Tag Archives: Picture of the day

8th January picture of the day…

08 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by in Indonesia, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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There’s few words from me tonight as today’s hardly been the most exciting day – unless you count hoping the snow showers we’ve had on and off all day would deliver a decent deluge and we’d be covered in the white stuff for the weekend. I was looking forward to getting some shots of snow-covered trees in our local woods, but it wasn’t to be. We’re just that little bit too low on the valley side so whilst nearby Warley looked picturesque, we were left with muddy footpaths and wet woods. Maybe tomorrow!

The pictures I’ve been scanning today couldn’t be more different, as this one shows. I took this shot in the last few days of September 1998 on a tiny little Island called Kanawa which is a boat trip from the town and ferry port of Labuanbajo on the Western end of the Island of Flores, Indonesia. We were staying in the little resort you can see by the beach, although ‘resort’ is rather a grand term for a collection of a dozen stilt bungalows and a restaurant! But, it was a fantastic place to kick back and relax. This was in the days when mobile phones was a luxury and the internet was dial-up and could only be found in major cities. There was no TV here either. Lynn and I had a short-wave radio with us and that was our only contact with the outside world. Here, you sunbathed, swam, snorkelled and slept. Supplies were brought in by boat daily from the mainland and after a couple of days you learned not to order breakfast until you saw the boat arrive and what was on it. But everything was fresh, especially the fish – and the chicken as the birds scratched a living from the ground around the resort. I remember one day someone ordered chicken for the evening meal. The chef disappeared out of the back and there was a helluva commotion accompanied by lots of flapping, clucking and squawking. 20 minutes later the cook came back and said to the couple. “Sorry, you can’t have chicken”. “Why not?” they asked. “I can’t catch one” was his reply! At least you didn’t have to catch your own…

Looking down on our little haven with the Island of Flores beyond. Happy days…

I’ve dozens of pictures scanned and ready for editing before adding to my website tomorrow. When they are, you’ll be able to find them in this gallery. They’ll include shots of both Flores and Bali as we were heading West to Java before flying to Australia to spend Christmas with friends we’d made earlier in the trip, although first, we were meeting up with a group from the UK who were coming out to join us in Bali for a holiday.

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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/

7th January picture of the day…

07 Thursday Jan 2021

Posted by in Picture of the day, Travel

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The stunning winter weather we enjoyed yesterday lasted until sunset, then the temperatures dropped overnight so this morning we awoke to gloomy skies and a miasma that stayed with is all day, along with occasional snow flurries that thickened through the day, leaving us with a dusting of snow. More’s expected tomorrow.

Indoors my world was far less monochrome as I was busy scanning old slides and researching articles. The slide scanning’s progressing well. I’ve polished off another album, my final one of foreign rail images, dating back to 2003. This morning I added old Irish rail pictures to this gallery. Tomorrow I’ll add the last ones which were taken in Singapore and France. There’s still a few scratched images to restore (slowly) and there might be the odd image lurking in an album here and there, but to all intents and purposes that the rail stuff finally done! That just leaves me with the travel and social issues images to get through and I’ve made a start on them today.

Next in line are the travel pictures from the round the world trip that Lynn and I did in 1997-99. I’d got as far as Australia but there was an album out of sync that I’ve dug out of storage to prioritise – so we’ve leapt back in time and space a few months to return to the Indonesian Islands of Flores, Bali and Java! So, here’s the picture of the day. I took this shot in mid September 1998 atop Kelimutu, a volcano on the Island of Flores. Kelimutu is famous for three volcanic lakes which regularly change colour. When I was there in 1998, one was black, the other Turquoise. In this image you can just see the Turquoise lake behind this one. It’s a stunning and unique place to visit and worth getting up early to ascend the volcano to see the sunrise.

Tomorrow (once I’ve had chance to edit the scans) I’ll add them to this gallery which will contain all the pictures from our trip. Well, eventually…

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Thank you!

6th January picture of the day…

06 Wednesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Calder Valley, Photography, Picture of the day

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Well, we may be back in lockdown, but today was one of those days where I really didn’t mind being stuck around home as the weather was absolutely glorious! It was a crisp winter day with wall-to-wall sunshine that made it a pleasure to take my daily constitutional. Most of the snow has disappeared now, apart from the occasional patch in the shadows, although it tarries on the very high moors.

