after a late lunch ebb tide River Thames

SNAPS TWO: River Thames by Tate Britain

placeholder

I walked through three London parks today

In St Jame's park this liitle fellow climbed up as if to eat from my hand

I sat down and ate my lunch box in Green Park at teatime

Green park

Hyde Park

the new Wembley Stadium glimpsed at sunset from the Chiltern Railways train on my way home


the rest of the NEC photos will be poosted ASP

another London day tomorrow first

NEC late afternoon

Tony Wareing Technical Support Manmager, gave me an excellent briefing about the services of Nielsen BookData Supplier of bibliographic information including MARC records for English-language books and published media to libraries and booksellers

their database features millions of unique ISBNs for English-language books published worldwide, providing a single source of rich data for books and other published media.

seen from my coffee table

Rhonda Riachi, Director Association for Learning Technology

Trends in eLEARNING Education versus Entertainment in Seminar Theatre L1

Current developments in elearning are tending towards tools associated with entertainment and leisure (e.g. podcasting). This session will look at the positive and negative aspects of these and other elearning trends.


question time
triple shadows


from economical coloured lamps with sodium to the left and mercury to the right







I got expert advice on archive quality storage of old photographs

Secol Polyester Based Archival and Conservation Systems for Museums, Collectors and Photographers: " Europe's leading manufacturer of polyester film based archival storage and presentation systems."

Secol Conservation "Starter Pack" Offer for family historians

We call that lunch was the answer when I asked if I may take some sweets on my way out

thank you BAFM The British Association of Friends of Museums. friends indeed

time to go home - tearing down
rolling up the carpets

packing, warapping and boxing and onto a palleet

four and two wheel trolleys and

and a fork lift truck

roadies at work unpacking at the NEC stage door but an orange scarfed security guard stopped me getting closer

today there are TAKE THAT fans

Take That 26 - 28 Apr 2006 at the The NEC Arena: "which is renowned for its blockbusting concerts and sporting events. Located within The NEC complex, the 12,300 seated NEC Arena receives over 1 million visitors every year. "


IF YOU CAN'T SEE MY MIRRORS I CAN'T SEE YOU

I like that good advice in traffic

oops lost his head he said he was out of hours so has to stop over before making three drop offs tomorrow

quite a traffic jam

and then I took the tunnel to the train to Marston Green and the 14A bus

BSA Machine Tools

I got off the 14a bus to go to LIDL
My best friend John Crowther was an apprentice here when I was a student engineer in Loughborough


BSA Machine Tools Ltd,
Mackadown Lane, Kitts Green, Birmingham, West Midlands, B33 0LE, UK.

CHURCHILL OMEGA CNC Turning Centres.
CHURCHILL VIPER CNC Lathes.
CHURCHILL CNC Teach Lathes.

BSA AUTOFLEX CNC Multi Spindle Lathes.

BSA SPEEDTURN Multi Slide CNC Lathes.
BSA FOREMOST Centre Lathes..

Solihull

I go off the 72 bus at the High Street
and a lot more pictures to come for my cousin Anthony in Melbourne Australia.

entering nec

the start of a LONG walk
nec birmingham - Google Search

NEC Pavilion

the Pavilion at last after a LONG walk

Library + information Show 2006, 26 + 27 April 2006, The Pavilion, NEC, Birmingham: "As the library community faces the digital age, and the challenges of increasing user expectations, the implications of government anti-terror legislation and falling literacy levels � libraries are discovering a new role within society, commerce, schools and academia. The Library + information Show will help you to meet these challenges and many more with an exhibition showcasing the latest products and services in the market and a seminar programme featuring leading figures and authors from the nation's library community. "

Lee Cox to the right on the stand of Talis Information Limited with the most exciting new product I have spotted so far.

Using the Talis Whisper prototype Talis Developer Network
Whisper is a Research Prototype application, developed as part of Project ... This Talis Whisper is a Research Prototype application, developed as part of Project Whisper.

It demonstrates the drawing together of Web Services from the Talis Platform and other service providers such as Amazon, Google and OCLC, orchestrating them to provide a powerful end-user experience.

Whisper can be best understood as a concept-car application, which includes many features that may well be found in future products and services, but not necessarily together.
Some areas of functionality may only be applicable to library staff, others to library suppliers, or the general public.


panlibus: "Talis staff BLOG on topics across the library and information business"
Talis provides the leading library management systems to the UK and Ireland library marketplace.

