Category Archives: London

Rolling blog. A day return to London…

14 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by in Hs2, London, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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05:30.

It’s another silly o’ clock start for me. I was already up before my alarm which was set for 04:45. Now I’m putting the finishing touches to my packing before heading down to London.

06:02.

Despite my best efforts to creep around the house I woke Dawn who (bless her) offered to give me a lift to the station, so here I am, waiting for the first Westbound train of the day, the 06:04 to Wigan North Western. In the week since I last caught this service the days have got noticeably shorter. The day was just beginning to break, now it’s much darker.

I joined the front car which already had half a dozen occupants which isn’t bad for this unconsciable time of day! Almost immediately on departure a rather jolly Conductor came around to check tickets and we chatted for a few minutes about the merits and demerits of shift work and early starts. Having posted this on social media a friend tweeted and trumped my early start by saying he was already leaving his front door on the South coast at 04:45 to head into London!

06:40.

We’ve just left Rochdale where we picked up more than a dozen folk as well as depositing the Royal Mail workers I observed last week. My car now has 15 people aboard for the run to Manchester Victoria, not a bad number for the first train. Sunrise has finally arrived although the day’s looking gloomy.

07:10.

I’m on the move again but not via my normal route across the city centre. It’s said that a change is as good as a rest, so I hung around at Victoria long enough to grab a few pictures, observe passenger numbers (continuing to build) and waited for the train that was following mine across the Pennines in the shape of a Leeds – Chester service which I’m catching as far as Warrington Bank Quay. Reliability of this service can be patchy so I hedged my bets by waiting at Manchester in order to keep my options open. As it is, it’s on time. This route’s normally worked by Class 195s so it’s a comfortable alternative option with cross platform interchange at Warrington. Admittedly, with getting a lift earlier and not schlepping across Manchester on foot my daily step count is less than stellar so far, but I’m hoping to make that up later.

08:50.

The weather in Warrington was just as grey as the rest of my travels so far today – only wetter! Rain had set in which didn’t make a great backdrop for the few pictures I managed to take. The only highlight was observing a Northbound charter train from Chester to Carlisle via the Settle and Carlisle line run by West Coast railways. Whilst ‘standard’ seats were fairly quiet, Premier Dining seemed to be near full. Top and tailed by another pair of Class 47s, the train made a smoky departure North.

Shortly afterwards my service arrived in the shape of the 08:00 from Preston to London Euston. Warrington Bank Quay is its last stop. From here it runs fast to London, a distance of 182 miles, 11 chains. Capacity-busting, long- distance, non-stop services like these will transfer to High Speed 2 when it opens, freeing paths on existing lines for more regional, local and commuter services as well as freight – all the real winners from HS2.

Out of curiosity I walked through Standard just to see how many people were aboard. I counted 72 people, not a huge amount although this is a premium (full price ticket) service, so perhaps understandable. Now, if only we could persuade the Dept of Transport and the Treasury to stop trying to use the farebox as a cash-cow and start charging realistic ticket prices we could soon see this train full again.

09:10.

We’re now going ‘full tilt’ (if you’ll pardon the pun) down the Trent Valley with rain streaming along the windows as the weather hasn’t improved one jot. The sky is a uniform battleship grey with no sign of any breaks. Looks like I’m just going to have to get used to getting wet…

10:00.

We’ve just passed Harrow and Wealdstone in North London where the weather’s still grey and miserable, but the rain’s stopped. My event’s not far away between 11:00 -13:00. Will my luck hold?

17:00.

Well, that was a busy few hours. The job I couldn’t talk about was the official opening of HS2’s new 30-acre logistics hub near Willesden Junction on the site of the former Willesden Euroterminal on the West side of the West Coast Main Line. Some of the event took place in the pouring rain when one of GB Railfreight’s Class 66s (66796) imported from Europe was named ‘The Green Progressor’, by a young HS2 fan. 15 year old Jermaine Allen from Leeds and HS2 CEO Mark Thurston.

Jermaine (@Jermain37354962 on Twitter) has been a supporter of the project since he was 5. This bright and personable young man is also a knowledgeable ambassador for the project. What Jermaine didn’t know was that there was a second locomotive to be named today – and that second one (GBRF Class 08 shunter 08703) was named after him! It was hidden behind the Class 66 and rolled out after the first naming…
L-R, Karen (Jermaine’s Mum), Jermaine. HS2 CEO Mark Thurston, Nigel (Jermaine’s Dad) and James Richardson, Managing Director, SCS JV.

Here’s the two locos in full.

