Category Archives: Musings

Lockdown. Day 63 (Monday).

25 Monday May 2020

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*Warning. This blog was written several days after the event and backdated in an effort to keep the timeline*

Today’s Dawn’s birthday. As we’re in lockdown it’s a rather restrained affair. There’s no meeting up with friends or relatives or getting the glad-rags on and going out for a meal. Instead, we opted for a quiet day at home.

I let Dee sleep in for a bit before making her a cup of tea and presenting her with her card. Not that she had much time to enjoy either as Dawn noticed that our poorly moggie had got himself and his bed in a bit of a “two and eight” as they used to say in London’s East End. That ‘state’ was due to the fact the medication he’s been prescribed had given him diarrhea – and furry animals and the squits do not mix! So, Dee’s birthday began with us both performing a mopping up and cleaning operation on poor Jet, his basket and his litter tray. Nice….!

Luckily, Dawn saw the funny side of it. We were more concerned for Jet than anything else as the poor lad really has been through the mill recently so his needs came before anything else. Finally we got him and ourselves cleaned up and began Dawn’s birthday properly.

We didn’t need birthday cake as Dee had been cooking up a storm over the weekend. Unusually, there was no present from me for Dee to open either. We’d discussed one earlier in the week and apart from the logistical difficulties of being reduced to shopping on-line Dee had decided that, actually – we’d had an expensive enough time as it was with vets bills, so we took a rain-check on a present, although I’ve been told “you can buy me some perfume when all this is over”! Of course, there were cards for Dawn to open, although – as this is 2020 – there’s more birthday greetings sent via social media than post nowadays!

Rather than cake, we celebrated with a guilty pleasure. Poached egg and bacon butties! Both of us eat healthily and have very little in the way of processed food or red meat – so this was an indulgence for us that’s normally reserved for the odd weekend. Simple pleasures and all that…

To share her birthday we took some of the cakes Dee had made around to our friend Tony (of Phoenix brewery fame). He lives locally and we met him in his garden where we could hand over the goodies and stop for a chat whilst observing all the Covid proprieties. A couple of other friends from the Big 6 whom we hadn’t seen since all this kicked off had dropped in too, so it was great to catch-up with Steve and Lynn too. Afterwards we drove over to Dawn’s parent in Huddersfield. With it being the Bank Holiday there were plenty of people out walking but the roads were quieter than we’ve seen at weekends. Hopefully people were making the most of the fresh air and glorious sunshine – something that rarely appears at Bank Holidays!

When we reached John and Norah’s we sat in their garden which is big enough to allow us to keep a sensible distance. After all the precautions we’ve been taking for them the last thing we want to do is put them at risk now. The four of us chatted about events and the latest mixed messages from the Government and the potential consequences, although much of the conversation was far more light-heated and frequently interrupted by the gaggle of Starlings that were congregating in the trees next door. They were as raucous and rowdy as a gang of teenagers!  We only stayed an hour, which was long enough to enjoy their company but not long enough that we might need the toilet. Oh, the things you have to think about nowadays…

By the time we got back home it was too late to go out for the long walk we’d planned to do, so instead we took it easy in our front garden.  Despite the pair of us spending so much time cooped up indoors together, we don’t actually get that much ‘quality time’ together, so it was lovely just to be able to kick back and enjoy each other’s company without any pressures or plans. The moggie was sufficiently recovered from his troubles this morning that he came and joined us in the garden where he sat on the seat with us and toasted in the sun.

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The birthday girl, the garden – and Jet…

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The poor boy’s not looking at his best at the moment as he’s developed conjunctivitis, so we have to keep washing his face for him. 

For the evening the only thing we had got planned was for me to cook Dee a birthday prawn and pea risotto, which I did whilst Dee relaxed and enjoyed her special day. It’s not exactly the ‘rock and roll’ lifestyle, but actually, having a chilled evening together was just what the Doctor ordered. Oh, and the risotto was delicious – even if I do say so myself…

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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 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 locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…
Thank you!

 

Lockdown. Day 59 (Thursday).

