Birmingham rails (again)

My last train adventure of the month of March was, again, a travel around some of Birmingham and the West Midlands' many railway stations. I went as far as Sandwell & Dudley in one direction and Small Heath in the other. You can see my photos here.

La machine à écrire

The latest typewriter has arrived, and it is this rather nice Olympus Splendid 66, it is indeed quite splendid. The typewriter was non-working when it arrived but i got it back into decent working order. The typewriter is my first French typewriter (or la machine à écrire - i had to look that up!) It has an AZERTY keyboard and accented character keys.

Calculators (23) : Canon Palmtronic 8

The Canon Palmtronic 8, also known as the LD-84 is a fine little mid-1970s Japanese calculator with a VFD (vacuum fluorescent) display. The calculator has a TI TMS0855NL (7632) microprocessor and supports the four basic arithmetic functions as well as square roots and percentages.

My one still works OK and is in reasonably good condition for something that is now fifty years old, though it is a little scuffed (arn't we all?) Some of the keys are a little stiff and sometimes do not register.

Churches (257) : St Mary de Castro, Leicester

The church of St Mary de Castro is, as the name says, in Leicester castle. There has been a church on this site since the 10th century. In 1107 the church became a collegiate church and was located inside the castle's bailey. The church was expanded in 1160 with a north aisle added and an extension to the chancel. 

More expansions to the castle in about 1300 included the tower and reworking of the south aisle. The spire was rebuilt in 1783 though had to be removed in 2014 after serious cracks were found in it. It is not known when, of even if, the spire will be restored.

The church is built from coursed rubble with an ashlar dressing.

Stafford pass through

A freight passes through Stafford.