The end of another working week, not that the concept means much nowadays! The pair of us kept occupied throughout the day in our respective offices, slaving away over different things, allowing the time to really whizz bye. If my work was different and I had nothing to do I might find the whole lockdown process difficult. As it is – it just allows me to concentrate on things I’ve been meaning to do for years without the distraction of travelling the country. I can’t think of the last time I spent so much time within a 2 mile radius of home! Although I’m here physically my mind’s ranging in both space and time as I’m researching an article on a railway in East London and scanning pictures from around the country taken 30 years ago. There’s plenty to see and do even within the four walls where I spend most of my time.

The fantastic weather we’ve been having seems to be on the turn right now. The temperatures plummeted and the wind’s sprung up. It’s a real contrast to yesterday when I had to break out the suntan lotion. Hopefully it’ll encourage the folk who’ve been tempted to break out of social isolation to retreat back into their homes. I know that it’s impossible to trust the statistics for the number of Coronavirus infections but the numbers for Calderdale are still remarkably low compared to neighbouring authorities. I’ve no idea why, but it does give a small shred of comfort to know that we’re *possibly* in one of the safer areas. It certainly encourages you to stay put anyway…

The news isn’t all bad. Today the FTSE 100 stock market had a bounce upwards by nearly 3% althought the volatilty of the markets could easily see that gain wiped out pretty quickly, especially as the virus news from the USA isn’t good. The projections from the states look like they’re going to rocket and Trump is a big part of the problem. Statesman? He’s a snake oil salesmen and a lot of people are going to lose their lives because of him. To see the religious right and the gun nuts out on the streets because their ‘freedoms’ are being limited is bizarre, but then that’s USA for you. This really is social Darwinism in action. Could it signal the turning point of populist politics? It’s far too early to tell…

Having slogged away all day I did make a converted effort to make up for it by getting my 12.5k steps in after sitting in front of a screen all day – even if it was by sticking to a well-trodden route by now. Spring has most certainly sprung and our local woods are bursting into leaf with the Bluebells following on behind. Hopefully we’ll have a lovely display to this year to help lift the mood. I do love woodlands and we’re very lucky to have so much of it on our doorstep – as well as all the creatures that inhabit it. Funnily enough, the one feathered friend I’ve not heard yet this year has been the Woodpeckers. Last year they were constant. It was like living next to roadworks and pneumatic drills!

Meanwhile, here’s a sample of the pictures I’ve been scanning. This isn’t the best quality as it was a crap day weather-wise but it’s the incidentals that matter.

This is a Class 31s being backed on to Crewe shed by the depot pilot in February 1990. At the time I’d have cursed the cars in front for not allowing me a clear shot. Now I love them for the fact they didn’t, because it’s the cars that capture the spirit of the age and date the picture! They’d have belonged to rail staff who worked at the depot. What I appreciate as I scan all these old pictures is the ones where its those incidentals that tell the story. It might be paraffin lamps, old parcels trolleys, staff uniforms or even passengers fashions. They all set the scene and make you appreciate what has changed in 30 years. As Joni Mitchell once sang in ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ – you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone…

The start to another week, although the days are getting harder and harder to separate from each other as the routine is pretty much the same. There’s no “hooray, it’s Friday, let’s go to the pub”, or “It’s Saturday, let’s go out for a meal/to the cinema/see a show”. Now the choices are nearly all binary. Work/Don’t work, take your daily exercise indoors/outdoors, go buy food/stay in – and this is only the first week. All those choices we used to be able to make have been taken away from us in the hope isolation will slow the spread of Coronavirus. Will it? It’s too early to tell yet, although some people are making optimistic noises. We shall see…

Our day started at 06:00 as Dawn was up exercising and I was determined to get an early start on scanning another big batch of slides. The weather was cooler and cloudier again today so there was no real incentive to go out. Instead, the day was spent working. I’ve had several picture requests from a magazine, so I’ve been sorting through the archives to fulfil them. After that the slide scanning marathon began. It’s a long, slow, tedious process which is only made bearable by being able to have diversions – such as music to listen to or a film to (half) watch. But at least I’m doing something productive. I feel for those folk who’re cooped up with little to show for it, other than perhaps an expanding waistline!

It’s difficult enough getting exercise during the lockdown without the recent reports of overzealous police and Council officers who’re essentially just making up rules by checking people’s shopping and deciding that they’re making frivolous and unnecessary purchases and trips, or telling shops they shouldn’t be selling Easter eggs and they’re ‘non-essential’. These are dangerous precedents. Policing in the UK has always been by consent, and if the authorities start to ignore this age old rule to resort to heavy-handed authoritarian pettiness we are in danger of seeing a cooped up population become increasingly resentful and fractious.

To help understand these laws and rules I offer this from ‘BarristerBlogger’ Matthew Scott. It’s humorous but legally accurate look at how the rules vary across the UK, and offers advice on what’s reasonable, or not. It’s well worth a read and might even save you a few quid if you’re unlucky enough to encounter one of these petty coppers.

Now, on the bright side, I’ve been ploughing through more and more old railway slides. Right now I’ve got as far as the summer of 1991 when the railways looked very different to the way they do now. I’ve been adding hundreds of pictures to the BR gallery but I’ve also added this new gallery – which is a series of pictures taken at Bath Road locomotive depot in Bristol. It’s all history now, the depot was closed and the site cleared back in the 2000s, so they’re an interesting historical archive. Looking back, I wish I’d taken more, but at the time I was saving up to travel the world for a year so I was being miserly with my film. If only I’d known what the future was going to look like! Here’s a sample of the Bath Rd pictures. Dented or crash-damaged locomotives were much more common in BR days as safety standards weren’t a rigerous. There was no TPWS in 1991! Here’s 47202 which was badly damaged in a crash at Frome on the 24th March 1987. 47202 was hauling a freight train which collided head-on with a passenger train hauled by 33032 after the freight passed a signal at danger (SPAD). You can find the accident report here.

47202 was dumped at Bath Rd for several years, but when this was taken on the 29th June it wasn’t going to last much longer. It was cut up on site by Maize Metals Ltd in September 1991. 

It’s not just the depot that’s gone. See the Royal Mail building in the background? After being reduced to a bare concrete skeleton for many years that’s now been demolished too.