Category Archives: Musings

28th November picture of the day…

28 Monday Nov 2022

Posted by in Railways, Travel, Musings, London, West Yorkshire, Photography, Flora and Fauna, Picture of the day

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It’s been a frustrating day here in Bigland Towers as I’ve been chained to a desk and hot computer all day. I’ve got lots of work done – including having edited all the pictures from the past few days but I’d been hoping to get out for my usual stroll to keep the exercise levels up. Dawn had to take the day off to go and help a friend. That wouldn’t have been a problem apart from the fact two parcels were due to be delivered, so I agreed to wait in until they arrived. Only neither of them did. One company claimed to have called but no-one was in (‘oh yes – I bloody well was’!) and the other never showed up or even left a message, so what little exercise I got consisted of pacing back and forth from the office to the front window, watching out for delivery vans. Ho hum, maybe tomorrow…

As a consequence, it’s a short blog from me today. Still, here’s a few links to the various galleries containing the lates batches of photographs.

The GWR franchise

TfL/Elizabeth line

The GTR franchise

Infrastructure and engineering

Railway stations

Railway people

And last, but not least, a new gallery dedicated to Saturday’s Class 315 commemorative event.

There’s plenty to look at and not all is about trains themselves but also the people, infrastructure and stations that make up our rail network.

I’ll be working from home again tomorrow planning some other sorties, both UK and abroad, but I’m determined to get out at some point, even if it is just a stroll around the valley. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture, which illustrates the sometimes-uneasy relationship we have with our feathered friends, especially in cities.

These tree pigeons are roosting on the handrail of the main staircase in the ‘Lawn’ at Paddington station where they’re surrounded by cafes and restaurants. There’s a constant stream of people passing by but they’ve come to a wary truce with them, even if the truce isn’t reciprocated due to the mass they make with their droppings. But as far as the pigeons are concerned, it’s warm and sheltered with plenty of scraps on offer…

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!

15th November picture of the day…

15 Tuesday Nov 2022

Posted by in Berlin, Germany, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel, West Yorkshire

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Half-way through November already, where does the time go? In my case it’s gone very quickly here at Bigland Towers. After our Whitby wandering I’ve spent the past couple of days in the office, which has been no bad thing as the weather has been crap. Most of Monday was spent enveloped in fog, so sitting in my office blogging and picture editing was hardly a hardship. I didn’t even make it out to get my usual 5 mile walk in. Today was very much the same only with the addition of torrential rain. Combined with leaf-fall and Calderdale Council having neglected to clean any drains around here for years the roads turned into streams. So, when I got stir-crazy it was a case of donning the full waterproofs (including gaiters) to venture down to Sowerby Bridge to drop post off and pick up some food shopping.

That apart I’ve had a productive couple of days. There’s been some utter rubbish written about High Speed 2 by two of the usual suspects (Andrew Gilligan and Simon Jenkins) so it’s been great to have time to blog about their nonsense. I’ve also managed to (almost) clear the backlog of picture editing. All the images from my trip to Innotrans in Germany back in September are now on my Zenfolio website. You can find the Dutch railway ones here and the travel images here whilst the German rail ones are here.

Tomorrow I’m venturing out as I’m representing Community Rail Network at a little event to commemorate Paul Abell, the former Editor of Today’s Railways UK and fellow Community Rail Awards judge who passed away suddenly last year. I’d known Paul for several years as one of the small band of railway Journalists who would often meet up on press trips. Then Paul joined me as a Community Rail Awards judge. The pair of us would help judge the shortlist for the Photographic competition. Paul was always a pleasure to work with and never got ruffled by anything. I don’t ever remember him saying anything stronger than ‘Oh – heck!’- despite his service in the Royal Navy and many years as a teacher! No doubt I’ll post some pictures from what transpires tomorrow.

In the meantime, here’s today’s picture, which is taken from my last batch of pictures from Berlin. This looks innocuous, unless you know the history. Here’s the Teufelsberg (Devil’s mountain in English) seen in September 2022 from the roof of one of the halls at the Messe.

