photographs and walks: 01/01/2007

shopping for bread and the Radio Times

I took the 97 bus from Bosworth drive in order to grab a free newspaper

I went to the "rent office" to tell them the ceiling panels in Merton House had not been put back yet, when I was on the way to Sommerfield to get bread, oats and the Radio Times for next week

After shopping I took these panoramas which are better here on the new image server

the weather was beter than it looked and I decided to walk home by crossing the bridge to the right

I pushed the trolley over this footbridge and down the zigzag ramps

from the balcony

speed bumps for pedestrians and red paint for cyclists on the cycle route

End of cycle route

CYCLISTS DISMOUNT

Crossing the Kingshurst Brook by the big bridge

rubbish trap and weir

pushing my loaded trolley homewards past the Fordbridge town hall to the left
and Merton House in the distance

flat roofs are out - even on a porch

still here months later cycle tires thrown over a lamp post

I used to call to my mother "Wait for me"
but this mother is telling her littleboy to put down the bag he found

this school ground is a long term disgrace and sets a bad example to the children,
or even a health and safety issue

this path has not been swept since autumn 2006

daffodils in bud and rotting litter

this junk has been in the school grounds for weeks

gas mains being renewed in Crabtree Drive
the old pipes are cut and new liners inserted

fixing the gas pipes with these new plastic liners will take 30 years for the whole country.
posted http://solihull-2006.blogspot.com/ because of the portrait format bug on new Blogger has not been fixed yet

I like these minature machines

see our new door telephone panel in the daylight

this is the gap - one of many - in the ceilings after the new doorphone had been installed.

three bridges over the canal

Digbeth Branch Canal: Waterscape.com: "The Digbeth Branch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations opened in 1799, passing through a tunnel and dropping via six locks from Aston Junction to Warwick Bar where it served once-busy wharves."
the bridges date from 1837

canal tunnel curzon street - Google Search

London and Birmingham Railway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The first part of the line between Euston Station and Boxmoor (Hemel Hempstead) was opened on 20 July 1837. The line was not finished in time for the coronation of Queen Victoria on June 28 1838, but realising the potentially lucrative traffic this would generate, the company opened the line between Birmingham and Rugby to the north, and London to Bletchley to the south, and a stagecoach shuttle service was introduced linking the two, allowing people to complete the journey to London. The line was officially opened to all traffic throughout, on September 17, 1838."

the first bridge

I was walking from north to south and Digbeth, Birmingham, United Kingdom - Google Maps shows the car park which has replaced the original lines into Curzon Street station (zoom out if you cannot see the canal in the aerial photograph )

underneath the third bridge, with the riveted rolled steel structure of the kind I was taught to design on my drawing board in 1954- 1955 at Loughborough College of Advanced Technology

today the Civil & Building Engineering at Loughborough University

the arch of the second bridge

"In 1846 the L&BR merged with the Grand Junction Railway and a few other companies, to form the London and North Western Railway, which in turn was later absorbed into the London Midland and Scottish Railway, before finally passing into the hands of the nationalised British Rail in 1948 to become part of the West Coast Main Line as it is known today.

Neither of the L&BR's original termini, both designed by Philip Hardwick have survived in their original form. Curzon Street station in Birmingham closed to passenger traffic in 1854, having long been replaced by New Street station but continued in use for parcels traffic, whilst the original Euston station in London was demolished in 1962 to make way for the present structure which opened in 1968."

I remember both original stations

looking back

top deck 97 bus

the facade of the new Tile Cross bingo hall is going up

St Martin's market

the Bullring

terminus or end station in Birmingham

cider or carlsberg lager

I shop at Bains - seen from the upper deck of a 97 bus with a misty window

Bains 312 Tile Cross Road Birmingham West Midlands B33 0ND

Bains 312 Tile Cross Road Birmingham West Midlands loc: B33 0ND - Google Maps: "Results 1-2 of about 2 for Bains 312 Tile Cross Road Birmingham West Midlands near Birmingham, B33 0ND "

seen from the bus stop opposite after shopping the evening before

better with the flash turned off

Labels: chelmsley wood

solihull on thursday

and the electricians were in Merton House to modernize our door telephone system

with a wagon load of gear

I could hear the sound of the approaching masonry drills - the two installers started on the tenth floor and worked their way down Merton House to me on the seventh

without the flash

from Bristol and thank you for a good clean job fixing the door telephone

but I have not read the manual yet

smile :-) because I can see you on our new TV door telephone

The sunset reflected in the Fire Control as I set out for Solihull
first to catch the 97 bus to Kitts Green and then the 72 to Solihull

I love the light on the scratched plastic of the Kitts Green bus stop shelters

reading the bible on bus 97

I took the 72 to Solihull and went into Touchwood

new shop design in Touchwood Solihull

3G is here

and got a printer cable at Jessops

free phone but pay for taxi

and into the library to return two books by Temple Grandin
temple grandin - Google Search

upstairs two exhibitions

dancers warming up before their entry in the theatre

City of the Immortals,
Michelle Lord, Exhibition ... Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council | Solihull Connect, Library Square, Solihull B91 3RG
"michelle lord" - Google Search