WONDERFUL MORNING. (19/11/13)

I’m still sitting in Blackwell. It’s near my old home and I can understand what the people here are saying. There is a subtle difference between understanding words and knowing instinctively what people mean. The van is due for a service and test next Monday. It is a stressful time. I’ve ordered winter tyres for the front driving axle as I will be spending the winter in Scotland. I have a monster tow rope but it is a bit presumptive to get stuck and then beg a tow….Bloody sight cheaper than winter tyres, though I thought I ought to show willing.

I was in Scotland over the summer and all I saw were incomers like me driving crap Honda, BMW, Volvo, SUVs. They couldn’t rip the skin from a blancmange. The three hundred pounds for winter rubber was not a totally altruistic investment. 

I like being with folk I grew up with and like their issue. There is a world of difference in age but they understand me and I them. It seems daft but it is a fact.

I know Dithery, Thatcher, Moribund all take elocution lessons. I know they are all lying bastards. You’ll notice I left duplicitous Clegg out. On purpose. He is a real pain. He want’s tipping upside down in a barrel of shite. How could any true born Yorkshire-person vote for such a two twister, turncoat, smarmy twat? He must have got the immigrant vote….He got someone's….my wife voted for the lying little bleeder. I bet her mates did too. All thick as shit and posh trousers they are.

I was rudely woken by the dogs at just before three this morning. I cursed them but it made little difference. They were too excited, it was snowing. They love snow but don’t realise it takes time for to get to serious rolling, snuffling and ploughing through depth. It never did, it didn’t even cover the short grass. Half an hour before dawn I gave in and let them out for a look. No snow worth speaking of but they rushed from bit to bit and rolled and sniffed and snuffled. Come March they won’t bother with an excuse for a snow fall. The lazy devils won’t get up till daylight.

Back we came. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I packed the film camera loaded with Velvia reversal 100 ASA. I also packed the 5DII with a posh 24mm lens on it. I don’t have a camera bag but just a rucksack so I wrap the cameras in those camping towels that dry straight away but still leave ones skin feeling a bit claggy. I do have a little camera bag for filters and cable releases, spare batteries and Marlboro…… important things. It  fits….anywhere, anywhere it ends up. Off we toddled for the circuitous route to Millers Dale. The road is faster but it is twisty and has no pavement. It’s less stressful to take the old bridle way.

   I don’t know what this farm is called but thirty years ago we’d been climbing on Chee Tor and my friends collie had a stroke or seizure or something, bit my dog on it’s arse and ran off, awful it was, it just set off running all slanted up to one side and ended up at this farm. It wouldn’t let anyone near it and had bitten folk, geese and lord knows what else on it’s way. The farmer lent us a shotgun. We’d had a great day but it turned into one of the saddest. A beauty of a dog she was.

  We arrived at Millers Dale Station. The village has a dozen houses but this place used to really hum. It was the last station in England to have a post office. It had express trains from both Liverpool and Manchester into London St Pancreas and coped with a branch line to Buxton. It was a busy place; until 1968 it dealt with mineral traffic, animal cargo…sheep and cows for Hassop. Hassop is only a station it doesn’t have a hamlet even. It had pens for farmers animals.  Hence a wee market.  the line had people going to work. People visiting to look at the scenery, my brother going to school of course it should never have been shut. Then as now it’s the same old story. Plough our national wealth into London and the environs there of, then fail to develop the Cotswolds and Hampshire then come along with high speed rail to reconnect us. It’s a vanity project. They should be looking at a new Thames Barrier or moving north. Nasty self serving people are politicians.   Off we wandered down a bit of old rail bed. Just a sprinkle of snow.

An old water tank for topping up the Locomotives we are at about eight hundred feet here, the engines would lose a fair bit of water climbing up from Rowsley. The river Wye is about a hundred feet below this tank but if you walk the Wye and see a cast iron dome shaped thingy that is the pump that pushed water up here. It worked by taking a feed pipe from up river and then feeding that water onto a large diameter piston then that coupled to a small diameter one could push water up hill.  Steam engineers knew such stuff. The locomotives were fed oil on a similar but more refined system.

My destination. This is a nineteenth century limekiln. It must have started falling down as early in the twentieth century they shored it up with concrete.

       They were not doing things by halves. Shored up it was. Eight Times Shored. I love and always have loved this concrete monstrosity. The railings are a new Elf and Safty nonsense. It’s a long way down. Don’t lean over too far would be more than a normal person should need. They worked this kiln on a twin tub system for over a hundred years. One man fell in. They got him out okay, he fell on top of the charge before it had started burning at full chat.

The dogs had a great three hour wander. Lots of other dogs to play with. Some owners had the foresight to bring a ball and throw it. I just wish our government in London had had the foresight to keep the line open. It survived a bit longer than most but I’m sure would pay again today.

The light was a challenge. I’ve duplicated some of these images on film. I dread to think what the Velvia will look like. I took incident readings. The Canon takes reflective. I dropped my readings for film half a stop.

When I get these back whatever the result, I’ll just take film out for a while. It does my head in trying to work both and look after the dogs.

These are obviously all digital and gently seen to. Damned harsh was the light today I cogged the the camera down two thirds of a stop.

It is a brilliant day today. Rain and cold rain tomorrow.

Have fun.