Tag Archives: Calder Valley

15th February picture of the day…

15 Thursday Feb 2024

Posted by in Calder Valley, Climate Change, Musings, Picture of the day, Politics

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Today feels like one of those days where you don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the state of the country – or planet. To say it’s been unseasonably mild here in the Calder Valley would be an understatement. According to various registers we hit a balmy 15 degrees. There’s only one problem. That’s way, way above the seasonal average for Sowerby Bridge and (if confirmed) a new record. So, to those who say global warming is a myth. I have a two word answer – and the second word is “Off”…

The pair of us spent most of our day working from home apart from an outing in the car as Dawn had to drop off work papers at their accountants, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone to pop into our local Indian supermarket to stock up on various exotic herbs, spices and other goodies before doing the more mundane shopping at Tesco. Not that we bought crap you understand, just staples.

Back home I ploughed on with various work including a request for a selection of old railway pictures from the early 1990s that may (or may not) make it into a magazine. When I took them it was purely for pleasure. I never dreamed that one day they might make it into print, but that’s nostalgia for you. What seemed everyday on the railways back in 1990 looks anything but now.

Whilst I was working I did have half an eye on’t t’internet and the campaigning that’s going on in two by-elections today. Labour are widely expected to win both former Tory safe seats and in the case of Wellingborough it’s not hard to see why. Not only were the local Tory party stupid enough to pick the girlfriend of the ousted MP (Peter Bone) as their candidate, the other parties are making a mess of things too. ‘Reform’ – formerly known as the Brexit party, has put forward ‘man of the people’ (My arse: Ed) Ben Habib. Only it seems Mr Habib is about as familiar with his potential constituency as he is with the truth. Hence this, from Twitter – and it’s only one of many mocking examples!

The only saving grace of fools like this is that Reform don’t stand a chance of getting elected but they will abstract enough votes from the Tories to make it an easy Labour win. I’ll look forward to waking up in the morning to a very different future – in two constituencies at least. The rest of us? We’ll have to soldier on in a country that’s increasingly falling apart as it’s asset stripped by Sunak and Co to try and fund their election bribe – sorry ‘tax cuts’ in order to win the next election. Only they won’t win, and neither will we. The only people who will are the people rich enough to make money from such tax cuts and insulate themselves from what comes next. Hopefully, enough people will wake up to that fact before it’s too late.

In the meantime I hope to enjoy some short-lived schadenfreude at the Tories expense tomorrow. Oh, I’ve other plans too, but that’s for another blog…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

2nd February picture(s) of the day…

02 Friday Feb 2024

Posted by in Calder Valley, Down memory lane, Photography, Picture of the day

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Yes, I’m still alive! There’s little time for blogging at the moment as I have other things going on right now, one of which is having a clear-out of stuff I’ve accumulated over the last 50 plus years of my life. In short, half a century of stuff that I’ve been clinging onto and (in some cases) that I’d even forgotten I had. It’s been an interesting experience. Some of it (mostly – but not all – old railway memorabilia) has ended up on eBay. You can find it here. I’ll be adding more stuff over the next few days. There’s a selection of old button and pin badges and comics that may be of interest to collectors of such stuff. Here’s a sample of what’s to be added.

YES always used to tour around my birthday and seeing them at the Bingley Hall in Stafford was my present to myself. It was the first gig I ever went to on my own as a teenager. Fond memories!

As for the rest, it’s either gone to charity shops – or the bin!

I hope to get back to blogging again soon, we’ll see. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture. Well, yesterday’s really. This was the sunset over the Calder Valley.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

17th January picture of the day…

17 Wednesday Jan 2024

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Nepal, Photography, Picture of the day

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We’ve had another of those winter days where brass monkeys are seeking the urgent assistance of welders! Temperatures have remained sub-zero all day. The forecast is telling me it’s currently minus 6 which is hardly surprising as we’ve had clear skies and sunshine throughout most of the day. Despite sunny weather I’ve been happy to stay in for most of the day, picture editing and catching up on various other admin. In fact, it’s been rather a productive day and one that’s lined up work for the future.

