iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 1h

If you see this we IMPLORE you to post a picture from whatever device you’re using without an explanation.

A row of small chairs perched along a wall in sunshine. Children's ride-on toys are on the ground.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Well, we don't stand for any disorderliness here in Birmingham

Street sign "Matrons Walk" on a modern housing estate, which was built on the site of the former Selly Oak Hospital

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Freaky cloud formation spotted on the M6 approaching Birmingham (no, I wasn't driving)

Orange sunset light reflected on the underside of clouds, creating a ripple or wave effect, with an electricity pylon in the foreground and a few cars on the road

Cropped version of first photo, showing the heart of the clouds and base of the pylon

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

And here's the other side of the signpost, in case anyone's wondering what that looks like (evidently it's not got any cleaner during the last 3 years)

Signpost at a road junction with signs pointing to Bishops Castle, Shrewsbury, Clun Castle and Free Car Park. In the background is the Sun Inn.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Flying the flag for Crossroads in the spiritual home of Sale Of The Century #IYKYK

Same as the previous image, but zoomed out to show the whole spire of Norwich Cathedral in the background, against a blue sky with a few wisps of white cloud.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I visited Norwich yesterday and came across the Edith Cavell memorial outside the Cathedral. Next to it is a display board telling her story and including the quote you refer to. Rather less inspiring, there's a café named after her on the other side of the road.

Edith Cavell memorial, standing in front of the stone wall which surrounds the Norwich Cathedral precincts. Her bust, in black, is mounted on top of a tall white stone plinth. On the front a soldier reaches up to offer a wreath of flowers.

White stone base of the Edith Cavell memorial, bearing the inscription: "Edith Cavell: nurse patriot and martyr"

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The church we visited this morning (which was fine in every other regard) had this rather distressing mat at the front. It was in my full view for over an hour. What kind of designer would skew one of the squares like that?

A mat with dark blue background and a nearly symmetrical pattern of light blue L shapes and white squares - but one of the squares, together with its adjoining L shape, is rotated thought 45 degrees.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

It is! I only learned this week that the town was created in the 19th century - a genuine Victorian seaside resort, laid out with a planned design. The Hunstanton Heritage Centre - housed in a former bank, and volunteer run - is well worth an hour or so of anyone's time.

Hunstanton Heritage Centre, housed in a traditional bank building with two columns on each side of the entrance

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Did someone say town halls? I snapped this magnificent municipal edifice in Hunstanton, Norfolk, in evening sunshine just today.

A 2-storey Victorian building with rectangular frontage, built of Norfolk carrstone (a type of sandstone). The lower right corner is unfortunately obscured by parked cars.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

No cheating. Share the last picture of the sky from your camera roll.

Approaching sunset with low-level clouds on the horizon. The sun’s reflection is visible on the sea. In the foreground is a beach - almost dark - with a groyne stretching into the sea.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

This weekend has been an East Midlands extravaganza with visits to Nottingham, Melton Mowbray, Oakham and Rutland Water - all places with which I was previously almost entirely unfamiliar. Clearly, I need to get out more.

Dark green exterior wall of the Sir John Borlase Warren pub in Nottingham, on which is painted a stylised image of Sir John pointing with his finger next to the words "This way to courtyard and sun terrace". We were at the pub for a family event.

Pedestrianised shopping street in Melton Mowbray with hanging flower baskets attached to lampposts and bunting stretched across the street

Market Square in Oakham with the main Post Office building on the right and a frontage of Oakham School directly ahead. Also ahead is the Market Cross, with an 8-sided tiled roof. In the distance is a church spire.

Rutland Water viewed from the end of the Hambleton peninsula. There is a clear view across the reservoir with low-lying land opposite. The sky is blue with some white clouds reflected in the water. In the left foreground is brown, dry land - almost like sand - exposed due to the very low water level after the drought.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

#FingerpostFriday Meanwhile, just down the road in Pembroke... it's actually the birthplace of Henry Tudor, but you'd hardly know it. It's not as if they make a big thing of it or anything.

Signpost with, at the top, a round panel: "Birthplace of Henry Tudor PEMBROKE". Signs point (in English and Welsh) to Castle Pond Walk, Mill Pond Walk, The Commons/Play Area, Priory Church.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

#FingerpostFriday Bored with Carmarthen Castle? Here are some other nearby castles you can visit

Signposts pointing to Pembroke Castle, Swansea Castle and others. In the background are ruins of Carmarthen Castle, with blue sky behind

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Freshly marked hieroglyphics on the pavement, plus the presence of men and women in hi-viz jackets, suggest that something is Going On

Symbols and numbers marked on a pavement in white, yellow, orange and red

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Without downloading any new pics, where are you at mentally?

