Tag Archives: Picture of the day

3rd April picture of the day…

03 Saturday Apr 2021

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The country may be slowly reopening but this Easter our focus has been on the home front. No exotic jaunts or days out just slogging to do work around the house. I suppose you could call it a traditional Easter in some ways as we joined dozens of other people trying to get into a local DIY superstore (B and Queue, as it were)…

For years we’d promised ourselves that we’d do something about the virtually inaccessible narrow strip of land above our terraced garden at the back of our house. It’s not our land, in fact none of our neighbors know who owns it either. It’s been left to turn into a mess of Russian vine, ivy and Sycamore trees which have started to encroach on us and overwhelmed the gorgeous Boston Ivy that we used to have covering the high wall at the back of the terrace. The only way to gain access to the strip is by dropping a ladder over the wall from the road above it, so the for the past few days that what I’ve done. Today, armed with extra cutter C/o B&Q and myself joined by Dawn, we made some serious inroads into the mess, clearing all the parapet above our cottage and making some serious inroads into the neighbors on either side (much to their appreciation). We did it all with hand-tools which was masochistic but damned good exercise – even if I expect to feel sore tomorrow!

The Russian vine (God, how I hate that stuff, there’s a very good reason its other name is ‘mile a minute’) has taken a severe beating and several Sycamores trees are no more – none of which were occupied by any nesting birds, so I’m not expecting a visit from anti HS2 ‘tree protectors’. Taking these things down with a Bow saw certainly gives you a workout! Dawn was convinced that the work would give us a lot more light but I was skeptical. In the event I was proved wrong. It’s made a huge difference. Now we just have one more tree trunk remaining and a load of ivy to clear – as well as cutting up some of the Sycamores that have fallen into the gardens (the rest we’re leaving on the derelict land as a wildlife sanctuary). So, hardly the most exciting bank-holiday weekend but satisfying nonetheless.

Now, in the finest Monty Python tradition, it’s time for something completely different – the picture of the day. I did manage to get a few more old slides scanned yesterday evening and this is one of the results. I took this picture on the 14th March 1992 at the Buddhist temple at Bodnath, just outside Kathmandu in Nepal. A small group of us who’d met on the way from India had stayed in Nagarkot in the Kathmadu valley and then walked back to the city. Bodnath was en-route. The stupa is huge and the site is a fascinating place to visit, even if you’re not of any religious persuasion as it’s a great place to people watch as the devout (many of whom are Tibetan refugees) walk around the base of the stupa singly or in groups, spinning their personal prayer-wheels or using the ones that line the base of the tower whilst prayer-flags (like so much bunting, only with a more meaningful purpose) flutter in the breeze.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

31st March picture of the day…

31 Wednesday Mar 2021

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After yesterday’s jaunt up the Settle and Carlisle I’m back in the bosom of the Calder Valley catching up on paperwork and picture editing before the Easter holiday hits. Not that we’ve got anything exciting planned, it’ll be a time to consolidate at home using the days wisely in order to work on the cottage and get the place spruced up for the summer. True to form for British bank holidays the weather’s looking mixed. Earlier I was out on my daily constitutional, basking in sunshine and 20 degree temperatures whilst pausing to sit on the cliffs overlooking the Calder Valley for a few moments of quiet contemplation whilst taking in the views and the rays. On Easter Monday the forecast is for snow and temperatures of -1! There’s an old joke about the UK – we don’t have a climate, we have weather – you never know whether it’s going to rain, sleet or shine! I must admit I’m looking forward to being able to get back out to Asia again once this is all over – and the weather plays a part. It’s not just the fact that it’s generally more predictable, it’s also the fact that if it rains – it’s warm rain. In the meantime I’ll have to put up with whatever gets thrown at me.

I’m fervently hoping that Easter goes well and that people don’t forget why we’re doing what we’ve been doing because of Covid and pretend we’re already back to normal because some rules are relaxed – and the sun’s out. Besides, so many people have had their first vaccination so what’s the problem? Complacency could still be the death of people but I’ll be damned if it’s going to be the death of me. I’ve too big a ‘bucket list’ to kick it now!

Buckets aside, here’s the latest picture of the day which has was the first picture from my latest batch of slide scans that caught my eye. It was taken by the bus station in Janakpur, Nepal on the 9th March 1992.

