Category Archives: Travel

5th January picture of the day…

05 Thursday Jan 2023

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Railways, Singapore, Travel

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Another quiet day here in Bigland Towers – made all the quieter by the fact our four-legged lodger has now gone back to her owners after they arrived back in the UK this morning. It’s been fun, but the two of us agreed that whilst we’re happy to dog-sit on occasion we wouldn’t want the task of having a mutt of our own. An independent creature like a cat is our limit but now our old boy ‘Jet’ has passed on we rather like the freedom of not having the responsibility – or the vets bills!

Once ‘Bernie’ was collected the two of us knuckled down to another day working from home. I’ve been occupied weeding out a lot more old paperwork as well as cleaning up digital files and booking parts of my trip to Asia. Much of what I’ll be doing I’ll make up as I go along, but the first couple of weeks need planning, including my transition from Singapore into Malaysia and train from Johor Baru up to Kuala Lumpur. I’d be amazed if I couldn’t get a ticket on the day to get me from JB to Gemas (junction for the ‘Jungle’ railway and limit of electrification South from KL) – but I’m taking no chances. Instead I’ve taken the recommendation of Mark, the ‘Man in seat 61‘ and booked through one of his recommended agents. The first site claimed there was nothing available but as they said that for the next 2 months I’m assuming it’s a glitch. Instead, I’ve booked with ‘baolau’ which was easy as their website’s user friendly. All I’m waiting for now is my ticket confirmation. Let’s see how that goes.

The rest of my ticketing I can book when I’m in Malaysia. Their trains are good but I’ve never known long-distance ETS services to be full, although they do get very busy at holiday times. I’ll be stopping in Kuala Lumpur for several days so I can easily book onward travel there when my plans are firmed up for the first month’s travel.

I’m starting to get that frisson now that I’ve only a few days left in the UK. However, there’s still lots to do before I go which means the last few days will seem like a blur so I suspect it’s only when I’m on the plane on the runway that I’ll relax. What I’m really looking forward to is seeing how much things have changed in the countries I’m visiting. All have been busy investing in their rail networks so I’m expecting lots of interesting sights. Today’s picture is from my last visit to Singapore in February 2017.

This is a view of the North-South metro line with a train leaving Woodlands station. It’s a fine example of integrated transport. I took the shot from the roof of a nearby multi-storey car park whilst underneath the elevated tracks is a bus/coach station. Looking at all those construction cranes on the horizon makes me wonder what the skyline will look like now…

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!

2nd January picture of the day…

02 Monday Jan 2023

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

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Welcome to my first (but very definitely not the last) blog of 2023. New Years day was a quiet one here at Bigland Towers, although we popped out for drinks with friends ‘early doors’ on New Years eve we were back at home well before the year rolled on and had a quiet night counting down to midnight. Just the two of us, plus ‘Bernie’, a miniature cockapoo dog that we’re looking after for friends whilst they’re away on holiday.

New year’s day was in very much the same vein although Dawn couldn’t keep herself out of the kitchen despite having spent much of Christmas down in Surrey cooking for her family. I can’t complain as Dee prepared a fantastic Flemish beef stew and roast vegetables which made a fantastically tasty start to the year. In the meantime, I’ve begun to plan my Far-Eastern adventure in earnest which has involved a lot of research into seeing what’s changed since I was last out there in 2017. Well, Covid’s had a huge impact obviously and some places still have restrictions that we (perhaps foolishly) gave up on in 2021, but it’s the logistics of travel that have changed too as (for example) Malaysia’s redeveloped a lot of its rail network and Thailand is following suit. A few days before I arrive in Bangkok their massive new multi-level station at Bang Sue (now renamed Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal) will start receiving long-distance rail services instead of the old Hualamphong station. The full changeover isn’t expected to happen for several years but first services will run on the 19th February after a delay of several years.

Researching the changes meant I spent a lot of time digging through archive photos on my Zenfolio website only to realise that some pictures are missing. This is due to the fact I’d originally used the free hosting site ‘Photopic’. Sadly, the people who bought photopic off its creator were financial and business incompetents who pulled the plug on it in 2010. These idiots had no idea what a rich historical resource that contained millions of pictures from 10s of 1000s of worldwide contributors they were trashing. Many people lost entire collections. I didn’t as I only used it as a shop window. I’d kept the originals on hard-drives, but it took me several years to migrate my old pictures to my new Zenfolio website. Unfortunately, when I first went digital in 2004 I made a cardinal error. Rather than keeping one archive I divided it up into different folders (railways, travel etc.) which made it much harder to keep track of individual pictures. Some folders got filed away and never saw the light of day for years. In 2010 I learned from my mistake and kept a yearly folder containing everything I’d taken that year – no matter what the subject.

