September 9th – Answers on a postcard, please. Looking up on the platform at New Street Station today, I noticed this little anemometer, wind vane and what looks like a humidity sensor. Normal climatic monitoring kit, you’d imagine. Except this is undercover, and at least 25 meters from the open air.
No idea why anyone would do this. Maybe they’re measuring turbulence caused by the train movements?
August 15th – There’s a story here, I’m sure of it. This house is on the A460 Uxbridge Street, just next to the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Hednesford. Looking up by chance, I noticed it bore the plaque ‘Forge Street’, whose junction with Uxbridge Street is about 50 metres to the south. Underneath the word ‘Street’, another word seems to have been chiselled out. Why would a house bear a street name to a thoroughfare it’s not standing on, and why would part of the inscription be so wrong as to require removal?
Any ideas welcome.
May 3rd – This is an interesting one. Just by the Pelsall Road bridge in Brownhills, a lovely bed of daffodils, tulips and other spring flowers, where once there was just grass. The odd thing is that the triangle forming the bed is inaccessible, except by boat, or maybe by ladder from the road above.
Ingenious, perplexing and lovely. Beautiful.
April 16th – For some weeks now, I’ve been perplexed by the appearance of what seemed like odd, helical antenna on the roofs of tall buildings around urban areas. I kept seeing them from the train. I grew quite interested in them, and decided to find out what they were. I tried to find one to photograph, and it took me over a week to do so. At one stage, they were so elusive I thought I must have dreamt their whole existence.
Today, I spotted two or three where I thought I’d seen them before – on top of office blocks in Birmingham City Centre. I eagerly took these pictures, posted them on social media, and asked what they were. It turns out they’re not antenna at all, but helical wind turbines.
They are micro generators. The reason I couldn’t find them is that when spinning, you can’t see them.
I’m fascinated – Cheers to The Aardvark, Paul Groves and Barry Carpenter, amongst others, who helped me out.
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