Lockdown. Day 19 (Saturday).

12 Sunday Apr 2020

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Another day that merges into the ones before…

The weather remains lovely. We had another glorious start to the day that is kind of frustrating as we’d normally be looking at heading out for a long walk locally or thinking of a trip out somewhere. Dawn’s missing the seaside, but there’s little chance of us seeing the coast for quite some time! That said, I really can’t complain about where we’re in lockdown. We have fantastic views across the Calder Valley from our home. A South facing garden that’s a bit of a sun-trap, we’re surrounded by woodland and we’re within walking distance of some really beautiful places.

The pair of us pottered round for most of the day. I caught up with some blogging and scanning yet more old slides before the pair of us got stuck into some domestic chores. The cottage we live in isn’t exactly large which is a double-edged sword. It gets cluttered quickly, but it’s also easy to clean! Both of us are trying to de-clutter at the moment. If the covid pandemic has taught us anything it’s what’s important and what isn’t. I’m trying to be less sentimental and more pragmatic about what I keep and what goes. I’ve stuff sat in boxes that I’ve not opened in the 10 years since I moved from London, which is a pretty good indicator that I probably don’t need it. OK, there’s other stuff of historical value as well as sentimental, but that’s where I’m trying to exercise judgements. Plus, am I really going to re-read books that I’ve had since I was 19, much as I loved them then? The difficult decision is deciding what to give to charity shops (when they reopen) or what might actually be worth a few bob if I sold it.

After indulging in chores we did get some time to just kick back and enjoy sitting in the garden, soaking up the sun and watching the world go by (at a safe distance, of course). Eventually we managed to get out for our daily stroll and completed our well-trodden circuit through the local woods, up to the promenade and around Savile Park and back. A lot of people were doing the same and the overwhelming majority who were doing so were respecting social-distancing. The only ones who weren’t were a group of 6 young Asian lads on the promenade who’d turned up in a mates car. They were soon visited by the police and the local community liaison team who know the area’s a hotspot for such behaviour. They were split up and moved on. Their braggadocio cut no ice with anyone. The sad thing is that these young people come from a group who studies are showing are disproportionately at risk from Covid-19. Statistics are highlighting that a third of patients in critical care are from BAME communities. It’s mad and you wonder how the message is going to be got across to some people.

Having exercised we headed back for another evening in lockdown, although it was actually a social evening. The ‘6 from the 6’ had arranged to try out staying in touch via Zoom. It was all a bit farcical at first as we tried to get used to a system only Dawn had used before, but we got there in the end and for 90 minutes Dawn and I, Aubrey and Fran, Kath and Tony chatted away about everything and nothing. It’s nowhere near as much fun as meeting up in the pub, but it’s a damned sight safer right now! Zoom worked a lot better than trying to do the quiz on Snapchat, so now we’ve test-driven the platform we’ll use it for next Friday’s quiz. Ain’t technology wonderful?

Oh, those old slides I’ve been scanning. Right now they fall into three gallery categories. There’s all the British Rail locomotives and general railway views – which you can find in this gallery but there’s also two others I’ve not really mentioned before. I’ve always been interested in railway signalling and signalboxes, so I created a separate gallery for them and a lot of the old pictures I’ve scanned recently are of boxes that are long-gone. Here’s a link. Also, I used to enjoy hunting out and photographing some of the old vehicles that ended their days in the departmental fleet. Back in the late 80s early 90s there were still quite a few knocking around. You can find pictures of them here. There’s lots more to come over the next few weeks…

Lockdown. Day 18 (Friday).

11 Saturday Apr 2020

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Well, that’s been a unique good Friday. We went nowhere and did nothing. We didn’t even make it out for a walk!

Admittedly, Friday started later than we’d originally planned as there seemed little urgency to the day, it’s a holiday after all – even if there’s nowhere to go. Dee had a lie in with our old moggie (Jet) keeping her company on the bed. The pair of them looked a picture curled up together! Meanwhile I got on with scanning some more old slides in an effort to keep the momentum going. Considering the fact we’re meant to have more time on our hands than normal I’m really not sure where it goes. Shouldn’t time be dragging? The opposite seems to be true for me – I’m struggling to fit everything in. Admittedly, slide scanning is incredibly time consuming, but even so…

As if to taunt us this Lockdown Easter, the weather’s excellent. Normally you can guarantee will have storms, floods or suchlike, with events rained off and shows cancelled. This year? No chance – it’s perfect. So much so that I eventually gave up scanning to head out in the garden for some down-time and chance to catch up on blogging whilst enjoying a cool beer, the sunshine and the birdsong.

