Funny old world, innit – eh? As I write this on the second day of summer the rain’s beating on the bedroom window as it’s hammering down outside. Summer was nice whilst it lasted, but that was what we normally call spring. Fortunately, I browsed various weather forecasts to find what they nearly agreed on, so I’m back in the warm and dry despite having ventured out for long enough to get my obligatory 5 mile walk under my belt.
All in all, it’s not been a bad day, despite the weather. I’ve sorted out lots of stuff – including picture databases and hard-drives which are always fraught with unexpected problems because ‘tech’ never really behaves the ways you expect, when you want. It also seems to have a sixth sense, working out exactly when to play up in order to give you maximum stress and inconvenience.
Now it’s time for me to relax and let hard-drive talk to hard-drive whilst I watch a film. In the meantime, here’s a picture from today. On my walk through the local woods I pass this lovely little ‘fairy’ tree. It’s grown quite a bit over the last few months as new items are always being added. I don’t know whose idea it was, or even who maintains it as I never see them, but the idea fascinates and uplifts me during these troubled times.
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Well, here we are. Midsummer – the longest day of the year. But thankfully, no murders where I am. Meanwhile, ‘Druids’ are off making up druidish things at Stonehenge whilst the rest of the UK basks in sunshine – unless you’ve had thunderstorms – that we haven’t, which has been most disappointing. I love a good thunderstorm, they’re such amazing natural phenomena. Sadly, all we’ve had is moody skies and a few desultory spatters of rain which are no use to man nor beast.
Most of my day’s been spent working from home, gradually working my way through the hundreds of pictures I’ve taken this week. In between, my computer’s CPU has been kept very busy copying files between old and new hard-drives. Needless to say, these gizmos have generated much more indoor heat, which I’d have happily done without, so I left them talking between themselves and went for a long walk before stopping off for a pint at my local on the way home.
Now the day’s wearing on. I’m still copying files between hard drives but I hope to have my machine back soon so that I can curl up (well, more like stretch out in this heat) with a movie before another busy Sunday…
Oh, today’s picture? I’ve chosen this one from the editing queue. Here’s the restored Crystal Palace station in South London. The station’s a multi-level architectural gem and the concourse contains a lot of history – as well as modern facilities. And yes – that is a free to use piano on the left.
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 a hot and sticky one here in West Yorkshire. Temperatures have hit 28 degrees here in the Calder valley, yet much of the day skies have been overcast with little breeze to ameliorate the heat. Still, I’m not complaining. Much of my day’s been spent indoors anyway as I catch up with various chores after a few days away. The washing machine’s been busy and my computer keyboards taken a bashing as I catch up with emails, invoicing and picture editing – along with researching future opportunities. Expect several hundred pictures to appear on my Zenfolio website over the next few days.
By early evening I was ready for a break so nipped out for a long walk, picking up some food shopping before ending up in my local pub (the Big 6) in time to join friends for the Friday quiz – and a slice of free pork pie! The quiz is neither competitive nor serious, digressions and anecdotes are not only allowed, they’re de rigueur! Despite such meandering we were finished by 19:30, at which point is was time for me to wend my way home for a quiet night in (Dawn’s away with her family in Surrey). Now I’m editing the hundreds of pictures I’ve taken this week whilst listen to music. Tonight’s soundtrack is provided by Todd Rundgren.
I’ll leave you with two pictures today.
Waiting at Brixton for the very first Northbound underground train of the day at 05:41 yesterday. No riots, no graffiti just ordinary Londoners on their way to work (and me). Meanwhile, back in West Yorkshire, it’s free pork pie Friday in the Big 6, with an ever-changing range of real ales as a backdrop.
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, I know – I’ve been abysmal at blogging these past couple of months. The worst I’ve been for years. It’s been caused by various reasons I won’t go into but I’m hoping to put matters right soon.
Right now, I’m typing this from home in the Pennines after another varied day. We’ve had a lot of wet weather this past week or so which has been one of the reasons I’ve not been out with the camera. Another has been trying to finally make sense of some of my picture databases and indulge in some consolidation after two decades of digital photography where files started to get a bit random. I’m now copying many of those odd files to one hard-drive in the hope that I can finally get rid of duplicates and realise exactly what it is I’ve got. Oh, then there’s the few 1000s of old slides which never got scanned which I’m desperately trying to whittle down to see what keeping and what isn’t!
