Today’s not a day for blogging. The things I want to say are far too personal and complex. What I will say is that today would have been Lynn’s 60th birthday, but one that she never got to see. To celebrate her life and remember her Dawn arranged a day full of activities and events, including breakfast at a café, walking up Stoodley Pike outside Todmorden and shortly, a meal at a famous Indian vegetarian restaurant near Bradford – all things Lynn would have loved.
“Let’s love, listen, take time when time is all we have. Let’s be unafraid to be kind, learn to disregard the bad if the good outweighs it daily.
Let’s make a gift of silence, the day’s hushing into dark, and when we hold each other let’s always be astonished we are where we want to be”
“Let’s hope to age together, but if we can’t, let’s promise now to remember how we shone when we were at our best, when we were most ourselves”
There’s not much blogging from me today as I’ve been spending another day cooped up at home for most of it, trying to get catch up on DIY, chores and paperwork. Add to this the fact the weather here’s been ‘mixed’ and there’s been little opportunity for photography. Here’s the view across the Calder Valley and Sowerby Bridge earlier when I wandered out to do some shopping. The latest rain shower’s sweeping up the valley from the West.
I do love the view from here. It’s a cobbled hill just above our home. You’d recognise it if you’ve ever watched the opening episode of the TV series “Gentlemen Jack” which is based on the life of Ann Lister. Let’s face it you don’t often get views like this walking to and from the supermarket – or the local pub!
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be out and about again. Let’s see what happens…
Well, ones like this where the weather’s been miserable, I’ve been stuck at home collating vast numbers of pictures for a client and I’m watching my country slowly implode both economically and politically. Apart from that it’s been just fine!
Exciting as life is as a photographer, the wading through loads of library images to upload onto a client’s website is the least glamorous side of the job – even if it’s crucial. It’s monotonous and takes time as well as commands attention to detail. I suppose I should be grateful that the weather’s been so iffy so I’ve not been tempted to venture forth with the camera. The seasons really do feel like they’re starting to change up here in West Yorkshire. The nights are noticeably drawing in and the autumn chill is starting to creep in on the tail of shorter days.
My distraction would normally be to have the radio on, but the news bulletins are so depressing as they report on our increasingly dysfunctional Government and its suicide mission to deliver a ‘no deal’ Brexit, thus crippling the economy and trashing our reputation with the rest of the world – who already think we’re mad. That so many of my fellow countrymen think that Johnson’s threat to leave the EU without a deal is actually a threat the EU take seriously says a lot about the state of the UK nowadays. If someone’s holding a gun to their own head and threatening to pull the trigger anyone with an ounce of common-sense knows that there’s only going to be one result. Sadly, common-sense left these shores in 2016 and it looks like it has no intention of returning.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are caught up in this absolute farce as the Tory party morphs into the Brexit party, minus that lying, slimy toad Farage. Instead, they have their other poster boy, Boris – a man who’s relationship with the truth is just as divorced as Farage’s. This is not going to end well…
My only hope is that enough members of all political parties remember where they’ve left their backbones and put country before party. In the meantime, we’re in for a very rocky ride.
Right now, I have other considerations. I’ve finished uploading a batch of pictures to the client’s website and now my attention’s drawn to the delicious smells emanating from the kitchen where Dawn’s busy baking biscuits to take into the ACoRP staff meeting tomorrow. I may be gone some time…
Here we are, the first day of September and only three weeks to go before autumn. Can I ask, who nicked the summer? We didn’t really get one up here in West Yorkshire. Sure, we had a few scattered, sunny days – but nothing that equates to those summers of memory (or even last year) where you know you could rely on the weather to be consistent. Here’s an example. Back in July, when I was judging the ACoRP awards we had a Friday where the trains were delayed by buckling rails because of the heat, yet the following Monday we were suffering problems because of torrential rain and flooding! August was much the same. The climate is changing, it’s becoming harder to predict and much more extreme. Of course, we’re going to get the usual right-wingers and conspiracy theorists tell you it’s all down to sun-spots or the fanciful bollocks that we’re actually entering a new ice-age and the planets actually cooling but none of them will address the fact that we constantly hit new temperature records.
