January 21st – I returned to the scene of previous photographic crimes to try an experiment. I set the camera down on the Clayhanger canal overflow brickwork, set it on a 15 second exposure, then used my bike light on brightest setting to slowly light up the scene.
It worked well – a trick I’d scene drain explorers using – but sadly it highlighted all the detritus sitting on the melting ice layer on the canal surface.
I think this merits further experimentation.
January 21st – Taking a shortcut home through The Butts in Walsall,I was struct by the beauty of the car-lined street of terraces under the ghostly white LED streetlights. I don’t often come this way as I find the traffic down here a nightmare, but it’s a lovely place; by day, busy and occupied but by night, almost somnambulant.
A snatched photo taken just because the scene charmed me.
January 20th – A beautiful, cold winter day – exactly the kind I’ve been hankering after. As I rode to work the light was beautifully soft and lit Darlaston up, but it was still hovering around freezing, which gave the air a keen nip.
The swans on the canal at Pleck seemed annoyed by ice that wasn’t easy to break by swimming, but wouldn’t sustain their weight if stood on. Darlsarton’s parks – Victoria and Kings Hill – were as beautiful as ever and I see work on the old church at Kings Hill is ongoing.
A wonderful day to be on a bike, just enjoying the ride.
January 19th – In Darlaston’s Kings Hill, the former Servis domestic appliance factory site is soon to be transformed into housing. Once employing thousands, this ground was cleared after the company went bankrupt and lofty promises of new retail and leisure developments were made. But permission was granted for houses, which in fairness, we do need.
A few months ago, surveyors marks appeared on the nearby pavements and roads; then ground inspection bores were made. Now the heavy plant and high vis are arriving, ready to move rubble and earth and create a new neighbourhood.
Soon, you’ll never know Servis were ever here.
January 19th – A beautiful, hazy an sunny winter morning – chilly, but not bitter. It was dry, and the pleasure and speed of dry roads seemed alien to me after so many wet weeks. Jockey meadows were beautiful, as were The Butts in Walsall, with those gorgeous terraces. Even Darlaston’s 1930s factories with their stark, monolithic walls were a joy in the mellow January sun.
All this is great for my heart and soul. More, please!
January 18th – After months of being shut to be rebuilt, the North Street Railway bridge, linking The Butts with Birchills in Walsall is very, very close to reopening. Rebuilt higher to accommodate electrification of the railway beneath, the bridge seems much steeper than before.
Still, it was fun to ride up and down while traffic free and still closed – and at the top, a decent view of the New College at night.
January 17th – Recently had a new fridge or freezer? Left the old one out for the scrap man to collect? Well done, this is where the bits they couldn’t weigh in ended up.
This is the ditch running beside Green Lane at Bullings Heath, Walsall Wood.
If you leave stuff out for tatters and scrap men, you aren’t recycling, and it’s not out of sight, out of mind. We all have to pay to get this stuff cleaned up. The rubbish fairy doesn’t exist.
Leaving stuff out in the hope it’ll disappear as if by magic renders you no better than a flytipper, which is, incidentally, the way it’s considered in law.
January 17th – We had snow. Not much, maybe half an inch, and it was very, very wet. It was enough though, to be beautiful, and so I headed out into it as soon as I could. The light was pretty poor though, and the photography didn’t work out so well, but it was a nice experience apart from the endless mud.
Still, it’s better than the endless rain, and seeing the gorse flowers in the snow was lovely.
January 16th – On my return, I came through Shenstone, and was reminded of s simple fact…
A village can be awash with money. A parish council can be very good at getting grants. But neither of those facts mean the village has any taste.
I think this clock is hideous. Sorry.
January 16th – Another bitterly cold, but generally bright day, so I headed to Hints, Weeford and Shenstone to best enjoy the it. I’d finally got the ice tyres on, so felt confident (literally) breaking the ice and riding through the slush and frozen puddles.
The landscape looked wonderful again, but it was also good to see even more fungus near Hints – on the same large, felled log, yellow jelly fungus and ascocoryne – and perfect specimens too.
This sudden cold snap has been so much what I’ve been wanting and hoping for..
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