Those ‘golf balls’ are part of an abandoned American spybase which was built to listen in on the Russians. It lasted until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. The hill it’s standing on? That’s man-made. Rising to over 80 meters it’s constructed from the rubble of West Berlin left after the second world war. All the ruined building were cleared and the remains brought here to construct the hill.

It’s a sobering and very visible reminder of the war.

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!

I’m back!

10 Thursday Nov 2022

Posted by in India, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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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.

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!

5th November picture of the day…

05 Saturday Nov 2022

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel, West Yorkshire

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It’s very much a short blog from me today as the old adage ‘nothing to report’ springs to mind. Unless you count cutting back and tidying up the garden ready for winter and filling a few bags with leaves! Admittedly, I find that very therapeutic. I enjoy gardening as it reconnects me with more elemental forces which are very different to what I do for a living. There’s also the satisfaction of being able to see a positive change, unlike (say) clearing your email inbox. Today was a good day to be outdoors. It may have been wet at times but here in the Pennines it’s also surprisingly mild for the time of year – which is great when you consider the escalating costs of fuel bills at the moment.

Having filled a few bags with garden waste and dead leaves I retreated to the office to research some more travel options for the future. Christ on a bike – flights are getting expensive! Admittedly, I’d have much preferred to travel overland, but the part of the world I want to get to (Thailand) has been cut off to all but the bravest (or mad) overland travellers for a long time. OK, I possibly *could* still do it if I wanted to cross Iran from Turkey, but as I don’t have the luxury of unlimited time and that country’s going through a period of huge civil unrest that might eventually see the overthrow of a theocracy ’tis probably not the best time for a Brit to be there! Oh, then there’s Myanmar. So, flights it is then. Eventually…

Of course, today in the UK it’s ‘Bonfire night’ – or ‘Guy Fawkes night‘. The day we celebrate when a bunch of Catholics tried (and failed) to blow up the House of Parliament. Right now, I suspect quite a few people had wished they’d succeeded! As I kid, I loved bonfire night. I came from a big family, and we’d always have a big party in the back garden that involved loads of fireworks, food and drink. Admittedly, at that tender age all I was interested in was the fireworks and my mum’s home-made treacle-toffee. The adults had other entertainments! But, they’re great memories. Alright, there was one year in the 1960s when a party was invaded by some local youths and the police turned up as there was an allegation of a stabbing, which was a bit traumatic when you’re about 6 but hey ho. It’s funny, I’ve only thought about that after decades as I started typing this. I really must remember to ask my elder brothers about it. It’s one of those family stories (and we have a lot) I’ve never really nailed down.

OK digression over. I went out for an evening wander so that I could look over the valley and watch other people’s fireworks as they lit up the valley. Maybe Yorkshire’s rubbing off on me after all these years and I’ve become too tight to buy my own! It was lovely sitting up on the side of the valley and watching a mix of displays and private garden parties light up the skies whilst the gunpowder fog with its distinctive smells drifted across the valley.

Now I’m back in the office quaffing LA beer and realising there’s only one possible picture for today. I know many animals struggle with bonfire night, just as they do with thunderstorms. My mum and our pet dog ‘Dori’ were the same. Both used to be reduced to shaking wrecks by a thunderstorm, so much so that when one happened my mum would get a Valium tablet and cut it in half. She’s take one half and give the other half to the dog! Sorry – I’m digressing again. Right, my point was, not *every* animal I know is frightened of fireworks. Our aged and late lamented moggie (Jet) was one of them. He was inquisitive rather than frightened of fireworks. But the winner goes to this particular dog that I encountered in Tangalle in Sri Lanka back in December 2003. This dog actually tried to eat fireworks!

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!

