I’m saying that because looking forward to the next week as by Friday Dawn and I come out of social-isolation and get to stare at and share more than four walls. Neither of us felt that it was likely we’d contracted Covid because of the contact Dawn had, but what we weren’t willing to do was put others at risk. It’s a sentiment that’s obviously been unfashionable in some circles, but all we can say is we’ve done our bit.
The feeling of isolation was doubled today by the fact the Calder Valley’s been covered in fog for the duration. Visibility’s been down to 2-3 hundred metres at best. So, the pair of us have been feeling like we’re living up in the clouds whilst keeping occupied pottering around in our gilded cage. Dee’s been busy being a domestic goddess whilst I’ve kept myself occupied blogging and eBaying…
Still, talking of ‘gilded cages’, has anyone seen any sense, contrition or humility (fat chance) coming from the Ex-President of the United States yet? No. Me neither. It looks like he’s going to spend his remaining days playing golf at taxpayers expense until he’s finally kicked out of the place. I mean, seriously – the man’s just lost the election and what’s he been doing since? Ignoring the result to spend the past two days on a golf course! Surely, even some of the people who voted for him might just be starting to think “well, this is a bit weird”, but maybe I’m being too charitable. Actually, after everything I’ve seem of Trump’s voters and staffers I’m sure I am.
Talking of Washington, here’s another picture of the day that I stumbled on whilst researching others. It rather fits the current theme of events. I took this at Chinatown station on the Washington metro on the 3rd April 2007.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
With Covid clipping my wings I’ve been spending a lot of the year scanning old railway slides going back 30 years. This process made me realise how something that was a landmark in the background at several locations (some quite famous) has gradually disappeared over the decades. Gasometers.
I grew up in Southport on the West Lancashire plain. With it being flat there were very few landmarks but one was a huge gasometer near my Grandmothers house where I spent much of my pre-school years in the early 1960s. She lived just down the road from something that used to be commonplace, the local town gasworks. Younger readers probably don’t know this but before natural gas was discovered in the North Sea towns and cities used to manufacture their own gas from coal. Many of these gasworks were near to railways which brought in their supplies of coal. Southport was a good example. It had a branch line that ran down the side of the street. Here’s an aerial picture of Southport gasworks taken in 1938 which is on the excellent ‘Britain from above’ website.
The railway to the gasworks runs along the street (Crowland St) on the right of the picture. My Grandmother’s house is just off the picture to the bottom left. Town gasworks were strange places to live near because of the smells that used to permeate the area as coal was cooked to release the gas. A by- product of the process was coke. I remember going with my dad to buy coke from the gasworks as it fuelled a boiler in our cellar which powered the central heating system he’d installed himself. I remember the sound of the gasworks whistle which signalled the lunch break and start/finish of work. The gasworks closed in 1964 but the gasometers remained and were joined by a much larger one which was built in 1969. 277 feet tall it dominated the skyline and could be seen for miles around (as you’ll see in later pictures). It was decommissioned in 2008 and it and its smaller neighbours were demolished soon after. Having lived so near to one of these monsters it’s probably no wonder that I’ve always noticed them in my pictures. So, here’s a selection of pictures where they feature, and the first one’s from – Southport!
On the 26th January 1997 Merseyrail liveried Class 150201 threads its way out of Southport Chapel St station through the dereliction of what was once a large railway complex. So much in this scene has now disappeared. The old excursion platform to the left and the railway yards beyond (which included the ‘Steamport’ railway museum) are now an industrial estate and supermarket, whilst on the horizon are the unmistakable shapes of the gasometers of the old gasworks.
Here’s another view of Southport taken 10 years later on the 4th October 2007 when the smaller gasometers had already disappeared.
Class 150218 heads for Meols Cop and is about to pass the site of St Lukes station which closed in 1968. The vans to the right are parked on the formation of the direct line via Blowick which closed in June 1965.
Here’s another example from the North-West, this time at St Helens..
