Images

November 8th – Walsall Station at night has an odd, other-worldly atmosphere. The view from the ramp has always been great at night, but sadly diminished since the BOAK building in Station Street was lost to arson. It’s a horrid place to wait at – particularly for those on platform one, here waiting for the Rugeley train, as usual delayed by ten minutes.  London Midland, the embattled operator of the station, have talked about removing the staff here and leaving the station unstaffed at night. If they did, I think the service would see much less use – I, personally, would not feel safe. Good old London Midland.

November 8th – Urban design. This really irritates me – so much so, one day I’m going to twist the sign out  of the way. When on the stop line at the front of the queue leaving Birmingham New Street Station, a sign on a nearby lighting column obscures the view of the lights unless you’re in just the right position. Usually, you’re surrounded by traffic, or in bright sunlight, obscuring the other signals. 

I’ve been through here in a van and it’s no better, really. I wish people would think about this stuff – it really is time for less clutter signage at junctions.

November 7th – Hard to imagine that this industrial yard was once the top yard of Walsall Wood Colliery. Brownhills Business Park is now an industrial estate, host to lots of small companies in it’s cheap units, mostlyd converted from the old pit buildings. A hive of industry in the daytime, it looks quite deserted in the evening. Recently, this site was saved from clearance for housing. The importance of such sites to the local economy is huge and should not be underestimated.

I often try and imagine the place, busy with miners, coal-trucks and clanking wagons. It’s impossible, now, but the ghosts linger, I’m sure.

November 6th – I came upon this remarkable building yesterday, completely by accident. Taking a wrong turn in the industrial backstreets of Tyseley, Birmingham, I found Hay Hall,  one of the few remnants of Medieval architecture in the city. It’s got excellent chimney pots, too. Wikipedia has this to say:

A moated house or manor was first founded at the site in about 1260 by the De La Haye family. Hay Hall passed on to the Este family in 1423, when the heiress Marian De La Haye, married Thomas Este. They are commemorated in St. Edburgha’s Church atYardleyby a wall sculpture depicting them. The Este family owned and occupied Hay Hall until the late seventeenth century after which the property changed hands frequently. In 1917, when thePatented Butted Tube Company purchased Hay Hall and a surrounding 13 acres of land. The estate was developed into new tube works and factories but fortunately Hay Hall was saved from demolition.

The last person to actually reside at Hay Hall was apparently a Mrs Shelley who was employed as a housekeeper by the then rebranded Tube Investments Company, and was known to be living in the Hall up until 1939. In 1948 the building was fully restored and is currently in use as private offices for the Reynolds Tube Company Limited

I’m not sure if Reynolds still own it – the sign outside says ‘Air Link’, but it’s very hard to convey just how industrial the area around it is. Utterly incongruous, and rather lovely.


November 5th – On a cold morning in Tyseley, the euphemistically named ‘Energy Recovery Facility’ – or in plain English, refuse incinerator – can be seen operating at full tilt. People think that’s smoke emanating from the flue, but it’s not, the plume is steam condensing in the cold air. This facility has twin furnaces, and generates enough electricity to power the local area. Burning refuse is a 24 hour operation, and feeding the voracious appetite of the incinerators are a constant flow of lorries, which give the whole district a characteristic smell. Unsavoury, but necessary.

November 3rd – On my return from Lichfield, I passed the old Muckley Corner, where there former pub and hotel has been converted back into homes. It’s taken a while, but the building is looking splendid now, particularly at night when it’s beautifully lit.

It can’t be far off finished by now. It’s good to see the old place preserved, and returned to   the kind of arrangement the terrace would have had before the pub expanded.

November 1st – I’m experimenting with long exposure settings on the camera. I did a little last year, but largely left the shutter and aperture to the camera. I’m beginning to get a feel for how there settings work now. 

I’m not a huge fan of the Walsall Wood Pithead sculpture as many will be aware. I resent the poor engineering and tokenism of it, and the shallowness such artworks always engender. But it does make an interesting subject at night. It’s interesting when it catches the floodlight from the football pitch nearby, it almost appears to be lit from below.

October 31st – I came back to Walsall as the Cross City was broken again, and it at least meant the wind would be at my back. The ride was as bad as I expected; people were driving like morons and the road conditions were dreadful. Still, I had good waterproofs on, and it was just a matter of mashing away until I got home. The arboretum Junction was spray-central: I don’t know what it is with the asphalt here, but it retains a layer of water that just doesn’t dissipate, resulting in a permanent traffic haze while it rains.

Winter. It came so quickly…