After the naming we were treated to a tour of the control tower and given a briefing on of how the site is the hub for processing spoil from the 26 miles of London tunnelling undertaken by several tunnel boring machines and removing it to disposal sites at Barrington (Cambs) and Rugby (Warks) as well as being a future arrival site for tunnel segments that will be manufactured in Kent. The control centre’s a fascinating place because of the sheer amount of data it collects and collates on HS2 activity on the sites the SCS joint venture works on around London. As well as managing train movements in and out it also controls HGV and other road vehicle traffic. The data helps to streamline the activities to make them more efficient. This has a threefold impact. On costs, carbon and impact on the communities around the worksites. The data is displayed on two massive boards in the centre of one of the rooms. This one deals with rail traffic.

In another room were given the run-down on two other monitoring systems, but I won’t go into too much detail about them. One controls security around the site and monitors protester activity (what’s left of it) whilst the other looks at staff training and competencies and a whole range of statistics that help the JV and HS2 Ltd to assess that they’re hitting various targets and commitments. There’s also a system that monitors all HGV and LGV vehicles to ensure that they stick to agreed routes and don’t ‘stray’ plus a new system that’s being developed called ‘mudcam’. This camera system ensures that mud on the entrances/exits to HS2 compounds is monitored and dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Loading spoil from the Old Oak Common station construction site. Currently, this is being moved by road and stored in the background before being loaded onto the train for movement to Barrington. Soon, the spoil will be moved between the Old Oak and Willesden sites by an overhead conveyor. I’ll be making another visit to Willesden hub once this is in operation. I’ll write that up as a separate blog.

17:00

Right now I’m back on yet another Pendolino heading Northwards towards home. The brief dry spell that enabled me to get decent pictures of the loco’s soon vanished and I’m back in the gloom and murk as we speed North. In fact, the rain seems to be getting heavier again as I pass through Staffs. There’s certainly no incentive to hang around with the camera anywhere, that’s for sure…

20:33.

Home again! The weather defeated me and I’ve another busy day tomorrow so apart from getting a few shots of the dereliction and decay at Crewe station I only stayed long enough to change trains and head into Manchester before performing my usual traverse of the city centre from Piccadilly to Victoria to come home in order to have a quiet evening picture editing.

Tomorrow I’m off on a very different job compared to today. I’m heading to Norfolk with more of a Community Rail hat on to look at a project involving young artists and the redevelopment of a local station, so watch out for tomorrow’s rolling blog to see how I get on. Thankfully, the weather prospects are far better than what we had today so I’m hoping to stay dry…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

2nd September picture of the day…

02 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by in London, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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Apologies for the lack of a blog of any kind yesterday. This was due to the fact my normal mode of transportation (rail) was swapped for travelling back from Surrey to Yorkshire by road and trying to blog in a car isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Oh, there’s also the small fact that my wife was doing the driving and Dawn (not unreasonably) would have been less than impressed if I spent the journey tapping away at my phone!

In truth, we didn’t depart Surrey until late afternoon but we were both busy with work and chores before we left so time was at a premium. The journey’s just shy of 250 miles and takes over 5 hours with one stop. We left at 16:00 and weren’t sure what to expect departing at that time but we actually had a really clear run, even though we take the route avoiding the M25 and skirt the West side of Oxford instead. We arrived home just before 21:30 and spent the rest of the evening unpacking and settling in back at home, so blogging was the last thing on my mind.

Today’s been different, but equally busy. I visited the Friends of Mytholmroyd station today for a rather special event which I’ll blog about tomorrow. Needless to say, a good time was had by all and it was great to see some old friends and faces again. I’ve a very busy week ahead of me next week so I’ll be having a full day in the office tomorrow in preparation – as well as getting all of this weeks pictures onto my Zenfolio website. Today’s picture of the day is one of them.

London’s rail network is fascinating. Lines crisscross the capital – and each other. Here’s one such place where two very different systems cross in the open. I took this shot at North Acton on Tuesday whilst I was out looking at various HS2 construction sites. The timing was just right and as a Central line tube train pulled out of the station and headed towards the city a London Overground Train passed overhead.

You can find many more pictures from my travels on the London Underground by clicking on this link. All the pictures from my exploration of the High Speed 2 construction sites are here.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Rolling blog. The Surrey commuter…

31 Tuesday Aug 2021

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08:00

Today I become a Surrey commuter, taking the train into London for the day to visit a camera repairer and spend the day visiting various railway locations around my old home. Sadly, it’s a very grey start to the day ‘dahn sarf’ although the forecast for the capital looks more promising. As the extended bank-holiday weekend is over I’ll be interested to see how many people have returned to work and how busy the capital is without its usual summer overload of foreign tourists. Or are they starting to creep back? Whatever, it should be an interesting and enjoyable day. Keep popping back to see how it develops. Right now I’m packing my kit ready for a lift to the station. See you later…

08:45.

