Rolling blog. The journey begins…

07 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by in Infrarail, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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06:20.

I left home this morning with mixed feelings as I’ve had to leave Dawn alone in an empty house without Jet for company and cuddles. But there’s work to do and bills to pay…

So here I am on Northern’s 06:04 from Sowerby Bridge to Wigan. Despite it being such an early train there’s half a dozen of us early birds in the front vehicle of this 3-car class 158. I wasn’t the only one catching it from Sowerby either, five of us did, which is a good indicator of the way rail passenger numbers are recovering post-pandemic.

The weather’s taken a turn for the better, bringing high temperatures and (this morning) heavy mist dominating the valley as we head West.

I’m heading for Birmingham and the NEC as I’m working at the combined Infrarail/Railtex trade fair – the first time it’s been held since 2019 as the pandemic wiped out all these events in 2020. I’m looking forward to the chance to catch up with friends and colleagues over the next few days. I’ve a busy schedule but should still have time for some fun.

06:32.

We’ve crossed over the border to Lancashire but the mist that confined the Calder Valley has followed me over the Pennines although it’s not as thick here. It certainly provides an ethereal backdrop as we chug our way towards Manchester.

06:40.

We’ve just left Rochdale which has provided plenty of passengers heading into Manchester to start a day’s work. We also lost a few as a handful of Royal Mail workers in their distinctive red jackets (and obligatory shorts!) arrived in the town.

07:45.

Well, that’s my stress levels well up! My train arrived at East Jn, just outside Victoria station 3 minutes early, then sat waiting for a platform. And waited, and waited – and waited. I had 32 mins to make my connection with the 07:27 from Piccadilly, which should have been planty of time for a leisurely stroll across the city, suitcase in tow. The minutes kept ticking and we went nowhere. Finally when a pltform cleared we were allowed in – at 07:04. Great, 23 minutes to get out of Victoria dash across town and onto a train at Piccadilly. If not, my first job of the day (photographing the HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson) was up the swannee. As I left Victoria a clock showed 07:08. Despite pulling a suitcase I set a near personal best and arrived at Piccadilly at 07:23. A hot and sweaty mess admittedly, but I made it!

I’m now cooling down in the air-conditioned luxury (“luxury”? Ed) of a Cross-Country Voyager bound for Bournemouth…

08:33

We’re now South of Stafford. I’ve regained my breath and equilibrium, cooled down and am ready for the whatever the rest of the day holds. This 9 car Voyager’s full of reservations and people but I managed to find an available seat in the front car. God knows how busy these services will be when they revert to the normal timetable and become single units again! Today’s going to be a hot one, there’s wall to wall sunshine outside although the mist persists even here in Staffordshire. I suspect it’s going to be rather hot in the NEC today, but we’ll see…

21:45.

Apologies for the lack of regular updates throughout the day but I was run off my feet! This year Infrarail/Railtex was held in halls away from the main entrance, adding another 10 minutes to get there from International station. Thankfully, the guys I was working with from Rail Business Daily had everything in hand so even though we had to go through extra layers of checks due to Covid I had plenty of time to spend with the HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson MP to get the shots we needed and then listen to his keynote address and Q&A session. Here he is addressing a busy arena.

Most of the rest of my day was spent ping-ponging between to discussion areas, capturing shots of the speakers. Needless to say, I’ve racked up a few miles today! Disappointingly, and despite the fact it’s the first time any of these events have been held since 2019, the numbers attending were lower than we’ve seen for a few years. It’s clear that it’s going to take a while for events like this to bounce back from Covid. Even so, it was obvious from the conversations I had with various people that everyone’s so happy to be back to being able to meet with friends and colleagues face to face again. I certainly felt that as I toured the show and bumped into people I’ve not seen since the first lockdown and I know I wasn’t the only one. Today was very much about the keynote speakers and the seminars. Tomorrow should be more relaxed, enabling me to get a greater variety of pictures and play around with the camera. It’s not that some of the seminars weren’t really interesting, but there was a feeling expressed at some that the biggest stumbling block to progress with the railways is getting financial decisions to be made in the corridors of power. This very much came across in the discussion about decarbonisation where the sentiment was ‘right, we’re preaching to the converted here. We all know what the problems and pitfalls are, we also know what the benefits are, how do we get the Treasury to be part of the solution, not part of the problem’? Answers on a postcard, please…

