Category Archives: West Yorkshire

3rd April picture of the day…

03 Monday Apr 2023

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

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Today’s been one of those ‘dolly mixture’ sort of days where I’ve been doing allsorts (you’re mixing your sweetie metaphors: Ed). I’ve had a full calendar trying to catch up on work after having been away, so I’ve a large inbox of picture editing to clear. Then there’s been the usual paperwork to sort out – plus the fact I had a visit booked to an Osteopath for a check-up. I did manage to add a load of the High Speed 2 pictures I’ve taken to my Zenfolio website which you can find here.

I’m pleased to report that the Osteopath was very impressed with my old bones and their skeletal alignment so gave me a clean bill of health. Well, after freeing some tension in my neck with an armlock and a resounding ‘crack’ – but apart from that ‘dem bones’ is doing fine. The appointment was over in Lindley which is a lovely suburb of Huddersfield. I’m assuming it’s a village that’s been subsumed by an expanding town back in Victorian times, but it retains it’s own charm and a range of shops, cafe’s and pubs that give it a distinctive feel – as you’ll see in today’s picture. Dawn’s been visiting the same Osteopath for a little while to try and sort out a couple of niggles she has and it was Dee’s suggestion that I get myself checked out after the problem I had whilst I was away. Carrying a camera bag that often weighs 12-13 kilos or more can play havoc with your muscles – as I’ve found out a couple of times in my career.

Appointments over we called into a local garden-centre to restock out collection of herbs. The winter hadn’t been kind to some of our long-established plants as we lost the Rosemary and Thyme – although I’m happy to say the Parsley and Sage survived, so we’re halfway to a song there! Having bough what we needed and acquired a load more compost I spent a couple of hours in the garden on our return. It was an ideal afternoon for it. We’ve had a lot of sunshine today and you can feel the heat returning as the year rolls on. So, all in all – it’s not been a bad day.

Now it’s time to enjoy the evening before another busy day tomorrow but before I go I’ll leave you with today’s picture. There’s a lovely old (Edwardian) clocktower in Lindley. I feel it has a faint Germanic air, what do you think?

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 April picture of the day…

02 Sunday Apr 2023

Posted by in Flora and Fauna, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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After my last few days travels today’s very much been a lazy Sunday. I’ve travelled nowhere – unless you count a trip up the hill to the local pub! Dawn’s been full on at work so has really kicked back whilst I’ve got stuck into home projects. After the miserable weather I’d experienced in the Chilterns I was relieved to enjoy a sunny Sunday in the Pennines which encouraged me to get out in the garden and deal with some of the unwanted stuff that’s sprung up. We have a row of Sycamore trees on the opposite side of the road to us and this year their offspring have been as invasive as an invading army. I’ve never known a year like it in the 13 years I’ve been here but I’m assuming conditions must have been perfect for them this winter. De-weeding done I spent more time splitting up a yellow Iris I rescued from canal dredging many years ago. I planted some in our front garden but it’s extended its underground tentacles so far I’ve had no option but to sever them and chop it back. They won’t be wasted. I’ve potted some, other bits have gone to grateful neighbours. All I have to do is work out what I’ll plant in the space.

Right, enough from me tonight. There’s plenty to read and see in my past few blogs. Right now – as It’s Sunday – I’m going to have a night off after leaving you with the picture of the day which is something chosen at random from my Zenfolio website. I put in flora into search and came up with this. I spotted these Ceanothus flowers on one of my local walks during the early days of the Covid lockdown. What a weird time that feels 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!

29th March picture of the day…

29 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Politics, Twitter, West Yorkshire

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As expected today’s been a less frenetic one than of late. Much of my time’s been spent editing and captioning the haul of pictures I’ve captured over the past couple of days. They’ve been spread over several galleries which means you can find Travel images here, Nottingham trams here, East Midlands Railway pictures here and Cross-Country trains here.