4th November picture of the day…

04 Friday Nov 2022

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel, West Yorkshire

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It’s a short(ish) blog from me today as the day’s been rather a mixed one. It started out well enough, the weather was gorgeous with wall-to-wall sunshine and clear blue skies, so – after completing several chores and putting other stuff on the backburner I decided to venture out into the valley in the hope of getting some shots of trains amongst the glorious autumnal colours in the woodlands around Todmorden. Only my cunning plan was thwarted by geography. The Pennines are notorious for micro-climates. We can have great weather here in the Calder Valley only for it to be bucketing down next door in the Colne valley. It’s the same if you move just a few miles along the valleys too – as I found when I caught the train. By the time I arrived in Tod’ there were clouds as black as the ace of spades appearing from the North-West. It even started raining. To my surprise I found that staff had salted the station platforms, which didn’t fill me with much hope about the weather. What did they know I didn’t? As I’d planned to be stuck up a hillside for an hour or two, I decided ‘bugger this for a game of soldiers’ and turned tail back to Hebden Bridge, where I stopped to change trains and at least get a couple of shots in the can before catching a service into Halifax – where the weather was back to full sun!

Admitting defeat I wandered home, where I’ve spent the day catching up on work and looking at flight options for a trip to South-East Asia. The prices I’ve been quoted for the time I was thinking of going are painful as they’re in four figures – far more than pre-Covid prices, so it looks like I’m going to have to work out a plan B and alter my dates – and maybe destination. More research is certainly needed.

To cheer myself up I trotted along to our local pub to join friends and partake in the Friday evening quiz. It’s not a formal quiz, it’s just a few of us getting together to answer questions from the quizzes published in the ‘Pub Paper’ but it keeps us amused. This month I’m ‘on the wagon’ as I’ve decided to give my liver a holiday (and lose a few pounds) – so I couldn’t even drown my sorrows. Instead, I was quaffing the alcohol-free ‘Erdinger’ beer, which isn’t bad taste wise, meaning you don’t feel you’re missing out in the way you would if you were nursing a Coke. Now I’m back at home. After knocking up a Prawn Noodle stir-fry for the pair of us I’m now sat in the office sipping Brewdog’s low-alcohol version of their ‘Punk IPA’, which is one of the better LA beers. I I prefer their Nanny State but you can’t get it in any of our local supermarkets, so I have to stock up. Ah well, 4 days down and only 26 more to go. My liver better be bloody grateful…

Right, on to the picture of the day. But what to choose? I know! One of today’s shots from the picturesque Hebden Bridge station.

Here’s the first of the CAF built 3 car diesel units (195101) arriving at Hebden Bridge station on its way to Leeds via Halifax and Bradford Interchange. It’s a little gem of a station as it retains so many of its old Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway features, even though that company ceased to exist in 1923!

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!

2nd November picture of the day…

02 Wednesday Nov 2022

Posted by in Food, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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It’s been another slow day here at Bigland Towers. I’m still recovering from whatever lurgi struck me down on Sunday. The aches and pains have receded, but my energy levels aren’t back up to what they should be, so I’ve not been pushing myself too hard and spent most of the day writing and picture editing – although I did get out for a walk earlier as I was beginning to get stir-crazy. It’s hardly been a great day for walking as it’s been on and off wet most of the day. Fortunately, I managed to dodge the showers whilst I was out. I completed a circuit through our local woods but as I was walking along the road to get to them, I was amazed to see two mature deer bound across the road just 75 meters in front of me. It’s not that unusual to see them around here (even in daylight) but they were leaving a stretch of woods with little cover that’s very popular with dog-walkers and people out for a stroll. It’s not where I expected to see them at all.

Weatherwise, I pushed my luck too much this evening. Dawn’s been very good at looking after me whilst I’ve been under the weather, even though she’s not feeling 100% herself so tonight I offered to walk up to the local supermarket to get some of the ingredients Dee needed for the food she’s preparing. Bad move! The wind had really picked up late this afternoon, sending leaves skittering all over the place. Then the rain came back. I was lucky walking up to the shop as I found a lull in the rain. Hah! It was waiting to pounce on me when I came out – when I had to walk into the teeth of it coming back over the brow of the hill and walk downhill, exposed to the full force of the elements as they hammered across the valley. To be honest, it was rather exhilarating. I love a good storm and I was fully prepared for it as I’d donned full waterproofs including leggings and gaiters, so they got wet, and I didn’t. It certainly blew a few cobwebs away at least.

