Tag Archives: Picture of the day

11th November picture (and spleen-vent) of the day…

11 Saturday Nov 2023

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics

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My, wasn’t that predictable? Today’s scenes from London went on as suspected. The Metropolitan police reckon that 300,000 people joined the march calling for a cease-fire and end to the violence in Palestine and Israel. The demonstration included a cross-section of people and religions, including both Jews and Muslims. No arrests were reported and the demonstration went nowhere near the Cenotaph. But then it was never planned to. Protests about the situation in Palestine/Israel also passed off peacefully in Cardiff and Glasgow.

Meanwhile, egged on by the rhetoric from Home Secretary Suella Braverman, a few hundred far-right knuckle-draggers – including professional far-right grifter Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka ‘Tommeh’ Robinson turned up at the Cenotaph in London to ‘protect’ it from *checks notes* themselves. After which, they went on the rampage through central London (including Chinatown and Pimlico) which led to (so far) over 100 arrests.

Having incited such violence and hatred it’s hard to imagine any other Home Secretary staying in their job, but this is a Tory Government ‘led’ by Rishi Sunak who’s so weak that it looks likely Braverman will get away with it. Sunak has condemned the “unacceptable scenes” but not his Home Secretary who incited them, who apparently, has his ‘full support’. Will she classify the far-right running battles as a ‘hate march’ the way she did the peaceful protest? Of course she won’t.

God, what has this country become – apart from a plaything/battleground of yet more internal Tory party ambitions and lies? Surely, the few remaining decent Tories (yes, they do exist) must make their voices heard. Or is the party too far gone? I fear that question’s rhetorical.

Meanwhile, I’ll end this blog with a literal ray of sunshine. Things can only get better…

Decent folk of the UK watching the sun set on the Tory party and 13 years of shit…

Sunday update.

The Met police now confirm that some arrests *were* made at the main demonstration and that 3 people are under investigation for hate crimes (the banners they were carrying were appalling). The Met also say that while the march itself did not see such physical violence, serious offences relating to antisemitic hate crimes were being investigated (and rightly so).

Sadly with such a large crowd (300,000) you’ll always get some bad eggs, it’s a statistical certainty. But those few shouldn’t detract from the fact one demonstration was overwhelmingly peaceful – and one was not. One was condemned by our Home Secretary and one was egged on. Guess which was which.

It’s no wonder the UK’s Jewish community is feeling under siege at the moment. I’ve no sympathy for anyone espousing violence (from any side) towards anyone. I can only hope our political ‘leaders’ like Braverman are seen for what they are – cynically manipulating sentiments for their own ends.

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

9th November picture of the day…

09 Thursday Nov 2023

Posted by in Cumbria, Flora and Fauna, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day

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Apologies for my absence these past few days. I not really been in the mood for blogging. I’ve been kept busy with other things and really couldn’t find either the time or the inclination. Besides, what I’d have penned would have turned into more spleen-venting on the state of the country and the Tory party in particular – so at least you’ve been spared that! Normal service will resume shortly.

I’ve been spending much of my time cooped-up here in Bigland Towers for one reason and another. It could be worse as the weather here in the Pennines has been dank and dismal so being in the warm and dry has had its compensations – such as being warm and dry!

I’ve also managed to wade through a backlog of pictures which have now been filed away on multiple hard-drives or added to my Zenfolio website which has been good timing as Zenfolio have started archiving galleries’ on people’s websites that haven’t been updated for over three years. It’s a pain as many of mine are historic galleries that I can hardly update as the subject matter disappeared years ago! Still, it’s given me the impetuous I’ve needed to begin slimming down and consolidating the number of galleries on my website. They’ve got a bit out of hand in the past 12 years. It’s a big task as it’s a slow one. Zen’s a bit cumbersome when it comes to moving pictures around so it’s going to take some time. On the bright side I’ve been looking through pictures I’ve not checked out for years. Hopefully, the process will be finished by the Spring.