Whilst I’ve been busy in the office I’ve also been keeping an eye on the welfare of the wild bird population by ensuring they’ve plenty of food to eat with a mix of oats, rice and chopped (cooked) vegetables. At times I’ve seen real bunfights between several Blackbirds, Magpies, Thrushes and Robins as they establish (literally) a pecking order! They’ve been quite entertaining to watch. With the amount of food the Blackbirds have gobbled I’m surprised they’ve not needed a runway to take off on!

Now it’s evening, the temperatures dropping and I’m preparing to wind down for the day. I’ll leave you with a snow scene, but it’s not from the Calder valley, it’s from a valley much, much further away. You’ll never see the Pennines like this!

A medium long lens shot of the Himalayas taken from outside our tent when we were trekking in Nepal in 1998. Sadly, I never recorded the names of the individual mountains. So, apart from the fact this is one of the range North of Gorkha, I couldn’t tell you if it’s Manaslue, Bauda Himal or any of the other high Himalayas in that range. Whatever it’s called it really was rather special being this close.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

16th January picture(s) of the day…

16 Tuesday Jan 2024

Posted by in Calder Valley, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, West Yorkshire

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Well. I didn’t have this on my bingo card when I pulled open the bedroom blinds this morning!

We weren’t meant to be having snow until late in the day and even then it was meant to be mixed with rain. Instead, we had rather a nice dusting of the white stuff. Well, at least at our height. The valley floor didn’t get the same treatment. This was rather frustrating as I’d several hours work planned this morning which I couldn’t get out of so by the time I did get to don my waterproofs (more to keep the freezing wind out than anything else) the snow had already begun to recede, despite the low temperatures. Working on the old axiom of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ I caught a train West to Todmorden, working on the assumption that as the weather was coming from that direction I’d be likely to find more snow. Sure enough, there was more on the ground, even though it still wasn’t exactly ‘deep and crisp and even’. I went for a hike from Tod’ station along footpaths well gritted backroads to Gauxholme, between Tod’ and Walsden then slipped and slid my way uphill to a site that’s one of my favourite locations in the valley. Here’s why…

195005 leads 195019 through Gauxholme whilst working 1J19, the 14:12 Leeds to Manchester Victoria.

I stayed long enough to get several shots but by 15:00 the snow was coming in again from the West and the wind was perishing! Besides, there’s only so many permutations of this shot you can take. Walking downhill with the camera bag on my back was more difficult than ascending. I was kicking myself for not bringing my walking poles but I managed to make it down without going arse over tit. Maybe we’ll get a thicker covering of snow later in the year. Maybe not, but at least I’ve finally got a snow shot from Gauxholme.

Now I’m back home taking it easy for the evening, feeling virtuous as not only do have some useful pictures, I’ve smashed all my exercise targets to boot. Still, it’s strange to think that this time last year I was doing anything *but* freezing. I’d already been in SE-Asia for a week and had just arrived in Kuala Lumpur.

I won’t be venturing out of the valley tomorrow. I’ve too much to sort out in readiness for what’s going to be a hectic time next week as I’ll be doing a lot of travelling with many different events to blog about. But for now, it’s time to say goodnight.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

14th November picture of the day…

14 Sunday Jan 2024

Posted by in Calder Valley, Flora and Fauna, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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We’ve had another quiet day here at Bigland Towers, although it’s been anything but lazy. I was up early and working in the office by 07:30. Admittedly, it’s not much of a commute from the front to the back of the cottage – and I can do it in my dressing gown! Even so, I felt virtuous as I was making the most of the day. The fact the nights are getting shorter helps. There’s nothing worse than sitting there in the dark, not being able to see anything out of the office window but being able to hear the wind and the rain beating down outside. Thankfully, we’ve finally hit a dry spell which is also lightening the mood.

Much of my day’s been spent catching up on picture editing and adding recent images to my Zenfolio website. Click on this link to see which galleries have been updated. I’ve still got many more to add, both from my recent HS2 site visit and also archive shots from Nepal (but those will be taking a backseat for a little while).