I found one ‘lost’ folder today which contains some of those missing pictures. They’re from Malaysia in 2009 and one of them is today’s picture as it reflects the changes I’ll be seeing in that country’s rail transport. The only thing in this picture that I believe still exists today are the two coaches.

Here’s the ‘international train’ that ran between Butterworth in Malaysia and Bangkok in Thailand. This view was taken at Butterworth (the station for Penang Island) on the 9th February 2009. The two sleeper coaches belong to the State Railways of Thailand whilst the engine is Malaysian. Well – sort of! It was one of 39 ex-Indian Railways Class YDM4s that were leased to KTMB for many years to cover a motive power shortage. Surplus to requirements in their home country due to the conversion of the meter-gauge network to broad gauge some pitched up here.

The coaches would be hauled by the KTMB loco from Butterworth to the border station of Padang Besar where there would be a customs check)and a loco change. An SRT loco would then take the coaches and passengers forward to Hat Yai where they’d be attached to the rear of an overnight sleeper train to Bangkok which would arrive in the Thai Capital the next morning. It was a fantastic (and cheap) way to travel between the two countries as well as a superb way to enjoy the scenery.

Nowadays you get an electric train from Butterworth to Padange Besar. After a wait you catch an SRT day train to Hat Yai where you join a sleeper service to the capital. I’ll be doing this trip in February so I’ll key you know what it’s like now.

If you want to see more of my old pictures of Malaysian railways check out these galleries.

1992 – 2009

2011 (includes Thailand)

2012 (includes Thailand)

2015 (includes Thailand)

2017 (includes Thailand and Indonesia)

One thing I’ve promised myself is that whilst I’m away these next few months I’ll rationalise these galleries by country and separate out the railways, travel and other transport images. It’s one of those classic ‘when I get around to it’ jobs that never seem to happen! In the meantime, expect a lot of new pictures and blogs from that neck of the woods over the next couple of months – starting very soon…

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!

28th December picture of the day…

28 Wednesday Dec 2022

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

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I’ve had another ‘Groundhog day’ here at Bigland Towers, mainly because the weather seems to be stuck on ‘rinse and repeat’! I woke up early this morning in order to carry on with various DIY bits but the weather was so gloomy and wet the day took many hours to catch up with me. Venturing out with the camera seems pointless when the visibility’s so bad, the rain so persistent and the wind so gusting. Instead, I’ve stayed home in the warm and dry to tick a few more jobs off the list of stuff that needs doing around the cottage. That said, there’s several outdoor jobs on the list but they’re going to have to wait. I’m not climbing ladders to clear out gutters in this! I had a much less windswept time wielding paintbrushes and replacing the flush on the toilet instead. Not exactly the rock and roll lifestyle but hey – I’m going travelling for a couple of months!

I dis have one moment of angst before setting off for my daily constitutional (fully suited and booted in full waterproofs, of course) when it came to sticking a second load of washing in the machine ready for when I got back. For some reason I couldn’t get the damn thing to work. A small, friendly door symbol kept flashing but I hadn’t a clue what it meant. I couldn’t find the manual for said machine so, after much muttering and swearing I went online and download a copy from the Bosch website (thank God for the internet). Several pages and many more minutes later I identified the problem. Earlier on I’d accidentally applied the bloody child lock – not a feature I’ve ever had to bother with, so I had no idea such a device existed!

Now I’m winding down for the day, sitting in the office and finishing off a few more slide scans whilst the smell of fresh paint permeates the cottage. Outside the wind is howling and the rain’s battering the front windows but as I don’t have to go anywhere I don’t care. Plus, I have wine…

Right, on to the picture of the day. I’ve chosen another from the series of new slide scans which were shot at Varanasi, India in 1998. This one I’ve titled ‘when east meets west’.

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!

27th December picture(s) of the day…

27 Tuesday Dec 2022

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

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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 day

Here’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.

22nd December picture of the day…

22 Thursday Dec 2022

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

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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/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Coastal capers…

20 Tuesday Dec 2022

Posted by in Photography, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

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09.05.

