Tuesday, January 31, 2006

grab a granny

when I came out of my flat deep cleaning was in progress on the seventh floor of Merton House

my flat is to the right




the seventh floor rubbish chute has been blocked for about a week












I had to take my rubbish down to the bins on the ground floor









the Merton House back garden is primarily a dogs' toilet










an old soldier?
If it moves salute it and if it is still whitewash it

a pasion for gardening

waiting for cherry blossom time


one field name survives
Nine Acres







I think the birds are starlings back from Africa











what did this person eat for lunch?the sweet shop owner said it was not a child but a junky


At Fordbridge Parish Council

this meeting was about housing


by mistake I went into a room full of sequence dancing pensioners
and was invited to join in and GRAB A GRANNY !


all done at THE FORDBRIDGE CENTRE


draining the wet back lawn of the centre

the english man needs to have a garden shed

two or three drakes for every duck












and what ate this pigeon?










three ducks on the bank
after Bosworth Drive Bridge
splashed away when I got too close



two supermarket trollies may form a new island if many seeds get root











the brook has a pebbly bottom
and makes a musical burble


these pebbles date from the ice age melt waters




and the reeds are beginning to grow again




Then I started to explore Alcott Wood google map

the birch are not so typical

the oak and the holly were often seen together in older midlands forests

there is the noise of the gas pipeline control unit
(see google map)
and a faint smell of (russian?) natural gas






street furniture
a bench made from railway sleepers

I am not certain if the bushes are a garden escape





wrong time of day

there are grey squirrels and foxes to be seen

the angled boughs of the oak trees were useful to ship builders








in Nelson's day this oak bough would be used for ship's knees

today a tempting seat







old style graffiti








and leaving the wood

and I caught a bus


with tv on it.








nice new test card












self portrait on closed circuit tv on the bus



a Silver Link Express to London

an impression of speed but I missed the front or back of the train









concrete sleepers, vignoles section rail and fish plates with 6 bolts (used to be 4) but this is welded track - so the end of a train control section at Marston Green Station




I need more practice
180 kph or 100 mph Virgin Train London to Birmingham

relearning the skills for photographing fast moving objects



what to see in Sheldon Country Park
google map I look forward to seeing a king fisher (last time 60 years ago in Malvern)


on the airport perimeter at sunset

gorse in bloom already









and airport security were checking the perimeter fence



where the brook re-emerges from under BHX Birmingham Airport

and the drain water for the runway









nice clean water here









oops too far away - or as my old art master Mr. Leadbetter used to say at Clifton College,
"fill the whole picture space"

waiting to advance onto the active runway and take off

oops a bit too close I wanted a more colourful background

oops clicked too soon
future subjects planes landing - an impression of speed

and then I walked on to Garretts Green
got a 72 bus

but when I got to Tile Cross
I was very very very hungry

fish and chips eaten out of the paper with my fingers
andwalked Bell Lane aka Bell Walk


and when I got home to Merton House it was nice and shiny
and smelled like a hospital