Despite the solitary nature of the day we did socialise after a fashion as in the evening a group of us from our local pub all got together via WhatsApp for our weekly quiz session. The event was made all the more funny by the fact Quizmaster Mel’s phone kept losing reception. It was like watching the old comedian Norman Collier performing his faulty microphone sketch. The hilarity was magnified when Ollie switched on some of the trick apps his kids had taught him and we were treated to his ever changing visage and a range of cartoon-like characters! We certainly had fun out of the whole performance, which united us all in laughter, despite the physical separation and the fact it’s going to be quite some time before we’ll all be able to do this in the Big 6 once more.

The rest of our evening passed equally quickly with the pair of us catching up on news and events or with friends via the power of t’internet. I finished editing my scanned slides which you can find in this gallery. Here’s a couple of samples.

0157. 50028. Waterloo. 12.10.1989.+crop

Here’s London Waterloo on the 12th October 1989 as Class 50, 50028 ‘Tiger’ raises the roof as it pulls away with an express heading for Salisbury or beyond. So much of this scene has changed now. Back in 1989 loco-hauled passenger trains were still a common sight in many of London’s termini. The Class 50s were gradually being withdrawn but would hang n for another couple of years before they were replaced by the Class 159 DMU’s built at York by BREL. 50017 survived in service until February 1991 when it was withdrawn. It was cut up at Old Oak Common depot in July 1991. 

In the background you can see several old Waterloo and City line underground cars which have been condemned and are waiting to be taken for scrap. They’ve been lifted up on the lift which was situated to the right of the vehicles, which was the only way of getting access to the ‘drain’ (as the Waterloo and City line is known). This area has disappeared completely. It was demolished to make way for the Eurostar terminal, Waterloo International which opened in 1994.   

Here’s a picture going back to an even earlier age of the railways.

0167. Signalbox. Littlehampton. 15.10.1989.+crop

This is the pretty little signalbox at Littlehampton on the South Coast, seen on the 15th October 1989. The box survives to this day as it’s a grade 2 listed building. It’s an example of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway Type 2 design built of brown brick in Flemish bond with hipped slate roof which was completed in 1886 and replaced an 1863 Saxby and Farmer signal box. The LB&SCR employed Saxby & Farmer designs exclusively for its signal boxes until the 1880s, but from then built an increasing number to its own designs. The LB&SCR Type 2 appeared around 1880 and continued to be built until 1896. The design derived from the Saxby & Farmer Type 5 with hipped roofs and broadly similar proportions. The most noticeable differences were the absence of the characteristic toplights above the windows with plain boarding substituted in its place, a different eaves bracket and on some boxes, elaborate valancing at eaves level of a type found in contemporary LB&SCR stations. The LB&SCR built some Type 2 boxes with valancing and some without.

Littlehampton survives substantially intact with the original operating room windows and eaves valancing. The operating room windows have been bricked up but survive behind the bricks. The operating room retains a 1901 LB&SCR Bosham Pattern Lever Frame and the locking room has a locking frame with bars and locking trays. This is the only LB&SCR Type 2 signal box to survive with valancing, matching that used on their railway stations, a feature only rarely used on signal boxes.

It’s lovely to be able to scan and display all these pictures again, although some like the Waterloo shot have never been seen before as they never made it onto my old Fotopic website, which gives them more of a historic interest as even I’d forgotten what was in some of the albums I’m now scanning. You forget just how much the railway world’s changed in 31 years, yet some things – like the signalbox at Littlehampton – haven’t changed at all! That said, the speed of changes is picking up and I can’t help wondering what the railway network we know in 2020 will look like in 2050. Somehow, I doubt I’ll have chance to find out, but who knows – maybe I will live to be 91! 

 

Lockdown. Day 17 (Thursday).

