Two months for the price of one this time as I recount recent happenings on the West Midlands Exploration Flickr Photostream. I didn't file one of these updates for May alone, mainly because I was on holiday but also due to some changes that were happening with Flickr at the time and I wanted to see how those panned out. Now things have settled down again, here's an aeronautical assessment of the latest arrivals...
Firstly a general note about Flickr itself. Yahoo! have seen fit to launch a major redesign of the site that resulted in a new look to my photostream. Greater emphasis is being given to the pictures themselves which means the front page of my photostream is now a wall of photographs rather than having the collection links and commentary snippets seen previously. I also noted that some potentially useful options such as Maps, Archives, Tags and Profile were now squirreled away behind a three dots symbol. To be honest, I am still undecided as to whether I like the changes; sure, the main page of my photostream has more visual impact now and is better geared up for the way modern websites are developing, but I quite liked having my collections, comments, tags and so forth featured more prominently. Like many Flickr users I also felt the redesign was imposed without giving me much choice in the matter, so I purposefully left my account alone for a fortnight whilst I pondered what my approach should be. In the event a couple of glitches were tightened up, and whilst elements of the 'upgrade' still leave me nonplussed, I still like what Flickr has to offer overall and have decided to stick with it for the time being...
Now then, what pictorial pickings have parachuted in for your perusal? Images have fluttered in from far and wide, meaning many of my collections have seen a few choice landings. Zeroing in first of all on WME Birmingham, we see sets representing Highgate (a tree in the local park plus a couple of pubs), Hodge Hill (scenes from the Common) and Moseley (the Jug of Ale). There's also an archive extract showing the other Longbridge Station, a photo I took back in 2003 so its only taken the best part of ten years to publish it!
WME Dudley has been a bit of a daredevil with glimpses of Mushroom Green (conservation area cottages), Netherton (St Andrew's Church) and Kingswinford (the Cross pub in 2006). Also strapped in for action were WME Sandwell (sycamore seed sculptures in Oakwood Park plus further Hill Top items such as the now-demolished Globe) and WME Shropshire (Ludlow to the fore with castles, cannons and a railway platform ramp). Riding in their slipstream is WME Staffordshire with a contingent comprising Landywood Station, Heath Hayes (the war memorial gates) and Kinver (capturing the High Street during the 2009 carnival).
Spreading their wings we have the triumvirate of WMEs Wolverhampton, Walsall and Worcestershire. Wolverhampton glides in with some Northwood Park action (notably the Staffordshire Volunteer, another pub that is no more), Walsall swoops for a Pleck Park double whilst Worcestershire reports back to ground control with sightings of Malvern Library. WME Telford has made its opening flight of the year courtesy of the former Thomas Telford pub at Leegomery (since flattened to make way for a shopping parade) accompanied by the Three Crowns on Hinkshay Road. Another rarely seen member of our squadron is WME Warwickshire which has also made it out of the hangar having been powered by shots of Keresley Library and the Jephson Gardens at Leamington.
And so another batch of brave pilots have taken to the air, and despite a splutter and a stutter thanks to the Yahoo! engine gremlins it looks like its onwards and upwards for a summer of further aviation formations...
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