June 14th – Spotted on the way to work in Place, this pair of characters. They seemed friendly enough. They mewed at me softly. I assume they’re siblings, or if not, they’re close pals.
One of the very best things about summer communities on a sunny day is observing the cat population taking the air and enjoying it.
July 13th – Running an errand at dusk, a beautiful sunset, and just after a heavy rain shower, very nearly a surface air inversion with small patches of mist drifting off the canal, but just a little too breezy for it to develop into anything.
The weather has been atrocious lately, but evenings like this – cool, clear and peaceful – make you remember what summer’s about.
July 13th – Back on the bike, the vetch at Walsall Wood is very long lasting and profuse this year.
A lovely purple flower, it grows in scrubs, edge lands and hedgerows, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a good year for it.
Wonderful to see.
July 13th – I wasn’t on my bike, but I can’t let this pass: a chance to overview the start of the demolition of the Adrian Boult Hall, part of the demolition of Birmingham Central Library and Paradise Circus.
Prehistoric looking machines are ripping, tearing and crushing masonry and concrete, shearing and cutting steel. Skilled engineers, operators and surveyors move over the site, where the modern age is almost universally high-visibility orange.
It’s interesting to see new vistas evolve, which themselves will be lost again. I’m lost the horror of the demolition now, and an grimly fascinated, like I’m watching some post mortem or investigation into some misadventurous occurrence.
July 12th – Meanwhile, at Jockey Meadows, the coos are getting stuck in, browsing the scrub and spreading the cowpat love. I’m fascinated in their behaviour; they tend to operate in a loose group, and move to different parts of the pasture at different times of day. It’s almost as if they know they have a job to do, and are carefully, conscientiously doing it.
I love these gentle, charming beasts.
July 12th – I’ve spotted this apparently elderly lady before in central Walsall, near the college. She has a broken tail and a limp but she seems alert, active and very sharp on her feet.
She hasn’t previously hung about to have her photo taken, and today, as I pulled up gently on my bike, she gave me 20 seconds before she decided to up sticks and run off, glaring at me.
This is a cat with attitude…
July 11th – I finished the working day with a meeting in Lichfield, and before facing an evil headwind on the way home, I took a look around the parks and open spaces of the city, which always look so good in summer.
From the Cathedral looming over the Memorial Gardens and Minster Pool, to the stunning lavender border in Festival Gardens, the gardeners are a credit to the city, they really are.
Take a bow folks, you should be very proud.
July 11th – Today I noticed an odd little curiosity I’d not spotted before. On the canal at Clayhanger Bridge, the rope guards that were installed on the original bridge were transferred to it’s replacement in 1994.
These rusting metal posts were originally at the vertices of the brickwork on the towpath side of the underbridge. Back when narrowboats were horse drawn, the guards were fitted so that the horse towropes would not groove the brickwork, but the metal instead. The years of boats passing wore deep grooves in the metal, which are a sort of historical witness to the traffic that once passed under here.
There are very few horse-drawn boats now, and the posts are merely there as an artefact. I note they were fitted slightly incorrectly in that they no longer protect the corners, and their positions have been exchanged (the wear would be on the right hand side of the post in the picture) – but well done to those who rebuilt this bridge two decades ago for preserving a little bit of industrial canal history.
How have I not spotted this before?
July 10th – Thanks to a reader for alerting me to this, as it’s quite hazardous. Due to the heavy rains we’ve had of late, the footpath has eroded on the northern side of the Ogley Junction footbridge over the canal at Brownhills, near Lichfield Road. Just where the asphalt ends, there’s a growing cavity about 3 inches deep, ready to swallow bike wheels or trip up walkers. Coming from the other direction it’s nasty, too.
I shall get on to the Canal and River Trust tomorrow and see if they’ll come and fill it.
July 10th – The wind was still dreadful, and the skies were dark as I left the house mid afternoon. I again had stuff to do in Burntwood, so cut through Chasewater, which is still, despite the valves being open, only an inch or so off full.
The water level of the lake directly impacts Fly Pool and the creek that runs through it, and the boardwalk constructed over the creek itself shows a slight design fault at times of high water level.
Oh dear – but it does look wonderfully dramatic.
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