Tag Archives: Travel

Rolling blog: Colne valley wanderings…

02 Monday Aug 2021

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, West Yorkshire

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13:15.

I’ve had a rather unplanned break from the office today and taken the camera exploring instead. Dawn had to pop into the Community Rail Network offices in Huddersfield so suggested that I tag along so that I could help carry some boxes, meet her new Boss, then get out for a while whilst she worked. It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss for several reasons. One being that due to the major engineering blockade on the railway into Manchester Victoria at Miles Platting several freight services are being diverted from the Calder to the Colne valley. Due to capacity constraints and the intensive passenger services along the Colne valley freight is normally rare, so it was a good chance to capture something unusual before the day comes when the overhead wires that will inevitably arrive change the route completely.

My donkey work done I caught a train West along the valley to Marsden. The 3-car local stopping was busier than I’ve seen it for ages as folk return to the railways

13:45.

I’m now playing cat and mouse with the sun, clouds and odd freight train, leavened with a selection of Trans-Pennine and Northern services, including some unusual empty stock moves. I’ll add a selection of camera shots later, right now you’ll have to settle for some phone pix…

For those of you who don’t know Marsden it’s a lovely little village surrounded by high Pennine hills. The last railway village in West Yorkshire and location of the famous Standedge tunnels (two rail, one canal). Here’s a flavour..

15:00.

As well as the railway Marsden hosts the Huddersfield narrow canal a popular inland waterway that’s busy with boats in the summer. The village was also a popular (perhaps too popular) stop for people on the trans-Pennine ‘Rail Ale Trail’ although Covid has killed much of that and the popular Riverhead pub in Marsden remains closed. Despite that, there’s still plenty of pubs, cafes and resturants to tempt visitors.

21:30.

That was a busy day! I stayed in Marsden for several hours until the skies began to close in and I had many of the pictures that I wanted. Despite me visiting some new locations there’s only so many shots that you can take before they become repetitive. Heading back to Huddersfield I spent an hour wandering around the town centre trying to get a feel for the place as it comes out of lockdown. I have to day, it feels sad. There’s clearly a lot of shops that are never going to open and the claims of Brexiters that being in the EU was what was holding us back have foundered on the rocks of reality – as you notice when you visit the supermarkets and gaze upon the empty shelves. Brexit hasn’t swept the streets of rogues and vagabonds (as promised) either as the vast majority of them are (of course) indigenous.

Once Dawn finished work we headed home to enjoy a quick drink in the garden watching the sun set on a glorious evening as the clouds had melted away here in the Calder Valley, leaving us with a perfect sky. We couldn’t linger long as we both had food duties to perform. Dee wanted to have another practice run with wedding cakes so whilst she did that I prepared a massive chick pea, tuna and veggie cheese salad with lots of trimmings that’ll keep us going for the next couple of days. Now, whilst Dee’s perfecting her baking I’m editing pictures.

First up is a shot from Marsden featuring an empty stock move from Newcastle’s Heaton depot to Manchester’s Newton Heath shed. Renumbered 150003 this is Northern’s newly converted 2-car Class 150116 which has been modified to run as a 3-car by the insertion of a 150/2 vehicle (57209). Three more of these units are to be converted, bringing the total to 6. This isn’t a new idea. Several trains ran in this formation when they worked for Central trains in the Birmingham area back in the 2000s.

Trans-Pennine Express unit 802202 speeds past Marsden whilst working 9M26, the 12:43 Newcastle to Manchester Piccadilly.
802210 rounds the long curve from Marsden station (which is just out of shot around the corner) whilst working 1P29, the 1438 Manchester Piccadilly to Newcastle. The loop here is seldom used now that the former Northern stopping service from Huddersfield to Manchester is worked by TPE Class 185s. The fact this was once a four-track main line is evident from the width of the formation.

DB Cargo’s 66152 heads West with 6M16, the Monday’s only Tees Yard to Knowsley (Liverpool ) empty ‘binliner’. These waste trains were once a regular sight in the Colne Valley but changes in the locations served and the fact this trans-Pennine route no longer has the capacity to cope means the trains now normally run via the Calder Valley.

I’ll be adding these shots and many more to my Zenfolio website later in the week. But for now, it’s goodnight!

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!

