Enginuity

Here I am looking down at the entrance to Enginuity, an interactive science museum where one can try to generate electricity from flowing water, or with some ingenuity tow a locomotive and lots of other hands on scientific experimentation.  A happy hour or two can be spent here whether a child or adult although not everything was working when we were there.  Tucked away in a corner was something that attracted my attention which was a car.

An icon from the 1960s, whether it was racing the Monte Carlo rally, driving down the Turin pedestrian steps in the heist caper film The Italian Job, or just tootling down a London high street.  A classic Mini cut in half to show its side mounted space saving front wheel drive engine which meant packing in more interior room for the size of car.

Or should I say it was cut in 'arf  as its number plate says- 1 ARF.  I wonder where the other 'arf is?

Morris Mini interior 1959" by DeFacto - Licensed CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

This is how I remember sitting in those basic early minis, lots of metal with seats and although it can't be seen in this photo to open the door you had to grab hold of a piece of wire and pull, then there were the windows that slid rather than wind up.  People loved to drive them, especially the Mini Cooper which of course was a lot speedier than this one.  Today by any comparison the BMW built minis are luxurious, but those early minis, designed by Issigonis, still retain their cult status.  

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a drive through the alphabet, this week sojourning at E here

Kayaks

We came upon this little group of kayaks while wandering downstream from the Jackfield Bridge I showed in last week's ABC Wednesday.  They were practicing on a small fall of white water, the red kayak was paddling downstream but

then turned around to make another run

 meanwhile the yellow kayak was still enjoying trying to progress against the flow

 My preference over a kayak would definitely be a Canadian canoe with those reassuring life-jackets as my swimming ability is negligible.  There are quite a few hire companies offering maps, canoes and journeys of varying length on England's longest river, the Severn.  It  is the perfect vantage point to see wildlife while gently drifting through Shropshire.  One of the day trips on offer is a paddle down the river and then a return by steam train on the Severn Valley Railway which goes over the Victoria Bridge which is a similar design to 

this bridge, the Albert Edward, which today only carries coal traffic to the power station.  Built in 1864 with two tracks but today only one is used due to the age of the bridge, possibly one of the last cast iron railway bridges to be constructed.  When we were here in late August the first touches of Autumn colour had started to appear  but at this point the riverside still retained its summer green.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at K here