Category Archives: Picture of the day

27th July pictures of the day…

27 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in Food and drink, Photography, Picture of the day, Preston, Railways, Travel

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Today I escaped from Southport – albeit briefly, through an excursion to Preston care of my eldest brother, John. He was driving over to do some shopping and checking out parking for a future excursion with his kids, so I joined him for the ride. We don’t see much of each other nowadays as our lives have diverged, but John was a huge support for me and for Lynn towards the end of her life.

Before John picked me up I’d time to check out what was going on with the railway line to Wigan. The line’s closed until Saturday due to engineering work at Parbold, but Network Rail have take the opportunity to chop back a lot of trees and bushes along the line in Southport between the site of the old St Lukes station and Meols Cop. The work certainly needs doing. This is why. Here’s how it looked in 2003.

Here’s the same area today, with an RRV trimming back the extensive tree growth that’s hidden the nearby houses completely.

The trip out to Preston was rather fun. I’ve never really explored the city that much, despite visiting on a regular basis over recent years. This time I got to see different sides of the town, including the ‘old’ (or rather rebuilt) market, which had a great Indian food stall as well as some excellent butchers and fruit and veg stalls.

Great curries, both veg and non-veg, and the Samosas are exellent.
Quality fruit and veg in Preston market.

As we were only a stone’s throw away it would have been rude not to visit a fantastic CAMRA national inventory pub – the grade 2 listed Black Horse for a ‘swifty’. The interior is stunning. Here’s some of the detail around the bar.

Now I’m back in Southport, drying off after getting a soaking. I’d made the mistake of walking into town, thinking the rain that had been forecast was never going to arrive. Bad move! It waited for me to begin walking back! Still, I’m not complaining, at least we’re getting rain – unlike a lot of the country.

Tomorrow I’ll be taking another trip out of Southport. This time to Parbold to (hopefully) have a look at the railway engineering work. Depending on other events I may make it a round trip via Wigan and Liverpool. We’ll see…

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/

Cheers,

Paul

22nd July picture(s) of the day…

22 Wednesday Jul 2026

Posted by in Down memory lane, Musings, Picture of the day, Southport, Travel

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I’ve had a busy few days here in Southport, flitting between my sister’s and an old friend, whom I’m currently keeping company so that she’s not alone in the house at night. Of course, this means I’m keeping getting my steps in (over 30k covered today).

Having spent the early morning editing pictures and sorting out emails I had an appointment in town. Should have gone to Specsavers? I certainly had – and today it was time to pick up my new glasses. They’re not dissimilar in design to my old ones but the prescription is weaker. One thing I’d never realised is that – as you get older, you don’t always become more short-sighted. This is the second time I’ve had an eye-test and prescription that is milder than the last. the real bonus for me is that my ‘old’ glasses were knackered due to the photochromatic reaction breaking down. It was like looking through badly cleaned windows. Hardly a great thing for someone who’s a photographer and spends a lot of time outdoors and in sunny climbs. Let’s just hope these ones last longer than my last pair.

Having got my new ‘bins’ I spent time shopping before heading to my sisters where I swapped food for water. Why? Because for the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to keep some young saplings in the local park alive. They’ve only recently been planted and have got terribly stressed during this hot weather. I go to the park to use the gym equipment there, so watering the trees is no big chore. Besides, carrying 8 liters of water per trip just adds to the exercise.

Having sweated over bench presses and trees I returned to Anne’s to cook a chicken Korma which was split between the two households. back at my current residence the two of us shared it before sitting down to reminisce in two very different ways I’ve known ‘P’ since the 1980s when we all frequented the same pub in Southport and partied at her and her husband’s house. What was of no significance all those years ago was that she was raised in Rishworth, West Yorkshire. Now that I’ve been living down the road in Halifax for the past 16 years and can share Yorkshire memories adds a whole new dimension to our conversations!

Tomorrow looks like another family orientated day, but for now I’ll leave you with a couple of pictures.