Continuing with the virtuous theme I managed to surpass all my exercise targets which has made me happy – and helps me feel ‘dry January’ is proving worthwhile. Now I’ve got to hope the bathroom scales will confirm the results! It’s not that I’m overweight in any way, I’m merely outside my normal parameters so it was time to get back to the weight I feel happiest and most comfortable at.

Whilst working I’ve enjoyed watching the birdlife outside. We have a stone shed roof opposite which is an ideal bird-feeding station. I’ve found that bags of oats make a cheap alternative to more expensive bird-foods and our feathered friends of all sizes love ’em. I’ve had Magpies, Doves, Wood Pigeons, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Robins, Sparrows and Wrens put in an appearance today, whilst the nut and seed feeders hanging under the eaves have attracted all manner of Tits. As the light’s improved I was even tempted to get the camera out. So, today’s picture is of one of this morning’s visitors. I’m presuming this is actually a Thrush – my bird recognitions not as comprehensive as my railway fleet recognition!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

13th January picture of the day…

13 Saturday Jan 2024

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

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After my recent travels I’m having a quiet weekend at home here at Bigland Towers, editing all the pictures I’ve taken, getting some out to clients and preparing the research for my next series of RAIL articles, plus pitching for other work. There’s certainly been plenty to keep me occupied – including household chores and routine maintenance to the cottage, which has been made possible now we’ve hit a dry patch. That said, the weather’s turning increasingly cold and the media is full of forecasts (some of dubious provenance and reliability – but enough of the daily Express!) of impending snow storms and apocalyptic conditions. We’ll see. I wouldn’t mind the chance to update some snow pictures, but it’s moot if I can’t get out of the house!

One thing the dry conditions have aided me in is the ability to hit all my January exercise targets which are going along with my month-long holiday from alcohol. That’s not proved to be the problem I thought it might. My willpower’s remained strong. But abstinence is starting to get a tad boring. The thing about being a real-ale drinker is that there’s so much variety. However, much as Adnams ‘Ghost Ship’ 0.5% is a reasonable substitute for a proper pint, variety is lacking. I may have to take a trip to Sainsbury’s and buy some of their low-alcohol Infinite session IPA which comes in cans. Abstinence from alcohol aside, there’s plenty to look forward to in the next couple of weeks with jobs around the country. All will be revealed in rolling blogs as they happen.

Right now it’s time to call it a day and put my feet up with Dawn and enjoy a spot of escapist TV, so I’ll leave you with today’s picture. Here’s one of Chiltern’s old ‘Thames Turbo’ trains that I travelled on earlier in the week. It’s seen at Marylebone station in London. Now, I ran this question as a quiz on Twitter, some people got the answer, but many didn’t.

What makes Marylebone unique amongst London’s terminal stations?

I’ll post the answer on Monday. There’s no prize for the correct answer – just the opportunity to show off your ‘inner anorak’!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

8th January picture of the day…

08 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Nepal, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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It’s the start of another week here at Bigland Towers but, having finally digested all the Xmas turkey and other largesse, the country’s beginning to shake off the festive lethargy, which means I’ll be travelling to press events again, starting on Wednesday. Today, I wasn’t going anywhere. It’s been bleedin’ Baltic here in the valley. We may have escaped the floods and flurries of snow that have affected other parts of the country but the mercury’s remained huddled at the bottom of the thermometer so most of my day’s been spent glued to a computer screen in the office apart from a foray down into Sowerby Bridge to post the latest batch of eBay sales. Returning home in a biting wind made me decide it’s time to break out the winter woolies – especially as the forecast is for temperatures to continue to drop over the next week. Despite my Viking ancestry, I’m suited to sunny climes, not this sort of weather! Maybe we should rename this the colder Valley…

Still, I’ve had an interesting diversion from the UK climate in some of the old slides I’ve been scanning. I’m on the last few dozen from my round the world trip in 1997-1999. These are of Nepal and trekking in the Himalayas. They’ve brought back lots of fond memories as some of them I’ve not looked at for decades. Sadly, with the fact they’re 26 years old, several of the faces in them are no longer with us. They’ve made me realise just how precious time is. The last of the pictures will be scanned and edited by the end of the week when you’ll be able to find them all in this gallery on my Zenfolio website. But, in the meantime, today’s picture is another taster.

