Random Stuff!

[JENNYJET]

With the current status of our teams, West Bromwich Albion would be the only qualified team but hardly likely to justify a large stadium and meet running costs, even with new Chinese money.

Unless....Sandwell parkland was developed etc...it could be designated Greater Birmingham I suppose!

 

[Brummiegem]

Jerry,a new stadium would be great.
However,with reference to West Ham moving into the Olympic stadium,I think the general public are the big losers there.
That stadium was built with the help of a lottery fund,which was paid for by the general public.West Ham are getting in there for next to nothing.And then we wonder why some Premiership clubs are getting richer and some are struggling.
If any of our clubs could get a similar deal following a new stadium being built then that would be good,but I personally wouldn't be comfortable with it,unless a fair rent agreement were reached.

 

[Jerry]

Forgot about West Brom! Thats the problem isn't it any big stadium would need a football team to fill it week by week but is it right for public money to be spent giving a mega rich corporation a brand new stadium? I don't think so.

 

[Ray Finkle]

After the revamp Edgbaston now seats 25,000.

It is definitely a favourite of the England team and the noise is often comparable to some football stadia.

In certain circles it is commonly referred to as the 'English Gabba'

 

[Butty]

For the first time in a year, visiting Solihull. First port of call....drive along the A45. Great view of an Aer Lingus landing against the backdrop of the setting sun. Good to be home!

 

[Elmdon80slad]

Memories at Elmdon in the 80s of the maintenace crews dragging Bac 1-11's over to the Ground Running pan, and testing the engines, it seemed to create so much noise compared to simple take offs.

Hppy Days

E.

 

[wolfheze]

Memories at Elmdon in the 80s of the maintenace crews dragging Bac 1-11's over to the Ground Running pan, and testing the engines, it seemed to create so much noise compared to simple take offs.

Hppy Days

E.

Used to hear that from home which was 5 miles away.

 

[JENNYJET]

A new personal appeal for assistance if the Chief would not object and its a loose(ish) connection to BHX spotting opportunity.

I have been summoned to attend a DWP Medical examination in order to receive PIP, the disability benefit that replaces DLA. Failure to attend will result in a loss of £220 per month cash benefit Plus my Motability vehicle. Any new benefits would be forfeit. Nobody will want to employ me so I am in need of collective brain power to assist with my problem.

The problem is the location of this interrogation, Newhall Street in Birmingham. As a native, I know the location as well as my armpits but my disabilities prevent me from following the directions supplied by DWP. I simply cannot walk from New Street station to Newhall Street but may be able to use taxi services.

I could and would prefer to drive there but there are no parking spaces on site and few designated Public Car Parks near by. I have NOT driven into central Birmingham for perhaps 20 years and much has changed.

I then thought perhaps to park at Birmingham International Station or the Airport and get a train into Birmingham the City, thus I need advice from Airport regulars and City residents.

My walking abilities are limited to around 100 metres without a short rest period so some creative thinking is requested.

The membership perhaps have a greater appreciation of the ground since I have been living in Worcestershire for 40 years and it is not a place one leaves often, for any reason.

There will be costs involved including having to place my dog into kennels for a day, not so cheap.

If any of you wonderful souls have any advice to offer that enables the ordeal to pass easily, I shall honour each of you at the Pearly Gates when the time comes.

Thank you.....Jennifer.

 

[wolfheze]

Just had a quick look and there is a 500 space ncp car park on Newhall street so I think the easiest way would be to drive there and either get a taxi from the car park or walk if its not too far from your destination.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Newhall Street does have on road parking including spaces for blue badge holders, depending on what building you have to attend you may be able to park outside. The two issues I'd have is, 1) there may be a time restriction as to how long one can park, some spaces in Central Birmingham are limited to two hours, and 2) if you get there and all of the spaces are occupied. As said above there is a large car park at the bottom of Newhall Street.

If it is to be public transport then parking at Birmingham International could work out to be expensive. A better option may be to park somewhere near either Dorridge, Wythall, Earlswood or Widney Manor and get the train from there. It would also give you the advantage of arriving into Snow Hill, which is much closer to Newhall Street than Birmingham New Street is.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Has anyone been following the Cricket?
Following Pakistan's huge lead from the first innings, I really thought that defeat (or at best a draw) was on the cards for England.
What an exceptional performance on the final day . England (whatever the sport), are usually gifted in being able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This time, we got it right!
A legendary performance from England and at Edgbaston.
All credit to Pakistan for making a very memorable Test Match.