This is a row of pedal-rickshaw Wallahs waiting for their next fare. They’re a common sight across the Indian sub-continent and other parts of SE-Asia. I have to confess that when I first went to India I refused to use them as I thought it was demeaning that another person should haul me around like this. Then an older traveller pointed out that all I was doing was depriving these people of money out of the wrong principles and that I’d always pay more than a local (but I could afford it) so get off my moral high-horse. He was right of course. Since, I’ve often enjoyed riding with these guys as many of them have a wicked sense of humour and they’ve given me some memorable and fun experiences. One time a friend and I charted a rickshaw wallah like this to take us around Agra in India. It was some of the best money we spent as he showed us so much more than we’d otherwise have seen, he shared his stories (and his food) and at one point we even got him in the back and pedalled him around! Great memories…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

29th March picture of the day…

29 Monday Mar 2021

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It’s late, I’ve had a busy day and I’m off on my travels to another job tomorrow so this is a short blog. I’ve currently got a backlog of old slides scanned and ready for editing but some of them require a fair bit of touching up in Photoshop due to their age and the conditions they were taken in. They were also developed in a lab in Kathmandu, Nepal, which did a pretty good job but might have added a few scratches to some of them Even so, it’s a delight to finally get them scanned after nearly 30 years as there’s some amazing memories – especially when I cross-reference them with my old diaries.

Memories aside, I’m looking forward to making new ones and taking plenty of new pictures now that lockdown is slowly easing. So much has changed on the UK railway scene in the past 12 months that I’ve a lot of catching up to do. Tomorrow should give me chance as I’m heading up to Ribblehead on the famous Settle and Carlisle railway to carry out a commission for RAIL magazine. So, for the first time this year you can expect a rolling blog of my travels!

But, for now, here’s the picture of the day.

I took this shot of the Rama temple in Janakpur in Nepal on the 9th March 1992. I was only in Janakpur for a day as it was an overnight stop on a rather epic overland Journey from Darjeeling in West Bengal, India, to Kathmandu. The trip would make a great blog in itself as it involved an ad-hoc group of us Westerners being delayed getting to the India-Nepal border by a protest, then a jeep where the horn broke (a disaster in India!) – we were so late that by the time we got out of India the Nepalese border post was closed and we had to ‘sneak’ in to the country! Getting from the border to Janakpur took another 11 hours sat on the roof of a bus so we were glad of bed and a shower at the end of a long dusty trip. The next day our bus for Kathmandu didn’t leave until 5pm as it was an overnight trip), so hanging around the Rama temple was a great way to see the sights and kill some time.

The temple’s an important Hindi religious site as legend has it that it’s the birthplace of the Hindu goddess Sita as well as being the site where she was married to Lord Rama. The building itself is quite spectacular and well worth a visit, even if it’s hard to get to – and it certainly was back in 1992! Expect many more pictures to come from Nepal. Revisiting them I realise what a sociable time it was as a group of us hooked up together and kept meeting throughout our time in Nepal. Leaving the country was almost as much fun as arriving as the day I flew out to Thailand there was a general strike due to several people having been shot dead in protests in the capital, so there was only one way to get from Kathmandu to the airport – walk!

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

28th March picture of the day…

28 Sunday Mar 2021

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Sunday’s allegedly the ‘day of rest’, isn’t it? Fat chance….

I had been hoping for a lie-in today after being up at silly o’ clock yesterday but two clocks conspired against me. One was my own internal body-clock whilst the other was the advent of British Summer Time, which meant the clocks went forward an hour. I was wide awake by 7 AM so thought ‘bugger it’ and got up to start pottering around. As I did so the Pennine weather was throwing a strop with heavy winds and rain which made me realise how lucky we’d been with yesterday’s job in Bradford. The temperatures may have been positively Baltic due to freezing winds that completely took the edge of the sun – but the weather stayed dry.

In contrast, today was warm and wet with no incentive to venture out so I spent the vast part of the day pottering around indoors on various chores whilst trying to catch up on some work. Well, it’s not as if there’s much else to do! Some of the lockdown regulations on meeting up will be relaxed next week, but right now it’s not as if we’re all part of a hectic social whirl with diaries full of restaurant, theatre or holiday bookings! One of the great things about my commission yesterday was that it added variety and a change of scenery – plus the chance to catch up with an old friend – and interact with strangers (even if it was at a social distance). How we used to take these things for granted…

