Lockdown-ish. Day 79 (Wednesday).

11 Thursday Jun 2020

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Today’s not been a vintage day weather wise. Far from it in fact – it’s probably the wettest and greyest of the series so far but I really shouldn’t complain as we need the rain and we’ve had a glorious year during the lockdown months. That said, it’s just not the same when you open the bedroom blinds to find half the valley hidden in the murk. Even the birds seemed subdued by it as the dawn chorus was decidedly muted this morning.

Despite the pair of us began the day in good order at a reasonable hour but skipped the morning meditation due to getting stuck into work almost straight away. Dawn was having a rest day from her training and it’s normally after that we join up for that special bit of quality time and serenity that helps us both relax and take our minds off the outside world.

Once I’d retreated to the office my day passed quickly. I had the tail end of the slides I’d discovered the other day to sort out which was satisfying as it was yet another job that I could tick off the list. If lockdown has been good for anything (apart from saving money by not going to the pub!) it’s that after nearly 30 years I’ve now got so many old pictures scanned and available to a worldwide audience, rather than being stuck in albums in a loft. I see this archive as a legacy. Sadly, so many fantastic archives taken by photographers of all interests (but especially rail enthusiasts) end up in the bin after their deaths, having never seen the light of day – despite their potential as an invaluable historical record – because no-one appreciates what it was they had.

As well as reliving the past I did keep my focus on the present by dodging the interminable showers to get my daily exercise and to venture up to the supermarket to stock up on a few necessities. The place was as quiet as a grave when I got there. I suspect a combination of more people returning to work – coupled with the poor weather – had kept people away. It was great for me as a breezed through the place, found everything I wanted, got home at a sensible time – and stayed dry.

As we’d a full freezer of home-made delicacies neither of us had to cook, which gave us more time to relax. Although I do miss the enjoyment of cooking from scratch there’ll be plenty of time at the weekend to indulge. Instead, the pair of us retired early to finish watching the end of the ‘Marigold Hotel’ series on BBC iPlayer. There was only one problem. It’s given me itchy feet – just when I can’t scratch them!

By pure co-incidence, talk of India brings me rather neatly onto…

Picture of the day.

I’d plucked this one from the archive by random and scanned it several days ago before we started watching the TV programme about, but it fits very nicely. This is the old India Offices at the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices in Whitehall, London.

T15430. Inside the old India offices at the Foreign and Commonwealth office. Whitehall. London. 30.04.2003crop

The picture was taken on the 30th April 2003. Lynn and I were there attending a charity event, although for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. I suspect it was to do with Actionaid, whom Lynn was working for at the time. It’s an amazing building and a reflection of how India was seen as the Jewel in the British Empire’s Crown. It’s just as grand inside, but I couldn’t get any pictures.

 

 

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Lockdown-ish. Day 78 (Tuesday).

10 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Lockdown, Malaysia, Photography, Travel

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Today’s been another day for tying up loose ends and streamlining the office – and my archive. The only problem with having pictures in different formats taken over 30 years is that no matter how organised you think you are – something will always turn up out of the blue – which is what I found when I started clearing shelves yesterday.

The process continued today, but only after a coffee kickstart and a meditation session with Dawn which got us both in the right frame of mind to face the day. The weather remained dull and wet, so neither of us minded continuing in lockdown. Like everyone else, we’re hearing all sort of rumours on what the Government may (or may not) do next when it comes to relaxing the restrictions, but no-one knows for sure – and I suspect that includes most of the Government. This shambles seems to be led by one man (Cummings) and his mouthpiece (Johnson). The rest of the lacklustre bunch in the Cabinet just do as they’re told.

Despite the Governments handling of the situation – and there’s going to be volumes written about that – both now and in the future – I’m cautiously optimistic. The reason for that is our weekly Platt family chats on Zoom. Dawns brother works at a senior level for a major international pharmaceutical company who obviously have access to a lot of data on Covid from around the world. I won’t go into detail other than to say that the medical profession now understand vastly more about the virus which appears to be changing again in a way that appears to lessen the treat and also the mortality rates. Time will tell, although none of this will be of any consolation to those who’ve already lost loved ones…

Back at the grindstone I managed to scan lots of loose slides, discover pictures I didn’t know I’d got – and clear a lot of space in the office ready for other projects. So not a bad day at all. The only downside to all this activity is I now have several large bags of broken slide mounts and yards of film, plus hundreds of old DVDs, ready to go to the tip. It seems a terrible waste in some ways but it’s a good advert for how ‘green’ digital photography is when coupled with access to massive but (inexpensive) hard drives or ‘cloud’ based storage. For photographers, digital truly was revolutionary. Here’s a sample of the last of the Hungarian slides I’ve scanned.

