Here we are on the last day of November, about to enter the madness that’s December as everyone gears up for the Christmas festivities and the country goes slightly mad as a consequence. Meanwhile, it’s been a quiet Saturday here at Bigland Towers, the lull before the storm if you like. I still have a poorly Dawn on my hands, hence the day being fairly quiet as Dee’s had a ‘duvet day’ whilst I’ve stayed at home to be on hand. Plus, the front garden needed tidying up for the winter and today was a good excuse for doing it. The garden now looks rather barren with everything cut back but at least it’s not going to be a victim of high winds scattering stuff everywhere.
Hopefully Madame will be on the mend after having a restful weekend. I’ve taken over cooking duties with a few new dishes planned for my own amusement if nothing else. The weather here’s turned mild again so I’m intending to have an active day. I’ve decided that the start of December is an ideal time to ramp up my fitness regime in order to prepare for the festive season which sees us all over-indulge, otherwise I feel like a slug come New Year. Plus, there’s a huge amount of places I want to get to in the UK before the years over when I can start to cast my eyes further afield. I’m looking forward to 2025 for that very reason. But first, there’s December to tackle. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of rolling blogs coming up soon…
Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with today’s picture, which is from a place I’m determined to get back to in 2025.
A rain storm approaches the lush rice paddies and plantations at Tirtagangga. Bali. Indonesia, in January 1995
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Not quite the sort of the day I had in mind, but hey ho.
I’d planned to work from home today as the forecast was suggesting we’d be having snow-showers and all sorts of sh*t today. In reality, we ended up with almost wall-to-wall sunshine. Bugger.
That said, I had plenty of things to keep me occupied with at home, but I couldn’t help feeling it was a wasted opportunity to get out with the camera – but that’s life. In the end It was fortunate that I didn’t as Dawn (who’s still not recovered from a virus) was knocked for six by a migraine, so I ended up donning my nurses uniform once more. Dee retreated to bed whilst I alternated between looking after her and working/cooking/shopping.
Mind you, whilst the weather’s been sunny it’s also been bloody cold as the day’s moved on. The council’s gritting lorries have been kept busy as temperatures hover just above freezing. With those conditions in mind I’ve been kept occupied by watching the birds feasting on the oats I’ve put out for them on one of the shed roofs outside the back of the house. The beauty of oats is that they appeal to a much larger range of birds than if I put out old lentils or other pulses plus, they’re far cheaper than birdseed, which I reserve for the feeders that attract the even smaller birds like tits and nuthatches. That said I had a woodpecker gorging itself on the feeder outside the bedroom window the other day but the damned thing moved too quickly for me to be able to get a picture.
As we needed supplies I did manage to get out for my daily constitutional, popping in to our local supermarket as part of the trip. Oh, and a quick pint in our local pub. Anyone else noticed the paucity and lack of quality of fresh vegetables nowadays? It’s not confined to one chain either. Having secured what I wanted my evening’s been spent productively (apart from the pub, obviously!) making another batch of pea and ham soup for the other invalids in the Platt family, which we expect to deliver as ‘meals on wheels’ tomorrow. Never let it be said that we don’t live the rock and roll lifestyle here at Bigland Towers!
Now for the picture of the day. Hmm, what to choose? I’ve still not finished editing yesterday’s haul, so how about this? The seasons are moving on. I’ve got itchy feet and it’s time leave this septic isle for a while. Here’s a famous feature of a country that’s likely to be the first stop in the new year. Recognise it? You might do if you’re a fan of old James Bond films or you’ve ever been to Thailand…
We were last here in 2017. This is ‘Ko Ta Pu’ otherwise known as the ‘nail’. You can find it in Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay which is off the West coast, not far from Krabi.
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I was going to title that British people but there’s quite a bit of evidence that the latest UK government petition that’s setting the right-wing world aflutter has been signed by a lot of people who’re neither British, or real.