Now I’m catching up with uploading today’s pictures whilst Dawn cooks up a different kind of storm in the kitchen. Dee loves discovering and trying new recipes and found one yesterday…

Meanwhile, I’ve added two different selections from my recent (well, September’s) sojourn in Rotterdam to my Zenfolio website. There’s the travel and people orientated shots, which you can find here. Then there’s the transport related ones (trams, railways and transport infrastructure) which you can find here. I’ve still more to add and I hope to have them done shortly. Then I can move on to more German shots.

Admittedly, I’d like to get out with the camera to record some of the autumn colours whilst there’s still some leaves on the trees. I’ll see how my recovery goes tomorrow as the forecast for Friday seems promising. Right, it’s time to go as supper’s ready. So, tonight’s picture of the day is of a culinary theme. This is what Dawn’s been busy cooking. I have to admit, the smells emanating from the kitchen were wonderful. Now I know why…

Here’s a red lentil pancake topped with masala vegetables (potato, onion, spinach, carrots, green beans and mushrooms) spiced with turmeric, cumin, white mustard seeds, asafoetida, ground coriander and chili flakes with a dash of lemon juice. The final addition? Greek yoghurt mixed with some mint sauce. The whole ensemble tasted divine!

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!

1st November picture of the day…

01 Tuesday Nov 2022

Posted by in Hs2, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day

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Welcome to November folks! Apologies for the sparseness of blogging during October. That was due to two things. The first was our fortnight long holiday in Greece where I made the conscious decision to step back from social media and have a bit of a detox. However, the last few days absence has been due to the fact that I’ve been down with some sort of lurgi. It wasn’t Covid (I did a test) but some of the symptoms were similar and I felt like death warmed up! I’ve been confined to bed since Sunday and now seem to be making a recovery. The aches, pains, sore throat have eased but my energy levels still aren’t back to normal, so I’ll be taking it easy at home for the rest of the week. Not that that’s a problem as I’ve plenty to do at Bigland Towers. Whilst I’ve spent most of my time sleeping, I have been editing pictures during some of my waking hours in an effort to clear the massive backlog of images I have going back as far as September. Tonight, I managed to get all the shots from our Greek trip onto my Zenfolio website. You can find those ones here. I’ve also been wading my way through images of my visit to the HS2 construction sites at West Ruislip, Denham and Calvert on Thursday. I’ve added them to this gallery. Now all I’ve got to do is complete editing pictures from September’s trip to Germany, which are beginning to appear here. The other major bit of work I have to do is finish writing the 3rd part of my round Britain trip for RAIL magazine. I’d hoped to have had it done by now but being ill has rather got in the way. Once that’s done I’m free to start thinking about other things – and catch up with writing some blogs on my various HS2 site visits.

November promises to be another busy month with various jobs in the pipeline and places to visit, but I’m determined to get back to blogging too. I’ve missed it – and I hope some of you have done too!

In the meantime, here’s a return of the picture of the day. This one’s from Thursday’s trip to attend the launch of the 2nd HS2 Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) to begin its journey under London – and the 5th HS2 TBM all told. That makes 5 of the 10 machines launched now. It was quite a privilege to be aboard ‘Caroline’ when the button was pressed to start her up – and to have a tour of the machine whilst she was running. Here’s what she looks like from just behind the cutting head.

Mike Lyons, HS2’s Civils Director (left) and Michael Greiner, Head of Tunnelling for Skanksa JV discuss the intricacies of ‘Caroline’ as she begins her 5 mile long journey under London. The pistons you see above them push the TBM forward off the first ring of segments. The plate in the foreground lifts the 8 tonne segments into place after they’re delivered into the bowels of the machine. This happens every 2 meters. Individual pistons are retracted to create space for a segment, then pushed back into place before the next segment is added. Seven segments make up each ring.

If you want to learn more about how a TBM works HS2 Ltd have produced this excellent video graphic.

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!

