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195/365: St Chad's Gospels, Lichfield Cathedral
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I was in Lichfield today, ancient cathedral city and birthplace of Samuel Johnson. I had a couple of hours to myself, which was a nice treat, and I spent a good deal of that in the cathedral. They were showing the Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners, which as usual were superb -- though the low lighting in the cathedral wasn't ideal for this purpose. I'm also not that keen on the way Lichfield has (or at least had today) someone standing next to the way out asking if I wanted to donate. I'm used to Worcester Cathedral, which isn't as pushy and simply has various ways to donate (or buy stuff in the shop), while Gloucester Cathedral openly asks you for a specific amount on the way in. I must say that I prefer both of those approaches. I've never liked being asked for money on the way out of a place, whether it be a charity shop or a church. As it happened I'd called at a donation station earlier on anyway.

Anyway, that little moan apart, Lichfield Cathedral is a glorious building. It's huge inside and out -- you keep happening upon extra side chapels and staircases and the like. In the Lady Chapel they were exhibiting some of their greatest treasures, of which this may be the most remarkable: the surviving volume of St Chad's Gospels, written in the eighth century. (The second volume was probably lost when the cathedral was looted in 1646, during the Civil War.) This book, though in Latin, contains marginal annotations in Old Welsh -- some of the earliest in that language to survive. The similar pigment in the Lichfield Angel and analysis of the paper suggest that, although the book was with the Welsh monks of St Teilo in the ninth century, it was probably written in Lichfield itself, not in Wales.

It really is an extraordinary sight, even behind glass, and even to a non-religious person like me. I'll reassure you that (probably unlike most visitors!) I read every single word of Lichfield Cathedral's photography policy, and every word on the signs up in this room, and there was nothing stopping me taking this photo. I did not, of course, use flash -- so I think it's come out all right given that the dim lighting meant I had to use a 1/14s shutter speed!

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194/365: Old Mill Street Hospital, Kidderminster
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Not quite as warm today, but it still felt hot in the sunshine. I was in Kidderminster for a small part of the day, and that's where I took this photograph. It shows part of the former Mill Street Hospital, built in 1870, which closed about 30 years ago when its operations moved to the more modern building that serves as Kidderminster Hospital today. What you see here is only about half the old hospital, as there's a second, similarly sized (but less striking) building out of shot to the left. This building has now been converted to residential use. It's in a reasonably good place for this, as the town centre and a fairly large Sainsbury's supermarket are only about ten minutes' walk down the hill (off to the right).

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193/365: Bewdley Auto Services
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It reached 32 °C here today. In terms of daily maximum temperatures, this summer looks likely to come close to the all-time record, set in the legendary summer of 1976, given the forecast for the next couple of weeks. It won't be as dry as summer 1976, but the heat is on, so to speak. My photo was taken while on a walk just out of town to get an ice cream at a local farm shop. This garage has been around for many years, using an old farm building as its workshop. It's an MOT Test centre, hence the blue and white sign out front. The banner on the side is advertising Bewdley Beer Festival, which happens over August Bank Holiday weekend later this month.

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192/365: Cheap & Cheerful, Bewdley
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A mildly unpleasant day's weather today, with a very warm feel but not a great deal of sunshine, so it felt muggy and close. Even some light rain in the evening, although not enough to do the garden much good. Today's photo is of Bewdley's only real discount shop, Cheap & Cheerful. It's as piled high with stuff inside as it is outside, so despite being a fairly small place it does stock a lot of things! Ironically, it's not that cheap -- in some cases it's better value to go into Kidderminster and visit one of its much larger discount stores or even a supermarket. It's certainly convenient, though, as long as you've remembered your physical money as it's still a cash only shop. The bunting above the sign is in Bewdley Rowing Club colours and is left over from the regatta a couple of weeks ago.

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191/365: Industrial remnants, Wyre Forest
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I had a quiet Sunday, which was fine by me, but I did go for a fairly long walk in the afternoon. This took me off the beaten track in the Wyre Forest -- although there were footpaths, I met one person (and his quiet dog) in at least half an hour, and this on a dry Sunday in August. Anyway, I went looking for structures I remembered from several years ago, and happily I found them. These are almost certainly relics of the once-significant charcoal burning industry in the forest, which survived into the early 20th century. The flat light makes it hard to see, but there's a second octagonal, brick-sided structure behind the main one. Perhaps they were part of small kilns, or perhaps they held pools to wash charcoal. I don't know.

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190/365: Austin Maestro van, Kidderminster SVR station
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I was off to see friends in Worcester again today, but at Kidderminster station I noticed that the SVR was having one of its occasional classic vehicle days. Although there were some much older cars than this on display -- I think the oldest was mid-1930s -- this is the one that caught my eye. An Austin Maestro City 500 van, of which there are only something like 15 left on the road. Indeed, there are fewer than 100 Maestros of any kind still running, remarkable when you consider that hundreds of thousands were made during the 1980s. Sadly the Austin Rover company had awful quality control at the time, and most have simply rusted away. The few that remain are mostly show cars like this one -- the reason I haven't obscured the number plate. You can also see a Morris Minor behind, but those are much more common today.