November 20th – In Kings Hill Park in Darlaston, there’s a lovely recent sculpture. Paid for by lottery funding, it represents the resurgence of nature post-industrialisation, and the globe of leaf and bird silhouettes is stunning. 

Each side of the supporting plinth is a cast metal relief depicting aspects of local history and life; industry, the zeppelin raid, football and other iconic aspects of Darlaston culture. I particularly liked the bike and horseshoe nails.

It’s a commanding and fascinating thing in a great location, and I could look at it for ages. So much better than a lot of such commissioned work, this has a real feeling of being of its community, without feeling contrived, or art-by-numbers.

The fact that it took real artistic skill to create also helps.

A fine thing.

20th November – Still clinging on, and looking handsome despite the decay, the mellow, early winter sunshine lit up the Workhouse Guardian’s Office beautifully. Derelict for some years, this listed building is marooned in front of the new Manor Hospital on Pleck Road in Walsall. 

I wish someone would find a suitable use and rejuvenate this lovely edifice; every detail of it is gorgeous from the stained glass windows to the beautifully ornate finial and weathervane. But such old buildings are expensive to renovate and convert, and in such an unusual physical position uses must be very limited indeed.

In the meantime, this Victorian wonder is being gently carried to dust, Havershambling away unloved, except by the few who see it’s beauty. I pray the arsonists don’t spot it.

My name is Aiden and I am a Cyclist.

aideym:

There are very few situations in normal society where you are expected to look out for the incompetence of others and if someone else gets it wrong you are responsible for the result.

The victim is usually a very normal person going about his lawful business, cruelly interrupted by the inconvenience of killing, maiming or injuring a cyclist. After all cycling is an outdated mode of transport,…

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This is important – the victim blaming must stop. I was outraged at the coverage on Midlands Today last night. I got out with big lights, body actions and am an assertive, confident cyclist. But against people who can’t, won’t or are too distracted to see me, I stand no chance, whatever measures I take to protect myself from the stupidity of others.

How about the cops  nick some of these buggers on mobiles for a change?

Cheers, Aiden – very well said.

November 19th – I forget every year how good Telford’s roadside verges are for fungi. On the backroads and industrial estates were people rarely walk, the mycology goes undisturbed, and a huge variety grow.

On a cold, dew-laden morning, a variety of Melanoleuca, a large family of toadstools which are beyond my ability to tell apart. I love the bleach-white gills, and the way they’ve split under their own weight.

November 19th – Heading out at dawn for a meeting in Telford, before returning at lunchtime. On the way, they sun caught the clouds over Mill Green, and made the sky precious.

A beautiful sunrise, and I was honoured to see it.

In the words of Joni Mitchell ‘it’s coming on winter now’ – the commutes are progressively getting colder and I think before long the frost will be here.

I have no idea why, but this year i’m actually enjoying it.

November 18th – I tried an experiment tonight, but it didn’t work that well. 15 second exposures off a tripod of the canal at Clayhanger using a tripod. The old camera used to give really great results with this, but this one seems not be as good, if I’m honest.

These photos were taken in almost total darkness.

November 18th – Not all change is for the worse. Here at James Bridge, on the Walsall-Darlaston border, the road between the two crosses a river: the Tame, in it’s nascent stages. At Besot, a mile or so away, it’s in confluence with the Ford Brook, and becomes the major watercourse of Sandwell and North Birmingham.

This river used – even here – especially here – to be nothing but a foul conduit for industrial effluent; but the industry that discharged into it has either gone, or been forced to clean up it’s act, and the river now runs relatively clear.

Today, mallards drifted in the strong flow, basking in the hazy but warm morning sun. This was unthinkable even a decade ago.

I never thought I’d see this waterway clean.

November 17th – Ah, that Late Night Feelings thing again. I found myself at Walsall Station, in the early evening – not as a passenger but waiting for one, helping a beginner commuter by travelling together in the evening Walsall traffic.

I love the lights of this station at night. It started raining soon after, and made for a wet, hard commute come. Not a good start for a beginner…

November 16th – It’s been a while since my Brownhills deer magnet was last functioning, and I `haven’t seen the local ones for ages. As I came up Coppice Lane, they were in the scrub on the left side, on the fringes of the old clay pit and landfill.

About 6 or 8 females, they were quite skittish, and didn’t hang around for long. But it was good to se the girls. Shame the light wasn’t a bit better.

November 16th – A grim ride, mostly in rain, up to Chasewater and back round by Brownhills Common. It wasn’t cold, but the light was atrocious and it didn’t feel great to be out to be honest. Some great views at Chasewater, though, with that wonderful colour from yesterday. I see the grebes are in winter plumage now, and the waterline on Jeffrey’s Swag and the North Shore could have been Penmaen.

Mr. Whiskers was the first cat I’ve ever seen on the north shore. He did’t seem to be lost. 

Back in Brownhills, a lone cygnet made the canal view complete, and winter marigolds guerrilla planted by Becks Bridge on the Pelsall Road  raised a smile.

Hope the weather improves soon.