Everything that’s happened has left me in an introspective mood, one which has been compounded by two other events. The latest batch of old slides I’m scanning were taken in Nepal in 1992 and to pin down the dates for some of them I’m having to read through old diaries written at the time. God, talking about taking you back…

Re-reading the diaries and looking at the pictures has made me realise how much the world’s changed in the past 30 years. But then it’s not just the world, it’s my life too. So much has happened in the intervening time. When I finally finish scanning the pictures and have more opportunity I’m determined to write about those times at length. Right now I just can’t do them justice. As if the diaries and scanning weren’t enough, Facebook has thrown me a curved-ball too…

I have a love-hate relationship with social-media, including Facebook, but I do find it incredibly useful for keeping in contact with friends (old and new) who’re scattered around the globe. What threw me today was Facebook reminding me what I was doing today, 10 years ago. So, instead of the usual picture of the day plucked from one of my old slide scans – here’s ‘on this day in history’…

On the 28th March 2011 I was travelling solo around India. I’d been in Asia since the previous December for business/pleasure (long story – for another time) but returned to India to explore places new and old. I was particularly interested in the dwindling metre and narrow gauge railway systems, so I ended up touring the state of Gujarat in the North of India. This day 10 years ago I’d taken a day trip from Vadodara (formerly Baroda) to a place called Miyagam Karjan Junction which was served by one of the extensive network of narrow-gauge railways. It was a brilliant day out that kept my camera busy. On the way home I’d decided not to book a reserved seat on a train but pitch up in 3rd Class and see what happened. After all, it was only three hours (ish) back to Vadodara, which is nothing to what I was used to on Indian railways! So, here’s how it went…

I took this picture from the luggage rack above the seats that was the most spacious place to wedge myself as the train was packed with a mixture of long distance passengers from Mumbai as well as local commuters. This is exactly the same problem Intercity services suffer from in the UK – and one of the reasons we need HS2! But I digress..

Despite the crowding, it was a memorable journey as people really weren’t used to a lone Westerner pitching up on this trip – especially one who seemed at home and wielded a camera. It wasn’t long before we all became friends and had some great chats – as is often the case in India – how I miss these interactions…

If you want to see the full selection of pictures from that 2010-11 trip, you can find them in this gallery on my Zenfolio website.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

25th March picture of the day…

25 Thursday Mar 2021

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

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For the past couple of days we’ve had lovely weather here in the Pennines so I’ve said ‘sod it’ when it comes to being chained to a desk and escaped out into the countryside to take the camera out of storage, breathe fresh air and stretch my legs. Yesterday I took a wander locally in the Calder valley to update my library shots of the local rail network. Sadly, things didn’t quite go to plan due to me leaving later than intended so by the time I’d arrived at my intended location the sun had already moved around! Even so, I had a lovely walk along the canal. The feeling that we’re finally coming out of hibernation was compounded by the confirmation of two photographic commissions over the next week, the first I’ve had since last November – which is a wonderful feeling as I know more are in the pipeline. As much as I enjoy writing, there’s nothing like the challenge of being on site in a strange location for testing your photographic skills. The two jobs are very different and one involves an iconic railway structure, but more about them nearer the time.

Today Dawn had to visit her office in Huddersfield so I accompanied her to take the camera for a ‘test run’ as it were. The combination of sunshine and the opportunity to document stretches of the Trans-Pennine railway via the Colne Valley before electrification work starts was too good to miss. Plus, it involved a lot of walking, so my exercise levels benefitted too!

Of course spending two days away from my desk means that there’s a backlog of scanned slides to edit, but they can wait. This is West Yorkshire after all – so it won’t be long before I’m trapped indoors by the rain again…

Now, the question is – what should today’s picture be, one of the old slides from my travels – or one of the new tranche of shots? I’ve plumped for one of today’s – purely for a change. After all, I’ve waited 30 years to get some of my slides into the public arena so another day or two’s hardly going to make a difference!

I took this shot at an area West of Huddersfield called Paddock. There’s a whole series of bridges over the railway at this point so there’s lots of photographic opportunities especially as the line passes through a deep cutting in the rock. Once four tracks, the line was reduced to two back in the 1970s. At the moment Network Rail are planning the upgrade of this section of line, which may (or may not) be electrified.

Taken with a telephoto lens, train 1K68, the 10:31 Scarborough to Liverpool Lime St accelerates to the linespeed of 75mph in the deep cutting at Paddock, West of Huddersfield. The train’s worked by a pair of Siemens Class 185 diesel multiple units. In the background is the spire of the ruined St Thomas’ church. Oh, and thank you to the driver of the train for giving me a cheery wave as he passed!

