Category Archives: Picture of the day

27th June picture of the day…

27 Monday Jun 2022

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

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Today’s been another mixed bag here at Bigland Towers and one enlivened by having a four-legged friend for company again – even if this canine companion was only on loan for 24 hours!

Dawn was up bright and early as she decided it was her turn to take ‘Bernie’ out for a walk. The pair of them padded off long before breakfast and ahead of the rain clouds that threatened to put a damper on the day.

Absolved of such duties I stayed at home and brewed to coffee, ready for their return. I’d various work jobs on my ‘to do’ list as well as household chores so the day’s pretty much flown by. We bid goodbye to ‘Bernie’ this afternoon as her owner came to collect her. Shame – I could have got used to taking her for a walk via our local pub but that would only have got me into trouble! Still, I managed to get out for a stroll (sans dog, and pub) when the weather brightened up as I had some shopping to do in Sowerby Bridge as well as drop the latest old slide sales into the post.

The brightening evening weather gave me chance to sit and relax in the sunshine on our terrace and top up my Vitamin D before returning to the office in order to relaunch my slide scanning project. I never did manage to finish this during Covid and the reopening of the world’s meant that the final few 1000 pictures have had to take a backseat to other (paying) jobs. Now it’s a question of fitting in scanning around other things, but I wanted to get a load prepped ready to be able to fill in an hour or so if the weather turns.

Another things I’ve relaunched now that my monthly eBay quota is about to renew is selling off original rail slides that are duplicates of ones I’ve already scanned. Expect many hundreds to appear in July, but in the meantime here’s 130 to choose from.

OK, it’s getting late so onto today’s picture, which is one of the latest batch of old slides I’m scanning. This was taken in Chennai, Tamil Nadu India in February 1998. Lynn and I had taken the bus into Channai (Madras as was) for a day, swapping the beach at lovely Mahabalipuram for the frenetic pace of the city. Whilst we were waiting for the bust to depart on the return this group of street-children clambered aboard to hustle. Kids being kids, it wasn’t long before they broke off to play games!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

26th June picture of the day…

26 Sunday Jun 2022

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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It’s been a ‘dolly mixture’ sort of day today due to a combination of factors. As it’s officially the day of rest both of us decided our day wouldn’t be starting at first light and enjoyed the fact we had no commitments until the afternoon – so we relaxed until late morning with coffee and various aspects of the world-wide web to catch up on all manner of things.

The indifferent weather was another good reason for not rushing. Whilst the mercury is certainly teasing the upper end of thermometers clouds were doing their best to make the day unpredictable. My relief was that the cementing of some stone steps I completed yesterday could be uncovered and left to cure as no rain was on its way. The simple pleasures in life, eh?

This afternoon we popped around to help a friend who’s got the mammoth task of clearing out another dearly departed friend’s house. It took us a couple of hours just to examine the stuff they’d hoarded. It’s sad in so many ways. You spend a lot of your life amassing collections of all sorts of stuff and then, when you die, it’s up to others to decide what to do with it. I’m glad that I’ve shaken off the collecting bug and now my life’s about downsizing rather than cluttering. As they say – you can’t take it with you – either when you’re travelling, or to the afterlife…

Afterwards we headed over to other friends as tonight we’re dog-sitting. It’s something we’d never have been able to do whilst we had our revered and ancient moggie (Jet) as he couldn’t tolerate other cats. A dog? There would have been hell to pay! But now we can, and ‘Bernie’, our friends cockapoo is getting used to our home for the night. She’s a lovely dog who seems quite relaxed about being with us for the for awhile. I took her out for a walk earlier which she loved as there’s so many unusual smells around here due to the combination of woodland and wildlife that surround us. I even took her to our local (dog friendly) pub which raised a few eyebrows as people aren’t used to me having a canine in tow. She was an instant hit!

Now we’re back at home, winding down ready for another busy week. So, for today’s picture, allow me to introduce you to ‘Bernie’…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

24th June picture of the day….