22 Friday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Food and drink, Huddersfield, Lockdown, Musings, Railways

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Remind me never to complain about our moggie jumping on the bed ever again…

We both missed the boy this morning as he’s still in the vets. As a consequence our plans to get up early didn’t materalise. It wasn’t a ‘duvet day’ by any means but we hit the ground ambling rather than running as we waited for a morning call from the vet to let us know how Jet was. When the call came, it was (mostly) good news. He’d had a comfortable night and the pain relief was working. His potassium levels has risen and he was less dehydrated, but he was struggling to eat because of the pain from one of his back molars, which really needed to come out. The vet didn’t want to risk that until he’d regained some strengh, as there was a real risk we’d lose him under the anesthetic, so we were facing another day without him. Needless to say, this took the shine off the day.

Luckily, we had plenty to keep us occupied as Thursday’s shopping day and our weekly trip out of the valley to visit Huddersfield. We headed out not long before 10 and immdiately noticed the roads were the busiest we’ve seen them since lockdown began, driving into central Hyddersfield from the M62 motorway junction at Ainley Top was like a pre-lockdown day as traffic was that heavy.

Our first port of call was the big Sainsbury’s supermarket which was also much busier than last week so we had to queue for about 10 minutes, not that we minded. The weather was warm and sunny, although their was a persistent breeze that really kept the temperature down low enough that you still needed a fleece.

Once inside the pair of us breezed around with our respective trollies Dawn shopping for her parents and I for the two of us. It social-distancing ballet was harder to choreograph this time due to an increase in people. Family groups had been allowed in which was a real pain in the arse as they spead out and take up so much room. Kids being kids – they’re also unpredictable! Even so, it’s a lot more pleasant than the melee you normally get before a bank holiday.

Shopping done we headed over to the water tower at Huddersfield station that’s the base for Dawn’s organisation –  Community Rail Network (or ACoRP as it was until the recent rebranding). Dee needed to spend some time in the office collecting paperwork and sorting out some bits so I had time to get a few shots around the station area. There’s still few rail passengers about and you could dump a herd of elephants in the deserted car park! The bus stand in the square outside was equally deserted. I watched a Trans-Pennine Express a 5-car Class 802 pull out of the station on its way to Leeds and counted just 4 passengers aboard. This is despite the ramping up of rail services since last week. Here’s a sample of what was around.

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The 0Z68 Crewe Gresty Bridge to York Siemens loco move with 68029, 68028 and 68032 leading pass through sunny Huddersfield.

Having done what was needed the pair of us drove up to Dawn’s folks and dropped off their bags of shopping, staying just long enough for a chat in the sunhine before heading home as we both had work to do (and a vet to hear from). As we crossed over the M62 motorway I was surprised to see just how quiet it was compared to the local roads. There were very few cars or vans, most of the traffic was articulated lorries.

Back at home we stowed away our shopping then phoned the vets, who said Jet had gone for an x-ray, so they’d ring us back later when they knew the results, which left us feeling a bit uneasy. Dawn knuckled down to some work whilst I sat in the garden and caught up wit reading some technical publications I’d picked up from the CRN office earlier. To say the Covid-19 picture’s still confused for the rail and bus industry would be putting it mildly. Then again, is any aspect of the UK’s policy clear? The statistics on testing and deaths can’t be relied on, the ‘roadmap’ for the future exit from lockdown seems to be held upside down and we have an absentee Prime Minister and a Cabinet that makes the Keystone Cops look like the SAS. Meanwhile, scenes of traffic jams at our national parks and beaches show that relying on the “common sense” of the great British public is pinning your faith on an oxymoron. What could possibly go wrong? If only we could go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for all this to blow over…

After ploughing through my ‘light’ reading the sun was sufficiently over the yard arm for me to break open a bottle of beer. We still hadn’t heard from the vets, which was worrying so we rang them again. A very apologetic nurse explained there’d been confusion earlier as they had TWO black cats called Jet in today. It wasn’t our Jet that had gone for an x-ray. Later the vet rang us and we got the full low down. Jet is staying in for another night so that they can stabilise him ready for his tooth extraction which (hopefully) should happen tomorrow. There’s still a risk with the anesthetic as he’s struggling to eat, so doesn’t have his strength up – but what can we do – other than go ahead and hope all will be right in the end? Hopefully, we’ll have him home soon…

Jet

Jet in better days, just where he likes to be – on the bed!