On the 12th March 2001 142010 arrives at St Helens Central on the Wigan North Western – Liverpool Lime St service. Nowadays the former Down sidings behind the signalbox are a forest of Silver Birch trees.
Another example from the North-West, this time it’s Wigan.
87001 arrives at Wigan North Western from Euston in typically dull Wigan weather on the 5th April 1991. The gasworks was just the other side of the line running into Wigan Wallgate station. Now, both the gasometers and the MFI outlet are history.
Meanwhile, down South..
This is a view of the Eastern approaches to Reading station taken on the 29th March 1991 with the skyline dominated by three different gasometers. Now, only the frame of the one on the right hand side of the picture remains, but that can no longer be seen as new office buildings block the view. Of course, now the Great Western Main Line has been electrified, so this view is a sea of masts, portals and overhead wires. I must get a comparison shot just to show the difference.
Further down the Great Western Main Line and a few years later..
Here’s Didcot station on the 19th February 2001, almost a decade on from the last picture and what’s on the skyline? Mind you, whichever direction you look in the skyline’s changed here! Behind me were the massive chimneys and cooling towers of the old power station which have also disappeared! Meanwhile electrification masts make this picture impossible now.
The Great Western main line seemed to be blessed with these monoliths as there was another at Southall in London.
Sadly, I never got a shot of the Southall monster in all its towering glory. but you can see it in the background of this 1995 shot of 60099 sat in Southall Down Yard.
Meanwhile, over in South London…
Here’s a real embarrassment of riches! On the 15th March 1996 456022 heads for London Victoria on a service from London Bridge. In the background is the massive gasometer at Battersea Park whilst on the right is the iconic Battersea power station.
The Battersea monster could be viewed from several stations. Here’s how it dominated Battersea Park station – as seen on the 24th June 2009…
Next to the beast of Battersea was one of the older gas holders which had the classic frame structure surrounding it. In this case it was decorated with the shield that forms the centerpiece of the City of London coat of arms.
On the 24th June 2009 a SET ‘Networker’ threads its way between the gasholders and Battersea Dogs home. Nowadays the site is covered in high-rise housing.
Od course, the classic example was over in North London, between St Pancras and Kings Cross stations.
On the 22nd October 2001 the gas holders at St Pancras were being dismantled to make way for the Eastern extension to St Pancras station which would eventually become the Kent high speed platforms.Here’s how they’d looked a few months earlier. I took this picture on the 24th July 2001. Fortunately, they’ve been preserved and one has become the framework for a novel form of new housing.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/Thank you
What with everything that’s been going on a events of the past couple of days last night wasn’t a vintage one for sleep. In fact, I ended up getting out of bed at 4am and retreating to the office – wide-awake – so as to make the most of the day and not disturb Dawn, or ‘Jet’, our moggie, who was curled up on the bed with us.
I crept around to make some coffee then settled down to a long bout of slide-scanning. I’ve neglected that project of late but I’m determined to get the railway pictures finished before our bout of ‘splendid’ isolation’ as at least then I can venture out during the plain vanilla lockdown that follows.
With a couple more bouts of insomnia I reckon I can have the job done within a couple of weeks tops – which will feel like an achievement after all this time! Of course that doesn’t mean the project’s finished – just what facet. I’ve still got thousands of travel pictures to scan. Mind you, looking at the Governments handling of the pandemic that may be done bad thing. At least it’ll give me something to do during any lockdown Mk3!
Right now it’s after eight o’ clock and they day’s started catching up with me. I’m not going to stay up and watch the US Presidential elections. I’d rather go to bed fearing the worst whilst hoping for the best with the possibility of waking up in the morning and finding that the populist political bubble’s finally burst. One can but hope…
Sadly, I can imagine things getting ugly and rancorous if it looks like Trump could lose, so I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the result’s contested if it’s close. Trump’s supported have already been framing that narrative and some of us will remember when the word ‘chad’ (either hanging or swinging) entered the political lexicon. I dearly hope I’m wrong and that Americans have had enough of the Tango’d Tw*t, but with the weapons-grade levels of social and other media manipulation I really don’t know.