In-between getting boggle-eyed staring at a computer screen I’ve managed to get out and enjoy the mild weather that’s snuck up on the Calder valley and get out for a walk or two around the local woods. Having spent two months in Asia which was mostly on the flat my legs are starting to regain their hill-walking muscle memory. I sometimes forget the fact we live on the side of a valley as the highest thing I climbed in Asia was flights of stairs!

In-between working and walking I have been keeping one eye on the news – depressing as it is. It was sad to hear of the death of Paul O’ Grady as he was such an entertaining character and also one of the good guys whom we can’t afford to lose in what’s increasingly becoming a sea of celebrity mediocrity. Mind you, the word celebrity has become devalued. Now all you have to do to be a ‘celebrity’ is appear on some awful ‘reality’ TV show to gain that appellation. The days of the Hollywood greats this isn’t. But Paul was a genuine character, celebrity and campaigner who put his fame to work for the betterment of many groups of people – and animals.

Despite the fact the news can often be depressing and social media even more so, there comes those moments when it all comes good due to some people’s irrepressible urge to take the pee out of the nuts – especially American gun nuts after the latest in a long line of tragic mass-shootings and slaughter of more innocents at the hands of deranged people with automatic weapons. So tonight’s picture of the day is actually a picture of a tweet on Twitter. It’s a social media platform that’s gone downhill since it was bought by billionaire Elon Musk, a man with less than liberal views who’s not been without controversy over said attitudes, his relationships with the opposite sex or his welcoming back to Twitter of formerly banned right-wingers and hate-mongers. But tonight the British have responded with their usual flair and brought the world’s attention to this person and his views. Welcome, Keith Arsewank!

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

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

Thank you!

26th March picture of the day…

26 Sunday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Pubs, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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We’ve had another quiet(ish) day here at Bigland Towers but that’s mainly because today was chance to relax before a busy week beginning on Monday when the pair of us are off to Nottingham for the Community Rail Network Conference which spans two days.

As the clocks had gone forward, depriving us of an hours sleep we enjoyed a leisurely morning drinking coffee and catching up with friends via social media before brunch, after which we got our acts together to potter around the house doing nothing too ambitious until it was time to get out for a stroll. Today’s weather was dry but cold thanks to the wind-chill. Even the cocoon of cloud over the valley couldn’t keep the heat in. We wandered downhill to the valley floor and Sowerby Bridge in time to pick up some shopping before everywhere closed, then decided to adjourn for a quick drink (and chance to warm up) before heading home. We’d normally have a pitstop at the Hogshead brew house but the place was packed due to them having a band playing. As the pair of us wanted to sit and chat rather than boogie we flagged it and moved on to a pub we rarely visit, the Navigation, which sits above the canal basin. It’s an old pub that had 5 real ales on (I chose the Oakham Citra) but seems as popular for its food as its beer. Many of the other customers were eating and several tables were reserved for later arrivals. The portions look huge and the prices are reasonable. It’s also a dog-friendly pub which makes it ideal for canalside walkers.

The canalside was the route we chose to walk home along as neither have traversed the path since last year. Seeing spring very much in the air added to the pleasure. Now we’re back at home. Dawn’s had the night off as I’ve been on cooking duty. As much as I’ve loved trying all the exotic food I had in SE-Asia, I missed cooking. Like gardening, it’s another of my pleasures/therapies. Tonight we went vegetarian as a rustled up a Chana Masala served with chapattis, the ingredients for which provide the picture of the day…

Preparation is part of the fun of cooking and I love using our selection of bowls which were (mostly) purchased on our travels. The top kne’s from Thailand whilst the blue ones came from Hoi An in Vietnam. The big one full of chickpeas? That’s from somewhere far less exotic. M&S!

Expect a mix of blogs next week as I’ll be traversing a lot of the UK and visiting a variety of locations…

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!

