard with some interesting (but light) sides. Dawn’s melt off the bone Venison.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
It’s early but I’m on the rails again. This time heading to Aylesbury from Central London in order to (hopefully) record the first beams of the deck of the new HS2 viaduct being lifted into place. I’ll blog throughout the day when I can. For now, I’ll let this picture do the talking!
08:05.
The job’s been pushed back a couple of hours so I’ve had time to take a trip out to Princes Risborough and back on the first day of the line reopening after the recent blockade.
17:00.
S’cuse the huge gap here, but that’s due to being very busy and also being knackered. Today’s been another fascinating day learning about and seeing modern construction techniques that are making HS2 such a green railway. Forget the absolute dross you hear from ani HS2 protesters, Nimbys and a former BBC Environment Correspondent who’re still chucking out a decade and more old table top calculation, this is the real world and real construction where the UKs’ importing skills from abroad and people who’ve been doing this for years. The old methods went out of the window years ago.
The site I’ve been visiting is that of the Thame viaduct. It’s nowhere near as grand as the iconic Colne Valley viaduct as it’s low-lying (3.3 meters high) and only 880 meters long as its designed to cross a floodplain – and today was an ideal time to see that floodplain in action! The reason for today’s visit was that the girders that form the deck of the bridge have started to be lifted into place and a few of us were invited along to watch the operation.
I’m currently heading back to Yorkshire from Kings Cross after returning to London, so I’ll be adding a few pictures shortly. Bear with me!
17:30.
Here’s some pics from the day.
The cranes are prepped, ready to lift the 4th girder into place.
The lorry arrives with the girder. This is a fine example of how HS2 is spreading wealth around the UK. The crane on the left is on hire from a company in Inverness, Scotland. The HGV bringing the girder in us from a company in Richmond, North Yorkshire, whilst the company manufacturing the girders and pillars is based on the Isle of Grain. Kent.
Two girders which have already been installed sitting on their prefabricated piers.The girder is slowly, gently swung into place before being lowered onto the bearings. Gently does it. The girder inches down onto the bearings and a jack which will be used for the final (vertical) alignment.Here’s what you don’t see. This is the piling for pier 18, inside the coffer dam constructed to keep the flood plain water at bay. Each of these piles is 45 meters deep. A prefabricated pier that’s already been assembled, waiting for the girders to arrive. The flooded fields in the background give away why this bridge is needed, even though it’s only 3.3 meters in height it’s 880m length bridges the area.
18:30.
We’ve just left Doncaster and I’m looking forward to getting home. It’s been a long day…
20:20.
Right, I’m home and uploading a few camera pictures of the Thame valley viaduct for your delectation. When I have time I’ll add some more technical details. But for now, this is me signing off!
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
It may be Sunday night but there’s no rest for the wicked. I have a morning appointment to visit an HS2 construction site near Aylesbury tomorrow so I’m travelling South this evening in preparation. This late trip means I’ve been able to enjoy a leisurely day at home with Dawn, which has been lovely, especially as the pair of us were out late last night at a friend’s 60th birthday party. Kath had booked a meal for us all at the Astronomer in the Piece Hall in Halifax where we enjoyed a fantastic array of tapas dishes. It’s the first time we’ve eaten there in this incarnation, but it’s unlikely to be the last. Afterwards we adjourned to the Railway pub (an old favorite) for a last drink before heading home. The Railway has a disco night on Saturday, only this weekend with a Halloween theme. The music’s unashamedly 70s-80s but it always draws a good crowd. It was an ideal place to hide from the rail as it bucketed it down last night!
Thankfully, today’s been dry and sunny so I’ve had time to catch up with some gardening as well as other household chores, whilst still managing a few hours work.
Right now I’m on my way to Leeds on Northern’s 18:52 service from Halifax to Leeds. It’s a quiet, 2-car train as this is a neither here nor there time to be travelling.
20:00.
Leeds station was just as quiet as my Northern train tonight – although the fact it was chucking it doen with rain (again) may have had something to do with it. We’ve certainly had our fair share of the wet stuff over the past week. I was only passing through so didn’t even bother getting the camera out. Instead, I headed for the warmth of the LNER ‘set’Azuma’ set sat in the platform which was ready to form the 19:45 to Kings Cross.
This is another relatively quiet train, although my coach has been graced by a bunch of students who’ve obviously been out for a few beers and are now scoffing their vegan fast food aboard. Frankly, It smells just as greasy and unappetising as the ‘real’ stuff!