Meanwhile, here’s the picture of the day, which is from the batch of slides I’ve spent the day scanning. This scene is unrecognisable today. I took this picture at Reading station on the 9th February 2001. All you see in the picture’s disappeared. In the past decade Reading station has had a £1bn rebuild and upgrade, whilst some (but not all) of the routes have been electrified. The old HST’s like this have disappeared although this particular power car has found a new lease of life working for Scotrail North of the border.
You can almost hear the power car scream as this old Valenta engined HST accelerates away from a stop at Reading on its way to London. The low sun backlight the trains ‘flying fag packet’ livery as this particular version of the company colours were known as.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Ever had one of those days where you get to the stage of saying “right 2020, you can just f*****g do one now”? I’ve finally reached that stage.
I knew today was going to be a struggle but I did my best to remain positive. Looking at the the heavy rain battering the bedroom window and listening to the high winds whipping the leaves off the trees I tried to put a positive spin and brave face on the pair of us self-isolating by saying “well, with weather like this, who really minds being stuck indoors?” After all, I had plenty to do and the day’s not been unproductive. I’ve managed to declutter the office, get some writing done and restart scanning old slides – with the intention of having the final batch of UK rail pictures done in the next couple of weeks. There’s only one problem. I don’t have any options as my freedoms have been eroded by Covid. And I do mean Covid, I’m not blaming the shambolic response to it from our kakistocratic Government (easy as it would be) because other countries citizens are in the same boat. We just happen to have a bunch in power who’re adding insult to injury. It’s the pandemic that’s the root of so many problems.
So, there was me plodding along, thinking ‘ho hum’ when I received the news of the death of an old and valued friend. Not from Covid, but from cancer. Major John Poyntz, formerly of Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate has passed away. In the next few days I’ll write more about John, right now I’m too upset to go into details. I first met John around 15 years ago and he and I and a small group of valued friends had many an adventure in Germany and the UK. You often hear the expression ‘they don’t make ’em like that anymore’ but in John’s case this is absolutely true – because of the times John lived through and the things he experienced through his military service in Malaya (as it was then) and later in West Germany during the cold war. He was a wealth of stories, has a wicked sense of humour, was always very dapper and – God – could he drink!
So, today’s picture of the day is in memory of John. I took it on the Harz railway in Germany on the 10th February 2007 and for me, it encapsulates who John was and why we both loved and respected him. Here he is at the train window, balancing a class of Glühwein on his notebooks as we trundle through the winter snow.
Rest easy Major.
Circumstances may rob us of our chance to pay our last respects to you for now, but be assured that, when the time is right, we’ll get together to raise several glasses in your memory and tell a few tales…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Since the 24th October through till the 1st November the railway through the Calder valley has been severed in both directions to allow for some very important work to take place at Todmorden. A £3.7m Great North Rail Project investment is seeing the 1840-built Grade II listed structure grit blasted to its bare metal to allow structural repairs to take place.
180-year-old bridge designed by railway pioneer George Stephenson is a skew bridge over the Rochdale canal. The single 31 m (102 ft) cast iron span, consists of a pair of bowed ribs with vertical hangars projected above the ribs in an ornamental Gothic arcade. The abutments are semi-octagonal castellated turrets. The whole structure looks very grand and must have been incredibly impressive in its day, projecting the power of the new railways.
Meanwhile, Taylors bridge, which carries the railway over Rose Bank Road just to the West of Todmorden station has been completely reconstructed with two disused sections permanently removed as part of the same investment.
Sadly, due to other commitments and the lousy weather we’ve been having, I didn’t have chance to visit and record the work until Friday 3oth, by which time Taylors bridge had been replaced, with all the old spans removed and the new ones dropped into place by a huge crane (which had already left the site. Network Rail and its contractors were busy replacing the track, ready for services to restart. Here’s a selection of images from my visit.
