Apologies for the lack of blogging but I’ve been kept busy at home playing nurse as well as wading through hundreds of pictures from my recent travels that require editing and captioning. Thankfully, Dawn, my patient – is on the mend, so I can put away the nurses uniform again. Besides, it clashed with the chef’s hat I’ve been wearing, which has been another of my duties. It’s not been too onerous as Dee’s been a good patient but I’ll be glad to see her up and about again. On the bright side, the jumper she’s been knitting has really come on!
Today I managed to finish the majority of the editing and get the pictures onto my Zenfolio website. There’s several hundred, which you can find in the following galleries.
Tomorrow, with Dawn on the mend and picture editing almost finished I can concentrate on other things which includes organising my next tranche of travels as well as some scribbling for a living. Sadly, the weather’s reverted to type here. We had a couple of days of sunshine but now the rain’s returned. We’ve had some very heavy showers today with more predicted, so I can’t see me getting out with the camera just yet. Never mind, some of the travel I have to arrange involves places with plenty of sun!
In the meantime I’ll leave you with a picture from Germany taken last week which shows it’s not just the UK that’s been wet! This was the view from the 17th floor of our hotel as a rainstorm crossed Dusseldorf.
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I’m having a quiet weekend here at Bigland Towers. Following all my travels earlier this week its lovely to be able to have the odd lie-in and not have to be constantly on the move. Plus, poor Dawn was struck down by the Lurgi whilst I was away so I’ve had to don my nurses uniform once more.
I’ve plenty to keep me occupied. I’ve 1000s of pictures to sift through and edit which is going to keep me busy for several days. Then there’s cooking, washing and all the other stuff needed to keep the place running whilst Dee recuperates. Oh, then there’s still keeping up walking over 12.5k steps a day.
Another thing that’s filled time is watching the latest political psychodrama involving Natalie Elphick, the Tory MP who’s defected to Labour. Many on the left and centre left are unhappy about this due to her history. But this is politics, and my view is that it’s been a clever move on Labour’s party due to the damage it’s doing to Sunak and the Tories. For every vote Labour *may* lose because of it, they’re likely to gain far more in swing seats which are the ones they need to win to form a Government. Mind you, watching the Tories losing it because of her defection is really rather delicious. By trying to smear her they’re proving how inept they are as these revelations and cover-ups happened when she was still a Tory MP!
This evening’s been spent cooking and listening to the thunderstorms that have arrived to put an end to the day after some glorious sunshine. Now it’s time to relax before another busy week. In the meantime, here’s a couple of pictures from the editing queue.
Siemens built RRX trains in the depot at Dortmund, seen during my press trip on Tuesday.Not your usual view of the London Underground. Here’s Oxford Circus on the Northbound Victoria line. Looking through the bridge beams at HS2’s Thame valley viaduct. Not a view many people will ever get to see…
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It’s a lovely German word that has no equivalent in English. It means pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune. Not something to boast about most of the time, but looking at the election results that have come in so far I’m going to indulge myself! Not only have the Tories lost their Parliamentary seat in Blackpool North, they’re getting hammered across the country in the local elections. Here’s the scores on the doors at the time of writing.
The cherry on the cake was Boris Johnson, the architect of the voter ID gerrymandering scheme hoist by his own petard. He was turned away from a polling station for – not having the correct ID! Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up. It’s a perfect metaphor for the shambolic incompetence of the modern Tory party and its leaders.
The Tory’s agony isn’t over. This election is a long, drawn-out affair. Results will continue to come out until Sunday when the results of Mayoral elections will be announced. I’d really like to be a fly on the wall at Conservative Party Headquarters at the moment as I expect the atmosphere is akin to the last days of the bunker. No amount of spinning can disguise how bad these results are. Oh, their might be a couple of positive results where they don’t lose seats, but the trend is clear. They’re doomed.
In this report and video from ITV Anglia the leader of the Tories on Harlow council desperately tries to spin losing as ‘we’ve bucked the trend’. Err, the party’s majority was cut from nine to a single seat! That IS the trend!
Another amusing thing is Reform PLC, the limited company that pretends to be a political party. Despite their polling numbers (they almost beat the Tories into 3rd place in Blackpool South) they’ve not won a single council seat. The only thing they’re good for is abstracting votes from the Tories.
I’ll watch the rest of the results with interest, but today’s a good day…
If you want an intelligent and informed analysis of the results so far (and later) I’d recommend following Britain Elects on Twitter. Here’s a link to their early analysis of performances across the country.