In between all this I’ve sandwiched social events with Dawn’s family (and mine) plus work – and trying to make something of the sunny days when they re-appear. Then there’s plans for the future…
I’ll be back in London (albeit briefly) at the end of this week, combining business with pleasure – and the chance to catch up with some old friends. Now it’s the summer season my diary is looking increasingly busy but I’ve got to the stage where I’m going to pick and choose as I can’t do everything. There’s something to be said for slowing down and enjoying a less frenetic life – although there’s a lot of places I want to explore and things that I want to see – so watch this space.
According to some weather forecasts we’re due to have a bright sunny and very warm day here tomorrow. If so, expect a rolling blog as I head off for the day – although I’ve no idea where as yet. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture. Have a pigeon, travelling ticketless on a train, but clearly on the look-out for Inspectors…
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’ve had a busy but uneventful here at Bigland Towers. I was up early as i had to wander down into Sowerby Bridge in the pouring rain for an 08:40 doctors appointment. Nothing serious – just an annual MOT in which they check my weight and blood pressure (all OK), take blood samples to check my cholesterol and if I have diabetes (no worries there) then ask me awkward questions about how much I drink (too much). Apparently, if I’m dying, they’ll let me know by Friday! Jokes aside, I can’t fault the service we get from our local GP.
By the time I’d picked up some shopping the weather had brightened up so my perambulations along the canal and through thr woods to home were quite enjoyable. What wasn’t so much fun was spending much of the rest of the day trying to copy pictures and files of a recalcitrant portable hard-drive onto a new (bigger) version. I may have sworn a lot through the afternoon! Everything seems to be going swimmingly, tens of GB of files are being copied, then it has a hissy-fit and decides it doesn’t like one particular picture, then goes on strike – and takes ages to stop sulking.
On the bright side, I now have smoother access to a potable backup of old picture files dating back 20 odd years. Admittedly, some of them really do need sifting through as there’s old pictures which have never seen the light of day on my Zenfolio website as I’ve always been too busy to go through the numerous files. Like scanning my 1000s of slides, that was always a project for the future, now the future’s not that far away.
Part of me wants to get all my digital archive on one single mahoosive hard-drive, but what if that fails? I’ve always tried to keep things backed up in triplicate but that means I’ve a lot of hard-drives knocking around the place. Admittedly, the price of kit has come down a lot over the past 20 years. What I need to do now is edit all the ones I’ve got into one master database which I can copy. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It isn’t when you’ve worked as a professional photographer since the age of film! That’s a shit-load of pictures, commissions, countries, styles and media calls. Anyway, it’s something to keep me amused with in the future. Right now I’m bust wrestling with this maerdy hard-drive whilst arranging the next few weeks of commissions and events.
Tonight I’ll leave you with one picture dredged up from the past.
On the 10th December 2005 a BR-built Class 317 calls at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire on its way from Cambridge to Liverpool St. All these units have now gone for scrap with the former Anglia franchise (which this route is part of) having replaced its entire train fleet over the past 5 years.
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/
Another week ticks by here at Bigland Towers. I’ve been busy enjoying the sun as an alternative to watching paint dry. Literally! Having moved out of my office I’ve been busy redecorating it so that Dawn can move in. So, in-between coats of emulsion I’ve been enjoying the good weather and strolls around the local woods. Admittedly, I’ve also been kept amused by the political scene and the absolute meltdown the Tories, Reform and the right-wing media have been having due to the Government announcing details of a new trade deal with the EU. It’s beyond parody!
“Betrayal of Brexit!” they all scream. But, hang on. Wasn’t the UKs ability to negotiate its own trade agreements meant to be a benefit of Brexit? And who negotiated the original fisheries agreement that the UK is rolling over? Oh, that would be Boris Johnson, as part of his ‘oven ready’ Brexit deal. So, how can negotiating improvements to a (admittedly piss-poor) EU/UK trade deal be a ‘betrayal’ of Brexit? It can’t be – but then Brexiters have never understood trade deals from the start.
Now, I’m not Starmer’s greatest fan, but I have to admit he’s playing a very clever game here. He’s slowly dismantling some of the worst aspects of the Brexit deal Johnson lumbered us with – much to the approval of just about every UK business organisation and trade body – by cutting red-tape, enabling UK businesses to trade easier, and helping the economy. At the same time, he’s set a trap for the Tories and Reform – and they’ve walked right into it. Straight away both have said they’d roll back these reforms if elected. Really? So, in 4 years time, when it’s painfully obvious these (and other) changes have made the UK better off and people have got used to the positive impacts, Reform and the Tories are going to commit to going back to Johnson’s shit deal? That’ll play well in an election campaign! Let’s not forget that – for all the noise the right-wing press, Farage and others make, this is not 2016. The referendum result will be 13 years old by the next election. A large number of those who voted for Brexit will be pushing up daisies (many already are). Brexit is not the issue it was, the faithful who still believe in it are dwindling. More people believe it was a dumb idea than support it – and have done for some time.
