Couple more rides since my last note and have managed to almost make my first weekly target which was for 50 miles. I made 47. Unexpected family illness meant I couldn’t get out for the longer ride I was aiming for at the end of the week and today I discovered that my clothing just isn’t warm…
My good blogging friend Linda Mason is getting on her bike for the first time in years. Please follow her Tumblr Journal… lets follow her as she does the century.
Best of luck, Linda!
January 14th – A cold, clear, crisp, beautifully frosty winter day. At last. Normally, on days like this I’d wrap up warm and head for Cannock Chase. Sadly, I wasn’t up to that, so settled for a sunset pootle around Brownhills and Warrenhouse. The views from Barracks Lane over Home Farm were gorgeous, as was the dusk over the canal near Ogley Junction. I really regretted not being in better condition. I bet the Trent Valley was gorgeous tonight…
January 13th – Whilst pottering down the Wednesbury Road, I noticed a curio I’d not been aware of before – a pine tree, or conifer, growing in the front garden of one of the terraces that now form the Girls School there. It’s very, very tall, and has progressively had the lower branches trimmed away. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this in an urban environment before – and why, in all the years it must have existed, have I never noticed it? A real oddity.
January 13th – it was a hectic, draining day. I had a meeting in Brownhills, then had to got to the doctor, then on to work. My infection has returned and my stomach was bad again, ever since finishing the antibiotics. It was about 11:30am as I cycled to work in Darlaston. Heading through Walsall town centre for a change, I passed this pair of Victorian semis that used to be neighbours of the now demolished Mellish Road Church. They’re actually very interesting, as they were just saved from demolition – the subsidence that caused the closing of the church affected them, too; but better construction and less weight helped them survive. They’re a very good illustration of the effects of subsidence – in this case caused by limestone caverns – as outwardly, they look straight, but when studied, there isn’t a single true line anywhere on them. A testament to the tolerance of Victorian building techniques.
January 12th – An incredible sight this morning in Victoria Park, Darlaston. Trees in blossom. I have no idea what they are (the pink one looks like it’s a weird graft from the trunk) but surely, this must be some kind of record? The evergreen at the back also has bright yellow-green blooms. This year is all out of synch. I hope if winter does come, it doesn’t do these, the most optimistic of trees, any harm. They deserve only the best of seasons for coming out so soon.
January 12th – I noted back before Christmas that following another of Walsall’s infectious arson attacks, the Miners Arms pub in Rushall was being demolished. Well, operations appear to have ground to a halt and work stalled. The formed pub sits truncated to the first floor, debris littered around it and on the lawn of the health centre next door. The people demolishing this building seem to have got bored and wandered off. Hardly professional.
What an eyesore.
Hey, thank you. That’s very kind.
Bob
January 11th – I also passed the old Three Crowns Pub in Kings Hill today. Once, this pub would have bustled with the workers from nearby factories like Servis. Now, it seems to be the home of Martin Inspection, and still seems to be in use – the lights are often on when I pass at night. I think this is a lovely building, with some very interesting details. Sadly, it has no architectural or historical value, so I suspect it will eventually be lost, maybe when the old Servis site next door gets redeveloped.
January 11th – Darlaston was gorgeous again this morning. Just in front of the swimming baths, looking down the former railway cutting that is Victoria Park, I admired the long shadows of winter. I was reminded of the lyric to The The’s ‘Perfect’…
Here comes another winter, of long shadows & high hopes,
Here comes another winter, waitin for utopia,
waitin for hell to freeze over.
Matt Johnson wrote that in the recession and depression of the early 1980’s. It feels like history, politics and culture are stuck on repeat at the moment.
January 11th – The good weather continued today, commuting this week is a joy to the heart. Trundling through Walsall Wood, I passed Barrow Close. This relatively new estate of apartments and houses was built on the site of the old Chillington Manufacturing site – formerly Thacker Barrows. Yes, few people know, but Walsall Wood was once the heart of manufacturing for the traditional builder’s wheelbarrow. Chillington took the money and moved to Walsall, but still thrive, thankfully.
Comically, a local tried to tell me a while ago that the name Barrow Close had been chosen as there had been a burial mound nearby… er, no.
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