Sorry for the absence of this feature these past couple of days but it’s been a busy time that’s left me with little opportunity to blog until today. The weather here in the Pennines has been pretty awful with a lot of heavy rain so I’ve been stuck inside trying to catch up on paperwork, scanning old pictures and planning next month’s round Britain trip. The break has allowed me to add more than 120 plus old railway pictures from 2001-2002 to my Zenfolio website, and you can find which galleries they’ve been added to by following this link. They may only have been taken 18-19 years ago, but in modern railway terms that seems like dog years compared to human ones! I’m amazed how much has changed in that time.
OK, on to what we’re here for – the picture of the day. This one was taken in the Glodok district Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, on the 15th February 2017.
As someone who’s always been a light sleeper (unless I’ve had a drink) I’ve always been envious of some people’s ability to sleep almost anywhere! This chap had decided to have a siesta in this precarious position. I’ve come across this ability a lot in Asia and it always amazes me. I’ve seen kids curled up on busy pavements or station platforms in India who’re totally oblivious to what’s going on around them. This chap was outside a shop on a busy main road but still managed to get some shut-eye!
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Looking at what passes for a campaign to stop HS2 and the main players I sometimes wonder of those people who donate to Crowdfunders to pay for things ever actually stop to think where their money might be going?
Perhaps they assume it’s all going to some brave ‘eco-warriors’ who only care about the environment? After all, that’s the impression some sections of the media do their best to present. These kids you see on TV are all modern day versions of ‘Swampy’, risking all to protect the country’s ecology if you believed everything you read in the Guardian.
No doubt the people who’ve been persuaded to cough up money also think it’s all accounted for and everything is scrupulously above board and every penny goes to protecting trees – or something…
The truth is rather different. I wonder how many people who’ve parted with cash know about how much has gone ‘missing’, the in-fighting between groups for control of the campaign, the fact theft is common on the camps and that actually, what you’re just as likely to be funding are anarchist groups with a wider political agenda who’ve just latched onto HS2 as yet another way to gain influence – and get money….
Not a lot to stop the biggest construction project in Europe is it? Even worse, many of the camps aren’t actually doing anything. The laughably named Wendover ‘Active’ Resistance camp has done nothing since it had a sunbathe to stop Hs2 day (no, really!) on the 8th August. The rest of their time seems to be taken up with partying or venturing into the village to beg or bum food.
Well, that’ll really stop Hs2…
Poors Piece near Calvert labels itself as a Conservation project and appears to have little involvement in trying to actively stop Hs2, Jones Hill woods remains largely undisturbed by HS2 work, so has seen little action. Crackley Camp is pretty much redundant as much of the woodland that was to be cleared for HS2 has already been felled (they didn’t stop a single tree being felled). Cubbington is much like Jones Hill, work’s due to start there shortly. That leaves Denham which has been the site of most of the large protests recently. Well, as large as anti HS2 protests get – which normally means a few dozen people ineffectively kicking off and creating a nuisance, but little else.
That was until the past few days when tree felling took place along the Fosse Way in Warks. Sadly, several large Oaks had to be removed to make way for the course of the railways and also road diversions. It was yet another farce for the stopHs2 groups. With few local people on the ground reinforcements drove (irony, no?) up from Jones Hill and Harvil Rd (82 miles away) – for all the good it did. By yesterday all the trees had been felled, with several protesters arrested. The protesters are nothing if not consistent as this is yet another straight defeat.
So who are these groups opposed to Hs2? Well, the original national Group is StopHs2, but this is really only two people (Joe Rukin and Penny Gaines) and it’s more of a marketing and fundraising operation nowadays. The actual protesters are a rag-bag of local Nimbys and (mostly) young people who group themselves under the Extinction Rebellion or Hs2Rebellion banners, with one or two veterans of the old roads protests who’re ‘professional’ campaigners and serial failures – like Larch Maxey, who seems to struggle with modern technology. Hilariously, he failed to glue himself to some automatic doors earlier this month!
But here’s where it becomes very ‘Life of Brian’!