As a distraction technique I decided to do some cooking this evening and rustled up a chicken Madras from one of the ‘Hairy Bikers’ recipes. It’s a quick fix but very tasty. We ate it with chapattis as a change from rice. Dawn even said she preferred it to the recipie she uses. Within a short time I went from this;

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To this…

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I continued the therapy with a Gin and Tonic to wash the curry down with! Hopefully, tomorrow – we’ll have good news about the boy. The place just isn’t the same without him…

 

 

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 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 locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

Thank you!

 

Lockdown. Day 54 (Saturday)

17 Sunday May 2020

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*Warning, blog under construction*

After Friday’s shopping expedition our normal weekend routine was altered by another trip out of the valley as we’d arranged to drop shopping off at Dawn’s folks in Huddersfield. There was no rush, and it was the weekend, so I left Dee to have a lie in and crept into the office to set up more old slides to scan. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll manage to get all of the railway ones done before lockdown ends and my attention has to swing back to commissions. I’m still unsure of how the might work in practice as there’s obvious challenges. Hopefully things will become clearer soon as the public transport gets to grips with the challenges of mass transit and social distancing. In the meantime, I’m ploughing on with scanning and looking forward to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

After lunch I ended up in a group call with friends from the rail industry which was a fun-filled hour of laughter as gossip was swapped and stories told – none of which are repeatable in a blog like this! For a brief time the physical distance between us disappeared and it was like old times…

As I’d joined the call on my mobile we continued our group chat whilst Dawn drove over to her parents. As we didn’t need to go into the town centre we drove direct across country. It’s a lovely drives that takes in some great scenery and although the roads were busier than they have been they’re still far from normal.

(to be continued)…

 

Lockdown. Day 51 (Wednesday).

14 Thursday May 2020

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The weather’s started to pick up again here in the Calder valley, although it hasn’t reached the balmy heights of a week ago. I’ve swapped my singlet for a fleece and waterproof as the winds are really knocking the temperatures down.

Today was meant to be the ‘great escape’ when more of the lockdown rules were relaxed, but to be honest, we noticed very little difference here. Yes, there was a small increase in traffic on the road outside the house as a few more folk returned to work, but it was negligible. There was certainly no mad rush – for whatever reason. I’m savouring the quietness whilst it lasts…

Much of our day fell into the routine of us both working from our respective offices. It may be predictable but it makes us no less busy – anything but as there’s no breaks or distractions. I spent much of my day scanning yet another batch of old railway slides in a process that I could pretty much do in my sleep now. It’s production line stuff until you get the scans in Photoshop which is when you have chance weigh up the best editing options. Old slide film can be very dark or very contrasty and no matter how much you try to keep dust and blemishes off the pictures whilst you’re scanning there’s often something that sneaks through and needs correcting, which adds time to the process.

Scans done I ended the afternoon with a pleasant hour or so in the garden, soaking up the sunshine and planting out the trailing lobelia that I’d acquired from a supermarket as I’d no idea when I bought it that Garden centres would be allowed to reopen so soon. Our garden may be small, but it’s an oasis that I love sitting out in and tending the plants is a therapeutic break from the cares and constraints of the modern world. Plants grow regardless of human concerns.

Once Dawn had knocked off for the day the pair of us took our daily constitutional on the usual circuit through Scarr Woods which are looking gloriously green and vibrant now. They also play host to a variety of birdlife although often they can be heard but not seen – apart from the Robins and Magpies as neither are exactly what you’d call shy birds. I must admit to being surprised at how quiet Savile Park was. I’d expected to see more people out enjoying the new freedoms. Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour (it was after 7pm when we were strolling around) and the chill wind, or maybe folks are thinking the same as us – this is all a bit premature?

Back at home in the warm home I spent another hour in the office catching up on blogging. I’ve been falling further and further behind recently so I was determined to make an effort to catch up. Hopefully my readers will think it was worth the effort! It’s not that I have nothing to write about, exactly the opposite – even if I’m concentrating on the lockdown right now. It’s the fact time seems to be all askew. We’re meant to have more time on our hands right now, but I’ll be damned if I know where it’s going…

 

 

Lockdown. Day 50 (Tuesday)

13 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Harvil Rd Hs2 protest, Hs2, Lockdown, Musings

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Today the pair of us were back at work in our various offices and neither of us minded being at home in the least. The weather had taken on a distinctly chilly feel with cloudy skies and a biting wind so being cooped up indoors was the least of our concerns. We were warm, safe and busy. One lighter moment was recording a short video to add to a collection of lockdown birthday wishes for our friend Mervyn Allcock (of Barrow Hill roundhouse fame). Merv and his partner Alexa are in lockdown in Truro, so it was an inspired idea for a group of his friends to send him greetings.

