I’ve had another long day working from home which has allowed me to achieve a variety of things. Firstly, I’ve caught up with picture editing which means there’s now over 59,300 pictures on my Zenfolio website. Follow this link to see which galleries the most recent pictures have been added to. I’ve also been busy on other client based projects, one of which I can’t talk about at the moment but it involves a lot of search for particular pictures. Hopefully I’ll have this finished by the weekend. Of course there’s been the usual paperwork drudgery, plus keeping in touch with clients about jobs old and new via the wonders of email. There’s some exciting stuff to look forward to, including a job on Merseyside on Friday, but more about that when it happens.
Despite all the office based stuff I’ve still managed to get out and get some exercise by strolling up through our local woods, taking a roundabout route to do some shopping, although today the Calder Valley hasn’t exactly been basking in sunshine, just haze and a mixture of dull skies or high cloud. Compared to the fantastic summer we had last year this one’s more like the proverbial curate’s egg!
With being so busy I’ve not been following the news so I’ve escaped the madhouse that’s the Tory Leadership race to the bottom. The idea that the country, or rather a very tiny proportion of it which is Tory, elderly and believes in some batshit crazy stuff – including Brexit – is about to elect a blustering and incompetent serial liar as the next Prime Minister (yes, you Boris Johnson) is beyond madness. But that’s where we are nowadays. The country has taken leave of its senses and all the majority of us can do is watch the car-crash as it unfolds in front of our eyes. How long it will take before the first political crisis arises after Johnson’s elected is anyone’s guess, but I’m willing to bet that it won’t take long. The Tory membership may be falling over themselves at Johnson’s feet, but there’s plenty of seasoned Tory politicians who know what a disaster he would be as Premier and the potential he has to tear their party apart and/or lead it to political oblivion. I suppose that might be the only silver lining to this particular cloud but it’s a hell of a price to pay.
Right, enough political musing, I’ve got another early start as I’ve lots of work to do tomorrow and the alarm clock’s already counting down to morning…
It makes a change to be heading for Leeds without a reversal at Bradford. I’m also enjoying the different scenery. The line through Brighouse to Mirfield is a shadow of it’s former self. Once it was four tracks all the way from ‘brig’, with massive goods yards and a vast amount of freight traffic along with a large steam locomotive depot at Mirfield, one of the last to close in the UK. The site is now a housing estate that was built in the last decade.Some of the towns haven’t fared much better, such as nearby Dewsbury (although it still has a lovely station and great station bar) and Batley, once renowned for its variety club and all the famous names that played there. Now, it’s infamous for the awful murder of Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox by a far-right fanatic.What Batley does have is one of the last surviving signal boxes in this part of the world, which protects a small level crossing to the East of the town. I’ll add a picture later.14:43.I’ve enjoyed a short break in Leeds in the sunshine, now I’m heading South bit by bit. First off is LNER’s 14:45 to Kings Cross which is worked by one of the companies fleet of HSTs that will soon be replaced by Azuma’s. The HSTs replacement on Intercity services is sounding the death knell for something that dates back to the dawn of the railways. The slam door…
The HSTs that will remain in service are being converted to power operated doors, meaning the remaining slam door stock will be operated by charter operators and a couple of the freight companies like DB who lease them out to one or two operators like Scotrail, Abellio and Transport for Wales but they’ll be history on intercity services17:12.Far later than I expected due to technical issues with dealing with last minute picture requests, I’m now speeding south from Doncaster on another LNER service from Leeds, only this one’s a crowded and toasty Mk4 set. The air conditioning is struggling in my coach (F) but it’s the only one I could find a free airline seat in. Despite that, the crew have been great.All I can say is I’m glad I’m not dressed in full PPE (other than boots, which are easier to wear than carry) and I can dress down and pretend this is a local train in Thailand. Well, apart from the sights, sounds and smells, obviously!18:21.I abandoned my LNER service at Stevenage which offers a very handy connection to cross-London Thameslink services. The days of having to fight your way from terminal to terminal via the London Underground have dropped dramatically and will do so even more when Thameslink finally opens.20:18.OK, I admit I dallied in old haunts in central London for half an hour as the weather was so perfect. I bailed out of my Thameslink service at Blackfriars after seeing the stunning weather. I couldn’t resist a short walk aking the south bank just see see how the ever changing skyline of the ‘square mile’ looks like now.
