July 19th – The rains didn’t stay way for long. I was working from home, drowning under a shedload of paperwork. Late afternoon, I popped out to get some shopping in. As I left, the soft drizzle that had been falling turned into a downpour. 

There are few places greyer than Brownhills when it rains. I’m currently wondering whether it’s worth having my whole body waterproofed, like you can with tents…

July 18th – Everything is all to cock. Normally in summer, you have sunny days, and dull, rainy days. This summer you get dull, rainy weeks and sunny hours. It was in one such sunny hour I found myself in on the way back from work. It wasn’t terribly warm, but the countryside around Jockey Meadows and Bullings Heath at Walsall Wood looked superb. We’d hat a lot of rain, and Green Lane had again flooded, prompting the usual displays of lousy driving. The still-wet greenery, however, made it all seem worthwhile.

Hopefully, the weather is now limbering up for one whole sunny morning…

July 18th – I cycled to work in Darlaston in a rainstorm, for what seemed like the thousandth time. I came up through Shelfied and Walsall with a heavy heart; the wind was against me and I was getting rather wet. As usual, I dropped on to the canal at Bridgman Street, and the rain ceased for a while and the the skies brightened. Near Pleck, I came upon this brood of ducklings, huddled together in the grass for warmth, their mother quacking reassuringly from the canal. They were quite tame, and I feel sure I could have reached out and picked one up. 

Further on, at Bentley Bridge, I noticed what can only be the sad remains of a Black Country Funeral, like a Viking one, but with less ambition. How unfortunate…

July 17th – I’d not really studied thistles closely until I took a picture of some a few weeks ago, but they are actually fascinating, diverse, and very, very beautiful. These were growing by Clayhanger Bridge at the canalside, and each flower seems like precisely engineered perfection to me. I’ve noted that there seem to be a lot of different types, with different physical characteristics. 

They may be prickly customers, but they’re actually really interesting if you look closely. I must read up.

July 17th – Working late again. I returned from Walsall, crawling wearily up through Rushall and Shelfield towards Brownhills in the last of the daylight. At the Black Cock Bridge, I hopped on the canal and headed homewards. It was grey, but oddly enough, not raining. The air felt warm, and the evening seemed oddly close. I stopped on the bend where the old Walsall Wood Colliery basins would have been. The water was clear, apart from lilies and the odd patch of algae. Everywhere was green, verdant and beautiful. Summer is sort of happening while we’re not watching. One thing I will say for it; it’s been a great year for foliage.

The area clumps bothered me; I don’t know if they’re blue-green or some other variety and the net isn’t much help. Probably best to watch your dog if they’re fond of a dip. If it is blue-green, it can be quite toxic to hounds.

July 16th – Another wet day, another late, miserable commute home through the lanes of Stonnall and Lynn. I surely must have done, but I don’t think I’ve ever known a summer like this. Everything is saturated, even my goodwill. The bike is suffering, I’m suffering. Yet we both carry on; floods, muck and wind.

When summer does come it’s going to be bloody wonderful.

July 15th – It was, on occasion, a bright sunny day. But it wasn’t warm, and when the sun went in, the chill was evil. I was cycling in the evening, and my journey to Yoxall, Barton and the Trent and Mersey river section at Alrewas was beautiful, but challenging. I was in shorts and cold; my energy low, and I bonked. (That’s where you need food, and you suddenly flatline. Runners call it ‘Hitting the wall’). Still, the countryside was as gorgeous as ever, and it reminds me to keep grazing and stock up with snacks before I leave for a long ride.

July 15th – Ducks are not fussy. Mallards will mate with anything that cooperates, and quite a lot of things that don’t. Unusual union has clearly resulted in this peculiar fellow, who seems to be, for the most part, mallard, but there seems to be runner duck and tufted in there somewhere. He lives on the boating lake at Chasewater, and I caught him on an evening ride out to Yoxall and Barton. Have to say, the levels are raising impressively now.

Nice barnet…