After pulling a couple of cupid stunts in Central London and elsewhere during the Covid lockdown it seems Extinction Rebellion and Hs2 Rebellion had a falling out. You’ll notice HS2 Rebellion no longer use any XR branding.
Meanwhile, people have so far donated over £36,000 via this Crowdfunder.
The aims are claimed as this.
The more enquiring minds amongst you may have noticed that there’s no named group or persons in charge here. Nor is their any mention of an auditor or audited accounts. In fact, there’s nothing, not even an address – and there’s been no feedback whatsoever from whoever set this up. So, there’s no mention of any way of overseeing that this money goes to what (or where) is claimed.
Some of the activists on the ground started noticing this too – including people who have been part of the administration of HS2Rebellion. Two of them (Hayley-Marie Pitwell and Lora Hughes) are long term-protesters who’ve been based in the camps. Having got no answers behind the scenes they were forced to go public via Facebook. Here’s a long (but illuminating) exchange! Go grab some popcorn…
This was several weeks ago, but nothing was ever resolved and (to my knowledge) no accounts have ever appeared anywhere. As for the Joe Rukin ‘legal case’ – it doesn’t exist…
To say this ruffled feathers is an understatement. Then things went from bad to worse as ‘Lorax’ chipped in. Go grab more popcorn! Oh, and a warning, this gets very un-PC!
Got your breath back after all that yet? It’s now the 26th August and there’s still no sign of the storm over the ‘missing’ money abating. meanwhile, life at the protest camps is hardly sweetness and light. Their nature means they attract all sorts of waifs and strays. Some with the best of intentions, others not… There’s always been problems with people who identify themselves as anarchists and who believe all property is theft. They tend to be light fingered with other people’s property, as Alan Woodward (a long term member of the camps) found to his cost.
I’ve always been amused by how many of those people who see themselves as anarchists and lovers of ‘freedom’ tend to be some of the most dictatorial and authoritarian going. This trait is manifesting itself in the attitude of those behind HS2rebellion and some of their supporters. It’s very much a case of ‘do as I say’ not as I do – as you’ll see shortly. meanwhile, as if there’s not been enough –
Here’s some more!
HS2 rebellion tried to claim this little ‘action’ for themselves…
Oh, look – it’s those nice, law-abiding, peaceful anti HS2 protesters (not).
Only what they failed to notice was the .com on the bottom of one of the banners – which led to this exchange on the Rebellion Facebook page.
Hang on a minute! This is not about a railway? What IS it all about then? Here’s the answer. More anarchists – and more splitters!
“Jelly Tot” is one Elliott Cuciurean, another of the anarchist wing of the HS2 protests who’s been up in court for repeatedly breaking a High Court injunction (amongst other charges) and who’s due to be sentenced in October. He was prominent at Crackley and Harvil Rd camps. It seems this bunch are some of his friends from the Denham camp who’ve had a falling out with HS2 Rebellion.
As usual, you’ll notice their environmental credentials are paper thin, because that’s not really what they’re about – it’s just a convenient peg. Their website is just as transparent in content. It only has two blog entries, both of which are tedious rants. What gives the game away are the tags to each…
“Class Traitors”? “Smash the state”?
I do have to laugh when I think about all those comfortable middle-class Chiltern Nimbys who’ve been donating money to these people and not realising what exactly they’re offering to feed and keep in their midst. People who want to bring down their whole way of life!
This brings me onto my final example of how these protesters are using HS2 protests for their own ends and wider political aims. Step forward William, who posts on Twitter as ‘Boots on the Ground’ (@bearwitness2019). William is an American who lives in London whom I featured in my last ‘crazy anti HS2 protester of the week‘ blog.
Recently, William (despite his supposed concern for the environment) secretly flew off to Spain for a few weeks – only he kept forgotting to turn the location finder off on his phone, which rather gave the game away!
The giveaway is that for several weeks we are spared him recording diatribes to camera and posting them on Twitter. Until yesterday, when he popped up in London at a tiny protest.