The same YouGov poll shows 66% of British people now want the Government to deliver a closer relationship with the EU, compared to just 14% who don’t.
Not that you’d know any of this if you listened to much of the media!
This presents a problem for the Tories. They’re in freefall at the moment, having been relegated to fourth (behind the Lib-Dems) in a recent poll. Sure, Reform are surging (taking over the Tories) but the cracks are already showing now they’re making a dismal start in running local councils they’ve taken control of (but that’s another blog). If a week is a long time in politics then the four years until the next general election is a lifetime! There’s plenty of time for Labour to find its political and economic feet and the signs that it will are there – they’re just drowned out by a media fixated on giving air-time to Reform.
Anyway. Enough politics for now. I’m currently relaxing for the evening, having finished painting all of the walls, ceiling and much of the woodwork in the office. Hopefully, I’ll have it all finished by this time tomorrow so Dawn can move in when she’s ready. We have a few days of sunshine left before the weather’s due to change with the arrival of some much-needed rain. Maybe I’ll have chance for another day out with the camera before it does…
In the meantime, here’s today’s picture. At the weekend the pair of us crossed the border in Greater Manchester to visit a place I’d often wanted to walk to, ‘pots and pans’ on the hill above Greenfield. As well as interesting rock formations and a WW1 memorial, the hill offers some fantastic views. Sadly, the weather was a bit hazy when we visited, but the views were still worth it.
Looking West towards Mossley with Manchester on the horizon. I’m amazed how the city has become high-rise in the past 20-odd years.
You can find more pictures from this and other of our recent walks by following this link.
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/
Hmm, where have the past few days gone? Well, they’ve disappeared in a blaze of sunshine. Sunshine that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying, even if other aspects of the week have been a bit mixed. The highpoint was Wednesday when I slipped the leash to get out and about across West Yorkshire, looking at various railway locations old and new – plus the Trans-Pennine route upgrade (TRU). I’ll be blogging more about TRU when I’ve finished editing the pictures.
Thursday saw me back at Bigland Towers, sorting through more old stuff, deciding which will stay and which will go. It’s a process triggered by the fact I’m moving out of my office here in Bigland Towers so that Dawn can take it over. Working from home has become a permanent feature for her, so she needs the space more than me. Plus, that way we get a living room back as a living room. Who knew when working at home became a function of the Covid pandemic that it would become the norm for many people?
Friday saw me heading into Halifax in order to get my knees x-rayed. I’ve been having problems with them recently. An appointment at our local GPs with a nurse led to a diagnosis of early signs of Arthritis, but the chap wanted to be sure, so arranged for me to have x-rays in order to confirm or deny his assessment. The staff at the health centre were excellent. Two young Asian women and a black woman radiographer looked after me (do you hear that, Reform voters? The very people you’d ‘send back’). The unit itself was less than a year old and a had a laugh with the nurse who helped me position myself for the radiographer as she kept giggling at the tanned strips on my feet which are due to wearing sandals so much. She apologised for being ‘unprofessional’ but to be honest, it broke the ice.
A few hours later I got the results via text. I don’t have arthritis and my knees are ‘normal’. So why do they hurt so often? Looks like there’s more to find out…
Today the pair of us have been out and about shopping for plants and DIY bits, not exactly the rock and roll lifestyle but hey – we’d originally planned to go walking but Dawn’s mum had a last minute hospital appointment for some tests so we decided to stay nearer to home just in case we were needed. Fortunately, we weren’t so the two of us managed an hour in the sunshine in the beer garden of our local pub before returning home to a quiet evening in.
The plan now is for an early start in the morning in order to head over the border into Greater Manchester and climb some hills, making the most of the sunshine whilst it lasts. Expect a few pictures at some point.
Meanwhile, here’s today’s picture which is from Wednesday’s excursion. Mirfield station continues to be rebuilt as part of the TRU work. The latest chapter has included opening part of the rebuilt island platform after one of the tracks has been slewed. It’s created the opportunity to get shots of trains passing like this.
185105 working 1P66, the 0858 Redcar Central to Manchester Airport passes Grand Central’s 180105 which is heading South on 1A63, the 1023 Bradford Interchange to London Kings Cross.
