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Showing posts from September, 2021

The soap flood in Biggin Street

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 In April 2018 there was a flood in  Biggin Street for several days. I thought it looked funny enough as it was (sorry, I like water!) but even I didn't expect the extraordinary thing that would happen next. The next time I saw it, the flood was floating with soap! N.B. These are screenshots I took from a video clip I recorded; I didn't take any actual pictures, and I kind of regret not doing so! Loughborough Echo: Biggin Street soap opera

A most unusual memorial

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 In the churchyard at All Saints' Church, Loughborough, sits a somewhat unusual memorial. Actually, it's possibly the most unusual memorial there is. It was placed there around 1995, to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of VE Day (May 9th 1945) and VJ Day (August 15th 1945). It is... a wooden litter bin. A bin? Yes, a bin. Certainly the most unusual memorial I've seen. I've not a lot else to say about it! Photo taken in March 2021

Chicken-shaped cloud from power station chimney

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 On one day in January this year, the 199-metre high chimney of the Ratcliffe Power Station appeared to spew out a cloud that looked like a chicken. The photo was taken from Cleeve Mount, Loughborough, about six and a half miles away.

The out-of-date roadworks sign that stayed up for more than a year

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 When this picture was taken three years ago today, this sign on Wordsworth Road had been up for more than a year after roadworks on Tennyson Road had been completed.

The Sapphire Strangeness of August 2021

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 Arriva's service 127 between Leicester and Shepshed is normally run by double-decker buses, which are usually Wright Pulsar Gemini-bodied VDL DB250s (of which there are 31 in the Arriva Midlands fleet at Thurmaston), supplemented usually by Alexander-Dennis Enviro400 MMCs. But for over a month between late July and earlier this month, the regular buses virtually vanished from the route, and were replaced by a selection of single-deckers, mainly Wright Pulsar 2-bodied VDL SB220s, as well as Optare Versas. Some of the Pulsar 2s were special premium-spec Arriva Sapphire buses branded for the service 158 between Leicester and Nuneaton, and at this time there were more of them on the 127 than on the 158. Sometimes there were none at all on the 158! Sapphires on the 127 is not a new phenomenon, as I  have observed it occasionally for two years, but back then it was an unusual event that only happened occasionally, whereas during August, it became a bizarre daily occurrence. 3800 (TUI 79

Loughborough's wonderful wildlife - the common buzzard

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 One one day in early July, I was outside the Spar on Old Ashby Road when I noticed a bird of prey circling overhead. I took plenty of photos!  Initially, I wasn't exactly sure what this wonderful-looking bird is, bit after comparing one of my images to other pictures on the internet, I think the bird might be a common buzzard  (Buteo buteo) . What a special find! Whoever said that the wildlife had problems? These fellas obviously don't; nearly three weeks ago I saw another one flying over my garden, although this time I didn't get any good photos. Still, it's quite spectacular to find a bird of prey, stereotypically a rare creature found only in hard-to-reach rural areas, flying over suburban Loughborough.

The Trinity Gardens estate

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 The Trinity Gardens estate, off Ling Road was built by Morris Homes between 2015 and 2020. These photographs were taken in July 2021. The new play area and MUGA off Cornflower Road. Looking towards Cornflower Road. The street in the foreground was formerly the main route into the hamlet of Woodthorpe until Terry Yardley Way was built. Looking east towards Lily Close. Violet Lane, looking towards Cornflower Road. At the end of Carnation Road, near Daffodil Close. Daffodil Close is one of just three roads named 'Close' in Loughborough that aren't dead ends; the others are Croome Close near Leicester Road and Bagley Close off Maxwell Drive. The Trinity Gardens estate is bounded to the northeast by the Great Central Railway; on the other side of the railway, more new homes are being built by developers William Davis Homes. Looking west along Carnation Road. Carnation Road, looking north, near the Ling Road roundabout. Looking east

The Churches of Loughborough - All Saints' Church, Thorpe Acre with Dishley

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This church building on the list is very special to me, as lately I have come to appreciate its architectural beauty more and more. This is All Saint's Church, Thorpe Acre with Dishley, and it has quite an interesting story. The church was originally sited at Dishley Grange; this building gradually fell into disrepair and was ultimately abandoned, and a new building was built in Thorpe Acre. It was designed by the architect William Railton, who also designed Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London. (What an interesting connection!) The church was consecrated in 1845. In the 1950s, Thorpe Acre entered a period of rapid development that would change the village forever, and the church was not exempt from changes. In 1968 the church received some radical-looking extensions, which in my opinion, look ahead of their time and is a beautiful fusion of the old and new. The building was Grade II listed on the 5th of November 1984. This is definitely one of my favourite church buildi