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JFK memorial mural, Birmingham, 4th July 2025

153/365: J. F. Kennedy memorial mosaic mural, Birmingham
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I was in Birmingham again today for some cardiology screening at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Routine stuff and nothing to worry about, but it did mean a bit of a trek on the trains. The city centre was very busy with Black Sabbath fans from all over the world who'd come for the band's last-ever concert tomorrow, so I walked down to Digbeth (where the coach station is) and passed the J. F. Kennedy memorial mosaic mural. This isn't the nicest part of town and I wasn't keen to linger, and as you can see the mural surrounds have sadly seen better days, but it seemed appropriate to post it on 4th July! The text on the right is a JFK quote: "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." The Presidential Seal on the mural incorporates real gold. The original mural by Kenneth Budd was commissioned by Birmingham's Irish community and appeared in another location in 1968; because of major road developments it was removed in 2007, but this new version was unveiled in 2013 with the help of Kenneth Budd's son Oliver.

Current Mood: drained

loganberrybunny

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Welch Gate flowers, Bewdley, 3rd July 2025

152/365: Flowers in Welch Gate, Bewdley
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Nothing much for me to write about today, since the couple of things of significance that did happen weren't really the type of things I can or want to write about here. (Neither was bad!) I didn't even go for much of a walk, so my 365 photo today is less exciting than some of them. Still, it always brings a smile when I see these plants and flowers. This is Welch Gate, just outside the town centre. The plants are placed on either side by the people who live in the houses along the road; there's nothing official about it. Especially as the pavement is a bit patched-up by frequent works, it's nice to see these little splashes of colour. Bewdley's pretty good for local people doing this sort of thing. :)

Current Mood: sleepy

loganberrybunny

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Victoria Road Cemetery, Cradley Heath, 2nd July 2025

152/365: Victoria Road Cemetery, Cradley Heath
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I nipped up to Merry Hill this morning, and although it was a slow start weather-wise, things improved quite a bit later on. Today's photo is of Victoria Road Cemetery in Cradley Heath, not directly attached to a church but an overflow space for Christ Church in nearby Quarry Bank. Despite initial appearances, the location pictured here is in a very urban area -- you can just see the houses in Victoria Road itself beyond the trees to the right. The cemetery had newly mown grass, but it otherwise seems a little on the neglected side, with a lot of plants growing over graves as seen here. On the plus side, its relatively untouched nature makes it a little oasis for wildlife, although I didn't see anything interesting during my brief visit.

As for the Merry Hill part of the day earlier on, the main downside was that I managed to drip brown sauce (from a bacon butty) onto my white polo shirt. Go me. Fortunately Merry Hill is a biggish shopping centre, so an emergency Primark run sorted out the immediate issue. (Basic cotton T-shirt, quite a pleasant teal colour, £2.50.) Whether the brown sauce will come out of the polo shirt is a good question, but I have reasonable hopes. It fortunately wasn't an expensive shirt in the first place -- though not quite as cheap as the T-shirt I bought today! -- so I'm not going to expend vast amounts of effort on it. I can always keep it for doing gardening in or something if the stain doesn't disappear.

Current Mood: okay

loganberrybunny

Public

I feel sorry for Rachel Reeves, which I know isn't a particularly fashionable opinion to hold at the moment. But she's clearly under immense stress and apparently her miserable appearance at PMQs today was due to a personal issue on top of that. Now, there is the uncomfortable truth that Chancellor of the Exchequer just isn't a normal job where the boss can authorise a week's compassionate leave without millions of people talking about it. While Reeves' personal privacy needs to be respected (that means you, Daily Mail) I think it is in the public interest to want to know whether she is currently able to cope with doing one of the most demanding jobs in the country, one which absolutely requires that you be on top of your brief each and every day.

Of course, there's a wider issue here, that the 24/7 news and social media spotlight means that politics is becoming an ever less appealing career path, with the obvious results in terms of quality of politicians and by extension quality of governance. But while without doubt we should be kinder and more compassionate, that's not going to cut it politically in the short term with Reeves specifically. The markets, who in the end in a capitalist setup are the ones with the power, simply won't stand for it. Kwasi Kwarteng, albeit in another context, found that out the hard way. I suspect Keir Starmer will now be even less popular with his backbenchers than he was already, though to be fair to him if he'd asked Reeves not to attend PMQs that would have set tongues wagging as well.

Who'd be a politician? To be brutally honest, are we really surprised so many of them are of poor quality when we make politics a career path that increasingly many very able people will run a mile from?

Current Mood: uncomfortable

frith

The only drawing that I hadn't coloured in this NATG was the first one, the "pony standing" one. Since the "makeup day" prompt is for late submissions and today is Canada day, I figured I'd slap on the red and white. Thus the white maned red pony, giving me a white field on red. Like the Canadian flag.

