Tag: Tyseley

May 16th – Today found me in Tyseley, which made a change. I don’t come down this way much, but when I do, I always love the air of bustle in these industrial, urban streets. There’s always something going on around every corner; stuff to be shifted, things being unloaded. The backtreets are alive with the buzz of small industry – sewing machines, lathes, injection moulders all add to the background susurration, along with the clank of metal, clatter of doors and hiss of compressed air. Intermingled with it all is the faded air of a once possibly genteel Victorian place, whose station still bears the hallmarks of that period, from when the nearby terraces must also date. Most people pass this place in disgust, but actually, if you spend a while and traverse its streets, it has a kind of faded charm all of its own.

February 3rd – On my way home on a perfect, bright winter’s afternoon. Tyseley Station in Birmingham is shabby and down at heel, but I like the fading industrialisation of the suburb, which is still very active and busy. Stood at the end of the platform, I noticed Birmingham’s waste incinerator running at full tilt. Opened nearly two decades ago, it was operated by Birmingham City Council for years, but now seems to be owned by Veolia, who’ve euphemistically branded it an ‘Energy Recovery Facility’. This plant incinerates household and industrial non-recyclable waste, 24 hours a day and generates energy in the process. Not an ideal solution, but better than landfill.