Dawn’s dropped me off at the station in time to catch my first train of the day, the 08:33 to Guildford. You used to have to change at Aldershot to get to Guildford, but nowadays there’s a direct service. Today it’s operated by 450007 a 4-car Siemens Desiro. The trains lightly loaded with just half a dozen in my car after leaving Aldershot. Not having any previous experience of the route at this time of day I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

The heavy grey clouds have now added drizzle to the entertainment outside my train window. My Scottish friends have a word for a day like this. Dreich.

09:30.

On arrival at Guildford I had just enough time to grab a couple of pictures before the next Waterloo service arrived. The 09:05 was worked by a pair of well loaded 5-car Class 444s. I maged to find a seat for the trip to Woking where I changed once more in order to catch a service stopping at Clapham junction. A minute late a brace of diesel powered Class 159s rolled in, so I joined the leading seat which contains a respectable number of passengers.

09:55.

I see the London Overground is back to normal already.

11:30.

My trip on the busy Overground took me to Shepherds Bush, one of the few areas of London I really don’t know very well as I never had much call to go here. That said, the area around the LOROL and Underground stations has undergone a massive redevelopment, so it’s hardly surprising I don’t recognise much! I was here to catch the Central Line out to one of its Western extremities. As an old East-ender I know the other side well, but I was shocked to see the state of the trains today. They’re filthy inside and out.

They’re kept free of litter but they really do need a deep clean and some TLC. My trip took me to the far end of the line at West Ruislip. I’d come here to get shots of the HS2 construction site which is next to the line and easily visible from the station overbridge, as you can aee from this picture. It’s rail connected so that when it’s fully operational material can leave/arrive by train.

Thankfully, by the time I arrived the miserable drizzle had lifted, allowing me to get the shots I wanted. Now I’m heading back into London to grab shots from a few more locations on the line.

15:00.

I’ve had a busy time. My next stop was to East Acton, where I wandered up to Wormwood Scrubs to see the work HS2 contractors are doing to divert some utilities. As usual, some local ‘greens’ are screaming blue murder about the “destruction” of the Scrubs. There’s even a squalid squatters, sorry “protest” camp on the site near the work that’s taking place. Needless to say, the reality of what’s happening is far more mundane. A trench is being dug from OldOak Common Lane N-E along the edge of the Common. The fencing is far wider than the trench itself! Here’s the compound on the main road. Not exactly ‘laying waste’, is it? I’ll do a different blog about the whole site another time.

Meanwhile, here’s what the rest of the Scrubs looks like. The trench works are to the left, at the end of this temporary access road. Looks very ‘destroyed’, doesn’t it?

Meanwhile, just the other side of the railway to Wormwood Scrubs is the site of the new Old Oak Common HS2 station where construction works recently started. The station will be built in a vast underground box. Here’s what it looks like today as work ramps up. This is going to be stopped by the handful of squatters on the Scrubs? Seriously?

Retracing my steps to White City it suddenly dawned on me when I last spent time around here and why – and they’re not fond memories. I used to come here regularly in 2004-05 because my sister was receiving treatment for breast cancer at the Hammersmith hospital. Having beaten the disease back in the early 1990s it returned again 10 years later. Two mastectomies and specialist treatment only slowed it down. Sometimes she’d come down from Southport to stay with us whilst she had the treatment, other times she’d come down for the day. As Ruth didn’t know London I’d be her guide and get her to the hospital by bus and tube. I was with her on her last visit when the Surgeon told her there was nothing more they could do, her condition was terminal and she needed to arrange a Hospice. She was devestated after fighting for so long. She had two young children and fought like a lioness to see them grow up. It was an awful experience trying to comfort her. What on earth can you say to someone in that situation? So, now I remember why I never visited Acton again afterwards.

17:30

Shrugging off those memories I doubled back to Clapham Junction and on to Vauxhall to deposite my poorly lens in the tender care of Fixation, a company I’ve been using since I turned professional. They’re exellent and always helped me in the past. Hopefully the damage isn’t too severe and can be repaired quickly. Having that mission over I made my way to Clapham Junction once more to get pictures of these old girls, which are living on borrowed time due to delays in getting their replacements working, drivers trained and the units in service. Until that happens, the old 1980s, BR built Class 455s will remain on the front line, forming the backbone of suburban services.

Here’s what will displace the Class 455s. One day. This was a new Bombardier Aventra in Clapham Junction yard this morning.

19:00

I’m now off the rails (as it were!) and back in Tilford getting ready for a meal out with Dawn and her Niece, Jessica. We’ll be eating in Farnham so I’ll be going off-grid for a couple of hours. When we get back I’ll finish off this blog with a few more pictures and impressions from the day.

