Apologies for my absence these past couple of days, but Hey – it’s Christmas and I’ve given myself a couple of evenings off. Besides, you probably wouldn’t want to read post pub blogs and I wasn’t keen to write ’em!
Christmas day was a quiet one here at Bigland Towers due to the fact I was on my ‘Jack Jones’ as Dawn is down in Surrey with her family whilst I’m at home catching up on some DIY and various bits before I bugger off to Asia in January. The rail strikes put paid to any ideas that I might have had about days away but then so has the weather which has been extremely wet here in West Yorkshire. So even if I’d the wherewithal to get anywhere all that would’ve happened is I’d have got soaked. It was bad enough walking to and from the pub!
I wasn’t entirely ‘billy no mates’ on Christmas day as my local (The Big 6) was open between 12-3pm to provide sanctuary and a stress-free environment to Xmas refugees. No family arguments, no hyperactive children, just a few adults enjoying respite care! That feeling of normality (well, apart from the rash of Xmas jumpers of course ) was welcome and it was lovely to catch up with a few people before returning home to the paintbrushes.
Boxing day was not dissimilar as I popped back to the Big 6 in the evening for a ‘swifty’ after a day of DIY and also scanning some old slides. I’ve been very remiss on that front over the past few months. My good intention to have all my old slides scanned by the end of the year has gone out of the window as I’ve still several thousand to get through. Realistically, I’m not going to get them finished before 2024, but at least I’ve made small dent in them today. Otherwise it was a question of sitting and watching paint dry (no, really!).
Tomorrow’s meant to be yet another crap day weather-wise, but I’ve plenty to do indoors before Dawn gets back. Right now, I’ll leave you with pictures from the past few days.
Showers and rainbows across the Calder Valley on my stroll to the pub. Beer and convivial company in the Big 6 on Christmas dayHere’s one of today’s slide scans. Here’s the ghats on the river Ganges at Varanasi, on of the holy Hindu sites seen from out boat on the river at dawn one morning in February 1998. It really is a special place but sometimes difficult for Westerners to get to grips with as religion is part of everyday life (and death) here in a way it hasn’t been in much of Europe for a very long time.
It’s been a quiet Christmas Eve here at Bigland Towers. Dawn departed yesterday, heading down to Surrey with her folks to meet up with her Brother and his family for the annual Platt family get-together. This year I’ve stayed behind in order to do some work to the cottage before I head off to Asia so part of today’s been spent filling and sanding the back door in readiness for painting, a job that’ll keep me occupied tomorrow. It’s not your traditional Xmas I know, but I’ve never really been that big on such things. For many years I was either in Asia over the festive season or donning orange PPE to work on various Christmas holiday blockades for Network Rail. At least this holiday I’m allowed to have a drink!
I did take some time off to enjoy the sunny weather and stroll into Halifax for a mooch around. I have to admit the place is growing on me. I never really spent much time in the town when I first moved up here from London, but the town’s changed since those days. It’s become quite a vibrant place due to the fantastic restoration of the Piece Hall, along with the amount of micro-pubs that have opened. There’s still a good range of shops too, unlike nearby Huddersfield which feels very much in decline. Plus, there’s some wonderful architecture around town, making it an attractive place to explore. I keep meaning to have a day out with the camera to capture some of the details but never seem to get around to it. Today I left the camera bag at home, which made it really feel like a holiday!
I wasn’t the only one in the holiday spirit as the town centre was really busy with many of the pubs, bars and cafes doing a good business, which was good to see. I popped into the lovely Victorian craft beer cafe for a pint and spot of people-watching before walking back for a quiet night at home and chance to catch up on paperwork and chores before breaking out the Christmas cheese stash and opening a bottle of good red wine, which I intend to enjoy with a movie.
So, whatever you’re doing dear reader, let me wish you all the best for the festive season.
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/
A short blog from me today, mainly because I’ve not been up to anything existing and I can’t be bothered trying to dress up the mundane with wordplay!
