Tag: mystery

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 27th – On the way back from an errand in Shenstone, I noticed these delicate little flowers growing at the roadside between Footherley and Lower Stonnall. They’re a pink/white/mauve colour and absolutely beautiful.

Has anyone any idea what they are please?

February 26th – The water level at Chasewater is lower than I’ve seen it for a while. Interestingly, rather than open the valves fully, there’s a good flow into the canal, and the balancing culvert between the Nine-Foot pool and Spillway has been opened, allowing a steady stream of water to flow into the Crane Brook via the drain system under the canal.

I understand why the level is being dropped – with the dam being permeable, if installing drains you want the installation to be as dry as possible – but I’m puzzled by the method. It has, however, been convention since the original dam works to allow the reservoir to overflow every spring, so perhaps this is to irrigate the spillway marsh as it would be normally.

Interesting too to see the white scale around the lowered waterline. It that salt, or something else?

February 25th – An unusual Saturday morning that saw me at work in Darlaston, and the commute there had been very hard, as it had been solidly against the wind. I left around lunchtime for a run into Birmingham on the canal, hoping to stop off for some Caribbean food at my favourite cafe on the way through.The plan was to have the wind behind me back up the canal through Hamstead.

The cafe was rammed, so I got back on the canal, and went to the Soho Road, where it has to be said, excellent curry and breads were devoured; but whilst eating, the rains came and winds got up, much against the forecast.

Whilst on the Soho Loop I spotted this curious, brutalist sculpture in a really odd, forgotten spot by Asylum Bridge. It seems to have been revealed by scrub clearance work, and I have no idea what it is, or why it’s there. Does anyone out there know, please?

I don’t mind the rain and I’ll tolerate the wind, but the two together are evil. So I popped to see a mate in Aston and got the train back to Blake Street. 

A sort of lost day, really.

February 9th – A puzzle, for sure. Shimano metal sintered disc brake pads for hydraulic brakes: what happens to them that renders them useless beyond recovery?

Usually the rear set, all of a sudden they loose stopping power,  and often become screechy. They are not contaminated with oil, although it feels like it. Deep cleaning in the dishwasher doesn’t work. Ultrasonic cleaner with solvent doesn’t, either. Neither does surface grinding as much as .75mm off the surface.

It’s like they just glaze, and some structural or metallurgical change takes place, and that’s it. Only thing to recover stopping power is new pads. Or using them in the rain; when wet, and only then, do they stop better.

At £20 a set, this is not fun. Anyone any ideas please?

January 19th – Spotted near thee canal in Darlaston on yet another wet morning, this fascinating ball of moss. I can’t actually get close to it, so can’t tell if it’s some kind of parasite on the host bush, or as I suspect, it’s the remnants of a birds nest whose lining of moss took root.

On a grey, grim morning, the brightness of the green was beautiful in the gloom.

Sometimes you have to take the beauty where you can find it…

January 11th – Another rare daylight commute, so again I took the canal into Darlaston. On my way I became aware of a series of yellow marker paint spots on the towpath, and it took me a little while to work them out.

The canal towpath here is to be resurfaced soon, and disturbed soil in places pointed up the fact that someone had been surveying. Markers near the bridges indicate a gas main runs alongside the canal here, and the spots indicate the position of the pipes. At the old arm crossover near Haniel, the pipes emerge and cross the disused inlet, and one can observe the spots follow it’s course.

This part of the towpath would benefit a little from resurfacing, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the stretches through Aldridge and Pelsall. The resurfacing policy is absolutely baffling.

December 12th – On the way back into Brownhills, the air was a little clearer, so I stopped on Anchor Bridge for a classic nighttime Brownhills photo.

As well as playing about with aperture settings of late, I’ve discovered exposure compensation. Must say I think the darker image is the better of the two.

One day I must read up on what all these adjustments actually do…

September 18th – I have no idea about this, as I’m no meteorologist and I know even less about cloud formations, but I can’t recall ever seeing stripy cloud like this before.

It persisted for some time around 5pm over east Staffordshire, and was quite beautiful – when most pronounced, it had a very shard ‘edge’ to it which was fascinating in itself.

Can anyone tell me what this is all about, please? How rare is it? Does it have a name?