I used white paint for the mane but it doesn't really show. I tested white pastel on the upper edge of the mane and that doesn't show either. As for the leaves, they're quick and dirty "maple" leaves, filled in with glitter paint (handmade by Karen in the UK). It's late, I work tomorrow.

loganberrybunny

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The Shambles, Bewdley Museum, 1st July 2025

151/365: The Shambles, Bewdley Museum
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To say the government has not covered itself with glory over the welfare bill is a bit like saying that I am not a world-class golfer. The headlines may say that the government won tonight's vote, but the week leading up to that has been chaotic for a party with a majority of 170. A few days ago the whips were briefing that any rebels could say goodbye to future payroll posts. Tonight, the government only won by making not one but two very significant concessions. Even then, 49 Labour MPs still voted against it. This one is going to run and run, and Labour only has itself to blame for that. It has been, as Labour MP Ian Lavery said, a shambles, and the modified bill is still a bad one.

Talking of shambles, the origin of the word is as applied to a slaughterhouse -- and originally from the Latin scamillus, meaning something like "small stool". What you see above is The Shambles at Bewdley Museum -- and yes, this area was indeed a slaughterhouse hundreds of years ago. It's now the main pathway through the museum, and it has to be said that the small display picturing its earlier use has been somewhat sanitised! When the museum was first opened, the path had big round cobblestones, but people kept hurting their feet on them and so it was resurfaced with setts. The doors on either side lead to galleries and craft workshops.

Current Mood: tired

frith

I'd like to buy a vowel Pat, an "A".

Unless I crank out another drawing for the makeup gallery, this is it, the end of NATG XV! The final prompt had me cranky, it was the mundane 'reward' task pair: graduation and jackpot. But jack Cranky Doodle Donkey brought on the inspiration in the shape of a bag of Cranky Jack Pot.

So that's 15 straight NATG's for me. I liked the 48 hour period between prompts with a two day extension for each, it's often taken that long for me to get an idea and work out the kinks. Hopefully this will also be the case next year, even if it would take two months to go through a full 30 prompt NATG. But the idiom-type prompts really need to be ditched and replaced with actual art prompts. I've sent in a list with suggestions for each of the usual 30 days twice now, but no dice.

loganberrybunny

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150/365: Hop Pole Inn, Bewdley
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It reached 31 °C today, and I wasn't too pleased about that as it was far too hot to do anything. Sadly there were things I had to do. At least it wasn't the 34 °C one forecast had suggested a few days ago. The sunshine was hot, but I still preferred it to the overcast humidity of yesterday. I had an ice cream cone (toffee and vanilla) in town, but walking back home was still a pretty unpleasant experience. Today's photo is of the Hop Pole Inn, a popular and mildly gastro pub on the western side of Bewdley. I've been there, but only rarely. It's not that big inside but has a fairly large beer garden. Note weather!

Current Mood: hot

alierak posting in

dw_maintenance

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

loganberrybunny

Public

149/365: Sunset towards the Wyre Forest
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A very warm (27 °C) day today, but disappointingly cloudy, which made it feel very humid and uncomfortable. I had enough time for a pint of perry at lunchtime, which was nice -- Wetherspoons is doing a Craft Cider Festival, and perry qualifies as it's pear cider. Specifically, I drank Midnight Special from Mr Whitehead's, a Hampshire company. A new one on me: medium-sweet and easy drinking, and although you wouldn't call it especially complex it did slip down well on a very warm day in the beer garden. My photo from today is of sunset during a short walk I was taking on the western fringes of Bewdley. This photo was taken at 9:56 pm, and I'm looking towards the Wyre Forest on the horizon.

Current Mood: hot

frith

Perhaps it was the bag of cherries on the counter, perhaps the cherry ice cream in the freezer, but I came to realize that what we were asked to draw, the impossible 'living of the best life' or a sterile cityscape coated in scarlet paint, that the answer is "that it's all in your head". Or in the Magical Land of Equestria, it's in a changeling pod, as per Kris Overstreet's Changeling Space Program where the bright green chrysalises act like full immersion VR simulators. Those pastel love bug metamorph critters have to have a food source and some ponies got to have sunshine in a bag. But not for long, the future is coming on.

The ponies living it up are Svengallop, Angelwings, John Candy, Twist, Wind Rider and some other pony. The 7th pod might as well be empty.