Job done, the two of us cracked on. I’ve been remiss in scanning slides over the past few days, so I wanted to have a good solid day scanning, which I did. By the end of the day I’d managed to get nearly 60 either scanned and/or edited and onto my Zenfolio website, which I felt pretty chuffed about as it meant the end’s in sight with yet another album.

Whilst I was busy scanning I kept an ear to the ground listening to the antics of the Extinction Rebellion anti Hs2 protesters at Harvil Rd. HS2’s bailiffs had started evicting three of the protesters camps earlier this morning and it really wasn’t going well for the protesters. Despite the fact they’d had ages to prepare for this moment it was pretty much a walkover. Two of their encampments were very quickly cleared, whilst the third (an old garage) was also rolled up after a forced entry which only took an hour or so, leaving a handful of protesters inside who’d secured themselves to the building in a futile attempt to drag things out. It was pitiful to listen to as there was lots of screaming and shouting from the protesters and wild accusations of brutality – all to no avail. Quite how this rag-bag group is meant to stop Hs2 when they can’t even stop themselves being arrested is a mystery! Their only armament is weapons-grade hypocrisy and fake news –  as this tweet and picture demonstrates.

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By the time this claim appeared the three camps were firmly in the possession of the bailiffs, not the protesters! Oh, and there was no High Court injunction either – that never happened. What did happen is the protesters scored a classic own-goal with this picture. The young protester isn’t wearing a mask, but she is blowing a whistle. If she was a Covid carrier she would be spreading it far and wide in the air with droplets from her whistle – yet these people constantly whine about HS2 workers not social distancing (ignoring the fact different guidelines apply to construction workers, bailiffs and the police). As for the person strumming a guitar in the background, well – that’ll really stop Hs2! What a pantomime…

I kept scanning until 16:00 when I finally had the opportunity to nip out for a long walk to the Supermarket to pick up some supplies for later, as our group had arranged to have a conference video call with Merv and toast his birthday. Our celebration was pretty far flung as it included people from Halifax, Warrington, Lichfield, Grantham, Norwich and London – as well as Truro of course. A few beers were sunk and stories swapped, along with some pithy comments about the new Covid strategy – as you might expect from a group of people who work on the railways or in the rail media. Even so, it was a fun hour – although all of us can’t wait for it to be safe (and possible) to celebrate properly, face to face in a Pub!

Celebration over, I joined Dawn for her evening perambulation around the woods and parks where we live so that we had some quality time together whilst getting our daily exercise. At least that’s going to be easier from tomorrow as we’re no longer officially limited to one stroll per day.

On our return and despite the coolness of the weather we both tucked into a home made fresh Tuna steak and tinned Octopus salad, which brought back fond memories of a trip to Portugal a decade ago now. Oh, to be sat at a table in a lovely little taverna there right now!

A favour…
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, but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

 

Lockdown. Day 49 (Monday).

11 Monday May 2020

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*I know this blog’s a few days, late as it’s not appeared until Wednesday – I’m trying frantically to catch up, honest! *

The pair of us threw the rule book out of the window this morning and decided to indulge in the nearest thing to a ‘duvet day’ we’ve had through the entire lockdown! Both of us slept through until 08:30. Even when we woke up and made a drink we went straight back to bed to browse social media and gauge the reaction to the PM’s awful interview last night. Did it seem as bad to others as it did to us? The answer came through as a pretty clear yes. Cabinet Ministers and Tory backbenchers were getting savaged on national TV with both Dominic Raab and Andrew Bridgen having car-crash interviews. Let’s face it, if they didn’t understand what the new advice was – what chance did anyone else stand? Other commentators were just as unkind. Both of us felt uneasy about the Governments new strategy. Having been around the political block a few times I was even more scathing of it than Dawn as I saw it as an attempt by the Government to absolve themselves of responsibility by passing the buck to ordinary people. Now, if you contracted Covid it would be your fault for not being ‘alert’ enough. Needless to say, social media soon went into overdrive to parody the new slogan and design. This one pretty much sums up my take on the new advice.