10 Friday Apr 2020

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After the stunning weather of the past few days, today was a real disappointment. It began with mist and haze blanketing the valley and temperatures that were distinctly chilly.

After breakfast we packed the car and drove over to Elland to pick up some of the shopping on Dawn’s folks shopping list. John’s a ceoliac so buying what they need’s a little more complex and convoluted than for most people. It means we can’t just breeze into one supermarket and pick up everything in one go. We were surprised to see just how big the queue of diligently socially-distancing people were when we arrived. Dawn shopped solo so I was free to wander and got this shot as an illustration.

People were queued from the door (at the far right of the building in the background, under the Morrisons name) all the way down the street. We couldn’t work out why at first as this was the first time we’d seen it like this, then the penny dropped. It’s the Easter weekend coming up!

Driving in into Huddersfield on quiet roads we went to Sainsbury’s to pick up the bulk of Dee’s folks shopping and the queues were just as lengthy. It was all well organised and everyone played the game but it did add another 15 minutes to the time it took us. Whilst Dee shopped for her folks I collected some stuff the pair of us needed. We’re both partial to anchovies and the ones Sainsbury’s sell are gorgeous. They’ve a different range of bottled real ales too. Queueing for the checkouts is time consuming as Sainsbury’s have individual queues, unlike Tesco’s who manage it differently so you need to check which line has the least trolleys in it before joining.

We still had one last place to visit – M&S. The town centre store closed last year, leaving the Waterloo branch food hall as sole survivor. It’s a bit of a schlep, but there’s no alternative as no-one else sells what John & Norah need.

The British rediscover the fact that queuing is in their blood…

On the way back we called in at the station so Dawn could check the ACoRP (or as they’re now called, Community Rail Network) office and do some work she couldn’t do at home. I had an hour to kill so took some pictures of the station that RAIL magazine had requested. We might only get out once a week, but we make sure the time’s well spent! The station was deserted. Several TPE services came and went with a bare handful of people using them as people are taking the advice about non-essential travel to heart. To see the Square outside the station so empty on a Thursday afternoon is really quite eerie.

The only person to be found outside Huddersfield station was Harold Wilson’s statue!
The scenes of emptiness were repeated inside the station as the only people to be seen when a TPE service called was station staff. There wasn’t a passenger in sight.

Heading on up to John and Norah’s we left the shopping outside their back door, swapping it for last weeks empty bags then had a short chat at a safe distance before driving back home on equally quiet cross-country backroads before parking the car up at home where it’ll sit unused for another week. I wonder what the NOx levels are like around here at the moment with so few cars being driven? The birdsong around here seems so much more intense right now but I’m beginning to think that’s because in the past it’s been muffled by traffic noise.

Our final outing of the day was for our daily exercise. Oh, we’d got a few steps in, but standing around in Supermarket queues doesn’t really get you many. To get to our total we walked into a deserted Sowerby Bridge where we picked up some non-alcoholic prosecco at the only Tesco we’ve found that sells it, which is rather bizarre. You’re only allowed to buy three bottles at a time which is frustrating as you have to visit more often than you wish.

Hopefully, West Yorkshire police are going to resist displaying the zealotry of some other police forces who’re now suggesting they may decide what constitutes essential and non-essentual shopping. It’s illogical madness and totally impractical. Say I have a shopping bag full of essentials (fresh fruit and veg perhaps) but also a solitary bar of chocolate, or an Easter Egg which I bought on impulse. Does that render everything else void – and where is this enforcable in law? I can see some embrassing climbdown being made here if such actions are challenged in the courts and I feel sorry for front-line coppers who’ve got hard enough jobs to do right now without getting ordered by Senior Officers to enforce this unworkable nonsense. I’m sure that common-sense will eventually prevail so that the police can concentrate on the minority of people who are ignoring all the guidelines and gathering in mixed groups, putting others at risk. From what I’ve seen this mostly (although not exclusively) tends to be the younger generation who think they’re immortal anyway and don’t even think about who they could infect.

Back at home we settled in for the Easter break. We’re going to be going nowhere. We have enough supplies to last us over the holiday so plan to make the most of our time pottering around at home.

Happy (lockdown) Easter folks!

