Tag: Junction 9

May 19th – Junction 9 of the M6, and Wood Green, the area around it, is horrible. Heavy traffic, poor air quality, grime and an utterly inhuman, dystopian architecture all contribute to make this place awful. There is humanity here, and great buildings, in the backstreets. But in the immediate vicinity of the junction, there is little to credit this place, despite the fact that it hosts the River Tame, A major railway and a motorway side by side.  The crowning glory of the inhuman design is the pedestrian underpass – dark, with 90 degree bends. Grey, filthy surfaces and forbidding outlooks that are dark and foreboding.

I hate this place with a passion.

May 19th – A little bit of computer strife led me to PC World, near Junction 9 at Wednesbury, a place I loathe visiting with a passion. I needed an new hard drive, and they had what I wanted. I reserved the drive online, and went to pick it up late afternoon. Strolling up to the desk with my note, there was some confusion and I found that the order had actually gone to the Currys on the other side of the road, which apparently happens a lot. Having collected my goods, and being shocked at there being a near-identikit macro PC World inside the Currys store, to the one 400 yards away, I headed over to Decathlon, a sports and outdoor superstore, to see what they had. I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: Decathlon, a French company, have the best bike rack I’ve ever used. We need more of these. They suit road bikes (like mine) and mountain; hold the bike securely, offer excellent security and don’t mark your paintwork or bend your wheels.

Sadly, the stuff inside was mostly tat…