Tag Archives: Picture of the day

20th September picture of the day…

20 Sunday Sep 2020

Posted by in India, Picture of the day, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

I’m back in the back-room of Bigland Towers after a very convivial few hours in our local pub where we’ve spent only the second time since lockdown bumping into old friends. What was so lovely was how the laughter flowed, and laughter is something that’s in rather short supply right now for several reasons – Covid being just one of them…

I’ve missed those opportunities for banter over the past few months. Yes, lockdown and its aftermath has been great for getting some things done, but it’s been shocking for socialising and face to face interaction and the ability to bounce ideas and humour of people.

I’ve made the most of it as it’s looking like the legion of muppets who think social-distancing is for other people are about to take us back into even tighter restrictions. Frustrating isn’t the word for it.

So, I’m brought onto the picture of the day, which was taken in the Paharganj in Delhi, India in 2003. The motorised ‘school run’ is very much a first world problem and one we really need to get a grip of. Kids being ferried to/from school in cars is a nightmare in so many ways. It benefits no-one. In India it’s rather different. Here’s a bunch of ‘posh’ kids being ferried home in the back of a cycle-rickshaw. Kids being kids – as soon as they saw me they started playing up for the camera!

I love street photography in India. You never know what you’re going to encounter and most people are only too happy to pose for a picture.

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 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!

17th September picture of the day…

17 Thursday Sep 2020

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Today’s been the classic mixed bag where I’m trying to juggle lots of things whilst modern (Covid) life intrudes to add a completely different experience.

Most of my day’s been spent working from home, trying to ignore the fact the sunny weather’s returned – even if it’s now accompanied by the temperature drops that herald the onset of autumn. I did venture out for a break from staring at computer screens but this week my exercise regime’s going to be marked like an old school report – “5/10 – see me”…

Today’s surreal experience was attending a ‘virtual’ National Rail Awards. Full credit to my friend of longstanding Nigel Harris and his team at RAIL for putting it together when most events have been cancelled completely this year. It can’t have been an easy gig to arrange. But, it also shows why the idea that everyone can work from home is utter bollocks. Does anyone seriously think an online event can replace such a prestigious event at the Grosvenor Park Hotel in central London where 1100 plus people meet to celebrate the achievements of the rail industry whilst meeting up with old friends and enjoying the opportunity to network and chat? Of course not. Both Dawn and I enjoyed the awards (and there were some great awards), but we’re looking forward to 2021 when we can recreate it in the flesh.

Meanwhile, here’s the picture of the day, which I took in Washington DC on the 4th April 2007. It was cherry blossom season when the centre of the city’s ablaze. It makes a fantastic sight.

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 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 you see here can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

16th September picture of the day…

16 Wednesday Sep 2020

Posted by in Picture of the day, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

Talk about back to the grindstone! I’ve not stopped since I came back from my trip – hence the gap in blogging. As well as enjoying some quality time with Dawn I’ve been playing catch-up on all the stuff I’ve not been able to sort out whilst I’ve been away – like eBay. All the recent orders for pictures and railwayana have been fulfilled and I’m now in a position to start restocking the site with the next tranche for sale. Here’s a sample. I’ll be adding over 100 more in the next few days – time permitting.

Oh, there’s also my pictures from Monday, which have now been loaded onto my Zenfolio site. You can find which galleries they’ve been added to by following this link. Along with everything else I’m up to I’m determined to finish scanning the last album of old rail slides from 2001-02. That should be done by the end of October. Meanwhile, I’ve an awful lot of writing to do. RAIL will begin publishing the trilogy of articles from my round Britain trip next month, so writing up my voluminous notes will take priority over old pictures. They’ve waited 18 years to appear – they can wait another few weeks!

This brings me on to the picture of the day, which comes from my travel archive. This was one of a few times where the Gods smiled upon me. Lynn, Alison and I were travelling South down highway 13 in Laos by bus. Well, there’s little option. There’s no railways, so you either walk, fly, or go buy bus. Everything was going fine until the bus suddenly took on a life of its own and drifted to the left – into oncoming traffic – despite the best efforts of the driver. Thankfully, there was nothing coming the other way (which was a minor miracle in itself). Our Driver controlled the bus via the brakes and brought us to a stand still upright – on the opposite side of the road, just before we’d have gone down an embankment. When we all piled out and started to work out what the hell had happened the driver and a couple of vehicle savvy Westerners had a look underneath the vehicle. It transpired that the steering linkage was missing a bolt (or two) so the steering wheel had become an ornament! It didn’t matter which way our driver turned it – that bus was going its own sweet way! Here’s the picture I took at the time. It’s dated the 13th January 2009.