TD0279s. Budapest. Hungary. 01.10.2004crop

Looking across the River Danube and the city from atop Buda Castle. 1st October 2004. 

As usual, I broke up my day with exercise, although I’m really missing the sunshine and ability to sit in the garden. On the bright side, my perambulations are taking me through woodlands and across parks that are noticeably greener – especially the parks, where the grass was brown and in danger of dying off. So, really I shouldn’t complain too much. I wonder how the reservoirs are doing? I’ve heard (but not seen for myself) that they’re getting very low, which doesn’t bode well now folk are being told to wash their hands at almost every opportunity…

Although we’d both had a busy day I told Dawn that I’d knock off early so that we could have a ‘date night’. It’s sometimes all too easy to neglect each other when you work from home. You just keep plodding on and before you know it the evening’s gone. I know it’s something I’m guilty of rather too often so today I said I’d shut down the office at 17:30 and walk just away.

Due to the present circumstances, our date night didn’t involve a meal at a restaurant, a night at the cinema, or any other event that meant going out. Instead, the two of us had a night in playing Scrabble! But it didn’t involve computers and the only time phones were used was to check on the validity of words – so it was a lovely evening enjoying ‘quality time’ regardless of the outside world. Same time next week perhaps?

Ok, now it’s time for…

Picture of the day.

This shot is one of the hundreds I had placed with the old Lonely Planet picture library and that’s been waiting to be scanned and added to my Zenfolio website. It was taken in the vast indoor market in Kota Baru, on Malaysia’s East Coast in June 1998. The market has a balcony which runs round the inside of the roof, allowing you to look down at all the activity on the ground. I spotted these two old women sitting and having a smoke whilst it was quiet and knew it would make a good photo. I love Asian markets like this, they’re such fascinating and colourful places.

T7306. Two old women on a stall. Indoor market. Kota Baru. Malaysia. June. 1998crop

 

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Lockdown-ish. Day 77 (Monday).

10 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, I love my job, Lockdown, Photography, Photojournalism, Railways

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Today was another of those days when, despite your best intentions to crack on with a list of things, you get side-tracked into doing something completely different. Not unproductive – and actually quite satisfying – but definitely not on this weeks list!

As befits the start of the working week we were up and at ’em early. Dawn had set the alarm for 06:00 so that she could do her training before work so I was up at the same time. Sadly, the weather was still cold and cloudy, otherwise I’d have been tempted by an early walk. Instead, I caught up with some of life’s more mundane activities – household chores – before settling down to work. My plan had been to catch up with some writing and research, but I wanted to tidy the office a bit first to give me some more space. That was my downfall! I made the mistake of rifling through some shelves to sort out stacks of slides I’d got in loose folders, so of course – I had to take a look, didn’t I? Within minutes I was being transported back 20 odd years and discovering all sorts of stuff – some of which hadn’t seen the light of day since it was taken! There was also folders full of returns from a couple of pictures libraries – a large chunk of which was no longer relevant or needed, so I ended up sorting through them. Did time fly…

Having learned to be rather ruthless nowadays I ditched hundreds of old slides then started sorting through old plastic wallets – only to discover sheets of unmounted slides that had barely been touched since they were taken in 2004. They were taken on a press trip as a commission for the Sunday Times magazine, who sent me off for a 4 day stint on the Royal Hungarian express luxury train. I’d swapped over from film to digital earlier that year but I still had a stock of unused slide film so I took my Nikon F5 and several rolls as a back-up, some of which I shot. I’d used a couple of images, but the rest lay unused and unseen – until now…

You can find the Royal Hungarian Express gallery on my website by following this link. It was a fabulous few days, being paid to enjoy a luxurious trip with other members of the press and some fare-paying passengers. It also led to a lasting friendship as it was on this trip that I first met the Journalist and Author Michael Williams, who was still Deputy Editor of the Independent on Sunday in those days and we’ve been friends ever since. The trips were run by Great Rail Journeys which in those days was still owned by the man who’d set the company up – Howard Trinder. When Howard found that Michael and I had a wider interest in railways he arranged a private side trip for the three of us to one of the narrow gauge lines that still hung on to life. Great fun and happy days!

I’d promised not to do any more scanning for a while but I couldn’t resist getting these few dozen done as it allowed me to throw more junk away and streamline the archive. I didn’t stay glued to my desk as I still took regular exercise breaks, even if it was just for repeated strolls through the woods and back. It made for pleasant interludes from staring at screens or peering through a loupe at slides. As a taster, here’s one of the pictures that’s newly scanned and added to the Hungary gallery.

FDG1323s. 424 247. Keszthely. Hungary. 1.10. 2004copy

Hungarian Railway 4-8-0 No 424 247 on the front of out luxury train at Keszthely on day 1 of our trip. We had a variety of motive power during the days, including a vintage ‘Nohab’ diesel loco. 424 247 is one of only three of the 514 strong 424 Class that is still in working order. 