22:00.

I’m back! We enjoyed a relaxed and really good meal at Cotes in Farnham. Jess had only recently returned from her first festival experience at Reading and loved it (well, apart from the toilets, obviously – a rite of passage for any first-time festival goer), now we’re back in Tilford and I have chance to bring this blog to and end with a few thoughts and a couple of pictures.

Thoughts? How busy the railways have become again in such a short time. Travelling on the London Overground today and you’d think Covid had never happened, but then the Overground sees few tourists, it a Londoners travel network. The Underground was quieter than it was pre-Covid, partly because of the lack of tourists, but also because not everyone’s returned to work. Even so, I believe the doomsayers have been proved wrong – and within a very short time.

Another thought – how massively construction of the new HS2 railway is ramping up. The construction sites are a hive of activity. I visited several today and passed many more. The levels of activity are through the roof now mobilisation is in full swing. I’m looking forward to visiting many more sites along HS2 Phase 1 over the next few months in order to get a fuller picture. All in all, it’s been a fascinating day. But tomorrow I really will be heading North again – albeit not for long. September is going to be a very interesting month…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

27th July picture of the day…

27 Tuesday Jul 2021

Posted by in History, London, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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Today’s been a lot less fraught. No ailing moggie to worry about for a start. Instead the little bugger seems to have made a speedy recovery and spent most of the day either curled up asleep on our bed or mewing for food, attention – or both. Jet’s such a lovely old boy that we can hardly be upset with him. Instead we just cherish the time we have with together.

The weather here in the Calder Valley’s certainly taken a turn. Although the forecast was for rain for much of the day we’ve had very little, merely the odd shower and a few claps of thunder out of some spectacularly threatening skies. Most of the really dark stuff has passed us by – which has allowed me to get in my daily perambulations without getting soaked. I’ve even managed a spot of gardening – cutting back the brambles on the terrace at the back of the house where they’ve made another bid for world domination. I’m sat up on the terrace now, beer in hand, gazing out across the Calder Valley, watching the next phalanx of stormclouds march towards us. It’s looking like this weather’s with us for the rest of the week now which is a shame in one way, but the gardens and woods would certainly benefit from the rain. Either way, I’ve got plenty to occupy myself with, so a few days climate-induced “house arrest” isn’t a problem.

The rest of the day’s not been unproductive. As well as sorting out paperwork I’ve enjoyed a pleasent few hours in the office, lining up some projects for the future now the country’s opening up again, as well as getting more old slides scanned. Right now I’m on an album of really random stuff that never got fully catalogued or filed, so there’s a melange of pictures taken between 1989 – 2003. Travel shots from the USA and Asia or images from my days working in social housing – even pictures of old friends – and of course old shots of Lynn. There’s such a mix of memories in these albums. I’m looking forward to having them all done so that I have digitised access to them in order to do something with them – even if it is just to jog some friends memories on Facebook, saying “remember this”?

This brings me on to the picture of the day which is one of today’s new scans. I took this shot of the old Three Mills complex at Bromley-by-Bow in East London on the 15th February 1990. In those days I lived just down the road on Bromley High St so this place was in walking distance and one day the winter sunshine was perfect for pictures. Built on the River Lea, Three Mills is the world’s largest tidal mill.

The grade 1 listed buildings have a long and fascinating history dating back to the 12th Century. In their time the mills have seen a multitude of uses, from milling flour to grinding grain for alcohol then distilling and bottling it or making gunpowder and used as warehouses right up to their present use for educational projects and as conference spaces. It’s a fascinating survivor of a world long-gone in this part of East London.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Rolling blog: HS2 engineering adventures around the capital…

13 Tuesday Jul 2021

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06:45.

Ugh! The alarm went off at 05:00 this morning in order for me to have a shower, an injection of caffeine and a sugar rush- thanks to Dawn’s freshly made Bakewell tart. Just to add to the excitement the cat decided to be sick and feel sorry for himself so it wasn’t the most relaxed start to the day as we had to clean Jet up before we left. Dee was up too in order to drive me to the station (thank you babe! X) but on the bright side we both enjoyed a beautiful Surrey morning as the mist caused by last nights torrential rain begain to boil away as the sun rose. By 06:00 the mercury had already hit 14 degrees.

I’m currently sat on the London train, a 12 car set from Alton to Waterloo which is pretty empty. In this neck of the woods a lot of people are still working from home. Oh, there were a few dozen people waiting for the train to arrive and it is early, but you’d expect far more than this on a normal working day. It’s upper and middle-class commuter zones like this in the South-East where the rail recovery is going to be the slowest. I’ll be interested to see what Waterloo looks like when I arrive in under an hour. Still, my train’s clean and well-presented. The interior of this Siemens Class 450 has been refreshed with the new SWRailway seat mocquette and there’s now power sockets throughout . Oh, and wifi – which is how I’m transmitting this blog.