Lockdown. Day 16 (Wednesday).

09 Thursday Apr 2020

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What a stunning day! Just like on Tuesday, the weather was almost wall to wall sunshine with temperatures that crept up to be the highest of the year so far.

I tried sticking to my plan and routine by working in my office, sorting through paperwork, emails and scanning old slides, then decided to break the routine whilst still sticking to the Government guidelines. I’ve mentioned before that we’re fortunate to be on the edge of some great countryside, which means it’s easy to socially isolate when getting out for the daily exercise. I’ve really been missing walking as I’ve been sticking to my minimum daily target, which is half of what would be my norm – and I’m starting to feel it physically, even though I’m using weights at home. Today I decided to go solo, extend my walk, tackle some more challenging terrain and take the camera.

Starting from home I walked down to the valley floor, across the canal, under the railway, over the River Calder and clambered up through the woods and the steep paths to the ridge above Copley. As the crow flies it’s little over a mile. I can even look back at the house, but on a hot day it’s cracking exercise. Here’s the view looking across the Copley viaduct on the railway between Halifax and Sowerby Bridge with the Wainhouse Tower above.

The path I’m on at this point runs along a cliff that’s actually a geological fault line. Not that you’d know that it’s there as the area’s dense woodland, similar to the opposite side of the valley that you can see in the picture above the viaduct to the right, which is our local Scarr woods.

I’m a long way from any roads here and I only saw a handful of other people out running, or walking. Keeping your distance is easy akthough this being Yorkshire, most people acknowledge each other and say hello when they pass.

For a brief period (in splendid isolation) ot felt like normality had returned. The feel of the sun on my skin and the breeze through the trees was gorgeous. Only two things gave the gane away, the infrequency of the trains and the lack of traffic noise from the (normally) busy road along the valley floor.

Having achieved my aim and even managed a couple of pictures I reluctantly headed home, retracing my steps back to ‘my’ side of the valley. Despite passing two pubs in the way there was no chance of giving into temptation to nip in for a swift one! It’s going to be a long time before that pleasure returns…

Back at the ranch the weather was simply too good to hole up inside scanning slides so I brought a bunch of paperwork downstairs and sat outside on the bench to soak up the sun and top up my vitamin D levels. With not having my usual 1-2 months away in Asia last year or a foreign stint this year I’ve really missed the sun. I don’t think I’ve been this pale-skinned for years!

Our evening was spent much like many others as I tried to keep up with world events via social media and also catch up with a bit of blogging before sloping off to bed for a relatively early night.

We’ve another day tomorrow that breaks up the routine as we’re on our weekly ‘mercy mission’ to shop for Dawn’s parents over in Huddersfield. Funny how you end up looking forward to simple things like that…

Lockdown. Day 15 (Tuesday)

08 Wednesday Apr 2020

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Not the most exciting of days, admittedly. The coronavirus Pavlovian reflexes have kicked in to maintain the pattern of our current lives. The problem is the lack of choice. Some routine is good. For example, it’s lovely to be able to get to meditate together as a start to the day, but then you know pretty much what the day will bring and the space you’ll occupy to do it. Randomness is pretty much a thing of the past.

Don’t get me wrong, there are far, far worse fates. Being at home I have lots of options around me and all my possessions. It’s not like I’m a prisoner in an institution where I only have what the authorities allow me to have, or be in the awful position that hostages like Terry Waite were in. If routine and the lack of change in surroundings is the price I have to pay to prevent people dying, then so be it. It’s not like it’s going to be forever and there are compensations and opportunities.

The day passed with me catching up on scanning another large batch of slides, something I’d neglected to do over the weekend as I was focussed on other chores. I’m half-tempted to take a break from the rail archive and scan some of the 1000s of travel pictures I have in the queue but as we’re in lockdown I’m not sure it’s such a good idea as it’ll remind me what I’m missing – travel. I can’t think of the last time I spent so much time pretty much in the same place. It’s not so bad with the archive rail shots as it’s not as if I have a time-machine so that I can go back to 1981! I’m reminded of the LP Hartley quote that “the past is a foreign country”.