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Dawn and I had a long discussion about what we thought we should be doing and the pair of us agreed that we’d be sticking to the old advice for now – along with the Scots and the Welsh! We’ve a responsibility not just to ourselves but also Dawn’s parents, who we shop for. Relaxing lockdown now when the Governments so unprepared is only going to lead to another spike in the infection rate, and we don’t want to be part of that. I hope we’re wrong, but we’ll find out the truth in the next couple of weeks…

We finally got our arses in gear not long after midday when we moved down into the living room where Dawn had her massage bed set up in order to give me a Reiki session. Dee’s recently trained in Reiki, which she’s really taken to. My treatment lasted for an hour, which really surprised me as it seemed like no time at all, but then it’s a lovely experience.

Suitably refreshed, relaxed and appreciative I scooted into my office for a short spell of slide scanning in order to make some progress before the two of us took our daily constitutional, although it wasn’t far enough for me to get my normal level of exercise as we had to be home in time for the Platt family Zoom call.  Needless to say, Johnson’s (recorded) speech to the nation was discussed and critiqued before we moved on to lighter matters. The internet’s (and Zoom) has proved its worth in keeping us all together, but it will never be a substitute for the real thing – human contact.

A favour…
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, but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

 

 

Lockdown. Day 44 (Wednesday).

06 Wednesday May 2020

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Despite the routine of life at the moment, it still manages to throw you enough curved balls and surprises to make it interesting…

This morning Dawn was first out of bed as I’d had a less than perfect night’s sleep due to our moggie (Jet) deciding that what’s ours is his. He waits until you’re almost asleep then jumps on the bed to wedge himself between us. He’s such an old boy now (eighteen and a half) that most of the time we don’t have the heart to kick him off – but he doesn’t half take up a lot of room. So, despite the fact I’d had a relatively early night I hadn’t had a good one. Dawn bounded out of bed to do her exercise regime in the living room but the most active I got was to make coffee and retreat back to bed with the laptop and catch up with world events before a shower and my ‘commute’ to the office. It was a crying shame to be stuck indoors as the weather was stunning. There may have been a morning chill in the air first thing but that was because there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! Here’s the view from the road above our house (looking across Sowerby Bridge and the Calder Valley) as I walked up the hill to combine getting some of the food shopping for Dawn’s parents and daily exercise.

I’d have loved to have enjoyed a day outdoors, soaking up the sun on such a fabulous day but I had too much to do. I’ve not had chance to edit them and put the results on my website yet but I’ve scanned another forty old slides which include November 1992 to January 1993. It was a period when my life changed completely, so it’s quite strange looking back at them now and remembering. 

Part of the reason I’ve not got them edited today was that other things kept side-tracking me – but in a positive way. A picture request from a magazine saw me scurrying through the archives to dig out what they wanted, then I had a Zoom conference call scheduled to talk about the Community Rail Network awards. Oh, the joys of online meetings! Yes, they’re ideal for when needs must but the idea that these will render travel redundant in future is fanciful to say the least. There’s too many distractions or glitches and body language is next to impossible to read. I lost the call for a few minutes as we suffered a power cut – the second time that’s happened in a week. It was back in an instant but it took several for the internet to reboot.

Finally, I got chance to break away from staring at a screen and retreated into the garden with a good old paper copy of RAIL magazine to catch up on the latest industry news in the sun! The ‘dead tree’ media still has some advantages. You need no batteries or sockets, you don’t need to worry about flare on a screen and you don’t have to fret about a wifi connection. Oh, and you can also use the mag as a sunshade!

The clear skies and sunshine lasted right through to the bitter end when they were overtaken by planet’s rotation and replaced by a glorious dark night and a full moon. If I hadn’t so many things to do I’d have been tempted to set up my camera on a tripod up on the promenade and try some long-exposure shots. Sadly, with the length of exposure that I’d need for what I have in mind the local constabulary may be less than sympathetic in these coronavirus times.

Instead of star-gazing, here’s a look back at the past and the archive pictures I’ve been scanning today. This is Tilbury Riverside station in Essex, just a few days before it closed on the 30th November 1992. Oddly, despite the fact I’d lived in London since 1986, this was the only time I ever visited. I don’t know why, other than it obviously wasn’t a priority at the time, despite the fact I lived just a stones throw from the London, Tilbury & Southend railway in East London. Now, how I wish I had as Tilbury Riverside would have made a fascinating picture study. 