Either side of my stroll was spent at home working, either wading through yet more old slides from Ireland, Spain and Singapore (they’ll appear on my website tomorrow) or researching my next article for RAIL magazine. This will be rather different as the focus isn’t really on the railways, but you’ll see what I mean when it comes out.

Rather than select a vintage picture for today I thought I’d show you what life in the Calder Valley was like today. Here’s the view from the Promenade above our local woods whilst I was out strolling. Apologies for the quality as it was taken on my phone!

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Thank you!

4th January picture of the day…

04 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Sri Lanka, Travel

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Many people returned to work today for the first time after the Xmas and New Year break – only to find out in tonight’s announcement from the Prime Minister that that return is going to be short lived as England’s going back into another Covid lockdown. I have to admit to having lost track – it this the 2nd, 3rd or 4th? It all gets rather confusing – especially as the rules vary so much. Here in West Yorkshire shops have been open but the pubs shut months ago, so I’m never quite sure what ‘flavour’ of lockdown we’re meant to be having. In many ways it makes little difference to Dawn and I as we’ve maintained as much distance from people as possible as it is! The only people we’ve seen in the flesh on a regular basis are the other occupants of our ‘bubble’ (Dawn’s parents). Sadly, this latest announcement will stop us celebrating Norah’s 80th in the way we’d hoped, but otherwise it’s not going to make a huge difference to us as far as I can see as we’d planned to be pretty reclusive this month anyway.

At least we can still get out for exercise, which is part of our plan. I managed a couple rambles through our local woods which gave me chance to get my steps in and take a break for staring at a computer screen all day. I’m trying to make the most of my incarceration by ramping up my working hours to make up for Festive down-time and catch-up with work. After all, there’s not a lot else to do…

Which brings me on to the picture of the day. I’m on the edge of another milestone as I’m within spitting distance of having all my foreign railway slides scanned and uploaded to my Zenfolio website. This was one of today’s batch. I took this picture on in Sri Lanka on the 6th January 2003. This is the view from the ‘Podi Menike’ express train from Kandy through to Badulla as it twists and turns its way along the hill railway and through all the tea plantations that cover a vast area of this part of the Island. Oh, to be there now, leaning out of a coach door to grab a shot of the train as it snakes around the sharp curves.

The hill railway really is like stepping back in time with its pretty little stations that have changed little since the Victorian Era when the railway was built although in recent years loco-hauled trains like this have been displaced on express services by modern Diesel Multiple Units. What remains unchanged is the fantastic scenery! You can find the scenic pictures (and many more rail shots) by clicking on this link.

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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/

2nd January picture of the day…

02 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in Picture of the day, Railways, Sri Lanka, Travel

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I’m back! Happy 2021 folks…

I took a day off from blogging yesterday as there’d been sweet bugger-all to blog about. Let’s face it – it’s not as if I was going to write about gallivanting around the country, is it? Sedentary is the word that best describes yesterday.

Today was a little more exciting as the weather’s changed again and we’ve had several snow flurries – enough to stop us thinking about driving out into the hills to go walking. Instead we hoofed it from home through our local woods (which looked lovely in their dusting of snow) down to the valley bottom for a stroll along the canal from Copley into Sowerby Bridge. We were both surprised to see just how much of the canal was frozen over. As dwellers of the high valley side we see more sun, so it’s sometimes a shock to see the way the cold congregates on the valley floor.

Despite the weather we had a lovely walk which (despite its length) got us home in plenty of time for a relaxing evening at home, playing Scrabble and watching films. I suspect this is going to be the shape of weekends for sometime yet. Well, maybe minus the snow.

On top of everything else I did manage to get a few more old slides scanned, which has provided the picture of the day. I took this on the train trip from Colombo to Kandy (Sri Lanka) on the 30th December 2002.

I love the way many railway stations in Sri Lanka have such a wonderful display of potted plants! I wish we could get some of the involved in the Community Rail Awards, although I suspect Community Rail Network might have a heart-attack at the cost of flying a couple of us judges out all that way!

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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 December picture of the day…

29 Tuesday Dec 2020

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

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On rolling up the bedroom blinds this morning I found we’d had the first real dusting of snow of the winter. Unlike last month the snowline was low enough to include us although the valley bottom was still clear of the white stuff. Even so, the view from the house was rather attractive – especially as I knew I didn’t need to venture out to slip and slide my way to work!