What did chafe slightly was that the weather was so good. It’s been a lovely sunny day, but then we’re fortunate that we have a garden we can take a break in. I’m not sure how I’d cope if I still lived in East London in one of the 1930’s deck access blocks of flats. That must be really hard, so I count my blessings. ‘Social distancing’ on the narrow stairwells and walkways that are your only outdoor space will be impossible.

At the end of the working day Dawn and I did manage to get out for our state-approved daily exercise and I managed to hit my 12.5k daily step target. Because of the weather and the lateness of the day there were more people out, but it was hardly Piccadilly Circus. We completed our usual routine of woods, promenade and park before heading home. As the freezer’s full there’s no point to cooking anything, we can live off that, but to be honest, now the weather’s warming, I don’t feel the need for such big meals in the evening so I’m happy to graze, or just have something simple although I miss the creativity of cooking at the same time as being happy I can fill time with other things. Never pleased, are we? Instead, Dee prepared tinned fish in tomato sauce on toast with the added kick of some of her home-made Thai-style chilli pickle, just for that special song effect in the morning…

Lockdown. Day 14 (Monday).

07 Tuesday Apr 2020

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Another start to the working week begins…

It actually began rather well as the weather forecast was excellent and the reality lived up to expectations. We had bright sunny weather almost all day. It would have been ideal for going for a wander with the camera, but for one teeny little problem…

In truth, I can’t think when I last laid off taking pictures for as long as I have. It’s not that I don’t have things I could exercise my lenses on but my focus (sorry, bad pun time) has been on getting all my old slides scanned. This meant that for much of the day I did my best troglodyte impression despite the glorious weather, and spent my time hunched over a lightbox, computer and scanner in a time-consuming process that means it’s easy to lose track of the hours.

With Dawn occupied downstairs the two of us at least try and start the day united by doing a morning meditation together in the living room before putting our noses to our respective grindstones. We both slave away most of the day, bumping into each other in the kitchen occasionally or when Dee needs to use our printer which is located in my office. Otherwise we try not to disturb each other until we can both break off and go for our daily exercise.

Despite the isolation I do try and keep track of the world through various news outlets and social media. I also keep half an eye on the ‘Extinction Rebellion’ antics on the HS2 worksites in Warwickshire. Problem is, they churn out such a volume of social media where someone’s talking utter nonsense over a video of nothing happening it’s easy to lose the will to live/miss something. If only they did an ‘edited highlights’. Most days that wouldn’t take up more than a minute of people’s time!

The big news in the real world was of the Prime Minister going into intensive care with Covid-19. I can’t stand the man but I wish him no ill, merely a long and happy life somewhere where he can do no more damage. How and when this pandemic is going to end is anyone’s guess – and we still have the real consequences of Brexit to look ‘forward’ to by the end of the year. The only good news is that some countries look to have Coronavirus deaths and infections under control, although it’s still early days. However, there is cause for cautious optimism. How things will pan out here is too early to say as the picture’s far less clear because of our lack of testing and because the UK’s death statistics are less than reliable. As for the economic picture – that’s another guess. The financial markets appear to be recovering but they’ve been up and down like a Brides nightie and the news of more receiverships such as Debenhams doesn’t help to reassure. There’s going to be more familiar names falling yet and no-one knows how much spare cash people will have (if any) when we come out of lockdown and businesses resume operations.

Today there was no need to get any shopping so our walk was very much for exercise and nothing else. We’re so lucky that where we live we have plenty of open spaces and woodland to walk to and through. We’ve developed a regular circuit which takes us through Scarr woods reserve with its steep paths leading to the Albert Promenade. They’re always good for getting the heart racing and the blood pumping. A stroll in the sunshine along the prom offers great views across the Calder valley and allows the pulse to return to normal before we hit Savile Park for a circuit along its tree-lined edges before retracing our steps and returning home. To people’s credit, most of those we encounter abide by the social distancing rules. There’s only one or two who clearly struggle to conceptualise what 2 metres looks like in reality, but you can normally spot them a mile off. It’s the bloody joggers who brush past as they overtake you from behind that you want to Tazer!