One day I’ll tell you about what happened when we broke our golden rule (never get in a taxi/tuk-tuk driven by anyone under the age of 40) in Sri Lanka…

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 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…

Thank you!

Railrover day 7 and picture of the day….

13 Sunday Sep 2020

Posted by in Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Phew! Mission accomplished! I finished my trip on my 80th train – the 21.22 West Midlands service from Wolverhampton to Birmingham New St. It’s an odd train to end on you may think, but it gives me the opportunity to write about the redevelopment of Wolverhampton station and end the trilogy of articles on an optimistic note. Today I’ve covered railways old and new, from heritage stations and Victorian signalling to the very latest rail developments with new trains, new stations and also our new high-speed railway – HS2.

I’m now tucked up in my hotel, although Birmingham city centre feels a lot safer than the mad scenes I saw in Cardiff last night.

Tomorrow I’ll have a bimble around the West Midlands for myself, looking at a few developments here before heading home later in the day. Then, when I get back it’s very much ‘nose to the grindstone’ to start writing up my experiences.

In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day. I don’t normally do ‘selfies’, but on this occasion…This is me on my final train of what’s really been a completely unique trip…

The next time (If RAIL still want me to) do this trip will be in 2022, which would be my tenth time since we started the series in 2004. So much has changed on the railways since then. I wonder how much will have changed in the next two years?

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 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…

Thank you!

Railrover day 4 and picture of the day…

10 Thursday Sep 2020

Posted by in Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

It’s 22.30 and I’m knackered! I’ve been up since 04:00 and I’ve covered a hell of a lot of ground. Right now I’m relaxing in my hotel in London before finally getting some kip before another busy day tomorrow. Today I visited Sheffield, Leicester, Kettering, Corby, London (1st time), Cambridge, Ely, Norwich, Lowestoft, Ipswich – and then back to London. There’s lots of stories to relate, but they’ll have to wait for my articles in RAIL magazine. What I will say is that the impact of Covid on the UK’s railways really does vary – and it’s changing all the time now. If I did this same trip in a month I’ll bet things would look very different.

What’s been great to see is how the train companies are doing their very best to make travel safe for people – and how most passengers are playing their part too. Despite the number of trains I’ve been on I can’t say there’s a single one where I’ve felt unsafe.

So, before I finally fall comatose, here’s the picture of the day, which was taken at Ipswich earlier and sums up the essence of rail travel right now.

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 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…

Thank you!

Railrover day 3 and picture of the day…

09 Wednesday Sep 2020

Posted by in Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

It’s been a very busy day since I left Newcastle this morning. I’ve visited many of the North’s major cities and seen first-hand the effect Covid-19 is having on people’s lives as I’ve visited York, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool before ending up back at home for a night in order to pick up some clean clothes. Hopefully, people will find my experiences and interesting read in RAIL magazine next month. There’s certainly been plenty to write about!

Right now I’m going to call it a day as I have to be on my first train at 05:39 in the morning, so It’s time for bed. But before I go – here’s the picture of the day, which was taken at York station at this morning. The tourists are missing – and so’s everyone else…

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 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 locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

Thank you!

Rail Rover day 2 – and picture of the day…

08 Tuesday Sep 2020

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Today’s been a fascinating one that’s taken me across a lot of lowland Scotland, from Kilmarnock to Girvan, to Stranraer, to Ayr and on to Glasgow before heading across to Edinburgh where I had a short time meeting up with an old friend. Times being what they are it’s not as if the pair of us could even go for a pint somewhere. Instead we stood chatting on the footbridge at Edinburgh Waverley station whilst putting the world to rights and watching the world go by. Not that much of the world was going by, well, not in comparison to pre Covid days. In fact, the station was still quiet – but then Scotland’s been stricter than England when it comes to trying to control Covid.

You’ll be able to read about all my adventures in future editions of RAIL magazine, but I can spill a couple of stories. If you ever need to socially Isolate, I know the perfect place, which is the picture of the day – and I never thought I’d end up saying that!…

Stranraer Harbour station. One slight problem – the last ferry left in 2011 and the stations nowhere near the town…

Sadly, I’ve had to say goodbye to Scotland as I’ve the whole of the country to criss-cross in the next five days. I’d loved to have stayed longer, but here’s where I am tonight. The railways built some brilliant station hotels. Some of them (including one I visited earlier today) have fallen on hard times. Mine’s come back from that era…

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 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 locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

Thank you!