Spinning plates (plastic plates on handheld sticks)

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Pedantic nit-pick of the day: I've just seen a social media post referring to Barcelona's most famous church, La Sagrada Familia, as the "cathedral". Amazingly, it is just an "ordinary" parish church. Barcelona does have a Cathedral, and here's Miriam's choir - the Phoenix Singers - singing in it.

Side view of a mixed choir of about 60 people singing in a traditional Gothic cathedral, with columns behind and chandeliers overhead.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

St David's is a real doggy town. They know how to keep cool, when they're allowed to. #Pembrokeshire

A dog lying in a shallow stream that runs behind St David's Cathedral

A dog straining at its lead to get into the stream, but a human (out of shot) is holding it back

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Pesky rebrands. Bring back Opal Fruits!

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Pembroke's many delights include a tin tabernacle, and it's still in use - and looks to be well kept. It was opened in 1913 (according to the church's website) as the Undenominational Mission Band, popularly known as The Mission.

A blue-painted corrugated metal church building - view from right

A blue-painted corrugated metal church building - view from front, with entrance porch and cross above

A blue-painted corrugated metal church building - view from left

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Viewed the solar eclipse in a park overlooked by Pembroke Castle

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

A nice footbridge leading to Carmarthen Station (the King Morgan bridge)

A curved metal footbridge leading over the River Towy

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Carmarthen's Boer War memorial - there aren't so many of those around

Statue of a soldier kitted out for the Boer War atop a plinth, with a tree in the background

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Carmarthen has some unusual occupations though

Sign advertising the Carmarthen Coracle and Netsmen's Association

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I have used the same method on other occasions to view partial eclipses, and have just mounted the binoculars once again in preparation for tomorrow's big event - ready to party like it's 1999. The eclipse won't be total here, but still well worth seeing as best we can.

My binoculars once again mounted on a tripod, with a piece of card ready to provide shadow when I project the image during the eclipse.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

We attracted quite a crowd, including a reporter who took our photo for the local newspaper.

A family of 4 standing behind the binoculars mounted on a tripod that we used to view the total solar eclipse of 1999 in Romania. The photo was taken by a journalist who included us in his report for a local newspaper.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The binoculars had their finest hour many years later when, in 1999, we travelled as a family to Romania to view a total solar eclipse by the shore of the Black Sea. I mounted them on a tripod and projected the image of the Sun as totality approached.

The crescent of the Sun, partially eclipsed by the Moon, projected on to a piece of white card. The grass of the park in Mangalia, where we viewed the eclipse, is in the background.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The brown, brown grass of (my mother’s) home (actually there’s a bit more green than in many places)

View from a first floor flat over an open grassed area, mainly brown. Behind a fence is a large area of waste ground with long grass, also mainly brown.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

I note that Paraguay are playing Germany in the World Cup tonight. But what does Paraguay look like? Since you didn't ask, here's a photo of the only bit I've ever seen, viewed from Tres Fronteras in Argentina. A small ferry over the Rio Paraná supports cross-border shopping.

An obelisk painted red, white and blue - the colours of Paraguay - above a lookout point on a hillside covered with grass and woods. Out of shot, the hill descends to the Rio Paraná which separates Paraguay from Argentina.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

On the other hand, Google can cheerfully come up with a 27-digit prime number - not that I've checked it, and there can't be infinitely many of them, since the number of 27-digit numbers is finite.

$Google search question: What prime number has 27 digits? AI Overview answer: There are infinitely many prime numbers with 27 digits. A notable example is the 10th Mersenne prime, $2^{89} - 1$, which contains exactly 27 digits.$

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

And another. I have to say that I've never heard of their "famous" motivational saying, but in any case I'm not easy to motivate.

Google search question: How many I's in teamwork? AI Overview answer: There is exactly 1 letter "I" in the word "teamwork" (t-e-a-m-w-o-r-k).However, as the famous motivational saying goes, there is also an "I" in win!

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

This is utterly bizarre. I will continue to not use Google search, nor its AI.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Jolly voting weather 😎 And the good news is that girls can also vote these days

Entrance to a polling station in a traditional school building with BOYS embossed in stone above the door. The sky is blue with some white cloud.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

The power of renewables: a sunny but windy day is enough to almost squeeze out gas as a means of GB electricity generation. We need more capacity to eliminate gas altogether even under these exceptional conditions, and far more to power the country all year round.

Chart of GB electricity generation at lunchtime today, showing solar at 41%, wind 20% and gas way down at 2.2%

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Strange quirk of the @westmidrailway.bsky.social website: the mobile site doesn't allow purchase of tickets from Pineapple Road, because the station name doesn't come up in a search. It does work in the desktop site though. www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/stations/pin...