In the meantime, there’s plenty of other things to keep me occupied. It looks like I’ll be doing a lot more writing for a living in 2024, which is no bad thing. I enjoy it and it gets me out and about almost as much as taking pictures.

Talking of pictures, here’s today’s. It being autumn woodlands are bounteous places. Our local squirrels are certainly making the most of the seasons largesse. Unfortunately a lot of it seems to be getting added to my pots and flowerbeds! Here’s one thing we don’t have in our area. Sweet Chestnuts. The woods around the hotel where Dawn and I stayed in the Lake District were full of them. As soon as I have time I’ll be writing a review of the Wild Boar as it’s well worth a visit. In the meantime, here’s what covered their woodland floor.

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

5th November picture of the day…

05 Sunday Nov 2023

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Politics

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‘Tis been a quiet weekend here at Bigland Towers. Partly because the weather’s been so bloody awful, but partly because it’s been nice to have the downtime and the opportunity for the two of us to spend some quality time together as well as to catch-up with various chores and bits.

I’d quite fancied the idea of attending a local firework display but the one’s I could find were on Saturday when the weather was crap. I’m glad I didn’t book as I ended up getting soaked just nipping out for some shopping. Standing around in the rain, trying to look up when you wear glasses wouldn’t have been much fun at all. I might as well have stayed at home, stayed dry and stared into a Kaleidoscope! Instead we had a quiet night in with me cooking, enjoying air-fried chicken thighs with a lovely honey, chili and soy sauce glaze, dressed with spring onions and Coriander and served with steamed veg. Bugger, I forgot to take a picture!

Today’s been better, the rain has (mostly) stayed away, allowing the two of us to get out for an evening stroll which eventually led us to our local pub for a drink and a warm by a real fire. Yes, they’re very un PC in these days of Climate Change, but when it comes to my contribution (or not) towards screwing up the planet, they’re the least of my concerns. If you want to help the planet survive, don’t have kids and don’t vote Tory…

Talking of voting Tory (or not, if you have any sense of community, decency or self-preservation) I couldn’t help but wonder what the latest gaffe from our Home Secretary, Cruella, sorry Suella Braverman is meant to be a dead cat for? I mean, suggesting that to want to ban and fine charities from giving tents to homeless people because homelessness is a ‘lifestyle choice‘? Even she can’t be this stupid (oh yeah? Ed) so what’s this a distraction for – the Covid enquiry? The sooner we’re shut of these asset-strippers, feather-bedders and shysters the better. But I’ll bet they’ll hang on as long as they can to remove all the fittings they can get money for. And the next election will be dirty and divisive. The Tories will fight the ‘culture wars’ as they can’t defend their 13 year record on the economy (they’ve trashed it) all they’ll do is pick on minorities as a tactic to appeal to their ageing and intolerant vote-bank – and their friends in the media will cheer them on.

Right, I wasn’t going to vent any spleen tonight, it just sort of happened. So now I’ll leave you with a picture of the day which isn’t in any way political and should hopefully make you go ‘awww’ Back in December 2022 I was standing in a queue to get through the ticket barriers at London’s St Pancras and felt this pair of eyes on me. Then I looked down and saw this.

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 November picture of the day…

02 Thursday Nov 2023

Posted by in Community rail, Community Rail Network, Derbyshire, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways

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After a wonderful couple of days away thanks to my wonderful wife who arranged a special treat for my birthday we’re both back with our noses to the grindstone. Whilst Dawn’s been busy playing catch-up with her day to day work for Community Rail Network I’ve slipped on my CRN judges hat to spend all day wading through the entries for their 2024 awards. To be honest, it’s a pleasure rather than a chore as I get to learn about so many fabulous groups and the amazing stuff they’ve been up to over the past 12 months and more. There’s some really inspirational groups out there and the work they do is amazing. Judging them is really hard as the standard’s so high. In many cases there’s really not much in it, but we have a points based system spread over four categories, which makes life easier for myself and my fellow judge for the ‘It’s your station’ category – Mark Barker.

