Another one bites the dust

I love this chimney stack. Everytime I saw this in the skyline, I know I’m nearly home. I was heartbroken when I read in the news that it was going to be demolished. I told Babe that I want to give it a proper goodbye.

This towering 50m chimney stack together with a 30m water tower was on the 40-acre site of the former Courtaulds factory in Little Heath. At its height, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Little Heath Works employed 5,000 people manufacturing acetate yarns.

The factory was closed in 2007. The decision to demolish the buildings follows the failure of the owner to sell the site for development. I hoped it wont be another empty site.

There was a huge crowd gathering by the road side. The roads near the site was closed since 8 am this morning. A bystander told me that it was going down at 11am. Another 10 minutes to go. We stood right across it and took loads of photographs.

At exactly 11 am, a bang was heard and from the bottom we could see it crumbling. It then swayed sideways and then it was gone. The water tower too went off simultaneously. A sporadic applause could be heard. Goodbye my friend…

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/03/08/workers-watch-demolition-of-towers-at-coventry-s-courtaulds-factory-92746-25982073/

After all the excitement, we decided to slower things a bit. It was such a lovely day that we rolled down the roof and took Azures for a drive to Coombe Abbey. We walked through a different route when I heard a tapping sound. I looked up and saw this handsome nuthatch busy at work. Babe spotted 2 of them running up and down a tree.

Below the trees were clumps of snowdrops in full bloom. Breathtakingly beautiful. All around us long tail tits were chasing each other and I even spotted a wren feeding among the undergrowth.

We took a leisurely walk towards the hide. I had never seen so many birds in my life. Apart from the usual culprits, we saw this Great Spotted Woodpecker. Our first in Coombe Abbey. Suddenly a dog appeared and all the natives, including 2 well camouflaged pheasants panicked and vanished. But not for long.

On the way back, we spotted this buzzard landing on a tree. He was magnificent. We slowly stalked him through the forest. I had never seen a raptor this close before. Another first for us.

Yesterday, I attended another Saturday school. This time on the Decorative Arts of Islam, by the same tutor as my previous lesson. There was more students than before and we were all cramped into one small classroom. I bet we all wrote that on our review sheet.

Dr. Richards Yeoman was as passionate and as knowledgeable as before. We examined the different arts including calligraphy, illumination, ceramics, glassware, metalwork and textiles. It was interesting to see how religious attitudes have determined the course of the arts and how, despite the ban on representing the human figure, figurative images were present in the court and secular arts.

Jo and I had lunch at the Warwick Arts Centre and we joined by MA. We later checked out this event, The Story Exchange, on the concourse. I wished I could stay longer and investigate more but I had a class to finish. I will check them out later.

I was among the first to leave cos I’d a bus to catch. I did a bit of shopping in town and even popped into the Chinese shop for a cold can of coconut water. I had to leave the city centre before the bus ferrying the football fans arrive. Another win for the Sky Blues against Peterborough 1:0. Well done.

For the next 3 weeks, we need to leave the casa much earlier. They were doing the roads by Charter Avenue and it affected both sides of Fletchamstead Highway. I was late on the first day. I just don’t know how the traffic could be so badly affected. One thing for sure, we did come across some very bad diving, I mean real bad.

I also noticed that the swan’s nesting site had already be cordoned off. This beautiful pair will be producing eggs soon. I must remember to walk this way at least once a week to see what’s going on. Hmm, I wonder how many eggs this time…

I had a lovely week and I hoped you had too. It was my mother’s birthday on Friday and my sister’s will be tomorrow. A very Happy birthday wishes from this lovely long tailed tit to the 2 most important women in my life.

Also condolences to Sheila and family. Our thoughts are with you.