1st August picture of the day…

01 Sunday Aug 2021

Posted by in Engineering, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, The USA

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It’s been a lazy Sunday here at Bigland Towers. The pair of us (well, the three of us really, as Jet our cat was in no rush to do anything either) had a slow morning drinking coffee, catching up on the news and watching the world go by. The only thing missing was having a Sunday newspaper spread out on the bed, but those days are long gone. I can’t think of the last time I bought one. Partly because there’s no local newsagent for miles, but also because the world’s moved online and I can pick and choose from loads of different news sources now. The difficulty is finding a reliable one! Talking of which, I was planning to dissect Simon Jenkin’s latest fact-free rant about HS2 in Saturday’s Guardian, but that can wait until another day. It’ll have exactly the same effect as all his other rants going back a decade. In other words, Zilch. Instead, I spent a couple of hours researching, reading through the minutes of last months Transport Select Committee meeting which heard from Birmingham’s Mayor, Andy Street and also HS2’s CEO, Mark Thurston. When you read their words verbatim it becomes obvious just how lazy the media reporting of their words was. I’ll be including excerpts when I fillet Jenkins rant.

The afternoon was far less lazy. Dawn went into ‘Domestic Goddess mode and spent several hours in the kitchen, experimenting with cake-baking recipes in order to perfect a cake for a friend’s wedding whilst I retreated to the office to sort out more old pictures. I have to admit the smells coming from the kitchen were divine. Dee’s a brilliant cook and really enjoys baking. It’s not something I’ve ever got into personally, my forte is more Asian and starters and main course dishes rather than sweets and desserts.

The day wasn’t all about food, we did both manage to get out for a stroll, even if it wasn’t far, just through our local woods along the promenade overlooking the Calder valley and thence around Savile Park, but it was good to be able to feel virtuous by hitting our daily exercise marks.

Now we’re home for another quiet evening, but as it’s going to be a busy week that’s hardly a problem. So, I’m going to leave you with today’s picture which is taken from another of the batch of old slides taken in the USA back in 1990. No animals today, this is very much a man-made structure. I took this shot of Big Creek bridge on State Highway 1 on the California coast on the 25th October 1990.

Opened in 1938, this graceful bridge is a 589 feet long, 24 feet wide open spandrel, concrete deck arch structure designed by Christian Theophil Gutleben. Each span is 178 feet wide and 65 feet above ground level. It’s quite an impressive sight when you first glimpse it as you approach along the coast from the South, but then the California coast road is a lovely route with several similar structures. There parking places at either end so that you can stop, admire the bridge, sea or cliffs and take photographs.

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 the impact Covid has had), 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 July picture of the day…

31 Saturday Jul 2021

Posted by in Flora and Fauna, Musings, Picture of the day, The USA, Travel

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Gordon Bennett – it’s almost August! I’m struggling to understand how the year’s managed to fly by so quickly. It is said by some that as you get older time does seem to do that. I’m now finding myself in agreement with that view. Today’s not been the most exciting one at Bigland Towers, unless you count the cat losing one of his last two teeth! The old boy was going to the vets today for a check-up and have his bloods done. Just as we were about to load him into his basket Dawn discovered one of his two front bottom fangs (all he’s got left) had dropped out and was stuck to his fur! It caused us a few palpitations en-route to the vets as we had visions of another large dental bill. The vet was less worried than us and explained that this was normal in old cats. Their bodies reject their teeth, dissolving them until they fall out. Jet was actually fine and there was no need for any dental work, which was a huge relief. Mind you, the bill for the blood tests and treatments still came to £180!

Having dropped the moggie back at home we decided to get out for a bit and go for a drive, visiting local places we’ve not seen for ages due to Covid. It turned into a bit of a random trip as we kept getting detoured through dodging tractors on the narrow country roads. In the end we decided to ‘go with the flow’ and see where we ended up – which was high above Mytholmroyd where we stopped to admire the view from the one bit of road where it was safe to stop without worrying about getting mown down by farm machinery! The road led us to Hebden Bridge but we didn’t stop as the place was packed. Instead we doubled back along the valley bottom and called in at one of our locals, the Moorcock Inn for a quick drink before food shopping and home. It may be Saturday night, but we’re happy to have a quiet one at home with good food, a drink and a film on TV. Not exactly the ‘rock and roll’ but far more relaxing!

