Tag: 365daysofbiking

December 24th – Christmas Eve was a quiet, resting day. After all the work and stress of the previous weeks, I pooled around Hammerwich and the local canals just looking to see what was around. It wasn’t a cold day, and the although a bit windy, the riding was good.

Hammerwich Church remains beautiful, and it’s the little details that make it – the working weathervane, the architectural details, the views of the old windmill.

In the village itself, a small, charming nativity outside a private house.

I think it must be Christmas!

December 23rd – Further on, I caught Morris Miner and Silver Street in better light than had existed the day before. With the lights on the trees, and the worst of the blue LED light installed to illuminate him failing, the statue looks much better by night, and even as something of Vegas about hime.

The pickaxe still annoys me though.

I note the building works continue at Silver Court Gardens and their lights are already helping to make what can be a very desolate spot just a bit more welcoming.

December 23rd – Again up at the sparrow’s cough, this time I needed to go to Bridgnorth, and again had a long day before me. The dawn was warmer, and the early morning less grim than the day before.

At Silver Court, the newsagent was just open – but the building lights hadn’t clicked on yet and the shop sign made for an odd, otherworldly, brutalist portal.

December 22nd – Up very early to head to Bakewell, I kn ew I’d be worn out on my return, so I went for a spin in the early hours before I left.

Heading through a dark, pre-dawn Brownhills that was quiet and untroubled, I didn’t see a soul and felt like a somnambulant, cycling ghost.

At Silver Street, even the boats were in darkness and the waterfowl weren’t up yet. I surveyed the scene with a full day ahead and reflected on the quiet, so far unawakened would around me.

December 21st – And so, on the way back to Brownhills, a familiar subject that was today in darkness due to the lack of moonlight. The canal was millpond still and there was little wind – a situation that looks about to change, with incoming intemperate weather threatening.

I can remember really, really cold Christmases – with snow on the ground, if not truly white – but we haven’t had one for a few years now.

I suppose s decent covering of snow this winter is too much to ask?

December 21st – At last, work is over for the year, coinciding happily with the shortest day. The winter solstice is important to me, as once it’s passed, the days begin their sinusoidal rollercoaster of opening out once more – slowly at first, then careering to daylight as the spring comes. 

When I reach this point, I always feel I’ve survived. From here on in, things can only improve. And Christmas is here!

I passed the Black Cock in Walsall Wood on my way home; a pub that’s clinging on despite several changes of landlord in a short time, it remains popular and the welcoming, warm lights in the darkness made it feel festive and welcoming.

I’m ready for Christmas now, and a rest.

December 20th – I keep passing this sign at the garden centre on the Chester Road near Mill Green, and as I passed it tonight, I realised that as with every year, it’s purpose had now all but ceased; few people will be buying the traditional nordman fir now, and so inexorably, the season is ticking away; One more day at work, then holiday, then on my return, a new year and nights that open out again after the winter solstice and shortest day, which occur the very next day.

Time marches on quickly for me these days, but this autumn, with the huge workload and long hours, has seemed particularly cruel.

I long for spring flowers, warm breezes and the sun on my face.

Soon be over the peak.

December 19th – Near the Black Country Route in Moxley, the moss on this old hawthorn buss fascinates me. Although, to be fair, it could be lichen… like fellow hugely complex organisms fungi, mosses and lichens are fascinating, intricate and a world away from conventional plants.

The colours alone are stunning. I wonder why this particular bush?