03062. 313787. In the last week before closure. Tilbury Riverside. November.1992 crop

This is how I remember much of the railways from my youth. Decrepit and decaying. Forget the rose-tinted spectacles, the one thing money wasn’t spent on was stations. How many were stripped back to bare platforms and had decent facilities demolished and replaced by bus shelters to save a few quid on maintenance and wages?

Tilbury Riverside is no more but the site is still rail connected as it’s now used by freight trains from the docks. When I’ve had chance to edit the other pictures I’ll add a couple more. Right now it’s time for bed as we’ve a busy shopping day ahead of us…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lockdown. Day 43 (Tuesday).

05 Tuesday May 2020

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Despite getting up before 07:00 I still didn’t get everything done that I’d hoped and planned to. So much for all this time we’re meant to have on our hands due to lockdown! On the bright side, I did achieve a lot. Having left Dawn in bed with our moggie keeping guard over her I made some coffee before heading to the office. It’s not exactly an onerous commute from the kitchen, one flight of stairs and I’m there! The first assignment of the day was to get a the next batch of slides scanned and edited whilst setting up another batch ready to join the queue. Whilst they’re scanning I normally have time to peruse the web and catch up on the days world and financial news in between. The media isn’t making as depressing and perturbing reading as it did a few weeks ago due to the fact so many countries are slowly feeling their way out of lockdown and making plans for the future. Quite how long this process will last before normality returns is anyone’s guess as this would depend on countries having a vaccine against Covid-19.

With this in mind I’m prepared to be in complete lockdown for another week or two yet. I’ve plenty to keep me occupied, so the only real negative impact on me is financial. I’m one of the lucky ones in that I’ve been able to adapt to lockdown without too much mental stress, as has Dawn. I’m not saying it’s been all plain sailing, but at least we’re both going to come out of this still married!

Dawn was back at work today and straight into conference calls, catching up with her colleagues and what’s going on in the world of Community Rail – a sector that’s not had it easy as many of the volunteer groups rely on people who fit into various ‘at risk’ categories.

It was during one of Dawn’s conference calls that the Dell engineer arrived to take another look at my laptop. To maintain social distancing he worked in the kitchen like he did last time. The machine’s now running sweetly (I’m typing this on it new) and I’m hoping the glitches have finally been sorted out and I’ve a machine I can rely on. I’m keeping my old one up to date as a precaution  and basing everything in the Cloud so if anything does go wrong I can rapidly switch between machines. In fact it’s quite useful having both running at times as I can use one for slide scanning and picture editing and the other machine for emails and paperwork. Who says men can’t multi-task!

Once the Dell engineer had left I took a break from staring at screens to get my daily constitutional. The weather was ideal as it was sunny but not too hot so slogging up through the woods to the promenade didn’t leave me in a sweaty mess. After being in lockdown for so long and missing the levels of exercise I used to get I’m trying to ramp things up by increasing my target from the daily minimum of 12,500 steps to 17,000 which means I then surpass all my targets. Thankfully we live in an area where I can do this without putting anyone at risk I’d be buggered if I still lived in North London as 7 miles around a 30 foot garden would be stretching things a bit!

Sadly, with Dawn still working I had to walk solo. Once back at home I settled back down in front of the computers and managed to get 60 old pictures done today. You can find them on my Zenfolio website in this gallery.

I’m moving on through the years now and passed a significant (well, to me anyway) landmark. I’ve finished the years 1989 -1991. 1991 was important to me because in the October of that year I packed in my job as a Housing Officer in Tower Hamlets, paid a years rent on my shared flat and headed off to South-East Asia for a year. By the time I returned in October 1992 I’d visited India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia. I’d also travelled all the way overland through the Indonesian islands from Sumatra to West Timor and even got as far as Darwin in Australia before running out of time and money! One day I’ll write up my experiences of those days, when backpacking was very different to today…

The trip means that there’s a year-long gap in my UK rail archive, just at a time when the railways were going through another phase of replacing loco-hauled passenger services with yet more multiple units. This meant I was kept busy before I left documenting how things were before they changed forever. Of course, what I didn’t know at the time was that rail privatisation was looming. There wasn’t going to be a general election until 1992 and John Major’s Tories looked unlikely to win…

Here’s a sample picture that shows how much has changed.