24 Friday Jun 2022

Posted by in Food and drink, Halifax, Music, Picture of the day, The Piece Hall, West Yorkshire

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I have to admit, the day’s started well. I woke up to the news that the Tories had been roundly thrashed in both of yesterday’s bye-elections. The result in Wakefield was expected, but the Lib-Dems trouncing Tries in one of their safest seats wasn’t. As expected, it’s set a few cats amongst pigeons. Admittedly, I doubt it will lead to Johnson’s resignation. After all, he’s a man with neither scruples nor honour. He’ll hand on to No10 by his fingernails until he’s dragged from there kicking and screaming. He’ll have to be ejected by his own party or the electorate. I must admit I find the idea that his own constituents might finish his political career rather appealing if it wasn’t for the damage the man and the incompetent pets he keeps as a Cabinet could do in the meantime. I doubt Johnson will stay in politics after he’s ejected (one way or another). His only interest in politics was to massage his ego and get the top job. He’ll never stay on as a backbencher. Why would he? He’ll be off, being looked after one of the people he’s enriched who’ll give him a well-paid sinecure somewhere (preferably where he can’t do any more damage).

Apart from that been a busy morning/afternoon here in Bigland Towers. I’ve been kept occupied editing all the pictures I’ve been taking these past few days and getting them on my other website. You can find the results here. That done, it was time to finish type-swiping my latest article for RAIL magazine in order to be able to take some time off this afternoon as the pair of us are joining up with friends to go to the Piece Hall in Halifax this evening see too Nile Rogers and Chic in concert.

There’s only one tiny problem…

It’s an open-air gig and we’ve already had one absolutely torrential downpour with the weather forecast predicting thunderstorms to follow ! Now the sun’s out, making for a very muggy day with the temperature at 19 degrees. This could be interesting.

This means this is going to be a two-part blog, with the actual picture of the day added later. When I decide what it’s going to be…

OK. Here’s the picture of the day. The Nial Rodgers concert at the Piece Hall was an absolute stonker. It’s easy to forget just how many great tunes the man has written for other artists. Tonight he reminded us.

13th June picture of the day…

13 Monday Jun 2022

Posted by in Hs2, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Warwickshire

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After all my rushing around the country, long days and sleepless nights it’s good to be back at home! It’s been great fun (if exhausting) but I’m enjoying the slower pace of life and home life. Admittedly, I’m still keeping busy. I’ve a mountain of pictures to edit from my various activities which has kept me glued to my computer for the majority of the day – and probably the next couple too.

Still, you can start to see the results as some of them have already appeared on my Zenfolio website. The range of pictures from my visit to Warwickshire to see the High Speed 2 railway construction and environmental mitigation work can be found in this gallery. I’ve only just begun working my way through the Railway Children’s ‘3 Peaks by Rail’ challenge but I’ve started a new gallery for them which can be found here. It should be fully stocked with pictures by Tuesday evening. Of course, there’s the usual miscellany of railway pictures that have found themselves into various galleries. They can be found by following this link.

Once the pictures are done the writing begins as I’ve several articles to sort out as well as try and fit in the usual admin, invoicing and even a trip out on Thursday – just to stop me feeling jaded. In the meantime, expect more pictures of the day accompanied by the usual ramblings depending what caught my eye (or annoyed my spleen)…

I’ll leave you now with today’s picture which is from my visit to see the HS2 construction work in Warwickshire. Here’s a view of the civil engineering in the Leam valley with route carving a gap in Cubbington wood in the background. The view is looking North-West. Sadly, the edge of the ancient wood couldn’t be avoided, but there’s a huge amount of mitigation work happening in the area and the soil from the gap has been translocated to sites along the edge of the wood. Pictures of what those translocation sites look like now are in the HS2 gallery.

Like any building site it looks like, well – a building site! High Speed 1 once looked like this but the scars on the landscape soon healed. Nature has a knack of recovering and humans will help in that healing…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

4th June picture of the day…

04 Saturday Jun 2022

Posted by in Photography, Picture of the day

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Sorry for the lack of blogging recently but life has got in the way and my attention’s had to go into far more important things. You might find things are a bit intermittent until Thursday when I join the Railway Children’s annual ‘3 Peaks by Rail’ event as their photographer. Then I’ll try do some rolling blogging and give a flavour of what a fantastic (if ever so slightly crazy) the three day event it is. In the meantime what I will do is post a daily picture so you at least have something to look at!

