Sorry for the latest hiatus in blogging. This one’s been due to scribbling for a living as I needed to complete round Britain trilogy for RAIL magazine. The last one was finished today so now I’m free to concentrate on other matters, such as writing for pleasure and travelling. I’ve various project in the pipeline for November which should keep you entertained as there’ll be plenty to write about, starting tomorrow. It’s our wedding anniversary on Saturday so I’ve booked us a couple of nights away in Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast. It’s relatively easy to get to from West Yorkshire, which is an advantage. Plus, the weather’s meant to be good, continuing the run of unseasonably mild weather we’ve been having throughout the month. Our plan is to spend our time walking and exploring the coast as well as indulging in some of the local seafood. I’m not a great fan of fish and chips but I may have to indulge as they’re one of the things Whitby’s famous for, so it would be rude not to! I’m sure all the walking we’re planning will work off any calorific excesses!

I’ve enjoyed writing up my trip for RAIL (the first part of which is in newsagents now) but it’s always a bit of a struggle fitting seven days into 12,000 words spread over three articles. It’s not that it’s difficult to write – far from it – it’s choosing what to mention and what to leave out. Truth be told, after a week travelling around the UK by rail I always have enough material to write a book. I always end up with bulging notebooks. Maybe, one day, when I ‘retire’ (ha!) I’ll have time to expand on the original articles using all the material I never had space for. They’d certainly make for some interesting blogs as I’ve been travelling the network ever since 2004, so you can imagine the changes I’ve seen. Sadly, I suspect that will never happen. I’ve enough to try and write about with the present day, but we’ll see…

Right now it’s time to come back to the present and leave you with a picture of the day. My ambition was to get all my old slides scanned by the end of this year, but that’s turned out to be a forlorn hope. I’ve still a couple of 1000 left to do, along with many scans that I haven’t yet edited. Here’s one. This was taken in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, Southern India in February 1998. The village is an amazing place as its full of stonemasons who make the most amazing statues. Carving has a long history here, and the 5 Rathas are a testament to that. Cut out of solid granite, these figurines and temples were made between 690–725 CE. This one’s the Bhima Ratha.

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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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

There’s a very short blog from me tonight as – despite the fact it’s been a busy and varied day – there’s no time for blogging as we’re busy packing for our trip to North Norfolk, so expect a rolling blog tomorrow. That shouldn’t be too difficult because as there’s four of us we’re taking the car. I’ll be navigating/riding shotgun which should give me time to type.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with a picture of the day. Today’s is from a backlog of scanned slides from India in the 1990s that I’ve yet to get around to edit. Now, India back in 1995 was a very different country to the one it is now. Forget the internet, there wasn’t even many TV channels and Satellite TV was in its infancy, so the place was a lot more conservative which is why I did a double-take when I saw this surreal hand-painted billboard.

I’d loved to have known what was going through someone’s (well, a man’s, obviously) mind when they decided that a woman in a low-cut, tight black dress and playing a saxophone was just what you needed to sell bathroom fittings…

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Today’s been another mixed bag here at Bigland Towers and one enlivened by having a four-legged friend for company again – even if this canine companion was only on loan for 24 hours!

Dawn was up bright and early as she decided it was her turn to take ‘Bernie’ out for a walk. The pair of them padded off long before breakfast and ahead of the rain clouds that threatened to put a damper on the day.

Absolved of such duties I stayed at home and brewed to coffee, ready for their return. I’d various work jobs on my ‘to do’ list as well as household chores so the day’s pretty much flown by. We bid goodbye to ‘Bernie’ this afternoon as her owner came to collect her. Shame – I could have got used to taking her for a walk via our local pub but that would only have got me into trouble! Still, I managed to get out for a stroll (sans dog, and pub) when the weather brightened up as I had some shopping to do in Sowerby Bridge as well as drop the latest old slide sales into the post.

The brightening evening weather gave me chance to sit and relax in the sunshine on our terrace and top up my Vitamin D before returning to the office in order to relaunch my slide scanning project. I never did manage to finish this during Covid and the reopening of the world’s meant that the final few 1000 pictures have had to take a backseat to other (paying) jobs. Now it’s a question of fitting in scanning around other things, but I wanted to get a load prepped ready to be able to fill in an hour or so if the weather turns.

Another things I’ve relaunched now that my monthly eBay quota is about to renew is selling off original rail slides that are duplicates of ones I’ve already scanned. Expect many hundreds to appear in July, but in the meantime here’s 130 to choose from.

OK, it’s getting late so onto today’s picture, which is one of the latest batch of old slides I’m scanning. This was taken in Chennai, Tamil Nadu India in February 1998. Lynn and I had taken the bus into Channai (Madras as was) for a day, swapping the beach at lovely Mahabalipuram for the frenetic pace of the city. Whilst we were waiting for the bust to depart on the return this group of street-children clambered aboard to hustle. Kids being kids, it wasn’t long before they broke off to play games!

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Apologies for the lack of blogging this week. This is due to several reasons. One is enjoying my new found freedom now that I’m Covid free. Dawn’s had the week off work so the pair of us have been extremely sociable, having eaten out several times already this week. First with Dee’s family, then last night we were invited round to friends for a home cooked meal of delicious Greek meatballs. Today we’ve been out for a pub lunch and a few drinks with another couple who’re the powerhouses behind the friends of Mytholmroyd station. We’ve really enjoyed these short-notice events which are such a refreshing change after all the lockdown protocols when the levels of planning involved in getting to see someone was like a military operation. Being able to share spontaneous quality time with friends again is brilliant.

This hectic social whirl has meant I’ve simply not had time to blog, but I’m sure I’ll be able to make up for that shortly. Tomorrow I’m taking a trip over to Southport to drop off a Tuxedo for my Niece’s husband to borrow, so I’m sure there’ll be blogging involved in the trip.

Until then I’ll leave you with today’s picture which is another from the latest batch of old slides from India. This is Sravanabelagola in the Southern state of Karnataka, seen in January 1997. It’s famous for its Jain temple and statue of Bahubali which is the tallest monolithic statue in India. As you can see, it’s quite a surreal landscape.

I’ve a 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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank You!