BrownhillsBob

December 8th – Lichfield Street in Walsall is an interesting place. Home of the Town Hall, Library and several elegant, large victorian buildings, this tree-lined, wide street often gives the impression of Cheltenham. Interspersed with the large statement buildings is an interesting variety of old and new; bars, takeaways and shops for the service industry. At night, it’s beautifully atmospheric with the lights from the Arbor Lights bar shining out, glistening of the wet tarmac. Note the ghost sign for Dartmouth Stationers, long ago closed and converted to a chemist.

December 7th – The war memorial in Darlaston is also one of the best locally. Far more personal and intimate than that of Walsall, for me the only one to challenge it for beauty and presence is Wednesbury. I love the gardens and spaces to sit around it; the sympathetic, sharply observed Great War Soldier modelled on top. I love the way if fits beautifully into it’s urban environment, and the fact that there’s a playground and nursery nearby. I think those remembered here would appreciate the noises and joyful hubbub of the children playing nearby.

December 7th – On this bright, but rather windy winter’s morning, Darlaston was again looking stunning. Here, the Police Station overlooks Victoria Park. In summer, it’s leafy and green, and in this mild season, the view has opened out yet the lawns still remain verdant. This is the Black Country in all its aesthetic glory. Yet who outside of the immediate area knows of the beauty of this place? A tragedy that Darlaston is not better appreciated.

December 6th – The seasonal frosts came with a vengeance today, the roads and pavements covered in a layer of frozen rainfall. As soon as that happens, on go my winter tyres. The ones I use are Schwalbe Marathon Winter, in 700cx35, which have a pronounced, rubbery anti-slip deep tread and carry four rows of tungsten carbide studs, which bite into ice and stop you sliding away. Very effective in snow, this is the second winter for this pair, and they’re still like new. They’re noisy to ride, and don’t roll all that smoothly, but I’d rather that than land on my arse. They work surprisingly well, and cut spills to an absolute minimum. Highly recommended.

December 6th – Another lost pub appears to be going down the dust pipe. Since proving itself just as readily combustible as other closed pubs locally, the Miners Arms at Rushall has sat forlorn, with scaffolding half erected around it. This once lively, popular boozer used to have great live music and a decent pint, but like so many, couldn’t make enough to survive. Closed for a good while, then subject to the inevitable arson attack, it now appears that the demolition crew has moved in. I’m sure another block of highly individual apartments awaits.

December 6th – In contrast to The Butts, which I featured a few days ago, this part of Scarborough Road in Pleck, south west Walsall, is a classic interwar estate of council houses. Built well in the days when slum clearances were just starting, these were good quality homes, built to last. Few now remain in social ownership, but the wide open street lined with trees belie a social dream that endures. I cycle this road often; it provides a viable, alternative route to the busy Pleck Road that runs parallel. On this cold, winters morning, just like in The Butts, life rumbles on; in defiance of all common sense a proud owner was washing his car, music played and neighbours chatted. All of life is here.

Sadly, I left my camera at work, so this is the only photo for today, sorry.

December 4th – Running from the A5 Watling Street, down through Holland Park, the Black Path is well known to Brownhillians. This lonely byway across the common and heath links Brownhills to it’s satellite area of Newtown, and the popular Brownhills School. At the north end of this path, there used to be a close of grim maisonettes at Deakin Avenue, whose only practical link to the town was this dark, and then unlit, path. Not a journey I’d like to take at night on foot. A lonely, forbidding place.

December 4th – A wet, miserable day. I had planned to go up on the Chase, but the weather was so bad, I settled for a circuit of the town in the early evening. Up on the A5, I admired the lights of The Terrace restaurant. This popular venue has been going for years and has a good reputation locally, and even at 5pm on a Sunday it was clearly very busy. Hard to believe this was once nothing more than a petrol station and transport cafe.

Decmber 3rd – Brownhills no longer gets a Christmas tree. All that happens in these straitened times is that workmen hang lights of the trees next to Morris, the metal miner on the central island. Morris is lit up in blue at night, which I’ve always thought to be horrid. The tree-lights are also blue and make the whole ensemble look like a cheap decoration. At lest things look a bit more festive up on the High Street.

December 3rd – A cold, windy afternoon. Busy all day, I managed to slip out at dusk, and took a spin up to Chasetown in order to photograph the town’s Christmas lights from the top of the hill, a plan cruelly thwarted by the ugly fact that the don’t have any. On the way, I stopped on the southern footbridge over the Chasetown bypass to photograph the new road system. Between this new road and the M6 toll, huge amounts of farmland, heath and scrub were destroyed and asphalted over. These junctions altered the local road system massively and I don’t think the local ecology ever really recovered.