The weather’s been as gloomy as a post-brexit economic forecast – but I won’t go there tonight, honest! I’ve not been able to see the valley tops all day and tonight the weather’s closed in even more. I went out to do some shopping in the late afternoon and by the time I climbed up the valley side from Sowerby Bridge I was in the cloud line where the visibility would have been akin to one of the old London ‘pea-souper’ fogs. I half expected to see ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ come strolling towards me out of the murk to recite his iconic “Evening all”.
With the weather as it is I suffered a severe disinclination to venture anywhere else and enjoyed the rest of the evening at home on cooking duty, rustling up a new batch of Thai Green curry for tonight’s meal (and the freezer) whilst Dawn’s out making the final preparations for heading South for Christmas, taking her folks (and a friends dog) to Surrey for the annual family bash. This year I’m staying behind as I’ve work I want to do to the cottage before I fly out to Asia for a few months in the New Year.
Tempting as it was to post another food picture, I’ve decided you can have too much of a good thing. Instead, here’s a picture from the Hindi festival of Thaipusam. I *should* be back in Malaysia for this as this year it’s on February 5th. I last experienced it in 2009. It’s been banned in India due to the nature of sacrifice/penance people put themselves through, but it’s still a big event elsewhere. If you’re of a squeamish nature – look away now…
Four hours after leaving the temple in Little India, this pilgrim (who has pulled a chariot attached to his body by hooks) arrives at the The Nattukkottai Chettiar Temple. And yes, that ARE a real metal rods all the way through his cheeks and his tongue. (you should have seen the hooks in his back, but that’s another picture)..
If you want to see more pictures from Thaipusam, just follow this link.
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/
Today’s been another ‘confined to barracks’ day. Well, if you count the barracks as being a radius of a mile from home! Admittedly, much of the day’s been spent catching up on picture editing and paperwork, but I did have a stroll into Halifax to do some shopping for various DIY supplies I need for some of the projects I’ve planned for the Christmas period whilst I have the house to myself.
Halifax was busy with other folks shopping too but most of them were after stuff with a far more festive feel than the goods I was interested in. However, I did pop into the Sainsbury’s supermarket as they’re the sole stockists of a very nice low alcohol beer (an IPA) which I wanted to stock up on. The place was jam-packed with people shopping as if they were stocking up ahead of the Zombie Apocalypse! Clearly, some people either have a decent disposable income, or their credit cards are taking a beating…
The centre of town was equally busy, except for the empty shops of course – and the wonderful Victorian Halifax borough market, where a number of stalls had already shut up shop even though it was only mid-afternoon. But the one I was interested in was still trading – and had a queue – Thai Corner, where you can buy a wonderous Northern Thai/Laoation noodle dish called Kow Soi, something you rarely find on Thai restaurant menus. It’s a rich curry soup topped off with fried noodles and it’s delicious!
Having struck the final item off my shopping list I walked home under sunny skies to carry out one last chore before retreating to the office. I’ve been keeping our feathered friends fed and watered over the winter and gained a lot of pleasure from watching their activities outside the office window. I’ve discovered on food that’s very popular with some of the larger birds like Thrushes, Blackbirds and Magpies – oats. We’d been given a large bag of organic oats but found they were hopeless for making porage in the microwave, unlike ordinary oats. They take a bloody age and just don’t work right. I didn’t want to bin them, so the other week I tried putting them out for the birds and found that they (if you’ll pardon the pun) almost flew off the shed roof! So, when I got home I added another pile, along with some old cooked rice, peanuts and a few seeds. I see it as karmic payback for the decimation of the local bird population our old cat (Jet) carried out in his younger days – when nothing was too big for him to tackle and drag in through the catflap. We still miss him – even if the local wildlife has breathed a sigh of relief!
So, today’s picture is of a bowl of vegetarian Kow Soi I ate in Chiang Mai, Thailand when I visited in February 2011.
Bon appetit!
You can find many more pictures from that particular trip to Thailand (both rail and travel images) in this gallery on my Zenfolio website.
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/
The weather really can’t seem to make its mind up at the moment. After enduring a freeing cold and snowy one this week has done a volte face with the mercury here in the Calder valley hitting 12 degrees, double the average for this time of year. The heat brought rain and strong winds with and also saw off the black ice that’s plagued us the past few days. It’s been so nice we had many of the windows open to give the cottage an airing – until the rain arrived!