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

21st March picture of the day…

21 Sunday Mar 2021

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We’ve had a quiet weekend here in Bigland Towers. Dawn went for her first Covid vaccination on Saturday so we didn’t plan anything just in case she had much of a reaction. As it was, Dee’s side-effects have been limited to feeling tired whilst nursing an arm that feels like it’s been punched. Not that there’s much to plan at the moment anyway. It’s not like we’ve got a place to catch, is it? Instead we’ve taken it easy without any pressures to do much other than mooch around at home and catch up on life’s everyday chores. Now that Spring is officially here I’ve spent time tidying up the gardens so that we can sit outside and enjoy the sunshine when it finally arrives on a consistent basis. We may be slowly edging our way out of lockdown, but the opportunities for travelling away from home look like they’re going to be marginal for some time yet – especially when one casts eyes abroad. I’d love to be be able to set foot outside the ‘museum of Brexit’ for a while and remind myself what a less inward looking country looks like, but with the uncertainties over vaccination rates in other parts of the world this could be problematic.

Until the picture becomes clearer I’ll resign myself to being restricted to this septic isle for a while and keep my head down to make the most of my house-arrest by scanning old slides, work on the cottage and downsizing the mountains of physical baggage I’ve accumulated over the years. There’s still some journalistic work to be done too – I’ve articles to write which will help keep the wolf from the door. At least photographic commissions are in the pipeline once more now that people are planning for a post lockdown world (more on that when it happens).

Right now, my photography is revolving around those old slides – which are providing today’s picture. I took this picture in Jaisalmer, India on the 3rd November 1991. This is the Salim Singh ki Haveli, one of the stunning old buildings that dot the town.

Jaisalmer is a city that’s straight out of the Arabian nights. The town itself is built in the lee of the fort which is built high above it on a promontory. Thus sheltered from Thar desert sandstorms its narrow streets and remarkable buildings make it a fantastic place to wander around. You can find many more pictures of Jaisalmer in this gallery on my Zenfolio website. Oh, you might notice that my blog’s header picture has finally changed! The old one was of Seathwaite in the English Lake district, which is officially the wettest place in England. You can find the original full picture here. The new picture is a crop of a shot taken at sunrise from the top of Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka. It’s one from my 1991-92 travels and I’ll be adding it (and many others) to this gallery shortly. Now that I have so many more travel pictures scanned I’m intending to change the header picture on a monthly basis, just to keep you all entertained!

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

19th March picture of the day…

19 Friday Mar 2021

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Have I really been away from blogging for two days? Damn…

As usual, it’s not that I’ve had nothing to say, just that there never seems to be enough hours in the day especially as my normal time for writing these blogs is in the evening. Despite ‘lockdown’ that work/life balance thingy is a tricky little bugger and days run away with you. Time is never on my side.

I’d intentions to catch up on several blogs I’ve been wanting to pen but that never happened. Instead I was immersed in the mundanities of life, scanning more old pictures and trying to keep fit despite having my wings clipped by Covid. I sometimes wonder how I managed before lockdown but then I look at how many slides I’ve managed to scan in the past year and the answer becomes obvious! Looking through so many old pictures has brought me both joy and sorrow during lockdown. On one hand it’s made me appreciate how many places I’ve had the fortune to visit over the decades and the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet, but that’s also reinforced the feelings of constriction due to Covid. Funnily enough, those same feelings have been reflected in my daily perambulations. Spring is very much in the air here in West Yorkshire, but I’d normally be seeing the season make its way up the country through my travels – travels I’ve simply not been able to make in the past year. I’ve never been so tied to one place since I was a child – and it’s starting to chafe on me. I can’t wait until the restrictions are lifted and I can start to spread my wings again. Hopefully, that will be soon as jobs are starting to trickle in again as others are scenting the smell of freedom again and the opportunities that brings too…

Tomorrow Dawn gets her first Covid jab which is yet another step on the road to release from our collective confinements. If Dee reacts the same way that most I suspect I’ll be playing Nurse tomorrow, but that’s no bad thing and I’m prepared. Besides, I’ve plenty to keep myself occupied with and my office is within groaning distance of the bedroom!

