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11-11-11

This tag is associated with 17 posts

Ulysses on the Buses: Erdington

By Tom Lennon ⋅ December 28, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

The following is a brief extract from the recently unearthed sequel to James Joyce’s Ulysses, entitled ‘Twolysses’. This rigidly structured chapter was to be written as a sequence of questions and answers, and an early version originally appeared in a 1921 edition of Aston Villa’s match day souvenir programme. WHAT DIVERGENT COURSES DID STEPHEN DEDALUS [...]

Ulysses on the Buses: Stockland Green

By Tom Lennon ⋅ May 11, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

CONFESSIONS OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN (1974) Cert X, Dir. Alan Smithee Stockland Green Plaza from 16th June, 1974. Showtimes vary. Based on the acclaimed novel by cult science-fiction satirist Jimmy Joyce, this new British sex comedy stars the ever-popular Robin Askwith as Steve Dedalus, a chirpy young aspiring novelist who yearns to [...]

Ulysses on the Buses: Villa Park

By Tom Lennon ⋅ May 2, 2009 ⋅ One comment

Next week’s auction of rare manuscripts by the great Irish author James Joyce looks set to ignite a bitter dispute between private collectors, leading academics and fans of a West Midlands football team. The documents – made up of original, handwritten drafts of what many believe to be his earliest published work – consist of [...]

11-11-11: Ulysses on the Buses

By Tom Lennon ⋅ April 9, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Stateless, scrawny James Joyce and his mistressmusewife, Nora Barnacle, were waiting for a number eleven omnibus in the Perry Barr district of Birmingham. It was twenty-six days, five months and one hundred and four years after 16th June 1904, although they didn’t necessarily spend all that time waiting for a bus. At what precise location [...]

11-11-11: Aston Lane

By Tom Lennon ⋅ February 21, 2009 ⋅ 3 comments

Am 11. November 2008 Clare und ich verbrachten einige Stunden circumnavigating die Stadt von Birmingham auf dem Bus der Nr. 11. Dieses wasn‘ t unsere Idee, verstehen Sie. Eher war es das Geistesprodukt der Jon Bounds der erstaunlichen Brum-gegründeten Web site Birmingham: It’ s Nicht Schit. Birchfield Library At about 2.30pm we leave Wellington Road [...]

11-11-11: Crown and Cushion, Perry Barr

By Tom Lennon ⋅ February 7, 2009 ⋅ 4 comments

Le 11 novembre 2008 Clare et moi avons passé plusieurs heures circumnavigating la ville de Birmingham sur l’autobus du numéro 11. C’était idée de limites de Jon Bounds de ‘Birmingham: n’est pas Merde.’ We’re still on the number 11 bus, we’re still in Perry Barr and we’re now passing the Crown and Cushion pub. There’s [...]

11-11-11: St Theresa’s Club, Perry Barr

By Tom Lennon ⋅ January 30, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

On 11th November 2008 Clare and I spent several hours circumnavigating the city of Birmingham on the number 11 bus. This wasn’t our idea, you understand. Rather, it was the brainchild of Jon Bounds of the marvelous Brum-based website Birmingham: It’s Not Shit. You can read about it here. While some tech-savvy contributors to this [...]

11-11-11: Handsworth

By Tom Lennon ⋅ November 24, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

(By way of a recap: on 11th November 2008 Clare & I embarked on a public transport-based Kerouacian Carousel around the City of Birmingham. I’m writing up the journey in a series of urban travelblogs that are insterspersed with low humour and the occasional knob gag. Think Bill Bryson meets the late Reg Varney.) As [...]

11-11-11: Winson Green

By Tom Lennon ⋅ November 17, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

“The road you can talk about is not the road you can walk on.” Lao-Tse – Tao Te Ching At about 2.10pm the bus is driving through Winson Green. For the uninitiated, Clare and I are indulging in a spot of guerrilla ethnomethodology aboard Birmingham’s legendary number 11 bus. Some youths board the bus and [...]

11-11-11: From Bearwood to Edgbaston

By Tom Lennon ⋅ November 16, 2008 ⋅ 3 comments

By 2pm we’ve left Harborne. It happens to us all eventually. After crossing Hagley Road (home to my old sixth form, St Philip’s College), the number 11 saunters wistfully along the Bearwood High Street as another song comes to mind. This time, it’s the sublime This is What She’s Like from Dexys Midnight Runners’ wilfully [...]

11-11-11: Lost Souls and Plimsoles

By Tom Lennon ⋅ November 14, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Well we know where we’re goin’But we dont know where we’ve beenAnd we know what were knowin’But we can’t say what weve seen Talking Heads – Road to Nowhere It’s about 1.50pm, Clare and I are still in Harborne and we’re still sitting on the front seat of the top deck of Birmingham’s legendary number [...]

11-11-11: From Selly Oak to Harborne

By Tom Lennon ⋅ November 13, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

At 1.43pm we cross the Bristol Road and head down Harborne Lane. From the front seat on the top deck of the number 11 bus you get a great view of the still-under-construction new Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The futuristic, super sleek tri tower structure already looks so impressive you could be forgiven for thinking that [...]