We’ve another warm, foggy and wet morning here in the Calder valley, but I’m hoping to avoid a soaking as I was down to Sowerby Bridge station to head off to Southport for the day. I’m looking forward to having a day away from the valley and enjoy some coastal air. Let’s see how the trip goes…

Having strolled down to Sowerby Bridge under clearing skies I’ve discovered my train to Manchester is 7 mins late. It’s no big deal as I won’t miss my connection, it’s just frustrating!

Eventually, a vintage Class 158 working the Leeds – Brighouse – Walkden – Wigan Wallgate route arrived. I’m not complaining. It’s warm and cosy with USB sockets to keep my phone charged up.

The day begins…

This 3-car service isn’t particularly busy but we’re an all stations stopper as far as Rochdale so it’ll soon fill up.

En-route I couldn’t help but play a couple of songs by Terry Hall of the Specials and Fun Boy Three. He’s died at the age of 63 (my age). I’ve always been a lover of his music as he was another who helped provide the soundtrack to my life. Two songs especially stick in my mind, ‘Our lips are sealed’ is one but the tune that really resonates is ‘Ghost town‘, written by Jerry Dammers back in 1981. It summed up the turmoil and troubles of the Thatcher years with recession and racism rife. Troubles that (until recently) we thought we’d seen the back of – but now both are making a return. Now I can see the reflections of those years in the shuttered shops I pass in towns and cities up and down the country – and that I’m sure I’ll be seeing later.

09:40.

Right now we’ve crossed over the border into Lancashire to call at Smithy Bridge. As expected, the train’s very busy now. Dozens boarded at Littleborough and I’m expecting us to be almost full and standing after our next stop – Rochdale.

09:44.

We’ve departed from Rochdale. I gave up my table seat to stand and observe and – as I expected – we’re now full and standing.

10:20.

I’m now on my way to Southport aboard one of Northern’s bi-mode (25kv and diesel) Class 769s after a game of ‘guess the platform’ at Manchester Victoria where two of the four through platforms were blocked by cold and dead TPE class 185s. It seems TPE are having another torrid day. I’ll find out details when I can. As that TOC puts a lot of trains through the station nowadays they bugger-up Northern services when things go wrong – which is frequently!

TPE using half of Victoria’s through platforms as stabling!

Of course, this wouldn’t have been an issue before BR vastly reduced the size of the station in the 1990s and destroyed its capacity, a decision that’s come back to haunt us in the 21st century.

11:00.

I’m West of Wigan now, about to cross the West Lancashire plain to get to Southport. My 319 successfully changed from electric to diesel power at Bolton. Now it’s spending the rest of the trip trying to shake itself to bits! I’m in toilet car 71805 where there’s a reaonance effect that’s rattling the hell out of the luggage rack above me. The hopper windows aren’t liking it either. A couple of them have popped open of their own accord! Part of the problem is the rack on my side of the train isn’t braced – unlike the adjacent one.

The poles make all the difference…

At Southport the Merseyrail side of the station boasted trains old and new. The BR built Class 507-508 fleets are still in charge of all passenger services but the future is stabled in the sidings…

Wi

16:00.

My flying visit to Southport’s come to an end earlier than expected due to my Sister being unwell. I still managed to have lunch with my Niece (Charlotte) and her husband (Ade) – even though he could only join us for his lunch-break from work! Charlotte and I both share the same ‘itchy feet’ travel gene and the three of us will next be meeting up in SE-Asia in January. Co-ordinating the trip was one of the reasons for my visit as it’s part of the world I know really well, along with the logistics of travel. The rendezvous is being made all the more challenging as they fly into Bangkok a few days before I fly into Singapore but that’s only 887 miles difference compared to 7,000 – and you can do it overland! Another thing that Charlotte and I share is a love of Asian food so I’m looking forward to introducing her to some of the Malaysian cuisines – including Nonya food.

There was no reason for me to hang around afterwards, so I’ve caught another bi-mode Class 319 Eastwards. I sat in exactly the same place as the last unit, just to see if the vibration problem happened again. It did, but nowhere near as bad.

769456 works the 15:05 from Southport to Manchester Oxford Rd. Seen at Wigan Wallgate where I bailed out.

Now I’ve stopped off in Wigan for a quick pint in Wigan Central to let the light change so I can do some night-time photography. Well, that’s my excuse – and I’m sticking to it!

17:00.

Oh, bugger…

19:45.

Despite the cancellations I made it back to Manchester’s Deansgate station then wandered across the city centre, getting a few pictures en-route before stopping off for a pint and a spot of people-watching. It’s the Xmas party season but even so – the city seems far more subdued than previous years. This impression was reinforced by the number of almost empty restaurants I passed. Clearly, the amount of money in circulation isn’t what it was which is hardly surprising considering what’s going on in the country right now. If you’re striking for more pay (and many are) you’re hardly going to be blowing what money you have left.

