Fifteen years and about two and a half months and I hit day 5,555, so was looking for fives today. And, what ho, seat A55 was indeed mine for the duration of my latest train journey. Somehow it then seemed a shame that I didn’t hit this shot tomorrow — day 5,556… Anyway, I must like the ‘tache, that’s two selfies in a week. It’ll pass.
A rail-themed shot for the second day in a row, but never mind. I like this one, and for the same reason I usually like my photos: that this is pretty much exactly the shot I intended to capture when pressing the shutter. And my current, rather crappy camera is by no means guaranteed to get it sharp when the light is low. But all has worked here.
If you fancy visiting this place — expect to have a long journey, from just about anywhere. It was four hours until I reached home. Millom really is tucked in one of the most inaccessible corners of Britain and I can’t believe anyone just ‘passes through’. Look at a map — where could one possibly be passing through to — particularly in a car? It becomes the 549th different named place featured on the blog (see the stats).
Would that all trains were like this on a Friday afternoon. But if they were I guess some wonk would close down the whole service for being ‘uneconomic’. For now one can still get a shuttle service from Lancaster to Morecambe, however. And be pretty much guaranteed somewhere to sit.
I talked to a fellow commuter, someone I have been seeing at the station now and again for twenty years, on the journey home today. He observed that the one good thing to come out of lockdowns (2020, 2021, you were there too I’m sure) was that they made both employers and employees realise that working-from-home was feasible. Of course this doesn’t apply to every job but it does to many, like his: and mine too, though I was doing plenty of WFH even before this.
But on the other hand sometimes one just has to be there at 9am and lump it. Today was one of those days. And when that happens everyone on the train looks like this. At least it wasn’t standing room only.
Time to go home, and from London, journeys home invariably start at King’s Cross. Platform 5 for us today, though still with half an hour to go from this point in time before the 9:40 departure to Bradford Forster Square, changing at Leeds.
My day was spent driving to Scotland. This took at least an hour longer than it usually does thanks to an excess of traffic around Edinburgh, of which, of course, I was a component part. Being whisked north by train instead does appeal but there are advantages and disadvantages to both modes of transport. (Anyway, the train pictured is travelling south.) As seen from Tebay services on the M6, a frequently-used stopping point on this particular journey — though not for rail passengers.
Off trundles the 17:10 to Wigan Wallgate — more-or-less on time today (in fact the trains have behaved remarkably well so far this year, at least by Northern’s standards). It’s a bit of a shame about the platform appearing in the corner but, believe me, this one was cropped as carefully as it could be without losing essential elements.
I got out of the house, at least. One doesn’t often see trains like this, but let’s enjoy it while it lasts, and take a relaxed attitude, as this person seems to be doing.
Random railway station, number…. quite a few. The train is the one I was catching, so from this shot you can see where I was; where I was going; and how long I had to wait. In a world where all movements are tracked I might as well be honest about it.
This one is the result of me sitting on a train (somewhere in the vicinity of Bolton) and feeling experimental. I did my best to capture the reflection of this man in the hat in the train’s window, really just to see how it turned out. And, well, it’s OK. It’s the shot I intended to take, anyway, and that’s always the source of at least a little satisfaction.
