Category Archives: Transport

View from Terminal 2

Thursday 19th January 2023, 4.20pm (day 4,165)

Airport sunset, 19/1/23

At the point in time that this photo was taken, I should have been somewhere over the Congo, maybe Zambia. This, however, is definitely not the interior of Africa. Having got up at 4am, by 6am I and a few dozen other people were sitting on a plane at Manchester Airport waiting to depart, only then the powers-that-be decided that due to a few snowflakes falling, nothing could move. Time passed, and by 9am we were all back in Terminal 2, the MAN – AMS leg of my journey wiped from existence. (Other excessive flight delays to have featured on here: Bergen, Nov. 2012; Keflavik, Jul.2019 [still the epitome].)

I finally left the ground about two and a half hours after capturing this shot. I will still make my final destination, and already know that a completely unexpected new country is going to make the blog tomorrow, perhaps that can be seen as a minor compensation. At least I won’t be seeing any more snow for a couple of weeks, that’s guaranteed.

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Evening train home

Wednesday 11th January 2023, 6.10pm (day 4,157)

Victoria Platform 4, 11/1/23

Made use of a facility that I haven’t accessed since December 9th, namely Manchester Victoria station. It’s not a bad place — when it works — and certainly way better than it was when I first started using it regularly in 2005, when it was still largely a hole in the ground.

But in all honesty, this is a picture of her trousers, which I think are excellent, particularly the shape they make.

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Abington services, again

Saturday 7th January 2023, 12.45pm (day 4,153)

Abington rainbow, 7/1/23

A bit of a cheap shot perhaps, but when one spends most of the day on a motorway, there aren’t always many opportunities. This does give a reasonable impression of the weather conditions in which the drive was done. Abington has become a ‘service station of choice’, purely because of timing: by the time we reach there, somewhere in the wilds of South Lanarkshire, there always seems to be the need for a drink, or lunch, or a pee. Sometimes all three.

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The Isle of Man ferry

Friday 30th December 2022, 2.50pm (day 4,145)

Isle of Man ferry, 30/12/22

Off it goes across the Irish Sea, from Heysham, the sea wall of which I was stood on as I took this shot. The Isle of Man has not yet featured on this blog although I am due a visit at some point, to bag its County Top. Maybe next year… there is still time in my life, I feel.

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Happy Christmas, peasants: love, Northern Rail

Wednesday 28th December 2022, 2.05pm (day 4,143)

I didn’t go out today, and alongside the poor weather, here is a good reason why. I don’t normally do this kind of thing on here, but observations must be made, in photo form, of the ‘helpful’ information currently available on the Northern Rail web site. Nobody in ‘Authority’ really gives a toss one way or the other, so here we are. Twelve and a half years in power and this bunch of idiots can’t even provide a working railway. Or is it the unions’ fault, somehow? For what though, expecting that all that rubbish spoken in 2020 about how important ‘keyworkers’ are might actually translate into an ability, two years later, to at least sustain their rewards in the face of the rising cost of living? (See also nurses, postal workers, etc.)

So be it. The two trips I have to make before the (ostensible) resumption of ‘the usual service’ on 9th Jan. could have been done on the trains, instead I am obliged to use less environmentally sustainable means. Sadly I don’t expect 2023 to be much different, throughout.

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Mist is born

Monday 19th December 2022, 3.20pm (day 4,134)

Canal mist, 19/12/22

This shot is taken a few hundred yards down the canal from the one captured on Friday, and as is very clear, there’s been a considerable thaw in the meantime. But there remain remnants of ice on the water, sublimating these tendrils into the far warmer air.

Six shots in a row in Hebden Bridge, and eight of the last nine. There’ll be variety tomorrow though.

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Rochdale Canal, at Callis Wood

Friday 16th December 2022, 2.10pm (day 4,131)

Cold canal, 16/12/22

I got out of the house, though as you can see, it isn’t getting any warmer. Winter 21-22 was nothing to speak of in the UK, but the 22-23 version has some bite.

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Rochdale station sunset

Thursday 8th December 2022, 3.25pm (day 4,123)

Rochdale station sunset, 8/12/22

Had things turned out differently I might have been in the Balkans today, but even though they did not, I am not bothered by this — which would not have been the case ten years ago. I guess I am more attuned to the enjoyment that can be had from the local area these days. Yes, even Rochdale railway station — like the rest of the region, bathed in cold but magnificent weather.

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Caravan of the season

Sunday 4th December 2022, 4.00pm (day 4,119)

Caravan and rubble, 4/12/22

Wow, that’s bleak. Let’s put that into the Great Caravan Sites of Yorkshire, along with that one in Oakworth.

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Roadworks

Tuesday 22nd November 2022, 4.15pm (day 4,107)

Road works sign, 22/11/22

Another day that can really only be epitomised by something fairly abstract and meaningless. The back of a road sign, warning of road works (the red lighting being the traffic light in question), seems to fit. I do like the swirl of reflected street light, caught in the window of a passing bus, and the reason why I chose this shot in particular.

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