Hang on a minute…Not only is he not wearing a mask, as he’s just flown back from Spain he should be self-isolating – which means he’s breaking the law and could be fined £1000. In fact, as I’m assuming he’s still an American citizen, it’s worse. Here’s the Home Office guidelines.
But this is typical of the protesters. It’s do as I say, not as I do. They rail at others for supposedly breaking the law and ‘crimes’ whilst blatantly ignoring it themselves. Oh, there’s more. In his latest video, William calls for support for a new political party called ‘Beyond Politics’. You might not have heard of them but they’re a splinter group of Extinction Rebellion extremists who recently trashed the offices of several charities and political parties! 5 of them are now on remand.
Such democratic people, eh?
This is the true face of a lot of the hard-core protesters against HS2. They haven’t got a hope in hell of stopping Hs2 of course, but I though it was worth recording for the record who they really are and what their real agenda is – and it has very little to to with the environment – or railways.
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UPDATE (23rd October 2020).
The shenanigans continue, so here’s a link to part 2…
It’s been another wet and windy weekend here in the Pennines and I’m really ready for some sunshine and a change of scenery. Last week made my feet even more itchy, but I’ve got several things to sort out right now before I can start to think about wanderlust.
So, here’s a picture of the day which shows what you can experience when you do indulge. This was the view at sunrise one January morning from the balcony of our room at the Greenlands Hostel in the hill station of Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, South India. Imagine waking up just before dawn, walking outside and seeing this view – magical! We’re 2133m above sea level and way above the plains – and it shows.
The stillness that time of the morning’s beautiful. Our room had a fireplace and we’d bought bits locally so that we could brew coffee over the open fire we had in our room (yes, it gets cold at night at that height!). We were travelling with a hammock too – so we had that set up on the verandah in order to be able to enjoy this view in comfort. Magical times…
Today’s been spent at home dodging the gales that have been sweeping the Pennines – not to mention the rains we had this morning which made it a good day to stay at home and continue having a clearout. I’ve been having a trip down memory lane as part of a decluttering exercise. When you find stuff where it’s the first time you’ve looked at it for 30-40 years you do start to think – do I really need this? The shredder has now overheated because of the amount of work it’s had to do. That said, I now have a nice collection of old photographs to use in future blogs when I talk about past careers and experiences. Oh, I also have a lot more shelf space…
It’s a thought that rather neatly brings me onto the picture of the day which was taken in the Paharganj area of Delhi, India on the 7th December 2010.
My office doesn’t look like this at all – honest….
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As I’ve described in my earlier blog about today’s events, it’s been a long day that’s brought back a lot of memories and purely by accident, it’s produced today’s picture.
Whilst we were all sat in Pat and Jake’s garden talking about old times, Jake spotted this dragonfly which had landed on a sunflower. For once, the critter stayed long enough for me to get my camera out and get a shot. I love these creatures as they’re both delicate and colourful – and extremely photogenic – when they stay still…
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Well, it’s a bloody long time since I did a rolling blog, but today’s the day…
I’m currently sat in the 07:00 from Sowerby Bridge to Wigan Wallgate which is making its way through Salford. The train’s never been more than 25% full – even between Rochdale and Manchester, which used to be rammed. Manchester Victoria station was eerily quiet too. Here’s my 3-car Class 158 when I boarded.
On the plus side, it’s a beautiful sunny day, although the fact I’m on my way to a funeral does take some of the shine off it.
Most of my fellow passengers have been conscientious mask wearers – although the couple who weren’t may well be exempt. The train’s clean and well presented, so it feels safe.
It feels slightly odd to be heading back to Southport. Even though I grew up there and have family still residing it’s a town I feel little connection with nowadays. I suppose it’s a combination of factors. English seaside towns haven’t fared well in the past 50 years with the advent of cheap holidays abroad. Add in the rise of out of town shopping and poor planning decisions and it’s not hard to see why.
08:31.
A bright spot is that I’ve just passed through the wonderful Hindley station. It’s one of the jewels in the crown of the community rail movement. The group who look after it have transformed it from semi-dereliction into a garden oasis.