Weather apart the pair of us have spent the day working from home. I’ve been having a tidy-up and clear-out whilst simultaneously prepping more old railway memorabilia to put up for sale on eBay. The present sale ends in under 24 hours, so you’ve still time to bid for what’s on offer by following this link. I’ll be adding more later this week and running a couple more sales before the end of the year.
Tomorrow I’m back on the rails as I’m heading over to Southport to meet up with some of my family during a flying visit. I’m looking forward to getting to travel by train again – and hope to get a few library shots on the way, so expect a rolling blog tomorrow as I sample the Xmas build-up on a network that will be shutting down all too soon, to the inconvenience of many. My Christmas party season’s been canned due to the strikes so tomorrow’s little jaunt will be a bit of light relief before I become trapped back in the Calder valley over the Xmas break. I’m not complaining as I’ve a huge amount of things to keep me occupied and the cottage is well-stocked with comestibles – and several bottles of decent red wine!
Right, time to go. I’ll leave you with this image as picture of the day which is from Southport, taken in October 2012 and showing two of the things it’s most famous for. The pier and the sea (which, according to the old jokes) never seems to come in!
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/
It’s been a miserable day weather-wise here at Bigland Towers. Whilst having a lazy Sunday is no bad thing there’s been little incentive to venture far. Whilst the snows have (mostly) been washed away as the temperature has crept far enough up the scale to allow perpetual rain, conditions underfoot have been bloody awful. Earlier this afternoon I decided to head out this afternoon to pick up some foodstuffs, plus salt – in order to stop our front steps turning into a trip hazard. Heading up the cobbled hill behind the house made me realise just how hazardous conditions were – despite the rain. Black ice was everywhere, so climbing the hill then descending the other side was ‘interesting’ to say the least. I didn’t pass many other folk on foot – just a couple of hardy dog-walkers. All of us swapped tips about which bits of road or pavement to avoid. En-route I passed a couple of people learning to drive. I couldn’t work out if this was good training or utter madness!
Having made it to the shops safely I decided to take the long way home that avoided the cobbled hill. I had to traverse some local woods instead but figured conditions underfoot would be less treacherous. It was a wise decision. Plus, I managed to avoid some of the Yorkshire stone pavements. They may look pretty but give me tarmac any day as the stone turns into skating rinks at the first sign of moisture – never mind ice. Looking at conditions I suspect the Royal Calderdale A&E department will be working at full tilt tonight.
Now I’m back in the warm. Dawn’s busy wrapping presents to take with her down to the family Christmas in Surrey whilst I’ve been ordering DIY supplies on the internet as I’ll be using the Xmas interregnum to do work to the cottage whilst I’m the only occupant. I’m glad ordering was so easy as earlier today I downloaded Windows 11 to update my computer. Installing a new Operating System’s always an anxious time but it went without a hitch. Well, as far as I can tell anyway. Unlike previous OS changes all my major programmes and plug-ins work and the only worry I have is learning how to navigate through the new buttons. Time will tell…
The weather is due to be crap again tomorrow, so it looks like another day in the office for me but Tuesday should see me venturing over to Southport to catch up with my family before Christmas (in-between rail strikes). Right now, I’ll leave you with the picture of the day which is a look over the Calder Valley after slipping and sliding up that bloody hill! Thanks to the Yorkshire weather you never know what you’re going to see (mainly because a lot of the time you can see bugger-all). Today, it lived up to the old adage. It’s grim up North…
Play the brass band music of your choice…
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/
It’s been another freezing day here at Bigland Towers, and another one where I’ve really not ventured far – apart from the back garden where I’ve been helping the local wildlife with food and water. People often feed the birds in the winter but water is just as important – especially in sub-zero temperatures when most sources are frozen solid. All my bird feeders are well-stocked but we had some porage oats going spare. They’re organic so should be virtuous. There’s only one problem. They take a bloody age to cook! We often have porage for breakfast – especially this time of year. Its ideal food for a cold winters day as it sticks to your ribs! Add some blueberry compote and a drizzle of honey and you’re set up for the day! We normally make ours in the microwave but found the organic ones we’d bought take at least twice (if not three times) as long to cook. Yesterday I went out and bought traditional Scotts porage oats, rendering the others surplus to requirements. Rather than throw them away I had the idea to feed them to the birds so I dumped a load by the water bowl in the garden. The Magpies and pigeons love ’em! Even the Robins and Thrushes have got in on the act although the Tits and Nuthatches are sticking to the seed-filled feeders.
