Picture: All aboard the fun train uploaded by Paul Holloway on 13th February, 2006.

Some of you know that as a result of me commuting between Leeds and Reading by train regularly for several years, I further developed my interest in the railways and public transport.

Part of my interest in public transport as a whole stems from the fact that I really like to travel, and that I do it often, but trying to traverse this country can really suck.

I think that pubic transport should provide the best way to get around, be it short or long distance. At the outset let me make it clear that I'm not anti-car and that have one of my own - if I'm not travelling light, or if I'm going on a journey with a few different stops along the way, then my car is always going to be the best option. But if I'm travelling light and just want to get somewhere and then come back, I'd prefer to take public transport.

Travelling by public transport is much more environmentally friendly than going by car, not just in terms of emmisions but other factors too. It's safer. It's also more reliable and potentially a lot quicker, on longer distances, than travelling on the oft-congested motorways. It is, I reckon, the answer.

Although I now live and work in Reading, after spending five years in Leeds, you currently find me in cold and rainy St. Helens where I spent the first eighteen years of my life.

Despite visiting Liverpool and Manchester fairly regularly, and despite St. Helens being right in the middle of these two cities, in the last few years I’ve rarely been back here. By car it’s only an hour or so to Leeds from here, and I do wonder why I didn’t take the opportunity to come back here more often when I lived there. Now I’m in Reading I’m over three hours drive away, a route that takes you on six different motorways (or seven if you decide to splash out on travelling on the M6 Toll).

I quickly tend to feel quite restless when I’m here at home. I don’t really know why, but maybe that puts me off a little. It really shouldn’t, and I ought to be here a lot more than I am.

My grandad spent a lot of his earlier years living in Liverpool, before moving away. Well over half a century later, my Dad has started to take pictures of the roads and buildings that would have been very familiar my grandad, to remind him of those times and to see how things have changed.

If you fancy a bit of a look along Liverpool's streets then here's the set, with more pictures to come in the future.

My own comparison is with 2000 when I moved away from Liverpool after spending three years there at university. On the basis of the pictures my Dad has taken, it's not changed one bit. All the change is in central Liverpool, with big developments running aside lots of other changes. I wonder why? The city centre is now crammed with apartments for city living, but less than a mile out these pictures show that old, poor housing being left untouched. It just seems a little out of balance to me.

Picture: Chinese Gate from Berry Street uploaded by Paul Holloway on 7th March, 2006.

So after a fair amount of procrastination and mucking about, I've migrated everything from Movable Type version 2.6 to 3.2. I've not finished mucking about just yet as some minor changes to the design are needed, but at least I can start blogging again. I'm able to accept comments again, too. I've tried to keep things just the same as before, but if you subscribe using an RSS feed you may need to resubscribe.