Instead, the pair of us have spent most of the day indulging in some DIY in order to rejig the bedroom and create more space in the cottage by relocating some shelves over the bed. A simple task normally, but this is an 1850s cottage that doesn’t contain a straight line/flat surface anywhere! Just drilling a hole into a wall as an adventure as you never know what you might find, or rather – not find. I sometimes think the interior walls were made of Emmental cheese that someone just roughly slapped plaster over. Hoping for a solid surface to drill into is like playing Russian roulette in reverse! Still, we got there in the end and the relocated shelves look rather dandy.

Having carried out my DIY duties and whilst Dawn finished some decluttering I ventured out for my daily constitutional before dark descended – although it was a close-call. The Mercury was already plummeting and the roads and pavements were becoming glasslike. Even so, it was lovely to be out for an hour as everything is really peaceful at the moment because so few people are sallying forth. I didn’t encounter anyone in our local woods and the promenade overlooking the valley contained little more than a couple of folks walking their dogs, so I was left to admire the valley views on my own. These Covid times to have their compensations…

Having been busy all day with other chores I’ve had no time to scan more old pictures, although I did break out more and install them in glass mounts ready for action. So, today’s picture is topical to say the least – if more mundane than most I’ve been posting recently. It’s the view from our bedroom window this morning…

I’ll be back at the grindstone tomorrow as I’ve a couple of blogs I want to write before we finally wave goodbye to (or put two fingers up at) 2020…

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!

27th December picture of the day…

27 Sunday Dec 2020

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

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This year the interregnum between Xmas and the New year is certainly an odd one – not that Christmas was exactly normal itself! I’m sure I remember a certain Prime Minister claiming back in September that life would could be back to normal by now but then he wouldn’t be the first person to claim that “It’ll all be over by Christmas”. You’d have thought people would have learned by now. New Year won’t be normal either. Forget the festivities as most of us will be in one form of lockdown or another. Hogmanay? Humbug!

Even so, I’m determined to make the most of this time. I can’t go to the pub or see friends? Never mind. There’s plenty of other things to do that I’ve never found the time for, so I might as well make the most of it – and that’s my pragmatic attitude to the situation we find ourselves in.

Mind you, the weather here in the Pennines hasn’t been tempting me to venture far anyway. Storm Bella passed without any major impact but the area’s certainly damp – but without any flooding, which is a bonus. So I’ve been hunkered down in the office to continue the slide scanning marathon whilst trying to catch up on on few household chores. Oh, the humdrum lockdown life!

My intention with the new week and what remains of the year is to clear the decks ready for 2021 which is going to prove to be another ‘interesting’ year – although it’s one I’m remaining resolutely positive about. The Covid vaccines are going to be rolled out and the world will start to re-open – well, the bits we haven’t cut ourselves off from with Brexit, anyway! – so I’m really looking forward to making up for lost travel-time and getting out and about in next year. This has been one of the great frustrations of 2020. I’ve spent so much time scanning pictures of beautiful parts of the world I’ve visited in the past whilst knowing I can’t get anywhere near them right now! One of today’s old slide scans is the – picture of the day…

I took this shot in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia on the 12th January 1999. Ballarat was a town made rich from Gold mining and some of its civic buildings reflected that status, including this one, which is the railway station dating from 1862 – and yes – that clocktower is part of the station!

The old semaphore signals you see in the picture had just been taken out of commission, but the railway gates survive today, as does the signalbox – which has become a coffee shop!

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!

26th December picture of the day…

26 Saturday Dec 2020

Posted by in India, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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Well, here were are on Boxing Day of the strangest Christmas I’ve ever had – although it’s not been all bad by any means. As a Freelancer of 20 years standing I’ve got used to the fact that the office parties are shit! The compensation for that has been certain events with friends which are far more convivial and enjoyable as you’re actually spending time with people you want to. Only this year that’s not been possible so the festive season’s been anything but festive as even the bloody pubs are shut!

Despite all these travails we had a lovely Christmas Day with our ‘bubble’ – Dawn’s parents. We drove over to their home in Huddersfield where Dee and her mum prepared a fabulous Christmas meal. As there was only the four of us the day was really relaxed with the courses stretched over several hours – and it was delicious! We enjoyed a mixture of Duck and Turkey breast with all the trimmings plus a wonderful home-made dessert. Even the cat enjoyed himself. We didn’t want to leave the old boy at home alone so we took him with us. He sat on a cushion on my lap in the car on the way over and really seemed to enjoy the journey. He’s always been an inquisitive cat and loved gazing out of the window.