As Covid restricted some of the more social activities at the end of the day I drifted away earlier than normal as my job was done. Heading back into Birmingham I caught the same Cross-Country train that I’d come down on. In the time I’d been at the fair the sets had time to complete their trip to Bournemouth and back! Birmingham was sunny, hot and sweaty so after a quick pint in the Shakespeare pub by the station I headed for my hotel which is just behind the O2 arena. I’ve no idea who’s playing but by the time I’d changed and ventured out to get something to eat the queue of young people waiting to get in was easily over a quarter of a mile long! I steered well clear as two words formed in my mind, ‘Covid Hotspot’…

Right now I’m back in the cool of my hotel room editing pictures from today and checking my kit ready for day 2. It’s an early night for me after an 04:45 start this morning but I’m intending to make the most of the day tomorrow and blog more about the event and another evening in Birmingham. Stay tuned, but for now – it’s goodnight from me…

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

6th September picture of the day…

06 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by in Musings, Our cat, Jet, Picture of the day

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Please excuse the lack of blogs these past few days but to be frank, we’ve had one of the shittiest weekends ever and writing was the last thing I had time for.

Late last week we found out that a dear friend who had cancer only had a few weeks (or days) left to live. With the pair of us having been away in Surrey it hadn’t been possible to arrange to see them for one last time and the previous time we’d tried they’d been too ill. So, as soon as we returned we arranged to visit Tony at 11:00 on Saturday morning. But then the fates conspired.

Regular readers will know that I’ve often blogged about the trials and tribulations of having a venerable moggie. Jet, our beautiful boy, had reached the grand old age of 20 last month. Despite his advancing years, his deafness and his lack of teeth, he was still soldiering on and a loveable and affectionate as ever.

Then, in the early hours of Saturday morning, around 04:00, suddenly, and without any warning, he had a fit. He was sleeping on the bed with us at the time and the first warning we had was when he shot up (waking Dawn) and peed on the bed. Leaping off the bed he then went into spasms on the carpet. It was awful to watch, especially as we were so powerless. All we could do was hold him to stop him doing himself any damage.

As soon as we could we rang the vets to get an appointment and take Jet to be checked out, meaning we couldn’t make our 11:00 appointment to see Tony, it was an awful choice, but we knew Tony was in safe hands whilst the only hands Jet was in were ours. After an anxious hour at the vets they suggested that the fit may have been down to blood pressure as that was the only thing tests showed as unusual. Somewhat reassured we returned home, stressed and tired and readied to visit Tony. First, we had to complete Lateral Flow Tests which the nursing home (not unreasonably) insisted on people taking before visiting. By now it was around 13:00. Then we received a phone call from a mutual friend. Tony had passed away at 11:15…

We felt both upset and awful because we’d missed our chance to say goodbye, but what else could we have done? Our friend reassured us that we’d done the right thing, but even so, we felt pretty low. Our only consolation was that we could concentrate on Jet’s wellbeing and monitor him throughout the day, hoping that the problem really was his blood pressure. The tablets didn’t stop him having another fit later that day which was just as awful to experience as the first. And yet – he seemed to make a pretty good recovery, or so we thought (or maybe hoped). The pair of us discussed what to do with the vets and the advice was to monitor his wellbeing, give the tablets time to (hopefully) work and keep them informed.

Saturday night was awful, neither of us had got much sleep, we were both feeling low as it was and then Jet had another fit in the early hours. As was the pattern, he lost control of his bladder as he threshed around yowling in an awful way. It was so distressing to watch. Once again we held him, looked after him and vowed that we couldn’t keep this up, both for his sake and ours. We’d decided that if the fits hadn’t passed by Monday, medication or not, the kindest thing to do was to have him put to sleep. It’s an awful decision to have to make, but we couldn’t bear to see him suffering like this. He came around enough that we took the risk to have him on the bed one last time. He was a gorgeous and affectionate as ever, if a little dozy.