You may ask what I’m talking about. Understandable, if you don’t live in the UK or if you don’t hang around on social media (especially the cesspit that Twitter has become nowadays) as this petition has only really existed in a social media vacuum chamber until the past 24 hours, when the mainstream media (especially the right wing outlets) have decided to cover it. So, let’s start at the beginning.
An e-petition calling for yet another general election was started on the Government’s petitions website 5 days ago, by someone called Michael Westwood. Here’s a link. Now, most of you will remember that we only had a general election back in July. Labour won it with a landslide and currently have a working majority of 259.
The petition would probably have died a death, but it’s been picked up and amplified by Elon Musk and many other right-wing commentators. So, as I type this, the number of ‘signatures’ stands at 2.4 million. It doesn’t take much to sign it. All you need is a UK postcode and a valid email address.
The right-wing are cock a hoop at the numbers and are flogging this like it actually means something. But there’s several problems – not least the fact the numbers are suspect. OK, let’s leave that one aside and pretend (just for the sake of argument) that the numbers are genuine.
In the last general election, 6.8m people were daft enough to still vote Tory. Another 4.1 million even more deluded souls voted for the ‘Fagash Fuhrer’ (Nigel Farage) and his private limited company (major shareholder, N Farage) known as ‘Reform’. That’s 10.9 million right-wing votes. So, less than a quarter of them signing a petition is hardly a popular revolt against the government!
There’s another thing. These petitions are meaningless. It’s clear some clueless souls think they lead to a vote in Parliament with a vote that could order a new general election. The reality is, they’re not even debated in the House of Commons, nor is any vote taken afterwards. They’re held in Westminster Hall and they’re little more than a talking shop. MPs are under no compunction to turn up either, which means they’re often very sparsely attended.
Now, even *if* this petition was debated in Parliament and *if* there was a vote, the Government have a working majority of 259. There wouldn’t be a cat in hell’s chance of it passing.
It seems some people are realising that this petition is pointless and have pivoted to saying it’s sending the Government a ‘message’. They’re not quite sure what that message is of course, but hey ho…
In truth, the message it’s sending isn’t the one they think it is. The real message is one of breathtaking hypocrisy, on several levels.
Remember, in 2016, almost all of these people (well, the real ones anyway) will have voted for Brexit. They’ve spent the past 8 years telling those that voted to remain that ‘you lost, get over it’. According to them, an advisory referendum that was 52-48% (with a huge number of abstentions) is inviolable and written in stone forever more, and petitions like these, which were signed by millions, had to be ignored. Only theirs is valid. Hypocritical, much? Damned right it is.
And yet, the result of a general election that Labour won by a landslide just 4 months ago should be overturned, now, despite the fact there will be another general election in just under 5 years time. So much for the ‘will of the people’, eh?
It seems that for the right-wing ‘democrats’, election results only matter when they win. Remind you of anyone? Oh, yes, the orange rapist and felon who’ll be re-entering the White House next year. And of course, who’s behind amplifying all this nonsense on social media, Trump’s chum Elon Musk! Now, hang on a minute, why are so many supposed British ‘patriots’ so happy that there’s foreign interference in UK politics? Weren’t these the people who railed against the ‘unelected bureaucrats’ of the EU or anyone from another country (Obama, Biden, et al) who had the temerity to opine about what was happening in the UK? But Musk, actively interfering? Come on in! The hypocrisy is weapons-grade.
PM Sir Keir Starmer has already burst their balloon by pointing out the fact that this “isn’t how our system works.”
There’s another interesting bit of fallout from this petition. It’s demonstrating just how irrelevant the Tory party are now. The agenda is being driven not by them but by constant noise from the right-wing media and vested-interest billionaires like Musk. It’s no wonder politics is in such bad shape nowadays.
I’ve no doubt the froth about the petition will die soon. It’s going nowhere. The right have the attention-span of a goldfish, the bots will be reprogrammed and move on to the next thing their masters deem worth their time. Besides, it’s almost the festive season. The right-wing always get outraged about Christmas and someone trying to ‘ban’ it. Imagine living your life in a state of permanent outrage, the way many of these right-wingers do?
