 | PHOTOS AUGUST 2008 |
| PHOTOS AUGUST 2008 |
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Start as we mean to go on, again. I was travelling from Oldham to Elland through the night along the A672 over the Pennines. It was a lovely clear night and you could see street lights for miles around from the top of the fells.
At a certain point, right at the top on the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire, there was such an impressive view of Manchester behind me, Huddersfield in front, and the M62 below that I decided to stop for a sleep for a few hours and take a few pics in the morning.
And this is the sight that greeted me next morning. A cold, grey, depressing cloud had settled on top of the mountain and you couldn't see a thing through the driving rain. And serve me right too.
It's amazing what you find when you are out on your travels. I was quietly wandering through the swamps of south-west Cheshire at the back of Sandbach when this caught my eye.
The premises are a motor vehicle dismantler's in Moston, near Elworth, and that over the top (and it really IS over the top) is what remains of a military Andover aeroplane. For the benefit of the aviation buffs around here, it's XS641, made in 1967 and sold for scrap on 30/11/2005. You can't say that the military didn't get their money's worth out of it, seeing as they owned it for 38 years.
These aircraft were of course better known as the getaway aircraft of the legendary American bank robber Ma Barker (otherwise known to Boney M fans as "Ma Baker", but then again what did they ever know?) - hence her catchphrase "come on out with your hands up and Andover all your money!"
This is the sort of thing that can happen to me on my travels. I saw this Renault Traffic van somewhere between Fontainebleu and Montargis. I was so impressed that I had to stick my camera out of the window and take a quick shot.
I wish I had thought of having this written on the side of Caliburn. It would have been quite appropriate.
Living in France as I do, sometimes I see some quite interesting sights the like of which you don't often get to see in the UK these days.
Take this Peugeot 309 for example, parked up on the slope in Virlet, the village near to where I live. If you take a close look at the rear wheel, you will see what passes for a handbrake around these parts.
Mind you, I shouldn't laugh. I've owned vehicles like this myself, and indeed still do as it happens (not Caliburn of course) but nevertheless it's still quite interesting to see the old système D in full swing.
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