25th March picture of the day…

25 Saturday Mar 2023

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

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The pair of us have had a domesticated sort of day here at Bigland Towers. To be honest, with the way the weather’s been, there’s been little point to doing much else. Torrential rain overnight led to a miserable start to the day, but thankfully, that gradually improved. Dawn had a morning appointment elsewhere which left me free to chalk up some household chores – albeit not always successfully. I’ve been trying to change the cartridge in one of our bath taps. The first one was easy but the second one is stuck fast. You can’t apply too much brute force as the fittings made of soft brass so it’s easy to strip the nut. Even a ring spanner, oodles of WD40 and tirade of swear words won’t shift it. I’ve one trick left up my sleeve. After that I’m calling in an air-strike…

Once the rain finally subsided I moved outdoors to tidy up the gardens (front and back) having not been around to look after them since January. I really enjoy gardening. It’s such a therapeutic pastime and the joy of producing life through planting is hard to beat. This year I’ve decided to do some major replanting as many of the shrubs have outgrown their locations or simply spread too far. I rescued some yellow Iris from a canal a few years ago. They’d been dumped in dredged mud, so I brought a few home. They’ve loved our garden and spread like wildfire. The same with a variegated Hosta. I really like Hostas – but so do slugs – which is always a problem. I’ve split the original plant several times but now it needs doing again whilst being confined to a few pots, some which I can give away. Sod paying garden centre prices!

Our herb garden’s being revised too. Previously we had stuff all over the place (front and back). Now I’ve cleared a bed opposite the kitchen window where the panoply of edible plants will be congregated. That said, I sowed some French Parsley in the terrace above the back of the house last year and that’s going great guns already as it obviously likes the location. Sadly, not everything survived the winter so I’ll have to buy a new Rosemary plant. Our previous specimen loved it out at the back. So much so we had to severely chop it back to let the neighbours get past. Eventually it had to be chopped down as it just got too big. The new one I planted in a pot in the front did well initially, but this winter was its nemesis. Sadly, our Variegated Thyme didn’t survive either. Having fresh herbs you can pop out and crop as you need them is wonderful. Plus, if you love cooking as we do – it also saves you loads of money.

Gardening duties done I joined Dee for a trip into Halifax for a spot of shopping. Retail therapy isn’t a thing for either of us, but when needs must. At least Halifax still has a decent range of outlets, including an M&S and a ‘Body Shop’ plus the obligatory supermarkets. Our trip was prolonged because we couldn’t get Dawn’s favourite tipple for love nor money. Being teetotal, Dee’s developed a taste for the alcohol-free Guinness as dark beers were always her favourite (personally, I’m a pale ale fan) and apparently, the AF Guinness tastes just the same as the real stuff, but it’s hard to come by. Only one of our local supermarkets normally stocks it but they’d run out days ago. We ended up diverting to Sowerby Bridge where Tesco’s had finally had a delivery – so now Dee’s well happy!

Now we’re kicking back at home. I’m writing this whilst Dawn’s cooking one of her fantastic Chicken Madras curries. So, it’s time to relax and watch a film together with a drink and some brilliant home-cooked food. That leaves me to find a picture of the day – so I’ve chosen this. The garden’s too messy to post right now and I can’t find the picture I’m thinking of, so this will have to do. It’s a bit more exotic than anything I can grow here in Yorkshire. This is Duranta Erectica, otherwise known as Golden Dewdrops, shot at Gardens by the Bay. Singapore.

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

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

Thank you!

24th March picture of the day…

24 Friday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, Picture of the day, Pubs, West Yorkshire

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Otherwise known as that was the blog that wasn’t! From a writing perspective today’s been the literary version of ‘no comment’. Nothing has happened that isn’t a reprise of earlier in the week apart from the fact it’s Friday, which meant that at the end of the working day I adjourned to our our local pub, the Big 6 – joining friends and other regulars to indulge in the quiz which Mel reads out from the ‘Pub Paper’.

I must admit, I rather enjoy the Friday brain teaser. There’s two different quizzes, one easy and one hard. But it’s a great way to end the working week, especially when the humour, diversions and anecdotes flow which always generate plenty of laughter. Just what you need on a Friday.