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Well, that wasn’t quite the start to the weekend I was hoping for! Since my outing on Tuesday I’ve been pretty much confined to barracks for various reasons, one of which was the fact I’d a final round of judging to complete for next years Community Rail Awards. Of course, since Tuesday we’ve had almost wall to wall sunshine up here in West Yorkshire and surrounding counties, which has been rather frustrating, especially as the snow as pretty much stuck around in many areas, but that’s life. Then, yesterday we found out that Dawn’s father wasn’t feeling very well. As John’s coming up to his 90th birthday you can imagine everyone’s concern. So, yesterday we ended up dropping everything at short-notice to head over to Huddersfield in order to be with her mum and dad and offer our support. We’d only been with them on Wednesday evening as I’d cooked us all a coq-au-vin for our weekly evening meal get-together (another reason why I’ve not been out much) and John had seemed fine then. Thankfully, it seems that I’d not poisoned my father-in-law and his current hors de combat is due to a virus and not my cooking! Dawn’s remained over at her parents whilst I’ve returned to Bigland Towers in order to be around for other duties.
Right now – I’m going nowhere until things are resolved. Plus, there’s another storm on the way – which might prove to interesting – although I’m struggling to take a storm called ‘Bert’ seriously right now. Whatever else ‘Bert’ might bring it’s seeing an end to the freezing weather we’ve had, which is no bad thing.
So, what’s next? I’m not entirely sure to be honest. I’ve plenty to keep me occupied with at home for this weekend, especially as it looks like I’ll be spending most of it on my own. Next week? well, that’s another matter. In the meantime I’ll leave you with today’s picture which was taken on my visit to the Hope valley on Tuesday.
A snow-covered Back Tor seen from near Edale station on Tuesday. Traversing that ridge is one of our favourite walks, but not in weather like this!
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As I write this on Monday evening we’re still waiting for the predicted snowfall here in the Pennines. The day’s certainly been cold enough for those little flakes from the sky, but so far (despite what various forecasts are claiming) I’ve seen barely a wisp – despite having just got back from a walk.
Dawn’s made it back from North Yorkshire without problems so the two of are hunkering down for the evening, waiting to see what the morning brings. I’d hoped to have got out myself today but judging the Community Rail awards ‘It’s Your Station’ took a lot longer than usual. mainly because there were so many new entries this year and myself and my fellow judge (Mark Barker) had awarded very different points to some entrants, so we had a lot of discussions about the merits of more entries than usual. In the end (and thanks to the skillful moderation and guidance from Hazel, our helper and adjudicator) we agreed on the category placements and the winners. It’s very hard to judge these awards as there’s so many excellent entries and there’s often little more than a few points between the tops of each category.
Still, it’s done, and we’re all pleased with the process (which was certainly rigorous) and the winners of each category. Who are they? You’ll have to wait until the awards next year to find out! Now all that remains is the photographic competition shortlist…
What I get up to tomorrow depends on the weather, which brings me on to today’s picture. Here’s how Bigland Towers has looked in the past (2021) when the snow’s arrived. And no, that’s not our lofty eyrie in the background – that’s the Wainhouse Tower!
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Whilst today wasn’t quite Sunday I’d had planned, it’s been a productive one nonetheless. Much of this morning was spent editing and adding captions to a backlog of rail and travel pictures which are now on my Zenfolio website. If you follow this link it will take you to the ‘recent’ section, showing which galleries have been updated. There’s plenty to gaze at.