Needless to say, this trip down memory lane kept me busy all day, but what the hell – it was enjoyable looking back at some of the fun I’ve had in this job. There’s other slides that I’ll sort out over the next few days so that collection’s done. There was something else that I found at the beginning of the first roll of Hungarian shots. It was from a very different PR event, and one of them will form todays…

Picture of the Day

On the 20th September 2004 I’d been commissioned by Virgin trains as their official photographer to take pictures of the official launch of their new Pendolino services out of Euston branded the ‘Red Revolution. It was a big PR event that was attended by both Sir Richard Branson and the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair. As you can imagine, security was tight and it was quite nerve-wracking as I’d only turned professional 4 years before. The Virgin Press team were excellent and gave me a full brief on what to expect as there was a surprise planned that involved the TV News Presenter (Nicholas Owen) surprising Virgin Trains MD Chris Green with a spoof ‘This is your life’ whilst The Prime Minister and Richard Branson looked on. Nick and I knew each other through my late wife as he volunteered for one of the charities she worked for, so that made it less stressful. The only thing we both worried about was that Blair didn’t know what was going to happen! Nick joked ‘I just hope I don’t get shot when I do this!” As it was, everything went off without a hitch and Blair (and his security detail) took it in their stride. So, here’s the picture…

FVT02035. Green. Owen and Blair. Red revolution. Euston. 20.09.2004.crop

L-R Chris Green, Richard Branson, Nick Owen and Tony Blair.

Thinking about it, i’ve shot ever Prime Minister since Tony Blair (sometimes at private events too) bar one – Teresa May, whom I missed. Not a bad record. Oh, some of the stories I could tell…

 

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Lockdown-ish. Day 76 (Sunday)

09 Tuesday Jun 2020

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Where did the day go? When you were younger Sunday’s seemed to drag for one of several reasons (depending on your age). Either because the shops weren’t open, the pubs were closed, or there was nothing on the TV. Admittedly, none of those are a problem any more. Oh, wait the shops and pubs ARE closed! And, despite the fact we have TV channels coming out of our ears, it’s still sometime difficult to find anything worth watching. But I digress…

My point was going to be that – despite all these things – today seemed to fly. Admittedly, we did have a leisurely morning but started motoring in the afternoon with me doing a few chores and cleaning up the office whilst Dawn had another stint in the kitchen cooking more home-made Lasagne for us and extra for the freezer. This was in addition to the industrial quantities of home-made Thai Green curry Dee prepared yesterday.

thumbnail_20200608_192054

Little and Large! Two gorgeous home-made Lasagne made with a sauce of Dawns own recipe plus vegetarian cheese. 

All this activity meant that we had a productive day but we were keen to take a break at the end. For a change, rather than treading our well-worn path up to Savile Park we elected to stroll down to Copley and walk into Sowerby Bridge via the canal for the first time since Lockdown began. We’ve been avoiding the canal in that direction to follow the advice on social distancing from the Canal and River Trust. Some parts of the towpath are very narrow, and people constantly parading past boats people are living on can make their life uncomfortable. As it was later in the day we knew the canal would be quieter, so we explored. We both enjoy the serenity of the canal and because of Covid there’s hardly any movement of boats, so it’s even quieter.

We passed a few other walkers en-route and a couple of cyclists on our way into  Sowerby Bridge but the town itself was pretty much deserted as by then the supermarkets were closed. Unless you’re picking up a take-away from one of the handful of places still open there’s just no reason to be there. We didn’t hang around and tackled the climb back up the valley side almost immediately. Sadly, the weather wasn’t warm or sunny enough to sit outside when we returned so we were soon cocooned by the cottage and enjoyed a quiet, but early night by retreating to bed to watch TV and a program Dawn had found on the BBC’s iplayer. It’s called  ‘The real Marigold hotel’ and it follows a group of pensionable age celebrities who’re experiencing India as a possible place to retire. I’m not normally one for ‘reality TV’ but this is much kinder and gentler than many. No-one’s competing or bitching about each other and it’s a mixed cast that includes the legendary cricket commentator ‘Blowers’, Britt Ekland and musician Barbera Dixon, amongst others. The early parts are set in places familiar to me – Pondicherry, Chennai and Madurai in Tamil Nadu. It was a gentle way to end the weekend. And now, it’s…

Picture of the day.

Today’s picture comes from a place that’s not a million miles away from Tamil Nadu. Sri Lanka. This is sleepy old Galle town on the country’s West coast, and a place I’m sure ‘Blowers’ is familiar with as it’s where international cricket matches are held.

