Tag: curious

#365daysofbiking A new posse


August 3rd – I’ve always loved how the growing Canada geese clutches move into adulthood and still stay in loose family groups as they mature.

I encountered this particular group of beaky blinders at Ogley Junction, but they hatched near Catshill Junction and have been pottering around the local canals ever since. They are notable for being particularly intimidating, with mum (or dad, I never thought to ask) once leaping on my back as I was riding and pecking my head furiously.

This aggression has been passed to the next generation and one or two always take a lunge and hiss defensively at passers by, whatever their mode of transport.

Now in adult plumage, I’m fascinated by the one that appears to be suffering premature greyness and wonder if I should get it a bottle of Grecian 2000 or maybe just a black sharpie pen…

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March 30th – At Tesco, a reminder in the bike rack that there’s always someone having a worse day than you.

An odd bike was locked there – a Raleigh Jamtland ‘Special edition’ which is a very old-school, low end mountain bike. If the colour scheme rings a bell, that’s because they were designed and made to given as a gift by Ikea to many of their employees in the UK, I believe around Christmas 2010. They were not ideal commuting bikes, with poor gears, awful tyres and no mudguards, and many to this day end up being sold on eBay and the like.

Considering they were an act of largesse by a company known for radical design, they were just awful, cheap bike shaped objects, to be perfectly honest.

This one was in good condition, with little sign of wear,  other than a peculiarly worn front tyre, which I suspect had been swapped for the rear at some point. There was little or no rust, and the frame was barley scratched – but there was a slight problem. A puncture.

It was raining hard, the bike would not be a light push and no tools or repair kit were in evidence. I hung back a little to offer assistance if the owner appeared, but they didn’t.

My sympathies to the rider…

March 13th – I always love to find these, and this tree consuming a wire and wood fence is a beauty, spotted on the way to work in Darlaston this morning.

The brach, now a trunk in it’s own right, clearly sorted through the mesh – then consumed it without really causing any distortion and is now flowing, almost liquid, over the wooden crossmember beneath.

I suppose this can’t be good for the tree and must eventually cause an easy entry point for disease, but they do fascinate me. For now, this one seems in rude health…

March 2nd – The snow remained – dry, powdery, swirling into drifts. A brief call in to work, and then I came home, expecting predicted heavy falls later in the day. The cold was biting, and I pottered around Brownhills on a decent mountain bike enjoying the spectacle.

On the canal, one thing I’m interested in is the way large sections of canal remained unfrozen, with a very sharp end to thick ice. I guess it’s a wind effect but never seen it before. Fascinating.

August 30th – Posting letters at Darlaston Post Office, I spotted this very old metal plaque fixed to the wall above the postbox.

Think about this. Dig through the archaic legal language, and consider it. What on earth were the circumstances that were so severe this notice was required to be made in metal and fixed so prominently?

Answers on a postcard, placed in a postbox in full accordance with the bylaws please, to…

July 6th – Passing through Walsall and making a few calls on a periodically sunny morning, I was intrigued by the laser cur plate in the railings and the shadow it cast. 

That’s a lot of effort to go to for a plain, mostly overlooked bit of street furniture, and I only spotted it by the shadow cast.

I wish the photo had come out as well as it looked at the time!

June 29th – A grey, wet afternoon in Tipton, and I noticed something I’ve passed maybe hundreds of times but not noticed: an odd little bit of civil engineering.

Just on the corner of Wood Street and Owen Road, effectively right on Tipton’s High Street, a circular bench feature, that’s actually concealing the top of a storm buffer.

A storm buffer is a large subterranean tank usually made from reinforced concrete pipe that acts to store rainwater surges in the event of a storm, buffering the deluge and releasing the water slowly into the drainage system at a manageable rate.

It’s unusual to see one proud of the ground, and even more so in such a prominent location.

That’s quite clever, and surprised I’ve never noticed it.

June 9th – A trip into Birmingham on some errands on a grey, overcast and miserable afternoon. Crossing what’s now called ‘Spiceal Street’ – the open space running down from the Bullring Centre to the Markets and St. Martins, I looked down and noticed this curious plaque set into a manhole cover in the paving.

I suppose I ought to look it up, but this seems bizarre to me; how can a meteorite fall twice? In 2000, this was a building site. Is this some pop-culture reference I’m dumb to, or is it genuine? 

(Added later)
Hang on. This really has a whiff of Bill Drummond about it – it feels like one of his.

How peculiar… anyone know about this?

April 16th – Running an errand to Chasetown, near St. Anne’s Church I spotted this fake owl, someone had mounted high in a roadside tree.

I have no idea, really I don’t: that took serious effort to get up there (and I’m still not sure how it was done) and from the bird poo splashed on it, it’s not really scaring birds.

An oddity, for sure…

April 7th – A day at home doing bits and pieces, and then an errand to Shenstone on a lovely sunny afternoon. On the way, I came over the old bridge at Footherley, and was reminded it was very nearly the anniversary of a piece of graffiti that fascinates me.

I remember the boldly carved script ‘Billy + Tracee 30-4-83′ from when it was new and surprising. Now, nearly 34 years later, I wonder, as I do often who Billy and Tracee were, where they are now, and wonder if they’re still a couple?

I do hope they’re still local, still together, and pass this, often as a reminder.