Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 ( Start discussion )
Tags: Albert Street, Andy Mabbett, asone, lucy mclauchlan, pigsonthewing
'Floating fly-posted graffito' by Andy Mabbett
Interesting find here by Andy Mabbett – what he calls ‘Floating fly-posted graffito’ on some hoardings on Albert Street. I like it when artists play with the building site hoardings, like AsOne and Lucy McLauchlan have done It makes such a lovely change to the crap BNP man who haunts Digbeth.
"Floating" fly-posted graffito from afar, by Andy Mabbett
Written by Nicky Getgood on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 ( One response )
Tags: andymabbett, birminghamcoachstation, digbethcoachstation, links, mappamercia, openstreetmap, pigsonthewing, toblog
Mappa Mercia: Birmingham Coach Station – Thanks to Andy Mabbett for clocking the last line of this post about Open Street Mapping in Digbeth at the coach station:
The taxidrivers I spoke to weren’t too impressed with only 4 spaces in their taxi rank.
I can imagine. Anyone know the number for a private minicab?
Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 ( 2 responses )
Tags: andymabbett, links, pigsonthewing, toblog
ER V111 POST BOX DIGBETH on Flickr – Photo Sharing! – Thanks to Andy Mabbett for this. Edward VIII postboxes are rare, in that not many got made before he abdicated. But there is this one Digbeth – can anyone tell me where?
Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: andymabbett, links, oldbirminghampictures, pigsonthewing, toblog
Old Birmingham Pictures – Digbeth – Many thanks to Andy Mabbett for forwarding this link to me – some lovely pictures of the Digbeth of yesteryear. Includes old pubs (like The Royal George) and businesses that are long gone. Makes one wonder how things will be different thirty years from now.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: andymabbett, custardfactory, Digbethisgood, flea, links, pigsonthewing, toblog
F.L.E.A. on Flickr – Photo Sharing! – Andy Mabbett went wandering around Digbeth the other day, here’s one of his snaps.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: andymabbett, antoniogould, big city plan, birminghamitsnotshit, birminghammail, catnip, duck bath, dykepools, editorialgirl, emmajones, faunography, graphiquillan, jonbounds, julia gilbert, peteashton, pigsonthewing, shonamcquillan, simon gray, twitter, winterval
‘Digbeth police station evacuated,’ reads the Birmingham Mail, ‘after suspicious package was discovered inside…A cordon was placed around the station and a number of roads were closed off.’
However to Twitter addicts such as myself this news was, like, so last hour. We’d been discussing the road blocks, traffic jams, suspicious package and bomb squad for hours. So much so that, after viewing the search results, Pete Ashton went and wondered aloud if Digbeth could become top-rating, trending Twitter topic for the day.
It was like a red rag to a bull. If you tweeted, you simply had to mention Digbeth. Even if, like Antonio Gould, it was to say you weren’t sure what to say about Digbeth.
Pete Ashton’s blogged about the internetty aspects of today’s little exercise, so let’s get on with the important stuff:
- If you spoonerise Digbeth you get BIG DEATH says Emma Jones.
- But if you’re sticking to strict anagramming like Shona McQuillan you get THE BIG D, which is still pretty cool.
- There are Killer Badgers in Digbeth according to Emma Jones. In the Police Station, apparently. Part of the Anti-Terrorism Act, I think. They’re better at extracting intelligence than bog-standard dogs. I shall be risking life and limb David Attenborough-style to get pictures of them for the Faunography trail.
- Me and that bloke down the pub aren’t the only ones who think Digbeth is derived from DUCK BATH. Andy Mabbett says so too, so it must be true.
- Or perhaps it’s not. Jon Bounds says it means Dyke Pools after finding this great site that says so. It seems slightly better informed than my bloke down the pub, and has some fantastic photos.
- Mind you, what does Jon Bounds know? He’s not that fussed on Digbeth because it’s not near enough to Moseley or town. Shame on you Jon, it’s well worth the short ride on the 50/five minute walk from the Bullring.
- Shona McQuillan turned it all on its head and stated: Digbeth in suspicious package. Yes, that’s right. It’s called the Big City Plan.
- Daniel Davies lost his sandwiches in Digbeth. Rest assured, if I find them I will be photographing them for you all to enjoy in the new Digbeth Food Wastage category. Yummy.
- Prize for top Digbeth tweet goes to Julia Gilbert for saying, “You can read more about Digbeth at digbeth.org.” I pay her well. In shoes.
As you can see, our efforts weren’t in vain and it all left me rather distracted and excited this afternoon. Oh yeah, there was some stuff on Winterval as well, which made Simon Gray wonder if that could be a trending topic too. Go on, Tweethearts: you know what to do.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: Andy Mabbett, brendamward, CanalScapeBCN, Eastside Locks, pigsonthewing, Ray Shill
(Photo by Brendamward)
Pigsonthewing requested I blog about this, and who am I to refuse such a complimentary man?
On CanalScapeBCN Ray Shill talks about the intriguing-sounding Decontamination Centre on the Eastside Locks. It was apparently built in 1939 on the instructions of the Home Office as somewhere for council workers to go after an enemy gas attack. It had three air locks, an undressing chamber, showers, toilets, etc.
I love the surprising little historical nuggets outwardly mundane, industrial-looking buildings like these can hold. Birmingham’s full of them. Unfortunately, this one isn’t set to last for long. Rumour has it it’s to be demolished as part of local regeneration. It seems such a pity somewhere with such an interesting story behind it can’t be saved for posterity, I’d love to have been able to explore and learn more about it.