Put slightly more at our ease, we both rose and set about things we needed to do, leaving the boy dozing on his heated mat where he stayed for a couple of hours. Then, we heard the awful yowl that heralded yet another fit. Rushing upstairs we found him rigid and panting on the bedroom floor. It was at that point we both looked at each other and agreed that we couldn’t put off the inevitable any more. It was heartbreaking, but we couldn’t watch him suffer anymore, the fits were becoming too frequent and too severe. Poor Jet never really recovered from the final fit, he was so spacy when we got him to the vets and they knew what we’d requested, it was time to let the boy go. Despite Covid, the vets were brilliant, they let us both be with him as we went through the inevitable. We held him and stoked him as the vets administered the injection that would see him finally at peace. To say the pair of us were in bits is an understatement. I know people who don’t have pets will probably find this hard to understand, but they really do become part of your family, especially ones who are so loving and affectionate as Jet – and who’ve been with you so long. Dawn has had him since he was a kitten. He’s been part of my life for 12 years. They have a massive impact on you. He was 20, so you know he won’t live forever. You think you’re prepared. The reality – when it arrives- is rather different. Coming home to an empty house afterwards is really hard. They’re not around to greet you anymore. They never will be again. The emotions you go through are so difficult. But, they’re just a pet, right?

So, that’s why I’ve not been blogging these past few days.

I’ll talk more about our friend Tony another time when I have more time. Right now I’ve got to finish packing as I’m away all week at a trade fair and then helping the Railway Children charity on their ‘3 Peaks by Rail’ event. Expect more blogs soon…

In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day, which (of course) is of our gorgeous boy. Farewell Jet…

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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, and vets bills), 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!

The Friends of Mytholmroyd station celebrate once more…

03 Friday Sep 2021

Posted by in Architecture, History, Mytholmroyd, Photography, Railways, West Yorkshire

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Yesterday it was my pleasure to attend yet another celebration at Mytholmroyd, where the station friends and guests were unveiling a plaque celebrating the restoration of the 1871 station building winning a Railway Heritage Trust conservation award in December 2019. Sadly, the Covid pandemic postponed any chance to celebrate the award or mount the plaque until this year. Ironically, the postponement meant that the plaque was unveiled this year, which is the 150th anniversary of the building’s construction. The present building replaced an original timber structure from when the line opened in 1847. Records show that the contract to construct the building was let by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in May 1870 to a “Mr Wilkinson, contractor of Mytholmroyd”. In June 1870 construction was suspended due to excavations causing part of the embankment under the Down line to subside. Work resumed at the end of September 1870 and the new building opened in December 1871*. You can find a full selection of pictures of the interior of the refurbished building in this blog. Here’s how the building looks from street level. Passengers on passing trains don’t appreciate the sheer size of the building as they only see the top floor.

Here’s a selection of pictures from yesterday’s unveiling.

The plaque revealed!
The participants from L-R. Craig Whittaker, MP for the Calder Valley. Geoff Mitchell (Friends of Mytholmroyd). Andy Savage, Railway Heritage Trust and RHA Judge. Sue Mitchell (Friends of Mytholmroyd). Chris Harris, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire. Bob Freeth, Mayor of Hebden Royd Council. Theo Steel, Railway Heritage Trust.
The plaque.

Work will soon begin to outfit the interior of the building ready to accept its first tenants. No doubt when that happens I’ll be bringing you more updates!

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!

*Thanks to Michael Allen of Mytholmroyd for providing me with the historical information on the station construction

2nd September picture of the day…

02 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by in London, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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Apologies for the lack of a blog of any kind yesterday. This was due to the fact my normal mode of transportation (rail) was swapped for travelling back from Surrey to Yorkshire by road and trying to blog in a car isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Oh, there’s also the small fact that my wife was doing the driving and Dawn (not unreasonably) would have been less than impressed if I spent the journey tapping away at my phone!

In truth, we didn’t depart Surrey until late afternoon but we were both busy with work and chores before we left so time was at a premium. The journey’s just shy of 250 miles and takes over 5 hours with one stop. We left at 16:00 and weren’t sure what to expect departing at that time but we actually had a really clear run, even though we take the route avoiding the M25 and skirt the West side of Oxford instead. We arrived home just before 21:30 and spent the rest of the evening unpacking and settling in back at home, so blogging was the last thing on my mind.

Today’s been different, but equally busy. I visited the Friends of Mytholmroyd station today for a rather special event which I’ll blog about tomorrow. Needless to say, a good time was had by all and it was great to see some old friends and faces again. I’ve a very busy week ahead of me next week so I’ll be having a full day in the office tomorrow in preparation – as well as getting all of this weeks pictures onto my Zenfolio website. Today’s picture of the day is one of them.

London’s rail network is fascinating. Lines crisscross the capital – and each other. Here’s one such place where two very different systems cross in the open. I took this shot at North Acton on Tuesday whilst I was out looking at various HS2 construction sites. The timing was just right and as a Central line tube train pulled out of the station and headed towards the city a London Overground Train passed overhead.