This is the problem with living in a post-truth world where people can stand up with a straight face and tell you that they’re talking about ‘alternative facts’. Imagine, we live in a world where – thanks to those handy little smartphones most of us carry – we can check almost any fact and use our intellects and education to work out when we’re being lied to. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work anyway.
The Brexitshambles is a classic example of this and also how the narrative can change and yet so many people never realise and blindly follow the new message like sheep. Back in 2016 the Brexiters swore that if we left the EU we would be going into a new ‘Golden age’. The EU was holding us back, but anyway, ‘Johnny Foreigner’ would soon fold when we showed them that we meant business. Here’s some of the bullshit people lapped up.
Can any Brexiter who insists that they knew what they were voting for explain how we’ve gone from this to the Tory Government now preparing to crash out of the EU without a deal with all the consequences that will bring? How have we gone from David Davis saying there’s only ‘upsides’ to Boris Johnson saying that at least we’ll still have Mars Bars and clean water?
At what point are Brexiters going to admit they’ve been conned? That this country is on a suicide course for no other reason than a bunch of media moguls, disaster capitalists, spivs with Belizean diplomatic passports and the head-banging wing of the Tory party have manipulated them? Name a single benefit of Brexit – and don’t you dare tell me it’s about democracy when you’re calling half of the country ‘traitors’ and suspending Parliament so that you crash us out of the EU without a deal.
Whatever happens the UK is fractured. The ‘united’ kingdom was always an uneasy alliance. Now it’s looking like it won’t survive English exceptionalism and their contempt for foreigners – which includes long-standing issues with the other elements of the Union: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It seems that anything can be thrown under the wheels of the Brexit bus as long as they keep turning.
Today’s been our first day back in the disunited Kingdom after our time in Eire. Despite it being a Saturday I’ve had little time to relax (or blog) as there’s too much to do. Most of today’s been taken up editing hundreds of wedding pictures from last weekend as well, as trying to collate all the rail and travel pictures I snapped during our time in Ireland. This has kept me glued to a computer screen all day but at least I’ve broken the back of them now, which is just as well as I have to be in Derby tomorrow night in readiness for the launch of the new East Midlands Rail franchise first thing Monday morning – which means there’ll be some rolling blogs to come as well as yet another batch of photos to add to the queue for editing. At least I’ll have managed a couple of nights at home this week…
This evening the tempo changes as Dawn and I are heading round to some friends for a meal and chance to catch-up with people after having been away, so expect me to be absent from the internet tonight!
In the meantime, here’s a taster of some of the Irish pictures that’ll appear on my Zenfolio website next week. First off is a view of Cork’s famous English Market
Meanwhile, over to the East of the city centre, here’s a shot of the railway station, showing a Midleton service waiting to depart from platform 1 which is worked by one of the InterCity DMUs from Mitsui and TCC(Japan). 8 of them were supplied to IR in 1993. The Midleton route only reopened in the past 10 years and it’s been a fantastic success. In the adjacent siding stands one of Irish rail’s 34 strong Class 201 locomotives built by General Motors in 1994. These are used to push/pull the Mk4 coaches on the express workings to Dublin.
I’ll add the rest of the Irish pictures just as soon as I can. You’ll be able to find the travel ones here and the railway ones here. Oh, I nearly forgot! I’ve also taken quite a few merchant shipping shots around Ireland, If they float your boat (so to speak) you can find them here!
There’s little blogging from me today, other than having time to reflect on the post I wrote about the execrable piece in the Spectator yesterday and add some more ammunition to it. Instead the pair of us have enjoyed a traditional Sunday day of rest. It won’t last of course, which is why it’s to be savoured. We had a brilliant time at Tony Allan’s barbecue yesterday. My Facebook friends will be able to see what I mean. Right now we’re busy preparing for the weeks ahead. I’m off in the morning as there’s two stations left to judge for the ACoRP awards, which entails staying in Norwich tomorrow night. After that I have to head home and get into a different gear as we’re off to Ireland for a while, so expect lots of different blogs over the next week, including several rolling blogs. In the meantime – goodnight!