Just wondering. The Pakistan cricket team are obviously guests (as are any other Test Match cricket team visiting England), so do they have official dinners together?

Kevin

 

[Brum X]

Not really a Cricket Fan myself but well done to England anyway. After all the doom and gloom recently, with this victory and our success at the olympic's, its time to put some pride back into this country and make it "GREAT" again.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Newhall Street does have on road parking including spaces for blue badge holders, depending on what building you have to attend you may be able to park outside. The two issues I'd have is, 1) there may be a time restriction as to how long one can park, some spaces in Central Birmingham are limited to two hours, and 2) if you get there and all of the spaces are occupied. As said above there is a large car park at the bottom of Newhall Street.

If it is to be public transport then parking at Birmingham International could work out to be expensive. A better option may be to park somewhere near either Dorridge, Wythall, Earlswood or Widney Manor and get the train from there. It would also give you the advantage of arriving into Snow Hill, which is much closer to Newhall Street than Birmingham New Street is.

As a regular user of Dorridge, I can agree with Ray's comments here.
There are disabled spaces (which are rarely in use) next door to the station entrance and lifts either side of of the bridge - you will need to cross the bridge for the outward journey.

 

[Brummiegem]

If I have nothing else better to do,then i sometimes listen to Test Match Special on 'five live sports extra'.This is the digital off shoot of the BBCs' five live radio station.
What makes it so entertaining is the conversation between the main commentator and the expert summariser.Graham Swan and Phil Tufnell are particularly entertaining,especially when the conversation meanders away from cricket.
All sorts of random topics can be talked about including pigeons,cranes(the mechanical ones),buses and planes.Aircraft get mentioned usually if the match comes from a ground either close to or under the flight path of a nearby airport.Lords,the Oval and Leeds are close to airports.I don't know if much can be seen from Edgbaston,especially with runway 33 being in use for most of the time in the last few days.
Anyway although cricket is not for everyone it can provide some entertainment,and at least it is a sport we can win.It is worth noting that if Pakistan had won this series,they would have become the number 1 test team in the world.So England's achievement is something to be proud of.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Has anyone been following the Cricket?
Following Pakistan's huge lead from the first innings, I really thought that defeat (or at best a draw) was on the cards for England.
What an exceptional performance on the final day . England (whatever the sport), are usually gifted in being able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This time, we got it right!
A legendary performance from England and at Edgbaston.
All credit to Pakistan for making a very memorable Test Match.

Just wondering. The Pakistan cricket team are obviously guests (as are any other Test Match cricket team visiting England), so do they have official dinners together?
Kevin

It was a wonderful match, especially for England supporters, and was a reminder of the old days when test matches invariably lasted most of the allocated five days. In modern times, with the influence of one-day cricket and 20:20,
test match scoring is usually much quicker and many batsmen find it difficult to play a long innings by grafting. The result is that test matches often finish by the third or fourth day.

Pakistan haven't played a home series in their own country for several years because of the political situation there. They have played 'home' series in the United Arab Emirates and even in England when they entertained Australia in 'home' test matches at Lords and Leeds in 2010.

If I have nothing else better to do,then i sometimes listen to Test Match Special on 'five live sports extra'.This is the digital off shoot of the BBCs' five live radio station.
What makes it so entertaining is the conversation between the main commentator and the expert summariser.Graham Swan and Phil Tufnell are particularly entertaining,especially when the conversation meanders away from cricket.
All sorts of random topics can be talked about including pigeons,cranes(the mechanical ones),buses and planes.Aircraft get mentioned usually if the match comes from a ground either close to or under the flight path of a nearby airport.Lords,the Oval and Leeds are close to airports.I don't know if much can be seen from Edgbaston,especially with runway 33 being in use for most of the time in the last few days.
Anyway although cricket is not for everyone it can provide some entertainment,and at least it is a sport we can win.It is worth noting that if Pakistan had won this series,they would have become the number 1 test team in the world.So England's achievement is something to be proud of.

I've listened to Test Match Special probably since its inception. Like you, I often find it most interesting when the talk drifts onto another subject, although the cricket commentary is still the main reason for my listening.