You can find many more pictures from my travels on the London Underground by clicking on this link. All the pictures from my exploration of the High Speed 2 construction sites are here.

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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!

Rolling blog. The Surrey commuter…

31 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by in Hs2, London, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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08:00

Today I become a Surrey commuter, taking the train into London for the day to visit a camera repairer and spend the day visiting various railway locations around my old home. Sadly, it’s a very grey start to the day ‘dahn sarf’ although the forecast for the capital looks more promising. As the extended bank-holiday weekend is over I’ll be interested to see how many people have returned to work and how busy the capital is without its usual summer overload of foreign tourists. Or are they starting to creep back? Whatever, it should be an interesting and enjoyable day. Keep popping back to see how it develops. Right now I’m packing my kit ready for a lift to the station. See you later…

08:45.

Dawn’s dropped me off at the station in time to catch my first train of the day, the 08:33 to Guildford. You used to have to change at Aldershot to get to Guildford, but nowadays there’s a direct service. Today it’s operated by 450007 a 4-car Siemens Desiro. The trains lightly loaded with just half a dozen in my car after leaving Aldershot. Not having any previous experience of the route at this time of day I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

The heavy grey clouds have now added drizzle to the entertainment outside my train window. My Scottish friends have a word for a day like this. Dreich.

09:30.

On arrival at Guildford I had just enough time to grab a couple of pictures before the next Waterloo service arrived. The 09:05 was worked by a pair of well loaded 5-car Class 444s. I maged to find a seat for the trip to Woking where I changed once more in order to catch a service stopping at Clapham junction. A minute late a brace of diesel powered Class 159s rolled in, so I joined the leading seat which contains a respectable number of passengers.

09:55.

I see the London Overground is back to normal already.

11:30.

My trip on the busy Overground took me to Shepherds Bush, one of the few areas of London I really don’t know very well as I never had much call to go here. That said, the area around the LOROL and Underground stations has undergone a massive redevelopment, so it’s hardly surprising I don’t recognise much! I was here to catch the Central Line out to one of its Western extremities. As an old East-ender I know the other side well, but I was shocked to see the state of the trains today. They’re filthy inside and out.

They’re kept free of litter but they really do need a deep clean and some TLC. My trip took me to the far end of the line at West Ruislip. I’d come here to get shots of the HS2 construction site which is next to the line and easily visible from the station overbridge, as you can aee from this picture. It’s rail connected so that when it’s fully operational material can leave/arrive by train.

Thankfully, by the time I arrived the miserable drizzle had lifted, allowing me to get the shots I wanted. Now I’m heading back into London to grab shots from a few more locations on the line.

15:00.

I’ve had a busy time. My next stop was to East Acton, where I wandered up to Wormwood Scrubs to see the work HS2 contractors are doing to divert some utilities. As usual, some local ‘greens’ are screaming blue murder about the “destruction” of the Scrubs. There’s even a squalid squatters, sorry “protest” camp on the site near the work that’s taking place. Needless to say, the reality of what’s happening is far more mundane. A trench is being dug from OldOak Common Lane N-E along the edge of the Common. The fencing is far wider than the trench itself! Here’s the compound on the main road. Not exactly ‘laying waste’, is it? I’ll do a different blog about the whole site another time.

Meanwhile, here’s what the rest of the Scrubs looks like. The trench works are to the left, at the end of this temporary access road. Looks very ‘destroyed’, doesn’t it?

Meanwhile, just the other side of the railway to Wormwood Scrubs is the site of the new Old Oak Common HS2 station where construction works recently started. The station will be built in a vast underground box. Here’s what it looks like today as work ramps up. This is going to be stopped by the handful of squatters on the Scrubs? Seriously?

Retracing my steps to White City it suddenly dawned on me when I last spent time around here and why – and they’re not fond memories. I used to come here regularly in 2004-05 because my sister was receiving treatment for breast cancer at the Hammersmith hospital. Having beaten the disease back in the early 1990s it returned again 10 years later. Two mastectomies and specialist treatment only slowed it down. Sometimes she’d come down from Southport to stay with us whilst she had the treatment, other times she’d come down for the day. As Ruth didn’t know London I’d be her guide and get her to the hospital by bus and tube. I was with her on her last visit when the Surgeon told her there was nothing more they could do, her condition was terminal and she needed to arrange a Hospice. She was devestated after fighting for so long. She had two young children and fought like a lioness to see them grow up. It was an awful experience trying to comfort her. What on earth can you say to someone in that situation? So, now I remember why I never visited Acton again afterwards.