The holiday’s over, now it’s back to work…

26 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in London, Musings, Railways, Travel

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21:00

It’s been a long day with lots going on but I’m now on LNER’s 19:45 from Leeds to Kings Cross to stay with a friend overnight ready for an early start to a job in the capital tomorrow morning. I’d have left earlier but I had an important appointment over in the Colne valley which I didn’t want to miss, so I didn’t leave Huddersfield until after 19:00.

Even so, I’ve had a productive day at home, scribbling for a living as well as sorting out some of the huge backlog of pictures I have from Germany and Greece. Dawn’s been just as busy, working from home and getting back up to speed with Community Rail Network business. The pair of us are still getting used to be back and in a familiar routine without letting it take over our lives in the way it did before we went on holiday, although that’s easier said than done!

Heading town to London this time of night at this time of week means the trains are fairly empty. That said, it can still be stressful. I had a 15 minute connection at Leeds but as Trans-Pennine Express aren’t exactly paragons of punctuality you do have that thought that you might end up being seriously delayed at the back of your mind. As it was, the Hull service I was catching from Huddersfield was only a couple of minutes late, although it lost more time stuck outside Leeds waiting for a late-running LNER service from London – which turned out to be the train I was catching!  So, my connection at Leeds was assured – as was a late departure.

91127 being readied to push its train to London Kings Cross

The set in question was a rake of Mk4 coaches pushed by Inter-City liveried 91127. As it’s a fairly uiet train (just not according to the reservation system) I’ve easily bagged a table in the quiet coach behind the loco to set up my mobile office. That said, we’re now speeding South from Doncaster and the ride is ‘lively’ to say the least. My ‘spull chucker’ is having to work overtime correcting the number of missed keystrokes.

The depressing thing about travelling this time of night at this time of year is the whole trip is conducted in darkness. The bright side is that the weather’s still mild – and it’s not raining – well, until I’m working tomorrow, anyway!

Precisely what I’m doing and where tomorrow morning is embargoed, but what I can say is that it involves a rather exciting visit to an important High Speed 2 railway worksite. All will be revealed in the morning…

Right now I’m going to kick back on the train and enjoy the journey. Catch you later!

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!

5th October picture of the day…

05 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, Travel

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I’ve spent another day marooned here at Bigland Towers, although to be honest – it’s been the right day to be stuck indoors as the weather’s been awful. We had rain throughout most of the day and some very heavy cloudbursts from pitch-black skies. Anyone would have thought the heavens knew Liz Truss was about to deliver her speech at the Tory party conference!

As I was slaving away in the office I thought I’d tune in, just to see how bad it was. I wasn’t disappointed. She was awful. Her first gaffe came in her opening paragraph when she praised Andy Street, the Tory “Mayor of Birmingham” – clearly unaware that Street is actually the Mayor of the West Midlands, not just Birmingham. It didn’t get any better. It was trite, nostalgic and cringeworthy, with constant references to the past – especially hers. She said that “I grew up in Paisley and in Leeds in the 80s and 90s. I have seen the boarded-up shops. I have seen people left with no hope turning to drugs. I have seen families struggling to put food on the table”. Amnesia has clearly kicked in as what she forgot to mention is who was in power between 1979 and 1997 – the years she’s speaking about? Oh, yes – the Tories!

This amnesia ran through her speech like the letters through a stick of rock. At one point she had the audacity to say “I believe in getting value for the taxpayer”. This from a woman who was in Johnson’s government, the same Government that wasted billions on dodgy PPE contracts dished out to its friends, and £37bn on a Covid ‘track and trace’ programme that was an abject failure!

She then took aim at something she dubbed the “anti-growth coalition” – whatever the hell that’s meant to mean – other than anyone who doesn’t agree with her mad economics! Soundbites were the only thing that weren’t in short supply in her speech. We were treated to bucketfuls. What we weren’t told was how she was going to make any of her economic fantasies come true. Needless to say, the markets weren’t impressed. By the time she’d finished speaking she’d managed to knock another point of the value of Sterling! Well, that’ll really help the economy grow!

