James Fowkes
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fowkc.bsky.social
James Fowkes
@fowkc.bsky.social
78 followers 290 following 160 posts
Glider pilot. Embedded software puncher and PCB wrestler. Remains overweight. 40 ± 2.
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fowkc.bsky.social
Spoke too soon apparently
A screenshot from realtime trains. The train is between 6 and 4 minutes late, but slowly gaining time.
December 12, 2025 at 6:30 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Incredible Etsy popup advert. Superb, no notes.
A pop-up advert for Etsy festive gifts. Most pictures of ladies in swimwear or lingerie, but also for some reason the Jacob Rees-Mogg 2026 calendar.
December 6, 2025 at 10:17 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Hi @25kv.bsky.social , ever seen dual contact wires before? This is in Japan, I just noticed it while waiting for a train. It wasn't on all the lines so I'm assuming there's quite a specific reason it was used here.
Some heavy rail OLE catenary. There are two catenary and two contact wires rather than the usual one.
November 20, 2025 at 10:41 AM
fowkc.bsky.social
The unbearable sadness of the abandoned reduced co-op mince pie.
A single mince pie in a plastic box originally containing four of them. The box has a yellow reduced sticker with a price of 30p. The box has been left on a wooden bench.
October 15, 2025 at 4:52 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
This crossing outside of work can only be the product of a car brained society. You have to beg to cross the road twice. There's no good reason for this except to prioritise traffic.

Can't imagine how bad this is to navigate if you're blind or partially sighted.
A pedestrian crossing across a road with separate crossings for each carriageway. A small island between the carriageways provides a dogleg between each crossing.
July 22, 2025 at 4:57 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Went to Telford today. On the way out of the station there's this "energy harvesting pavement". As people walk on it, some energy is recovered. This is dumb. This is so dumb.
If you want to harvest energy from an area of land, use solar panels.
A walkway made with paving slabs. A small area of it is paved with smaller, darker triangular sections. On the right, a large portrait LCD screen is lit up, too bright to read. A covered bike rack is to one side of the pavement.
June 21, 2025 at 9:16 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Can't get over how much Winslow looks like a prison. Just a really depressing, drab station design.

Compare what we got to the artists impression...
An information board for the future Winslow station. The text above reads "land acquired by Buckinghamshire county council for Winslow station". On the right there is a map of the future east west rail network with Winslow highlighted. On the left there is an artist impression of the future Winslow station. It is a yellow fronted building with one side shown in glass. Two columns support an overhanging roof. In the background there is another similar building.
June 16, 2025 at 5:22 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Euston is probably the best terminus in London for variety of stock, I love departing from here. Not so much for enjoying the station itself, which is a bit of a hole.
The station throat of London Euston, taken from a departing train. On the left, a London Overground Watford service is departing. On the right, the Caledonian Sleeper is waiting attached to a GBRF class 92. It is sunset, the sky has some cloud cover. The BT tower is in the background.
May 23, 2025 at 7:40 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Is the true name of this bus stop Fen Drayton Lakes or Fen Drayton Reserve?
The world must know.
A bus stop sign on a wooden pole. It reads "Fen Drayton Lakes towards Cambridge". A bus stop name sign reading "Fen Drayton Reserve" with white text on a blue background.
May 11, 2025 at 6:38 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
We're looking after Loki for a week. I'm also off ill so at least I get to spend some time with him. He is a very lazy ball of fluff.
#proofofcat
A medium size brown and white fluffy cat lounging on a chair, looking into camera. He looks very comfortable.
May 1, 2025 at 12:23 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Watching @politicanimal.bsky.social 's GO WEST video, I couldn't guess his destination because it wasn't on openstreetmap, so fixed that.

Easily some of the best travel videos on the internet, I could watch this stuff forever.
A screenshot of openstreetmap. Belleek Primary School building and grounds are on the right-hand half. A minor road cuts through the image top to bottom. On the left-hand side of the road opposite the school, there is a bus stop marker reading "Corry School".
April 15, 2025 at 8:44 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
List your pre-loved baby!
A summary of an email from gumtree reading "list your pre-loved baby...".
March 29, 2025 at 10:55 AM
fowkc.bsky.social
Had a great time last year doing Cornwall and Devon by train! Beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery!
A three car sprinter train between St Erth and Carbis Bay on the St. Ives branch line in Cornwall. The train is on an embankment, photographed from slightly below so it has blue sky behind it. In the foreground between the train and the camera is sand dunes covered in low, thick bushes. The sun is out of shot, low to the left of the camera, providing a golden quality to the photo.
March 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Thinking about this SG1 episode again for no particular reason.
A still from the Stargate SG1 episode "Between Two Fires", showing the character Narim facing slightly off-camera and talking. The subtitles say "For the highest members of our government to deceive the people... is an even more heinous crime than murder."
February 13, 2025 at 11:37 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
Mornin'.
Me in overalls, a hoodie and a respirator mask.
February 9, 2025 at 11:49 AM
fowkc.bsky.social
Perfectly normal to have categories B, 1, 2, 3 and 4. "B" is a natural starting point for a sequence. And jumping to numbers is perfectly logical.
Screenshot of text that reads "There are 5 categories (B, 1, 2, 3, and 4)."
February 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
If you see the post, quote with a bridge from your gallery.
The Dundas aqueduct taking the Kennet and Avon canal over the River Avon, taken from the riverbank. The aqueduct is built in stone. There is a single arch over the river with a smaller arch on the far bank of the river. The bridge transitions into a curved retaining wall for the canal embankment.
January 23, 2025 at 9:33 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
God forbid someone makes a mockery of the crypto industry.
A screenshot of text on the BBC news website reading "Trump's comments about not knowing much about the coin back up my opinion that he is making a mockery of the industry. It's a stunt," says Danny Scott, CEO of CoinCorner.
January 23, 2025 at 5:20 PM
fowkc.bsky.social
This short paragraph in @garethdennis.bsky.social 's book is an often overlooked point. Increasing frequency decreases journey time and adds capacity. A common argument against HS2 was that adding capacity could be done with more carriages on existing services. True up to a point, but...
A paragraph from Gareth Dennis' book that reads "Integration also means ensuring that services are high enough frequency to be useful for the people or goods that might be conveyed by them. More than any other factor, frequency is freedom. Coordinating connections is less complex if all services involved run at high frequencies."
December 23, 2024 at 1:22 AM
fowkc.bsky.social
So happy that Google puts AI overviews at the top of search.
A Google search result for "five letter fish". The AI overview suggests "Nemo, pike, fin, nets and fins"
November 24, 2024 at 7:09 PM