That job done I’d intended to do some cooking, but a trip to our local supermarket proved fruitless. Or, in this case – vegless. I wasn’t after anything terribly exotic either, merely green peppers and parsnips. There were no peppers to be had and the only parsnips available were already soft and limp – despite them having been ‘fresh in’ today. To be honest, our local Tesco’s is getting worse. It’s not just the fresh veg section that has empty shelves, the frozen food section has plenty of empty cabinets when it comes to vegetables. I’ve no doubt the recent bad weather has had an impact, but then so’s the thing no politicians seem to want to talk about – Brexit. Transit times for fresh produce have been extended by Brexit red-tape, so the shelf life of what does arrive is noticeably shorter. I’m kicking myself for not having stocked up with some more produce from Halifax market yesterday, which is where we picked up some really good quality plums, squash and cauliflower. I can see I’m going to have to change my shopping pattern and go into town more often. The only problem is that the market closes by 17:00 so is less convenient. Anyway, I digress. As cooking was off the agenda we’ve fallen back on meals from the freezer. Not a problem as we batch-cook and there’s always something home-made and delicious in reserve.
As for gardening – the weather conspired against me as the heavens opened just as soon as I got out there! I’ve managed to re-organise some pots and plants, giving them better protection from the snow that’s due but I didn’t get as much done as I’d planned. Hopefully, I’ll have some spare time tomorrow after my morning spent judging the Community Rail Awards. Besides, Dee’s up on the Settle and Carlisle railway tomorrow for a meeting so I’ll be left to my own devices and the snow’s not predicted to arrive until the evening.
Now it’s time to wind down ready for a busy day tomorrow, so I’ll sleave you with today’s picture. I popped into our local, the ‘Big 6’ on my way back from shopping. This time of year it’s even more welcoming as there’s a lovely real fire in one of the back rooms. Sitting there with a pint on a wet autumn day is one of life’s little pleasures.
Oh, go on then – here’s an extra picture. These are the beers that were on offer. Any guesses as to which I chose?
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‘Tis a quiet weekend here at Bigland Towers. The veritable lull before the storm if the weather forecast is to be believed. Apparently, we’re due for several centimeters of snow here in’t Pennines on Monday-Tuesday. That could be fun as our local council (Calderdale) have been busy sticking up signs on roads around us saying they’re not going to be gritting some of the steepest streets – so we’re on our own. As two of the main ways out of where we live are cobbled roads that will now be left to the tender mercies of the elements, this could be a ‘fun’ winter,
Fortunately, I’ve a Zoom meeting on Monday morning as we’re judging the Community Rail Awards. Once that’s done – and if the snow does arrive – I may be able to sally forth with the camera.
As the pair of us have a lot going on we elected to have a leisurely weekend at home. Whilst the morning was spent pottering we did walk into Halifax in the afternoon in order to stretch our legs and pick up some shopping. Our perambulations took us to the fabulous Piece Hall which is hosting a Christmas market. I’m not a great fan of these things nowadays as they tend to be incredibly expensive and full of overpriced tat. The sort of stuff you’d only buy after sinking some expensive mulled wine or other themed booze. Give me a proper German Xmas market every time.
That said, the Piece Hall’s such an amazing venue it was worth paying a visit – as today’s picture shows.
Tomorrow, with the mercury heading South (even if we aren’t) we’re planning another day around the local area to prepare for the change of conditions. I suspect I’ll be busy in the garden protecting some of the more vulnerable plants which have had it easy so far this year. Oh, then there’s a whole host of new recipes I’ve discovered. Maybe it won’t be such a lazy Sunday after all…
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Sorry about the lack of blogs these past couple of days. That’s been due to a rather interesting weekend in Nottingham attending a 21st birthday, with added drama caused by Dawn’s parents getting locked into the bedroom in the apartment we’d rented and the hours it took to break them out! The weekend is worth a blog in itself as so much happened. Hopefully I’ll find a quiet moment to write it up – although that won’t be right now. We got back last night but today we’ve both been back in the thick of it. Dawn’s day’s been spent glued to her computer screen – as has mine. I had to finish judging and marking the ‘It’s your station’ category then catch up with picture editing and planning the rest of the week. Plus, today’s been our 7th wedding anniversary, so quiet celebrations were in order due to the frenetic few days we’ve had – and because Dawn’s looking like she’s going down with the lurgi. Our current plan is to make up for things next weekend.