As for drawing a town and dozens of buckets of red paint, nope. Not doing that. John Candy in pod 3 can take care of that.

loganberrybunny

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Derpy on a muffin, Worcester, 28th June 2025

148/365: Derpy Hooves on a muffin, Worcester
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If you've been here a while then you'll probably know this first bit -- but if you're newish to this journal and are surprised by my subject line, then please read on: in the very specific context of the My Little Pony fandom, "Derpy" is the appropriate term here. It's the first name of the grey pony standing on my chocolate muffin. Although you can't see it in this profile view, she has wall eyes (originally an animation error) and is generally considered the fandom's mascot. There's a fairly detailed story behind why "Derpy" is almost universally accepted, which I'll happily repeat if anyone would like me to. But suffice it to say that in an MLP fandom context as applied to this specific pony, it is not only not a slur, it is the preferred name for her for the large majority of disabled Pony fans -- including for use by us non-disabled fans. I don't use the word anywhere else, but I do use it in Pony fandom without qualms.

As to why she's standing on my chocolate muffin... this is a photo from the MLP fandom meetup I went to today in Worcester. Derpy canonically loves muffins. I am very fond of them as well. I am also very fond of Derpy, though that's pretty much universal in the fandom. "Bolero" is the name of the café we use, a place which has been extremely good to us for some years now and which I thoroughly recommend. By the way, the character you can just see on the bag to the top left is Nightmare Moon. She was banished to the Moon (canonically "in the Moon", in fact) by her sister for a thousand years after trying to impose eternal night. Because, you know, kids' cartoon. :P

Current Mood: refreshed

loganberrybunny

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Ozzy the Bull, Birmingham New Street station, 27th June 2025

147/365: Ozzy the Bull, Birmingham
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I had to be in Birmingham today for boring reasons, and the city was even busier than it usually is. The New Street Eats street food festival started today, and there was a major open day for prospective students at the University of Birmingham. Still, it wasn't as bad as it is in the run-up to Christmas! Today's photo may well look familiar as I've posted Ozzy before, just not as part of the 365 project. The concourse at Birmingham New Street station (the UK's busiest outside London) is now the permanent home for the mechanical bull that was built for the Commonwealth Games in 2022. His name, Ozzy, is a nod to Ozzy Osbourne, who grew up in Aston -- although he was actually born in Marston Green, over the border in Warwickshire.

Current Mood: tired

frith

Well, I'm back on track. I started this yesterday and the 48 hours between prompts gave me time to fix a few things after work today before breaking out the coloured pencils. Redrew the ears for the umpteenth time, gave the sledgehammer some pushed perspective, rounded out the face, increased the eye size (might not have been an improvement) and added some wrinkles. The 2nd to last prompt drops in a few hours. I hope it's a good one.

loganberrybunny

Public

Windy Ridge sign, Bewdley, 26th June 2025

146/365: Windy Ridge house sign, Bewdley
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Although quite warm, it was really pretty gusty today. I didn't get out for much of a walk as I had too much to do, but I did at least manage to get a photo to keep the 365 going! Given the weather, I felt this house sign was a reasonable choice. Not very exciting, I know, but it's what you're getting. :P The forecast currently suggests another short heatwave is possible imminently, albeit more likely in the east -- there could be quite a big temperature gradient, with the west being much cooler. The east meanwhile seems certain to get up into the low 30s. The question which side of the line I in Worcestershire will fall!

Every time I look at American politics beyond the Preposterous Kumquat in the White House, I realise how little I know about it. From a British perspective Zohran Mamdani comes across like, let's say, Zarah Sultana -- and she'd be considered too left-wing to win the mayoralty even in liberal London. (The incumbent, Sadiq Khan, is generally fairly moderate.) But then New York City's Democratic majority is far higher than London's Labour lead, and the existence of Trump may be persuading lefties that they need radical politicians. Of course, what's popular in NYC won't necessarily win a Presidential election, and that (as when Corbyn was Labour leader here) may cause tensions down the line.

Current Mood: busy

loganberrybunny

Public

Working boat "Swilgate", Kidderminster, 25th June 2025

145/365: Working boat Swilgate, Kidderminster
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Well okay, their banks do. Another picture from the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal today, though this one was taken on the outskirts of Kidderminster rather than in Stourport. Most narrowboats these days are pleasure cruisers, but there are also a relatively small number of working boats. This one, Swilgate -- named after a minor Gloucestershire tributary of the River Severn -- was being used to support grass-cutting and hedge-trimming operations beside the canal. You can see the section used to store the cuttings at the rear (though that's actually the front, as the boat is travelling away from the camera). It probably doesn't look it from this picture, but it's only a few minutes' walk to Kidderminster town centre from here.