I’m now ln the 19:23 from Victoria to Leeds. It’s yet another busy train but there’s little revelry on the train. Most folk seem to be returning from work or coming home for Christmas ahead of the next round of rail strikes.

21:30.

Home again (naturally). Time for some good food and chance to relax before another busy day tomorrow.

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!

19th December picture of the day…

19 Monday Dec 2022

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

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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/

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

Thank you!

16th December picture(s) of the day…

17 Saturday Dec 2022

Posted by in Food and drink, Ossett, Photography, Travel, West Yorkshire

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OK, this is a day late, but what the hell – I was busy!

Yesterday Dawn had to pop over to nearby Ossett, a town I’d never visited before so I tagged along to keep her company and enjoy the chance to explore. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

Nestling on the side of the valley above the old Healy Mills railway marshalling yard, Ossett’s a small market town of 21,000 people. The town’s wealth was built on wool and coal although the former industry is long gone whilst the latter survives in vastly shrunken form. Nowadays the towns prosperity comes from its proximity to Leeds. Also long-gone is the town’s railway which closed in 1964. That’s why I’ve never had a reason to visit, until today!

Whilst Dawn went to her appointment I had a mooch around town. The main square’s been pedestrianised, as has the nearby portion of Station Rd. This has created an attractive area in the shadow of the Town Hall which is where the market’s held on Tuesdays and Fridays. I really enjoyed the market. Unlike many which survive by selling all sorts of plastic tat and cheap clothing, Ossett has some very good stall. There were a couple of fruit and veg stalls with a mix of local and imported produce at extremely good prices. Two vans were on site, one selling cuts of meat and the other fresh fish, whilst there were a number of other stalls selling bakery goods, including humongous bread rolls, fruit teacakes, pies and desserts. Oh, and an excellent cheese stall! I ended up spending quite a bit of money stocking up on various bits from several stalls – and stocked up my Xmas cheeseboard at the same time.

Stalls in the market Square which is surrounded by some lovely old buildings which don’t overpower. The one to the left is a former bank which now houses a pottery and arts cafe on the ground floor.
Quality local produce.
“This much Sir”? Measuring out a cut of cheese at the excellent cheese stall.
A close-up of some of the delicious cheese on offer.

Sadly, the town hall (which would have looked lovely bathed in the winter sunshine that blessed our visit) was swathed in scaffolding as it’s currently being refurbished. I did pop in to have a look as it contains several bric a brac stalls on market day but there was nothing that struck my fancy.

Inside the town hall.

However, behind the Town Hall, in what looks like a 1960s shopping complex I found something that did appeal. The Bier Huis. Their small shop front hides an Aladdin’s cave of UK and foreign bottled beers as well as a counter-bar selling draught real ales plus a couple of tables where you can sit whilst you enjoy them. I couldn’t resist buying some bottles of German and Belgian beers that I’d never tried before, plus an old favourite (Zot, from Brugge). added to the cheese I’d purchased earlier they made a great Xmas present to myself!

Choices, choices…

Like the Beer Huis, Ossett has many local and independent shops which make it stand out from the crowd. One gets fed up of identikit town centres dominated by the same chains and charity shops. Ossett made a refreshing change and, whilst there are some empty shops, there’s not anywhere as many as you find in the likes of Huddersfield, where we drove back to afterwards as Dee had to return to work. I had journey onward to Halifax which wasn’t easy due to the rail strike. Instead of the usual train I headed over to the bus station to wait for what should be a frequent (every 15 mins) service between the two towns. The place was busy – but not with buses. I had to wait 45 mins before a double-decker arrived. My only consolation was that I had a bag full of cheese and beer and wasn’t waiting at some God-forsaken stop in the middle of nowhere! Despite this, I really enjoyed getting out and about again. The day was rounded off by Dawn catching up with me again in our local pub where we net up with friends whilst enjoying a few beers and testing our knowledge using the quiz from the local pub paper. Not a bad day at all…

I’m looking forward to a return to Ossett market in the near future. Only this time I’ll be bringing more cash and a bigger shopping bag as there’s some real bargains to be had on that market.

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!

12th December picture of the day…

12 Monday Dec 2022

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

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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/

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Thank you!

7th December picture of the day…

07 Wednesday Dec 2022

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

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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/

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

Thank you!