The sooner her and the whole rotten bunch go the better. I’ll be very interested to see what the next batch of opinion polls come out at as I can’t see anyone but the most rabid Tory thinking this speech was a winner. Meanwhile, ordinary people will still be wondering what the hell’s going to happen to their mortgage payments, wages and the cost of living, because it’s clear Truss has no answers.

Having listened to this tripe I got on with the things I needed to do ready for heading off to Manchester tomorrow for the Community Rail Awards. I should have time for some blogging and pictures (even though I’ll be working) so expect some light relief from the Tory farce. I’m really looking forward to catching up with old friends on what’s always an enjoyable night. We’re staying overnight in Manchester before heading back on Friday, then the tempo changes as its…holiday time!

But, for now, here’s today’s picture. I’m slowly working my way through all the pictures from my recent travels in order to get them on my Zenfolio website. This is one of the most recent additions. Harwich port is hardly the most scenic of places, but the night I sailed there was a gorgeous sunset. So, here’s the Stena Britannica at Harwich a few hours before departure, seen from Harwich Town.

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!

29th September picture of the day…

29 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by in Architecture, Musings, Norfolk, Picture of the day, Politics, Travel

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There was no blog from me last night as the pair of us were having a convivial night round at the house of friends. Tonight, Dee’s out with friends whilst I’m ‘billy no mates’, sat at home working and trying to catch-up with writing and picture editing, along with a few household chores. Not that I’m complaining. After my time in Germany/Holland it’s nice to have some time not lugging a heavy camera bag around all day. Instead, I get to sit at home in the warm, do some work and observe (via the internet) the Truss government implode. Sadly, that’s not all that’s imploding, the FTSE100 and the currency are too. I always suspected Boris Johnson’s reputation of being the worst Prime Minister we’ve ever had was going to be short-lived, but I had little idea Truss would be so quick to steal that mantle. After all, she’s only been in the job for a few weeks! Today she gave a series of BBC local radio interviews which were excruciatingly painful as it was obvious how ill-prepared and wooden she was as she responded to some very pertinent and hardball questions – or rather, didn’t respond, as time and time again she came back to her script rather than answer the actual questions but doubled-down on her economic madness which immediately caused more damage to the pound and the stock market!

I’ve avoided talking much about politics recently, but the events of the past week have left me both angry and fearful as it painfully obvious the swivel-eyed loons of the libertarian right are in charge now and seen hell-bent on wrecking the country as they apply their economic theories, no matter what.

The result? A sense of disbelief across the country as this shitstorm is engulfing everyone. It may be dogmatic theory to Truss and her Tufton St cabal but ordinary people are genuinely worried about how they’re going to keep a roof over their head and feed themselves and their loved ones. Forget the lie that Truss told that no-one will pay more than £2,500 for heating bills this year. As many others have explained, either she doesn’t understand her own policy, or she just outright lied about it. Meanwhile, the very real threat of massive interest rate hikes could see many people losing their homes which is a far greater worry than paying to heat a house you no longer have.

The upshot of this is that the Tories are tanking in the opinion polls. One (YouGov) put Labour with an unheard-of lead of 33 points! Others had more modest but equally ‘wipe-out’ territory leads of 17-19 points. Next week’s Tory party conference is going to be a very ‘interesting’ event as many Tory MPs arses are going to be twitching like a bunny’s nose. They know they can’t depose another leader and get away with it, nor can they survive the levels of public outrage over her policies. All they can do is try and persuade her to change her mind (or what passes for one) but as she models herself on Thatcher the lady ‘who wasn’t for turning’, that’s going to be a massive challenge.

If it wasn’t so damned serious and affecting us all so badly I’d be happy to sit back with some popcorn and watch the Tory party tear itself apart. They’ve got themselves into the mess, sadly, the rest of the country will be collateral damage.

Right, enough for now. I’ve got to go back to writing for a living. So, here’s today’s picture which was taken on our recent Suffolk holiday but is with others in the queue for editing and adding to my Zenfolio website in the future. This is the rather elegant National Trust property called Blickling Hall.

I hate to think what their energy bills are going to be this winter…

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!