T15095. Bhuddist temple and Christian Church. Galle. Sri Lanka. 13.01. 2002.

The pictures shows Galle old town, which is a fascinating mixture of buildings, cultures and religions. In the foreground you can see a circular Buddhist stupa whilst in the background is the tower of a Christian church. I first game here on my own, travelling solo in 1992. This picture was taken when Lynn and I visited on the 13th January 2002. We spent several weeks exploring the hill country and beaches. We returned again for Christmas and New Year 2003 as we would normally visit Asia at that time of the festive and holiday period. But, for once, we didn’t go back in 2004 as we’d done a lot of travelling that year and had only just returned from Singapore and Hong Kong in  November. So, purely by chance, we missed the devastating Tsunami that struck on Boxing Day 2004. Galle was very badly hit, as were many of the beaches we’d visited the previous two years. There but for the grace of God…

 

 

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Lockdown-ish. Day 75 (Saturday)

07 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Down memory lane, Lockdown, Photography, Railways

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Our routine changed today as we we’d another Red Cross run booked for Dawn’s parents by picking up various items of food shopping for them. So, once we’d got our acts together, swigged some coffee and had breakfast, we drove over to Huddersfield. The roads were busy, but we couldn’t work out where folk must be going as pretty much everything is still shut! Our first port of call was the Marks and Spencer’s food hall at Waterloo, out to the East of the town centre. Huddersfield lost its town centre M&S store last year when the whole shebang closed down – including the popular food hall. Now it’s quite a schlep to drive out to the surviving one as it’s 2.5 miles from the centre.

Still, we found out where a lot of vehicles had gone – the car park of the shopping estate was rammed! There was no point in the both of us going in so Dawn did the shopping whilst I caught up with some emails via my phone whilst staying with the car. Dee was back surprisingly quickly. Last time we’d been here the queue was extensive, but now people seem to have spread their timings out.

Our next port of call was the railway station and the Water Tower offices of Community Rail Network – just so Dee could check it was OK. The station area was still eerily deserted. No football crowds, not Rail Ale Trailers – nothing. It takes some getting used to. This is not how Saturday in Huddersfield should be!

Moving on we headed up to the farm shop at Bolster Moor, which nestles in the hills above Slaithwaite (or ‘Slawit’, depending on your pronunciation peccadillos). The quality of their produce is excellent and their pork pies are legendary, so we couldn’t resist buying a couple. They’re succulent, subtly spiced and with a gorgeous pastry casing. Neither of us are big red meat eaters (we can go weeks without) so a Bolster Moor pork pie’s a rare treat.  Dawn shopped for her parents and I shopped for us, so between us we left laden with edible goodies. There’s so many things you can’t do at the moment because of Covid, so appreciating good food becomes more important.

After we’d dropped off John and Norah’s shopping we headed home. The weather was on the turn again with dark, gloomy skies threatening yet more rain, so there was no incentive to hand around or take any detours. Once back at Chez Bigland we both got busy. Dee took over the kitchen whilst I retreated to my office to finally finish scanning yet another album of old railway slides. This seems like it’s taking a lifetime, but I am seeing the end in sight soon. There’s only a couple of railway albums to go now and I’ve been busy editing down the travel albums so I can see the scale of the next task ahead – which makes it feel less daunting.

Work and cooking done, we did manage to get out for a stroll and get our steps in too – which felt like an achievement. With it being late in the day the weather had picked up. It was still a lot cooler than it has been but the skies cleared enough to allow for a lovely still evening with some late sunshine. So much so that when we got back I sat on the front wall for a while and just took in the peacefulness of it all, which was only interrupted by birdsong.

Ok, it’s picture time now. I’m going to be busy with writing projects for the next few days which means there won’t be the same flow of old pictures being scanned as there has been recently. So here’s one of the last batch of rail slides for your delectation – plus a new feature…

07451. 47709. Regency railtour Ex-Newcastle. ECS to Bounds Green London Kings Cross. 16.12.1999crop

On the 16th December 1999 a Regency Railtour from Newcastle to London stands at the buffer stops at Kings Cross station. The locomotive is Fragonset Railways Class 47709. Fragonset had a chequered history from their formation in 1997. In 2005 they merged with Merlin Rail to become FM rail but they went bust the following year. 47709 was bought by Direct Rail Services (DRS) in 2007 and lasted in service for several more years before finally being scrapped at Eastleigh in September 2012. Now for my new feature.

Picture of the Day

From now on I’m going to add a random shot from my archive to each day’s blog. The picture could be from any category on my Zenfolio website but each one will be newly scanned from my slide archive. It could be of railways, travel (from anywhere in the world), social issues, personal or flora and fauna – there’s still 1000s to chose from. Each one will have a little story attached. Here’s No 1.