OK, now I’ve go to choose a picture of the day, which is actually rather difficult as there’s so many old slides that are worthy of the title as the current crop are from India, a country that’s impossibly photogenic for a whole host of reasons. Looking back at my archive I’ve realised how so much of it seems commonplace and familiar to me due to the fact I’ve spent so much time there, whilst to others some of these pictures must seem incredibly exotic – or just plain strange! So let’s try you with this one. As much as we may bitch about our first world problems we are incredibly fortunate compared to the majority of the population of this planet – we just forget that most of the time. Travelling in countries like India (if you leave the comfort of your resort complex) teaches you that.

I took this picture on the 30th October 1991 at the steam locomotive depot in Jaipur, Rajasthan, but it’s not about trains…

These young people are picking through the ashes of fires thrown out of steam locomotives, looking for pieces of unburned coal that they can either sell or use for cooking. And yet – do they look unhappy? I was wandering around taking pictures when I spotted them and realised what they were doing. Despite the fact we didn’t share a common language they were perfectly happy to pose for a picture when I asked if I could take one. One of the wonderful things about India is that most people aren’t camera-shy (exactly the opposite) despite their circumstances which is rather humbling in more ways than one. I often look through old pictures like this and wonder what became of the people whose images I froze in time…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

16th March picture of the day…

16 Tuesday Mar 2021

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Apologies for the lack of a picture of the day these past few days. I’ve been to busy to blog as I’ve been catching up on other stuff – although I have been managing to continue with the slide scans. There’s now a healthy pile ready for editing and adding to my Zenfolio site and a search of Dee’s parents loft at the weekend has revealed that the end really is in sight! I’ve returned home with a few more albums to add to my collection at Bigland towers but after perusing them and doing some calculations I reckon I can have the remaining few thousand slides completed before the end of the year – which is going to feel like a real achievement after 30 plus years! So, without further ado, here’s today’s picture, which is from the latest batch.

I took this image of a Harley-Davidson trishaw taxi in Connaught Place, New Delhi, India on the 24th October 1991.

These weird beasties used to work like buses on a route between Connaught Place and the Red Fort in Old Delhi. They were noisy and polluting but fun at the time as they were great for using as mobile camera platforms. Most of the guys who drove them were Sikhs. Needless to say, as Delhi started to clean up its polluted act they finally went to that great motorcycle scrapyard in the sky. I’m not sure what year it was when they finally disappeared but I’d be surprised if they saw the turn of the century. Maybe a reader of this blog will know?

Soon, you’ll be able to find (and buy) this and many other pictures from my 1991-92 travel odyssey in this gallery on my Zenfolio website.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

13th March picture of the day…

13 Saturday Mar 2021

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I’m back! My Covid vaccination didn’t cause me too much of a problem, but it certainly made its presence known. I had a crap nights sleep on Thursday due to the flu-like aches and pains it generated. I still felt low on Friday morning so stayed in bed but by lunchtime the effects had worn off and I felt right as rain. So much so that I was well enough to get out for a long walk and hit my daily exercise targets without any trouble – which was a bonus.

My spirits were further lifted by a phone call. Sometimes, as a Journalist, you wonder if the stuff you write ever has an impact or if it’s worthwhile. The current copy of RAIL magazine contains a piece I’ve written on ‘Platform 1’, the mental health charity based at Huddersfield station. On Friday I had a phone call from Bob Morse, the charities Project Manager. Not only did he love the article (which he thought told was pitched just right), he also told me that’s it’s already saved one life. He explained that a young man who was about to commit suicide had picked up his Dad’s copy of RAIL and read the article. Doing so spurred him on to change his mind. Instead, he’s contacted Platform 1 and they’ve taken him under their wing. As Bob said to me – ‘we won’t let him go now’. Those of you whom know me well will know mental health and suicide is an issue that’s touched my life. This news makes me feel that the job I do can sometimes make a difference. It would be unfair not to mention that the idea for the article came from RAIL’s Paul Stephen, who commissioned me to write it, so Paul also deserves credit for this. To get positive feedback on the stuff you write is always good. One of the reasons I enjoy blogging is that readers can (and do feedback directly). But to be told that something you’ve done has had such a positive outcome is very special.

Charities like Platform 1 are very much in the front-line right now as Covid has clipped the wings of many agencies who would normally offer help to people. The problem’s exacerbated by the fact lockdown has massively increased the need for these services, so anything I’ve been able to do to help has been worthwhile. If you think you can (practically, or financially), here’s a link to Platform 1’s website which contains all their contact details as well as far more about their services.

