March 12th – It’s always hard seeing an old friend in reduced circumstances. I’ve been captivated for years with the cold-war mystique of Birmingham’s Post Office Tower. A symbol of an age where microwave transmission was the bandwidth king, the internet and fibre optics have rendered the cold-war microwave backbone – of which this was a node – irrelevant. Towers down the length of the UK, from Kirk O’Shotts to Pye Green, Sutton Common to Copt Oak are all gradually being decommissioned and relegated to minor supporting roles in the communications infrastructure. Birmingham’s tower is now almost totally devoid of antenna. Underneath it, sits a largely mothballed, part flooded nuclear-blast proof telephone exchange, called Anchor, after the city’s hallmark. A sad monument.

Author: BrownhillsBob

I told the truth - but told it bent. Wandering around bemused and ranty since 2007. View all posts by BrownhillsBob