Today (Boxing Day) the pair of us have taken it easy at home. There’s been no pressure to go anywhere as there’s nowhere to go! Storm Bella has been fashionably late, which meant we managed to get out for a long walk through the local woods and along the canal before the rain and gales hit. I’m writing this just before midnight whilst listening to the wind and rain clobbering the bedroom window.

Which brings me on to the picture of the day. It may be Christmas, but I have managed to scan one or two old slides in the quieter moments. The batch I’m plowing my way through at the moment are from the very end of regular steam locomotive workings in India, way back in 2000. Sadly, I missed the final act by a couple of weeks. But I was in time to record the demise of the final main-line steam locomotive depot in India, which was at the wonderfully named Wankaner Junction, which is in the Gujarat, Western India. I’ll blog about this at length another time when I have all the pictures scanned. In the meantime, here’s the locomotive that hauled the last scheduled steam train in India.

Here’s YG Class 2-8-2 No 3360 (with headboard) dumped inside the shed at Wankaner Junction on the 12th February 2000 after having had its fire dropped for the very last time just a couple of weeks before. The depot still contained 17 steam locos of classes YG and YP – although some were merely shells that hadn’t run for several years.

If you want to see other pictures from this Indian trip, follow this link. I’ve still a few more to add which I hope to do over the next couple of days.

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!

24th December picture of the day…

24 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Railways

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Well, more of a Christmas card really! Today’s been spent prepping for the big day tomorrow which means Dawn and I have been busy with different chores and cooking. In the spirit of the festive season we even had a (very) brief flurry of snow here earlier, which lasted about as long as one of Boris Johnson’s promises!

Anyway, enough of politics, Covid or anything else.

What I would like to do is wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas, wherever you are – and the statistics I see from WordPress show me that you’re all around the world! I’m both grateful and humbled that so many of you either follow my (almost) daily rambles and ventures into a range of subjects. It’s been a funny old world this year to say the least and I suspect many of us are having the sort of Christmas we never expected, but I just want to wish each and every one of you the best festive season possible. So here’s the picture of the day, which I took on a rather magical little railway in Germany back in 2007…

22nd December picture of the day…

22 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by in India, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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I was full of good intentions today but only some of them came to fruition – and catching up on blogging wasn’t one of them! I had an appointment at our local doctors surgery this morning to have may annual flu jab. Despite these trying times the surgery have been very good about keeping in touch and responding to problems although (thankfully) I’ve not required their services. Now, because of Covid, the waiting room is dark and barricaded. You talk to the receptionist via the intercom outside and wait to be collected. The practice Nurse who gave me my jab was lovely but threw me with her first question;

Nurse: “you did get the text we sent you about the flu jab, didn’t you”?

Me: “No, why”?

Nurse: “It was to tell you this vaccine isn’t currently approved in the UK. Because of all the difficulties at the moment we’ve had to source it from the USA where it is approved, do you still want it?

Me: “No problem, but if I suddenly start talking with an American accent I’ll be straight back here”!

With all the madness over vaccines and the idiocy of the anti-vaxxers, plus the strain these poor Nurses are under right now I’m glad I was able to make her laugh. Oh, and it got me out of the house and away from the computer which was an added bonus. Plus, the walk back along the canal was lovely as it was a rare moment of peacefulness and serenity in what’s an increasingly crazy country, although I’m doing my best to ignore the shit-show in order to enjoy Christmas.

I’m winding down work – including slide-scanning – to focus on the forthcoming festivities (truncated as they are). I’m actually looking forward to it as so many decisions are outside of our control, so why worry? Dawn and I are going to have Christmas day in the little bubble we have with John and Norah, Dee’s parents. After that we’ll be heading home to spend some quality time together and enjoy some walking as well as catching up on some of those jobs there never seems to be time for (did someone mention a bathroom? Ed). Who knows, I might even be able to catch up on some blogging too!

In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day, which is another nostalgic look at some of the slides I’ve been scanning from a country we’re currently banned from travelling to – India. I took this shot at the old Bombay Victoria station (as it was then) on the 14th November 1991.

British rail enthusiasts might think the body-styling is familiar. They’d be absolutely right. The WCM1 Class of locomotives were built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-Le-Willows in the early 1950s. Seven of them were manufactured to haul passenger and freight services from Bombay (Mumbai) and lasted in service until 2000. I was lucky enough to capture this one on film. Oh, notice an early Indian Railways double-deck coach in the sidings behind?

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!