Tag: Birmingham

May 15th – I was pleased to note while in Birmingham that a piece of public art I thought had been lost from St. Chad’s Circus subway was still extant, and had been moved. The mosaic or whatever it is – it’s more like a veneer than anything, but it’s not wood – is of trains and transport and commemorates Snow Hill Station, which was closed (I think) at the time it was created. 

The work used to be on the subway wall in one of the most horrid underpasses in the city centre. When the subterranean horror was infilled, I assumed the work had been lost, and forgot about it. 

I noticed the work fronting the planters outside One, Snow Hill. I’m glad it was saved, it’s a little bit of the Birmingham I remember.

Just like the horrid pub in the subway, The Brown Derby. That was a shocker.

One artwork is still missing, though, and used to stand on the grass above street level on St. Chads; it was a metal, full size child’s swing, captured and welded in multiple stages of movement as if caught in stop motion photography. It was brilliant. Anyone know what happened to that?

May 15th – Springtime canal cycling. I got 99 problems, and most of them are truculent, obstructive and aggressive geese.

Patience and gentle coaxing a must.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

May 6th – A frantic day. From work, to Birmingham for an important appointment, and I was there late. Not much time to eat, or think. I was frazzled, and on edge. But I did have a ‘what the hell?’ moment looking at the new tram tracks being laid from the New Street/Stephenson Place junction. It’s quite a steep hill, and that snaking curve looks… interesting. Not much can’t in the track, either. 

I hazard that’ll lead to some interesting moments with the odd inebriated passenger and also probably cyclists.

I must say, the metro extension project seems to be taking an age to complete.

March 26th – Love locks seem to be becoming a thing in the UK now, which is an interesting cultural phenomena. If you’re not aware of the principle, lovers take a padlock and close it over a fixed structure, like a bridge, railings or other urban feature. The lock is often marked with a message of love.

I note the aluminium bridge over the canal at Gas Street Basin has become a focus for this craze in Brum, and I’ve noticed other locks in other places. 

I’m not bothered by it, and think it’s quite sweet, if a bit contrived now. It’s not destructive, and it’s interesting to see the variety of names and approaches. 

A fascinating urban cultural affectation, and it’ll be interesting to see if it’s a passing fad or a more lasting feature of city life.

March 19th – Then, there was the city in a golden, very golden hour. I met a companion, had a good meal and a natter, and we rode back through a gorgeous evening, out from the city centre on the canal to Smethwick, then back through the Sandwell Valley. A gorgeous ride.

It was smoggy, and the air quality was poor; even the air conditioning at Gas Street was belching steam into the air. But it made for such a soft, golden light that kissed and flattered all it touched in this varied, architecturally eccentric city.

Man, I love this place.

March 14th – Where do you leave a pair of bikes when you’re exploring a lost Mall? Well, loads of railings and street furniture nearby…

Cue rant.

Birmingham is a lousy city to cycle around at street level. For decades, the City Council have paid lip service to cycling, with a road system that routinely ignores the needs of more vulnerable road users, like Moor Street Queensway. They were given millions in cycle funding, which they used to resurface miles of perfectly good canal towpath.

And then, there’s aresehattery of this calibre. No cyclist would ever have managed this. I guaran-damn-tee the person responsible for this act of civic idiocy last rode a bike in school.

What am I upset about?

Cyclehoops are the round fittings bolted to these railings. They are great items of cheap street furniture designed to be fixed to existing street furniture to provide anchor points for bike parking. We have some in Walsall on lampposts. They’re brilliant because they stop your steed flopping around the post, and provide a secure lock rail that’s hard to remove.

Oddly enough, railings already provide that feature.

Birmingham City Council bought a bunch of Cyclehoops and instead of fitting them in places where they would be useful, bolted them to railings that already perform the purpose Cyclehoops fulfil.

You normally have to make an appointment for this kind of idiocy.

Stick a fork in the Council’s backside and turn it over, it’s done.

March 13th – This is about a death, or being present at the demise. 

I was in Birmingham for the afternoon, and had an important execution to record.

Fletchers Walk, the dingy, misconceived subway-mall near the Town Hall in Birmingham, leading under Paradise Circus and emerging at the foot of Alpha Tower, will soon be lost to the wrecking ball.

It is ugly. Badly designed. It represents some of the worst – very worst -aspects of modernism, utilitarian urbanism and brutalism. It is unattractive, badly lit, intimidating and dystopian.

I’ve always loved it.

In the 80s and 90s, there was a great record shop down there, one of Brum’s earliest computer shops, too. Some great restaurants. When it was alive, it was a curious, odd netherworld. I’d bet many Brummies never knew it existed. It often stank of sewage, or stale urine. 

Attempts to polish this architectural turd only succeeded in compounding the issue – that being it was impossible to build something like this properly in the space available.

Soon, it will be swept away, along with John Madin’s remarkable library on top, and replaced by a bland, steel and glass corporate space, which we will facelessly and safely drift through, like the insipid figures on developer’s pictures. 

We will be unchallenged as we do so – the architecture will not engage, neither will it be evident. There will be none of the apprehension. It’ll just be another glossy, transitory and irrelevant link between retail spaces.

That will never by my Birmingham. Fletchers Walk – with it’s memories of great nights out, obscure music finds and hurried dashes from grim menace – is my Birmingham. 

When it dies, a bit of my memory will die with it.

March 7th – Spring was here. It was warm, but with some serious wind. I cyclied to Erdington through Sutton and Boldmere, then on through Witton and the canals; then back out of town via Saltley, Tyburn and up to Sutton via the Plants Brook cycleway and Pipe Hayes Park.

It was a great 44 mile ride in conditions that warmed the heart, as wells the face.

Georgina’s Way is just by Brookvale park: there’s a story there that should be known, I feel. Anyone know what it is?

March 7th – After the jumble, a ride into Brum on the canals and cycleways of the northeast of the city, and at Perry Common, north of Witton Lakes, a bit of urban wildlife that astounded and delighted.

A brook flows down from Kingstanding, collecting land drains as it goes, through Witton Lakes and Brookvale Lake, and it’s a lot healthier than it once was, although it’s still suffering from fly tipping and urban pollution. It is, however, clearly supporting a healthy quantity of fish, which this elderly heron was picking off like chocolates from a selection box.

He ignored me as he fished, 10 meters away, pausing and darting for small, silvery treasures whose luck had run out. He would then lift his bill, swallow, and once can see the fish bulge in the bird’s neck.

I was captivated for a good 15 minutes. This is great wildlife, in a very, very urban setting. There is wonder everywhere.

March 5th – And on I pottered. The dark and dusk encroached, held at bay as ever it is by the electric night of Birmingham City Centre. The traffic, the lights, the people, the susurration of thousands of unconnected lives crossing in this place.

To be still here it like being flotsam on some heaving human tide. I never tire of it.

Again, all snatched, all handheld.