Tag: Leicester

Smoke and wasteland

My role, occasionally requires me getting involved with some old engineering treasures. I sometimes have to go ahead of these trains to areas where there are “pinch points” and ensure that their movements through these areas are without delay or hindrance. The thing is if one of these old girls break down they can cause absolute havoc to timetabled passenger traffic, and passengers, rightly so, don’t take to well to being delayed by what they class as unnecessary big boys toys.

60103 – The flying Scotsman

One such old treasure is the steam train “The flying Scotsman” now I’ve been associated with this train one way or another for many years now, and only recently I was ahead of it as it made its way to a big 200 year train gathering up in Derby. I took the above Picture a few years ago at Tulse Hill station in South London. The bridge at this station is the most frequently hit bridge in the area causing massive delays to trains heading south. Me being there means a bridge exam can be carried out quickly and things can get moving fairly expediently. There is also quite a complex junction nearby, again if points were to fail I could get things running smoothly again, with a small team who work alongside me. This picture has been run through a Matte black mask to give it a vintage type look, it was taken on an old phone and was just snapped whilst I was checking timings with the train crew.

More graffiti- but with humour

Another train hit by the local graffiti artists passed through our patch. Whilst this one was parked up I had to laugh at the message conveyed on an empty stone hopper during the current economic crisis here in the UK . Living La Vida Broke-A! it made me smile.

Wasteland

Just a few months ago this compound next to where I am based was a buzzing hive of activity. Then our government cancelled the electrification of the Midland main line between Leicester and Sheffield, putting an end to the activity in this area. All the men and women laid off, another nail in the coffin of the cities outside of the “One and only London”

This Government really is blinkered and doesn’t really understand that there are communities and businesses north of Watford!

Nothing is going to change anytime soon.

Have a great day, in whatever you are doing.

Estate agents / Tour guides

Those who have read some of my past ramblings will know the issues we’ve had with our estate agents whilst our place is up for sale. Most of the time they are tour guides showing people around our home, these people having not the funds or any intention of purchasing. We’ve pulled them up on a number of occasions even threatening to talk to their governing body as they are so non-compliant in a number of ways that they conduct their business.

Today it has hit a comedic level.

“You might have a better chance of selling if you remove a sign from a shed in the garden”

I despair

I think they mean the shooting one that was brought by a friend when they went to Canada, however it could be the Leicester one, but that’s our local team.

Needless to say I have just completed a thoroughly enjoyable phone call, where in layman’s terms I’ve “Kicked their arses” a few times.

They are here doing another guided tour later today, and I’ve just been out and polished the sign so it really stands out 😂

They have also been given their two weeks notice of cancellation as to be honest, they are about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike.

Have a jovial day!

Comfort and silence

What brings you peace?

I guess this is quite easy, especially for me to answer, and I do suppose a lot of others out there will probably feel the same. I’ll read other comments later just to confirm this. But for me I’m pretty simplistic, for me it’s just two things, comfort and silence.

I know that makes me sound like I’m some kind of Monk in training but it’s not meant that way. I could have said solitude, but I like to have company, however when the occasion suits, solitude is good.

Local park

I find the company in choosing those I want to be with, those who know me and have similar likes and tastes to me. The silence/quiet/solitude aspect is what seals the peace, and to be in that position with the company you choose to be with is what truly brings me peace.

Part of my work environment

I’m a city dweller, I work in the city and the noise is 24hrs constant with no let up, I find peace in taking breaks away from that environment. Fortunately my work allows me to venture into some of the most beautiful parts of the countryside where I can find that peace, and as I work alone I also find that solitude. But that moment of solitude is often kept as a moment of time in my memory, to share at a later date with my loved ones, and so that perfect circle of finding and observing peace, starts again.

Hoping you all have a peaceful day. 🙏

A walk in Humberstone park

Today I took the wife to have some dental treatment. Whilst awaiting for her to rise from the chair, I decided to take a walk around the local park and surrounding areas to take some pictures. I only had my iPhone with me, so I snapped away. Whilst back in the surgery waiting for her to exit her temporary “Prison” (Her words, not mine) i was able to do some edits of what I’d seen. A thoroughly enjoyable walk, and a view of the area that on previous walks, has just passed me by.

A selection of views from today’s walk

Have a great day.

Weird names for businesses.

There’s a hairdressers that I drive past pretty much everyday whilst negotiating the traffic mess around the city of Leicester. I’m not knocking them, I wish them well and from what i can see, they do seem to have some high profile customers from the local community/football club. But whatever made them name their business Suez Canal barbers?

Strange choice of name

Anyone else have some strange names businesses in their area as I’d be interested to know?

This one caused me confusion when I moved to the area as I didn’t know whether I was getting a haircut or a chicken dinner.

Chicken or short back and sides?