Public Library With a focus on the UK and Ireland market, Talis is ideally placed to develop complete solutions for public library authorities.
Academic LibraryWith over 50 university and higher education colleges using the library management system and associated products, Talis offers a comprehensive range of products and services.


Project Capio: Research at Talis

leaving NEC

GARY WHO?

gary barlow - Google Search: "Gary Barlow. Birthdate: 20 January 1971"

who loves Gary Barlow?

under the railway
colour of ligt
bus staion at last

garretts green

Digby Walk Garretts Green leads back to the footbridge I blogged before

the hawthorn has leaves but no flowers yet

childhood memories of finding primroses 60 years ago

I could even spot Merton House

blue monday

not a birthday but World Cup soon

magnolia time
under the road by Chemlsey Wood library

the digital photo machine I used a couple of days ago

I went to Boots and weighed in at 166.6 kg

Into Birmingahm to get a rail card and changed trains at Galton Bridge to come back

Galton Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Galton Bridge is a canal bridge in Smethwick, West Midlands, England built by Thomas Telford in 1829. When it was constructed, its single span of 151 feet (46 metres) was the longest in the world

Galton Bridge
comfy concrete chairs and the view below

the left hand half of the picture below today

the Bull Ring in 1950 just as I remember it when I was 14 and the buses are bright red MIDLAND RED

an australian in Mongolia

Big Blue Sky

saturday

My body has decided I am still on the night shift so after getting up before dawn with the bird song, and breakfasting and watering my seedling shoots on the balcony, and doing my email I went back to bed.

I woke up in taxi mode at about 16:00 / 4:00 pm had a bath and coffee,

heard in the bath
BBC - Radio 3 - Jazz Record Requests - 22 April 2006: "Stompin' at the Savoy (Sampson, Goodman, Webb, Razaf) Performed by Chick Webb (dms), " and more

and then THE JOY OF SAX
BBC - Radio 3 - Jazz File - Programme Three: "Courtney Pine explores the history of an instrument created for the symphony orchestra, but which found its authentic voice in jazz with freeform jazz and its fluid stream of consciousness improvising

heard the overture BBC - Radio 3 - Opera On 3 - Act One: "Le Nozze di Figaro"
from Mozart Figaro from the Met NY and went to Lidl

When the soil is not muddy I sit on this very low wall to climb over as the shortest route from the bus stop pictured in other blogs

this trolley is 5 years old from NETTO Denmark

back at about 8:00 pm for the rest of BBC - Radio 3 - Opera On 3 - Acts 2 - 3: "Le Nozze di Figaro"

stayed with the music NO TV unpacked came on line

later I was saddened to hear that Cornelius Cardew only 3 months older than me was already dead.
Cornelius Cardew - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "(b. Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, May 7, 1936; d. December 13, 1981) was an English avant-garde composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble."
after The Verb
John Tilbury is also seventy years old and is writing a biography on Cornelius Cardew

"john tilbury" - Google Search

read this document: "p.s. Maybe, with the advent of the new 'dark ages', we may indeed disappear or, in George Steiner's words, 'be confined to small islands of archaic conservation.' Yes, artistically, that is what I am already doing."

John Tilbury - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I also hang out in "wittgenstein-dialognet" on the web.

which has been a little lively and getting me to reread some BOOKS too

my new bus pass

I lost my Free Travel Pass on Tuesday so I had to walk in to get a new one

new blossom
seen from my kitchen window

this path still needs sweeping


located here

I know this plant from my childhood but not what it is named
the pigeon fancier who owns this flock of racing pigeons lives in the second house



nice and clear
goíng in to get marreid at the MArriage Suite in the Library Centre

grand entrance hall of the shopping centre






top of the ramp and the photo machine is to the left

5 machine photos for £3.50 coins in slot of the digital photo machine

not much of a queue at Chemsley Wood Post Office so I was quickly issued a replacement CENTRO free travel pass

Solihull Website - Older persons bus pass

click to see the yellow area which is the limits of the Free Travel Pass

trains

next I went to the supermarket

These Bread STICKS were horrid - just air and flour and dry - unlike the french flûte: "Genre de baguette de pain. Te prendras une miche, et si le boulanger n'en a plus, te prendras une flûte." Synonymie: grotte, miche.

