Tag: odd

November 3rd – Spotted at Birches Valley, a Haibike electric assist full suspension mountain bike. An extraordinary thing, first I’ve seen in the wild, it uses the Bosh bottom bracket based drive unit that seems to be the best such solution on the market. They seem to be a Raleigh connected brand, and this is about £3,500 worth of bike. Very heavy at over 21kg (46lb), I see little point in them, but the most astonishing thing was the owner abandoned this and went inside for a coffee without locking it.

To me, electric bikes are cheating. But each to his own.

October 17th – This all-consuming tree is still growing healthily at Victoria Park, Darlaston, just by the old railway walk. When I last featured it here – way back on May 23rd, 2011 – the trunk had only just started to reach the second bar of the fence it was slowly and surely consuming.

I pass this remarkable example of natural growth and triumph over the built environment quite a bit, so hadn’t noticed the sum of the incremental growth until today. Note that now, the whole railing is being distorted by gentle, persistent hydraulic pressure. The overgrowth has reached the other side of the wooden kerb too. 

There is no strength like the gentle, microscopic strength of nature. And she’s got all the time in the world to do it.

September 21st – I’ve seen this before in other villages, but I’d not noticed it in Wall. I went back today to record the phone box library – a free book crossing project in a disused K6 telephone box. It’s a great idea. Not sure if they have any longevity, but a lovely thing to do.

Some of the books were pretty good, too.

August 19th – Thanks to friend of the blog Rosa Maria Burnell, I can reveal that Brownhills has developed a second pop-up bench. Again, secondhand, it’s appeared at the junction between Silver Street and the Miner Island. It’s not a picturesque spot, but Rose reports it was being well-used. 

I have nothing against such street furniture, but I’m curious as to who’s erecting them, from where, and why.

June 26th – Interesting to see that the unusual solution to bicycle parking employed at Leicester station is now heavily oversubscribed. The station operators expanded to two more carousels, and have now had to put some in the car park, too. It seems almost as if when you create a pleasant, secure facility, people adapt their habits, and use it.

I do hope the people at Birmingham New Street have seen this.

Sadly, a minority still don’t seem to grasp the mechanics of these stands.

June 15th – Yesterday, a local tweeter spotted something amusing outside our local newsagents in Brownhills. I posted it on my main blog. Passing this afternoon, I took stock myself. The original was still there, as well as these other three. Only one is spelled correctly. It’s been claimed that this is a joke. Is it? Marketing ploy? Not working for me. 

I have no idea what’s going on here at all. It takes all sorts, I suppose…

June 9th – An odd little bridge on a bend in the Wyrley and Essington Canal at Wednesfield. Faced in roughcast and painted salmon pink, Devils Elbow Bridge is curious on a number of levels, not least the peculiar name. One would imagine it’s due to the bend in the canal. Anyone got any ideas?

May 18th – I’m hoping a linesman or electrical engineer can help me with this one, I’ve never noticed it before.

Approaching Anglesey Basin on the canal at Chasewater, electricity is supplied to the dam cottages by single phase overhead lines. one of the last poles in the run has an anchor cable staked to the ground to stop the change in cable angle pulling it over. The anchor cable, bolted to the top of the pole, isn’t electrically connected to any part of the system, yet has a two to three foot long insulating piece fitted, with a pair of lightning bypass probes to create a safety arc gap. 

Why would they do that? Is is a current limiter to stop lightning melting the anchor or what? Never seen an arrangement like this before.