T9210. The Windmill. Cley next the Sea. Norfolk. England. 29.08.1999. crop

This is the old windmill at Cley next the sea in Norfolk, taken on the 29th August 1999. Lynn and I often used to go cycle touring and the North Norfolk coast was in easy reach of London by train to places like Kings Lynn, where we’d then hop on our bikes and explore. Norfolk may have a reputation for being flat, but I can assure you North Norfolk is anything but. We also joked that this place should have been named ‘Cley nowhere near the bloody sea!’. I’ve some very fond memories of this part of the world and you’ll see more pictures in the future.

A grade 2 listed building, built in the 18th century, the windmill is now a hotel – although its closed because of Covid right now. Here’s their website for future reference. At one time the mill was owned by Colonel Charles Blount. You probably haven’t heard of him, but you will have heard of (and from) his son. He’s the singer, James Blount.

 

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Lockdown-ish. Day 74 (Friday)

06 Saturday Jun 2020

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The end of another working week, although that doesn’t really mean much nowadays, especially in my line of work. It’s a very long time since my week was Monday – Friday, 9 to 5. September 1997 to be precise…

The weather here in the Calder Valley has turned stormy. The temperature has really dropped but the wind has gained in strength, gusting across the valley, leaving me in fear for my garden where the Lupins are looking lovely but exposed. It’s quite entertaining in one way – watching the wind battering the trees and bushes I can see from my back office. The Blue and Coal tits are still managing to land on the bird feeder outside the window, but some of the bigger birds are starting to struggle as the gusts catch them.

Today’s not been the best of days. Emotions and feelings can be a bit of a roller-coaster during lockdown (or what approximates it now) and that’s how I felt today. Sometimes it’s hard to remain optimistic in the face of everything that’s happening and the feeling that – politically – we are going through extraordinary times. America is in flames due to riots over the latest death of a black American at the hands of the police and the ‘President’ is both utterly useless  – and fanning the flames.  Meanwhile, we have our own Clown in charge. How on earth did it come to this? Still, Johnson’s ‘proud’ of the fact we’ve the highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe so who are we to question his judgement (when he actually turns up for work).

I suppose I’m feeling a little put out as today a group of us should have been flying to Berlin. After we had such a great time in Belgium the ‘6 from the 6’ had booked a few days in the German capital. It’s a city I really enjoy (especially the old East) so I was really looking forward to it. In fact, I would have been back again a few months later for the bi-annual ‘Innotrans’ rail fair but that’s been postponed until 2021. As things stand at the moment I’m not sure I’m going to make it out of the ‘septic isle’ before the end of the year – or whilst we still remain part of the EU. Oh, yes – remember Brexit? That’s still unresolved…

So, instead of enjoying Berlin with friends, I’m kicking my heels at home, staying safe and wading through more old slide scans. Ho hum…On the bright side. I’m nearing the end of phase 1 of that project, which feels like it’s taken forever. This weekend I’ll have the 1999-2000 rail album done, which only leaves me with (I think) two to do. Away from all this we did have a pleasant interlude as Friday night is quiz night when a group of us from the ‘Big 6’ have an hour together pretending we’re back in the pub! With the weather being rather less than favourable everyone was Zooming in from indoors this week. Even so, it was a lovely interlude that stretched the little grey cells (as an Agatha Christie character was wont to say) and gave us all a bit of welcome social interaction.

OK, forget all the other stuff, it’s picture time. Here’s one of the latest scans and another trip down memory lane – although it won’t mean a lot to many people. This is the old steam locomotive depot at Southport shortly before demolition back in 2000 after the museum had closed. Back in the very early 1970s I was one of the founder members of ‘Steamport’, the society which got together to save the 6-road depot and turn it into a museum. Many of us put a lot of time and effort into trying to make it a success but it never took off. On the bright side, we did buy the land which was sold years later for a tidy sum when the museum moved lock, stock and barrel to Preston, so our efforts weren’t all in vain. Here’s a potted history of the depot and the project care of Wikipedia.

07520. Steamport closed and awaiting demolition. Southport. 09.01.2000 crop

See those red doors on the front of the shed? They’re not original. The old shed never had doors. The ones you see came from the old Meols Cop car sheds – a railway works a few miles away. A few of us towed some of those through the streets of Southport on old metal wheeled railway parcels trollies after we’d gas-axed them off the derelict shed! Funny what you remember, isn’t it? I vividly recollect pulling/pushing one of those doors on the trolley with a few other stalwarts, partly because I remember coming down with a really sore throat!

Memories…

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Lockdown-ish. Day 73 (Thursday)

05 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Down memory lane, Huddersfield, Lockdown, Railways

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Our most diverse day of the week began slightly later than planned as neither of us got a great night’s sleep due to the moggie being on the bed –  as is usual nowadays. He’s slowly recovering from his illness but knows how to play his cards right. We don’t have the heart to kick him off the bed now and he knows it!