I don’t often publish pictures of myself but here’s me and my new glasses in all their glory. Yeah, I know – the flowers behind are far more attractive!
Staying alive…This is the row of saplings I’m trying to get through the drought. Fortunately, we have rain forecast for the weekend. It can’t come soon enough.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

19th July picture(s) of the day…

19 Sunday Jul 2026

Posted by in Music, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Southport, Travel

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Another week ends and another chapter begins. My time in Marshside is over. Anne and Steve have returned from their break in Croatia so I’m moving again as I go from cat sitting to people sitting (long story). Right now I’m back at my sisters, helping out with a few chores before my next adventure.

the weather here in Southport has remained wall to wall sunshine, which is lovely if you enjoy the outdoors and getting a tan. It’s also been fabulous for the golf and the Open has been in town all week. Oddly, despite the numbers of people it draws in, the place has never felt overrun, Far from it. Whilst I’ve avoided Hillside and the areas around the Royal Birkdale course, if you went North of the town centre to places like Churchtown you’d have no idea anything special was happening.

Now the golf is over, although it’ll take a few days for the logistics to wind down and everything to be cleared away. Who won? I’ve no idea!

My day’s been taken up by caring for some recently planted trees on a local park which are feeling the stress from a lack of water. The park contains some exercise machines that I’ve been using several times a week, so I’ve taken to carrying bottles of water with me to give the trees some liquid relief. I’m not sure all are going to survive, but I’m doing my best.

The trees I’m trying to keep alive.

Apart from that I’ve been continuing my perambulations around town, watching what’s going on. Southport seems to be undergoing somewhat of a cultural revival, with all sort of events being staged. Today it was the turn of the old bandstand on Lord St. It’s been restored and the past couple of Sundays have seen various music events laid on.

A great group of schoolkids playing a mix of rock and folk. Sadly, I didn’t catch their name.

In fact – thinking about it – Southport’s has a lot of live music going on, and all of it for free. On Saturday there were craft stalls and a music stage outside the old market hall.

Then there’s the Northern end of Lord St, which is popular with buskers, and you can often catch acts outside this bar in the backstreets.

This spell of dry and sunny weather’s predicted to last until next weekend, so let’s enjoy it whilst we can. I’ve a busy day ahead of me tomorrow, but I’m hoping to get a trip away from the seaside later in the week, let’s see…

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/

Cheers,

Paul

15th July picture of the day…

15 Wednesday Jul 2026

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

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My feline alarm clock failed this morning as the cat chorus demanding food slept on after 06:00, leaving me to have a blissful extra hour in bed. Maybe they’re feeling the heat too? That extra time was much needed as my AI coach was warning me that I’ve been doing too much on too little sleep, so I’ve had chance to make up for it.

Having fed said moggies I adjourned to the kitchen for coffee and a catch-up with the world via my laptop before knuckling down to work. It’s been a productive day. I’ve cleared more of my backlog of pictures that need editing and loading onto my Zenfolio website – and written an article for RAIL magazine. On top of that I’ve explored the marshes – and walked into Southport, despite the beating sun and heat. The town centre’s busy today as the 154th golf open at Royal Birkdale is starting to get into full swing. Sorry, no pun intended! Visitors are flocking in, but thankfully a certain orange American is absent – he’s too busy bombing Iran and this level of golf is way out of his league.

To add to the fun we have England playing Argentina in the football world cup, which is adding more trade for the pubs and bars in the town centre. I’ve eschewed all that and walked home for another quiet night in after clocking up another 25k steps. Instead of getting worked up about sport I’m continuing to work on clearing my backlog of pictures to edit – which includes today’s picture. Here’s another beach picture, but this isn’t Southport. This is the Cumbrian coast on the way to Ravenglass when I was doing 3 peaks by rail last month.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

14th July picture(s) of the day…

14 Tuesday Jul 2026

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

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Today’s been another hot and dry one here in Southport, although I’ve been nowhere near the town today. Nor have I got a ridiculous amount of steps in. Instead, I’ve spent much of it sitting in Steve’s kitchen, working and listening to Planet Rock on the radio.

Mind you, my days start early here. I get a feline alarm call around 06:00 when ‘Hubble’ or ‘Toil’ wander into the bedroom, demanding breakfast. So, today seemed like an ideal one to work, go for a walk to the local shops and let my body rest – exactly what my AI fitness trainer is telling me to do, so working in the cool of the kitchen with the occasional foray into the garden to break the monotony of picture editing was just what I needed as temperatures reached 26 degrees here today, but the forecast is for the weather to gradually cool over the next few days. Which is no bad thing – although the sun will remain strong. There’s no prediction of much needed rain for another week.

I’m expecting another early alarm call in the morning thanks to my feline friends so it’s an early night for me with more working from ‘home’ in prospect tomorrow.