the logo KWIK SAVE is history

this store is now SOMERFIELD but the image change will not be completed until August 2006

Somerfield - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

seen from my balcony

misty this morning

SNAPS TWO

shopping at ALDI on my way home

chilled meats and double flush toilets

Aldi Bordesley Green East
ALDI UK: Offers, business hours, wine, realty, career

this bus stop is by Project Kingfisher

buses, taxies and cyclists have to share the green lane

GOOGLE MAP HERE

the football fans decorated Merton House with their english flags - the Standard of St George

catching up

draft blog updated from last sunday

SNAPS ONE: stourbridge junction station

recent photo blogs

SNAPS TWO: easter sunday at home with the handicam

SNAPS ONE: Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
updated afterwards

shopping at the market and LIDL

day and the Peoples Express at the bus stop I blogged in the dark below - I had been tired and sleepy all day so it was 5:00pm before I felt like going out

ringing to get off the bus at the city boundary (Birmingham / Solihull MBC

the cedar tree on the corner of Tile Cross Road and Bosworth Drive together with some old apple trees off camera to the right, speaks of a lost victorian garden. This is in Birmingham

and 30 minutes and 8 miles later :-

I arrived very late at the Birmingham markets at 17:45 officially closed at 4:00 pm but there were still deals to be done for £1 each 7 oranges and 8 large grapefruit will last a week, one plastic bag stuffed with carrots (about 75) and another with onions (both about a months supply) and finlly about a kilo of loose grapes for 50p

1086 William the Conqueror made a list of what he owned, in latin the dooms day book. At Aston there was a priest with a servant, a mill, 30 villagers, 18 ploughs – value 100 shillings. Birmingham was valued 20 shillings,

The original Domesday Book has survived over 900 years of English history and is currently housed in a specially made chest at London's Public Record Office in Kew, London. This site has been set up to enable visitors to discover the history of the Domesday Book, to give an insight into life at the time of its compilation, and provide information and links on related topics.

At over 900 years old, Domesday is the earliest surviving public record not including church records

Mackadown, Warwickshire

Domesday name: Machitone - Macca’s Farm

so a -ton name from saxon

From Turchil Alnod holds Machitone.

There are 5 hides less 1 virgate. There is land for 5 ploughs.

There are 10 villeins and 4 borders with 3 ploughs, and 2 acres of meadow.

There is woodland 1 league long and half a league broad. It was worth 20 shillings, now worth 40 shillings.

Turchil was a great landowner who was English (Saxon) but as he had not opposed Duke William he was allowed to keep his lands.

Alnod was a Saxon who had held his lands for many years. Hides & virgates were areas of land. Virgate = 25 acres, hide = 100 acres.

Villeins & bordars were farmers. The villein usually worked at least 30 acres and could be self supporting while the bordar worked less land and would have had to do other work to supplement his own production.

As the value of doubled between 1066 and 1086 Machitone was obviously an expanding village

from Chronology by John Morris Jones

This booklet seems to be an unfinished collection of material compiled by John Morris Jones, former Headmaster of George Dixon Junior School, during the period 1960 - 1980. He wrote over 30 booklets in which he covered almost every district of the City of Birmingham.

This booklet appears to comprise material for his own school as well as some material about Sheldon written for Blakenhale Primary School. It is presented here as unfinished work.

in 1986 the BBC commissioned a new survey.

AFTER emptying my trolley back in Merton House I went out again to get coffee from LIDL

the sign I tried in vain to see in the dark ( - blogged below)

SHELDON. East and West Halls (Sheldon Hall and Kents Moat) both in north as was Mackadown, first settlement.
But St. Giles's Church built near southern fields, hamlet grew about green thereby.
Road-widening and churchyard extension have obliterated green.

Cottages, former inn, church, school, and moated rectory remain.

Mackadown and Tile Cross hamlets have disappeared, except for inn at latter.

