exercising on new years eve

the one storage heater which keep me warm and dry

up to the tenth floor of Merton House looking east over Bosworth Drive to Chelmsley Wood

good black smith work 10 floors of continuous steel hand rail


aggressive knife cuts in the plastic cover

the fancy treads on the first flight

at the door on the ground floor and the pub in Crabtree Drive looks very inviting

just imagine - what is it that you see?


a strange sea beating on a rocky shore, and the roofs of a town before distant hills, all dominated by wind blown storm clouds,
and maybe a water spout.

last saturday of 2006

which started with a beautiful sunrise

but difficult to compose

I thought that was the last of the storm

so blue in the camera

and I started the macintosh computer


No bath for me today - the tub was occupied by the bag from my new trolley which had been soaking all night to loosen the filth



and I gave it a good scrub with LIDL washing up liquid, and washed it down and rinsed it inside and out





then I hung it up to drain









and finally hung up to dry above the storage heater
which got left off camera

And then I took the old trolley and went shopping for bread and cash back

it was already starting to rain when I got of the 97 bus
so I took the side door to get under cover in the market hall

no more crazy frogs this year in theis old style crane grab machine

and I climbed the stairs to the

upstairs butcher in the closed market hall in Chelmsley Wood

£5 a tray
Woolworths, AKA "Woolies" is imitating Argos
Shop for Cheap Childrens Toys, Garden Furniture and Kids Outdoor Toys - Woolworths.co.uk

F. W. Woolworth Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth. Despite growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, competition led to a decline beginning in the 1980s"
Woolworths Group plc was the British unit of Woolworths, but has been separate since 1982.

and is along way from the 3d & 6d stores F. W. Woolworth I remember from more than sixty years ago
see this virtual museum
About Home 1800s 1910s 1920s 1930s WWII 1950s 1960s Recent History Map

to see myself as others see me
here on the security tv screen in Somerfield

surviving tree in Somerfield Chelsmsley Wood

and it was getting quite wet when I got of the bus and walked back to Merton House

after a lunch I took the 97 into town to the open air markets


on the bus with my "new" trolley
which fell over soon after

Braeburn apples are at their best and £1 a kilo

I said to the stall holder "I will come back when the pineapples are three for a pound"
so I got three for £1


and I got off the 97 bus at Kitts Green

BJS bingo comes to BIRMINGHAM click to see a sketch of the design
snapped from the loading bay at LIDL
http://www.bjs-bingo.co.uk/


after shopping for fish and cottage cheese in LIDL
I took the 97 home
still a day dreamer I missed my stop

and walked back up Bosworth Drive


which exposure or f number is best ?
- minimum above or maximum below


back on the seventh floor with the red bag full of green groceries
I had to buy a new tough LIDL bag to ride on top

doctor and library

"Just look at the rain" as my mother used to say
in fact a happy memory of school holidays and making things with my hands.

the coming storm means it is time to take the satellite dish indoors
already blown crooked so no german TV or radio for me for a while


my only present this Christmas so far (a package is on the way from Denmark)
a badly packed freebie ice scraper for some one who does not own a car
thank you smile.co.uk my internet bank

portrait format for today is pasted in from old blogger

up on the tenth floor this rubbish still needs clearing
and I walked down the ten flights

same viewpoint as blogged below done yesterday by moon light

and I went in to
Chemsley Wood Primary care Centre

at the check in also known as Bosworth Medical Centre


reminds me of the opera - stuck behind a pillar and trying to read the over text translation

and looking up above my head

I got a new prescription for two pairs of elastic stockings

After the doctor it was not raining, so I walked in towards the library

what a mess on this foot path
STILL




relic of a re branded supermarket Somerfield still lying around in the school grounds








some of this rubbish has been here so long that it is losing its colour








fading beer cans in the school nature corner








on the corner of BLACKCAT COURT
old tires thrown over the lamp post

sinking ground around a sewer manhole can mean a leak and rats nests

awaiting the dustman

I am lucky not to need Ring and Ride yet
and to be able to do up my own shoe laces - I will be 71 years old in nine days time

Fordbridge Parish town hall

slippery leaves never get swept up here

guess what this guy got for Christmas
the englishman's shed is his castle

his tree has survived the tree surgeon well
shown sideways below by the blogger bug

aha the klunser in me awakes

Kingshurst Brook has a little white water again

in the library local and family history display

the bendy line is how the Kingshurst Brook used to meander







freebie ancestrylibrary edition here - but all the computers were fully booked









the future new shopping centre and our parade of shops day are numbered in the name of urban renewal







I found three books on calligraphy and lingered with the newspapers

what I really wanted was "brush calligraphy" - Google Search



Taxi marshall story in Solihull just like Copenhagen airport - people don't know how to queue orderly anymore.

and protests against new football pitches
NIMBY in Solihull









better buses for Coleshill and a couple who should have married in about 1942
but were stopped by the girls mother who said of the young airman "he might get killed "

97 bus stop closest to the library

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

the Irish tricolour has become a bi-colour with the orange blown away in the wind


and the grass grow greener over the same vodka bottle at the front door of Merton House

the frame of the trolley looks good - just one safety catche to be repaired


tearing out the sodden cardboard stiffeners








and a good scrub to clean up the plastic case








and I will let it soak overnight to soften the dirt








my computer in Solihull was pinged








from the west coast of USA
said my
McAfee Personal Firewall