So, what’s the picture of the day? I’d been wondering that myself but I’ve plumped for one of the latest batch of slides in the queue for scanning. I took this shot on the 25th October 1990. Four of us had pitched up on the West Coast of the USA for a touring holiday. Having hired a car in LA we drove up the coast to San Francisco. It was a brilliant trip and on the way we stopped at the wharf in Monterey, California which was teeming with pelicans, either roosting on roofs, or perched on poles like this one. It beat seagulls, that’s for sure…

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!

Rolling blog: Yorkshire (and Manchester) interlude…

21 Wednesday Jul 2021

Posted by in Manchester, Photography, Rolling blogs, Trams, Travel

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09:00.

Having spent most of yesterday in the office on what was one of the sunniest (and certainly hottest) days of the year, i’m venturing out today. Sod’s Law being what it is, the weather’s nowhere near as good as we have low cloud instead of wall-to-wall sunshine. Hopefully, if the Met Office have got it right the cloud will disappear later.

That suits me as right now I’m on the 08:50 train from Halifax to Huddersfield. Why? I’m off to Specsavers! Having had my usual eye test deferred by Covid it’s time to get my ‘mince pies’ checked out and choose a new pair of glasses. My preaent ones are four years old now. Photographer’s glasses take a beating due to costantly coming into contact with cameras. The lens coatings get worn away and the glass scratched and scored, so it’s time these ones were retired. Besides, it’ll be a week or so before the new ones are ready…

After the Opticians (and if the weather’s right) I plan to spend a few hours at the lineside getting some pictures. I’m not sure where yet, that depends on the sun – so let’s see what happens.

My service to Huddersfield’s being worked by 150274, a unit that’s worked in Yorkshire all its life. It’s been refurbished and had USB sockets and PIS screens fitted, so it’s in good nick. It’s also empty. The handful of people who got on with me at Halifax detrained at Brighouse, leaving me on my lonesome!

09:30.

As train times and available appointment times were out of sync I’ve time to hang around at the station getting a few shots. Until recently the stabling sidings were always full of surplus Nothern units that weren’t needed due to the Covid downturn. Today the yard’s empty, which augurs well. All there is to admire is the massive, multi-storey bulk of the old goods warehouse in the background.

Watching the procession of Trans-Pennine Express services as they arrive and depart it’s plain passenger numbers are picking up. Some of them are busy and it’s noticable that 1st Class (which suffered the biggest collapse in numbers) is seeing people return as business travel returns.

11:45.

My eye-test revealed that my eyes are perfectly healthy, which is always good news. They didn’t pick up any other underlying health problems either. As an extra precaution I paid to have my Retinas scanned and mapped which provides a health template for the future. As usual, the Specsavers staff were both professional and friendly with no pressure put on me to buy expensive frames or extras. I chose an new lightweight frame to house the thin lenses I’d ordered. They don’t look very different to my old ones really, they’re simply a slightly different shape.

Back at the station I spotted that the famous station cafe on the East end of the island platform had reopened, so I couldn’t resist popping in for one of their delicious, freshly cooked bacon rolls. The lovely couple who run it were both there so we swapped stories as we’ve not seen each other since the start of the pandemic. It’s great to see them back. The cafe was always one of the station’s hubs with a regular throughput of passengers and railstaff passing through. They reopened just 9 weeks ago and are finding it hard to build back the business. Passengers are returning but many have changed their routines, bypassing businesses that relied on them. Getting them back is a challenge. So, if you do pass through Huddersfield remember they’re there and pop in for a drink and a snack and enjoy one of the few remaining traditional family run station cafe’s left on the network.

17:15.

Apologies for the gap in blogging but I’ve been on the move non-stop since leaving Huddersfield. Looking at the weather I decided tp bolt across the border into Lancashire for a few hours and recce the forthcoming Trans-Pennine route upgrade engineering work that will be taking place on the route to Stalybridge, so I caught a train to Manchester Victoria then retraced my steps towards Ashton-Under-Lyne by tram just for the sheer variety! I’ve not spent much time on Metrolink for some time, so it was a good opportunity to update the library with images of street-running trams and their place in the pecking order. Frankly, I could have done with some air-conditioning on the vehicles, most of which were very busy. Unlike the national rail network the number of people who’re still wearing masks is much lower. Despite the weather, I maintained mine. One thing that struck me as we pootled along the streets of Droylesden was how many shops remained closed. There were all sorts, fast-food joints, nail bars, restaurants – small businesses of all kinds. I’m assuming more than a few have been put out of business by the pandemic and will never reopen. It was a very sad sight.