Now I’m back at home, writing what’s going to be a very short blog. Dawn’s busy preparing supper, so it’s time for me to go so that we can enjoy some quality time. All that remains is to post today’s picture, which comes from this evening’s session in the 6. The pub maintains four rotating real ale handpumps. The selection changes every few days depending on how busy (and how thirsty) the clientele are. Most of the beers are local and there’s always one dark beer on the second pump, so here’s today’s selection. Oh, did I mention that there’s also free pork pie on the bar on Fridays?

Choose your poison…

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!

23rd March picture of the day…

23 Thursday Mar 2023

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

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Today wasn’t a bad day to have been working from home as the weather’s been changeable to say the least – and not exactly balmy either. We’ve had shower after shower interspersed with heavy cloud, bright sunshine, rainbows and wind. I didn’t mind too much as I’d plenty to keep me occupied at home including editing all the pictures from the past few days. They’ve been captioned and placed in several different galleries on my Zenfolio website. If you’re a transport nerd I’ve pretty much covered all bases. You can find ships here. Aviation here and even some buses here. On the railway front there’s pictures of Trans-Pennine Express as well as Northern and Merseyrail. If freight services are your bag I’ve also added a few shots of loco-hauled GBRf trains. Right, everyone happy now?

Ah, that leaves me with one problem. What to choose as the picture of the day…

OK, there *is* one picture I’ve not added to anything yet. It’s one I took in New Brighton the other day and it’s of a pub sign that became rather famous due to the subject matter. Folk on Merseyside are well-known for humour and directness when it comes to politics. You can get into some great discussions on the latter on both sides of the Mersey (unless you venture into Tory Cheshire) where the heat of political discussion is almost always leavened with acerbic wit.

This particular establishment (formerly the James Atherton on Victoria Rd) decided to make their feelings known about Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock. Considering yesterday’s events when Johnson made an arrogant, unapologetic and entitled arse of himself in front of the Parliamentary Standards Committee this seems rather appropriate.

Some folk may be wondering why I’m referring to Merseysiders rather than ‘Scousers’. There’s a simple reason for that. ‘Scousers’ is a term that only applies to those born in Liverpool – not elsewhere on Merseyside. So, people from Birkenhead (the ‘wrong’ side of the Mersey) and satellite towns outside the city real Scousers call ‘Woolybacks’! I was born in the L9 district of Liverpool. Therefore, by an accident of birth (and a long story) that makes me a Scouser. ‘alright’!

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

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

Thank you!

22nd March picture of the day…

22 Wednesday Mar 2023

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

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Today was one of those days that didn’t really go to plan because of the bane of the outdoor photographer’s life. The weather. It started well enough. I was working from home, wading through all the pictures I took on Merseyside yesterday whilst also dealing with emails and other correspondence. But I could see the weather was ideal for photography. Dawn was going into the Community Rail Network office in Huddersfield for a meeting with Network Rail and TPE so she suggested I might want a lift into town. It sounded like a good idea to me as I could get pictures of some of the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU) work and diverted services for the the archive. I really should have checked the weather forecast first…

All was well until we got to Huddersfield, the weather looked cracking. Then I dug the camera out. Just as soon as I did dark clouds marched in from the West – bugger! Huddersfield station was quiet as only a few services were running (to Sheffield, Bradford Interchange, Marsden, Leeds and Hull) the busiest place was the station forecourt where fleets of coaches were ferrying people across the Pennines to Manchester. My plan was to hang around for half an hour before catching the first available train to Brighouse where I’d intended to get a series of lineside shots of the TPE services diverted via the Calder valley, only the bloody clouds followed me and the weather got gloomier – and wetter. I ended up retreating to the Market Tavern in order to have a pint and make a series of work phone calls to make something of the day whilst hoping the weather would clear again. It teased me a couple of times with brief flashes of sunshine, but then the rain arrived so I gave up and came home via a train to Sowerby Bridge before slogging up the hill to home and my desk. Ho hum!