In the meantime here’s an interesting contrast between pictures. I’ve finished editing all my London shots from the other week, which included pictures from Clapham Junction, only with a very different skyline to the one I used to remember. That set me thinking and trawling through the archives. I didn’t have enough time to find and exact match, but here’s how it looks now – and how it looked in 1995. See if you can recognise the buildings that appear in both pictures – although they’ve been reclad in the intervening years.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

5th July picture of the day…

06 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in London, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Southport

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Sunday’s not been as lazy as the old song by the New Faces remembers (although more of that in the next blog). Instead, I’ve had a busy day here in Southport, catching up on exercise routines now that I have access to the park equipment that I’ve found so useful whilst I’ve been here. Admittedly, my muscles have felt the strain after a week-long gap, but it’s all good.

Apart from the physical endeavours much of my day was taken up with editing pictures from the first of my HS2 visits earlier in the week, in order to get them out to the writer and editor who need them first thing Monday morning. Then there’s all the other stuff I took on my second visit, along with a horde of other general railway pictures I took the opportunity to take whilst in the capital. They’re going to be keeping me busy for a while. On top of that I have other work and stuff to sort out, which is going to keep me occupied for the rest of the week. Hang on, I’m meant to be semi-retired, although it certainly doesn’t feel that way right now!

No rest for the wicked, eh? I’m not complaining, I’d rather be active than bored. One thing I notice about Southport after being back in London for a while is how the town resembles ‘God’s waiting room’. There’s an awful lot of retired people who seem to have little purpose other than to aimlessly wander the town centre, drifting from one coffee or charity shop to the other, or taking refuge on the benches that bedeck Lord St, like they’re living sculptures. At my most cynical, it reminds me of the old Colin Crompton joke about Morecambe, where he said ‘they don’t bury the dead in Morecambe, they just stand ’em up in the bus shelters’. I shouldn’t mock, as I’m now part of that demographic – although my bus pass sees bugger-all use!

Anyway, tomorrow’s another week and I’ve a lot to do. I won’t be travelling much, but expect a flood of pictures to appear on my Zenfolio website as and when. In the meantime, here’s a taster from my visit to the HS2 construction site at Old Oak Common in London. Regular readers will know of my interest in architecture. It’s why this shot inside the new HS2 station appealed to me despite their not being a train in sight…

If only someone in orange PPE had been stood in the background…

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/

Cheers,

Paul

16th April picture of the day…

16 Thursday Apr 2026

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Southport

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Funny old world.

Today’s been one of those days when the wind gets taken out of your sails at the very last moment, and purely by chance. Thursday hadn’t started too badly. The weather had been picking up and Dawn was slowly recovering from her visit to the dentist and tooth extraction. I’d managed to get a load of pictures edited before getting a phone call about a long-delayed job which will see me working in Wolverhampton next week. I’d even managed to get out for a couple of walks and pick up some liquid foods for the toothless invalid.

Then, this evening, I received a Whatsapp message from my sister Anne with a link to a Facebook group which contained an obituary and the question ‘wasn’t he one of your old schoolfriends’? Indeed it was. A chap called Neil Lancaster. It came totally out of the blue and took me back half a centaury and more.

Neil and I were best friends at school back in the 1970s, part of a small group who were (in many ways) thick as thieves. We certainly got into some scrapes over the years but I pretty much lost touch with Neil after we left school and we all went our different ways – especially when I moved from Southport to London in 1986. Occasionally, when I popped back, I might bump into him, propping up the bar in the Wellington pub on Eastbank St, but the last time that happened was several decades ago.

Now, Neil’s passed on at the age of 65, a year younger than me. He’s not the first of our group to have died by any means, but it’s still come as a bit of a shock and a reminder of one’s own mortality. So, this evening my thoughts have turned to reminiscing about those mad school days of the 1970s and the things we got up to and the people we knew and left behind. Sadly, it was all so long ago that I don’t even have any old photographs with Neil in them.

So, goodbye Neil. Sorry I never got to see you one last time to share those memories together.

I’ll close this blog with a picture I took earlier, as -whilst some things pass – some things always remain, and our local woodland’s seeing the return of the bluebells.