Now the first sift is done and all that remains is for me to fill out the awarded points on the spreadsheet and crunch the numbers. Then, in a few days time when both judges individual scores are combined we’ll meet to talk through the results and agree the final marks and winners of the four rankings (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze). My work isn’t entirely done. I still have the shortlist for the photographic competition to select, this time with fellow judge Alice Mannion from CRN. The winner will be chosen from the shortlist by public vote.

Today’s been a good day to be stuck inside as the weather’s been awful, nothing but grey skies, mist and rain – although (so far) we’ve escaped the latest storm that’s battering the South coast. It’s heading our way but we’re expected to miss the worst of it as it passes through overnight. However, I’ll see how the weather is tomorrow morning before I make any plans. There’s still plenty for me to do at home if it’s not up to much.

Tonight I’ll leave you with a picture that illustrates the work of the community rail. The work the volunteers (and staff) carry out around the network is amazing. It’s not all station gardens or posters either. There’s restored buildings, station cafes, food banks, fetes and much, much more. Here’s on example from the friends of Buxton station who had ‘Joe’ made from scrap railway items donated from the site of the old Buxton locomotive depot. You can read all about the brilliant work this group are involved in 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

26th October picture of the day…

26 Thursday Oct 2023

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, TPE

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A day I’m glad is over to be honest. The weather here in’t Calder valley has been wet and miserable but that didn’t matter so much as I’ve spent the vast majority tied to my computer. First I had to sort out and edit pictures from yesterday as some are needed immediately for my next article. That took quite a while. Then I ended up wasting a couple of hours in a frustrating battle to get a new Fitbit. My ‘old’ one (just out of warranty) died last weekend when the battery gave up the ghost because it refuses to charge. After some to-ing and fro-ing with Fitbit they agreed to send me a voucher for 50% off a new one. Not perfect, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Then I tried to use the voucher code. No-go. Repeatedly, for several days. So, today I contacted then again. Sorree – we’ll send you a new voucher code. Which they did. Only this time it was only for 35% off. Oi! I complained. After much more to-ing and fro-ing they apologised and said they shouldn’t have given me 50% as in the UK we’re only entitled to 35% (I wonder why?). But, a deal’s a deal. Only they couldn’t send me a new voucher. Oh no. Now I have to buy a full price Fitbit and they’ll refund 50%. Eventually, when it’s shipped – which may be days…

All this took over two hours to sort out as there’s no-one on the end of a phone, it’s a keyboard chat. The frustrating thing? They insisted on a copy of the order details to be sent to them. Eh? You’ve already got everything – I’m buying it off you! So, after faffing around with screenshots, they finally (albeit with an apology) said ‘OK’. Now I have to wait and see what happens.

This faff didn’t exactly put me in a good mood, but I gritted my teeth and finished writing my RAIL article, doing my very best not to let sarcasm slop over into it when I was writing about some recent political puffery. OK, maybe the Subbie is going to have to wield a judicious scalpel…

So, everything done and sent off I realised it was late and I’d promised to cook, which was just as well as I needed the therapy. Now I can add a fresh batch of Chana Masala to today’s accomplishments. At least the decks are now clear for tomorrow when I’m having a bit of a day out as a celebration of becoming a Beatles song. I’ll leave you guessing as to which one! The day might not go to plan as the idea was to enjoy a ride behind one of the last Trans-Pennine Express Class 68s and Mk 5 sets before they’re withdrawn at the December timetable change. Problem is, TPE have very few working sets and locos left and only one Class 68 is shown as being out tomorrow. Hopefully the spanner-monkeys will be busy on the other one overnight…

In the meantime, here’s a picture of what I’m hoping to enjoy…

68025 hauls 1U52, the 12:48 Scarborough to Manchester Piccadilly through Batley on the 19th Aril 2023.

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

24th October picture of the day…

24 Tuesday Oct 2023

Posted by in Brazil, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, Travel

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‘Tis been another quiet day here at Bigland Towers. The weather in the Calder valley’s been wet and miserable these past few days although we’ve been lucky (for once) to escape the flooding that’s affected other parts of the UK, including areas that I was in just a few days ago – like Chesterfield. It’s no laughing matter for those affected and flooded out of their homes or businesses. We know – we’ve experienced it here.