There are 21 manors and sub-manors wholly within the 1974 boundaries of the City of Birmingham, and parts of 7 others. In these were villages, hamlets, and manor house sites of ancient origin, for many of which we shall look in vain today.

leaving LIDL (built on the site of the Mackadown public house) at about 19:15 and the sun is setting behind me and across the car park is this strange copper roofed building

seen from the 97 bus stop, it is Our Lady Help of Christians, Tile Cross, Catholic Church, Birmingham

google search

map (about 500 metres out) showing the old Mackadown pub which has been replaced by LIDL

a quiet couple of days

yesterday 12 April about 19:25 and I think these grey 1080 x 1284 phone camera images make great desktops - restful and good contrast with the icons

the stratus clouds and lowering ceiling show the incoming warm front from Wales and the west

TODAY another home day

but after catching up with the Doctor Who repeats I needed a drink, so took the 97 bus.

waiting for the bus to the off licence - fish and chips or pizza on sale but the local convenience shop has closed Merton House landing lights show in the background

BIG FAT DOG

tailights just got off bus 97

Lidl with shutters down

but no notice of opening times over the easter weekend - and not on their website either

having lived abroad I am not up to date with shop opening hours for public holidays

this plastic windowed bus stop was last blogged in the rain - in a plastic bag at my feet are 2 carlsberg beers, 2 litres of cider and some biscuits

First Ironbridge Walking Festival

Green Wood Centre

You can enjoy the woodlands of the Ironbridge Gorge at any time of the year with our free guides to three fascinating walks.

seen on BBC local TV steep footpaths will get you breathless

The Green Wood Centre has got together with popular Ironbridge writer and researcher Michael Pooley to produce guides to the woodlands in Ironbridge. Each walk shares an insight into nature conservation within the Gorge together with its geology and history of the Gorge plus, of course, its terrific views.

The new, easy to follow guides offer a step by step narrative to the sights and delights to be found along the way and feature a detailed pictorial map of each route.

Download the leaflets here:
Ropewalk
Srethill Walk
Rotunda Walk

First ever Ironbridge Gorge walking festival 'gorgeous walks':
"The nine day event will include twelve Gorgeous Walks varying in length from 45 minutes on mostly level ground, up to a more strenuous three hours with some steep climbs.

Co-ordinated by the Green Wood Centre, the festival is a partnership of nine organisations, which will each organise its own walks.
Every event will have a theme such as Wild Garlic and Coppiced Woods on Saturday 29th April by the Green Wood Centre and Ironmasters, their Houses and Workers on Wednesday 3rd May from the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

On Saturday 6th May there is a three hour wildlife walk around Benthall Edge led by Glen Bishton, author of Bird Watching in the Severn Gorge."

Ironbridge "Walking Festival" - Google Search

stourbridge junction station

weather
and the radio mast seen from the train from Moor Street

on sundays an experimetal tramcar is in service

monument on Stourbridge Junction staion car park

PARRY PEOPLE CARRIER gas powered tramcar with a flywheel to store energy

Welcome to the World of Parry Technology

PPM 50 Specification

not walking weather


Geoff Lusher was our host and he is deputy Chairman of the Light Rail Transit Association


shutter delay when I tried to snap the FIXED DISTANT to the left

Stourbridge station for the second time and it had stopped raining so I decided to walk the route of the old railway which used to continue down to the canal basin

this road dips to go under a railway bridge which no longer exists

line of railway is cut by new ringway

I came down this slippery footpath by this old factory

Stourbridge Lion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The Stourbridge Lion was a railroad steam locomotive. It was not only the first locomotive to be operated in the United States, it was also one of the first locomotives to operate outside of England, where it was manufactured in 1828."

Foster, Rastrick and Company : "was one of the pioneering steam locomotive manufacturing companies of England. It was based in Stourbridge, Worcestershire."

at the back of the pub by the bonded canal warehouse


canal stourbridge - Google Search



outdoor bookstall
too late - packing up the model railway

the organiser of the exhibition modelex.org.uk: "the Modelex Shop. We are the manufacturers of the Modelex Range of Controllers and Automatic Modules. We also manufacture the Churchward Models range of etched kits & frets. An extensive range of electronic components.from LED's to switches.D plugs & sockets etc are stocked,together with a wide range of scratchbuilding materials including the ever popular 'Evergreen Range' "

walking back gas lamp typical of my childhood

and back up the HIgh Street, Stourbridge
Unitarinian Chapel from about 1740

a fine emporium
is this a georgian town hall?