Once out at Ashton I walked over to the nearby Ashton Moss North Junction where a road overbridge offers decent views and a new housing estate right next to the line adds perspective. Sadly, by this time the clouds were rolling in and I lucked out on a few shots. The weather felt like it could thunder any time, so I kept an eye out on the skies to make sure I didn’t get caught out. There’s no signs of electrification mast bases on this section yet, but there’s a large compound next to the railway on Richmond St which contractors have established and stocked with equipment – including mast piles. I expect progress will be made during the blockade when the line will be under a possession with trains diverted. Here’s a Northern Class 150 working from Southport – Stalybridge past Ashton Moss North Junction with the compound seen to the right, next to the trackside access.

Here’s a view looking the other way from the bridge. TPE’s 802206 is passing the new housing estate (barely 4 years old) with a service from Liverpool Lime St to Newcastle. This was the site of Old Ashton and Guide Bridge Junction, where the line to Guide Bridge trailed off to the right towards the camera. The Junction was closed in 1991. The site beyond the Junction (also on the right) was the site of the LNWR Oldham Rd goods depot which closed much earlier in 1966. It’s now the site of a Sainsbury’s and other supermarkets. The new housing makes me crack a wry smile when I think of those opposed to HS2 saying ‘no-one wants to hear the noise of a railway’! No doubt I’ll be popping back here on a regular basis now to document the march of the electrification masts.

Moving on to Ashton itself I caught a train through to Stalybridge where I resisted the temptation to visit the station buffet (believe me – that was a struggle on a hot day like today!). Staying just long enough to get a few pictures I made my way back into Manchester before heading back home. I’m currently on the 16:58 Victoria to Leeds which is very busy indeed.

22:30.

Time to bring the day to a close. I’ve spent part of the evening editing today’s pictures, so here’s a sample. A Manchester Metrolink tram approaches Ashton West with IKEA dominating the skyline beyond. I’ll add a few more pictures and some text to this blog tomorrow. Right now I’m going to try and get some sleep on what’s another hot and humid night…

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!

Rolling blog: Wolverton bound…

19 Monday Jul 2021

Posted by in John Poyntz, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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06:00.

It’s another silly o’ clock start for me this me this morning as I’m travelling down to Wolverton to a memorial service for a friend, Major John Poyntz, who died last year. Due to Covid those of us who knew John have never had the chance to get together to celebrate his life and swap memories, but today we will.

Of course, today’s also the day the Government have relaxed all the Covid restrictions in England, so it may be an interesting day to be travelling. I’ll be blogging throughout the day, seeing how it pans out…

07:00

Walking to Halifax station was lovely this morning. There was barely a cloud in the sky. It’s obviously going to be a glorious day but there was still enough coolness in the air that I made it to the station without becoming a sweaty mess. I’m now on my first train of the day, the 06:44 to Manchester Victoria, which is made up from a pair of two-car Class 195s. It’s a quiet train with just half a dozen other passengers in the front car besides me so I’d no problem getting a table seat where I could set up the laptop to type this. I like the amenities on the 195, working air-con (great on a day like today), decent-sized tables that don’t trap your legs like the ones on the old Class 158s, plus power sockets and wifi. On the bulkhead in front of me is a Passenger Information Screen that tells me what the next stop is as well as the trains final destination. It even tells me the temperature (16 degrees), which is more than the old Calder Valley Class 155s ever could!

195s pass at Halifax with 195003 on the right working today’s 06:44 to Manchester Victoria.

My train never really filled up – even after calling at Rochdale, making it a very relaxing journey. The vast majority of passengers were still adhering to wearing masks which also helped. As we descended the bank from Miles Platting to Victoria I checked the progress on wiring the line to Stalybridge. After years of delay the work’s finally progressing. I noted several new piles for overhead masts that had been sunk, whilst several pallets of new cable trunking sat in the cess.