21:00.
We’re well on our way to our next stop at Peterborough right now – not that you’d know as it’s pitch black outside. Now the clocks have gone back daylight’s disappearing all too fast. I love the quality of winter light but I do miss those long summer days.
As there’s nothing to see I’ve been keeping busy working on the train. Trying to organise far too many picture folders into one coherent database for filing and to ensure everything productive has appeared on my Zenfolio website our gone out to clients. This is also a useful exercise for ignoring the depressing news that’s coming out of Israel, Palestine – and now Dagestan. Thanks to Homo Sapiens this planet is becoming ever more fcuked up. We seem to be beset by storms, political, social, economic and environmental – fuelled by populist politicians who haven’t got a clue what to do about anything other than cling to power, posture – and lie.
21:20.
We’re now South of Peterborough after being held in the station to let fast services to London overtake us. The trains still quiet although the station (being an important interchange) was full of people swapping between trains. This is like the old days for me. Back in the late 80s early 90s I’d often spend a weekend with an old friend from the Southport diaspora here in Peterborough. On Friday I’d travel up from London after work and return on trains like this. Well, not ‘exactly’ like this – the Class 91s were new in those days, so often it’d be a packed HST that would take me back to Kings Cross. Happy days in many ways.
22:25.
Arrived! I’m now indulging in a spot of night photography at Kings Cross, waiting for my steed in to return to Leeds as the 22:35. Not bad – a 30m turnaround. The weather’s been wet in London earlier but it’s dried out enough to deprive me of the puddles and reflections I’d have liked to have had. Oh, well. Blur shots it is then…
23:30.
And blur shots shots it is! Here’s my train returning to Leeds…
I find London stations fascinating places at night, but that maybe because I’ve spent over 40 years haunting them and seen some incredible changes – especially at the likes of Kings Cross. I first spent night-time here back in the 1970s when the area had a terrible reputation for drugs and prostitution. In that respect it was no different to any other gateway to capital cities but as a teenager it had a frisson of danger which made it quite exotic. It’s been cleaned up massively since those days. Back then you could go ‘off grid’ as soon as you left your house. Now, when I wander through the place I can spot the homeless and overnight travelers who gravitate to stations because they’re warm, safe and have power sockets, seats – and wifi! The modern world isn’t all bad – even if we as a developed country still have the stigma of homelessness – but that’s the Tories for you.
Ironic too when I think about it. There were always people exploiting the young homeless in London in those days, but word got around about who to trust or not. Now we know that some of the most untrustworthy people were media personalities. Funny old world…
Right now I’m updating this blog and posting pictures from the ‘Cross wifi. I was going to venture up the road to some old haunts but a signal failure at Finsbury Park has added too much of a wild card. Instead I’ll stay local.
00:30.
The last update. I’m now at Euston before calling it a day. It’s a nightmare of a sation nowadays as it’s far too small for the traffic it handles. The new ‘information’ screens don’t help. Commercial and political pressure has meant the vast majority of space has been given over to advertising.
Train information to the left, fcuk off advertising screens everywhere else. As if this will prevent the infamous Euston platform rush.
Folk who’ve missed their trains or who have nowhere else to go are bedding down here too. I noticed one lovely act of human kindness. A young African woman laden down with suitcases is holed up in a corner. One of the station security guards ( who’re hardly paid a kings ransom) stopped to chat, then slipped her a fiver so she could get a coffee in the morning. I sometimes forget that humans can can actually display humanity – and charity.
Right. Enough from me. See you tomorrow.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Last night’s pessimism was thankfully unfounded. It seems Trans-Pennine Express have managed to get four of their class 68s into service today, so I’m off for a day out to meet up with old friends and enjoy a few trips behind these trains before their untimely demise. Or, to borrow railway enthusiast terminology, we’re going to ‘bash’ a few! The sorry saga of the Vossloh built Class 68s and their CAF built coaching sets is worthy of a blog of its own. It doesn’t show the railway in a good light, from TPE themselves right through to CAF, the builders of the coaches. Poor decision making and planning runs through the story like the letters through a stick of rock.
Right now I’m still in a very foggy Calder valley, waiting for a late running 09:22 to Manchester Victoria. I’ll be meeting some friends in the city to catch the first working which will carry us back across the Pennines. Watch this space…
A CAF train that does work…
09:50.
We’ve now burst through the Summit tunnel into Lancashire and – as is typical – we have very different weather here. The fog’s lifted, as have the clouds letting the sky tease us with glimpses of clear blue sky.