Victorian Town Hall in Stourbridge
from the top deck of the number 9 bus

under the Stourbridge viaduct I mean to return to this subject

back in Birmingham and I got off the number 9 bus at Newhall Street

Sunday sailors negotiatingthe locks below

behind me offices to let in Newhall Street AND

the BT tower which is the tallest structure and one of my favourite subjects just visible from my kitchen window

Elkington, Mason and Son Electroplaters on the wall of the old Museum of Science and Industry

Electroplating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wright's associates, George Elkington and Henry Elkington were awarded the first patents for electroplating in 1840. elkington electroplate - Google Search

Elkington Family History and see JJupar Elkington one-name study

I was starving - MacDonalds does not take plastic cards so I tried this pub
NO meals but free snacks

The Queens Arms is opposite the Assay Office

free cheese, blood sausage, pickled onions were on the table to the right





The Birmingham Assay Office
One of the worlds foremost laboratories with over 230 years experience in precious metal analysis. The Birmingham Assay Office, Newhall street, is a UKAS accredited laboratory and has a wealth of expertise and experience in the analysis of metals.
The Birmingham Assay Office Website. and over 13 million articles weree hall marked in 2003 - note the anchor window
Basic Hallmarks Identification
The most accurate definition of a hallmark is the mark or marks stamped, impressed, ... anchor ( city mark for Birmingham),

The Queens Arms Newhall Street Birmingham

and then I went to the exhibition at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
see also
SNAPS ONE: ring 2 Stourbridge

SNAPS TWO: stourbridge junction station

three sisters

this LIDL has some half price vegetables and fruit
and is 15 minutes further on the bus

new line HALAL FRESH CHICKEN

dandelion time at last
waiting for a 97 bus to come over the hill
by the bus stop an original door but a new drain pipe

when I unpacked my shopping trolley I spotted the broken window below

modernisation by a private owner

dangerous tree
after being threatened for taking photographs of a tree here I jumped on a bus to LIDL

and walked up where the 14 bus drives

to the chimneys I call the three sisters

see this google map

take the close up to see the three shadows

Alcoa Europe-Flat Rolled Products
Kitts Green Rd, Birmingham, B33 0ED
0121 252 8000

aluminum facade

from ALCOA I hopped on a 14 bus towards Marston Green to look for this bridge I had glimpsed from a train see maps.google.co.uk/maps

help needed by Birmingham council to clean up this footpath

a favourite spot for a drinker

looking northwards from whence I came along the footpath

Centro train to Coventry

the footpath continues between the fence and the wall of the two factory yards

tag heaven - great texture
silver link from London Euston to Birmingham New Street

afterwards I got a bit lost amongst the small factories

"garratts green lane" - Google Search

passing by where I got my 1881 and 1851 census cd sets

The Church of Later Day Saints Church Distribution Centre

399 Garratts Green Lane

Birmingham B33 0UH

no buses in the evening

cumulus mammatus?

sinking air at sunset a couple of days ago
I have seen a whole sky like this once in Denmark
see - cumulus mammatus - Google Image Search

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists

Dakota House Gallery Director: Marie Considine
4 Brook Street
St. Paul's Square
Birmingham
B3 1SA



Artists proposed as an associate or full member of the RBSA were showing five or six examples of their work.




BRIAN FLETCHER RBSA has a one man show in the cafe on the ground floor
click and scroll down to see more of this artist's works

his profile on the RBSA members list

Emily Porter Salmon ARBSA member

upstairs and I was late

for the opening by the President of RBSA Michele White

this very creaky floor was embarrassing

Veil of Isis by Jo Nadan

Jo Nadan and her Water Hollow

Mary M Cox
DAVID COX, OWS (29 April 1783 in Heath Mill Lane Deritend -1859 Greenfield Road Harborne) lived in Hereford and in London from 1817-1840 but maintained his Birmingham connections and exhibited at the Birmingham Society of Artists in New Street from 1829. See more DAVID COX, (1783-1859) and OWS is the "Old Watercolour Society" of 1804 - Google Search


I love this light over Newhall Street

In 1868, Queen Victoria granted the Society Royal status and this coat of arms which came from the old gallery used to be near the leather fire buckets

time to go home
the post office tower Birmingham remains one of my favourite motifs

may be too much?
and I walked on past this church in St. Paul's Square in
the Jewelry quarter with an enhanced sense of visual sensuality, and history, and out along Henrietta Street to Camp Hill where the cable cars used to run.