Not exactly crowded, is it?

07:10.

Whilst Surrey may be basking in sunshine the closer I get to London the gloomier it gets. The weather along the old London and Southwestern main line feels more like a dull and dank November day not July. Only the fact that the trees are sporting their summer regalia and gardens are full of blooms gives the game away. Hopefully, by the time I get to the HS2 construction site that I’m visiting today things will have perked up.

08:17.

Hanging around Waterloo just long enough to get a few library shots (including of the new ‘green’ wooden seating -nice!) I caught a Bakerloo line tube over to Marlebone. Initially quiet, the train filled up after Charing Cross.

Aboard the venerable Bakerloo line trains, now the oldest on the Underground network.

Marylebone was equally busy with commuters coming off arrivals. Numbers here are really picking up. There’d be little room for social distancing on these trains so It’s just as well rules will be relaxed next week. The vast majority of folk are still wearing masks and I’d be surprised if that changed overnight.

18:00.

Wow! What a day..

The gloomy weather cleared by the time I got to my final destination, which was the amazing HS2 construction site at South Heath, on the edge of the M25. It’s from here that two of the biggest structures on phase 1 of HS2 are being built from. Right now there are two huge tunnel boring machines (TBMs) drilling a pair of 9.1m diameter bores Northwards. These dwarf the 7.6m bores of the channel tunnel. Meanwhile, preperations are underway to begin costruction of the 3.5km long Colne Valley viaduct which will be built Southwards from the same site. Our small group wrre given a guided tour that got us up close and personal with “Cecilia” the second of the 160 metre long TBMs which was launched last week (a week earlier than planned).

I’ll be blogging at length about our visit another time. Right now I’m downloading the pictures from my camera, but here’s a taster.

Here’s what ‘Cecilia’ looks like without me stood in the way…

This isn’t the full 160 metre length of ‘Cecilia’ either. The cutting head and shield have already disappeared into the tunnel and there’s a good few metres of the tail which I simply couldn’t capture, even with a wide-angle lens! This things are big!

And there’s more…

Up close and personal with ‘Cecilia’ (named after Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, an astronomer), the second TBM which was launched last week. This is the view from the tail of the machine, looking through the centre towards the cutting head where you can see a tunnel lining segment waiting to be put into place.
This is the tunnel dug by the first TBM. It’s only when you get this close you realise just how big they are. The Channel tunnel main bores are 7.6m in diameter.These tunnels are 9.1m. Several hundred metres inside the tunnel are the tail lights of TBM ‘Florence’ which is now outside the M25 motorway and running ahead of schedule.
Inside the on-site factory making the steel and concrete segments that will line both of the Chilterns tunnels. The plant will produce approximately 112,300 of these 7.5 tonne segments which come in seven different shapes.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Rolling blog: The great escape…

13 Thursday May 2021

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06:30.

I’m escaping the confines of the Calder Valley today to head back to my old home (London town) for the first time this year. The country is slowly opening up again after so long in slumber due to the pandemic and I’m looking forward to being able to stretch my legs once again and catch up with both people and events. Today’s a beginning.

Apart from the unconscionably early start I really enjoyed the stroll into Halifax to catch the train. Despite the amazing mixture of weather we’ve been having the temperature’s slowly rising bringing far less chilly mornings than we’ve been used to. Admittedly, Halifax is still quiet at the moment.

I was one of only four people waiting for the 06:17 to Chester to arrive but I’ve no doubt that picture will soon change. The three car class 195 that arrived to take us West wasn’t much busier either. Still, it’s been a good journey so far, the Calder valley’s starting to bloom as the trees develop their summer finery whilst early morning mist clings to the hills, making me realise why I’ve always been attracted to this part of the world.

I’ll be blogging throughout the day, so stay with me to see what happens. I’m travelling down to London via the West Coast Main Line (WCML) due to ‘events’ with a certain train builder’s products which will allow me to pass through many old haunts en-route….

06:55.

Having called at Todmorden and Rochdale my trains begun to fill up with early morning workers on their way to Manchester. There’s a mix between folks wearing suits and those in steel toe-caps but it’s far too early for leisure travellers. Whilst the railway may still be quiet I caught a glimpse of the M62 as we passed Castleton and the motorway is chokka. It’s not that people aren’t travelling, it’s what mode they’re taking…

08:20.