Another Barbers shop, when I used to live in Watford, was a barbers called Bhatti Barbers. Nothing too sinister there as it was probably named after the owner

All the same it always made you look up and notice it, and maybe that’s the point of it all.

Have a pleasant day all. Take care.

Sunday morning coming down

(To quote the lyrics from a favourite song)

I have just finished a run of night shifts, as we are heading out to the coast for a few days with 12 others from the wife’s side of her family. I’ve kind of been in that frame of mind for a few days when people get closer to a vacation or break away when they just slip into “Holiday mode” at work, you know that feeling when the not so important stuff gets shoved to one side in the hope that one of your colleagues will pick it up, when in fact it will probably still be waiting for you to complete on your return. Yep I’ve been in that frame of mind for a few days now. I need a break, no matter how brief.

It’s going to involve an early start tomorrow as we head out to the east coast, first stop Gorleston in Norfolk where us old farts in the family gather at the local boating pond for a break, before moving on to our destination further up the coast. Gorleston is a beautiful part of the UK with one of the finest beaches you will ever see, it just seems to go on forever.

Gorleston beach

At Gorleston as I’ve previously mentioned, there is a very large boating pond. Here the older specimens of the clan take a break from driving to float their model boats. I’ve been watching them do this for years and have always threatened to build a model warship to jokingly blow them out of the water.

Gorleston boating lake

This year I have built a model boat, it is a torpedo boat, I know it floats but this will be its first true test of operation, it could go either way, it’s so damned fast that it could either just take off or dive into the depths of the lake. I hope it doesn’t though. You can read about the build of this boat in the two posts I created about its construction: PT109 wooden torpedo boat kit – construction and the last part: PT109 wooden torpedo boat kit – finishing. I hope to post a video of the actual “Sea trial” pending its maiden voyage or ritual sinking.

The boat

Anyway that’s tomorrow and to be totally honest I’m really looking forward to it.

Yesterday was a busy one, I rose fairly early considering I was working nights as there was a special event taking place. One of the younger members of the family, Jude who is only 14 was going to have his first flying lesson, purchased for him by his parents as a Christmas gift from last year. Luckily we have an airport close by that used to be a base for American forces back in the day, that was visited by Dwight D Eisenhower, and was also the home to a squadron of old Stirling bombers. Today it is a local aerodrome, but keeps the title of Leicester airport.

I love having a wander around old airports and in one hangar I found a beautiful old plane tucked away under tarpaulins, a MkIV Harvard built in 1952 for the Canadian Airforce but currently wearing the colours of the California ANG. Registered as G-CJWE (NG481273) known as “Dazzling Debs”.

Pic courtesy of Steve Coe
Sitting in a corner of the hangar

Jude was going to be heading off from Leicester up over Oakham and the Burleigh estate and Rutland water on a flight that was to be approximately 45 minutes in duration. His parents had paid for two passengers to accompany him, and I was asked if I’d like to be one of those passengers. I politely declined, as much as I love aircraft I’m not a good passenger and don’t really want to fly if there is not really the need to. This refusal worked out quite well as it now allowed both of his grandfathers to be those two accompanying passengers. How lovely is that, I never even got to meet either of my grandfathers, now Jude, has both of his grandfathers sitting proudly behind him.

A walk around with both Grandfathers
“J” just about to get airborne
First flight ✈️

Needless to say, he created some lasting memories this day and was full of smiles on his return, in fact they all were. And to top it all it was a gorgeous day, with some cracking food and fun company.

Blog wise I’ve got the backlog down to ten posts in draft now, and by the end of next week that should be reduced by another couple as two older posts come to fruition. It’s been a busy week, no more estate agent tours as yet, we’ve requested a strict viewing criteria with them now, to deter the time wasters who most definitely have spare time in bucket loads.

Have a great weekend everyone, stay safe and try to stay happy.

An elderly visitor..

It’s all been work, work lately and yesterday this old lady arrived at our depot to have some work done.

Class 37 Diesel- 37407 (Blackpool tower)

I’m not a train spotter, no way, but there is something special about these elderly beasts. No concern for clean air as they spew smoke and clag into the atmosphere, they are true old workhorses of the rail network and it’s always nice to see a well presented example arrive on site. this one was built in October of 1965 so it’s older than me (and better looking) here’s a little bit about it:

May 2019 – One of DRS’ most famous locomotives has been renamed ‘Blackpool Tower’ as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations for the North West’s most famous landmark.

The vintage ‘Class 37’ loco’ (37407) first carried the name back in the 1990s, when it became part of a fleet of locomotives running ‘seaside specials’ taking thousands of holiday makers and day trippers from Manchester Victoria Station to the seaside town known as the ‘Las Vegas of the North’.