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/
Dawn and I are out with friends from the world of community rail this evening so there’ll be no time to blog. Instead, I’m scribbling thoughts now whilst I can. May’s started well here in the Pennines, Spring feels like it’s finally here and temperatures are getting to the stage where it’s time to start discarding layers of clothing like a snake shedding its skin. Hopefully, the winter kit can finally be put away for another year.
Things are hotting up politically too. Today, many parts of the country go to the polls in a mix of elections. 1000s of local council seats are up for grabs, as are Police Consultative Committee (PCC) Chairs, London and regional Mayors and one Parliamentary seat – Blackpool South. The results won’t all come through tomorrow. Manchester’s Mayoral result won’t be declared until Saturday – which means the Conservative party meltdown is going to be a long, drawn out affair! Because whichever way you look at it, these elections are going to make grim reading for the Tories.
All their political performance art over Angela Rayner, Rwanda and the war on ‘woke’ has failed to move the political dial. Exactly the opposite in fact. Pollsters YouGov Tweeted this earlier today.
The irony here is that Reform stand little chance of winning any Parliamentary seats and few local Council seats. They’ve no chance in any of the Mayoral elections either! Whichever way you look at things, tomorrow can’t help but be a grim day for the Tories.
I’ll be buying popcorn as I expect the aftermath and meltdown could be fun to watch!
Away from politics I’ve been busy arranging and re-arranging my diary for the rest of the month as plans come and go or are changed. Next week should certainly be interesting as it has the added complication of rail strikes, most of which I’ll avoid as I’ll be away on a press trip to Germany.
In the meantime I’ve been clearing the decks of pictures i’ve taken over thje past few days, which you can find in these galleries on my Zenfolio website.
Right, time to go. See you tomorrow – if I’ve not choked on popcorn!
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/
I know April is renowned as the month of showers, but this is getting beyond a joke! It’s been more like four seasons in one day here in the Calder valley. After yesterday’s little jaunt I had a full diary for working from home, which was just as well as low temperatures and a chilly wind really didn’t encourage one to venture far. That said, when the sun did break through the skittish clouds you could feel the warmth there, it’s just that it was fighting a losing battle with the elements. As the pair of us had a productive and profitable morning we’d arranged to go for a walk just after lunch but the weather had other ideas! One minute there was glorious sunshine streaming through the windows, the next they were being assailed by hailstones! Thankfully, our walk was merely postponed rather than rained off. Conditions soon changed, allowing us to venture out to complete a two-hour circuit which also encompassed a bit of shopping. All the while I kept a wary eye on the skies as we could see storm clouds dropping heavy rain all around us. Fortunately, they kept away from our little patch right up to the last moment, allowing us to make it in the front door before the next onslaught. One of the beauties of living where we are is that when we’re out walking locally we’ve panoramic views around all points of the compass, which gives us time to run for cover if needed.
We survived, but I worry that some of my poor plants may have taken a battering from the weather. Ironic really as only the other day my mother-in-law was telling me I’d planted stuff out too early. So, that’s me for another ticking off then!
Tomorrow the weather may stay dry – although temperatures will be anything but balmy. We’ll be lucky to escape a frost tonight. I’ve some more paperwork to do tomorrow, but if we get the sunshine levels predicted I may venture out with the camera whilst I can. If nothing else, the cherry blossom’s putting on a wonderful display right now and worth pointing a camera at. Although it’ll struggle to match this famous display which forms today’s picture. I took this shot in Washington DC, a city famous for its cherry blossom. Here’s how it looked on the 3rd April 2007.
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/
Today’s been another miserable, wet and windy day here in the Pennines, so the pair of us have hardly left Bigland Towers. Both of us had work to occupy ourselves with so it was no loss. An unexpected reply from a client kept me occupied digging through my archives to find the pictures they were after, which kept me tied up long enough that I missed the window for getting out for a walk in the dry. I ended up donning full waterproofs to prevent me getting soaked as I did a circuit of our local woodlands, which are getting very soggy underfoot. Still, it could’ve been worse. I see other parts of the country have taken an even worse battering with Cornwall being badly hit and railways in Northumberland and Wales flooded or washed out.
