Back to Birmingham: Literary Beauty and Urban Decay

Blue

Irrevocably drawn by the capital of urban decay and disparate, anarchic beauty, I returned this March...
..To the carefree bohemian coziness of the Birmingham Central Backpackers. The transporting magic of Cannon Hill Park and Moseley Village. The maze of back alleys populated by warehouses and garages, and buildings with covered with snoot.
The naked mannequins staring aimlessly out of broken windows.
The cinematic avantguardia of Flatpack Film Festival, shining with Zanussi's Illumination, and the atmospheric sonic myths of And Also The Trees, live at The Cross.
Astral trips the faint of heart would most definitely not dream of - but I sure do.

Sountrack: Dialogue by And Also The Trees.

Bankbeds To Dream In

Birmingham Classics

Aubergine Melancholy

Bibi Dada

We All Have A Cross To Stare

Staring Into Space

The New Library - The New World

And the Ass Saw the Angel

Cannon Hill Park: The Great Green

The Birmgingham Central Backpackers back yard

 

Birmingham Bathroom Kitsch

Evening illumination

 

The minds and cows of Oxford

In the hood of the Radcliffe Camera.

 Spires that inspire. Dreams that aspire.

First-hand views of a Harry Potter set at the cinematic surroundings of the Bodleian Library.
De Sade second hand at the local Oxfam.
A sip of coffee by the graves of The Vaults & Garden Coffee Shop at St Mary the Virgin Church.
Great academic minds wrestling with thought opposite cows laying purposelessly on the grass.
Carefree punting and relentless book hunting. 

This, is Oxford.

Soundtrack: Lucky by Radiohead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpyL-A8cYNM

Done punting.

Don't give a rat's ass about uni

A marble doily paves the way to the Bodleian Library

Take a walk on the wild side

An angel fell on the Sheldonian Theatre

A window to Renaissance

Trinity College

Tomorrow never dies

Cambridge, England: Shine On You Academic Diamond

Scholarly or psychedelic, this is a city of strong predilection.
Interstellar Overdrive and the Speed of Sound.
Syd Barrett and Sir Isaac Newton.
Winnie-the-Pooh.
Majestic and intoxicating, the Wren Library.
Messy and Lilliputian, The Haunted Bookshop and the Indigo Cafe.
Freaks and frat boys punting and revising all at the same time.

Shakespearean tragedies under the Weeping Beech; choral chants under the King's Gothic vaults.
Brilliant and dramatic. Shine on, you crazy diamond...

Soundtrack: Interstellar Overdrive Parts I & II by Pink Floyd.

Casually watching the punters punt by

Cambridge in Spring

Visitor at the gates of dusk...

...and at the even creepier lunch room in Pembroke College

We're floating

We're jamming

We're chilling

We're gasping

We're bending

We're punting on psychedelics

In back alleys

And at the Backs gardens

Surfing, reading, pondering, in defiance of the historic monsters in the background.

The singing bus to Cambridge

King caught in a sunny day's storm

Thirst for knowledge...

...and procrastination

Study till you drop - but you drop here!

Singer/songwriter at King's College - classy

Pembroke College - Scholarly h(e)aven

Ghastly book haunt - The Haunted Bookshop

Cambridge's diamond and madcap: Syd still hangs at the Anchor, where Pink Floyd played one of their first gigs

Bristol, England: Heaven and hell are round the corner

Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky...: Bristol has always been on the map for music fans. But how about the restless traveler?
A mad urban puzzle of Gothic treasures, odd and colourful dollhouses, post modern architectural contrasts and graffiti, the city also takes pride in a wild history of riots - a telling tale of its' edgy, rebellious spirit.
In museums like M Shed and Arnolfini, by the port, you'll discover some of the best art book collections you're likely to come across in the UK; and the Rinky Dinky - one of the most groovy vehicles around. A bewildering palette of colour, DIY creativity and music that cruises around M Shed, the super-wow Rinky Dinky brings together a united system of bicycles for children to ride while listening to reggae blasting from the turntables (!!). I was desperately jealous...
 Rise, among other top independent record shops, provides you with the latest sonic bombs in and out of the city; the Gothic St Mary Redcliffe blinds you with its breathtaking, time-defying architecture; St Nicholas markets are a veritable treasure cove of the old and the new (plus some cool chillout cafes); Watershed plays must-see old films while serving good coffee and classic views of the port; the Clifton Suspension Bridge awaits for those bigger-than-life views of nature and the city; and See No Evil (the graffiti project that radically revamped Nelson Street) sprays around bigger-than-life artistic imagination.
Up and above, desolate in its' beauty, Castle Park shelters ghosts of the past within its hollow arms - and a getaway to modern punks; while the eyes are straying toward the industrial views of the canal...

 Soundtrack: Hell Is Around The Corner by Tricky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YuDhmNYwVw&feature=fvst

Bristol Cathedral

Canal ride

Hanging out

Neubauten

The Clifton Suspension Bridge

Clifton living

Digging the graves

Burying the graves

Danger, danger. High Voltage

M Shed: Museum avant garde

The groovy Rinky Dinky

St Nicholas markets cafe

Rise records

See No Evil - The Nelson Street Project

See No Evil_2

See No Evil_3

See No Evil_4

See No Evil_5

See No Evil_6

See No Evil_7

Bristol riots: The Black and White Cafe

The Clifton Suspension Bridge

The Villas

The road to the West End

Under Suspension

Urban hippy