Some things never really die…

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/

Cheers,

Paul

15th April picture of the day…

15 Wednesday Apr 2026

Posted by in Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade, TRU, West Yorkshire

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Shit! We’re already halfway through April, or in other words – almost a third of the way through 2026! Where the hell’s the time going? My day seems to have flown by as much of it has been spent decorating the living room whilst I put the final (and 4th) coat of paint on the woodwork. Admittedly, I prefer modern paints to the stuff I used when I worked as a painter and decorator back in the early 1980s. Then you seemed to get more paint on everything other than the surface you were meant to be applying it to!

Whilst I was busily engaged with paintbrushes Dawn had a less pleasant task as she was at the dentists to have a molar removed. Having a tooth out is never the most enjoyable of experiences but dentistry has moved on a long way from when I was a kid in the 1960s. Then NHS dentists seemed like they were paid piece-work, the more they took out or filled, the more money they made. Fortunately, we have a fantastic dentists over in Huddersfield, the wonder of wellness. They’re so good people travel from all over the UK to visit them, so Dee was in good hands.

Even so, when she got home Dawn was still a bit woozy so has taken the rest of the day to recuperate, whilst I’ve shopped for someone who’s not allowed solid food or hot drinks for 48 hours. In the meantime – and as the living room is still topsy-turvey from the decorating I’ve reclaimed my old office in order to edit pictures and blog.

You can find all the pictures I took on Monday by following this link which will take you to the ‘recents’ section on my Zenfolio website. In the meantime. here’s a sample.

A pair of Trans-Pennine Express Class 185s round the curve into Dewsbury station under moody skies. This scene is slowly changing as station platforms are being extended (see left) and the first bases (right) have been sunk for overhead electrification masts and wires which will render pictures like this a thing of the past.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

7th April picture of the day…

07 Tuesday Apr 2026

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

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I’m back after an Easter break. I hadn’t intended to be absent from blogging but several things got in the way and meant I simply ran out of hours in a day! Blogging late at night’s never ideal – unless you fancy spleen-venting. Instead, I savoured the holiday period, making the most of time before Trump blows up the world – by accident or design. I also took time of to enjoy the stunning imagery from the America I miss, before the country went batshit. I’ve been watching NASA’s ‘Artemis 2’ mission to the moon, which has produced some fantastic pictures and video. You can follow it here. It’s given me a new optimism in humanity which has been sadly lacking of late – for obvious reasons.

Meanwhile, back at Bigland Towers Dawn and I decided to crack on with redecorating the living room in the cottage, another project that’s kept me away from blogging. This being an old (mid 19th century) cottage there’s hardly a level surface or right-angle in the place, which makes decorating challenging – especially when we’ve decided to wallpaper the front room rather than just paint the walls. Day one was mostly spent clearing the room, buying materials and prepping surfaces. Today was more about stripping some old wallpaper, repairing plasterwork and giving the ceiling its first coat of paint. Typically, we’ve chosen a time when the weather’s made a major improvement, so tomorrow decorating’s going to take a back seat as we’re having a day out walking in Edale (so expect a rolling blog). After that it’s back to decorating as Dee’s taken the week off in order to get the project finished. After that – who knows what’s on the calendar? Well, I do to an extent as I’ve few jobs lined up, and if the weather continues to get better I’ll be out and about more – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here!

In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which was taken last week on my phone-losing trip to Knaresborough.

Flowers in abundance at Knaresborough where the station friends have been busy planting out old trolleys which are now packed with Primulas.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

31st March picture of the day…

31 Tuesday Mar 2026

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

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Where the hell’s March gone? We’re a quarter of the way through the year which seem to have flown by. Well, more like blown by up here in West Yorkshire as we seem to have had nothing but high winds for weeks! I’m afraid it’s a short blog from me today as the evening is already late. I’ve been busy catching up with picture editing after a long local stroll yesterday and preparations for the week ahead – with Easter on the horizon.

At least the days are getting longer, even if they’re not getting much drier or warmer, but I hope to be getting out and about – and further afield in April. Well, if the madman in the White House hasn’t crippled or blown up the planet before then!

In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which was taken on my perambulations around Halifax yesterday.

One of Northern’s 2-car Class 195s arrives at Halifax with service for Chester. Old woollen and flour mills dominate the landscape but the buildings just behind the train have a very different purpose nowadays. This is the Nestlé sweet factory that’s been producing ‘Quality Street’ chocolates since 1934.

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/

Cheers,

Paul