Tag Archives: Picture of the day

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‘.

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 September picture of the day…

16 Saturday Sep 2023

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

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The (alleged) old Chinese curse ‘may you live interesting times’ springs to mind right now. Having returned from Thursday’s national rail awards I’m finding life odd to say the least. Seeing so many familiar faces at the NRA was lovely – as was having time to chat – even though time flew by all too quickly and I didn’t get to talk to half the people I’d have liked to. Plus, the awards felt very much like the end of an era with Nigel Harris retiring, plus other changes that are going on I’m not going to reveal here. The railway ‘Oscars’ felt different this year because the rail industry is in a mess. Not one of it’s own making to be fair, the railways are just another victim of an utterly incompetent Government that hasn’t got a clue what it’s doing – about anything. Forget re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, with this lot you can add musical deckchairs as Ministers constantly change their minds depending on which loon – Sorry, ‘think tank’ or special advisor has got their ear. The sooner we have a general election and this miserable lot are put out of their misery the better. Sadly, the mess we’re in isn’t all down to the Tories. There’s a sickness throughout the UK body politic which means we’re ill-served by the political classes as they just can’t be honest with people – hence Labour’s insistence that you can actually polish a turd and they can make Brexit ‘work’. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the ‘green’ party – a collection of Nimbys who seem to spend most of their time opposing solutions to climate change (solar farms, nuclear power, HS2) as they know they can posture all they like as they’ll never hold power. I should mention that the Scottish greens are an exception to this. They’re a separate party who’re pragmatic, positive and not in thrall to Nimbyism the way their cousins South of the border are. In a lot of ways I’d be quite tempted to move North of the border as Scotland seems to be so more progressive than England. Shame about the weather tho’…

Looking around it’s hard to remain positive about the future of this septic Isle as honesty and realism in politics is about as rare as rocking-horse shit right now. Meanwhile, as many folk who tear themselves away from gawping at TV screens may have noticed, we’re having some really weird weather due to climate change. But what are we doing about it as a nation? Answers on a postcard please…

You may have got the impression that I’m feeling rather cynical at the moment. In which case all I can say is – damned right! I’m normally a glass half-full sort of guy but right now it’s difficult to maintain that perspective. Hopefully, my equilibrium will be restored soon. Whatever, it’s time to think about my own future in a changing world.

Whilst I ponder I’ll leave you with today’s picture. I’ve updated my Zenfolio website with a host of different pictures taken over the last couple of weeks. Follow this link to see which galleries they’re in. Now, what to choose? OK, how about this…

Although I was away for the first couple of months of this year the one thing I didn’t manage was any beach time. I need to put that right on my next trip. Here’s a beach on a very special island few people will have set foot on due to its isolated location. This is Baia do Sancho on the island of Fernando de Noronha off the coast of Brazil, seen on the 19th 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

11th September picture of the day…

11 Monday Sep 2023

Posted by in Essex, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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There’s only a short blog from me today. It’s late and I’ve had a long day glued to the computer editing pictures which have now appeared on my Zenfolio picture website. As usual, they’re spread around various galleries which are dedicated to particular train companies, aspects of the railways – or other interests. There’s still more pictures to edit but the majority have been uploaded. You can find them in these galleries;

Greater Anglia

Govia/Thameslink

Infrastructure and engineering

East Midlands Railway

Social issues

UK travel photography

Odds and sods

Another of today’s chores was to package and parcel the latest eBay sales of old railway slides and memorabilia and get them down to to post office for dispatch to the lucky winners. There’s still plenty of items on offer (I’ve just started another 5 day sale now) so if you want to browse what’s for sale, click on this link.

I’m having break from the office tomorrow so expect a rolling (ish) blog, although I can’t tell you where I’ll be going as I don’t know myself yet! It depends on the weather and what’s happening.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a taster from my new travel pictures. This one’s of Saffron Walden in Essex. It’s a delightful little market town that couldn’t be more different in character and design than West Yorkshire…

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

10th September picture of the day…

10 Sunday Sep 2023

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

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We’ve had a mixed weekend here back at Bigland Towers. Much of the time’s been taken up with catching up on daily chores that have been neglected after a week away. The one item missing from our accommodation was a washing machine, so ours has been working overtime to process a weeks work of dirty clothing. Thankfully, the sunny weather continued over Saturday, which was probably the hottest day we’ve had here in the Calder Valley this year. The pair of us were too busy to venture far but we did manage a wander into Sowerby Bridge to pick up some shopping, stop for a quick drink, then wander back along the canal. I even managed to nip out for a few games of pool and catch-up with friends before returning to evening cooking duty when I experimented with a new Thai recipe.

Today’s been in similar vein with the exception that Dee’s been out most of the day at a relaxation and meditation course whilst I’ve stayed at home to wade through more washing and get stuck into editing the hundreds of pictures I took whilst we were away but which haven’t (yet) made it onto my Zenfolio website. I’m making good progress and many of them will appear by tomorrow.

I still managed to get my daily constitutional in and 12.5k steps but it was a close run thing as the weather really has turned the afternoon. I’d hung around until late in the afternoon before getting out and just managed to dodge a heavy shower. That said, we’ve escaped the storms that seem to have hit to the North and South of us. all we’ve had is a few mild rumbles of thunder, but (disappointingly) no lightning – otherwise I’d have had the camera out as I love a good storm. Today’s picture is an illustration of all the weather offered us, hardly dramatic compared to some pictures I’ve seen.

Here comes the rain again…

Now I’m typing this listening to more distant rumbles of thunder as storms are moving through our area this evening but they’re still failing on the pyrotechnic front. Tomorrow’s going to be another day stuck at home as I’ve a load of eBay sales to dispatch, pictures to edit and stuff to sort out for later in the week. It’s the National Rail Awards on Thursday, so it’s time to dust off the Tuxedo…

See you tomorrow!

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

31st August picture of the day…

31 Thursday Aug 2023

Posted by in Aircraft, Cambridgeshire, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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The last blog of August’s only a short one as the pair of us are preparing for a few days away in Cambridgeshire starting tomorrow which means there’ll be a series of blogs and pictures from a different neck of the woods for a while. Dawn found an interesting opportunity at some new lodges where the price was just too good to resist, so we’re heading down there with her parents for a few days R&R in the hope we might actually get some summer weather. The place we’re staying at is just 30 mins away from the Imperial War Museum at Duxford which Dee’s dad (who did his national service in the RAF) has always wanted to explore. We went once to see the recreation of a WW2 ‘big wing’ which brought 22 Spitfire aircraft together but we’ve never explored the museum building or static aircraft exhibits so we thought. it’s time we did. Mind you, I’m the only one who knows Cambridgeshire, for the Platt family it’s pretty much virgin territory, so I’m going to be wearing a tour guide’s hat for the next week as I show them around the likes of Cambridge and Ely.

I’ll be having one day off to do some railway stuff which will give me another opportunity for blogging as I explore, although I’ve no firm plans for where I’m going yet, that depends on a client’s shot list arriving in my inbox tomorrow.

Right now it’s time to go. I’ve got stuff to prepare and a cottage to sort out for the folks who’ll be looking after it whilst we’re away. I’ll leave you with an image from the last time we visited Duxford. The chance to see so many vintage Spitfires is a rare one, but in 2015…

10 of the 22 Spitfires in flight at Duxford in September 2015. If you’ve any interest in planes powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines you can just imagine how this sounded.

You can see some more pictures of the aircraft we saw at Duxford 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/

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