Eleven word texts from the number 11 bus route, November 11th (2009)
- Halfway down Vicarage Road, the demographic shifts dramatically. No more bohemians!
- Coterill. Home of Party Shops. Five of them, actually. Glitter everywhere.
- Bourneville. Quaker territory. Speech punctures silence. A good way to remember
- Officially outside ‘City of Birmingham’. Bearwood the name of the ‘wilderness’.
- Independent shops line the high street. The rent must be cheaper.
- ‘White flight’ made Dudley different to 20 years ago. All change.
- ‘God bless you Michael’. Flowers on the side of the road.
- Short back and sides, a shave, record and Summit to eat.
- Another bus, not participating in psychogeography today, apologises. Front display: ‘Sorry…’
- Jamaican building society, Universal Foods, Polski produkt, Shaandar Food Store. Handsworth.
- Watt and Murdoch, Lunasoc founding members, buried nearby. ‘Proper Birmingham history’.
- Ozzy’s house. It’s not black and no bats circle the roof.
- ‘Be a Star in Perry Bar’. Every scrubland needs a poet.
- Bridge painted maroon and blue by Villa team. Untouched since 1984.
- Two Yew Trees and two Hares and Houndss. On opposite sides.
- Some people who live in King’s Standing decide never to leave.
- Richard from Erdington did the 11 bus orbit as a kid.
- Navigation by pubs. Ward End’s Fox and Goose is a goodun.
- The number 11 buses sleep in the garage at Acock’s Green.
- Washington Irving wrote Sleepy Hollow in Stirchley. American Gothic in Birmingham.
- The suburbs filled the gaps between villages. Birmingham got big.
3 Comments
Hi Laura
Loved your 11 word texts. Recognised some of them from the discussions between you, me and Jon on the bus. By the way, the last one only has ten words!
‘Tis true – these are brilliant! I’m thinking they deserve a map, perhaps like the text map of the route on this blog’s background, or maybe a bit like this, or in some other graphical arrangement. WOuld be really nice to see some experiments with that.
That was wonderful and informative, thanks Laura! Now I want to see this as an illustrated guide too