Oh, I mentioned the slides I’ve been scanning. Looking through the database and my records it looks like I’m well on my way to completing my railway archive, which is an enormous relief. At this rate I’ll have them all done in the next month or two. When you consider that I’m currently scanning pictures from October 1989 that have never been seen since I took them, so that’s something I’m quite chuffed about. If you look at it in years, it’s only taken me half a lifetime! Here’s a couple of samples that are a little different to ones I normally add.

0065. Aughton Rd signalbox. Southport. 31.09.1989.+crop

I’ve always had an interest in railway architecture and signalboxes in particular – although hundreds have disappeared in the past 30 odd years, including this one. This is one of a series of boxes that guarded level crossings in Southport, my old home town. They all disappeared in the early 1990s.

Another interest was BR’s departmental fleet. Old coaches and wagons that had been taken out of revenue use and converted to service vehicles. BR had hundreds of them, some dating back to before the grouping in 1923.

0102. ADB 975705. Bedford. 04.10.1989.+crop

On the 4th October 1989 I photographed ADB975705 at Bedford. It was a former BR Mk1 Brake Second Composite (BSK) which had been converted to an Overhead Line Maintenance Train vehicle by stripping out the interior and fitting a flat roof with a walkway so that engineers could work on the overhead wires. This one went for scrap in 2000 as they’ve now been replaced by road-rail vehicles, which are more flexible, just not as interesting!

Chris Packham’s Judgement day…

06 Monday Apr 2020

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Today the High Court released the full details and legal argument of their judgement on Chris Packham’s appeal for an interim injunction to stop tree felling on the route of HS2, and also his application for a Judicial Review. Both were rejected last week, but today the judges (Lord Justice Coulson and Mr Justice Holgate) published their judgement which you can find here.

It’s brutal. If I were Packham’s solicitors I’d be reaching for either the brandy or the smelling salts because they do not come out of this well. One only has to wonder about the quality of advice they gave to Packham as the judges make no bones about what they think, or found. I’d also suggest the man himself should have a long hard think and consider if the money donated to his Crowdfunder to bring this (obviously) futile action which clearly had no chance of success (as the judgement explains) was well spent, or how the poor people who were mugged for more than £100,000 might feel about their money being trousered by lawyers when the case had no chance of success? Here’s some snippets. First up, the Judges opinion of Packham’s Solicitors…

packham solictiros

“Overlong and repetitive with an unfortunately imperious tone”? Ouch!

It gets worse…

packham 2

If his solicitors (Leigh-Day) cheeks weren’t burning after that last slap, they should be after this one!

As you’d expect from High Court judges, the judgement goes into great detail, with references to case law and legal opinion. It gives not a single crumb of comfort to Packham or his legal team. I said in previous blogs that Packham’s obsession with the Oakervee was barking up the wrong tree (if you’ll pardon the pun) and the High Court make that clear. Oh, the final sentence of the 30 page judgement is a zinger, not just for Packham, but also for the eco-fascists who’re breaking the covid-19 Lockdown to tie up Police, Court Bailiffs and security guards on the HS2 construction sites.

packham 3

The reaction to all this on social media has been muted so far, mainly because the judgement won’t reach many people. Twitter however, is different. Here’s on reaction, which sums things up rather well, including Packham’s predicament…

pete

So, if you support HS2 or not. Next time Packham and his legal time ask you for money. Don’t throw it away, again. Those opposed to HS2 have wasted millions of pounds on futile legal actions over the years, much of that money’s been raised from poor sods who’ve been persuaded to part with it via Crowdfunders and appeals. It’s wasted more millions of public funds in defending these actions. And all for what? Nothing. Hs2 is being built. Now…

 

Lockdown. Day 13 (Sunday).

06 Monday Apr 2020

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Yesterday’s lie-in seemed like such a good way of making weekends feel special again we had another one today! With days not deviating much from a set routine it seemed like the most sensible thing to do – although I eventually persuaded to rise as the sun was shining. The day promised to be the warmest of the year so far, so it would have been a shame to waste too much of it, especially as I had plans for some gardening, which would allow me to make the most of the weather. I still managed to get a few slides set up ready for scanning, but I’m tryig to keep that activity to the week as a way of structuring my days.