Getting up later meant that we took our time getting ready for our weekly mercy-mission and caretaking call over to Huddersfield but then we weren’t in any real rush. It’s not like we’ve got tickets to the Theatre or anything…

The trip out of the Calder valley was easy, although the roads do seem to get busier each time. Even so – it’s still anything but normal. I get the distinct impression that if people can stay at home – they will – with the obvious exception of a few Covidiots, of course. As usual, our first port of call was Sainsbury’s where the pair of us split to do different shops. There was hardly any queue and the place seemed pretty quiet. I’m assuming the weather had kept some folks at home. Afterwards we called in at Dawn’s work, the watertower at Huddersfield station. Whilst Dee sorted out some stuff I went for a mooch around town, just to see how things were developing as see if there were any photos to be had. Things seemed little changed since last week. No more shops were open, the queues were still outside the banks and the local street drunks were still doing what drunks do – shouting and arguing with each other.

I did grab a couple of record shots by the station but nothing remarkable. The skies were leaden with heavy clouds that threatened rain but never actually delivered. The one difference I dis note was that now Northern have ditched all their Pacer trains the Huddersfield – Sheffield service was worked by a former top-link 90mph, air-conditioned Class 158. Oh, the luxury!

DG342285crop

Heading up to Dawn’s folks we dropped off their shopping and hung around just long enough for Dee to sort out their Netflix access which they’d not been able to use since my account was hacked some weeks ago. This meant Dawn had to go into the house, whilst I stayed in the car. Funny old world, isn’t it? Some people have aspirations and hack bank accounts or global companies, others Netflix accounts!

Our drive home was across country on roads that still weren’t very busy – which was great. Bak at the ranch the pair of us settled into our usual work routine and just ploughed on with stuff. I was keen to get as many old slides done as possible as earlier in the day I’d been in discussions with RAIL magazine about some articles. I’ve now been commssioned to write two very different pieces which will appearing the next couple of months – which is going to keep me busy as both require the same levels of research as the East London line article published last month. Not that I’m complaining. It keeps me occupied, I learn something – and it pays a few bills.

This means that scanning old slides will be taking a bit of a backseat once the current album from 1999’s done (hopefully by the end of the week). Here’s a sample from the latest batch as I’m about to turn the millennium from 1999 to 2000…

07385. 142037. 14.35.Liverpool Lime St - Wigan North Western. Prescot. 08.12.1999crop

It’s the 8th December 1999 and 142037 is arriving at Prescot on Merseyside whilst working the . 14.35 Liverpool Lime St – Wigan North Western. The low winter sunlight (coupled with Fuji Velvia slide film) adds some warmth to the picture and makes the place look quite attractive – which is no mean feat as the area was notorious for vandal attacks on the railways! Times have changed and this stretch of railway was electrified in 2014-15.

In the evening I indulged in a spot of cooking as therapy as I’d finally managed to buy some Risotto rice today. It’s been as rare as rocking-horse shit during lockdown and we’d used up the last of our supplies the other week, but I managed to grab three boxes today and celebrated by using one to make a seafood risotto which contained a lovely mix of home-grown herbs that included Tarragon. It’s a new recipe on me but I have to say it was delicious!

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Lockdown-ish. Day 72 (Wednesday).

05 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Coronavirus, Food and drink, Lockdown

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And then the rain came down…

When I threw open the bedroom blinds this morning I saw a sight I’ve not seen for months – the valley covered in rain – and a welcome sight it was too! We’ve had so little precipitation the fields were parched and turning brown so the change in weather’s going to be welcomed by farmers and (I suspect) by the medical  profession as it might keep a few of the ‘covidiots’ at home more and away from beaches and beauty spots.

From my perspective the only downside was the fact it had turned chillier and windier too. Having been used to wearing shorts and singlets for so long it was a shock to have to dig out a fleece and waterproof jacket to dress up in for my daily exercise. Even so, it’s a small price to pay and it won’t be for long – I hope…

After our morning meditation and with no excuse to sit in the garden I knuckled down to having a productive day in the office without any distractions. This allowed me to plough through scanning 40 more slides, then get them edited and onto the website in far quicker time than normal. I’d also eschewed my two-hourly walk ‘cos of the weather so once the decks were clear I combined exercise with a trip to the  supermarket and a local Indian market,where I stocked up on spices. With all the baking and smoothies Dawn’s been making we were running out of Cinnamon powder as well as the Smoked Paprika that we use for our weekend comfort food of spicy prawns. Whilst they’ve got better at stocking spices the supermarkets charge an arm and a leg in comparison to the local stores and I’d rather spend my money with them than a multinational if I can. 