Birdwatching aside I’ve been keeping busy (and warm) at home adding more old railway slides and other memorabilia for sale on eBay. Nearly 600 items went live this evening. You can find them here. https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/pabig-725
I’ll be adding another selection later in the week.
Due to the rail strikes I couldn’t make it down to London for today’s traditional railway carol service by Euston (although I hope a good time was had by all) but tomorrow I will be on the road again, popping over to Ossett and visiting the local market, which I’ve never visited before. Dawn’s driving over so I thought I’d pop along, so expect a few pictures.
In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which was taken from our bedroom window earlier. This is looking over Sowerby Bridge and the Calder valley at dusk. The clear skies give you an idea what the temperatures going to be like tonight. Looks like I may have to defrost that birdbath in the morning…
An incoming flight from the USA (and a wind turbine below it) are the only things to mar clear skies as the sun sets over Sowerby Bridge and the Calder Valley 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/
We’ve had a wintery start to the week here at Bigland Towers. Snow arrived in the Calder Valley at the weekend and, whilst it’s hardly deep and crisp and even the dusting we’ve had is certainly sticking around. To make matters worse the temperature plummeted today with the mercury never getting above -2 but hitting -5 this morning whilst the valley itself disappeared behind a mask of freezing fog. So, I’ve spent the entire day indoors, not even making it out for my daily stroll. Instead, I’ve beavered away in the office sorting out pictures and filing in order to create some space in the calendar for the future (more about that later).
I doubt I’ll be venturing far for the rest of the week. Whilst the temperature’s due to creep above zero towards the end of the week there’s another problem. Tomorrow sees the start of the next round of rail strikes, only our local operator (Northern) has essentially thrown in the towel. They’re not bothering to run any service at all through Halifax and the Calder Valley until Sunday! That’s’ 5 days without any services across most of their network, which covers the whole of the North, taking in Cumbria, Yorkshire, the North-West and Cheshire, including major cities like Manchester. and Leeds (which sees a skeleton service based on the Aire valley electric trains, see below).
Sadly, there’s no sign of this dispute coming to an end. It looks like it will drag on well into next year. There’s conflicting reports coming out about who’s to blame for the breakdown in negotiations, as my RAIL magazine colleague, Phil Haigh, pointed out on Twitter earlier.
Whilst I can appreciate both sides of this dispute the people I feel for are those caught in the crossfire. I don’t just mean passengers, although having no trains here for the rest of the week when we have snow and ice on the ground is hardly desirable. I feel for the many small businesses who rely on the railways for their trade. The shop and cafe owners who’ve been suffering and struggling for years as Northern and the unions have been in regular disputes for years. The toll this has taken on many businesses goes unrecognised. Just as they were getting back on their feet Covid struck. Then, as they were slowly recovering from that we had the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crises. Oh, and that’s without mentioning the impact Brexit has had, making goods ever more expensive. It’s been a perfect storm for rail-based businesses so I’m not in the least surprised to have seen how many had closed down when I was doing my recent round Britain trip for RAIL. Station cafes and shops the length and breadth of the network have gone forever, and my fear is that more will follow in the new year because there’s no sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. They’re the ‘collateral damage’ from these strikes.
Another casualty of these strikes is my annual visit to the Railway Carol service in London, which is being held in Euston on Thursday. There’s no way I can get there in time, and even getting back would be risky. Instead, I’ll be spending another day at home, planning another adventure that’s been deferred by Covid.