After breakfast Dawn kept herself busy with chores around the house whilst I finished off reconditioning our wooden bench. Rather than using my electric sander I decided to get some exercise by doing it the old-fashioned way, with a sheet of sandpaper and plenty of elbow grease. It looked pretty good when I’d finished, but there was one slight problem which I discovered when I went to unlock my phone which is protected by fingerprint recognition. I’d effectively sanded my fingerprint away and the phone wouldn’t recognise it! Thankfully, the phone has a password back-up, otherwise it could’ve have been rather embarrassing. Imagine having to explain to people why I never answered my phone, “I was waiting for my fingerprint to grow back”…

With the bench completed I dismantled a little cloche-type greenhouse we’d had but that I realised was rotten with rust. We only used it as a shelf anyway, so scrapping it freed up quite a bit of space and and allowed me to move some plants around. I really enjoy gardeing, it’s great therapy and there’s something about getting soil under your fingernails. My garden here is tiny compared to the space I had in London, but even so, I try to make the most of it (although I do miss my pond)!

I managed to catch a few peaceful moments on the bench afterwards, checking the news. Of course, the pandemic dominated. Even the news that the Labour party had elected Keir Starmer as their new leader by a landslide didn’t make much of an impact. Thank God we’ve finally got someone who could turn the basket-case the Labour party became under Corbyn back into an effective opposition party and possible contender for Government. It’s early days yet and we don’t know who will be in the Shadow Cabinet, but it’s certainly cause for something we’ve not had after 5 years of ‘Magic Grandad’. Hope.

As I was on cooking duty this evening and we needed a few basics the pair of us combined our daily exercise with a trip down into Sowerby Bridge and a visit to the supermarket. On a sunny Sunday in the run up to Easter you’d normally expect to find Sowerby buzzing with people visiting the canal basin or one of the local cafes or bars. The reality was, it was deserted.

Most people are taking the message to stay at home seriously. We passed a couple of dog walkers, a handful of families walking kids, not pets, and a few people like us who were walking rather than driving to the shops. The small queue at Tesco’s delayed us by only a few minutes. What caused more hassle was the one way system they’ve devised which means everybody’s walking in the same direction as you zig-zag up and down the aisles. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work, but some people were clearly struggling with the system. If your shopping list isn’t written in the right order you probably will!

Yomping back up the hill to home we both sat outside in the garden and enjoyed my handiwork and the late afternoon sun before retreating indoors. Dawn amused herself phoning friends and watching TV whilst I cooked a chicken Korma both for us and for the freezer. A couple of years ago we bought one of those American style twin door fridge-freezers. To be honest, it’s been one of our best investments as we can batch-cook and have a range of fantastic home-cooked meals ready for whenever we need them – like the circumstances we find ourselves in now.

Cooking is another of my therapies. I really enjoy doing it. I’ll never get on MasterChef, but that’s not why I do it. I enjoy finding great recipes but I’m not afraid to tailor them to our tastes but with the Korma there’s no need. The recipe was given to me by Meena, an Indian friend in London many many years ago and it’s still unbeatable.

Dawn reckons it’s the best Korma she’s ever had, so I always try and make sure we have one stashed away in the freezer. We’re now set up with meals for the next fortnight, so during the week we can concentrate on work and other things, as I suspect we’re going to be in Lockdown for quite a few weeks yet. At least we’ve now got a lovely garden to sit out in and watch the world pass by if we find the Government do tighten the restrictions of getting out, although I’m remaining optimistic that they won’t. Time will tell…

Lockdown. Day 12. (Saturday).

04 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Lockdown, Musings

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Weekends seem to mean so little now because with ‘lockdown’ every day is pretty much the same. Our only break from the routine we’ve got into is on Thursdays when we head over to Huddersfield to shop for Dee’s parents. This morning we both thought ‘sod it’ and actually had a lie-in which is pretty much unheard of as both of us are normally up early as Dawn’s exercising and I’m scanning pictures. It almost felt rebellious to still be in bed at 10am!