08:52.
I had to change trains at Wigan Wallgate where I’ve swapped my nice comfy 158 for my least favourite train – a Northern 150 with 3 + 2 seating and bugger all legroom! There’s a mix of people aboard including a young mother with a baby, a retired chap with a walking stick and camera, a couple of workman plus two teenage girls and their younger brother. It’s obvious leisure travellers are returning to the railways, but not in the numbers they once did. Yet…
12.51.
Well, that was a trip down memory lane, and (considering it was a funeral) not a sad event at all. On arrival I walked to my sister’s house as Anne wanted to come to the funeral too. She remembered Mike from when he lodged at my mothers house for several years back in the 1980s. The addition of Anne meant there were 13 at the Crematorium. The service was conducted by the chaplain of the Hospital Mike died in. He did an excellent job. He kept God out of it and the short ceremony was all about Mike himself. He read out part of my blog, which Pat had passed on to him. Another more recent friend of Mike’s who shared the same love of books read from Some of Mike’s favorites, such as Terry Prachett’s ‘Mort’, Oscar Wilde and also Shakespeare. Mike’s love of books was such that Broadhursts (Southport’s oldest and finest bookshop) had sent a representative. Apparently, his bungalow was literally crammed with books, some of which were rare and valuable. Martin taught me things about Mike’s later life I didn’t know. How Mike would teach his kids about literature and send them wacky Xmas presents. From the Chaplain I learned that Mike had actually arranged to have his body left to science and had even completed the papers with a major medical school, but Covid brought an end to that plan as the school wasn’t accepting bodies – so the funeral we were attending wasn’t the plan at all!
After the ceremony half a dozen of us adjourned to Pat and Jake’s house. As the weather was so good we could sit and social distance in the garden whilst reminiscing about Mike and the old days and play games of “whatever happened to?” Sadly, there were two murders amongst the stories. On the bright side – I seem to be faring better than some of my contemporaries…
When we left I bid goodbye to my sister and walked into the town centre through streets that left me playing Detective as I spotted the odd cluster of new homes and tried to remember the name of the pub that stood there before. Wasn’t that the site of the old London and its bowling green that backed onto the railway? Yep. Oh, and that’s where the Shakespeare stood – another vast multi-roomed building that had no chance of commercial success in this era.
Strolling through town I took a look at the Old Ship and paid my respects before moving on and walking on to Lord St, which still has plenty of life, even if the big department stores are all closed and boarded up. Ironically, the broad pavement and canopies have come into their own during Covid as there’s plenty of outside seating to be had at the bars and cafes, so even if the weather’s not as good as today you can sit outside in safety.
Sunk. The Old Ship…
15:10.
Having had a wander around the town centre I’m struck by how busy the place is. In the era of Covid and ‘staycations’ it seems people are rediscovering seaside towns like Southport. The trains from Liverpool are certainly busy. Of course that adds another hazard, as well as mobility scooters you’re now having to dodge a plethora of prams and the associated flotilla of kids, like destroyers protecting an aircraft carrier.
15:54.
Funny the things a wander reminds you of isn’t it? I’ve just passed through the Cambridge Arcade (Arcades were very popular in Southport) and spotted a shop that’s now a barbers. I remember it as something very different. In 1976 I’d just left school and I landed a job as an apprentice locksmith in a town centre shop owned by a father and son company. They were real duckers and divers who made the fictional Trotters look like amateurs. They also owned a lingerie shop (what’s now the barbers). One day the son came into our hardware shop and said he needed a man to stand in the shop for an hour or so whilst his wife cashed up and did some stock-taking – and I was that man! In reality I was a shy 16yr old and standing around in a lingerie shop with nowhere to hide was excruciating! I can laugh now but the memory has stayed with me, which gives you an indication of how powerful the feeling must have been at the time. One day I’ll relate how they invented these handwriting analysis kiosks and we built one on a Blackpool pier..
16:50.