17:30

Shrugging off those memories I doubled back to Clapham Junction and on to Vauxhall to deposite my poorly lens in the tender care of Fixation, a company I’ve been using since I turned professional. They’re exellent and always helped me in the past. Hopefully the damage isn’t too severe and can be repaired quickly. Having that mission over I made my way to Clapham Junction once more to get pictures of these old girls, which are living on borrowed time due to delays in getting their replacements working, drivers trained and the units in service. Until that happens, the old 1980s, BR built Class 455s will remain on the front line, forming the backbone of suburban services.

Here’s what will displace the Class 455s. One day. This was a new Bombardier Aventra in Clapham Junction yard this morning.

19:00

I’m now off the rails (as it were!) and back in Tilford getting ready for a meal out with Dawn and her Niece, Jessica. We’ll be eating in Farnham so I’ll be going off-grid for a couple of hours. When we get back I’ll finish off this blog with a few more pictures and impressions from the day.

22:00.

I’m back! We enjoyed a relaxed and really good meal at Cotes in Farnham. Jess had only recently returned from her first festival experience at Reading and loved it (well, apart from the toilets, obviously – a rite of passage for any first-time festival goer), now we’re back in Tilford and I have chance to bring this blog to and end with a few thoughts and a couple of pictures.

Thoughts? How busy the railways have become again in such a short time. Travelling on the London Overground today and you’d think Covid had never happened, but then the Overground sees few tourists, it a Londoners travel network. The Underground was quieter than it was pre-Covid, partly because of the lack of tourists, but also because not everyone’s returned to work. Even so, I believe the doomsayers have been proved wrong – and within a very short time.

Another thought – how massively construction of the new HS2 railway is ramping up. The construction sites are a hive of activity. I visited several today and passed many more. The levels of activity are through the roof now mobilisation is in full swing. I’m looking forward to visiting many more sites along HS2 Phase 1 over the next few months in order to get a fuller picture. All in all, it’s been a fascinating day. But tomorrow I really will be heading North again – albeit not for long. September is going to be a very interesting month…

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!

Well, that was a bummer…

30 Monday Aug 2021

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

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Today I’d expected to be making my merry way across the country by rail, leaving leafy Surrey to cross the capital and watch the world go by on the East Coast Main Line before arriving back at the Yorkshire tea plantations on the slopes of the Calder valley. Only things didn’t quite go to plan….

Last night I was editing some pictures, including a few I’d taken yesterday afternoon at Box Hill when I noticed something odd on the Surrey pics. On each shot the right hand side of the image was out of focus for about 25% of the frame. Odd, very odd. I’d only taken the camera body with just the 80-400mm lens attached to it so I immediately checked out my kit. That’s when I discovered that – somehow – the long lens body had become skewed on the ring that attached it to the camera body. To say my language became colourful (even profane) would be an understatement! If God existed there’d have been a lightning strike in Tilford last night!

At the beginning of September I’ve two jobs lasting several days running back to back, so I really need that lens – or a replacement for it. This left me with one choice. Stay another night in Surrey and head into London tomorrow to the camera servicing centre I’ve been using for the past 20 years. My big concern was what to do with our old moggie, Jet, who’s at home and been looked after by neighbours, plus Dawn’s mum and dad. Fortunately, they’ve rallied round and John and Norah have taken Jet on another holiday to their house in Huddersfield. He’s such an old boy we don’t want to leave him on his own too long, so this was the best solution. Now I’m free to extend my Surrey sojourn and come back with Dawn on Wednesday rather then her having to drive all the way solo. I also get to have the lens looked at and do some photographic projects around London and Surrey – albeit without a long lens, but that’ll force me to look at things in a different way – which isn’t always a bad thing…

This means my final blog of August will be filled with fun and games in London as I’ll have more time to visit locations I’d got in mind.

Although this blog hasn’t been billed as a picture of the day I’ll still include one – just to add a splash of colour to my scribbling. Here’s another of my recent slide scans from my Indian archives. I took this picture in Arambol, Goa, India in December 1993.

Every evening before sunset, after most of the Westerners had adjourned to the beachside bars and restaurant in this little fishing village to enjoy a sunset beer they’d be replaced by local children who’d arrive to play games, splash in the waves or just lark about. Often young lads like this would find whatever they could to use as a bat and stumps to enjoy a game of cricket. Sometimes you’d get bemused European boys like this one wondering just what was this strange game they were playing. It was always fun to watch. It’s odd to think that these young boys will now be men and it could well be their sons playing these same games on the beach in Arambol.