That said, I couldn’t help but laugh at the insanity of comments from our Environment Minister, Thérèse Coffey, who’s managed to outdo the classic railway PR blunder about ‘the wrong kind of snow’. Apparently, the flooding that’s been experienced is due to the rain coming from the ‘wrong’ direction. I shit you not! Here she is being quoted in the Guardian newspaper. Christ on a bike – how do these talentless people end up in Government – and stay there, rotating between one useless job to another? If you voted for these people – hang your head in shame (and do the right thing next time).

Away from the weather I’ve been busy researching and writing my next article for RAIL magazine, which will look at a route across Northern England which is a shadow of its former self but what’s left is very much worth visiting. I’ve also been planning the next few days which will see me out and about, looking at the present and future of the UK railways rather than reflecting on the past. Oh, and somewhere in all that I’ve a birthday to celebrate as I’m about to be a Beatles song. I’ll leave you to guess which one.

Right, time to go, which means leaving you with a picture. What to choose? Umm – how about this one? Fed up of rain and grey skies? OK, here’s a toast-rack tram crossing the old Carioca Aqueduct in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil at sunset on the 7th August 2002.

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

15th October picture of the day…

15 Sunday Oct 2023

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, Travel

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You’ll have to forgive me, as I’m having a pensive and thoughtful day so this blog is going to be hard to write. After all, humanity’s world’s not exactly going well right now, is it? I sometimes wonder how much better the planet would be if we hadn’t crawled out of the primordial swamp, grown feet then opposing thumbs and ‘developed’ into homo-sapiens as we seem hell-bent on destroying both ourselves and the planet. For an animal with such a huge brain-pan we can be incredibly dumb.

Right now I’m looking around at what’s happening in the Ukraine and also Palestine and Israel and wondering ‘what the fcuk’? Our capacity for death and destruction seems to outweigh everything else – including the ability to reason. Seeing what’s happening in Israel and Palestine (and that’s before we get into a discussion about whose borders are whose) I’m left thinking of the saying that ‘an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind’. I abhor the violence from both sides, but I’m also old enough to have followed the conflicts in that part of the world since the 1970s and know the answer is anything but black and white – just seemingly intractable.

I’m beginning to feel that the world is becoming a very unstable place for a whole host of reasons – which includes social media and the power of a small bunch of billionaires -and utterly useless, sell-out politicians. Now, I’m not a paranoid, conspiracy-loving person but I’ve always subscribed to the adage ‘follow the money’ – and the money is concentrated in fewer and fewer people’s hands – and philanthropists they ain’t.

Humanity at its best is capable of incredible things. Music, medicine, science and architecture, humour and compassion being just a few. So why’s so much of our time taken up with shit? Maybe I’ve reached that age where I look at what time I have left (whatever that is) and think it’s time explore what’s left of this beautiful planet before we completely screw it up and I can still enjoy it. Yep, I’m in one of those retrospective moods tonight. Anyway – my blog – my rules!

I’ll leave you with a picture that’s less dark than my thoughts. This is what I could do with right now. A palm-fringed beach, sunsets and solitude. Here’s a spectacular sunset at Viti Levu, Fiji, on the 7th March 1999 when the world seemed a very different place. This is the simple, natural beauty of a planet we seem hell-bent on rendering inhospitable, to ourselves and every other creature on it. But hey – it’s so important that I have that SUV to drive down to Waitrose…

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

11th October picture of the day…

11 Wednesday Oct 2023

Posted by in Derbyshire, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways

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Today’s been one of those that didn’t exactly go to plan – but in a good way! After I’d finished editing the latest batch of pictures and getting them off to a client I’d intended to catch up with sorting stuff around the office – a sort of ‘autumn cleaning’ if you like – then blogging about the latest Sunak/HS2 debacle. The weather’s certainly changed here compared to the balmy days we’ve had so far, with temperatures staying in single figures, so I thought it was time to make the place more streamlined – and cosy. Instead I got sidetracked with pitching a story to a magazine which they’ve decided to run with so I became embroiled in initial research. Before I knew it, several hours had passed. Then I had a contact about a short-notice commission which I’ve managed to squeeze into next week. So, that’s the autumn cleaning and long blog out of the window for now as I’ve events in Derbyshire and Wiltshire to attend as well as an article to write.