Trains from Leeds were terminated at Hebden Bridge where there’s a crossover that allows them to reverse and work back ‘right line’. Here’s 195128 which was preparing to do exactly that after depositing me. From Manchester, services were terminating at Rochdale, whilst a rail replacement bus service worked between the two points. My rail replacement bus was this ex-Transport for London vehicle which I many well have used when it worked on the capital’s route 25!With Todmorden station in the background, ‘team orange’ are replacing track over the new Taylors bridge. Concrete sleepers had been put into place earlier and the engineers are busy clipping new rails into place over them.The days of moving rails using teams of men have largely disappeared. Nowadays the work has been mechanised. Here, a road rail vehicle (RRV) has been fitted with a special extendable arm to move lengths of rail. A few hours later the rails have all been installed and the RRV has changed tools. Now, fitted with a bucket, it’s being used to spread ballast over the new sleepers before a tamping machine arrives to consolidate the stones and adjust the line and level of the new track to ensure its fit for passenger service on Monday morning.Meanwhile, here’s George Stephenson’s 1840 bridge over the Rochdale canal at Gauxholme. Most of the bridge has been cocooned in sheeting to protect the workers from the elements but also to cut down on noise and dust from the grit-blasting. As you can see, people are living very close to the work. A closer look at the Todmorden end of the bridge. Track has been removed to allow inspections to take place whilst the parts of the bridge facing the track have already been grit-blasted and treated whilst the line’s been closed as it would be impossible to carry out this work with trains still running.
Despite the awful weather we’ve been having whilst the work’s been going on (including this weekend, there high winds and heavy rain as I’m writing this on Sunday evening!) it’s expected that the railway will be open to traffic on Monday morning.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. 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 absence of a picture or my usual ramblings yesterday but I was otherwise engaged and simply ran out of time! I’ve been pretty much desk-bound this week as the weather’s so bloody awful. We’ve had lots of torrential rain and gusty winds, so my exercise regime’s gone to pot too. Apart from my birthday it’s been a funny old week. Maybe it’s the ‘Covid blues’ but I’ve really struggled to build up much enthusiasm for anything over the past few days. Perhaps that’s due to the uncertainties and the feeling that life’s on hold at the moment as we all stare a new lockdown (in whatever form it takes) in the face. I’m trying to keep on top of work and be productive but there are occasions when my motivation needs jump-starting. If only hibernation was an option for us humans. Or perhaps I could take a leaf out of Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy’s Hotblack Desiato and spend a year dead for tax reasons…
Hopefully my mood and motivation will recover in the next few days when it finally stops bloody raining and I can escape these four walls!
To be fair, the pair of us did last night in order to spend some time with friends. Being law-abiding souls, the ‘6 from the 6’ as we call ourselves met up in a friends garden, where he’d been busy having an enclosure built that could protect us from the elements whilst allowing social distancing. It worked a treat although it was sorely tested by the awful weather. Even so, it was lovely to be able to spend a few hours together laughing and joking. Who knows when we’ll be able to do it again?
Ironically, as I’ve been typing this, I’ve just heard the news that West Yorkshire moves into Tier 3 from Midnight on Sunday, so that answers that question. Oh, deep, deep joy. It’s going to be a long winter…
Right, on that happy news it’s time for a picture of the day. Today’s choice is something different. Back in 2000-2001 I was travelling in India. Lynn and I had visited friends in Goa for Xmas and New Year, after which Lynn flew back to the UK and I stayed on to visit the Gujarat in Northen India to get travel pictures. I also hoped to find the last Indian steam locomotives operating on the national network. Broad Gauge steam had already disappeared, but there was a last outpost of metre gauge steam operating out of the evocatively named Wankaner Junction! I arrived there at the beginning of February 2000 but I was weeks late. The last locomotives has run at the end of January. However, Wankaner locomotive depot was still littered with engines. Their fires had been dropped and the place left deserted with the last locomotives and the remains of others that had been cannibalised over the years to keep them running. Here’s a picture I took inside the shed early on the morning of February 13th 2000.