Manchester was pretty quiet when I arrived. Victoria station wasn’t exactly a hive of activity and my walk across the city centre was hassle-free. Unusually, the vagrant quotient around Piccadilly Gardens was the lowest I’ve seen for some time although I’ve no idea why. Some other things were noticeable by their absence too – big name department stores like Debenhams. It’s quite eerie to see their huge building on Market street empty. What impact the absence of some famous high-street names will have on city-centres is yet to be seen. It’s sometimes easy to forget that there’s still 5 million people on furlough. When they return to work the effect on city centres should be rather interesting…

Manchester Piccadilly has changed since my last visit. The one-way system is much more regimented now and reinforced with barriers. The mezzanine floor remains closed so it’s not as easy to get photos of the concourse. Mind you, a few platforms were empty too, reflecting the lack of hustle and bustle. I was here to catch the 08:05 Avanti West Coast service South. The coach I’m in contains half a dozen people. We’re about to call at Macclesfield, so I’ll be curious to see if any more join us there…

09:00.

After calling at Macclesfield and Stoke our carriage has gained three more people, but that’s all so I’m looking forward to a hassle free journey South. The weather’s dry but cloudy with little definition in the sky – hardly conducive to photography but I’m hoping it’ll pick up when I get further South. Either way it’s great to be back on a Pendolino again. I’d forgotten how well they ride and the terrific performance as they accelerate. Oh, and let’s not forget the tilt!

Having joined the main line at Colwich Junction we’re now cruising past the old power station at Rugeley at 115mph although you’d never know from the behaviour of the train. I only know because I’ve an app on my phone that measures these things! The power station’s a sad sight nowadays. The turbine hall and chimney’s disappeared, as have the coal trains that used to supply it with fuel. All that remains are the four tall cooling towers although – as the site is being cleared for further use I can’t see them standing for much longer.

09:50.

We’ve just pulled away from Milton Keynes where dozens of people were waiting to catch this train. We arrived well ahead of time and sat for 8 minutes waiting for our scheduled departure time. I’d toyed with the idea of changing trains here but the weather’s deteriorated. Now we’ve got a steady drumbeat of rain hitting the train so I’ve decided to stay put in the hope things will be better in the capital.

10:12.

We’ve just passed through Watford Junction, a place where I spent many a bank holiday working on the Network Rail rebuilding and relaying work in 2015. Sadly, the sky’s now as black as Hades so I’ve no idea what to expect when I arrive.

11:27.

I’m now wandering around Euston in the rain. Something’s missing here, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…

22:00.

I’m back! Sorry for the gap in the blog, that was because I was having too good a time doing something we’ve not been able to do for ages – meet up with a few friends. Oh, that and the fact we can only do that outdoors and the weather’s bleedin’ freezing! Considering this is mid-May the weather’s anything but spring-like.

London was cold, wet and hardly ideal for getting pictures, although I did manage a few around Euston, documenting how much the area’s changing thanks to the HS2 rail development. Afterwards the day became social as I met up with some old friends for the first time for ages and the four of us caught one of the last traditional High-Speed Trains from St Pancras North (just for old times sake). There was a real feeling of deja vu about the event as the train was busy with railway enthusiasts. Hang on a minute? Weren’t railway enthusiasts condemning these trains when they were first introduced? Oh yes! In those days the HSTs were replacing many locomotive-hauled services so loved by enthusiasts, so the HST’s were labelled ‘plastic’ trains or denigrated as ‘trams’. Now they’re talked about with nostalgia. Talk about the wheel coming full circle!

The four of us travelled up to Nottingham where we had time for a quick pint before splitting up. Two returned to London whilst Merv and I continued North towards home. The weather didn’t get any warmer but at least we swapped rain for watery sunshine! Having bid adieu to Merv in Sheffield I’m on the final leg home from Leeds to Halifax, having had a thoroughly enjoyable day out. We all agreed that being able to meet up with friends in the flesh, enjoy a few beers and plot future adventures has been good for the soul.

Stupidity, thy name is HS2Rebellion!

06 Thursday May 2021

Posted by in Extinction Rebellion, Hs2, Local elections, London, Politics

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With the anti HS2 campaign continuing to fall apart as more and more activists become ‘slacktivists’ or disappear completely now it’s obvious the game’s up. There’s been little to comment on recently because it’s really all over bar the posturing. Until today, when in one glorious cock-up HS2Rebellion and others who’re linked to the rather ridiculous (but also faintly sinister and rather fascistic) Extinction Rebellion spin-off political party ‘burning pink’ have excelled themselves in utter stupidity and tinfoil-hattery on the day London’s voters go to the polls!