As my train was quiet there was no melee at the gateline so I made a speedy departure. The walk from Piccadilly to Victoria was also a breeze. One thing I did notice that really stood out was the absence of rough-sleepers. Normally I’d pass dozens. Today I only saw one on a bench near Piccadilly. Have Manchester finally got hold of the problem?

08:30.

I’m now on a 9-car Avanti Pendolino speeding South. This is the busiest I’ve seen these services for a while. It’s certainly not pre-Covid levels but it’s plain that passengers are returning to the rails. I’ll be interested to see what the loadings are like after Stoke as the next stop then isn’t until we reach Milton Keynes. A welcome change to this set (390043) is it’s the first I’ve been on where the table power socket has been changed to include two USB ports as well as mains – a welcome addition as I can now recharge some of my other gizmos as well as power the laptop!

09:55.

I made it to Milton Keynes without a hitch. The sun’s really cracking the flags here so I’m glad I packed the suntan lotion. My train from Manchester has a lot of slack time here in order to let non-stop services past, this gave me time to nip across the footbridge and get pictures and a cheery wave from the driver!

From Milton Keynes I’m doubling back to Wolverton on a LondonNortwestern service which is worked by a single 4-car Class 350 so it’s busy.

10:50.

What I and many others in the congregation hadn’t known (until the Vicar mentioned it) was that the church we were in was the very first church built by a railway company. Built in 1844, it was paid for by the London and Birmingham railway.

20:50.

Well, that was quite a day! John’s memorial was a great event in so many ways. It was chance for all of us to celebrate his life and achievements. It was also an opportunity for his family to meet some of his railway and military friends, and it was chance for us sll to swap stories – and stories there were aplenty! Lord Snape, who served with John on the Longmoor Military Railway when the “Great St Trinians train robbery” film was being made had some great stories to tell. One of his fellow Railway Inspectors (David Keay) also had a few tales to tell..

After the event we all adjourned to a nearby pub where a buffet had been laid on and we could enjoy a few jars in John’s memory. After all – it’s what he would have wanted!

We spent a glorious few hours reminiscing before breaking up and heading off in different directions. Two of us were heading North so Mervyn Allcock and I couldn’t resist a little ‘pit-stop’ in Derby. Railway aficianados will recognise the background and know exactly where we were.

21:45.

I’m now on the final leg home, having caught a train from Leeds to Halifax before the final walk home – happy that the weather’s cooling down and that I can have the next few days staying local. I might not be going far but there’s going to be plenty to blog about…

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!

Rolling blog: HS2 engineering adventures around the capital…

13 Tuesday Jul 2021

Posted by in Hs2, London, Railways, Rolling blogs

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06:45.

Ugh! The alarm went off at 05:00 this morning in order for me to have a shower, an injection of caffeine and a sugar rush- thanks to Dawn’s freshly made Bakewell tart. Just to add to the excitement the cat decided to be sick and feel sorry for himself so it wasn’t the most relaxed start to the day as we had to clean Jet up before we left. Dee was up too in order to drive me to the station (thank you babe! X) but on the bright side we both enjoyed a beautiful Surrey morning as the mist caused by last nights torrential rain begain to boil away as the sun rose. By 06:00 the mercury had already hit 14 degrees.

I’m currently sat on the London train, a 12 car set from Alton to Waterloo which is pretty empty. In this neck of the woods a lot of people are still working from home. Oh, there were a few dozen people waiting for the train to arrive and it is early, but you’d expect far more than this on a normal working day. It’s upper and middle-class commuter zones like this in the South-East where the rail recovery is going to be the slowest. I’ll be interested to see what Waterloo looks like when I arrive in under an hour. Still, my train’s clean and well-presented. The interior of this Siemens Class 450 has been refreshed with the new SWRailway seat mocquette and there’s now power sockets throughout . Oh, and wifi – which is how I’m transmitting this blog.

Not exactly crowded, is it?

07:10.

Whilst Surrey may be basking in sunshine the closer I get to London the gloomier it gets. The weather along the old London and Southwestern main line feels more like a dull and dank November day not July. Only the fact that the trees are sporting their summer regalia and gardens are full of blooms gives the game away. Hopefully, by the time I get to the HS2 construction site that I’m visiting today things will have perked up.

08:17.

Hanging around Waterloo just long enough to get a few library shots (including of the new ‘green’ wooden seating -nice!) I caught a Bakerloo line tube over to Marlebone. Initially quiet, the train filled up after Charing Cross.