I’m now on the train Eastwards, heading home. It’s a Class 156/150 lash-up with the 156 leading, so there’s no guessing where I am and wo-hoo – it’s set 460, so it has USB chargers! I was surprised how many people were awaiting its arrival but the overwhelming majority are being good and the front car’s certainly not crowded.
18:33.
I abandoned the lash-up at Salford Central, where I was left with 40 mins to kick my heels. I’d forgotten the building was one of the BR modular designs of the type a few of us had been discussing on Twitter a couple of weeks ago. I should’ve – Network Rail had me there as their official photographer!
I’m now on another 158 back to Sowerby Bridge. There’s definitely a build up of passengers and Manchester Victoria is starting to look busy again, but numbers aren’t going to return overnight.
21:16.
The last entry. It’s been a really interesting day and far more positive than I first thought it might be. The fact Mikes funeral was all about Mike and (despite the small numbers) it was obvious he’ll be remembered was reassuring – and the stories were fond. Who can ask for more?
One other thought from today is – this is the most people I’ve seen since lockdown started. No, not the funeral – Southport! I actually felt uncomfortable at times because of the crowds. Me, who lived in London for 25 years and used public transport most days! How things change…
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Today’s world photo day and my contribution and today’s picture of the day was taken in Darjeeling, India in April 1998. It was the view from our bedroom window and one morning, when I opened the curtains, it looked like this. The clouds boiled up from the valley below to envelope parts of the town.
Happy world photo day!
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Yesterday I got a phone call out of the blue from Pat, a longtime friend from my days growing up in Southport. Pat rang me to tell me that the funeral of an old friend from those days who’d died back in May was being held tomorrow (Thursday). I’d not seen Mike Smith for a very, very long time. Our friendship waned when I moved to London back in 1986. I only saw him a couple of times after that on the odd occasion when I popped back to see my family. Mike was best described as an eccentric who became increasingly eccentric as the years went by!
I first met him in Liverpool back in 1979 when I was involved in some political campaigning. I was put in touch with some like-minded souls in the city and Mike was one of them. At the time Mike lived in West Derby but would often come over to Southport along with another old Scouse friend, Glen Bowker (who was one of a trio of us who moved to London where we shared a flat for many years). Eventually both Mike and Glen moved to Southport, which became his home for the rest of his life.
I rarely think of those days now – it all seems so long ago and so far away – over 40 years. But Pat’s call made me think – and remember. What I remember is the laughter, something that seems in rather short supply nowadays. Back then we were all young, and care-free, with our futures ahead of us. Our social life revolved around a pub called the Old Ship Inn where you’d find many of us most evenings. It was a large community of like-minded souls and boy – did we have fun! Mike’s humour was plentiful and dry so the jokes and banter would fly. It was the sort of laughter that left your stomach aching – remember that?
How times have changed. Many of those people are no longer with us, including Mike, who died of prostate cancer at the age of 64. My eldest sister Ruth is another one, cancer took her when she was in her 40s. I can think of a long list of other names who’ve gone too, many of them at no great age – and no doubt there’s many I don’t know about as I’ve lost touch with people. Even the pub has gone now. It was badly refurbished back in the early 1980s and it lost a lot of its character and custom. Last time I went back the place was closed and boarded up, but then closed pubs are hardly novel nowadays.
I remember one time the pub had a fancy dress competition. I can’t remember what the theme was now, but Mike came dressed as another of Southport’s eccentrics – the ‘purple lady’ (so named for the colour of the voluminous shirts and shawls that she used to wear in her wanderings around town) – he even had the carrier bag! Needless to say, he won.
Pat’s phone call made me look for some old photos of Mike. These are what I found – all taken on a mickey-mouse little Instamatic on grainy 110 film, but it’s all I have….
Mike Smith in 1981, holding a bong containing, illicit smoking material.. Mike was always smartly dressed and normally sported a tie or bow-tie. His diminutive frame meant he could often pick up bargains from the kids section in charity shops!Mike in the same year, when he’d just moved to Southport where he’d got a bedsit in a house on Scarisbrick New Rd. He’s riding my mums bike and carrying a bamboo plant we’d dug up out of my parents garden. The house became something of a social centre as my sister Ruth also moved into a flat there. I remember one Christmas the house got together for a jojnt Xmas dinner with people cooking different part of it in their baby Bellings, then coming together in Mikes room. We didn’t have a dining table so we used an old advertising hoarding ‘borrowed’ from somewhere, and a couple of trestles!