YG Class 2-8-2’s No’s 3318 (left) 3437 & 3360 (nearest the camera) illuminated by the sunrise inside Wankaner Junction shed.
You can find more shots from the series, along with many other Indian rail pictures in this gallery. I was sad to have missed them but thankful that I’d seen Indian steam in action several years before in 1985-86 and 1991-92. What a different world it seems now!
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Sorry there was no picture yesterday, I was too busy with other stuff and having some quality time with my wife, so I thought you could go one day without one.
The pair of us had various things planned today but the weather forecast was less than accurate. What was meant to be a mostly sunny day turned into a mostly wet one – so plans changed. The fact the new washing machine was arriving today cramped our style too, leaving me stuck in the house all day. Said white goods is now safely installed but it wasn’t without problems as the young chaps who did it hadn’t connected the water pipe properly, which caused a bit of a drama until I sorted it out. I’m not going to criticise them. It’s an easy mistake to make and they’re working against the clock as they’re self-employed. As the old expression goes – all’s well that ends well…
So, whilst the wind howled and the rain blew, I stayed indoors and sorted out yet another tranche of old rail slides and assorted memoribila to add to eBay before writing more of Part 3 of my travels for RAIL magazine. The latest batch of old slides contains some historical items like this from Dover, when we still had a cross-channel train ferry as the tunnel was yet to open. Here’s a look at the picture without having to click on the link.
The day was a Brexiters fantasy. “Fog in the channel – Europe cut off”…
Whilst keeping busy in the office I’ve kept one eye on the car-crash that passes for the anti HS2 (High Speed 2 railway) campaign. They’re not having a good time. In fact, things go from worse to worse. They really should stay away from courts! The other day Joe Rukin made an expensive mess, today 14 protestors have by ignoring a High Court Injunction! I’ll publish the court ruling when it’s available, but here’s what Mark Keir (one of the 14) put on Facebook earlier today.
Poor Keir! An ‘undemocratic use of law’? Riiigghhtt. He never was that au fait with either institution – which you think you’ve above at your peril. When you ‘Clash’ with the law, there’s only going to be one winner…
OK, let’s move on to the picture of the day. Now, where shall we go today? Ah, I know – one of my favourite places. India. I took this picture in November 1997 at Enakulam Junction in Kerala.
Lynn and I were on our way South after spending a couple of months in Goa at the start of our 18 month trip around the world. Our train had pulled in opposite this long-distance express. In this neck of the woods some trains took 48 hours from point to point. I once did Trivandrum (as the capital of Kerala was called then) to Calcutta, which took that long. Now, when you’re on a train that long in India it gets dusty, and sweaty. These passengers took the opportunity to bail out of their train at the station where it had a layover and utilise the water pipes normally used for topping up the trains toilets and kitchen car for an impromptu shower – and why not? This is why I’ve always loved India – there’s always something to see and photograph. In fact, this picture was used in one of the UK newspapers when I used to do travel photography for a living. It was the Times I think. For me it encapsulates a different world and one I have fond memories of. My, did the pair of us have a ball for that 18 months!
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
As we slowly descend through autumn towards winter the anti HS2 campaign follows a similar trajectory from failure into farce. All the protesters bluster that bloomed in the Spring as they set up new ‘protection’ camps has blown away like dandelion seeds. The name ‘protection’ camp was always an oxymoron as they never protected anything. From a peak of eight camps they’ve gradually been whittled down to five, some of which are now redundant, whilst others are just refuges for the remaining rag-bag of protesters as many have already buggered off home.
I wrote about their early financial shenanigans and internecine warfare in this blog. That warfare has continued as HS2Rebellion never did account for the £36,000 plus that was raised through crowdfunding. Instead, they came over all pained and ignored the calls to be open and accountable. But (to their credit) some activists in the camps wouldn’t let the matter drop.