Aboard the venerable Bakerloo line trains, now the oldest on the Underground network.

Marylebone was equally busy with commuters coming off arrivals. Numbers here are really picking up. There’d be little room for social distancing on these trains so It’s just as well rules will be relaxed next week. The vast majority of folk are still wearing masks and I’d be surprised if that changed overnight.

18:00.

Wow! What a day..

The gloomy weather cleared by the time I got to my final destination, which was the amazing HS2 construction site at South Heath, on the edge of the M25. It’s from here that two of the biggest structures on phase 1 of HS2 are being built from. Right now there are two huge tunnel boring machines (TBMs) drilling a pair of 9.1m diameter bores Northwards. These dwarf the 7.6m bores of the channel tunnel. Meanwhile, preperations are underway to begin costruction of the 3.5km long Colne Valley viaduct which will be built Southwards from the same site. Our small group wrre given a guided tour that got us up close and personal with “Cecilia” the second of the 160 metre long TBMs which was launched last week (a week earlier than planned).

I’ll be blogging at length about our visit another time. Right now I’m downloading the pictures from my camera, but here’s a taster.

Here’s what ‘Cecilia’ looks like without me stood in the way…

This isn’t the full 160 metre length of ‘Cecilia’ either. The cutting head and shield have already disappeared into the tunnel and there’s a good few metres of the tail which I simply couldn’t capture, even with a wide-angle lens! This things are big!

And there’s more…

Up close and personal with ‘Cecilia’ (named after Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, an astronomer), the second TBM which was launched last week. This is the view from the tail of the machine, looking through the centre towards the cutting head where you can see a tunnel lining segment waiting to be put into place.
This is the tunnel dug by the first TBM. It’s only when you get this close you realise just how big they are. The Channel tunnel main bores are 7.6m in diameter.These tunnels are 9.1m. Several hundred metres inside the tunnel are the tail lights of TBM ‘Florence’ which is now outside the M25 motorway and running ahead of schedule.
Inside the on-site factory making the steel and concrete segments that will line both of the Chilterns tunnels. The plant will produce approximately 112,300 of these 7.5 tonne segments which come in seven different shapes.

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!

12th July picture(s)of the day…

12 Monday Jul 2021

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

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Excuse the lack of blogs these past few days but life’s been rather hectic and also unpredictable. We’re currently staying in a chalet outside Tilford in Surrey for a few days break and chance for Dawn and her parents to catch-up with Dee’s brother and his family. Covid had prevented us doing this for quite some time, so as you can imagine, there was a lot of catching up to do. The fact this co-incided with a minor sporting event and (amongst other things) has complicated the picture even more.

The four of us, plus Jet, our ageing moggie drove down here on Friday. Yep, the cat’s with us. When we go away for more than a couple of days we normally leave the old boy with Dawn’s folks. The fact they were coming with us left it a no-brainer – Jet could come too! Having a cantankerous cat with you on a long road trip could be problematic – especially a cat that’s never left Yorkshire in his (nearly) 20 years of life. But in reality he was a star – talk about ‘cool for cats’! He’s always been an inquisitive soul so he spent the much of the trip looking out over the top of his cat-basket, watching the world go by. He’s too old to start leaping around nowadays so we knew we could trust him. That said, Dee did buy a little harness and lead for him – which is the first time he’s ever worn such a contraption. There was no fussing and fighting, just a resigned look on his face as if he was saying ‘do I have to’? The harness was more so that if we had to hoik him out of the way of less relaxed animals (well, dogs really) when we stopped for a break on the motorway, we could do it with ease and didn’t have to worry about him doing a runner. We needn’t have worried. Other pet owners at Watford Gap were quite amused and also very good when they saw a cat on a lead and Jet took it all in his stride – not bad for an old boy!

Jet deciding that he didn’t need the services of his litter tray, despite a four hour drive…

When we arrived at the chalet he took a little time to settle. Not that he seemed stressed, more for the fact that it was all new and he was having a good sniff around. Now he’s settled in and if anything his appetite’s improved, not suffered. He still can’t work out why there’s no stairs to climb tho!