Now I’m prepping for another day out in the Manchester area tomorrow (expect a rolling blog) as the weather’s promising to be half-decent and I’m running out of time to get the pictures I require, which means an early start tomorrow to make the most of the shortening days. I’m going to miss the long summer evenings, but the consolation is that winter sunlight (when you get it) is far superior to harsh summer sun – especially for artistic shots. Well, if you happen to be in the right place at the right time anyway!

Now it’s time to go as I’ve stuff to prepare. I’ll leave you with an image from the Hope Valley taken on Sunday. You can find the full selection in various galleries on my Zenfolio website, simply follow this link to see which galleries have been updated.

A Trans-Pennine Express Class 185 heads West towards Manchester through the gorgeous Hope 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

3rd October picture of the day…

03 Tuesday Oct 2023

Posted by in Hs2, Manchester, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, Railways

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As I suspected. This week’s proving very different to the last one. I’ve hardly moved from the house apart from a brief foray into Sowerby Bridge yesterday in order to pick up some shopping. Mind you, the weather’s hardly been conducive to venturing far. We’ve had more than our fair share of rain here in’t Pennines – such a contrast to the great weather we enjoyed in Surrey. So, I’ve battened down the hatche and got square eyes by wading through the hundreds of pictures I’ve had to sift through and edit before captioning them and getting them on to my Zenfolio website. The process is almost finished – the last ones will be done by tomorrow. I’ve also written an article for RAIL magazine on my visit to the HS2 bridge site near Aylesbury last week.

HS2 is taking up a lot of the media’s time right now due to the absolute car-crash that’s the Tory party conference in Manchester. That the route to Manchester might be scrapped has been widely leaked to the press and Sunak is making an utter fool of himself parroting ‘spades in the ground, spades in the ground’ whilst refusing to quash speculation that he’s started himself! The optics of this are mad. Who in their right minds would hold a party conference in a major city you’re about to deprive of a new high-speed railway? But, looking at the conference it’s clear anyone in their right mind has stayed away. Leaks from those there describe the atmosphere as like a party at a funeral. It’s more ‘the last days of the bunker’ in the levels of unreality that have crept in. One would be forgiven for thinking its really the UKIP conference with the Tories having drifted so far to the right. That Nigel Farage himself has attended and been lauded by some says it all. Then there’s the video of Farage dancing with Priti Patel. God help us! It gets worse, our esteemed (are you taking the piss? Ed) Transport Minister, Mark Harper has joined the ranks of the batshit conspiracy theorists and condemned the concept of ’15 minute cities’. Add this to Sunak announcing his going to scrap non existent plans to tax meat and make you use seven recycling bins and you can see how far from reality the Tories are straying.

The Daily Mirror newspaper has helpfully highlighted 5 of the maddest claims and outright lies used in speeches at the conference. Talk about having no shame…

Then, today, Home Secretary Suella Braverman channeled her inner Enoch Powell to give the most awful speech imaginable, full of anti immigration rhetoric and condemnation, telling people we’re facing a ‘hurricane’ of immigrants coming to take over our shores then launching into more ‘war on woke’ tirades that forced one man to grumble aloud. It wasn’t even a heckle, but he was immediately pounced upon by security and police, had his pass ripped from around his neck and was ejected in full view of the media who caught it on camera. Then it turned out the man was none other than Andrew Boff, the Conservative Chair of the London Assembly!

