Tag: smoke

June 6th – I came through Walsall at 4:30pm up the Wednesbury Road, and was met with a large degree of congestion. I’d been seeing smoke from way back in Darlaston and wondered where it was emanating from. 
As I got closer, I discovered there had been some kind of house fire in the terraces there, and a couple of engines were in attendance. I have no idea what happened, and the incident doesn’t seem to have made the news.

Everything seemed generally calm and under control. I hope nobody was hurt and any damage wasn’t too bad.

November 22nd – Passing through Aldridge on the canal on my way home, the scent of woodsmoke was never far away. There are few things better than seeing an occupied narrowboat with a nicely smoking chimney. The sight and smell are a joy to behold – and the whole scene was set off beautifully by the autumn colours.

July 17th – Further up the road in less salubrious Tyseley, the incinerator that destroys Brum’s non-recyclable rubbish is still running flat out. A workmate said the other day that he hadn’t seen it running for weeks. I pointed out that you only see vapour from the flues in colder temperatures. The incineration is so thorough that very few visible particulates remain in the fumes generated.

The huge furnaces of the waste (sorry, ‘energy recovery’) plant overlook the lost gem of Hay Hall, hidden amongst warehouses and back-street lockups. This is why I love Birmingham: jarring contrasts around every corner.

July 1st – There was a huge fire at a plastics recycling plant in Smethwick, on the Birmingham/Black Country border, caused by a Chinese lantern. As I went to work that morning, smokes, although several miles away, hung over Birmingham City Centre. From Tyseley, even further away, it had echoes of great disasters.

A terrible thing, and an environmental disaster. It really is time we banned the sale of these idiotic items.