03035. 87001. 13.12 to Liverpool Lime St. 87021. 09.10 from Liverpool Lime St. London St Pancras. 12.10.1991 crop

On the 12th October 1991 a pair of Class 87s stand at the buffers at St Pancras station London. No, this isn’t a mistake! Due to weekend engineering work Services from Liverpool were diverted away from Euston and into St Pancras. The trains were diesel hauled from Nuneaton across to the Midland Main Line and then down to Bedford where the Class 87s could run ‘under the wires’ to St Pancras. 87001 (on the left) waits to work the 13.12 to Liverpool Limes St whilst I’d arrived from Liverpool behind 87021 on the right which had worked the 09.10 from Lime St. I’d been back to Southport for the weekend to say my goodbye’s to my family. A few days later I flew out on a single ticket to Delhi, India, where the adventure began…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lockdown. Day 42 (Monday)

04 Monday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Hs2, Lockdown, Musings

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Another day that didn’t quite go according to plan…

That’s partially because I got up later than expected. Today was Dawn’s last day on holiday and as she was having a lie in I ended up lying in for a bit. Mind you, the fact our moggie had pulled a fast one and dived on the bed during the night didn’t help. Much as we love him, he’s a bugger for pinching the middle of the bed!

Getting up late meant the working day was cut short by a couple of hours, so I spent longer scanning old slides to meet my target and less doing other stuff. Even so, It was a productive day. I hate ones where I feel I’ve not achieved anything. One thing I didn’t manage to sort out was getting my new laptop working again. It’s been faulty since last week. Despite spending over half an hour on the phone to the Dell helpdesk there was nothing to be done, so another of their engineers will be paying me a visit tomorrow. Hopefully, this time the repair will be permanent. The old machine I’m using at the moment is fine for office work but as the battery is fried it can’t move far.

Away from work the day went well. Dee kept herself busy with her exercise regime and then got stuck into the decorating jobs she’s occupied herself with these past few days. Yesterday she did an excellent job of prepping the porch for painting. Today the task was painting the living room window cills and surrounding plasterwork. I love her enthusiasm for getting hands-on with tasks like this as it’s very different from her day job.

The weather’s defaulted back to a mixture of sunshine and cloud, with only the slightest smattering of rain, which was great as it meant that when I finally went cross-eyed through staring at a screen all day I could go for a stroll without getting soaked. I didn’t go far but stuck to the usual woods/promenade/park circuit with a slight deviation to the supermarket. I was surprised how quite everywhere was. I didn’t even have to queue to get into Tesco’s. There’s been a few signs recently that more people are pushing the lockdown envelope at weekends, but there was little sign of that today.

Hopefully, we can start to see the lockdown begin to be relaxed. Although it’s early days yet there are positive signs that the number of cases and death toll is heading in the right direction. I just wish it was possible to have greater faith in the Governments statistics. Quite what the gradual relaxing will look like is open for debate. Right now, I’m not making any plans. besides, I’ve more than enough things to keep me occupied.

Whilst the majority of us are respecting the lockdown and social distancing I saw that the faux ‘Eco-warriors’ from ‘Extinction rebellion’ who’re protesting against building HS2, the new high-speed railway, were displaying their usual weapons-grade hypocrisy by pulling various stunts and protests along the route. Using banners carrying the slogan ‘NHSnotHS2’ they blocked an HS2 site entrance at Euston long enough to get a media photo call. Meanwhile, they had a few useless protesters up trees outside Euston station. All Londoners, of course. Oh, wait a minute…

One of the people up the trees was a certain Larch Maxey. The very same Larch Maxey who (until a couple of days ago) was at the Crackley Woods camp in Warwickshire. It seems the lockdown rules and social distancing don’t apply to these hypocrites. The very same rules they rant and rave about HS2 workers, police and bailiffs not obeying…

Here’s a picture of Maxey taken from one of the protesters Facebook pages.

Maxey

I wonder where the hypocrite will turn up next?

Needless to say, the protests didn’t stop a thing. They attracted some media attention but that was it. Work on Hs2 continued on sites from London to Birmingham with minimal disruption. This is the stupidity and futility of it all, the protests aren’t even a pin-prick to such a vast project which is gaining momentum all the time now that the main contractors are gearing up for what will be the largest construction project in Europe. You might as well attack a Rhino with a pea-shooter!