Some of the crowd from the Old Ship seen on the 17th May 1982 when we’d been to the wedding of Sparks and Vicky. It’s an awful photo, but Mike is at the front, sporting a bow-tie and blazer. 2nd to his left is my late sister, Ruth. I’m second from the end on the right.
So, tomorrow I’ll be journeying to Southport to attend Mike’s funeral at Southport crematorium at 10:00. Mike was always a bit of a hypochondriac but in his later years his imaginary illnesses became real and he became increasingly frail. I spotted him from afar once, walking around town using a Zimmer – hardly an unusual sight in Southport which always had a reputation as one of God’s waiting rooms! His infirmities, and the fact people don’t bother going to pubs as much nowadays meant he became more isolated so his funeral won’t be a big affair. Pat (who Mike effectively made his next of kin) reckons there’ll be a dozen of us at most. There’ll probably be more people I know whose ashes are scattered around the ‘crem than there in person – but I wanted to be there, just to say goodbye – both to Mike and to those long gone days in Southport…
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Today didn’t quite turn out as I was expecting, for reasons I’ll be blogging about tomorrow. I seems my first public appearance post lockdown is going to be on Thursday, at the funeral of someone whom I shared a lot of of fun and laughter with back in the late 1970s – early 1980s. Not that it’s going to be a big event by all accounts…
I only found out this afternoon and it’s put me in a retrospective and pensive mood. It’s funny how stuff that happened 40 odd years ago can suddenly come flooding back isn’t it? I’ve spent a few hours searching for old photos which will appear soon.
But today’s picture of the day is about something entirely different. Today, Jet – our cat had his 19th birthday. To be honest it’s been a bit touch and go this year as he had pancreatitis and at one point we thought we’d lose the old boy. But, he’s pulled through and keeps going. OK, he’s like a bloody limpet nowadays and insists on sleeping on the bed, but he’s so loveable we really can’t kick him off.
So, happy birthday Jet. May you stay this side of the rainbow bridge for some time yet….
Today’s picture’s remarkably mundane, but for me it’s a milestone during these troubled times, because today was the first time I’ve set foot on a train since the 20th March. Admittedly, it wasn’t to go far, I’d walked into Halifax to do something that I do once in a blue moon nowadays, pay a cheque into a bank. Mind you, I don’t exactly go into Halifax that often either. Covid has turned me into a bit of a recluse and the only reason I’d normally head to Halifax would be to catch a train – which is what I did. After a marathon day staring at computer screens on Sunday I was yearning for a break and a semblance of normality so I decided to get a train to Mytholmroyd, grab a few pictures then walk back along the Rochdale canal.
I caught the 14.17 from Halifax which was bound for Manchester. To say it was quiet was an understatement. I shared the carriage with just 4 other people. Two of them (both teenage girls) had decided not to wear masks. The cynic in me wondered if this was because masks would ‘ruin’ their make-up. Apart from them, all the other passengers I encountered complied.
I stayed in Mytholmroyd for an hour – just long enough to grab a few pictures, admire the massive flood defenses the Environment Agency are still building then strolled back along the canal. After a mile I stopped to take a break and watch the world go by, which was when I noticed the ominous clouds heading my way. When the first rain fell I wasn’t too bothered, it was only when the claps of thunder started I thought ‘oh, bugger’…Fortunately, I’d come prepared and brought an umbrella which kept the top half of me dry if not the bottom. The rain absolutely hammered down and made the walk back home soggy to say the least. But, do you know what? I really enjoyed it. It was so good to be out and about again. I’ll add a set of pictures tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s the picture I was going to post before I started rambling. The first train I’ve been on in 148 days…
The pictures will be back to more exciting/interesting ones soon – promise…
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