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists

Blogging along: "Emily Porter Salmon describes her proudest achievement as being selected for the 2003 BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, despite losing a pessimistic bet on it."
Thomas Kendrick Part 2

Four Black Country Visions

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham ...

april 8 2006 weather

the first cumulus forming and dissolving around 7:00 am looking east

looking northwards from my kitchen window

looking east convection started at about 7:00 am

the smoke shows the surface wind direction and strength at about 8:15 am - weak, variable and southerly (this and previosus snaps with handicam zoom)

panorama loking east of "fair weather cumulus at about 12:00pm midday
I find it very difficult to get the join up exact with the sun in my eyes

EXIF data
File: - D:\Documents and Settings\Hugh Watkins\Desktop\20060408-weather\DSC00001.JPG

ImageDescription - Make - Sony Ericsson Model - K608i
Orientation - Top left X Resolution - 72 YResolution - 72 ResolutionUnit - Inch
Software - R2L002 prgCXC1250077_EU_5_MI 2.9
DateTime - 2006:04:08 11:57:52
YCbCrPositioning - Co-Sited
ExifOffset - 302 ExifVersion - 0210
DateTimeOriginal - 2006:04:08 11:57:52 DateTimeDigitized - 2006:04:08 11:57:52
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr FlashPixVersion - 0100
ColorSpace - sRGB ExifImageWidth - 1664 ExifImageHeight - 432 InteroperabilityOffset - 612


the same day at 1745 - what glider pilots call "over development" cutting off sunlight and convection

the faint rainbow shows the april shower

retreating eastwards Cumulonimbus Incus
which has a characteristic anvil-top INCUS shape
the flattening caused by an inversion
(layer of slightly warmer air stopping convection)

nimbus means rain
cumulus means heaped up - "cauliflower" shape was my childish description of them

Cumulonimbus mammatus at sunset to be posted later A look at cloud names

ring 2 Stourbridge

milder weather - heating off and window open

I am watching the racing from Aintree for three afternoons

GRAND NATIONAL tomorrow

just missed that 11c bus after getting off the 97

cop shop on the corner

towards the circular bus 11c stop I thought of getting of at Bourneville

but stayed on until Dudley Road and hopped onto a numbger 9 to Stourbridge

where glass blowing used to be the local industry

very fancy toilets

the shuttle train was cautiously dropping down the hill

buffers at the end of the branch line

Stourbidge station for buses and the shuttle service train

only two passengers

£1000 fine for trespassing on the line

at Stourbridge Junction Station "All change" but this train may be at the end of its life

Centro main line to Birmingham

from the train window around sunset

around Cradley Heath on the way back

peeking on tip toe down from Moor Street station footbridge into the LMS was LNWR and MR lines underneath then bus 97 back to Merton House

great pictures from Bangkok

from
Google Groups : Blogger Help Group > Something Is Broken
apparently the text of my blog shows up on some people's computers in outrageously large font sizes. I think they're all on internet explorer. are there any known issues with this? is there a simple fix?



restlessears blogger has a problem with text size
so do scroll down the blog to see all the pictures and see http://www.restlessears.com/

custard factory to dixon road

I dropped by the Custard Factory

I looked in to see what was going on - not much

so I decided to walk to my mother's old workplace which I last visited about 45 years ago

from Bordsley Cattle Station GWR the beasts were walked to the slaughter house through this archway and about half a mile further
past this electrical sub-station built with civic pride

BR W Bordsley Cattle Station

from Bordsley my mother walked along this pavement

and walked up this hill to work at Dixon Road Junior and Infants School

Mrs Watkins was deputy head in charge of the infants and with a class of 50 five year olds to manage

now converted into apartments

windows in the tower

peeking over the wall

Islamic Centre
time to go home

this was Dixon Road Primary School

new park above the old school

tag management
drop your tag to the left

Sara Park Play Centre
Directions:, Herbert Rd between Chapman Rd and Regents Park Rd. Public Transport:, Busses 17, 58, 60, 99, 590.
"sara park" birmingham site:uk - Google Search

google map
Results 1-14 of about 148 for mosque near Birmingham, B10 0PR, UK

this mosque is on the hill top

the parish church

looking back at the side of this mosque
SNAPS TWO: custard factory to dixon road

walk to Stechford

a hedge full of starlings making a merry noise
see some close ups in SNAPS TWO: walk to Stechford


wagon with WATKINS
past BIG JOHN fast food and

down this path into the Kingfisher Project (click for bigger)

