January 4th – After being worryingly low in late summer, the water level at Chasewater has recovered quickly. With the rain and meltwater over the Christmas period, the balancing culverts are now submerged, and I think we’re about 16 inches (400mm) off full. If water isn’t drawn down, I’d expect water to be overflowing into the spillway by mid February if we have moderate rains.
I still can’t get over how quickly Chasewater refills.
January 3rd – My dislocation was compounded by the darkness. Despite the moonlight, the town seemed very dark and deserted, from the alley at the rear of the church to the footpath over the spot, which I rode over to Clayhanger to visit a pal.
Sometimes I hate the darkness. Sometimes it’s my best friend. Right now, I just wish it would hang back a bit.
Roll on spring.
January 3rd – Ah, that prickly, uncomfortable time between New Year and starting work again. Once you get back to the grind, Christmas seems a long way off and life gets back to normal quickly, but in the interregnum between festivity and workaday occupation, things feel otherworldly and disconnected. I hate it.
The nights are opening out though, which is good; the weather hasn’t been great, particularly that morning, and I can’t seem to get anything done, which is a pain, but everything must pass.
I spun into town for a few items and some fresh air, and swung past St James, the parish church of Brownhills. I’ve always found it stark and austere, and the extension added in the early 90s (in the foreground) is, to me, hideous. But the church is the heart of Brownhills, or at least Ogley Hay, even if most of the surrounding community seemed to be Methodist.
The sky was a deep, azure blue and the moon was nearing full. It was quiet. Not a bad night to be out, but my heart was elsewhere.
I’ll feel better when I’m back at work.
January 2nd – This was one of the things that cheered me up in Lichfield. The railings around Minster Pool. Someone with an idea, some blu-tak and a small pair of googly eyes. The expression is beautiful. I only noticed it by chance.
I don’t know who did the deed, but I thank you. You made me grin from ear to ear, and chased my black dog away. So now I’ve preserved your random act of happiness and shared it for posterity.
Thank you.
January 2nd – Today, I was at a loose end. Things hadn’t come together well, and I felt miserable and disconnected, but I got my rug together and headed into Lichfield at dusk. It rewarded me beautifully – I love the Christmas lights here; even more poignant at the close of the festive season. It’s amazing how poncing about with a camera and creating a little can cheer you up.
For those counting, it’s the third anniversary of riding 365 days a year. I actually started the project in April, 2011 in order to ride every day of the 30 days of that April, mainly to stop fellow twitter cyclist Renee Van Baar from nagging me about it. At the end of that month, i was enjoying the thing so much I carried on, and vowed to make it 365 days.
Sadly, over the new year of 2011/12, I suffered bad food poisoning, and was off the bike for two days. I was gutted, and so feeling cheated, I started again. Today was the third anniversary of that resolution.
I often agonise over to whether I continue this, and I welcome reader opinion, so please do comment; but this journal is so much part of what I do on a bike every day now that it would be hard to stop. The readership continues to grow; over 5,100 followers.
Statistics for this year gone have been a total distance of 9,296 miles. That’s still about 25½ miles a day. A remarkable total of 14,446 photos have been taken. On the journal so far, there have been 3,028 posts. I have cycled continuously, every day, for 1095 days.
In total, the journal has run for 1,368 days from the start, and something in just shy of 35,000 miles. Think about that; I’ve cycled every day, rain, snow, wind or shine of the last 1,368 days, all except 2. I’m proud of that.
I guess I proved a middle aged, ordinary geezer with a fondness for cake and tea can do this.
Thank you for riding it with me. As long as people are enjoying this, I’ll keep doing it.
Your comments are, as ever, welcome, even if it’s just to tell me to shut the hell up…
New Year’s Day – I was miserable. The weather was miserable. That’s all there was to it.
I wasn’t feeling good – not over-indulgence, but the semi-regular bad stomach and that post-Christmas feeling when the work that seemed so far away two days ago is suddenly noticed, bearing down.
I span out after dark, up Coppice Lane and the cycleway, and back along the canal. It was raining, and windy so quite tough going. But I felt better for it, and got home more cheerful than I left it.
I always find January 1st difficult if I’m hemmed in. Tomorrow will be a better day.
December 31st – I’m concerned about the fate of the sculpture at Catshill Junction in Brownhills. Since the new housing development started, due to lack of access, it has become increasingly overgrown. I’m worried it might be lost completely, and fear that Walsall Housing Group have made no provision for it in the plans for the new build.
On the subject of which, it’s very early days yet but I’m finding the building flat and characterless at the moment. Any new homes here are good; the land has been dormant and unused for a decade – but I do hope this currently somewhat bland construction develops some character as it’s topped out…
December 31st – A middling day with ice still on the ground, but a building wind; I nipped to the supermarket in Burntwood, and returned via Chasewater. On the way, I noticed this peculiar method of mounting a poster.
The screws already existed, but heavens, have drawing pins suddenly shot up in price or something?
Astounding.
Last ride of 2014! Wasn’t going too far as I’ve too many aches and pains at the moment, so 16.5 miles was my limit. We dropped by Ryders Mere in the hope that we might spot the Great Northern Diver but we didn’t take binoculars. It was lovely to stop there for five minutes and admire the tranquillity of the place but boy was it treacherous under foot and wheel with the ice and mud.
A lovely morning’s ride and a good way to end the year.
Hey, thank you that’s really lovely!
Happy new year
bob
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 