On the way back from my shopping trip I took the long way around via the Promenade and local woods to boost my step count. The earlier rain had subsided and the sun made its bid to break though the thinning clouds but the wind that had sprung up as an accompaniment really knocked the temperature down leaving the weather feel more like early spring than almost summer. On the bright side – at least I wasn’t going to be busy with watering cans today!

Back at home I stowed away the goodies in the kitchen but before I resumed the duties of office (as it were) I couldn’t resist grabbing a couple of shots in the front garden where raindrops had fallen on the Lupins. 

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If I wasn’t so busy getting my back catalogue of slides scanned I’d dearly love to be able to spend more time out with the camera and playing around with my micro lens getting shots like this. Ah, well…

On the positive side, I did rattle through a lot more old pictures which included shots like this from 1999.

07306. 58050. CWR train heading for Hoo Jn. Wandsworth Rd. 17.11.1999crop

Here’s the last of the Class of 58. 58050 to be precise, hauling a train of long-welded rails through Wandsworth Rd in South London on the 17th November 1999. This was a popular location with railway photographers because of the variety of traffic and the excellent vantage point provided by the station footbridge, which is where this shot was taken from. Sadly, this view is now partially obscured by trees which have grown up next to the lineside inside the fence to the left foreground. All the Class 58s have now been withdrawn. 58050 remained in traffic until 2002. In 2008 it was recommissioned and shipped to Spain where it was used on construction trains for one of the country’s new High-Speed lines. It remains stored at Albacerte, Spain now.

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Lockdown-ish. Day 71 (Tuesday).

03 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Down memory lane, Lockdown, Politics

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My weather forecast turned out to be 24 hours premature as this morning we woke up to yet another stunning day with wall to wall sunshine across the valley, so I decided to make the most of it in yesterday’s fashion. Dawn and I were up early and after a meditation and unhurried breakfast we both cracked on with the day. I kept to the pattern of yesterday, mixing picture scanning with regular breaks to exercise with a brisk circuit around the local roads. It’s not as exciting or as scenic as venturing further, but I’m achieving what I want – a combination of work and exercise with the promise of being able to have some time relaxing in the garden and baking in the sun as a reward.

Of course I’m still catching the rays as I’m strolling and the strength of the sun is really noticeable right now. I’d love to know if lockdown and the lack of vehicular pollution’s making a difference to the intensity of Sol’s rays. It certainly feels that way sometimes.

Because there was no reason to go shopping or travel anywhere it was very much a binary day. For me, Work/Walk was what it was all about. I wonder, is this what it’s like when you’re incarcerated and you become a model Prisoner by embracing the routine?

What wasn’t routine was keeping a watchful eye on events in Parliament and the embarrassing pantomime that was being played out. It made the Victorians look cutting edge. The Government – in the shape of the MP for the 19th Century – Jacob Rees Mogg had decided that MPs couldn’t vote electronically and had to turn up in person to vote. It was a farce, an utter farce, and it made us a laughing stock in more modern countries where electronic voting is part of politics. Rees-Mogg is everything this country shouldn’t be. He’s the modern embodiment of Sourdust from Mervyn Peake’s ‘Gormenghast’. The role could almost have been written for him.

The result of this planned farce was that many MPs were disenfranchised as they were either self -isolating or in one of the vulnerable groups! And the only reason for this? Forget the excuse that it was about ‘democracy’ it was anything but. This was so that our Prime Minister didn’t have to face the Leader of the Opposition on his own! Gone are the days of useless Corbyn. Now Johnson’s having to face his worst nightmare – Keir Starmer, a man with the intellect and arguments to hang him out to dry. Time after time Johnson trips himself up with his own empty promises and vacuous rhetoric – and Starmer skewers him with it, so Johnson need a baying back-up on the benches behind him to attempt to disguise the fact he’s the Emperor with no clothes.

Suffice it to say that If I really wanted to describe the dangerous political farce that’s been inflicted upon us by this shower of shits my invective would be off the Richter scale. I can no longer be bothered. I’ve come to the conclusion that the only antidote to Emglish exceptionalism is a hard dose of reality. The difference being – I’m prepared for it. Some poor suckers think that it’s all hunky-dory and we really did ‘take back control’.

So, my world feels almost schizophrenic at the moment. I’m watching these surreal events in our body politic unfold whilst immersing myself in reliving 1999 and the build up to the millennium in pictures. God, what a different place the country felt then! The optimism of Tony Blair’s first term. I could go on at length, but now’s not the time…

With the stunning weather staying with us for the day I was glad to be able to take a break from the past and the present to just sit in the garden and ‘be’ – listening to the birds, hearing the wind in the trees and feeling the sun on my skin. Simple pleasures but ones that mean so much as they can’t be taken away from you.

