Tag: cafe

February 19th – Still working long hours and not finding much time or energy for anything else, but hopefully things will ease a bit next week. Winter returned with wet vengeance this morning with driving rain and a headwind. I battled my way into Darlaston, which looked grey and lifeless.

At least the chap waiting for his breakfast at the canteen window on Station Street had cover, of sorts.

September 25th – I spotted this by change in Butlers Passage, Walsall. A dark, dingy alleyway, it’s not a pleasant place, and I normally scoot the bike through here to get on the road home if I’ve been in the town centre. 

Today, I happened to glance left, and there was a beautifully executed partial stencil of Snow White apparently drinking coffee with a lad in a baseball hat. 

I guess it’s a visual joke based on the Italian cafe a few yards to the right.

It’s beautifully executed, and seems to be by the same hand as the now erased ‘Class War’ stencil that was nearby until very recently. The art is confident yet cursory, and beautifully thought out.

A wonderful thing that brought a real smile to my face. My compliments to the artist.

November 5th – The cafe is an essential part of any industrial area. Serving the needs of workers for butties, breakfasts and baps, these temples to unhealthy food and strong tea take many forms. This corner Cafe on the Tyseley/Acocks Green border is a recently refurbished gem, and a real classic of the art. Sat right on a corner, replete with frosted glass so your boss can’t see you skiving, I bet it does a great fry. Just right to keep the inner warmth going on a frosty, raw morning.

July 27th – Scenes from a Black Country life. This is a sunny, summery and somewhat industrial Station Street in Darlaston. I passed this way on my way to work, and noted a tradition here that’s been going on for decades. Those men stood at the window are buying breakfast sandwiches from the Caparo Atlas canteen, which supplants its income by selling to anybody bold enough to stand on the upturned crate and stick their head in through the open window, and shout their requirements. The food is good, if the reputation is to be believed, and Darlaston working folk have been doing this for years, as far back as Wartime when this whole estate was part of GKN.

Bacon, egg, black pudding and shrooms, and a tea, thanks me love.