There’s no sign of these conditions letting up either, which is bad news for farmers trying to cope with flooded fields in the sowing season. My recent travels have made me appreciate just how much of the countryside remains sodden after record rainfall. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get out with the camera later in the week if conditions improve. In the meantime, there’s always work to do at home – although some of it can be more of a pleasure than a chore. Like today’s picture. I haven’t posted one of these for a while but tonight I took over the kitchen from Dawn to assemble a spicy dish that’s become a staple dish for stocking up or freezer – Chana Masala. Here’s the raw ingredients, prepped and ready for cooking…
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/
S’cuse the lack of blogging recently but I’ve taken time off over Easter to concentrate on other things. However, the break is almost over, so normal service is about to resume. The pair of us have stayed at home over the holiday. Partly because we’d only just got back from a few days in West Yorkshire, but also because getting away over Easter can be expensive and a pain in the arse! Instead, we stayed local, but we were hardly inactive as we’ve been out and about in our local area and indulged in some good food. On Friday, after Dee had finished sorting out the end of the financial year for her work the pair of us walked into Halifax in order to get some exercise and explore. Despite it being the holiday, the place wasn’t as busy as we’d expected, but this became a common theme through Easter. Saturday saw us pottering around at home before the pair of us got ‘dressed up’ for meal with my in-laws over in Honley, near Huddersfield. It’s a pretty little village with a variety of places to eat/drink. We’d booked early evening at Punch, a tapas bar we’ve frequented several times before as the food’s always good. The place was packed when we first got there but by 20:30 it was almost deserted, which really surprised us. Staff didn’t even bother resetting the tables as they had no second sitting booked. Is this a new phenomenon nowadays – people coming out earlier rather than later, then going home afterwards? We enjoyed our night regardless as the food was plentiful and tasty.
Yum! Prawns to the fore…
As the weather remained good on Sunday we decided to stretch ourselves physically by walking all the way from home to the Robin Hood pub in Cragg Vale, high above Mytholmroyd. Normally we’d eat there after our exertions (the food’s fab) but with it being Easter we decided to be flexible and take sandwiches instead.
The cosy bar…
It was a wise move as the restaurant area was busy as was the bar, with a constant stream of dog-walkers passing through. By the time we’d walked back along the canal and uphill our Fitbits told us we’d completed 33,000 plus steps (or over 15 miles).
Industrial heritage and ruins along the Rochdale canal at Luddenden Foot
Such a stroll meant we’d earned the lamb shanks Dawn had put in the slow-cooker before we left, which we enjoyed with a healthy selection of vegetables. Well, if you can’t have lamb at Easter…
Today the weather’s been typical for a bank holiday. Miserable! We’ve had rain and low temperatures for most of the day. You couldn’t even see the other side of the valley for most of it. So, our plans – which originally included various home and DIY tasks became more of a ‘duvet day’ – at least for the first part! Now, with the bank holiday almost over it’s time to prepare for another hectic week. I hope my readers who’re celebrating Easter have had an equally enjoyable time.
Next week sees me resume my travels around the rail network as there’s a lot to catch up on. A tak made easier by the fact the clocks have changed with the days getting longer. Expect a few more rolling blogs and pictures. But for now, good night!
Some days it’s difficult to take this country seriously anymore. Today’s been one of them. One section of the media has been hyperventilating over a badly photoshopped picture of a member of the royal family and her kids, whilst another has been following the latest political psychodrama as a former Conservative deputy Vice-Chairman (Lee Anderson) defects to the Reform party, giving them their first MP.
Try as I might (and I’m really not trying very hard) I can’t get excited about the photograph. There’s an awful lot of things to be bothered about in the UK right now – and this isn’t one of them. Watching the Conservative party falling apart however, is becoming quite a spectacle.
Lee Anderson (or ’30pflee’ as he’s known to many) was always a disaster waiting to happen for the Tory party. Supremely unfitted to be an MP, he was elected in to represent Mansfield as part of the 2019 ‘red wall’ collapse of Labour seats. He could have remained in political obscurity until he was booted out in this years general election but Rishi Sunak had other ideas and (over)promoted him to the job of Conservative Party Deputy-Chairman. This says little about Anderson but a huge amount about how useless Sunak’s judgement is.
Needless to say, Anderson was a disaster and got himself suspended from the Tories after refusing to apologise for Islamophobic remarks he made about the Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Now , having originally defected from Labour to the Tories, Anderson’s jumped ship to Reform, where he’ll no doubt provide plenty of popcorn moments before the voters of Ashfield have chance to eject him at an election. He’s already gone full fascist at the press conference, saying he wants his country ‘back’. I almost feel sorry for Reform. They’re cock-a-hoop at having recruited him (don’t you mean ‘bought him’? Ed) as they now have an actual MP, their problem is they’re got yet another ego the size of a planet competing for attention with Tice, Farage and Habib (who failed to get elected in Wellingborough recently). I predict this will not end well! On the bright side, it’s going to cause just as much consternation in the Tory party as Sunak will come under even more pressure to drag the party further to the right – which is only going to end in tears (and electoral oblivion). Will any other Tory MPs follow Anderson to Reform? Possibly, but it won’t save them. Remember Chuka Umunna and the other breakaway MPs who formed ‘Change UK’? That went well. Or Douglas Carswell, the only UKIP MP? He’s now playing his banjo for a right-wing ‘think-tank’ in Mississippi, USA!