The chalet’s where we’re staying are busy but it’s a relaxed atmosphere. Right now I’m sat outside on the verandah, keeping one eye on the very stormy skies as the weather forecast’s predicted thunderstorms. The heaviness and stillness of the air along with the massive grey clouds makes makes me think one could arrive any moment. Today’s been a pretty relaxed day after the excitement and disappointment of watching last nights Euro2020 football final. the five of us watched it on Darren’s (Dawn’ brother) cinema sized TV screen at home, so we avoided some of the more excessive and effusive mpments you’d get from watching it in a pub. Sadly, the early lead evaporated and the match ended in the worst possible way – a penalty shoot-out in which England lost. Despite that, I feel the young England team have a good future ahead of them and the way so many people rallied around the black players who suffered such vile racist abuse on social media gave me hope – even if the fact they’re still receiving such abuse in 2021 makes me cringe – as did the behaviour of some of the England fans both in the stadium and in central London. Surely, as a country we can be better than this?

Away from football, one lovely thing to see again was cricket. Tilford boasts a village green that’s bounded on one side by the Barley Mow pub and by the Sir Edwin Lutyens designed (grade 2 listed) Tilford Institute on another. It’s so very English. Just be careful where you park or sit as incoming cricket balls have been know to pepper the pub, its drinkers – or their cars!

It’s delightful to be able to sit outside the pub and watch scenes like this again. This was Tilford Vs Hook on Saturday.

We’re here for a few more days yet and hoping that the weather will pick up. Whilst I’ve been writing this the thunderstorm arrived with a vengence, causing me to retreat indoors as laptops and torrential rain really don’t mix. I do enjoy a good thunderstorm so I wasn’t unhappy to see this one arrive.

I’ve had worse temporary offices…
Dawn came the rain – accompanied by a fair few claps of thunder, but no lightning…

I’m also happy it’s turned up today and not on Tuesday as I have a media visit to an HS2 railway construction site tomorrow. I can’t give out details now, but expect a rolling blog from the days events, starting at silly o’ clock in the morning as I have to make my way from Surrey into London first. Travelling on South-Western Railway during what should be the early rush-hour should be instructive. Hopefully, this section of railway won’t be suffering from the flash-floods that have hit the lines out of Euston this evening. Our Victorian infrastructure certainly wasn’t designed to cope with the heavy rains that are a feature of global-warming. Thankfully, HS2 – our new railway spine – is.

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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!

7th July picture of the day…

07 Wednesday Jul 2021

Posted by in Musings, Nepal, Photography, Picture of the day

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Well, that was a fraught evening! Dawn was so het up about the England – Denmark football match tonight I thought she was going to do herself an injury before it ended! Thankfully, England won, although now I’ll have to go through all this again on Sunday with the final, only this time with the whole of Dawn’s family (three generations in fact). Drink may have to be taken…

Joking aside, it’s great to see the England team doing so well after so many false starts, hype and disappointments. From an outsiders eye all I can say is that finally they look like and play like a team. They’ve done so well to get this far and it would be lovely to see this young group of players get the trophy.

Sports aside, I’ve had a busy day finessing an article before getting my copy and pictures off to RAIL magazine. With that done I managed to get a few more old slides scanned before giving priority to houshold bits and bobs including shopping for tonights food so that Dee could ‘relax’ in front of the TV and watch the footy. Not spending all my day goggle-eyed in front of a computer screen’s been lovely, even if the weather’s been mixed. The most difficult decision right now is what to wear. Either you under-dress and get soaked by heavy showers or you over-dress and end up with the same result in sweat as it ain’t flat around here and carrying shopping a few hundred metres uphill soon opens your pores. Still, first world problems eh? I think back to some of the Nepalese porters I met who’d be carrying 75kg loads in wicker baskets 1000s of metres uphill whilst wearing flip-flops and realise I’ve sweet FA to complain about.

So, today’s picture is one that reflects what you won’t find me doing as I walk back uphill to home from the supermarket – even if it does feel this way sometime! I took this picture in a village in the Gorkha district of Nepal in April 1998. Be grateful that you can always order a taxi…

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Thank you!

6th July picture of the day…

06 Tuesday Jul 2021

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

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It’s been a quiet few days here in Bigland towers. The pair of us have been busy working from home which has been fine as the weather’s been spectacularly wet with torrential showers accompanied by claps of thunder and grey, apocalyptic skies. On Monday I didn’t even manage to get out for my daily constitutional because every time there was a window of opportunity the heavens opened so I put it off. There’s not even been time for blogging as I’ve just kept my head down trying to catch up on writing for a living and scanning old slides in order that I’ve another set ‘in the bank’ ready for editing when I have some down-time away from the office.