Why? Well, Burning Pink have put up a candidate for London Mayor, one Valerie Brown (who? Ed). You may well ask, as no-one’s ever heard of her before now. Apparently, she’s the co-founder of ‘burning pink’ along with the odious Roger Hallam, who was previously one of the founders of Extinction Rebellion. Frankly, there’s less chance of her winning as there is of finding Lord Lucan.

SkyBet are offering odds of 750-1 on her. To put that into perspective, Count Binface is way ahead of her with odds of 500-1! For someone standing on a supposed environmental ticket her campaign’s been a joke. Money’s been found from somewhere for a campaign ‘battlebus’ which turns out to be a pollution disaster as it’s 17 years old and wouldn’t be allowed on the streets of London any other way.

With her campaign going nowhere Hs2rebellion/Extinction Rebellion activists came up with an idea to attract publicity and make some impossible demands at the same time. Two (one of whom is serial failure Larch Maxey) clambered on to the roof of 1 Eversholt St at Euston and sprayed the building with pink paint, then said they’d only come down if their ridiculous demands were met. They and their hangers-on like ‘Boots on the ground’ (see previous blog) claimed they were spraying the HQ of HS2.

To say these people aren’t playing with a full deck is beautifully illustrated by another of ‘Boots’ tweets from yesterday.

This is tinfoil-hattery of the highest order. Why the Chinese would want inland naval bases miles from the sea would seem to be a logical question, but obviously not if you’ve been sucked into the ‘shocking pink’ orbit where it seems the first thing you’re asked to do is leave your brain at the door.

Now, as Larch Maxey had previously spent 3 weeks holed up in the pointless tunnel under Euston Gardens early in the year, you just might have thought he’d have an idea of who had offices at Euston and where. But no! Needless to say, this stunt backfired in spectacular fashion as people pointed out what should have been blindingly obvious. HS2’s HQ is in Birmingham. Yes, the do have offices at Euston – at the Podium. The offices Maxey and his mate painted are the offices of err…Network Rail, the company that runs the publicly owned rail network, you know – public transport – the sort of thing Greens are meant to like…

Here was the reaction of one person on Twitter who pointed out the obvious.

Of course, the mistake is even harder to make now as buildings 1 and 2 have been demolished so Maxey had a 50-50 chance of getting the correct building – and still failed to get the right one!

Meanwhile, others started doing some digging about that ‘battlebus’…

I sometimes wonder if Extinction Rebellion and ‘Burning Pink’ aren’t actually working for the oil and road lobby as the only thing they’re good for is bringing the UKs green movement into utter disrepute. Whatever these idiots thought they were achieving that would help their cause is a mystery. The reaction on Twitter has been overwhelmingly negative, if anything it’s exposed just how ridiculous, arrogant and unpleasant ‘Shocking pink’ are – with Extinction Rebellion not far behind. Remember, ‘shocking pink’ under their other name ‘beyond politics’ attacked the offices of several political parties (including the Green Party) because they claimed they weren’t ‘radical’ enough.

Still, tomorrow we’ll be able to see the election results. One thing I can confidently predict and that’s the fact Valerie Brown will not be Mayor of London! I’ll update this blog with the results. Anyone care to bet she has less votes than Count Binface?

Of course, this futile act of stupidity does beg one question. Whilst these two and their rag-bag of supporters are poncing around outside Network Rail’s offices, who’s meant to be on the frontline trying to ‘save’ trees and stop HS2?

UPDATE: 9th May.

As promised here’s an update on Brown’s performance in the Mayoral election. She came last! She managed a measly 5305 votes and was trounced by Count Binface who garnered 24775 votes! Worse was to came. ‘Burning Pink’ have reported Brown was arrested at home by the Metropolitan police on Saturday morning for conspiracy to cause criminal damage (of for ‘caring’ as Burning Pink’ claim). She’ll be in good company as Larch Maxey and his co-vandal Xavier Gonzalez Trimmer were also arrested after their stupid stunt.

Meanwhile, in the real world. HS2 construction continues uninterrupted…

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1st May picture of the day…

01 Saturday May 2021

Posted by in London, Musings, Photography, Photojournalism, Picture of the day

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The pair of us have had a productive if hardly exciting sort of day – unless you count the opportunity to tour garden centres again! Maybe it’s one of those signs of ageing, a bit like realising how much you enjoy watching the ‘Antiques Roadshow’ on the telly! As someone who’s been a keen gardener for nearly 30 years I make no apologies for such a pastime – even if my present patch of land is a lot smaller than I was used to. Even so, there’s plenty of opportunity to be creative as the massive stone walls that make up the terraces at the back of our cottage do lend themselves to some imaginative opportunities. Sadly, there’s not a great selection in our local garden centres. Maybe I was spoiled with living in London for 25 years, you could find almost anything you wanted within just a few miles and a trip to the Columbia Rd flower market in the East End was a must when you needed annuals. One centre we visited was just getting a delivery from Holland. A large HGV was taking up a chunk of the car park as pallets of plants were unloaded. I hate to think how much extra the Brexitshambles is costing them in both time and money. What was once a seamless operation is now mired in bureaucracy thanks to us throwing up rather than taking down barriers to trade. Despite the deliveries I’ve noticed that it’s really difficult to find the variety of ferns that I used to be able to buy in London. Maybe they’re not as popular up here? The back of the house is sheltered and in perpetual shadow, so it would ideal for displaying ferns – if only I could find the ones I want. Still, first world problems eh? At least I managed to restock our herb garden and replace some plants we lost due to the harsh winter.

