Septemver 27th – I’ve been passing this odd, low farmhouse/barn in Knowle Lane, south of Lichfield, for years. It looks disused, but someone clearly used to live here. 

It’s more redolent of a railway station building than a farm, but has impressive chimneys. There seems to be a bigger house behind, and this the outbuildings, but it’s hard to tell. It has some curious features, including the door or aperture halfway up the wall.

Since the lane here is a partial holloway, it’s impossible to get a good angle for a photo, but this is a fascinating little bit of architecture. Does anyone know the history?

September 26th – Another great sky as I nipped down into Stonnall in the dying light. Coming back into Brownhills form Shire Oak, the view, as ever, surprised with it’s beauty.

The view down Shire Oak Hill to Brownhills is one of the best around here, but few ever seem to notice it. Yes, it’s urban, and not beautiful, really. But it has an interesting, busy urban charm I rather love – particularly at sundown, when the buildings catch the light and are rendered precious.

September 26th – I nipped over to Burntwood to get some shopping in after work. On the way, I passed through Chasewater.

Near the top of the dam I saw an older chap with a bicycle trailer, containing a handsome, elderly brown and white collie dog. When your old mate cant walk so far, but still loves the fresh air and a change of scene, you do what you can. 

In this case it was saddle up the bike, get a trailer, put some old carpet in it for comfort, and use it as a chariot.

A lovely sight; two old friends out for a constitutional – not unlike the two boater dogs I spotted on my return at Anglesey Basin. I think they’d had a falling out as they seemed to be studiously ignoring each other…

September 25th – I spotted this by change in Butlers Passage, Walsall. A dark, dingy alleyway, it’s not a pleasant place, and I normally scoot the bike through here to get on the road home if I’ve been in the town centre. 

Today, I happened to glance left, and there was a beautifully executed partial stencil of Snow White apparently drinking coffee with a lad in a baseball hat. 

I guess it’s a visual joke based on the Italian cafe a few yards to the right.

It’s beautifully executed, and seems to be by the same hand as the now erased ‘Class War’ stencil that was nearby until very recently. The art is confident yet cursory, and beautifully thought out.

A wonderful thing that brought a real smile to my face. My compliments to the artist.

September 25th – Spotted in darkest Wednesbury whilst nipping out on an errand, a giant, concrete lego brick. 

How long have these been a thing? Why was I not informed?

A world where four-feet wide giant lego exists cannot be all bad. But why just use it as an anti-vehicle barrier and not build something instead?

A wasted opportunity, I feel…

Setember 24th – My return from Walsall an hour or so later was similarly in a gorgeous, but darker golden hour that made the red bricks of north Walsall glow beautifully. The nights really are drawing in now, and I’ll soon be commuting with lights on. It actually tried to rain on me as I rode  home, but the sun never went in.

I guess that just now, we’re entering the autumn period of great sunsets…

Bring it on.

September 24th – I had to nip over to Droitwich late in the afternoon, just to check something over for a client. It’s actually a lot quicker to get there than you’d think; catch the right trains and it’s only 70 minutes out of Walsall. 

Droitwich has a lovely station, and as I waited on my return the light was beautifully mellow, but the sky had some very black clouds that looked awfully threatening. But the sun shone through, it was warm, and only the colour of the trees really gave any clue that this was autumn at all.

September 23rd – Labouring up Shire Oak Hill at Sandhills, a familiar crunch crackles under my tyres. The beech mast is thick this year, and it’s been a good year for beech nuts.

The husks are hard, prickly and dry as old bones; the little brown nuts shiny and hard. Some years, the nuts are fatter and more oily than others, and this is part of the growing cycle of the tree, not a factor of the weather. Edible but harsh, they were used as a substitute for coffee in wartime and gave their name to a chewing gum.

I collect a few, split them open with a pocket blade, and suck out the kernel, and chew them determinedly for the remainder of my journey. 

A palatable taste, not unlike a slightly sharp hazelnut. But it’s hard work to get a decent mouthful!

September 23rd – The overcast days seem to be well upon us now, and when I left work this evening, the light was grey, indistinct and the air quality once more very poor. I had to nip over to Stonnall to pick something up, so I ploughed on with grim determination. 

Just off Lynn Lane, on my return, I noted that the last arable crop of the season was being harvested. Maize (a close relative of sweetcorn) which had grown tall and green in the end days of summer was now being shorn off at ground level by a special piece of machinery, which chops the whole plant – leaves, stalk, seed and cob – into chips for use as bulk in animal feed and the like.

I watched from afar with a heavy heart. The smell was remarkable, and with it, the summer passed the final baton to autumn. The closing-in is well underway today, coincidentally also that of the Autumnal Equinox.