We’d joined a Dutch friend (Axel) who lived in Goa, India on a trek he ran in Nepal to raise money for a Nepalese charity that he and his Partner Lucie ran. The charity funded projects in the remote village of Barpak in the Gorkha district of Nepal. The treks (which lasted 10 days) took you from Gorkha to Barpak and beyond up into the Himalayas just short of the snow level. It was arduous and the accomodation was either in tents, local homes or the occasional basic hotel. One night our little band stopped in someone’s half built house. Needless to say, we became a curiosity for the local youngsters. There was no TV and certainly no mobile phones to keep them entertained, so why not watch us? I turned the tables and took this photo, here’s me watching them, watching us as we cooked our evening meal.

I often wonder what happened to people we met on or worldwide wanderings. How many of these young girls now have families of their own? Did any of them ever move from that village as most people never do.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

6th January picture of the day…

06 Saturday Jan 2024

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Nepal, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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Miracle of miracles – we’ve had a whole day without rain here in the Calder valley! Not only that, we’ve also had blue skies and this strange round shiny yellow thing hanging around in them. Admittedly, it’s also been bloody cold but – hey, I’ll take it over the alternative!

After a morning sorting out pictures and paperwork indoors the dry weather allowed me to spend several hours catching up on exterior chores such as clearing mounds of slippy, wet leaves from the front and back of the cottage which has allowed me to get a ladder out safely and clear the guttering at the back of the property, ready for the next deluge. It’s lovely being surrounded by trees but they don’t half create some work in the autumn/winter! Whilst I was attacking the guttering I had the chance to check on the bird boxes I’d put up at the back of the house a couple of years ago. We’ve had plenty of prospective tenants but no-one’s ever nested. In close inspection I found some feathered friends had been trying to enlarge the holes in order to take up occupancy, so a job for tomorrow is to enlarge the openings and give ’em the chance to claim squatters rights.

The stone flags at the front of the cottage are still too slippy for ladders but we’re meant to have another sunny day tomorrow and a balmy 3 degrees so conditions should be good by lunchtime, allowing me to give the front of the cottage the same treatment as well as try to establish where our front porch is leaking from. It’s a lovely decorative stone feature but it was a later Victorian add-on to the original building so prone to water ingress. Whatever, there’s plenty to keep me occupied tomorrow which will help me meet my boosted exercise targets. I’ve ticked every box so far this year including ‘dry January’, so I’m feeling chuffed with myself. Plus, a bit of sunshine’s always a mood-lifter.

One of this morning office jobs was to crack on with finishing off some slide scanning which has provided today’s picture and look on life in a very different world. Forget supermarkets and pre-packaged fruit and veg. Here’s a local shop in Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal, seen in April 1998. Give me this rather than self-checkouts any day…

You can find many more pictures from Nepal and the rest of this 1997-99 Odyssey here.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

28th December picture of the day…

28 Thursday Dec 2023

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day

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With it being the festive season and my priorities lying elsewhere I’ve taken a break from blogging these past few days. Besides, who wants to read about Turkey and other Christmas treats? Admittedly, once the family stuff was over I’d hoped Dawn and I may have got out and about, enjoying country walks or even a little trip out, but the weather has been that wet and with constant storms the only sensible thing to do has been to stay at home. I can’t believe just how much rain we’ve had these past couple of weeks. The ground’s so saturated that any new rainfall runs straight off. Add in the gale-force winds and we’ve really taken a battering. Tonight, just before I started writing this we had the most amazing thunderstorm. It really threw me as I wasn’t expecting it and wondered what the hell it was at first. I don’t recall this time of year being the season for thunderstorms but whilst the weather’s been wet and windy it’s also been unseasonably mild, which may have had an impact. I’ll be interested in seeing the Met office monthly summary for December as I suspect we’ll have broken a few records.