Today was meant to be a fun day but it’s fallen hostage to several things. Originally, a group of us were meant to be having a very pleasant evening catching-up on a steamship on the Weaver Navigation near the Anderton Lift in Cheshire. Sadly, the weather put paid to that as the torrential rain that’s caused havoc on the transport network and threatened to burst the Toddbrook reservoir dam and devastate the village of Whaley Bridge has also flooded the Weaver Navigation, so the boat trip was off. Instead, a few of us rail folk were going to meet up in Manchester and Tamworth before staying in Warrington overnight as we’ve not had a proper catch-up for months.
However, for me, the dreaded Lurgy had other plans.
This morning I woke up with a temperature accompanied by general aches pains and lassitude that informed me I’d come down with a virus. I doubt it’s much more serious than a cold, but the last thing I wanted to do today was spread the bloody thing to friends. Instead, I’ve had a (rare) day in bed catching up on sleep and some work. This included loading some of the pictures taken over the last couple of days to my Zenfolio website. You can find them here. There was one positive bit of news that buoyed my spirits this morning. The Tories lost the Brecon and Radnor by-election, which has cut Johnson’s Parliamentary majority to one! Well done to all the remain parties for working together! I see the Labour vote collapsed by 12.5%. One would hope the comrades would now wake up and smell the coffee as they’re heading the same way as the Tories. However, I doubt it as ‘Magic Grandad’ is useless and the Corbynistas spend most of their time forming their wagons into a circle around him to hurl insults at anyone who challenges their suicidal tactics of supporting both him and Brexit. It seems beyond their wit to realise that it’s actually floating voters you need to win a general election and spending all your time abusing them because of their lack of ideological purity is a spectacularly dumb idea.
I’ve got a very busy schedule next week as I’m finishing the ACoRP awards judging, then heading off to Ireland for a week to attend a friends wedding as their photographer. Dawn and I are taking the car over via the Holyhead ferry in order to explore Ireland for a few days before and after the main event. Both of us are really looking forward to it as (for me at least) it’ll be chance to catch up with friends and a chance for the pair of us to explore the beauty of the Irish Republic. Thanks to the antics of Boris Johnson and his inept Cabinet it’s going to be an expensive time now that they’ve tanked the pound and it’s perilously close to parity with the Euro. I also feel sorry for the residents of Whaley Bridge too. Not only have they been evacuated from their homes as the nearby dam is a natural disaster waiting to happen, they’ve had to put up with an unnatural one as our disaster of a Prime Minister has graced them with his presence today. Haven’t they suffered enough?
Whilst I’ve manfully struggled on with Lemsips and Kleenex, Dawn’s been shopping in Leeds for a dress to wear for next weeks wedding. At least she’s not had to suffer me sneezing all over her! Tomorrow, if the aches and fever subside, we have a barbecue to attend which is being hosted by our friend Tony of Phoenix Brewery fame. You can tell I’m not feeling 100% as I even turned down going to the Big 6 fun quiz tonight. Instead I’ve settled for a quiet night in with a bottle of beer, some crispy duck and Dawn and I curled up together watching films. That said, after all the travelling I’ve been doing and the nights away, what’s not to like?
I’m having another rare day at home trying to keep on top of admin’ whilst not going stir crazy. The day’s been productive so far with several things ticked off the list and with more to come, plus another tranche of pictures added to my Zenfolio website which you can find here. Right now, I’ve nipped out to do some shopping and get some exercise whilst spending a moment enjoying the view across the valley whilst the sun shines and the thunderstorms build up. We’ve had one brief crack of thunder earlier but the skies are certainly changing now. A phalanx of dark clouds is moving in from the East, whilst the higher, lighter cloud is in full retreat whilst the sun’s caught (high up) between the warring factions. As if acting as an out-runner, the wind’s sprung up to ruffle the trees in Scarr woods.
Looking West towards Sowerby Bridge and on to Manchester
Looking the other way and the thunderstorms are gathering…
Then the skies got darker, and darker and…
21:15.
We’ve had quite a storm! The thunder and lightning passed over pretty quickly, but they left behind a series of heavy showers in their wake which have passed through in a succession for the rest of the day. I’m quite glad I’ve not had to go out tonight and I’m holed up in the dry as it’s a filthy night. It’s given me the excuse to catch up on more paperwork and prepare for another day out on the rails judging the ACoRP awards tomorrow – although I’m not sure how we’ll fare weather-wise. We’ve five stations to visit across the North-West and Cumbria tomorrow, so I expect to get soaked at some point! It’s going to be a busy week as this will be my only one at home, the rest of the week’s taken up with judging and travelling. Not that I’m complaining you understand, we’ve got some fantastic stations and friends groups to visit. Here’s a look at one station from yesterday as an example. This is Bingley on the electrified Aire valley line from Leeds through to Skipton. It was built by the Midland railway in 1892 to replace the original station further East and it’s a fine example of the work of Charles Trubshaw, one of the Midland’s architects.