The change seems to have befuddled my train. The information screens and PA are announcing we’re approaching Low Moor (near Bradford) just as we speed through Saddleworth!
11:20.
The fun begins…
13:05.
We’re back in foggy Yorkshire. What a change from the sunshine of Lancashire. Right now we’re awaiting the road from York to Malton where we’ll be meeting another couple of the group who’ll join us for the stip to Seamer where we’ll pick up a Westbound service back to York. This train’s been busy throughout the trip with a constant churn rate of passengers. These five car sets will be missed when they revert to three car trains.
21:15.
yes, I know, there’s been a huge gap in blogging here. That’s mainly because we’ve been having so much fun together – in real life. Our plans were fluid so the gang ended up meeting up in Malton en-route to Scarbados – sorry Scarborough. Only there was a much more interesting opportunity by changing trains at a pace called Seamer, which allowed us to sample a different Class 68 and Mk 5 set to get us back to York. By which time it was beer o’ clock. So, the four of us adjourned to some of the lesser well-known real ale pubs for a bevvy or two where we could relax, enjoy each others company and talk about all manner of things.
68025. Our steed fom Seamer to York.
The hour we’d set aside turned into several. but what a lovely day. For me it was a chance to enjoy my birthday with some close friends without any pressure to ‘do’ things.
Three of the four, Mr Holcombe was hiding. Thanks to JV for the selfie!
Now I’m back at home as we’ve gone our separate ways. The trains I’ve caught have been packed – so much for the claims no-one’s travelling by rail anymore. What surprised me is that it wasn’t just trains syphoning folk into Leeds, people were travelling much wider. A night out in Halifax? Some folk were going for it!
Now it’s time for me to relax back home and sort out a few pictures. Tomorrow Dawn and I are out with different friends (the five from the 6) to celebrate Kath’s birthday, but there won’t be a train in sight…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
A day I’m glad is over to be honest. The weather here in’t Calder valley has been wet and miserable but that didn’t matter so much as I’ve spent the vast majority tied to my computer. First I had to sort out and edit pictures from yesterday as some are needed immediately for my next article. That took quite a while. Then I ended up wasting a couple of hours in a frustrating battle to get a new Fitbit. My ‘old’ one (just out of warranty) died last weekend when the battery gave up the ghost because it refuses to charge. After some to-ing and fro-ing with Fitbit they agreed to send me a voucher for 50% off a new one. Not perfect, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Then I tried to use the voucher code. No-go. Repeatedly, for several days. So, today I contacted then again. Sorree – we’ll send you a new voucher code. Which they did. Only this time it was only for 35% off. Oi! I complained. After much more to-ing and fro-ing they apologised and said they shouldn’t have given me 50% as in the UK we’re only entitled to 35% (I wonder why?). But, a deal’s a deal. Only they couldn’t send me a new voucher. Oh no. Now I have to buy a full price Fitbit and they’ll refund 50%. Eventually, when it’s shipped – which may be days…
All this took over two hours to sort out as there’s no-one on the end of a phone, it’s a keyboard chat. The frustrating thing? They insisted on a copy of the order details to be sent to them. Eh? You’ve already got everything – I’m buying it off you! So, after faffing around with screenshots, they finally (albeit with an apology) said ‘OK’. Now I have to wait and see what happens.
This faff didn’t exactly put me in a good mood, but I gritted my teeth and finished writing my RAIL article, doing my very best not to let sarcasm slop over into it when I was writing about some recent political puffery. OK, maybe the Subbie is going to have to wield a judicious scalpel…
So, everything done and sent off I realised it was late and I’d promised to cook, which was just as well as I needed the therapy. Now I can add a fresh batch of Chana Masala to today’s accomplishments. At least the decks are now clear for tomorrow when I’m having a bit of a day out as a celebration of becoming a Beatles song. I’ll leave you guessing as to which one! The day might not go to plan as the idea was to enjoy a ride behind one of the last Trans-Pennine Express Class 68s and Mk 5 sets before they’re withdrawn at the December timetable change. Problem is, TPE have very few working sets and locos left and only one Class 68 is shown as being out tomorrow. Hopefully the spanner-monkeys will be busy on the other one overnight…
In the meantime, here’s a picture of what I’m hoping to enjoy…
68025 hauls 1U52, the 12:48 Scarborough to Manchester Piccadilly through Batley on the 19th Aril 2023.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 