That car park

It's a quirk of the Manx athletics fixture list that we have three events in less than four that use the car park on the site of the old railway station for car parking. The winter league walk on Sunday is followed by the hill race this Saturday and then the New Year's Day Fell Race.

Here is a shot from our family photo collection from the early 60s. I think it must have been taken my my father, rather than my brother Mike who was into photography at a very early age, because I think it is him crouching my the level crossing gate. The train is arriving from Ramsey whilst there is another on the Peel line.

I think the building on the left must be one of the disused mart (market) buildings which I happened to photograph last Sunday (below) thinking that it will soon be gone.

I've been cleaning at our holiday cottage again tonight - we have one more family staying this year and they arrive next Thursday for a week. With some hard rock playing on the internet radio I reflected back on the great concert at the Gaiety Theatre last night when Manxman Davy Knowles and his band entertained a full house with guest guitarist Bernie Marsden formerly of Whitesnake.

In dawned on me that I am probably the only person to have used the car park at St Johns, to which I keep referring to, to attend a concert at which Davy Knowles performed.

In 2008 his band at the time, Back Door Slam, supported the Who at the Peel Bay Festival. Although we had already paid our £5 parking fee, so sure was I that traffic would be queuing half the night that I decided we should walk from St Johns.

Marie, Ben and I walked along the old Manx Northern Railway trackbed as far as Poortown Station and then walked to Peel along the Poortown Road. I think we walked back on the main road and by half distance all the traffic had disappeared.

The back route was slammed by my family!