portraits on Saturday

surviving tree in Somerfield Chelsmley Wood

hanging up to dry above the storage heater which got left off camera below
see new blogger photographs and walks for the story of my last saturday of 2006

portrait format for today

I started my visit to the doctor by walking up three floors

up on the tenth floor this rubbish needs clearing
and down the ten

same viewpoint as yesterday by moon light
After the doctor it was not raing so I walked in towards the library


Kingshurst Brook has a little white water again

and rode homewards in a blur
with my red klunset trolley
missed my stop even

testing new blogger

This is on old blogger but see new blogger test FAILED AGAIN

small moon over Bosworth Drive
over Merton House. looking out of Crabtree Drive B37 5BX

christmas day tv

I watched Bahn TV not Online
but from satellite
think this was NDR about carved wooden figures in biblical panoramas

how an expert gouges out a figure from a block



Bahn TV in Fahrt
KBS: 200/204/170 Berlin - Ludwigslust (12/2005)

leaving berlin ostbahnhof - Google Image Search


Bahnhof Zoo - Google Search
and memories of touring the Royal Engineers units in BAOR

Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station

Berlin Zoologischer Garten (German for Berlin Zoological Garden, short form Berlin Zoo or colloquially Bahnhof Zoo)

the bridge before
Bahnhof Berlin-Spandau - Wikipedia: "Bahnhof Berlin-Spandau ist ein Bahnhof im gleichnamigen Berliner Bezirk Spandau. Er befindet sich in unmittelbarer Nähe zur Spandauer Altstadt und dem Berliner U-Bahnhof Rathaus Spandau. Der Zugverkehr von der Lehrter Bahn und Hamburger Bahn wird hier gesammelt und auf die Berliner Innenstadt - der Berliner Stadtbahn bzw. der Hamburg-Lehrter Bahn / Berlin Hauptbahnhof (tief) - weiter verteilt."

we stayed in spandau barracks - Google Search
by Spandau Prison
spandau kaserne - Google Search

and I have been on that flat roof spandau kaserne - Google Image Search


mmeories of staying at Spandau Barracks in 1960 on tour withthe R E Staff Band Aldershot

I never saw this scenery because we travelled at night in a locked train with armed guards through the USSR zone

I listened to Radio Classique
by satellite
it started with Jupiter from the Planets

later Tchaikovsky second string quartet on BBC 3

harry Potter and the Philosopher' Ston as a sound track mostlywhile I write this

and I enjoy watching Deal Or r No Deal Channel4's gameshow
where 22 contestants will vie for up to £500 000 this evening. . . time to go off line.

to BHX and back past THE BELL pub

under construction

Hedvig and Brum

SATURDAY
I took the 97 bus into town to meet my friend from Denmark
and the hole in the Bosworth Drive bus stop roof is back.

after the train arrrived from Reading we walked up to the high town and St Philips

Birmingham Cathedral

then we went for lunch in the

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Google Search




we ate braised shoulder of lamb (a stew full of bones)
the smell always reminds me of school dinners.





walking down New Ssreet

and a taxi home to Chelmsley Wood

Sunday morning
promised rain again so Hedvig went back south


She said the ladies loo on New Stret Street was nice but not as good as London Airport and which is not as good as Copenhagen Airport CPH



coffe and almond paste filled croissant at New Street station

all on board !







no driver yet

there used to be two victorian stations with glass barrel roofs
and a road down the middle

I like these reverse shots
In this one I amlooking up at the little window on the bridge to the Pallisades, where I took other snaps looking down by day and by night.

another train arriving for a quick turn round

many memories of steam trains to Chepstow 1945 to 1949 then Bristol and Usk up to 1952
and Loughborough 1953 - 1956

green light
ready for the off and in about 3 minutes the guard will dispatch is rain - called a train manger today
here comes Hedvig

and the there she goes and the signal already shows the red light to protect the rear of the train - and two blocks more bhind nme.

this train has got a new driver and turns round

here I stand in my two shoes

MIND THE GAP

and there goes the next train into the bottle neck - the yellow light tells the driver that Hedvig's train is in front and that the next signal will be red so he is pulling out slowly.

and now red to protect the second train

and I headed back to the lift and up to the Bullring

There I was greeted by the distant sound of a brass band playing christmas carols


Brass Band Reference - Brass Bands Genealogy

and collecting money to buy instruments
Coleshill Town Band also on the web at co.uk

Band History 1902- 2004

As with most brass bands throughout the country, Coleshill Town Band has had
an up and down past. It has struggled and survived through two world wars and
has seen many musical directors, and even more players come and go. The Band
itself was formed in 1902 when a group of bandsmen form the neighbouring
village of Water Orton decided to establish a band in Coleshill. It is believed
that £103 was spent in acquiring the Band’s original instruments.

The number of band members grew steadily over the years following formation,
although the outbreak of World War I in 1914 halted the Band’s progress, with
several players losing their lives in action. . . .

2007 Engagements

and it rained and drizzled for the rest of the day




Excavations of what was underneath here at St Martins, Birmingham

I went out of the Bullring by Santa's Grotto and down to the 97 bus