July 5th – Spotted just in the shadow of Spaghetti Junction on the canal, a glorious lavatera or mallow. This shrub grows here every year completely untended by humans and is always absolutely gorgeous.
I still find it stunning that such beauty can be found in such urban spaces.
A true wonder of nature, and good to see it’s still in rude health!
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March 12th – Since I’d had to miss the bike jumble last week, and spring always starts with a ride into Birmingham on the canals and cycleways, I took a gentle ride into the city via Sutton Park and the Witton Lakes cycleway, returning via NCN 5 through the Galton and Sandwell Valleys.
It was warm, still and the journey was as full of surprise and delight as ever it is. Everything form the ladybirds to the urban cats is awakening, and I see Bill Drummond is still communicating with Birmingham via the patch of light under Spaghetti Junction.
A good start to spring.
October 9th – Oh, hi Bill Drummond. Are you here for a while, or just passing thorough? Good to see you’re still on form.
May 30th – Under the rumble and roar of Spaghetti Junction, beside a quiet, limpid canal, on an aqueduct above the River Tame, a little oasis of wildflowers in a built, otherwise hostile urban environment of steel, concrete and brick.
Lupins, poppies, ox-eye daisies, red campion.
That’s my Birmingham, right there.
April 9th – This… this, it’s remarkable.
I was shooting along the towpath, in the part of Spaghetti Junction where there’s a covered, cavernous tunnel over the canal. It’s dark under there; and eerie. It can be a little scary – there is no electric light there, and the only daylight is from the portals and small, irregular metre-square apertures in the roof, that let in shafts of sunlight. It’s a very odd, otherworldly spot.
I cycle through here generally without stopping. But today, a patch of yellow caught my eye in the admitted beam of light.
I stopped. I backed up. I stood, open mouthed.
Hundreds, possibly more than a thousand daffodils in small jars. Each with water in, in the circle of light. Decaying, gone over. Placed with what must have been care, it would have taken a large effort to get them and the jars to that spot. It’s not accessible. It would have perhaps taken a boat… or some climbing. But why? Was it art? Obsessiveness?
I was captivated. The pictures don’t do it justice. It’s stunning.
When I got home, I looked at the pictures. I puzzled over them. I asked twitter: twitter knew. Thanks to @nebolland, @kenofski, @brumcyclist and @cybrum who enlightened me.
It turns out it’s art. It was carried out by artist, art world enfant terrible and extraordinary publicist Bill Drummond, once of the KLF.
Read about Bill and his Birmingham project here.
You can say what you like, that had a massive impact on me. That was bloody genius. I have total respect for it.
April 9th – I found myself in Aston, exploring the underbelly of Spaghetti Junction, and the bizarre number of other arteries it conceals – a rail junction, a river, and four canals. I spun around Aston, and spotted the Britannia, a classic, over-the-top Brum boozer, like the Bartons Arms, now marooned in a sea of modernity. It had been a couple of decades since I’d been this way, but little has changed. Some of the street art on the flood channel walls along the Tame is nearly 30 years old.
August 28th – Urban riding can be surprising to people who’ve never considered it before. Our towns and cities are surprisingly green, and even concrete jungles can be fascinating places. The panorama of Paddock, from Church Hill, Walsall, demonstrates this, as does the one from under Spaghetti Junction. So much to explore, even in the depths of the city. All joined together by our fantastic cycle network.
June 9th – Many folk don’t realise that the UK is crisscrossed by pipelines. Not just water and gas, but oil and fuel lines too. Formerly secret, information about them and their routing is now available online. Primarily to connect refineries and storage depots like Kingsbury in Warwickshire to high-volume users like airports and processors, the construction of the network commenced before the last war.
This pipeline marker identifies the route of a buried oil pipeline, and contains information about location, flow direction and size of the line concerned. It stands on the canal bak just near to Spaghetti Junction.
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