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 don’t know where to start! Should I focus on the glorious weather we’re blessed with here in the Calder Valley (and mention its downsides), or should I focus on the wider world which seems to be going mad, both environmentally and politically? Maybe best to stick locally for now – otherwise this could turn into a very long blog indeed…
Today’s been another in a series where we’ve had wall to wall sunshine, and I’m loving it. This is my sort of weather. I’ve always been partial to sunny climes so this sort of weather’s right up my street. If anything it’s making me pine for South-East Asia and a beach or two. Let’s face it, what’s the UK got to offer from here? Bridlington on the East coast, or maybe Blackpool on the West. These are not the images I conjure up when I imagine a beach. Think more palm trees, coral reefs and hammocks rather than donkeys and ‘kiss me quick’ hats. Still, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth, so I’ll make the most of things here whilst I can.
The day wasn’t all about basking in the sun. I’ve been busy picture editing, including the HS2 tunnel breakthrough pictures I promised yesterday (which you can find here). Having those sorted meant that I could back-up pictures to different hard-drives as insurance before sending links to various magazines who may be interested.
Work done I enjoyed a walk down into Sowerby Bridge, dropping off our old Virgin internet kit en-route (sorry, Virgin) ready to be returned. Time in the village has provided today’s picture, which is rather topical. Here’s the pound below Tuel Lane lock.
It’s dry due to a lack of water feeding the canal, thus severing the route from the West to the East. This isn’t unusual nowadays as the canal relies on water running off the nearby hills. Except when it doesn’t. The canal above and below Tuel Lane locks are full, but this is the deepest lock on the UK canal network, so the amount of water it uses is massive.
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/
It’s the start of another week here in West Yorkshire, where the weather’s gracing us with wall to wall sunshine – as it did over the weekend, although we couldn’t take full advantage and our plans to go walking changed as Dawn wasn’t feeling her best. I was going to say she was under the weather, but considering what the weather was like I thought better of it!
However, we did still manage to get out and I got the opportunity to stock up on summer annuals from a garden centre which we’d not tried before. I finally managed to find trailing Lobelia, which has been noticeable by its absence from our usual outlets. With plants aplenty, Sunday was spent clearing away the debris and dead plants from the terrace at the back of the cottage. Winter hadn’t been kind, causing me to lose many old established garden occupants, so I took the opportunity to rejig what we have and replace many of the smaller pots and troughs with ones more likely to survive the hot, dry conditions we’re seeing this year – with rain in very short supply (and likely to be for the foreseeable future). I’ve still got some work to do, but the terraces and troughs are looking much better. Hopefully, the new planting will provide sustenance for the occupants of our two nesting boxes, where we have both birds and bees!
Today I’ve been busy editing and captioning pictures from Friday’s HS2 and Midlands media trip, you can find which galleries they’ve been added to by following this link. I’ll have the HS2 collection done tomorrow as another day working from home beckons. Hopefully, I’ll get out with the camera again later in the week as the forecast is excellent for several days yet. I’ll leave you with a picture from today, which was taken on this afternoon’s stroll around the valley when I was looking for alternative photo sites.
The Wainhouse Tower dominates the horizon and looks magnificent against a cloudless sky.
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/
My blog drought is about to come to an interesting end! This enforced absence has been due to a number of reasons but the time hasn’t been wasted. I spent all of yesterday holed-up at Bigland Towers having a good old mooch through various hard-drives in order to find some missing pictures. Mission accomplished, I’ll be adding them to my Zenfolio website shortly. Whilst that took up considerable time, so did cleaning out my email inbox, deleting lots of stuff no longer relevant but also filing some historical stuff. That endeavor proved useful as I was in my account when a very last-minute media invitation arrived which has completely changed the course of the rest of the week. The invite is embargoed, so I can’t say anything about what I’ll be doing until afterwards, other than that it’s altered my plans for both Thursday and Friday. Tomorrow I’ll be back on the rails heading to Preston on the West Coast to meet an old friend before having that evening/night in Birmingham as Friday’s event starts early (very early).
That means there’s two days of rolling blogs to come. Hopefully, you’ll find them entertaining and the event I’ll be attending fascinating as it’s something few people get to witness. The weather over the next few days is looking like it’s going to play ball, meaning both myself and the camera will be getting plenty of exercise as I’ll have spare time to collect library shots of the changing face of the railway, especially around Birmingham where the new West Midlands train fleets are taking over.
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with today’s pictures which is one from the series I took when I was out and about last week. The warm weather’s brought out the insect population en-masse, which isn’t much fun for train drivers, especially those at the controls of the older, less streamlined fleets (although many modern trains are struggling too). Here’s how the front of a Class 150 looked at Wigan…
Drivers visibility has been hampered by the sheer build up of flying critters on train front-ends. Windscreen washers are in danger of running out of water, so some busy stations have had extra staff drafted in to keep water supplies topped up and assist in cleaning.
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/
Paul Bigland 