Tomorrow I’ll be down in the Birmingham area on another HS2 construction visit so expect a rolling blog as the day unfolds. Thankfully, the weather’s finally broken. The dull and dismal weather we’ve endured this past fortnight has given way to clear skies and glorious sunshine. Long may it continue!
Right, it’s time to go as the pair of us have another early start. I’ll leave you with a picture of birthday celebrations. The 21st part was that of Dawn’s niece, Jessica, who’s at University in Nottingham. Naturally, I was asked to bring my camera. Here’s a picture of Jess (hiding in the back, in red) with all her friends at the Cosy Club.
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Today’s been one where I’ve managed to cut myself off from the troubles of the world (and the results of the American election) to concentrate on something uplifting. Right now I’m knee-deep in judging the Community Rail Awards 2025 entries, specifically the ‘It’s your station’ category. We’ve had 39 entries this year, many of them from stations which have never applied before. I’ve spent the day reading through the submissions, checking the information supplied and doing my first sift of the entries to see which categories they fall into. Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. I can assure you, it’s nor all about station gardens either. Here’s some of the winners from this years Community Rail Awards.
As always, there’s some fantastic entries. Most of the stations I’m familiar with as I’ve visited them some time in the past (or even recently), a few I don’t really know at all. It doesn’t matter as we judge on the entries, some of which are incredibly inspiring as they showcase the best of the areas they represent and the total cross-section of people involved. Sometimes it’s easy to become jaded and cynical. These people, their achievements and their commitments to their communities restore your faith in humanity – something very much needed right now!
So, today’s picture is a reflection of what I’m seeing, although it’s not from a station that’s entered this year. These are some of the fantastic local history boards on display at Marple station in Cheshire.
I’ve a gallery dedicated to community rail on my Zenfolio picture website. You can find it here.
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/
This morning I woke up to the news that the convicted felon and rapist Donald Trump has managed to persuade over 50% of American voters to elect him the 45th President of the United States of America.
Or, to put it another way – we’re all fucked.
Because this is not just about America. Not at all. This is about the most powerful country on the planet falling into the hands of an imbecile, a narcissist opportunist who doesn’t believe in democracy, or climate change, or any of the values that are the glue holding the world together. Only himself and his cronies.
We’re all in for a dark few years. Oh, Trump will only be around for four years. It’s the blink of an eye in many ways, but the damage that he can do in that time is incalculable. The only winners in this are the billionaires and dictators like Putin. The people who’re increasingly setting the agenda and paying the piper – only in the end the money will be taken from all of ordinary mortals, as it always is.
There’s fools in this country (like Farage) who’ll be cock-a-hoop at the news. The right-wingers and supposed nationalists who are dumb enough to believe Trump is someone the UKs ‘friend’ when the opposite is true. There’s going to be some very hard lessons being learned over the next four years.
I fear for Ukraine right now. Putin will be breaking open the champagne in the Kremlin. Trump was his investment, the best President his money could buy. The EU needs to get it’s act together now and realise that NATOs biggest member is about to become a sleeping partner. Europe can no longer rely on the US for its defense against Putin’s warmongering and expansion. I hate to say this, but Europe needs to re-arm because there’s a very real danger that if Putin wins in Ukraine, he won’t stop there – as he’s made clear. NATO (and that means us, the UK) could well be in a shooting war with Russia before Trump is gone.
But this isn’t just about America, or Europe. It’s about the whole planet.
Climate change is out of control. Politicians made a commitment to limit global warming to an increase of 1.5degrees. We’re nowhere near hitting that. The current projections are that by the end of the century temperatures will have increased by 3.1 degrees. Most people have no idea how disastrous that will be – for everyone living on this rock floating in space. No-one is going to be immune. With a climate-change denier in office for four more years the chances of getting on track are the worst kind of net zero, so go see places like the Maldives (or, ironically, places like Clacton) now, because they won’t be there when your grandchildren become grandparents.
The world has just become a very much darker and depressing place…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 