Ian Jelf

Kafka-essue discussion with @nationaltrust.org.uk call centre person earlier. Wanted to alter my membership to senior. Told me it wasn’t possible yet due to them only having three years’ data on me (I’ve been a member for decades) “due to data protection laws”. What?!?!

Rather worryingly, I bought Louise Jelf a named star as a wedding present twenty years ago……. #drwho

And tonight I’m descaling the coffee machine. #LivingTheDream

Ian Jelf's (Virtual) Hackney A virtual stroll around the Cinderella of London boroughs, Hackney. A place well worth discovering and with a lot of surprises!

Tonight! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ian-jelfs-...

Ian Jelf's (Virtual) Hackney A virtual stroll around the Cinderella of London boroughs, Hackney. A place well worth discovering and with a lot of surprises!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ian-jelfs-... This Wednesday, live online or on 14 day view again, a virtual walk around London trendy Hackney District. As usual, expect a lot of surprises. RTs, telling friends and spreading the word appreciated.!

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Scenes from today’s dog walk: arguably the last surviving farmhouse in Smethwick (although it’s only actually been in Smethwick since 1928!) is the old Hodgetts Farm left of centre here. Later the home of a branch of the Skidmore family, one of whose members gives the road - William Road - its name.

Scenes from today’s dog walk: looking up Bristnall Hall Lane to the site of the original but long gone Bristnall Hall , an ancient and possibly moated farmhouse or sub-manor near the top on the right

Scenes from today’s dog walk: the weather couldn’t have been more different to yesterday’s. Damp, dull and generally horrible! This is Londonderry, once a rural hamlet with a sandpit and a few cottages (including two much altered survivors on the left).

Scenes from today’s dog walk: some lovely colours on the monument at the north gate to the park commemorating its benefactor, James Timmins Chance. The bust which is the centrepiece of this monument was stolen by the local scrotery some years ago but has hopefully been replaced.

Scenes from today’s dog walk: because West Smethwick Park lay in two separate local authority areas, each of them had its own park keepers house. The Oldbury one is long gone but the Smethwick one is extant, although now I think privately owned. Anyway, here it is in all its arts and crafts glory.

Scenes from today’s dog walk: the Flash Brook eventually feeds a large (5 acre) pool created by the building of a dam when the park was opened in 1895.

Scenes from today’s dog walk: through the winter sunshine in this fenced area in west Smethwick Park is the source of a stream called the Flash Brook, which for centuries marked the boundaries between what became Smethwick and Oldbury.

Scenes from today’s dog walk: firstly, we headed along Queens Road following the old Oldbury /Smethwick boundary. And coincidentally passing the house on the left where my father was born 92 years ago yesterday!

Come along and find out more, either live online Wednesday 29 January 2025 1900GMT or on 14 day “view again”. RTs appreciated!
More details and how to book are at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ian-jelfs-... #canals #london #virtualtour @BBGuides @visitlondon

Scenes from today’s dog walk: the three of us went for a walk today, only a mile or so just around the Aquatics Centre and back.

Buses from today’s dog walk: Very windy today today with Storm Éowyn, so we avoided the parks and stuck to roads. Here NXWM 811 pauses to pick up passengers in Hales Lane on its way towards Cape Hill and the new hospital. It’s one of a small number in the short-lived “West Midlands Bus” livery.

Scenes from today’s dog walk: it’s hard to believe that full sized (for the time) tourists coaches used to reverse in and out of here to the home of Mann’s Superlux Ccoaches. But they did. Every day. For years.

It’s rather cold out there.

Buses from today’s dog walk: almost home and we snapped NXWM Enviro 200 757 making its way along Thimblemill Road towards Cape Hill and the Midland Metropolitan hospital. The bus is a regular performer on this route.

Scenes from today’s dog walk: this little parade of shops was built in the 1930s for the burgeoning new housing estates growing up hereabouts. It has some nice almost arts and crafts touches, although later occupants have rather spoiled the look at ground floor level.

Scenes from today’s dog walk: today we went for a walk through Smethwick/Oldbury border. I was in Oldbury taking the picture but everything you can see across the road is in Smethwick. On the left is the 1930s Community Hall while on the right is our old friend the course of the Thimblemill Brook.

Benji Jelf's (Virtual) Smethwick Canal Walk The latest online virtual version of one of Benji's lockdown dog walks.......

Yes, I know my virtual canal tour this evening clashes with The Traitors on BBC1.

But you can always watch my tour on 14 Day view again. Or The Traitors on the iPlayer, of course!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/benji-jelf...

We went out to our post-Christmas Heart of England Tourist Guides’ Association meal today at the Billesley Manor Hotel. Decided to go in “Ronnie” which was rather dwarfed by the plethora of virtual tanks on the car park. Parking was much easier for us, though!

Scenes from today’s dog walk: a short walk around the lake in Smethwick Hall Park this morning.

I am in the middle of a Kafka-esque circle of buck-passing involving a local authority, a funeral director and a (so far non-existent) solicitor…….

Not a good day.

“And he only quoted for a single coat of magnolia”! ;-)

NB It’s not confined to Australia……..

I wonder.......

It's fair bet that at least some will have been cast at Falkirk.......

Ian Jelf's Virtual Trip Along the A34 Road Another virtual road trip.......this time from Manchester to Winchester by way of Birmingham.

TONIGHT 7.30pm GMT or on 14 day "view again" www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ian-jelfs-...