needs stepping stones

River Cole


burn an ARGOS catalogue to make a party (note empty beer cans)
Bab's Mill cottages
this father told me where to look for some special birds
and son
York Wood in the background where some long tailed blue-tits are nesting
in the midlands we are metal bashers - so easier to make this new bridge of steel not wood
and an RSJ and bolt on hand rails
stepping stones and the school
what a mess !
I have never seen bull rushes at this stage before - seeds on the wind
scrub oak

a natural bridge of a fallen tree













fortress Britain a passer-by said for old age pensioners (like me)


that this is fortified against thugs











"Hullo Santa" - said these football players

at first glance I thought this seat was a UFO

and well decorated

combined football and basket ball practice pitch

the locals call this prefabricated bolted together bridge

the "bailey bridge"

foot bridge

new handrail on concrete foot bridge

the archeology of Kent's Moat

what kind of tree is this?

click to see this pool larger

sunset

back to reality - ring road and bus 11

standard exposure and using the joy sitck:-

shortest exposure
longest exposure

after sunset in Stechford

perfect chinese fried chips for £1 (I could not resist the smell of chinese food being cooked) and bus 55 to Chelmsley Wood centre then 97 to Bosworth Drive and Merton House
see some close ups in SNAPS TWO: walk to Stechford

Bosworth Drive afternoon

dyson vacuum cleaner

blossom time

this double fronted house has been sold and is being totally renovated

washing down after some other builders were here last week

MEETING

Kieran chaired the tuesday afternoon meeting between tenants and caretaking staff and I had a grumble about dog poo in the lift

the local penalty for dog fouling is £1000 bio-hazards around Merton House

outside Fordbridge Town Hall after the meeting

I walked along this side of Chelmsley Brook towards the wood in the background

and I need to cross this bridge towards Alcott Wood

and past the school that has been demolished, but what is being built?

Alcott Wood

gas control station

no grey squirrels at this time of day

I sat on this branch ate an apple and waited silently


will this be frogspawn heaven?

bluebells soon, but what is the plant in the bottom right corner?

nature reserve board

SNAPS TWO: Alcott Wood

Low Brook is to the right

found things

yesterday water worn pebbles from a field by the river Cole

and today three beer glasses in a hedge
(I recently broke two so I needed the replacements)


Worcestershire and Warwickshire geological map
I live between Marston and Coleshill on the upper trias

see also Geology of Great Britain, UK - Introduction and maps

15 Upper Trias - Rhætic Beds, Keuper Marls and sandstone

and Great Packington is on

18 Permian - Sandstone and Conglomerate

nb 19 Coal Measures which underlie the industrialisation of the midlands

RHAETIC - LoveToKnow Article on RHAETIC: "In England the Rhaetic formation occurs as a thin but constant series of beds at the base of the Lias and above the Keuper marts. The upper part, often called the White Lias, is a series of thin bedded shales, limestone and marls, 1 to 25 ft. thick; the lower portion ,consists mainly of dark shales, sometimes with very perfect lamination paper shales.

Below there are beds of grey and tea-green marls which are now usually regarded as the topmost Keuper beds,"

marl or bog lime, soil, essentially clay mixed with carbonate of lime, highly valued as a dressing or fertilizer. It crumbles rapidly and easily. Marl in which the lime is in the form of invertebrate shells is called shell marl

fauna of the Rhaetic beds - Google Search

In geology, keuper refers to the third or uppermost subdivision of the Triassic system. The name is a local miners term of German origin;

delightful software

Download MobTime Cell Phone Manager to manage phones of Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Motorola, and Samsung.

my phone battery was at 50% but last night I transferred 81 jpgs in groups of 17 files at a time without problems
(trying to transfer all at once can cause time outs and hangs if the phone's battery is low)

Blythe School

I walked for nearly four hours to see this crane in Coleshill which I can just see from my flat - curiosity and about 150 snapshot photos to sort



basic land rover made in Solihull too

weekend

I watched the Australian grand Prix and the boat race

I really enjoyed rowing as a teen at school
my kind of sport




this fireman was off duty but saved the BIG JOHN fast food chippie from a kitchen fire see on BBC - Midlands Today - Index

updated

SNAPS ONE: Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
the blogger image upload problems are over

Lord Mayor of Birmingham - Councillor John Hood
biography

when I met him at the exhibtion I could not resist mentioning the need for an Opera House and he said that he had visited the newly rebuilt opera house in Leipzig (one of Birmingham's eight twin towns)