Shrewsbury – Hello Curns

Shrewsbury Abbey at Flickr

I didn’t want this site to become a site full of my photographs but I couldn’t resist posting another one from my weekend back in Shrewsbury.

I didn’t want this site to become a site full of my photographs but I couldn’t resist posting another one from my weekend back in Shrewsbury. This picture isn’t as good but it’s of Shrewsbury Abbey – at the bottom of Abbey Foregate just before you reach the English Bridge. I passed this place every day on my way into college as I was growing up and it’s a sight that always makes me think of being a teenager. [Shrewsbury Abbey]
Sadly, I could only find one other picture of Shrewsbury at Flickr and that turns out to be a different Shrewsbury!

Lord Hill’s Mighty Tower

I love the colours on this picture. Although it was taken early in the morning (at least, early for a Sunday) the colours are fantastic. And what’s more it’s been taken with my Treo’s mobile camera which isn’t the greatest camera in the world. According to Shropshire Online, “Lord Hill’s Column, outside Shirehall, is one of Shrewsbury’s striking landmarks. The tallest Doric column in the world, it commemorates the First Viscount Lord Hill, who lived from 1772 to 1842.” [Lord Hill’s Mighty Tower]

Two Years Ago

Today is the first day with a full two years worth of back entries on this site.

Today is the first day that the ‘On This Day’ link has two years back which has me slightly excited! One of the original reasons for starting the regular updating of this site was to serve as a personal memory archive. I have always loved flicking through old diaries and address books – this somehow brings that function into the new millennia.

Last year I was at Shrewsbury Carnival. A carnival is one of those things that your remember as being a great deal of fun when you were a child but doesn’t always work when you are an adult. Of course I was just be grumpy about it last year.

In 2002 I seem to have seen Spiderman around this time which has me admitting I can’t wait for the next one. I have some film-loving friends who hated the first one (I think it was too dark for them) but I loved it and can’t wait to be sat in the cinema again.

This day in 2002 was also the day of possibly the most memorable link I have ever posted on this site. New Scientist asked: ‘Does beheading hurt? And, if so, for how long is the severed head aware of its plight?’. Of course with recent events abroad it’s a little more topical and less far-fetched but, nonetheless, it remains the one of the links that have appeared here that I haven’t forgotten. Every time New Scientist change their site I go back and fix that link.

If you happened to look at yesterday’s entry you would have seen the link to the ‘On This Day’ for 14 June 2003. All I can say to those that mailed me – I will still not tell you which one I am. Gym buddy has, however, assured me my arse is a lot less flabby now.

Better Than Buses In A Flower Market

Anybody reading this site will know that I seem to have lots of opinions on urban transportation.

Anybody reading this site will know that I seem to have lots of opinions on urban transportation. One of my favourite visits of recent weeks was to the London Transport Museum (see pictures) which is housed in an old flower market at Covent Garden. I thought the place was great but then I read about the New York Transit Museum which is actually housed in a historic 1936 subway station in Brooklyn Heights, New York. How cool is that?

This weekend I was visiting my parents in Shropshire and we went to Llangollen in North Wales for the day. I couldn’t get anybody to agree to ride the Llangollen Railway – which is part of the British rail network from Ruabon to Barmouth in North Wales which was closed on 1st April 1968. It would have been a good way to spend a Saturday so, perhaps, I will next time I visit.

My parents live in Shrewsbury which, this year, has been a little protected from the winter flooding by some new flood defences. There seems some dispute about the effectiveness of the defences. If you look at some of these pictures on BBC Shropshire’s site you would have thought that nothing had changed. I am not always glad to be living away from the river but at this time of year I certainly am.