On Saturday I had confirmation of my flight to Singapore in January. I’ll be spending two months away from the Septic Isle, exploring old haunts in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia – and also taking in some new sights too (hopefully). So, the enforced ‘downtime’ I have this week will allow me to start planning the trip. I’d originally hoped to have left the UK before Christmas, but the cost of flights was ridiculous. This many have been a blessing in disguise as the Christmas period is looking like a lousy time to travel due to the rail dispute and disruption at airports due to the Border Force taking strike action. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the date I’ve chosen to fly out (January 10th) is in that ‘sweet spot’ between strikes. Time will tell.
So, don’t expect much in the way of new rail pictures from me this week, which is very frustrating as I have a market for railway snow scenes but no way of capturing them! Instead, here’s an archive shot taken in the Calder Valley several years ago.
On the 21st January 2013 ‘Pacer’ 144009 approaches Sowerby Bridge from the East with a service for Manchester Victoria.
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/
Apologies for the lack of blogging these past couple of days. I’ve been busy but too busy to blog and also wanted to have a time to enjoy my environment rather than always looking for words to describe it in a rolling blog. I was back in London and the South-East for the past few days – pictures of which will appear on my Zenfolio website tomorrow. Today’s been a more relaxing and family orientated day back in West Yorkshire. Aided and abetted by the fact we’ve had the first snowfall of the season. It’s not been much. I opened the bedroom blinds this morning to see a light dusting across the valley and around where we live, but we’re a few meters below the real snowline so it had little impact on us and what there was soon melted.
This afternoon was rather different as we headed over to Huddersfield for the annual Christmas Carol concert at Huddersfield Town Hall which features the Honley Male Voice Choir and guests. OK, I’m possibly slightly biased as my Father-in-Law sings with the choir! But, they do put on a fantastic Christmas show and the Carlton Main Frickley Colliery band who provide the musical accompaniment are excellent – as are the other guests. The surrounding are superb too. Where they play at Huddersfield Town Hall is an amazing space – as you’ll see shortly.
Now we’re back at home. Dawn is shouting at the TV as England play France in the world cup whilst I worry about my laptop as I type this. The cooling fans have developed asthma and sound on the cusp of giving out, so it looks like they’ll need replacing – especially as I’ll be off to Asia in the New Year. If they struggle in the UK when the temperatures are approaching sub-zero they’ll stand no chance in the tropics! It’s just another job to add to the long list I need tp sort before year end.
Meanwhile, here’s a picture – and video – from today’s concert.
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/
Blimey! What a change in the weather! We knew it had been forecast, but it’s still a shock when a cold snap arrives – especially after the mild times we’ve had so far. I’ve still got Lobelia and Geraniums flowering in the garden – in December! Waking up and opening the bedroom blinds to see ice everywhere made us realise how much the temperature had sunk. However, things were made more bearable during the day by the fact we’ve had clear, sunny skies – although those cloudless skies are coming back to haunt us now the sun’s dropped. The weather app on my computer is telling me the temperature outside is already below zero.
Like many people, we’re being economical with the central heating nowadays. Life in the UK is getting increasingly expensive. Well, unless you’re a friend of a Tory Cabinet Minister. In which case, you’ve probably money to throw away thanks to being granted ‘fast track’ access to sell the NHS billions in unusable PPE which is now costing is millions to store before it’s burned. For the rest of us it’s a case of cutting your cloth, so we’re donning more layers, knocking down the thermostat a degree or two whilst looking what else we can do to insulate our home. Oh, the joys of 12 years of Tory Government eh?
Meanwhile, we’re coming up to the festive season and year end. My plans are currently in flux. I’d hoped to get away for Christmas and New Year but the costs of flights to SE-Asia before Xmas were ridiculous. Instead I’m looking at heading off for a couple of months beginning in early January by flying to Singapore when the cost of flights has more than halved. This may be an accidental wise decision due to what looks like an impending ‘winter of discontent’. Not only are the rail unions extending their strikes due to bad faith in negotiations from the Government, it now looks like the UK Border force will be striking too – making escaping Brexit Island at Christmas problematic to say the least. Even if you can get to the airport you may never leave! Watch this space…
In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which was taken from the road above our house a few hours earlier. With clear skies like that you could literally feel the mercury plummeting.
Looking down on Sowerby Bridge and the Calder Valley…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 