Current Mood: sleepy

frith

Yesterday was a complete write-off, a migraine had me in its clutches from morning until well into the night. It's amazing to me that after spending all that time napping or attempting to nap, my eyes resisted opening this morning. So I'm _still_ playing catch-up in the art challenge. This is for 'trying something new; getting a cutie mark'. So this is a 2 fer 1. Neighberry getting her cutie mark. Accidentally swallowing green bottle flies is now her special talent.

loganberrybunny

Public

Ocean with David Attenborough (2025)
Yep, the "with David Attenborough" bit is part of the actual title, at least in the UK. It's not especially surprising, given the enormous pull of his name here. The film was released on Attenborough's 99th birthday, but despite his age the man is still as passionate as ever about the natural world. I saw it at the weekly cinema night in St George's Hall in Bewdley, and it definitely benefits from a large screen. As you'd expect from an Attenborough film, it's visually beautiful. The message it tells, though, is not, focusing especially on the enormous damage being done to the ocean by bottom trawling on an increasingly vast scale. That damage is shown vividly and unflinchingly. Attenborough has come to believe that the threat to the ocean is the most important conservation issue of our time, and he puts that case as cogently as ever. There's a lot of grimness here, but there is hope as well, notably when he looks at how quickly nature can recover when given the chance. Powerful, beautiful, moving, challenging, hopeful. Despite my rating, don't go expecting thrilling entertainment; that's not what this film is for, despite fine visuals and a fitting score. But it is a film I absolutely had to watch. ★★★★★

Current Mood: impressed

loganberrybunny

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Tables on quayside, Severnside South, Bewdley, 24th June 2025

144/365: Outdoor tables, Severnside South, Bewdley
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Fantastic Test victory over India today! I must admit, I was among the many yelling at Ben Stokes over choosing to field after winning the toss, but I can't argue with the outcome. It wasn't a classic test of bat and ball as apart from Bumrah in the first innings there wasn't much to write home about with either side's bowling attack. Still, you can only beat what's put in front of you -- and we did. Test cricket may be struggling in global terms, but England v India is generally worth watching. For once, "England bat deep" actually mattered, and India's tail folding in the second innings was what kept England's target reachable. A proper five-Test series this year, so what a way to start off!

The Iranian theocracy is a bloody terrible regime that executes huge numbers; disappears, tortures and otherwise oppresses its citizens; and is no kind of heroic state, regardless of what one may think of Israel or the US. I have no more time for the kind of protestor who actively supports Khamenei and his ilk than I do for the kind who decades ago used to portray Stalin as a goodie purely because he was an enemy of the Americans. I suspect more than a few of these idiots think supporting Iran is showing some kind of pan-Arab solidarity with Palestine. Newsflash to those guys: Iranians are not even Arabs.

In everyday news, I arranged my diabetes review today, which as usual with my local practice was a quick and painless operation. For those who aren't aware of how these things work, every six months I have a blood and urine test, and a face-to-face meeting with a specialist nurse, to see how I'm managing. Every other meeting, ie annually, I have a more detailed appointment which includes things like a comprehensive foot health check. It's that which I've now booked for next month. As for today's photo, it's not that interesting but I didn't get anything better. Some pub and café tables on Severnside South in Bewdley.

Current Mood: restless

frith

Dressed to kill. It was either this or Friday the 13th. Tomorrow: if your special talent is accidentally swallowing insects, what does your cutie mark look like?

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Page Summary

loganberrybunny - A long day
loganberrybunny - Bewdley in bloom
loganberrybunny - A fairly Merry (Hill) day
loganberrybunny - Rachel Reeves
frith - NATG XV Double Overtime: Elbows Up
loganberrybunny - Today's word is "shambles"
frith - NATG XV Prompt 15: Hitting the Cranky Jack Pot
loganberrybunny - Hottest day of the year
alierak in dw_maintenance - Rebuilding journal search again
loganberrybunny - I let the sun go down on me :P
frith - NATG XV Prompt 14: It's All In Your Head
loganberrybunny - Derpy on a muffin!
loganberrybunny - Feeling bullish today
frith - NATG XV Prompt 13: Hitting the Road (with sledgehammer)
loganberrybunny - A windy day
loganberrybunny - Canals need mowing too!
frith - NATG XV Task 12: Special Talent Mark
loganberrybunny - Film post: Ocean with David Attenborough
loganberrybunny - What a win, England!
frith - NATG XV Prompt 11: Dressed to Kill

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Page generated Jul. 5th, 2025 07:19 am

Песец

Pyesetz: The Life of a Geek

Reading

A long day

Bewdley in bloom

A fairly Merry (Hill) day

Rachel Reeves

NATG XV Double Overtime: Elbows Up

Today's word is "shambles"

NATG XV Prompt 15: Hitting the Cranky Jack Pot

Hottest day of the year

Rebuilding journal search again

I let the sun go down on me :P

NATG XV Prompt 14: It's All In Your Head

Derpy on a muffin!

Feeling bullish today

NATG XV Prompt 13: Hitting the Road (with sledgehammer)

A windy day

Canals need mowing too!

NATG XV Task 12: Special Talent Mark

Film post: Ocean with David Attenborough

What a win, England!

NATG XV Prompt 11: Dressed to Kill

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December 2024

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