A Northern Class 333 EMU calls at Bingley on it’s way back to Leeds.
The main station buildings at street level. Sadly, the classic glazed MR canopies that graced the building were hit by a bus many years ago and removed as a consequence. Both shops/offices that you can see here are currently vacant and available for letting.
Thankfully the weather was a lot better yesterday and the local station friends were keen to show us what they’d been up to and what their future plans were. I can only hope we get some more good weather like this over the next few days, although I’m not holding my breath! I’ll be doing a rolling blog throughout the day (judging permitting) but don’t expect to learn too much about what the varied groups we visit have been up to. That will be saved for the ACoRP awards later in the year!
Right now it’s time to call it a day and get all my kit cleaned and charged up ready for a busy few days. See you tomorrow.
Christ on a bike! Earlier in the week we were basking in the highest temperatures the UK’s probably ever seen. Today we’re experiencing the levels of rain that make me want to dust off plans for an Ark!
The four of us have had a fantastic weekend in Liverpool. Saturday night at the Cavern Club was great, but today we did something very different and also very sobering after a night on the beer. We visited the Slavery Museum at Liverpool’s Albert Dock. I’d recommend it to anyone but if you’re white and think you’re hard done by, expect to learn some uncomfortable truths. The museum lays bar the true horror of the slave trade and Liverpool’s part in it. The full horror of this obnoxious trade and man’s inhumanity to man is laid bare. To be honest, it’s a lot to take in, so I’d recommend more than one visit.
Unfortunately, the weather in Liverpool was so wet we cut short the day to head back across the Pennines to West Yorkshire. In the event, it wasn’t any better back home. We ended up back in our local pub for a ‘a couple’ then were joined by other friends so that a couple became several – then it started chucking it down. So much do that for the first time we ordered a taxi to get us the short distance home.
Now, whilst Dawn’s digging the pair of us a very nice meal out of the freezer (home made Harissa Chicken) I’ve been busy checking emails as tomorrow I’m back on the road judging stations for the ACoRP awards. it’s ironic to think that last week Mark and I were bothered about the heat. This week it’s not suntan lotion we need to pack – it’s a canoe! We’ve ‘only’ got three (widely spread) stations to visit today, so expect another rolling blog describing the course of the day. Today’s been pretty easy, but here’s a few photo’s to illustrate it.
In a move that will surprise few, Alan Duncan MP has resigned from the Foreign Office. Having suffered the incompetence of Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister it’s clear he’s no intention of serving under him as Prime Minister!
To say this comes at an awkward time is an understatement. The FO still hasn’t recovered from the damage Johnson caused and already has one Minister suspended. Just what we need with the Iranian’s saber-rattling in the Gulf!
Of course Duncan is merely the first one out of the traps and at least he’s stayed in the party. Who’ll be next? Chancellor Philip Hammond has already announced he’ll resign on Wednesday if Johnson wins tomorrow. Plus, there’s newspaper reports that up to six Tory MPs are in discussions with the Liberal Democrats about joining the party.
This really could prove interesting as it would leave Johnson without any majority in Parliament and facing some politically savvy opposition from his own back-benches. Johnson’s not a clever politician. Devious and blustering, yes, but not clever. The cracks are already starting to show and he’s not even taken office yet! The chances of a serious split in the Tory party are becoming more likely, especially if Johnson surrounds himself with ideological Brexit headbangers in his Cabinet. You wouldn’t trust most of them to run a whelk stall, never mind a country.
If only we had an opposition party and Leader worth the name. At this rate, it looks like the Lib-Dems will assume that role. Since I wrote this it’s been announced that Jo Swinson MP has been voted in as the new Lib-Dem leader, making the Labour party the only one of the triumvirate (Labour, Tory & Lib-Dem) to never have elected a woman.
Paul Bigland 