Back at home I had a happy couple of hours replacing knackered hanging baskets, repotting and replanting and generally tidying up the garden – even tho’ the weather’s hardly spring-like as the temperature rarely makes it into double figures at the moment. As soon as the sun gets trapped behind clouds the temperature plummets. Frost is still a concern so I’m being careful what I plant out right now. How different to this time last year when we had such balmy days!

All this talk of gardening has chosen the picture of the day for me because it fits the theme. I scanned this one recently, although it was taken on the 12th March 1994 at Columbia Rd flower market.

Lynn and I were still living in London’s East End at the time and a trip to Columbia Rd was a regular occurrence for myself and some of my neighbours in the Housing Co-op where I lived. Decorating the communal balconies of our flats with plants was a great way of adding a splash of colour. Not everyone who joined us was green-fingered, it was just a great morning out as there were plenty of cafes offering coffee and cake and the opportunities for people-watching – hence this image which was a ‘grab-shot’ through the crowds.

Sadly, this sort of street photography has become harder for all sorts of reasons – especially to do with privacy laws. We’re in danger of losing the ability to document everyday life in the way the old masters of documentary photography never had to worry about – but that’s another blog entirely…

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Thank you!

6th March picture of the day…

06 Saturday Mar 2021

Posted by in London, Photography, Photojournalism, Picture of the day

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Life’s slowly returning to normal for now as (despite his age) our cat shows a stubborn resistance to the idea of dying. The old bugger’s scared the life out of us this week but we’re so knackered by it all we’ve decided the only thing we can do is give him all the love and attention we can whilst starting to think this was a clever ploy on his part just to become the centre of attraction even more than usual! Poor Dawn’s been kept busy trying to find different foods just to attract his appetite and get him to eat, which could be part of his plan…

Moggie maintenance has taken up most of our week so I’m looking forward to getting back to a less fractured routine and chance for more exercise and less stress – especially as the weather’s slowly warming up and the days are getting longer. With a bit of luck I might even be able to dust down the camera and document the present besides scanning the past…

Talking of the past, here’s the picture of the day. I’ve not sorted and slides this weekend so this is one from the last batch. I’ve been posting pictures from all sorts of exotic locations but this is one that used to be close to home. I took this shot at Columbia Rd flower market in London’s East End on the 12th March 1994 which was when I still lived in the East End. Lynn and I used to cycle over to the market from my flat in Bromley-by-Bow to pick up plants to decorate the communal balcony outside our homes. Columbia Rd was a brilliant place to while away a few hours of a Sunday morning, buying plants from the street stalls or drinking coffee outside a cafe whilst people watching and grabbing pictures like this.

I do miss it. Going to local garden centres here in West Yorkshire just can’t compete!

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Thank you!

16th February picture of the day…

16 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by in Architecture, London, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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Life today could best be described as ‘plodding’. That doesn’t mean it’s been a bad day – far from it but excitement and surprise don’t really feature much in these Groundhog Days. Instead there’s slow progress in this, that and the other, but nothing that inspires or really makes the heart sing. Still, I shouldn’t complain as our cage is gilded compared to many and there’s no shortage of (repetitive) things to do. Funny old world though, isn’t it? Who would have thought that one day we’d all be looking forward to the day we can go to a clinic to get a jab and it would be a highlight of your year and news of its reception something you’d proudly share with friends on social media?

So, anyway – here’s the picture of the day to brighten things up. It’s taken from the latest batch of slides scans. This particular image was shot on the 5th March 2001 and shows the wonderful exterior of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London. I have a passion for architecture and architectural photography, although this was one of a series from a list of pictures wanted for a Lonely Planet guide to London.

Built in the 1870s in the Romanesque style the exterior makes wide use of architectural terracotta tiles which helped protect the building from the city’s polluted atmosphere. They also make it gorgeous to look at and feature many relief sculptures of flora and fauna to add to the attractions. As usual, you’ll be able to find the full selection of pictures from London in this gallery on my Zenfolio website.

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If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!