At Home with John and Debbie

Not every building I’ve lived in is visible on Google Maps’ satellite views. Here are the places that are — which happen to all be in Birmingham.

• Stafford Tower, Aston University Campus
• Windemere Road, Handsworth Wood
• Larch House, Handsworth Student Village
• Hafren Close, Rubery
• Whitehall Road, Small Heath / Bordesley Green

The reason I looked is that Google recently added higher resolution coverage of Birmingham. Some other notable Birmingham places:

• The building site that was to become the Bullring Shopping Centre (and the Rotunda)
• The Cathedral — not sure what’s going on around it. Perhaps some more building work?
• The Central Library — famously described as “a carbuncle” by Prince Charles. Flanked by Centenary Square to the West and Victoria Square (with the Floozy in the Jacuzzi) to the East
• Gas Street Canal Basin — follow the canal South-East to find The Mailbox, or follow it North-West to find the National Indoor Arena (passing the International Convention Centre and Birmingham Symphony Hall on the way)
• Aston University main building — it was once the largest all-brick building in Europe. Or something. The triangular compound to the South-West is the fire station. Aston Students’ Guild is to the North-West, fixed on by a posh glass bridge. Aston Campus extends South and East to the major roads.
• Edgebaston Poly Birmingham University — just for balance
• Spaghetti Junction
• Football stadia: Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa
• Sarehole Mill — Allegedly Tolkien’s inspiration for all that “changes in The Shire” stuff.
• Round Road, Erdington — notable only because Debbie and I spotted it in the A-Z and went there just to circumnavigate it (we were passing close by, honest!)

That last one suggests that I am now scraping the bottom of the barrel.

• Bonus: Ikea Wednesbury — cool because it has wreadable writing on the wroof.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2006 at 10:18 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.