Today’s pictures a little different. Our front garden is in full bloom at the moment which means its (literally) a hive of activity as it’s full of all sorts of different types of bees. Whilst sitting outside having an evening beer I decided to put my micro lens on the camera and photograph some of the little critters. It ain’t easy – they don’t hang around for long. One day I’ll take this as a serious project, but here’s what I managed to capture in-between sips!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

1st June picture of the day…

01 Wednesday Jun 2022

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

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After all my travels over the last week I’ve spent the past few days based nowhere but home, which has been a pleasant change as I needed time to relax and catch up on editing and collating all the pictures I’ve taken over the past month which runs into several thousand images. I’ve now uploaded the vast majority of the edited ones onto my Zenfolio website. If you follow this link it’ll show you which galleries they’ve been added to. Several have already made it into magazines, including the cover of RAIL magazine and the first edition of Inside Track mag to be produced under the Editorship of an old friend and former RAIL colleague – Richard Clinnick.

Of course, my time hasn’t all been work and no play. Dawn and I both met up with a former Community Rail Network friend for drinks yesterday in the excellent Sportsman pub in Huddersfield where we were joined by several other CRN stalwarts for a very convivial evening over a few beers.

Today’s been far quieter as the pair of us have been slaving away at home – although I did manage to nip out for a long walk down to Sowerby Bridge to pick up a bit of shopping and enjoy the sunshine. Tomorrow we’re back on the social circuit as we’ll be joining many other community rail folks at a Queen’s Jubilee soiree held by the friends of Mytholmroyd station.

Now it’s June and I’ve a new free sales quota I’ve relaunched selling off original old rail slides on eBay. There’s over 500 from the UK, India and Ireland to choose from with bids starting at £1.99. You can find what’s for sale by following this link.

OK, it’s picture of the day time – and I’ve loads of new ones to choose from. The question is – what should it be? How about this one of the restored Folkstone harbour railway station which has become a stylish tourist location with lots of bars and cafes?

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

22nd May picture of the day…

22 Sunday May 2022

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

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After our brief visit to Surrey the pair of us are now back in West Yorkshire – although that’s for just one night for me. We left Tilford this morning to drive back North. With it being Sunday the roads were pretty quiet all the way until we hit the M1 motorway which proved to be a real pain in the arse. Almost as soon as we hit it after coming off the A43 we hit traffic and then a tailback caused by an accident North of Watford Gap services. We also left the good weather behind which was a double blow. Something else that was left behind was motorists common-sense. The way some folk were driving was atrocious – hence us passing a second accident further North. At least we made it home without getting caught up in anything more than traffic.

Roll on being back on rails – which will be tomorrow for me. It’s the start of Community Rail Week and I’ll be covering a couple of the events, starting with an event in Bradford and Bingley tomorrow. After that I’ll be heading down South again in a different role(s) as Crossrail opens to the public on Tuesday which promises to be a really exciting day. That done I’ll be back up North as it’s Dawn’s birthday, but then I’ve go to hot-foot it down to Kent for another Community Rail Week event on Thursday. Hopefully – unless things change -as they often do, I’ll be home on Friday.

So, there’s lots of rolling blogs and pictures to come. For now I’ll end with a picture from today’s travels and why I much prefer rail to road.

This was the front vehicle in a shunt consisting of half a dozen cars on the M1 North of Watford Gap services today.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

21st May picture of the day…

21 Saturday May 2022

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

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After yesterdays travels today’s been a quiet one so there’s only a short blog from me. I’ve been in Tilford most of the day, enjoying the weather and chance to feel the sun on my skin again. I have done some work, all yesterday’s pictures are edited and awaiting their captions so they’ll appear on my Zenfolio website soon. In the afternoon Dee and I popped into Guildford to pick up some bits which is always enjoyable as it’s a fine little town with a variety of independent shops and more upmarket chains than you’ll find in our neck of the woods. Needless to say, with the weather being so good the town was packed.

We only stayed for a couple of hours then returned to Tilford where I went for an evening wander and dropped by the local pub to watch the cricket. It’s a quintessentially English scene, sat outside the pub with the locals watching the local team playing on the green opposite. So, here’s today’s picture (with a bonus).

