James Clay Stuff

September 23, 2026

Then and Now Take Two Once More – Birmingham

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

Next door to the ICC in Birmingham is a canal and there is a bridge across there from Brindley Place, and it would appear quite often when crossing the bridge I would take a photograph down the canal looking towards the what was the NIA (National Indoor Arena) and is now known as the Utilita Arena Birmingham.

Over the years I have taken this view from the bridge over the canal to the ICC quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.

This photograph was taken in September 2026 using an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Here are the photographs from over the years taken of the same view.

It would also not surprise you that I have a similar set of photographs looking the other way…

September 23, 2026

Then and Now Take Two Again – Black Sabbath Bridge

Over the years I have taken this view from the bridge over the canal to the ICC quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.

This photograph was taken in September 2026 using an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Here are the photographs from over the years taken of the same view.

The Black Sabbath Bridge is a tribute attraction to celebrate the Birmingham metal band, Black Sabbath.

September 23, 2026

Salad #365photos2026

September 22, 2026

Went with red this evening #365photos2026

September 22, 2026

Stranded in Stockholm #50places2026

I do a fair amount of travelling, both for work and for pleasure. This year I did personal day trips to Venice, Madrid and Copenhagen. However I had not travelled abroad for work since November 2025. In September I was attending a conference and meeting at Luleå in Sweden. I have never visited Sweden before, so was looking forward to going.

The journey took some planning, in the end it was more efficient to travel from London Heathrow, have a layover in Stockholm and then fly up to Luleå. Having had a great time in Luleå I made my way home. The flight from Luleå to Stockholm was fine, I then made my way to the departure gate for my flight to Heathrow.

However…

This was the day that the air traffic control system at Heathrow failed and over a thousand flights were cancelled.

My flight was that evening, and I think SAS thought they might be able to take off, however in the end that was not to be the case. With the number of cancellations, the earliest flight SAS could rebook me onto was three days later. So, SAS booked me a hotel for three days. I now had three unplanned extra days in Sweden.

The hotel that SAS booked me into was in Sollentuna. Not knowing Stockholm, when SAS gave me a choice of hotels I wasn’t clear where they were, so just chose the first one. The Sandic Star Sollentuna was in fact a really nice hotel and I had a room with an extra living room space as well. The restaurant was nice and served a good breakfast and there was a nice choice of meals from the menu in the evening.

I did get a chance to explore both Sollentuna and I caught the train to Stockholm as well.

In Stockholm I managed to visit the Vasa Museum. The museum contains the raised wreck of a Swedish warship.

I had seen pictures of the Vasa before online, but nothing quite prepared me as I walked through the doors of the museum to see this huge wooden ship in front of me. I really enjoyed the museum, being up close to this massive ship from 1628.

I also had time to visit the Royal Palace. Lots of rooms to view and explore.

Alongside the state rooms of the palace, the ticket also allowed me to visit the crown jewels in the Treasury and the Tre Kronor museum dedicated to the original Tre Kronor Palace.