When I did finally drag my arse out of bed I made up for my indolence by getting stuck into some DIY. I’ve been meaning to waterproof the front of the house for the past few years. Where we’re situated, high up on the side of the Calder valley is pretty exposed and the front of the house takes a beating from the elements. Today the weather had warmed up sufficiently that I could apply the waterproofing coating to the stonework as per the manufacturers recommendations. Yep, I’m a bloke so I read the instructions! Our cottage is only small but it still took most of the afternoon as the stuff needs a couple of hours between coats. In-between I kept myself busy sanding down the wooden bench we have outside the front of the cottage in order to treat the wood with preservative and give it some TLC after the winter weather. Our home is South facing and it’s a lovely spot to sit in the summer, gazing across the valley, watching the wildlife in the trees opposite, or just chatting to our neighbours or friends passing by.

Ready for whatever the weather throws at us now!

Funny, isn’t it? We keep ourselves occupied with all those mundane little chores as if life is normal, yet it’s anything but – especially for those people who’ve had their lives altered by contact with coronavirus. Imagine not being able to attend the funeral of a loved one who’s passed away after contracting covid-19? The news reports that 708 people have died today. It’s a bare statistic, yet each one is a real person and almost all will have a family grieving for them in circumstances we know nothing about. Maybe, when we come out of all this, we’ll learn to appreciate what’s important in life – and what’s not. The events of the past few weeks have certainly made me look at life in a different way. I’ll be curious to see if we go back to ‘normal’ (whatever that actually means) when this is all over. Will be just forget about it after a couple of weeks and pick up where we left off? For some people, the one’s who will have lost their jobs, or even their loved ones, that will be impossible. It may be difficult for the rest of us as we still don’t know just what the economic damage is going to be at the end. There’s just so many unanswerable questions right now…

So, I’m not even going to try. Instead, I’m going to have a quiet night in (after all, it’s not like I can go anywhere!), enjoy some good food and prepare to make the most of tomorrow, because who knows what the future might hold?

Lockdown. Day 11 (Friday).

04 Saturday Apr 2020

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I thought this lockdown was meant to mean that we’d have time on our hands? It certainly doesn’t seem to be working out like that for me. Friday was a bit of a frustrating day as I didn’t get anywhere near as much done as I’d planned. For once I didn’t even get time to get a walk in which left me way behind the 5+ miles a day that I normally manage.

Still, it wasn’t all bad. I did manage to sift through the next slide album in the queue for scanning which is the one containing the very first slides I took way back in 1989. I junked over 250 of the 830 in the album mainly because I’d got better pictures taken in the intervening years – or the fact that actually, some of them simply weren’t up to scratch! My standards and technical proficiency have changed somewhat in the past 31 years! Weeding out the rejects now saves me time when it comes to the scanning process. As I wasn’t so fixated on scanning slides I also managed to get some decluttering done and junk a load of old paperwork, which was mainly press releases and conference bumpf going back several years – none of which had any relevance anymore but you keep ‘just in case’. I’m getting much more willing to dispose of these things nowadays and be less of a hoarder, not just because of the space they take up, but also because life’s too short. When you consider the amount of stuff we surround ourselves with nowadays a bout of decluttering is no bad thing. Let’s face it , if I kicked the bucket tomorrow, most of it would end up in a skip anyway!

Another bright spot was the news that Chris Packham lost his legal case against HS2. I’d suspected he would as his action seemed to be completely without merit. I won’t go into it in detail as I blogged about it here yesterday. Maybe now we can finally get moving with a project that we desperately need for several reasons right now.

This weekend I’ll be keeping my foot off the slide scanning pedal as the weather’s meant to be improving and I’ve work to the cottage that I want to do. Normal service will be resumed next week as all the signs are that the lockdown is going to continue for several weeks yet. The death toll’s rising, which is tragic but hardly unexpected. We’re not going to be out of the woods for quite some time yet, so it’s a case of making the most of being cooped up at home and using the time to catch up on all those things that never made it to the front of the list. Who knows, by the time this is all over I might have all my old railway pictures online!

For me, Friday was the day when I’d often go up to our local pub, the Big 6, to meet up with friends and do the quiz, from the Pub Paper. As this is out of the question nowadays a few of us have got together to do it online, which isn’t quite the same, but at least we still get to interact and have a laugh. I do wonder just how we’d all cope with lockdown without the internet and modern communications. The ability to interact with family and friends – or just stream movies and binge-watch TV is making life more bearable. Just imagine how much of an emergency it would be now if the internet went down…