Right now I can’t see myself escaping the Calder Valley until the New Year, but as that’s just around the corner I’m not too bothered. I’m not going to be sad to see the back of 2023. The year started well with me having two months away in SE-Asia but on the political and economic front it’s been a bit of a ‘mare.

I’m not going to get diverted into a review of the year. That’s to come. In the meantime, I hope you’ve all enjoyed your own festive activities. Right now I’ll leave you with today’s picture and bid you goodnight. I did nip out to get some shopping yesterday evening – although I had to don a full set of waterproofs to do it as the rain was pelting down. On the way back it cleared just long enough to get this shot of our local landmark all lit up for the evening.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

12th December picture of the day…

12 Tuesday Dec 2023

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, West Yorkshire

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It’s been another day spent cooped up in Bigland Towers for me although Dawn’s gradual recovery from the lurgi has enabled her to fly the coop and head off to meet her colleagues at the Community Rail Network in Huddersfield for the day.

Mind you, I’ve not missed much. We’ve had thick, low cloud throughout the day here in the Calder Valley. Initially I thought it was fog but this afternoon, after finishing penning my latest article for RAIL magazine I ventured down into Sowerby Bridge. After dropping a hundred meters I realised that actually, it wasn’t fog – I’d been in cloud level all day! I must admit, I’m beginning to tire of the endless dull days and wet weather. It saps the soul after a while. That’s why I’m looking forward to being able to get out and about more from today. I’ve still got stuff to do that requires the mobile office, but that can be done on the move as I don’t need the reference materials that line my office shelves. The only question’s going to be – where to go? Where’s the weather going to play ball? The answer seems to be – go West…

An attraction in that direction is that whilst Northern trains no longer have any diagrammed work for their shrinking fleet of class 319 trains (more of the fleet have gone for scrap already) several sets still get pressed into daily use between Liverpool-Wigan-Manchester and Blackpool. Maybe one last spin and photographs?

As I type this the news has just come in of the latest Tory psychodrama in Parliament. Sunak’s managed to get his Rwanda bill passed with a majority of 44. This is no victory, there’s lots more stages in the process which will drag out for a long time yet. Parliament goes into Christmas recess on the 19th December and doesn’t return until January 8th. The farce will drag on for months, then there’s consideration of the bill by the House of Lords who are almost certain to reject it in its present form (if the Commons don’t beat them to it after the Committee stage). It’s madness – utter madness. How can the Tories govern the country when they can’t even govern themselves? Whilst the rest of the country is bothered about real issues, like the economy, climate change, the NHS and more, the Tories are now stuck in an endless Rwanda loop. Of course, some backbench Tories will be very happy about this as it brings them into the limelight – especially those ‘red wall’ Tories like Miriam Cates (Penistone and Stocksbridge) with wafer-thin majorities who’re going to be binned on current polling projections. They know the Government’s toast. They’re just hoping a spell centre-stage might just save their own skins.

Expect little political or economic cheers this Christmas. The Government’s caught in a death-spiral and Sunak doesn’t have the nous to get himself out of it. Just look at his recent evidence to the Covid enquiry. Sunak was ‘bigged up’ by the Tories as a man with attention to detail. In contast, his evidence to the enquiry showed up a man with none at all. A man with such selective amnesia he couldn’t remember going to meetings, what was said in briefings, or even what direct advice he was given. As for Whatsapp messages – FFS! How is it Sunak and Johnson are the only people on the planet whose Whatsapp messages disappear when they change phones? They’re taking the piss! If Sunak ever writes his memoirs it’s going to be the thinnest book ever as the man can’t remember a bloody thing…

OK, time to go. I’ll leave you with a picture taken a few years ago. This is what the Calder valley is meant to look like – when it’s not got its head in the clouds! This is the view over Sowerby Bridge and the valley looking West from atop the Wainhouse Tower adjacent to our house, taken in August 2019.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312