Tag: sculture

March 10th – I had to pop to the garden centre in Shenstone, which always grinds my gears, as there’s no suitable bike parking and the place seems to be cunningly and cynically engineered to hoover money out of the pockets of the older folk who seem to be it’s target customers, mostly in exchange for expensive items one could find cheaper elsewhere. Walking in with concessions of a pet shop, 3 or 4 clothing brands and other such stuff, the actual garden stuff seems a sideline.

I returned from the garden centre grumpy and decided to travel the length of the Lammas Land in Shestone, running from the Birmingham Road to just near Shenstone Station.

Spring is trying to start here, and pleasingly, the daffodils were out, but on the whole, the place was still very much of the winter. I stopped to look at the Shining Stone of Shenstone, which looks no less like a silver turd every time I see it. It’s a peculiar thing.

I was intrigued by the purple alder-like tree I found there – with purple male catkins and the familiar more globular female ones. If the leaves match that will be an extraordinary sight.

January 12th – I found myself un Burton Upon Trent for a meeting – I’d been in Lichfield for breakfast, Burton Lunch, Derby mid afternoon and Leicester by 5pm. It was a busy, hectic day, but the railways served me well.

I haven’t had a look around the centre of Burton in an absolute age. It’s a very odd place. Some great shops, lovely people, but it seems half asleep, almost somnambulant. They have a sculpture of a Marmite bottle, as the dark goo is made there. I saw lots of odd things.

I like this place. But on this Friday, when I was starting to feel a bit odd with a cold, it felt a bit… strange.