Rail enthusiasts will be delighted to know that 37407 is one of several DRS locomotives that has been re-painted in the distinctive yellow and blue British Rail ‘large logo’ livery.

The locomotive will continue operating on the national rail network working on a range of DRS services, from freight and passenger services through to supporting the work to decommission and clean up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites.

Gov.uk

I spent the day yesterday ensuring “enthusiasts” behaved themselves and didn’t wander onto railway infrastructure, it’s fair to say it attracted a lot of attention.

Have a super day. I’m back off to work.

Disappointment and football

First day off in a while recently. It was a lovely day and it was entirely spent with the wife. A lovely day but she had to put the mockers on it.

“Do you fancy going to football tonight?” She said, I stood looking at her in shock, what a way to ruin a lovely day.

Let me add some substance here, in that we are both season ticket holders at Leicester city. Anyone who follows football will now realise my predicament. We are not a football team really, we are a collection of eleven blokes who just don’t know what the hell they are doing on the pitch, however tonight we broke another record, the first team ever to fail to score a goal in eight consecutive home games. We really are the bad. We are dire. And we have a manger who is like a little rabbit caught in the headlights. He’s out of his depth, bless him.

Anyway I don’t want to bore non football fans as you don’t really deserve that.

Anyway I quite reluctantly agreed to go, so attired in the team colours off we trudged.

Game starts.

45 minutes later at half time we are leaving the stadium, we are 3 goals down, we have played awful, and the only fun and laughs we have had is listening to the away fans taking the mickey out of us all, they were very good at this.

It was disappointing to say the least, but do you know what neither of us were surprised or affected, we just realised that we had made a poor decision and went home and had a drink to laugh at it all.

And there is my question. When does feeling disappointed become acceptable and normal?

This is what the internet says;

Disappointment becomes “normal” when it’s a frequent, yet manageable part of life, rather than a persistent source of distress. It’s about learning to accept that not everything goes as planned and finding ways to cope with setbacks, rather than avoiding them altogether.

Google

And that’s what being a football supporter (At least at our club) is, in a nutshell.

Being so bad has taken us beyond being a persistent source of distress to becoming a frequent more manageable part of our life. And we just have to accept we are really that bad and take it just like a friendly slap on the back. Something is wrong at the KP and needs attending to.

Good I’m glad I’ve cleared that up then.

Have a wonderful day, be happy.

Skeg – Vegas

Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.

It probably depends on your view of close to home. Up here in the East Midlands the town you tend to hear mentioned the minute you move up here is Skegness.

Yes Skegness. It’s 85 miles away on the Lincolnshire coast, apparently the most deprived seaside town in the Uk, and the people of the East Midlands seem to have a a fixation with it, and its populous.

It’s referred to up here as “Skeg Vegas” for some reason compared to the Nevada gambling capital of “Las Vegas”.

The famous jolly fisherman advert produced by the local council and railway company.

The snobbier people will shun it and say it’s where the lowest of the low go to holiday, others look on it as a fun destination to have a little entertainment and maybe celebrate upcoming marriages and the like. But there are people who absolutely love the place and have holidayed there for years….maybe even generations.

I’ve been in the East Midlands now for about 9 years and still haven’t visited. Family members ask me, “ What’s going on? Why are you taking so much time?” Others tell me to not bother as it’s a tip, I’m determined to go just out of curiosity, to make my own mind up, and I’ll probably like it as I’ll probably fit into the middle category I mentioned above.

Wonderful Skeg Vegas as it’s known, so famous it had the well known advert (Pic above) made of it and famously ridiculed over the last 60 years or so.

I’ll let you know if I ever get there.

Have a lovely day.

National space centre

What is your favorite place to go in your city?

Here in Leicestershire we have a number of places that I particularly like to visit. I’ll put two of them here…cos I can 👌

When you think of the city of Leicester you don’t really associate it with space travel. But don’t be fooled! We have the country’s national space centre, and for adults and children it is a fantastic day out if you have an interest in space exploration. They have many activities there, a fantastic collection of rockets, moon rock, and exhibits that you can get involved with. Heck I’ve even met a couple of astronauts there the last being Don Thomas who was a scientist on board a number of space shuttle missions.

Astronaut Don Thomas – Taken at the National space centre in Leicester.

You can find out about our National space centre here: National space centre

Secondly you can’t go wrong with a visit to Leicester cathedral. You may have read that a few years ago archaeologists unearthed the remains of King Richard III in a carpark in Leicester. Well he is now interred in the cathedral alongside a visitors centre that gives the whole story regarding the last Plantagenet King of England. And it’s a beautiful quiet place of reflection.

King Richard III
Leicester cathedral

The city is pretty much like every city in the UK and has its good and bad points, urban decay is kind of getting more prominent as the investment declines. Here’s hoping the tide turns before it gets too bad.

Have a great day you people.