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!

29th August picture(s) of the day…

29 Sunday Aug 2021

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

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My Surrey sojourn’s been an enjoyable couple of days. On Saturday the pair of us enjoyed a trip into Guildford for a spot of shopping, both window and real. The sheer number of independent retailers is far greater in the South than some northern cities, especially when it comes to clothing. That said, the bargains I picked up (some shirts) were from a national outlet. In the evening we adjorned to a pub in Frensham, near to where we’re based in Tilford. The Holly Bush is a roomy place with a large covered seating area outside, plus a big beer garden. The food menu isn’t extensive, but what they do supply is very good. On a recommendation we shared the fish platter. Huge King prawns, excellent squid rings and a delicious Mackerel pate came with bowls of Olives and sun-dried tomatoes plus crisp pitta bread and a sweet chilli dip. Feeling ambitious we also ordered one of our favourites (soft shell crab) which was on the small plate menu and served with mango. So, here’s today’s bonus picture – the Fish platter (which was more than enough for two people)…

Today we went to somewhere Dawn’s never been to before and that I’ve not visited for years, Box Hill in the Surrey Hills AONB. Needless to say (being a bank holiday) it was very busy with families making a day of it and enjoying the views and walks, or just getting together in groups to have picnics or barbecues. The atmosphere was lovely. As we’d taken Tilly, my brother-in-Law’s Cairn Terrier with us, we made lots of friends! Now, back at home we’re having a relaxed evening as tomorrow it will be time for me to return North again – which should be fun as it’s Bank Holiday Monday. No doubt a rolling blog will appear…

In the meantime, here the real picture of the day which is taken from the last batch of old slides I’ve been scanning. I took this shot at the flea market in Anjuna, Goa, India in December 1993. It’s a shot of one of the Tribal Women from Karnataka state who sell the most amazing embroidered, bejewelled and mirrored clothing. Their personal jewellery can be quite something too. In this case it was the woman’s colourful sari which really added to the scene.

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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!

All quiet on the HS2 front. Protests have collapsed…

28 Saturday Aug 2021

Posted by in Hs2, HS2Rebellion, Politics, Protest, Railways

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What a difference a year makes! The summer of 2020 was full of stories of the rag-bag of Anarchists, professional-protesters, Extinction Rebellion supporters and a few local Nimbys who’d rallied to the “HS2Rebellion” banner. So-called ‘protection’ camps were set up in or by woodland and battles ensued with HS2 Ltd staff and security as the protesters boasted of how they were going to stop HS2 ‘in its tracks’. They made grandiose claims about the levels of support they had, none of which ever materialised as most were ‘keyboard warriors’ who’d send ‘love and rage’ (one of their favourite slogans) over the internet as they watched yet another interminable livestream from the protests.

Move on a year and the picture’s very different. Having suffered failure after failure, a series of camp evictions and arrests of most of the hard-core of the protesters, their campaign’s collapsed. Now the surviving ‘protection camps’ are little more than squats, where people are holed-up but doing nothing of any consequence to affect work on HS2, much less stop it. Right now, many of the handful of folk from the remaining camps are pratting around with Extinction Rebellion in Central London, which means they’re nowhere near HS2! Here’s a look at the supposed camp network, taken from HS2Rebellion’s website today. I’ve marked the true situation with the camps on each one.

As you can see, the ‘high profile’ camps like Euston, Harvil Rd and Crackley were cleared some time ago. The only one remaining in London’s the squat at Wormwood Scrubs. This scruffy encampment partly burned down a couple of days ago, prompting the local Council to finally lose patience with the few squatters remaining (who’ve never stopped any HS2 work at the site) and serve them with a 24-hour eviction notice yesterday! The irony? No-one was at the camp at the time as the handful of occupants weren’t trying to stop HS2, they were too busy pratting around with their chums from XR in Central London.

The mess in Euston Gardens back in October 2020 before the protesters started erecting bigger structures to cover their abortive tunneling efforts.

The Wendover camp on the A413 hangs on for now. It too has been served with eviction papers and will be cleared anytime soon. Whether the occupants try and ‘put up a fight’ or go meekly is open to question but the final result isn’t. They’ve been a small thorn in the side of the project (and annoyance to the local population, who got fed up of the thefts and begging) so no-one will be sad to see them go.

