Visiting Wakefield then there is a handy tourist information shop right in the epicenter of town. I got up at 6.30am this morning and then faced the grueling slog over the M62 through rush hour which all turned into the usual crawl thanks to a car broken down in the outside lane right over the tops so after sailing by the miles of queues heading in Manchester direction we had one of our own. I went down the M1 to Wakefield first passing the 41 distribution centres where I'll be filming trucks again a little later in the year. I was soon in Wakefield but the car park situation looked a little different but looking back it was near enough where I've parked in the past when Mandy hasn't been with me. Mandy had a pre op session at the hospital unfortunately its Crewe Leighton the one with the Harold Shipman memorial ward where they bumped off excess patients to get the figures looking better. Its tea time and no sign of her yet, fingers crossed. Anyway in the tropic of south Yorkshire I needn't have wrapped up quite so warm as most of the day it peaked at 15C, another degree and we'd have been in the balmy 60'sF. On a week day there seems to be an amazing variety of 'other' operators working into Wakefield and its become quite a hot spot for the smaller outfits. Very friendly all round, a family gave me their car park ticket which had a long time to run on it and did me, I popped into the tourist office and commented on how friendly the drivers on the buses were and how much I'd enjoyed my visit, the place is gradually creeping out of the serwe inhabited by so much of the towns in this region. Could be the next Harrogate perhaps , its already got a cathedral which I suppose makes it a city. I then sauntered back to the car and with a couple of minutes to spare set the satnav to Sheffield, it was further than I thought, they must have moved it perhaps. Anyway when I got there I realised I didn't want the hassle of finding a parking spot so used the park ans ride tram, if you are an oap like me you can use your bus pass on the trams so just needed to pay for parking although they don't tell you that until you were in the city, the parking place loios a bit threatening, no real info, other people were struggling to understand the ticking. I think the trams had been off earlier in the morning but all seemed to be running again. There is constant weekend closures, I'll do my tram catch up after March when its all over. The usual spot I use for the majority of shots is next to a building site with a lot of the old 60s buildings knocked down by the market, anyway it gave a different perspective and there was certainly plenty to see since my last visit and the overcast but quite light sky was spot on for the job in hand. Down by the bus station, I'd never seen this before, there were zillions of kids, seems that is where the kindergarden for delinquents is and had hassle off a couple of then, posh white kids, hope they get loads of uni debt little sods. Enjoyed the visit though and I'm now editing Pontefract Castleford and Wakefield in one volume and Sheffield buses another. Mandy has just rung, she has finally escaped the hell that is Leighton. Comments are closed.
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