This week was meant to be HS2rebellion’s ‘big push’, both on social media and outside Parliament, as this daft poster explains.
*Narrator* – only they didn’t rise up, few participated and the decisions are made by an anonymous few…
Anyone on social media like Twitter could be forgiven for missing their ‘online action’ as it was as big a flop as when The Hs2 Action Alliance (remember them?) once tried to organise a ‘Twitterstorm’. A handful of teenagers Tweeting stuff they don’t understand and who react badly to being challenged does not an ‘action’ make.
Worse was to come outside Parliament an online yesterday. Their ‘big event’ attracted just a few dozen people, many of whom were the same old faces, Middle-Class Nimbys from the Chilterns who’ve nothing better to do and a few self-styled ‘eco-warriors’ who think posting overly long rambles where they just make stuff up on social media actually changes anything.
“What are we doing here? Shouldn’t we be up trees – or something?”
Then the excrement hit the air-conditioning live on the HS2 rebellion ‘livestream’ when one of their controllers got into a public spat with a camp protester.
Asking where the £35k plus went is classed as a “ridiculous conspiracy theory” apparently, because the person blocked was no other than Hayley-Marie Pitwell (see my other blog for the lowdown) – as she explains herself…
It seems HS2Rebellion and many of the protesters are breaking out into bit of good, old-fashioned class warfare! The ‘posh boys’ (and girls) who make up much of the hierarchy of groups like Extinction Rebellion and HS2Rebellion do seem to have a knack of alienating some of the troops like Hayley-Marie! Now, I may disagree profoundly with her on HS2 as well as her world view, but I have to admire her persistence in following the money on a matter of principle.
As you can imagine, battle-lines were soon drawn as supporters of either side rallied around. If you so desire, grab some popcorn and browse the HS2 rebellion and associated Facebook pages to watch the fun. It’s better than many TV soap operas!
Whilst the farce unfolded on social media and outside Parliament you may be forgiven for asking the question “whilst they’re parading around outside Parliament, who’s actually trying to stop HS2”? It’s a question some of their activists were asking too. Here’s several rather revealing examples. Firstly, this one about the hopeless and hapless Denham ‘protection’ camp which is rapidly becoming redundant as the National Grid crack on with preparations for installing their new High-Voltage pylons.
It’s very true. All that’s coming out of Denham nowadays is a stream of videos showing what the protesters have utterly failed to stop. It’s akin to the old TV game show where the presenter used to tease losers with “here’s what you could’ve won!”
Meanwhile, over at Crackley camp, a lone protester managed to get atop a digger for a bit and sent this, which rather neatly encapsulates the futility of what they’re doing.
No ‘ground support’ means that she was on her own. What did she achieve (apart from getting arrested and having bail conditions imposed?). Nothing. More was to follow…
Does this sound like the ‘growing’ campaign HS2Rebellion like to bluster about? This was rather revealing too as reality is finally starting to sink in to some people
I suspect ‘holiday’ is a euphemism for people sodding off back home as many won’t return. Looking at some of the early photos the protesters used to post of their gatherings in the spring/summer is a bit like looking at old photographs of soldiers from WW1 where the dead, wounded or missing in action are labelled, only in this case it’s injuncted, arrested or gone home! With this rate of attrition and with the onset of winter I can’t see the protests achieving anything other than becoming more and more of a farce, especially as HS2Rebellions rhetoric and daft lies becomes more and more out of step with reality. The cognitive dissonance is strong there. You might compare their PR tactics to those of Goebbels, the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it. In truth, they’re more Comical Ali than Goebbels!
Remember when Joe Rukin and StopHs2 were a thing? Until Extinction Rebellion came along, they *were* the anti HS2 campaign. Now they’ve all but disappeared. Joe Rukin’s phone still rings on the odd occasion a friendly media outlet need a quote, but that’s it. Their website tells the sorry tale. Compared to the heady days when there could be several posts a day and dozens a week there’s been one since early September, and that’s a very brief one to tell people where the remaining protest camps are!