Jones’ Hill woods was the last ‘hurrah’ of their campaign. Activists like the serially failed Mark Keir bluffed, blustered and lied about how they were stopping HS2 through strength of numbers and court cases, but Keir’s always written metaphorical cheques he couldn’t cash. The court cases failed and the few protesters on the ground never stood any serious hope of stopping work. Now the woods are deserted as the work HS2 needed to do felling some trees is almost complete. Like most of the original Harvil Rd protesters Keir himself has disappeared, despite having a court case against him from earlier protests dismissed.

The ‘New Poors Piece’ camp is also deserted. It was always an odd one as it’s not on the route of HS2 but on the edge of the E-W Rail line, it’s just that HS2 Ltd are carrying out the work their on behalf of the EW project. So, in fact, the protesters were protesting about the very thing they claimed to support – new E-W railways! Hypocritical, much? The camp was only set up because the land was owned by a sympathetic farmer! Like many of their other locations, the protesters have left the woods in a mess. Abandoned towers choke the trees and the place looks more like a dump than a woods. The hypocrisy of these faux ‘environmentalists was always weapons-grade.

Looking more like a ‘scrapheap challenge’ than an eco-camp, these are the structures the protesters have abandoned in Poors Piece woods – which wasn’t even on the route of HS2!

Lazily, HS2Rebellion show ‘Camp Isla’ as active. Situated on private land, the owners had the camp evicted in May! They went without a struggle and most have now disappeared.

The last on the list is Bluebell Woods, which is located in HS2 phase 2a to Crewe. As usual, the protesters have spent all their time building structures out of pallets and other tat. Not that they’ve got much else to do other than get splinters in their backsides – the main HS2 Civils work isn’t due to start in this area until 2024!

Threats of other camps on Phase 2a remain just that, threats. Mainly because there’s so few of the original activists left. Most have drifted off to other causes or gone back into mainstream education or society. Of course, there’s still many court cases pending which will cramp the ‘style’ of the remaining ‘hard core’ of protesters (most of whom are linked to Extinction Rebellion) but they’re powerless to do anything. Plus, the money tap’s been turned off. People who used to donate to keep the camps alive have finally got fed up of seeing their money wasted. Now, you mostly see ‘activists’ begging for personal funding via Crowdfunders or other means (so that you can’t see how much is actually donated). Here’s good illustration of what I’m talking about. Here’s ‘peaceful’ protester Ross Monaghan throwing in the towel and begging for money at the same time.

Ironically, Ross, who was convicted of two charges of assault and four charges of criminal damage last month was hilariously boasting about putting the ‘final nail’ in HS2’s coffin earlier in the month (whilst begging for money). Now it seems the nail that was driven was into his protest career! Some ‘building’ campaign…

Here’s an example of how the money’s started to dry up. This is a funding page for the soon to be evicted (and laughably named) ‘active’ resistance camp at Wendover. It never got near its target and there’s been one donation of just £5 in a month. Social media is littered with pages like this.

Now the bird-nesting season’s coming to an end and the few remaining trees that HS2 need to remove on Phase 1 will be felled. With no-one around to stop the work it won’t take long. A few locals might still film the work to ‘bare-witness’ as the protesters like to call it, but all their bluster about all the ‘wildlife crimes’ HS2 has allegedly committed hasn’t resulted in a single prosecution – never mind a conviction. It’s funny, despite the amount of camera-phone footage filmed by the protesters they never ever managed to catch any evidence for any of their claims that would actually stand up in court. I suspect all these grandiose but baseless claims are one of the reasons support has dropped away.

I’m sure the posturing around the protests will drag on for a while yet, but already Hs2rebellion seem to be losing interest. With nothing to report, their ‘news’ letter has gone fortnightly. Even then, it’s pretty thin gruel. Like Hs2aa and Stophs2 before them they’re reduced to being a recycling service, punting any critical article about HS2 they can to try and keep flagging interest going.

Stop Hs2 is dead.

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!

Rolling blog. Surrey beckons…

27 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by in Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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11:00.

