June 4th – A sunny day, warm with little wind and the first shirtsleeve commute of the year. I took the slow way back to Brownhills along the canals and enjoyed every minute. The meadows, towpaths and hedgerows look wonderful right now and summer is waiting in the wings.
Bring it on.
June 3rd – I found myself riding home through Walsall Wood and on through Brownhills in a gorgeous golden hour. The coos of Jockey Meadows were waiting at the gate, and keen to investigate me as I stopped to take their picture.
On the canal, the greens are still magnificent, and something about the light and water interacted and made the evening precious.
June 3rd – A later than usual commute, and I just caught the lights at Rushall Square as they went red. In the last few months, this junction has been resurfaced, with new high-friction braking surfaces and lane markings. As a junction, I’m quite fond of it.
I must spend ages waiting here.
I like the new lane markings coming the other way now, which seem to have improved road use between the two sets of lights no end. It’s a shame it has to be pointed out what the three lanes at the junction are for, but there you go…
June 2nd – A grey, windy morning, but the temperature was rising. Running around on errands in the morning after the rain had stopped, I noticed all these wonderful wildflowers on one roadside verge neat Tipton.
There are all sorts here from common but beautiful daisies to oilseed rape, gone feral near the crash barrier.
It may have been a chilly, grey spring, but the flora is thriving, and I don’t think I’ve ever known a spring this lush and beautiful.
June 1st – Nearby on Clayhanger Common, beautiful, fragrant hot pink dog roses, looking scruffily beautiful in the rain.
On days like this, you take the beauty where and when you find it. And these are a delight.
June 1st – It may have been the first day of the meteorological summer, but it was cold, wet and blustery. Again.
Cheering me up in the gloom, though: Clayhanger’s latest family: seven Canada goose goslings, clearly very recently hatched. When I spotted them, they were scrambling to hop out of the overflow they’d been paddling in.
Mum and dad were very attentive and impressive parents, it has to be said.
May 31st – There’s living in that little face. Watching me from near Middleton Bridge, this inscrutable black puss was high on the embankment. A charming little cat, not moving o really acknowledging my presence at all.
Wonder what happened to the ear-tip? I bet there’s a story there…
May 31st – Must say, panorama mode on this thing seems decent too, if a little fiddly.
May 31st – A wolf of a day again – a heavy wind and wet morning, but bright sunshine in the afternoon made for a short ride and some familiar views to test the Nikon. The zoom is a lot more tricky to get right than the older camera, but it gives way better results, I have to say. Those shots of the Cathedral from Shire Oak and Hammerwich from Newtown are remarkable sharp for the range.
On the whole, the camera seems excellent, and most of my grumbles are with a particularly fiddly user interface, not inconsiderable weight and peculiar autofocus lag.
Oh, and terrible, terrible documentation. But on the other hand, wow!
May 30th – As is traditional on a day when you have a new camera to try out, the light was crap. It was dull and overcast and less than inspiring – but the views over the Brownhills and Shenstone countryside were green and lush.
That limpid-looking pool is a surface drainage lagoon for the M6 Toll. You’d never know to look at it.
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