OK, it’s Saturday night and I’m not going to blog forever – it’s time for a night off. Dawn and I have picked up a fabulous food package from the Moorcock Inn which we’re going to start preparing shortly, so right now I’m going to leave you with the picture of the day. As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve begun the task of scanning old slides from a solo trip through SE-Asia that I undertook in 1991-92. Right now I’m on the first tranche of pictures taken in the few days after I landed in Delhi, India. I’d pitched up in the Paharganj, an area next to Delhi railway station (not to be confused with old Delhi) which was a fantastic if anarchic area. I still stay there when I go back and it’s not changed much in character in the intervening years. One evening I came across a wedding procession in the street outside. The Groom was riding a white horse and he was accompanied by friends, family – and a band with their own light-show. This being India – the light-show was both labour intensive and a hazard to anyone else! Imagine 7-8 people carrying these fluorescent tube ensembles on their heads – all linked together by flex like mountaineers roped together – only at the far end of the flex there was a pedal rickshaw with a big old generator on the back of it! All, this, in a narrow, busy street in the middle of the Paharganj!

I followed the wedding for a while and took a host of pictures whilst chatting to the family of the groom. We got on so well that they invited me along to the wedding! Me – absurdly under-dressed in a singlet, but that didn’t matter! It’s what I love about India – the friendliness of people. I’ve ended up going along to several weddings like this – although not in a singlet – honest (I learned my lesson and keep a shirt with me now). You’ll be able to find all the pictures of this and the rest of my adventures in a special gallery I’ve started here.

I’ve a favour to ask…
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10th March picture of the day…

10 Wednesday Mar 2021

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Scotland, Transport, Travel

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Despite the fact I’d had high hopes, today was another one that wasn’t exactly vintage as so many events conspired to make it otherwise – most of which were completely out of my control – such as the weather! Much as I’d love to have the power to decide whether the sun shines or not, that ain’t going to happen, so I just had to watch the rain sweep in for much of the day – but there was a surprise feeling later.

Having been stuck in for most of the day travelling back in time scanning old pictures and dealing with paperwork the pair of us did venture out in the afternoon to drop a present at a friend’s house for his 69th birthday. Dawn has been busy the past couple of days playing around with and perfecting her Vegan chocolate recipes which was what we dropped round at our friends. In the process we found out some awful news about some other people we’ve known for many years. I’m not going to name the couple as it’s not my place to do so, but we discovered that one of them (in their early 60s) has been diagnosed as having Motor Neurone Disease – just as they’ve managed to sell their business ready for retirement. If ever you’ve wanted to curse the Gods…

Earlier on the week a friend contacted me to say that his Father had passed away due to COPD, so you start thinking ‘sheesh’! None of this has anything to do with Covid or the present situation we all find ourselves in but it does start to concentrate the mind. Needless to say, these events gave me food for thought. Despite the weather I went out for a long walk and ended up sat up on what I think of as a retreat – the cliffs on the promenade above the valley looking down on our local woods. It was dark by the time I got there and the wind was literally blowing a gale but to sit there on my own, being battered by the elements made me feel grateful to be alive and also wonder at the simple joys of living which we don’t always appreciate in these complicated times. Us mere mortals will come and go, but the seasons and the elements will always remain…  

These thoughts about change are reflected in the choice of today’s picture which is from the latest batch of slide scans. I took this shot of the ferry to the Isle of Skye on the 24th July 1990.

The ferry ‘Lochalsh’ arrives at the Kyle of Lochalsh with the Isle of Skye in the background. Now the ferry has gone and the town’s declined as a result. The new bridge crosses to the Isle of Skye about a mile away to the right of the picture.

Back then I’d take a yearly break from my London life to travel around Scotland for a week on a rail rover ticket. This particular time I pitched-up at the Kyle of Lochalsh in perfect weather so stayed a night in the hotel overlooking the terminal for the ferry across to Kyleakin on the isle of Skye. This was an idyllic spot. You may have seen from a previous blog that I’ve always had an affinity for ferries like this. Sadly, this one is long-gone. It was replaced by a bridge in 2005 – although that fact that was built as a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project which charged huge tolls was both contentious and unpopular. Sadly, like the ferry villages in my other blog, the Kyle of Lochalsh has gone into an economic decline – even tho’ it’s still the terminus of the railway from Inverness. Still, my pictures remind me of happier times over 30 years ago…