I’m on the move once more, this time heading for a break in Surrey, where Dawn’s been for the past few days, house-sitting for her brother whilst he takes a much-needed holiday in Greece. Right now I’m on a Northern service from Leeds that should have been going to Chester, but for reasons unexplained it’s terminating in Manchester – which is fine for me. Like many services I’ve been on recently, the train’s busy with people of all ages having a day out. We’ve had walkers heading for the Pennines, families heading for the sights and young people off shopping. The days of empty trains are well behind us. Most passengers are still wearing masks, which is reassuring, especially as Covid cases are very much on the rise at the moment. It’s almost as if some people have forgotten that and think it’s gone away. I’ll be blogging throughout the day as my journey unfolds, feel free to pop back later to see how I get on…

12:00

Walking across Manchester from Victoria to Piccadilly was an eye-opener in more ways than one. The city centre was packed! I’ve not seen such crowds since before lockdown. Two things struck me, one was that there’s an awful lot of young people with backpacks about, presumably because the August bank holiday weekend’s well known as the festival season and these events have reopened again. The other thing that stuck me was young women’s fashions, which have changed a lot during the pandemic. The word ‘skimpy’ springs to mind. Maybe it’s a reaction to being locked down and cooped up for so long? On arrival at Piccadilly I didn’t hang around at the numbers of passengers milling around gave me the impression the London train would be busy. True enough, platform 8 already contained dozens of people waiting for the incoming Pendolino that would form the 11:55 service, which I’m sat on now.

Manchester Piccadilly this morning.

13:25.

We passed through one of my old haunts (Rugby) a few minutes ago. I once spent Xmas and Boxing day working trackside here for Network Rail during the ill-fated Rugby upgrade, part of the West Coast Route Modernisation. It didn’t go well. In those days the ‘Sentinel’ scheme which monitored people’s PTS (Personal Track Safety) competencies wasn’t too sophisticated. A lot of the Overhead Line Engineers were subcontractors and many simply never turned up as they’d been offered better money to work elsewhere. Ironically, one of the pictures I took that Christmas is still being used by the media on a regular basis. Those in the know can tell the pictures age as full PPE (including high-vis trousers) wasn’t mandatory.

13:55.

We’re now South of Watford on the way in to Euston so I’m going to shut-down the laptop and blog from the phone…

15:45.

That was an interesting interlude in London. Whilst I was there I checked out progress on building High Speed 2 around Euston. Every time I visit the area’s changed due to more old buildings having vanished or streets moved. Today was no exception. Now the West side of Euston station’s disappeared, including the old signalbox. I took time to get some shots of the work pinning the Western retaining wall which is having rows of ground anchors added to it. You can see it as your train arrives (look to the right). Wandering on through Somers Town to St Pancras I caught a busy Thameslink service to London Bridge, then an equally busy Southeastern service to Waterloo.

Passengers throng the platforms at St Pancras Thameslink station this afternoon.

I’m now on a packed 10 car Southwestern train to Woking. Even I’m surprised at how quickly passenger numbers are bouncing back.

I caught this Poole train as far as Woking where I changed for an Alton service which was less busy but had far more passengers than when I was here in July. The stations have recovered from their slumbers too as shops and cafes have reopened. Here’s how Waterloo station looked this afternoon.

I’ll be very interested to see how the railways look over the holiday as I’ll be heading back North on Bank holiday Monday, which could prove interesting.

22:15

Time to bring this blog to a close. I’m now safely ensconced in Surrey after a busy but enjoyable day. Dawn picked me up from Farnham station and the pair of us have had a lovely evening catching up whilst taking my Brother-in-Law’s dog for a walk along some of the footpaths surrounding Tilford before having night chilling at home in front of the TV – which is why this blog went dormant. I had a night off!

26th August picture of the day…

26 Thursday Aug 2021

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

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It’s another short blog from me tonight as I’ve been busy sorting out work and the fact that tomorrow I head back down South for the Bank Holiday. This means that you’ll be treated to a rolling blog as I make my way from Halifax to Farnham via who knows where as I have some work shots in mind…

Today’s not been a bad one, although I could’ve done without the news that Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has passed away – even if 80’s a bloody good age for someone in his profession! I saw the Stones live at Wembley Stadium in 1990 and they were superb. It’s a sobering thought that all my teenage idols are now pensioners, but then – so am I. Where the hell did the years go? It’s a question I’ll explore in another blog when I have the time and inclination…

Meanwhile, here’s the picture of the day. I’ve scanned a few more old travel slides today and this was one of them. I took this picture of the main beach in Arambol, Goa, India on the 31st January 2000,

I first found this place in 1985 and for many years it became my ‘happy place’. But time and events move on. I’ve not been back since 2003 and although I’m tempted as I still have friends there I’m not sure I want to spoil those fabulous and special memories. Besides, there’s so many places that I haven’t been to yet that I’d love to explore…

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!