Cricket on the green outside the Barley Mow in Tilford.

Tomorrow we return to Yorkshire, but only for a while for me. I’ve got a hectic week that’ll see me traversing the country once more on various assignments. Watch out for a few rolling blogs…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

18th May picture of the day…

18 Wednesday May 2022

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

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Today’s been a catching-up sort of day but also a long one. The pair of us were up early, Dee because she had work stuff to sort out on-site rather from home and me because I’d lots of picture editing to plough through whilst I still had the time – because tomorrow the pair of us head South to Surrey for a few days.

Whilst the day’s been busy the sunny weather did tempt me to venture out for more than my daily constitutional, so much so I’ve nearly 10 miles under my belt today as I wandered down into Sowerby Bridge to pick up some shopping then meandered back along the canal and tarried in the local woods before hitting home. The Calder Valley looks glorious this time of year and the views should be savoured. Much as I miss Asia, days like this are a form of recompense. Sitting outside the house in the sunshine whilst sorting out paperwork certainly beats being holed-up in a claustrophobic office.

However, tomorrow’s all-change. I’ve my regular appointment over in Milnsbridge tomorrow which will see me out and about. Afterwards the pair of us will be travelling to Surrey for a few days whilst Dee fills in for her brother to be there for her nephew and niece whilst he’s away. I’m coming along too to offer support and because I’ve things I can do in that neck of the woods. Have camera (and laptop) – will travel! Expect a few rolling (and not so rolling) blogs whilst we’re away – and many more the week after as I’m going to be doing a lot of travelling.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with the picture of the day which is one from our recent trip to Berlin, Germany and that encapsulates the country’s torrid history in the 20th Century.

In the foreground is the ‘Topography of Terror‘, a museum documenting the systemic atrocities carried out by the Nazi regime before and during World War 2. The museum is on the site of the former Gestapo HQ where so much of the terror was organised from. In the background bordering Niederkirchnerstraße is a large chunk of the former Berlin wall. It’s not an easy place to visit. There’s something spine-chilling about the way the Nazis turned the extermination of millions of people into a bureaucratic exercise, as if it was a normal inventory, not a mass slaughter.

The fact the site is bounded by one of the largest fragments of the Berlin wall that still exists in the centre of the city adds another dimension.

I have to admit, I love Berlin as a city, even if its history can sometimes be uncomfortable. It’s shaken that past off now, although reunification still causes echo’s and ripples. I’m looking forward to going back later this year for business rather than pleasure – although visiting the city’s always a pleasure!

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank You!

15th May picture of the day…

15 Sunday May 2022

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

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After a busy week we’ve had a quiet weekend here at Bigland Towers. Catching up on sleep was important as next week’s going to be another active and varied one – as will be the next few. Saturday’s weather was glorious with lots of sunshine and balmy temperatures, so the pair of us decided to walk into Halifax and visit the Piece Hall where a friend was exhibiting some of her charcoal artwork as part of a charity fundraising sale. The building and its internal square was packed with people enjoying the weather, bars and shops. It’s such a special place that it’s sometimes hard to remember that you’re actually in West Yorkshire and not somewhere in Italy.

Today the weather’s not been as generous although the threatened rain never materialised. Not that it mattered as we didn’t venture outside until late afternoon when we enjoyed a long stroll around the local area in order to get in some exercise. Halifax possesses some fascination old buildings, many of which have been repurposed over the years, so a wander invariably ends up in a game of ‘guess the house’s original purpose’.

Now we’re back at home and relaxing for the evening. Dawn’s cooking roasted vegetables with lamb rolls and I’m catching up on a spot of picture editing, trying to clear the backlog of pictures I’ve taken over the past few days. OK, it’s not exactly the ‘rock and roll’ lifestyle, but it suits us! Although talking rock and roll (and the Piece Hall, we’ll be back there twice over the next few weeks to see Nile Rogers and Chic, then Paloma Faith.

I’ll leave you now with today’s picture, which was taken at the Piece Hall yesterday, just so you can see what I mean about the building…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank You!