Bench Day (Friday 13th July 2018)

The Spotlight Kid and I both arrived (separately) at the Dog and Doublet in Bodymoor Heath a little early for our visit to the Kingsbury Water Park. We had lunch outside in the sunshine watching the narrowboats on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal go by, and then strolled up the towpath beside the Curdworth locks until we reached the scenic water park, a series of lakes such as Canal Pool, the one in the blip, that overlooks Gull Island, and is home to a variety of ducks, swans, herons, grebes and gulls. Along the way we passed a group of Canada geese with their goslings, and checked on our parents' memorial oak bench that overlooks Gull Island from the other side.
We had time for a cappuccino back at the Dog and Doublet, recently voted one of the top ten waterside pubs in the Guardian, before setting off around three o'clock to miss the Friday traffic. This wasn't entirely successful as the 13-mile M42 stretch still took forty minutes.
The drive after that took me through Henley-in-Arden to Wootton Wawen where I parked beside a marina and spent a leisurely hour walking along the Stratford Canal up to Bridge 51 and back. I also stopped for another hour at the Stratford Waitrose for another coffee and sat outside reading a Mojo back number, getting home mid evening.

L.
16.7.2018 (1142 hr)

Blip #2703 (#2453 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.60-18.3.10)
Consecutive Blip #002
Blips/Extras In 2018 #145/265 + #57/100 Extras)
Day #3034 (586 gaps from 26.3.10)
LOTD #1847 (#1688 + 159 in archived blips)

Bodymoor Heath series
Family Business series
Landscape series

A Visit To Bodymoor Heath, 13 July 2018 (Flickr album of 24 images)
Wootton Wawen, 13 July 2018 (Flickr album of 25 images)

Taken with Pentax K-1 and Pentax HD P-D FA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6ED DC WR lens

10 of the UK’s best waterside pubs: readers’ travel tips (The Guardian, 28 June 2018)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Grateful Dead - Born Cross-Eyed (1971 Remix) (Remastered) (recorded September-December 1967)
Given that Anthem Of The Sun is probably my most played Grateful Dead album I was surprised only one track from it has been a LOTD. There are two versions of the album, which mixed live and studio recordings in a unique meld, so that the final mix-down that took place in spring 1968 was virtually a live performance from multiple sources by group members Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia with their own sound engineer Dan Healy. Phil Lesh had a second go at supervising the mix in 1971 and this second version superceded the original on subsequent vinyl album pressings and on the first CD release, which was transferred from analogue sources. Subsequent digital CD releases went back to the 1968 mix though, so now the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition containing both versions has been released, it is the first time the 1971 mix has been digitally remastered. Born Cross-Eyed  has a so-called "E-chord of God" in the closing seconds of the 1971 mix that is not heard on the 1968 original. The new 2CD package was delivered while I was up in the Midlands.

One year ago:
The Old Forge