This evening has been more relaxed. Last night I’d cooked a tofu and tempeh veggie stir-fry, so I added some extra veggies to that to reinvent it for a second night as a quick and easy meal. Afterwards we spent time on a Zoom call with Dawn’s Brother and his family down in Farnham and her parents over in Huddersfield which makes the Covid lockdown more bearable and the distances between us shrink.

Tomorrow Dawn’s back at work and I’ll be kept occupied with scanning and paperwork. I’m hoping to catch up with some writing too (including the blogs I’d been determined to catch up with today!), so it’s goodnight from me with the intent of an earlier start tomorrow.

Lockdown. Day 41 (Sunday).

03 Sunday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Food and drink, Lockdown, Musings

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Wow! I’m way behind with these blogs and desperately trying to find the time to catch up. So much for the idea that there’s nothing to do because we’re stuck at home. It feels like I could do with another month of this just to catch up with all the stuff I’ve been hoping to get done.

It may officially have been the ‘day of rest’ today, but it felt like anything but for me. Whilst Dawn had a bit of a lie-in this morning I was up not long after 07:30 in order to sort out another batch of old slides to scan. I’ve moved on to another album of old railway pictures, this time from 1991. Unlike some of the later albums there’s very few duplicates in it so I have 500 different pictures to scan. As I’m lucky to get 40 done in a day there’s the best part of two weeks solid scanning to get through it. Will the lockdown last long enough for me to get all my old rail slides done? Who knows, so I’m making the most of the time I’ve got.

In between scanning there was the daily chores and everyday life to organise. I was on coffee duty this morning but Dawn made us brunch, which was something very different from our normal fare. Dee made the both of us fresh, home-made pancakes in what turned out to be a bit of a production line. We ate them straight out of the pan with freshly squeezed lemon and blueberry’s and they were gorgeous – although I may have made a bit of a pig of myself by eating six!

The pancake production line with the stove and two frying pans on the go just out of shot to the left. Cook and scoff! 

After brunch we divided our time between different jobs. Whilst I worked in the office scanning more old slides Dawn got stuck into some DIY and a project she’s been wanting to do for a while. The porch to the cottage has been overdue for a repaint for a few years now and with the improving weather it’s an ideal time to tackle the job – which Dee did with gusto! I could hear the furious wire-brushing and sanding from my office upstairs – along with the occasional shouts for advice or plea for supplies of refreshments.

And so the day passed – although I’ve no idea how it did it so quickly. Once the porch was prepared and Dee was occupied clearing up I pinched the ladders to clean all the back windows to the cottage. Well, if we’re going to be stuck indoors we might as well have clean windows to gaze (whistfully) out of!

I’d offered to cook a stir-fry this evening, using some of the Tofu we’d bought from the Moorcock shop, plus some Tempeh I’d spotted in our local Tesco’s. I marinaded both for a few hours in a mix of soy sauces, herbs and spices to give them a flavour boost before cooking them with some of the Moorcock’s organic veg and a load of rice noodles. The result was delicious, although I’m hoping none of the neighbours had any windows open as the mix of chili’s and spices certainly caught the back of the throat as they cooked!

Having eaten I worked off some of the calories by going for an evening constitutional up and down our road as it was too dark to stray through the woods to venture further. Evening time’s ideal to do this as it’s so quiet here. I spent 30 minutes to-ing and fro-ing without seeing a single car on the road. Bliss! Despite the enormous disruption the lockdown has caused to everyone’s lives there’s things I’m going to miss when things return to normal. The absence of road traffic being one. It’s been lovely to have the roads so free of vehicles.

The slides I’d scanned earlier are now on my Zenfolio website. I’ve started where I left off a few weeks ago with a previous album, which contained pictures of the open day at London’s Old Oak Common locomotive depot taken in August 1991. Here’s a sample.

02935. D400. D7018. D821. Old Oak Common open day. 18.08.1991 crop

A line-up of (mostly) preserved locomotives, including a trio of old Western region diesel-hydraulics that were once synonymous with Old Oak Common. At the time, who would have thought this depot would disappear? The whole area was razed a few years ago to make way for stabling sidings for the Crossrail train fleet. Now it’s not just the locomotives that are a memory…

You can find the rest of the pictures from the open day in this gallery. I’ve still a few more to add, which should get done in the next day or two. I’m looking forward to another busy week at home with plenty to keep me occupied, including catching up on a bit of blogging as I’ve been a bit tardy this weekend. Watch this space…