Politically, the anti Hs2 campaign (and I use that word loosely) is finished. All that remains is a dwindling rag-bag of protesters who’re spending more and more time on infighting. How anyone thought this bunch could stop the largest construction project in Europe (spread over 140 route miles) is a mystery and an exercise in just one thing. Hubris.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
The pair of us have had another day working from home at Bigland Towers, which hasn’t been much of a hardship as for much of the day the weather’s been crap with low grey cloud and heavy rain showers dominating the valley.
On the bright side, sitting in the office all day has allowed me to get all of yesterdays pictures edited and on my Zenfolio website as well as catch up on some paperwork. I had to stay in anyway as an engineer was due to call around to fix a problem with our American-style fridge, which has been playing up. Sadly, that didn’t go to plan as when he did arrive – he didn’t have all the correct parts! Ho hum…
I’m hoping for better luck tomorrow. We’ve a new washing machine being delivered as our old one’s given up the ghost after 13 years, so another day of type-swiping and waiting for the phone to ring beckons. Hopefully, I’ll have one last chance to get out on Friday before Manchester (and now South Yorkshire) go into Covid Tier 3 restrictions. Will we in West Yorkshire be far behind? I haven’t got a Scooby Do! Sense and Sensibility left the field of play quite some time ago.
If restrictions do kick in here then I’ve plenty of things to keep me occupied, which is a plus. The fact the nights are drawing in and I’ll have nowhere to escape to less so. The Covid blues were bad enough in the summer. Winter’s a whole new ball-game.
On that note I’ll move on to the picture of the day, which reflects the seasons. The trees around here have suddenly cottoned on to the fact it’s autumn and are shedding leaves by the truckload. The colours are stunning, so I’m hoping for a bit of sunshine over the next few days to be able to capture scenes like this, which I took Westwards down the Calder Valley in Todmorden, West Yorkshire on the 15th November 2018. In the picture a local Northern train service leaves the station to cross the viaduct that straddles the centre of the town, whilst the surrounding hills are awash with a range of autumn colours. With the rapid rate the leaves are dropping at the moment, I doubt the scene will look similar this November.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Hmm, what a strange day it’s been. I wanted to escape the office today as all the omens are that I’ll be spending a lot of (involuntary) time stuck at home over the winter months, so I’m making the most of what freedom I have whilst I have it.
Anyone reading the political runes over the past couple of days could see that there was a political dog-fight brewing over Covid, the Government’s tier system and the elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. Today it came to a head. With this on the horizon I decided to take a trip into Manchester to document how this is affecting the railways, but also to stock up on some cooking ingredients that we can’t get locally. If I’m going to be stuck at home then cooking is one of my therapies, so having the raw materials that allow me to recreate South-East Asian dishes means a lot as there’s bugger-all chance of me getting out to that part of the world until 2021 at the earliest.
Manchester city centre and the railway stations that serve it were the quietest I’ve seen them for months. It seems that the message is already getting through to a lot of people who’re already staying away. I headed to Chinatown to buy the herbs and other ingredients I needed but the place was pretty much deserted – which felt very surreal for what’s normally a bustling area of the city.
Having got most of what I wanted I made my way back through Victoria station, which brings me on to a very topical picture of the day…
A solitary passenger checks his phone as he waits for the 15.33 to Newcastle at Manchester Victoria, 90 minutes before the Prime Minister was due to make a televised announcement over what Covid tier Manchester was going to be placed in after a very public spat with the elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.
Personally, my feelings are that right now we’re becoming increasingly ruled by Downing St diktat as the democratic institutions of this country are ignored – be they Parliament or local politicians. Meanwhile the PM’s office has developed a standard tactic of blaming everyone else for Johnson’s failures – be that the EU, Parliament, local Mayors or other devolved institutions. This is only going to get worse as the clock (inexorably) ticks down to January 1st.
Welcome to Britain in 2020…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 