This car crash will hit the inveitable brick wall tomorrow, although from what I’m hearing many delegates have already left in despair. Tomorrow Sunak is due to address the conference. Will he be suicidal enough to announce the cancellation of HS2? Who knows. Whoever is advising him from the Tufton St cabal could well have sealed his, theirs and the Tories fate, because such an announcement will go down like a bucket of cold sick, no matter how he tries to spin it. ‘Levelling up’ will be exposed as a joke and the North won’t forgive, or forget. And I suspect the Labour party will be watching with bated breath as the Tories could well be about to leave them a huge open goal.

I’ll be waiting for the next set of opinion polls to come out after this shambles is over with great interest. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with today’s picture which is one of the batch I’ll have uploaded to my Zenfolio site tomorrow. Rightwinder try and pretend there’s no need for investment in the railways anymore as no-one using the trains nowadays. Really? Here’s the concourse of London’s Liverpool St station seen at 18:25 last Thursday. Just containing tumbleweeds, obviously….

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

1st October picture of the day…

01 Sunday Oct 2023

Posted by in London Underground, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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After a week gallivanting around the South-East today couldn’t have been more different. Partly because after getting up at 06:30 every day the pair of us had a lie-in until nearly 11:00! Hey, it’s Sunday and time to recharge the batteries. The fact we’ve both gone down with minor colds and aches was another good reason to relax – at least until tomorrow. So, no trains for me today. In fact, no travel at all unless you count a leisurely stroll into Sowerby Bridge and back in order to pick up some shopping and ensure that I get my steps in for the day. Apart from that, I’ve spent the rest of Sunday glued to my computer in order to finish the first sift of this weeks pictures and begin editing the ones that pass muster. Which is a lot!

Whilst doing this I’ve been trying to resist looking at commentary about the Tory party conference in nearby Manchester. OK, I have taken the occasional peek but managed to avoid the temptation to vent my spleen – difficult as it is when you’re watching a party who’ve been in power for 13 years trying to pretend the utter shitshow we’ve suffered is nothing to do with them and what we actually need is to elect them again so they can make everything *even* better! Their levels of delusion are off the scale and I have to wonder if even they believe the bullshit they’re coming out with. Of course, their cheerleaders in certain sections of our famously ‘independent’ media (are you having a laugh! Ed) are doing their damndest to keep the gravy train rolling and cheerlead. Oh, did I mention trains? One thing you won’t get a straight answer out of any of them is over the HS2 railway. Apparently, having set the hare running over the future of HS2 to Manchester, Sunak and Co won’t comment on ‘speculation’. The very speculation they’ve started and could kill in an instant if they were honest and gave a straight answer. But they’re not – and they won’t. After all, when you’re having your conference in Manchester and spent years talking bollox about ‘levelling up’ the country are you really going to admit you’ve just cancelled/postponed the high-speed line to the city?

I can’t see the Tories having a great conference. It seems from reports (and the pictures I’ve seen) that attendance figures are derisory. Everyone knows they’re a dead man walking so why bother going unless you’re one of the deluded batshit faithful? I’ll bet the Labour conference shortly after will be a very different affair as people can see which way the electoral winds are blowing. I’d love to be enthused about Labour and the vision of them taking power and putting to rights the mess the Tories have made of the UK since they morphed into UKIP, but I’m struggling. Honesty is in short supply in UK politics. Of course, that’s not just the fault of the political classes, it’s also the media and voters as many of the latter seem happy to be lied to if what they’re told fits their prejudices. How things will pan out only time will tell, but it all increases my feelings of disconnection from the UK. As I get older the more I suspect that the UK is becoming an economic and political basket-case that’s utterly incapable of shrugging off the past and embracing a future where the world’s changing and flag-waving just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Anyways, on another front it’s going to be a very busy week as I’ve articles to write, pictures to edit and spleens to vent – and an awful lot more besides as I’ve another role to slip in to but more of that soon…

In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which is from last week’s Southern haul. People from outside of London always think of the London Underground as the ‘tube’, those narrow trains that runs on certain deep level lines across the capital. Here’s a very different ‘underground’. This is a Metropolitan line train at Chalfont and Latimer out in suburban North-West London. The stations and tracks are shared with the old Great Central railway as far as Amersham. This is Sir John Betjeman’s ‘metroland‘.

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