March 5th – In Birmingham early evening, pottering from meeting to coffee shop to meeting, with a new camera to try out. All these shots were handheld, quick grabs. The image processing on the TZ70 is streets ahead of the TZ60. I like this a lot.
Almost as much as I love Birmingham – my past, present and future. I love this place with all my heart.
It’ll be even better when they finish building it.
March 5th – Never let it be said that I do not consider cycling a broad church; from the moment any of us owns a bike, we make it our own, unique. We confer upon it our patina, our personality and our individual stamp. We personalise, adjust the fit, add our own accoutrements, dial it in until it fits.
The handle bar area – christened by the great Bike Snob of New York blog as The Cockpit, is probably one of the most individual bits of any steed. I have a personal arrangement of controls, add-ons and positions on my rides that is unique, comfy and tried and tested.
However, wandering through Birmingham city centre on a dull Thursday afternoon, even this easy-going freewheeler found a cockpit that confounded him.
The bars. The brakes. The light pointing at the ground. I’m hoping the owner has swivelled the bars up as a theft prevention technique, but I’m not convinced.
Coo, gosh! As Molesworth might say.
February 26th – In Birmingham at twilight, I was without any kind of tripod, so practiced a steady hand. I used to pass through Colmore a lot, but in recent years barely at all. When I was here a lot, there was a Somerfield where the Costa is, the Waitrose hadn’t been built and the Sainsbury’s was a Marks and Spencer. It was never this handsome at dusk, either; several of the office blocks here are relatively new.
Like Walsall, Birmingham is not mine anymore; places I was familiar with, things I remember, bars, cafes and shops I haunted long gone. Yet I still feel at home here.
Unlike Walsall, change has always been Birmingham’s modus operandi. And it’s getting better and better at it.
January 16th – Scooting between Snow Hill and New Street to change trains on the way home, this snatched photo. On the left, the ‘new’ New Street, ugly as sin, dysfunctional, with a cheap, tinfoil gimcrack cladding that shows every careless dent and poor alignment in fitting.
In the centre, Birmingham’s postwar Brutalist architecture, and on the right, something altogether older.
In the middle, people, lights and a city hiding and surviving beneath the rule.
I love this place with all my heart. Even the ugly bits.
November 3rd – Just around the corner in Corporation Street, a new hazard to urban cyclists in Brum; tram tracks. With a groove just the right dimensions to swallow and lock my wheels, I rode between the parallel lines with care, remembering the northern European practice of crossing them at oblique angles.
The new tram line is sure to catch a few incautious cyclists though, so beware people. I do like the Metro and support it’s expansion, but this one hadn’t crossed my mind until today.
November 3rd – New Street, Birmingham. They have their Christmas tree up.
Bugger off. It’s way too early.
October 14th – I passed through Snow Hill Station early in the day on an errand before work. I hadn’t been there for ages, and scooting my bike across the access bridge, I was shocked to note the concourse had been retiled. I anxiously checked to see if the odd cat tile was still in place: I was relieved to see it was.
I have no idea why this hand-painted puss is here, but it’s clearly old, possibly rescued from the original station. Attempts to find out what it represents or commemorates failed.
I’m fascinated by this ceramic depiction of a cat. There’s a story here, if only I can find it.
A lovely thing; so glad it endures.
October 9th – I was in Birmingham for an evening meeting. It was dark and beautiful on my return. Cathedral Square and a very quiet station made for some interesting night shots – remarkably, without a tripod. Really pleased with the night performance of this little camera, so much better than previous models.
The oncoming darkness doesn’t seem so bad this year yet. I’m sort of warming to it…
September 15th – Returning to Birmingham via Snow Hill station, an absolutely remarkable view up Great Charles Street to Paradise Circus over the Queensway Tunnels. Several styles of architecture here from Victorian to Brutalism.
And beneath it all, a beautiful, glorious city lives and breathes.
This is my Birmingham.
September 5th – I’m rediscovering my love for Birmingham. It’s a great place. I spent time in Digbeth, and mooched around the fruit market and Chinese quarter.
Birmingham is vibrant, beautiful, and buzzing. If you know where to look.
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