I have a feeling that the next round of political polls could be very interesting! The Tories have already sunk to 18% in one recent poll whilst YouGov has seen then regularly poll around 20% (27 points behind Labour). As for Reform, sections of the media are really trying to big them up but the truth is they’re nowhere near hitting the polling heights UKIP did at their Zenith – and they still didn’t win a single seat at a general election! This polling tracker in the Guardian shows the extent of the Tories woes…
My advice? Go buy some popcorn to enjoy whilst you watch the state of UK politics. Really, it’s no laughing matter, but at the moment there’s not a lot else to do but watch the Tory infighting until Sunak finally plucks up the courage to call an election. I still think it might be May. If so, we’ve only got 16 days left to find out as March 27th is when the announcement has to be made by. If not, then this farce will likely drag on until the autumn at the earliest – God help us!
Away from politics and despite the gloomy weather it’s been a productive day here at Bigland Towers. We’re gearing up for the Community Rail Awards which will take place this time next week. Plus, the pair of us have booked a four night break in North Yorkshire shortly afterwards for some ‘down-time’. In the meantime I’m hoping to say ‘sod the weather’ and get out with the camera tomorrow. For now I’ll leave you with today’s picture, which is a view of one of the places we’ll be revisiting soon. Whitby. Here’s the first glimpse of the town you get as you approach over the moors…
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Another bleedin’ Baltic day here in the Pennines where our section of the Calder Valley’s spent the entire day bathed in haze under gloomy skies, accompanied by temperatures and wind that’s made it feel like January, not March. The ‘Man flu’ I’ve been suffering from has mutated into a common or garden cold, sans sore throat and the ague – which is a relief! Having recovered enough to venture out I sallied forth to the supermarket to pick up some shopping – which is why I know just how cold it is out there. I wasn’t tempted to tarry…
Now I’m happy to be back in the warmth. Having finished penning my latest article for RAIL magazine this evening’s one for relaxing. Neither of us fancy venturing out, so tonight’s going to be a quiet one at home with some good food (Dawn’s already busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen) and a movie. We’ve time to enjoy a weekend at home together for a change. The next one will be different as we’ll be travelling to Swansea on the Sunday to get ready for the 2024 Community Rail awards. Plus, I’ve plans for a couple of trips this next week (weather permitting) to catch up with some recent changes on the rail network. But for now you’ll have to make do with another archive shot for today’s picture. Like yesterday’s, this has been dusted off for a special book.
If you think UK preserved railways have some major structures to maintain, then imagine what it’s like for this one! Here’s a train on the Taieri Gorge railway which is on New Zealand’s South Island. It runs from Dunedin all the way up to the plains at Middlemarch. To say it’s a spectacular trip is an understatement!
Locomotives 1240 and 1222 double-head our train on the return to Dunedin on the 16th January 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
This will be a short blog as I’m still recovering from ‘man flu’ – although you can cancel the lilies! Apart from a short walk along our road to the woods to admire the handiwork of the council staff who’ve been busy filling in the latest tranche of potholes* I’ve not been anywhere – and won’t be until the weekend at least. It’s not a problem as I’ve plenty to do at home, including a new RAIL article to finish writing. Mind you, the weather’s hardly been an incentive to go anywhere. For much of the day the valley’s been buried in fog with temperatures remaining in single figures, so being tucked up at home seemed very attractive indeed. I suspect tomorrow will follow much the same pattern.
One little job that has been completed was selecting railway pictures for a book for a young lad who’s not very well. I’m not going to go into details but I’ve chosen one of those images as my picture of the day. Some railway photographers put their cameras away in the winter, or when there’s anything but full sunshine. I don’t. In fact I love the variety that the English weather can provide as sometimes conditions can help make a picture. Here’s one. This shot was taken at Grantham on the 22nd July (yep, summertime) 2010 – just as an enormous rainstorm was passing – and so was this GNER service, hauled by 91116. A long lens (400mm) compresses the image and accentuates the weather. For the camera cranks this was taken at 1/400th on F8 with a Nikon IS lens on a D3.
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/
*And if anyone dares to suggest that these fcuking potholes are only being filled in ‘cos Rishi (expletive deleted) Sunak has cancelled phase 2 of HS2 – you will be getting a piece of my mind!
Paul Bigland 