I’ll finish with just a taster of all the old slides I’ve been scanning. Because I was living in North London at the time that was the focus of many of my pictures. Here’s one…

07274. 37047. 37055. Sandite train. Harringay. 03.11.1999crop

It’s autumn leaf-fall season and a pair of Class 37s were working one of two trains that patrolled the London end of the East Coast Main Line to blast leaves off the line with water or apply a substance called ‘sandite’ to stop trains slipping. Here’s 37047 and 37055 reversing at Harringay, which was 10 minutes walk from where I lived for many years.

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Lockdown-ish. Day 70 (Monday).

02 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Lockdown, Our cat, Jet, Photography, Railways

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In light of recent events I debated whether to change the title of these daily blogs but decided against it as Dawn and I are following the original advice for the foreseeable future. Certainly for the next couple of weeks minimum until we see what unfolds now that the English Government’s kicked the arse out of its own advice!

The pair of us have plenty to get on with for the forseeable future. We were both up early this morning so whilst Dawn did her training before work I headed into the office to set up the next batch of slides from 1999 ready for scanning. I’ve only a dozen pages to do, so I’m hopful I can have them finished by next week.

Whilst the scanner worked its (slow) magic I managed to catch up on some blogging too, so the day certainly started productively. I even managed to fit in a meditation. The weather was as stunning as ever, which made me want reticent to stay cooped up in the office but there was no other option. Slide scanning’s not exactly a mobile process! My compromise was not to go for a long walk but break the day into two sections. I’d spend a couple of house scanning, then go far a fast, 15 minute power walk up through the woods along our road before holing up in the office for another couple of hours. This, combined with getting up early, meant that I ploughed through the pictures I’d planned in good time. So much so that I had time to grab some cheeky time in the garden catching up on emails and blogging via my smartphone. I’ve been so grateful that we’ve had so much sunshine this year. I don’t know how I’d have coped otherwise as I miss not being able to get away for my annual Asia fix. Of course, sitting in the garden means I’m surrounded by all the wonderful birdsong and activity as well as being able to enjoy watching the garden break out into its summer finery. The Lupins are especially rampant this year and have survived the recent high winds unscathed. 

The day flew and before we both knew it we were due back at the vets with Jet, who was due a check-up. The poor boy’s still struggling a bit, so we were pleased when the evrt gave him a thorough examination and told us that, apart from a couple of minor things to do with his recent ailments (like the stitches where he’d had teeth out) he was doing well. His medication was changed and he was given an injection to ease his bowels as we’ve gone from a shitty cat to a constipated one! Jet seemed quite happy on the way home. He sits on my knee in his cage and I normally open the lid as he’s a curious cat and like to watch the world go by. Today we opened the window for him and he leaned out like a dog! 

Back home I managed to grab the last rays of the sun as I watered the garden before retreating back to the office to upload the pictures I edited to my Zenfolio website. There’s a real mixture, so they’re in several different galleries. You can find them all by following this link, but I’ll add a couple here as a taster. Here’s the first, which has a bit of a story…

07122. 33103. 3TC No 417. 15.38 Barking - Gospel Oak. South Tottenham. 18.08.1999crop

Back in 1999 I was living in Crouch End in North London and this was one of my local railways. It’s the Gospel Oak to Barking line, known affectionately as the ‘GOBLIN’. It was always a Cinderella line and I’m going to do a separate blog about the line as it was then because it finally got to go to the ball in the past few years.

Back in 1999 the train service was appalling. It was operated by ‘Silverlink’ who only had some clapped out ex-BR old diesel units to work it and they were permenantly breaking down. ‘New’ trains were due to be cascaded from the Birmingham area but things got so bad that for a few days this combination was hired in to provide a stop-gap. Here we have a former Southern Region Class 33/1 number 33103 and an unpowered former Southern trailer set (known as TC sets) No 417 calling at South Tottenham with the 15.38 Barking to Gospel Oak service on the 18th August 1999. As you can see from the colour of the skies, it was a stormy August!

The Silverlink network also encompassed regional and suburban services out of Euston and also covered the Bedford to Bletchley line, which shared the same fleet of clapped-out diesel units as the GOBLIN. A different solution was found for that line by hiring in a couple of locomotives and a pair of coaches from a company called Fragonset. 

07231. 31601. 31452. Working to Bedford. Bletchley. 22.09.1999crop

On the 22nd September 1999 Class 31 No 31452 brings up the rear of a service to Bedford as it leaves Bletchley. Eventually, they too were replaced by Class 150 DMU’s cascaded from the Midlands. 

Tomorrow the weather here is finally meant to turn and bring some much needed rain, so I expect to be kept busy indoors editing and catching up with more blogging. Watch this space…

 

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Thank you!