Moat in the landscape

Unexpected features in the landscape often have an explanation – they’re not always just lumps caused by land shifting over time (as I once thought).

This platform in the land near Hilderstone turns out to be the remains of the foundations of a medieval manor house. The steep dip is due to the moat that was constructed around it.

It’s amazing to me that such an ancient formation in the land has survived so long – and it puts a different aspect on the landscape when one is walking past it.

Poundland

The discount store ‘Poundland’ recently opened in Stoke-on-Trent’s main shopping centre in Hanley. As you can see, it dominates the central square of this shopping area.

The fact is that Hanley’s retail area is the biggest and most viable in the whole of the county of Staffordshire, so Poundland’s amazing prominence here is a sign of the times I suppose.  Tough times indeed!

Bottle oven 'hatches'

Stoke’s few remaining bottle ovens are now very valued, though hundreds were pulled down in the sixties. They are all Grade 2-listed now, I think.

And it looks like this one has decided to revenge itself on the new-build movement by growing, or even popping, out of a new block of flats! Sort of like a chick hatching out of an egg, I thought.

In fact, this housing association here in Hanley has built two blocks of flats around this bottle oven, and even enclosed it in its own protective atrium.You can't see properly because of the shadow on the glass, but if the light were right, you could see the whole shape of the oven through the glass.

One of the residents kindly allowed me into the block, and showed the structure to me up close. It’s beautifully preserved.

It's Spring! I think.

Daffodils! The first of the year for me, though I've already seen snowdrops, and there are primroses a-plenty this year too.

If daffodils are the first sign of Spring, then this winter, by my reckoning, must have been one of the shortest I've known. I estimate it lasted just six weeks.

But never under-estimate Winter. It could come back to bite us!

Underwear as overwear

I guess I am fashion-challenged.
The latest puzzle for me is women wearing what once was underwear as ‘daywear’.

Woollen tights, that formerly were worn under a skirt or, at the least, covered partly by a long-ish jumper, can now be worn with no covering at all.

(You might argue that this 'underwear becoming overwear' started with the tee-shirt, which was once only for wear under a shirt. It's now, as we all know, perfectly acceptable at pretty much anytime!)

Anyway, I suppose I'll get used to it.

Lambs out!

The lambing season has been under way for quite a few days now, and the first lambs are already out in the fields.
Luckily for the little ones, the weather has now turned much milder.

Waterlogged field

We’ve had lots of rain, as well as the high winds; and in low-lying areas, the roads are flooded and the fields waterlogged.
Fortunately, it’s been a constant drizzle, and not the flash downpours that cause the really severest flooding incidents.

The rain doesn’t look like stopping though.

Wind on the water

The wind has got up to speeds of 40mph in the past few days, so it’s been pretty blowy – uprooting trees and barging at loose fences.

At this spot, known as the Broad Water, this section of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal (at Tixall) is so wide it looks more like a river than a canal. Nevertheless, its surface should be as calm as a canal's usually is.

However, you can see here how much the blustery wind was whipping up waves on it today.

Blackburn House - tax haven

Blackburn House is a sight to send terror into an ordinary man’s heart. This is the home of the regional tax office, and its waiting rooms are full of very uncomfortable visitors.

I was reminded of its presence, partly because it’s the highest building in Hanley town-centre, and also because the Inland Revenue keep sending me letters rather forcibly alerting me to the fact that my returns are due on the 31st of this month.

I must finish those returns… sometime... soon!

Monument to PM

This great column, the Pitt Monument, towers over the public path that goes around the Sandon Hall Estate in mid-Staffordshire. It’s a tribute to the great British prime minister of the early nineteenth century.

It’s rather amazing: it’s hidden in a forest, and obscured by tree-tops mostly, so you’re on it almost as soon as you see it

Link: Walk around Sandon Estate