Andy Mabbett
LightNews LightNews
banner
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing.org.uk
1.1K followers 1.6K following 2.7K posts
Man of many talents-some of them useful. Multiple monomaniac. Author, 'Pink Floyd: The Music & The Mystery'.

Also Wikipedia, Wikidata &c. OpenStreetMap. Birds. Birmingham. Open data. FoI. Art. Architecture. History. FRSA.

Everything is interesting.
Posts Replies Media Videos
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Clangers Soup Dragon
November 19, 2025 at 10:48 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Your move
The OXO sign, made into a game of noughts-and-crosses
November 18, 2025 at 10:21 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
small, brown, lined beetle underside - Blapstinus brevicollis
November 14, 2025 at 10:31 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
"One day, son, all this will be concrete"
Trump yelling at kid mowing the law
November 8, 2025 at 11:17 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Guardian writer still confused about this web thingy
Screenshots of guardian article, including the text "There’s something reassuring in the way that we’re still discussing a television commercial. And we’re doing it via the medium of print journalism"
November 4, 2025 at 4:06 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
I Googled "grokipedia". Google asked "Did you mean: wikipedia"
October 27, 2025 at 11:15 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Seen in background on BBC News just now. What is this building in Jerusalem?
Church or church-like tower
October 19, 2025 at 12:31 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Well, fancy that...
Twitter error message, saying that the account @TheDukeOfYork does not exist.
October 19, 2025 at 10:36 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Bad “Monkey Christ” fresco restoration
October 17, 2025 at 10:00 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Spinal Tap onstage, with their undersized Stonehenge
October 14, 2025 at 10:16 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Unsolicited Dick pic
Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, circa 1970
October 11, 2025 at 10:35 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
I just found out that my Grandfather knew Bombardier Billy Wells - better known as Rank Film's original gong man. They served in the army together in the first decade of the 1900s.

So if you've met me, you're only three steps from him
Bombardier Billy Wells, striking a gong at the start of a Rank film
September 30, 2025 at 6:06 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Stay useful, Goodreads
Screenshot of Goodreads' entry for a book titled "[(Adam the Gardener)] [Author: Cyril Cowell]" and listed as having an "Unknown Author"
September 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Why, I wonder, has someone painted the stopcock/ water meter cover outside my house (and the one opposite, but no others nearby) blue?
An stop-cock cover, with embossed letters "STW", painted a vivid blue colour.
September 26, 2025 at 1:34 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Visiting my Bluesky profile while logged out results in an "Unable to resolve handle" error. I've changed my handle, then changed back and then reverified it, to no effect.

Any tips?
Screencap of Bluesky error screen reading "Oops! Unable to resolve handle". The browser address bar shows my profile's URL
September 25, 2025 at 2:09 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Take a moment—as I did this morning—to admire the decorative brickwork on Birmingham Metropolitan College's James Watt Campus, the former Brooklyn College, Great Barr, north Birmingham.

I had a part-time job teaching there, one summer, although mostly off-site.
1950s brick building, vaguely Moderne style, with decorative horizontal bands of brickwork. Ground floor windows with herringbone brickwork above them. 1950s brick building, vaguely Moderne style, with decorative horizontal bands of brickwork and recessed brick pillars between windows. Middle-distance view of the 1950s brick building.
September 22, 2025 at 10:07 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
I reported this flooding to Birmingham City Council, who have just replied, saying "Your service request has been investigated but unfortunately this didn’t meet the intervention levels that require repair at this moment in time."
An urban street, with a puddle across the entire width of the pavement
September 19, 2025 at 11:35 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
@openbenches.org Oh yes it does!

#PantoSeason
Screenshot of OpenBenches error message: "https://pigsonthewing.org.uk The website does not exist"
September 15, 2025 at 12:05 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
GPWM
Screenshot of tweet with over 11K likes: "He was killed on camera. No one's family deserves to have to witness that. It's unthinkably cruel that people would then go on the internet and use their platform to say about an innocent man that "I don't care that he's dead.' 'He's not a hero.' 'He's a scumbag.' 'He shouldn't be celebrated.' I'm talking about George Floyd. You thought I was talking about Charlie Kirk? No, those are actual quotes BY Charlie Kirk about George Floyd. Outrageous that anyone would say that of the dead, right?"
September 15, 2025 at 11:21 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
FFS, Birmingham!
A red post box, vandalised with white paint in four rectangular patches, giving the appearance of a flag of St George. The work is crude and misshapen, and the paint has run.
September 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
For some reason, replies and quote-reposts are disabled, but green does not "always mean go", in fact it never does. It means "go if it is safe to do so". Read the Highway Code!
Bluesky post by ‪Ed Morrish‬, reading: "oh no, there’s an opinion columnist in the car ahead of me and now i’m stuck here while he debates the traffic lights about whether green “always means go - or is it more complicated than that?”. come on man, i’ve got places to be."
September 9, 2025 at 10:05 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Trying to transcribe this specimen label. So far, I have:

"Pupae of Green Hairstreak ... adults. Changed to pupae 31 July 1978"

Can you help?
Hand-written label as described in post.
August 30, 2025 at 7:07 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Like this?
Bottom-right corner of a Windows 11 screen ,with a clock in the task bar
August 27, 2025 at 6:24 PM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Cropped still from video, showing white litchen on black branch
August 21, 2025 at 9:37 AM
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Four months since I reported this dangerous tree growth, obscuring pedestrians' view of traffic when crossing a 40mph road, to Birmingham City Council.

It has still not been attended to.

www.fixmystreet.com/Q/F2JPEVBX3U...
Multiple suckers from the base of a tree, on the central reservation of dual carriageway, completely obscuring the view of the outside lane
August 19, 2025 at 5:48 PM