6th September picture of the day…

06 Sunday Sep 2020

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

My last day at home for some time’s been occupied with prepping for my round Britain trip and having quality time with Dawn. The pair of us were trying to work out just how many nights away I might have had this year and neither of us can think of any! We didn’t have our usual winter holiday, all my jobs were day trips and the only trip we had planned (a few days in Berlin with friends) was cancelled due to Covid. So, this is my ‘big escape’ – which is really weird and totally unique! My packing list reflects this. Once upon a time it’d be focused on the electronics that I need for work, plus track atlases and timetables. Now it has masks and hand sanitisers high up on the list.

To say I’m looking forward to it is an understatement. I’ve never had my wings so clipped before. I’ll blog when I can and each day the picture of the day will be of somewhere from my next 8 days of travelling. I won’t be doing any rolling blogs as my writing’s commissioned by RAIL magazine and you’ll be able to read about my trip in three editions starting in October. Even so, I’ll try and give you a few teasers…

Meanwhile, here’s the last old picture of the day – which isn’t something I’ll be seeing on this trip! This is the amazing Buddhist temple at Borobudur, in Java, Indonesia. I took this photo in November 1998.

In the background is one of the many active volcanos that dominate this part of the world. Although Indonesia is now the worlds most populous Muslim country it has a rich history of religions and religious sites. Borobudur is just one of the most spectacular.

I’m looking forward to 2021 when I’m determined to het out to Indonesia again. In the meantime – I hope you enjoy my next week’s meanderings. If you’re on Twitter you’ll be able to find regular updates by following me at @PaulMBigland….

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 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 locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

Thank you!

5th September picture of the day…

05 Saturday Sep 2020

Posted by in Musings, New Zealand, Picture of the day, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

It’s been an odd day. So many things I wanted to get done never happened whilst others did. Hey ho…

On the bright side I’m almost packed and prepared for the start of my round Britain trip on Monday – I even know where I’m going now, mostly, ish… The struggle of these trips is that when you’re planning to visit odd locations they’re fixed events. You can’t just pitch up on the next train, so the rest of the timetable has to be written around them – as you’ll see next week! Obviously I can’t go into the level of detail that I will in the magazine articles but I hope to pique your interest. I can certainly blog about my experiences that won’t form part of the three articles anyway – such as my impressions of the various towns I’ll be staying in, such as Kilmarnock, which I’ve only ever passed through. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever left the station before!

That said, here’s today’s picture from a place I have explored in the past. This is a view across Lake Hawea on the South Island, New Zealand, which I took on the 18th January 2019.

As much as I love living in the Pennines…

Covid and having my wings clipped is really starting to get to me. I miss the opportunity to travel so I’m really looking forward to next week. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep readers of this blog entertained as I wend my way around the UK…

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 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 locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

Thank you!

4th September picture of the day…

04 Friday Sep 2020

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Today’s been full of planning for next week’s around Britain rail trip, mainly because of the Covid restrictions which mean I’ve got to be much more structured this year – especially when it come to some long-distance services where reservations are compulsory. The ability to ‘turn up and go’ has been restricted so I’ve got to be careful what I plan otherwise I could find myself stuck miles from where I’ve booked hotels. Of course, that’s unlikely, but I’m not going to risk it.

So, for once I’ve had to go to the station in advance to buy my ticket in order to book certain reservations in order to ensure the trip I’ve planned doesn’t fall apart in the first couple of days.

So much has changed on the railways since 2018 (and that’s without Covid) that I’m really looking forward to the adventure. I also get to travel on a couple of lines I’ve never travelled on before – and there aren’t many of those!

Of course, the ability to lean out of train windows to take pictures has (almost) disappeared, which means I won’t be recreating the picture of the day…

I took this shot on the 12th August 2003 whilst I was on a press trip with Virgin Trains on what was (and still is) the UK’s longest single train trip – from Aberdeen to Penzance. It was a hugely enjoyable (if marathon) event as we’d got to get to Aberdeen – and then get back from Penzance! The journey took us over three of the most iconic railway bridges in the UK. The Tay, Forth and Tamar bridges. I was lucky enough to experience two of them from the cab of the trains.

On the way through Cornwall we were presented with the most amazing sunset, which resulted in this picture, which I snapped from the window of the HST as we snaked around the Cornish curves.

The picture was such a hit that Virgin Trains used it in their in-house magazine and RAIL magazine used it as part of an article I wrote about the trip.

Sadly, there’s no chance of recreating it next week…

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 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…

Thank you!