Screenshot of "Choose stations" from West Midlands Railway mobile site: Pineapple Road does not appear in the search list - Spring Road is chosen instead

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

#FingerpostFriday comes to you from outside Wells Cathedral: Harry Patch, one of the longest-lived First World War veterans, was awarded the Freedom of the City in 2008

Signposts attached to a heritage-styled lamppost: one sign points to the Market Place and Bishop's Palace, another to the Harry Patch memorial, all against a blue sky

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Maybe this narrative will encourage others to take on the challenge of the Pineapple Ring. It’s easy enough to do if you have an hour to spare - because that’s exactly how long it takes. It can of course be done in the opposite direction, or even split up into chunks.

View along the tracks from a platform at Moseley Village station

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

“Here we go,” I heard, as the train got moving for the final leg of my journey. Trees restricted the view from the height of the Lifford embankment: a small price to pay for living in such a wooded area. I left the train at Pineapple Road and watched as it carried further adventurers on its way.

View looking through trees over the backs of houses

View along the railway line from Pineapple Road station platform. The line goes under a bridge with trees on each side.

View looking from above Pineapple Road station, showing the platform roofs and part of the line

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Kings Norton station has, for me, a rather desolate feel. Platforms 1 and 4 are in use but the central section is completely abandoned. I found a group of elderly men chatting about how long it had taken to get the Camp Hill line stations - closed in 1941 - back into service.

At Kings Norton station, the top of a plastic bottle sticking out of the top of a hollow rusty metal post

Looking across the tracks at Kings Norton station. Where platforms 2 and 3 ought to be are deserted, and a sign warns "Keep off the track"

Looking along the tracks at Kings Norton station, where a train heads off into the distance

Departure board at Kings Norton station, including the Camp Hill service to New Street

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Five Ways, University, Selly Oak, Bournville - these stations have been in operation for many years, and the landmarks are very familiar to me. The line follows the canal for much of the route.

The Grade 2 listed Birmingham New Street Signal Box

University station platform sign: for Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University of Birmingham

View across a canal aqueduct towards University buildings, including the clock tower "Old Joe" (which happens to be the tallest freestanding clock tower in the world)

Selly Oak station sign, and a banner fixed to railings: "Drawing is my passion, it's where I find solace"

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Passengers were already waiting on the platform to board for the return journey, since the train merely shuttles between here and Kings Norton every half an hour. I had other plans though, and headed for platform 12 to take the Cross City line.

People boarding a train at New Street station. The platform display indicates that it is going to Kings Norton via the Camp Hill Line stations.

Platform sign indicating a departure to Bromsgrove, stopping at (among others) Bournville and Kings Norton

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

I resumed the journey as the train took the long curve through Bordesley, glimpsing a canal and commercial sites as indications of past and present industry. Soon the train made its entrance to New Street Station.

Looking down between trees for a fleeting glimpse of a section of canal

A goods yard full of shipping containers

Behind the railway fence, a construction site, with tall commercial buildings behind

The train entrance to New Street Station, with the words GRAND CENTRAL above and a wall of the Odeon cinema on the right

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Visitors will find that, as villages go, Moseley is rather urban, and there are many signs that it is highly political.

Street art on a wall showing a fist and a Palestinian flag: "You can't separate peace from freedom"

Planters made from oil drums standing in the street. One is labelled "The Cuban Embassy" (it is actually a restaurant)

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

I broke my journey at Moseley Village, making the most of the opportunity to explore this famous suburb. This being only the second day that the line was open there were some trainspotters about, though my guess is that there was probably a busier media scrum on the opening day.

A man taking a photo with his phone - and, further away, a boy doing the same with an iPad - as a train leaves the station

Moseley Village platform sign fixed to a brick wall

A couple with backs to the camera standing looking over the railway lines towards a bridge at the far end of the station

A tall Moseley Village sign. On the left is a row of large circular planters. On the right, the access road to the drop off point.

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

I boarded at Pineapple Road on the hottest day of the year so far, enjoying the views of Highbury Park as we headed towards Kings Heath station. The train was busy but by no means full.

Silver birch trees just behind the railway fence, and open grassland beyond

Platform sign at Kings Heath station, with a grassed embankment behind

View along the train carriage showing a number of heads poking above the seats

A dog sitting in the aisle, facing the camera

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Phil Banting @philbanting.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

This week's opening of passenger stations on the Camp Hill line in south Birmingham has made possible a new and highly compact railway experience: the Pineapple Ring. Starting and ending at Pineapple Road station it involves making a complete circuit via the Camp Hill and the Cross City lines.

Graphic showing the new stations, including Pineapple Road, on a line parallel to the Cross City line

Pineapple Road station sign fixed to a brick wall, with shadows of a metal fence below

A train standing at Pineapple Road station

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