Mind you, it’s the semi-final of the football tomorrow night, which means I’ll be finishing early to transfer to cooking duty so that Dawn can watch the match!

The latest batch of old slides that I’ve been scanning are from two very different batches. This morning I finished scanning the last of a series of travel pictures taken in Bali, Indonesia way back in 2003. In fact, they were the final batch of travel slides I ever catalogued and had in albums. I did go to the Maldives in early 2004 but those pictures remained in boxes until I finally edited and scanned them last year. Unfortunatley, the albums haven’t been scanned in order, so I’ve still a few from the 1990s and early 2000s to occupy my time with yet. Right now I’m working on something different, an album of personal and social issues pictures taken between 1994 and 1997. Talk about a trip down memory lane! These are from the days when I still worked in London as a Housing Officer and boy, has the world changed a bit since then…

Right now – especially with the weather being what it is – I’ll leave you with something less heavy and more colourful. I took this shot of a procession of the Gods in Ubud, Bali on the 19th September 2003. Here a group of men are carrying an effigy of the God Dewa Bramha down the main street of Ubud, with many other Gods following behind.

These events are incredibly colourful as the statues are part of a huge parade which includes musicians, women carrying offerings on their heads, men dressed as warriors and young men and women dressed up in traditional finery. You can find the rest of these pictures by following this link to my Zenfolio website.

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Thank you!

2nd July picture of the day…

02 Friday Jul 2021

Posted by in Musings, Singapore

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Here we are in July – already! Where has the time gone? The year literally seems to be flying by – despite all the restrictions we’ve been subjected to although they should come to an end this month (fingers crossed). Thankfully, my world has started to open up again through the spring, although I haven’t the faintest idea when I might be able to return to Asia once more. Even mainland Eurpose is looking questionable right now. Even so, I’ve plenty to keep me occupied just in the UK. The past couple of days I’ve been busy at home getting pictures off to clients, researching articles and managing to get a few more old slides scanned in order to reduce the pile of old pictures further. Plus, we’ve had some glorious weather which has meant I’ve abandoned the office to catch some sun whilst maintaining the garden.

One sad note yesterday was hearing the news that ‘Gap’ are to close all 81 of their UK stores to become an online retailer. I don’t buy as much from them as I used to, but I have a wardrobe containing several pairs of Gap chinos. I’ve always liked their clothes since I was first introduced to them by Lynn back in the early 1990s, shortly after we first got together. Having spent a year travelling and getting used to being back in London I was more a Doc Martens, combat pants and check-shirted sort of guy. Lynn was adament that if I was going to be seen with her at some of the charity events she was involved in I’d need to smarten up my act, so off to Gap we went. Next thing I knew I was being presented with clothes of her choice with the words ‘you’ll look really good in these Darling’. Who was I to argue? She was right of course! Whilst Im quite happy to purchase lots of things online, clothes isn’t one of them. I much prefer being able to feel the fabrics, look at the quality of the stitching and suchlike and actually try the things on, rather then take a punt on what I see on a website, so I doubt I’ll be buying much from Gap in the future. Maybe I’ll visit their Manchester store one last time, purely for old times sake. I reallt feel sorry for the staff who’re going to be made redundent in this latest abandonment of the high-street. I also wonder what (if anything) is going to fill the void…

Anyway, on to the picture of the day, which comes from the latest batch of old slide scans. I’m currently working my way through pictures from a trip Lynn and I took to Asia when she was working for the international charity Actionaid. Looking back they were some of the happiest days of her life as she loved working for them and regretted leaving them to move on to ‘bigger and better’ things. We had a fantastic time going places as I’d often volunteer as their photographer and the pair of us would tag on a holiday to one of her business trips. Back in September 2003 we were in Singapore along with some of Lynn’s colleagues from the London office. We forget now, but there was a pandemic that was causing havoc then (in Asia anyway). It was called SARS, another coronavirus. Signs like this one in a restaurant were commonplace.

Plus ça Change…

You can find many more pictures from Singapore (taken over the years) 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!