I suppose the greatest commentator was John Arlott. His Hampshire burr belied a man of extreme intelligence and wit. Like another Hampshire man of modest background, Lord Denning, one-time Master of the Rolls, who also retained his Hampshire accent, Arlott rose to the very top of his chosen profession. In fact, he had several. Perhaps it's not well known that he served in the Hampshire Constabulary for ten years reaching the rank of detective sergeant before becoming a producer at the BBC immediately after the war. An accomplished poet and gifted writer he went into cricket commentary almost by accident, although the game had always been in his blood.

In later years he became an accomplished writer on wine (and drinker, which gradually had its effect towards the end of his career).

Probably the thing that sums up Arlott, a man of independent spirit, is the way he ended his last commentary. In early afternoon at an England v Australia test match he merely said at the end of his stint, "After Trevor Bailey (the inter-overs summariser) it will be Christopher Martin-Jenkins" (sadly, no longer with us either).

His colleagues in the box applauded and the Lords announcer told the crowd that Arlott has just completed his last ever cricket commentary. The spectators rose to give him an ovation and all the players turned towards the commentary box and applauded.

There were so many characters in TMS then: Trevor Bailey (a real-life Mr Jingle); Fred Trueman ("It weren't like that in my day"); Don Mosey, morose but possessed of a highly knowledgeable cricket brain; Brian Johnson.

'Johnners', along with Arlott, is probably the other TMS man that most cricket followers of a certain generation would mention if asked. He loved the game, was generous of spirit and never took cricket too seriously. His practical jokes in the commentary box were legendary but he was also a man of substance having been awarded the Military Cross for action in the Second World war.

Stories about Johnners are numerous but I will recount just two; I heard them both live on the radio at the time.

In the 1960s England had a home test series against New Zealand. The visitors had a bowler called Bob Cunis. Musing on this player's abilities Johnson came out with, "Funny sort of name though. Neither one thing nor the other'. That would have been a sacking offence in the days of the staid 'Aunty BBC' but fortunately for Johnners, and even more fortunately for the many listeners then and in the future, the remark passed over the heads of the senior BBC executives.

Some years later he was discussing cricket with Rachel Heyhoe-Flint, then the captain of the England Women's cricket team who was always game for a laugh herself, so I was never sure whether this particular interlude was set up before hand. "Tell me", he said. "Embarrassing question, but do women cricketers wear boxes?" Quick as a flash she replied, "Oh yes, but we call them manhole covers".

For non cricketers, boxes are euphemistically called abdominal protectors but they actually cover male cricketers' family jewels.

 

[jfy1999]

Aircraft get mentioned usually if the match comes from a ground either close to or under the flight path of a nearby airport.Lords,the Oval and Leeds are close to airports.I don't know if much can be seen from Edgbaston,especially with runway 33 being in use for most of the time in the last few days.

If runway 33 is in use, planes can be seen taking off from the Pershore Road intersection near the cricket ground. I've never been inside Edgbaston but I think you would be able to see them taking off if you sat in the south or west stands.

If the view is unimpeded, then there are very few places in Birmingham where planes can't be seen departing runway 33. My house in south-west Birmingham recently had a dormer added on top and on a clear evening I can see the lights of aircraft on final approach to RWY 33. Before the extension was added I could only see them taking off.

 

[Ray Finkle]

On the day that Richie Benaud sadly passed away Qantas pilots and Brisbane ATC held their own tribute to the great man. It's only a short clip but worth a watch.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Many thanks for that link, Ray. Although I regard Arlott as the doyen of cricket commentators I consider Richie Benaud to be the most astute and insightful observer of the game in my lifetime.

The times he spotted something that no-one else saw in real time are countless, with the comment, "Let's have another look at that".

I think the best cricket commentator for entertaining description at present is Jonathan Agnew: he of the lively wit and easy expression, not least when he and Johnners brought the whole country to a standstill with their Botham 'leg over' commentary.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Fantastic

Even the wife is chuckling away.

 

[Brummiegem]

We have had some hilarious commentaries over the years.
Remember David Coleman,and his 'Colemanballs'.
I think it was an Olympic 1500m race when he said,'...when they get to the bell,there is going to be a real ding dong'...or something like that.
Then another one,again a men's race he said something along the lines of,....'when he opens his legs he's going to show his class'...

Jonathan Agnew(Aggers) is currently in Rio commentating on Dressage.How do you get from cricket to Dressage???