Still, I did get the picture of the day at least. The friends of Brighouse station have done some fantastic work over recent years, transforming the station with plants and flowers. Now they’ve branched out and added a series of local history boards which tale the tale of the town and some of its inhabitants. One in particular caught my eye. Do you remember the old song about the man who broke the bank of Monte Carlo? Well, he was real – and he was local…

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 March picture(s) of the day…

19 Sunday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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Today’s been Mothers day so the focus has been on Dawn and her family as I lost both my parents many years ago, whilst Dee still has hers. This has meant Dawn’s spent much of the day in the kitchen cooking or preparing a range of dishes for us to take to her parents house in nearby Huddersfield for a special Mothers day meal.

To be honest, Dawn was so organised and efficient most of my contribution was relegated to doing the washing up and helping keep the kitchen tidy whilst Dee sorted out a shoulder of lamb that had been prepared in a slow cooker overnight, then got stuck into baking. As I was supernumerary, I retreated into my office to do some more picture editing and be on call when there was more washing up to be done. I have my uses!

Needless to say, the smells that wafted up from the kitchen were gorgeous. Cooking done and clothes changed we drove over to Dawn’s parents in order to prepare the final meal. Apart from a traffic jam at Ainley Top by the M62 where some poor bugger had broken down and caused a tailback the roads were surprisingly quiet. That said, judging by the amount of men I saw buying flowers yesterday I suspect most of West Yorkshire was doing similar things to us!

Both Norah and John were blown away by the meal. Dawn’s an excellent cook and always delivers something special. The lamb was falling off the bone delicious – as was the gravy which was thickened with liquidised veg (pre-cooked garlic, carrots and onions) that had been used in cooking the lamb. This made for a really rich gravy, full of body that was an ideal accompaniment to the meat. As a dessert we had Dee’s (gluten free) apple pie made with cinnamon and Sultanas.

Now the pair of us are back at home, getting ready to start a new week. So, today’s pictures are very much food based as I can’t resist showing off what we had. Back to the diet tomorrow then…!

Gluten free Apple pie, plus a small Rhubarb crumble for ourselves.
Slow cooked Lamb henry and all the trimmings
Happy mothers Day!
Gluten free apple pie…
The luscious apple pie filling…

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

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

Thank you!

18th March picture of the day…

18 Saturday Mar 2023

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

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Today was hardly a shining example of the rock and roll lifestyle, but it’s been an enjoyable one nonetheless. Besides, I’m meant to be too old for that sort of thing nowadays, allegedly!

The pair of us enjoyed a relaxed Saturday morning drinking coffee and catching up with the world via social media. I can’t say that much of the news is wonderful or uplifting, there’s far too much trouble in the world for that, but I try to be optimistic. I’d have liked to have got out for a walk but the weather was determined to thwart my ambitions by constantly hurling showers in our direction, so I decided trying to finish off my picture editing was a better use of my time.

The pair of us did get out in the afternoon but only to do a car trip to various shops and supermarkets around the area to stock up on various staples and goodies in order to prepare a Mothers Day lunch for Dee’s mum tomorrow (Dad eats for free!). At least this trip took us out of the Colne valley as we visited the Bolster Moor farm shop in the nearby Colne valley to pick up some lamb. The drive was really enjoyable as cresting the summit between the two valleys offers some fantastic views which were made more spectacular by the various cloud fronts dumping pockets of rain hither and thither. Yorkshire’s brilliant at moody skies like this.

Now, back at home, Dawn’s been busy in the kitchen prepping food for tomorrow. I have to admit, I’m very lucky to have such a talented and enthusiastic cook for a wife – although I will be mucking in to help tomorrow to spread the load. Whilst Dee’s been busy in the kitchen I’ve been occupied in the office trying to get my final selection of Asia pictures captioned and on my website. I’m almost there. You can find new railway shots here, travel pictures here – and some shipping shots here.

Now it’s time for the two of us to come together for some quality time and relax, so I’ll leave you with today’s picture which gives you an idea of what the weather’s been like up here recently. Here’s looking across the Calder valley down to Sowerby Bridge.

It’s hard to believe February was unusually dry here. It seems the rain was waiting for me to get back!

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!