March 15th – It feels like Narnia’s winter melting. We didn’t have the cold, but we had the grey and endless, endless rain: But at Springhill, some youngsters put on a performance for me that chased the winter away.
These are the true stars of spring, and how welcome they are.
Gorgeous.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/34qvSVs
via IFTTT
March 15th – The first real ride out for the hell of it in a few weeks proved to be a real tonic. Not far: Just up over to Walsall Wood, Lazy Hill then around the lanes of Lower Stonnall, Hilton and Warrenhouse, but a delight all the same.
I hadn’t been in these lanes for the devil of it for so long. It felt like coming home – and the flowers, views and rain-sodden landscape made me feel at once refreshed and home again.
Whatever happens in coming months, I’ll always have this, my spiritual home.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3c9xtkX
via IFTTT
March 14th – One of the nice but pointlessly geeky things about riding with a GPS bike computer is the ability to see sunrise and sunset times change every day.
That’s not so great when nights are closing in, but when they’re opening out, it’s lovely to watch; and one of the things that always makes me happy is the spring equinox.
The science of the equinox/equilux is basically beyond me but the equinox is when the length of day is equal to the length of night, and the difference between sunset and sunrise is 12 hours. I always find it intriguing that thins’t smack bang at 6pm and 6pm, which would be neat, but usually around 6:15.
Every year this gets me, and every year I’m as delighted and inspired by it.
Find out more about the science of the equinox here.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2wsZu7U
via IFTTT
March 14th – Passing through the Wood on an errand. The world is clearly on the brink of something and people have been panic buying toilet rolls and other silly stuff needlessly because they fear the spread of coronavirus.
I swung over the playing field of Oak Park to admire the pithead sculpture to Walsall Wood Colliery while I was passing. It was solid. Strong. Ever present. Reassuring in a world that seemed to be losing it’s composure.
Sometimes it’s the monuments and monoliths that make you feel most secure.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/34sggR5
via IFTTT
March 13th – Between Walsall Wood and Clayhanger in the failing light, the towpath was sodden and the going tough, but the wet environment did catch the light rather well.
I keep grumbling about the rain, and this winter has been truly, remarkably wet. I’m at the stage now where it just doesn’t bother me anymore. If it’s raining, I don’t grumble – I have no choice. I just haul on the waterproofs and get on with it.
But I do kind of think fate now owes me a very dry, warm and sunny summer to make up for it…
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/34wp7kP
via IFTTT
March 13th – Friday came as a day that was decent to start, and then gifted rain in the afternoon. When I left work, the rain had cleared leaving a bright, sunlit evening on which to admire my beloved Twin Sisters, the two church spires of Church Hill in central Wednesbury.
I love to admire this view from Kings Hill Park. I love the hill, the space, the rooftops before the tree-lined ecclesiastical summit. I love to think of the hundred or more years these lovely buildings have watched over the industrial landscape and it’s changes below.
And I also wonder how many people like me have stood in this place and done exactly the same as me over the years. I love the way it’s all kind of eternally connected.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/39V2kAd
via IFTTT
March 12th – You can always tell a decent traffic improvement scheme by the way nobody mentions it after it’s completed.
The improvements at Shire Oak and Streets Corner took ages to complete, and were not without pain but the improvement in the performance of both is marked, and I’ve heard few moans about these seemingly well planned and executed safety upgrades.
So I think probably the work has been appreciated.
I do know one thing for sure: Streets Corner is still oddly beautiful by night.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2UDPan7
via IFTTT
March 11th – Returning home that evening the weather had improved some in that the rain had stopped, the sky had cleared and a reasonable sunset was happening.
I stopped to look behind me in Walsall Wood, and was captivated by the reflection fo the trees on the surface of the canal.
On days like these beauty can be found in unexpected places.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/39zSe7K
via IFTTT
March 11th – Going to work via a call in Aldridge on a wet day, I sheltered under Northywood Bridge near Stubbers Green.
It gave me an opportunity to study the boats in the yard nearby.
I noted the one closest to me – a handsome, large craft – was loaded with junk. Perhaps someone was clearing it out.
I couldn’t help but wonder if the halloween pumpkin was to ward off evil spirits deliberately, or was just where it happened to land…
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2WZmvu8
via IFTTT
March 10th – On a brighter evening, on a better day than the previous Sunday, I was returning home along the canal and passed the same Victorian former railway bridge I’d admired yesterday.
Unlike then, in the gloom and darkness of a bad day, today it looked green, fresh, uplifting and springlike. The narrowboat nearby gave the scene a jigsaw like quality and in that moment, the whole thing was beautiful and the problems of the world were miles away.
What a difference a day or so can make.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2wUerQH
via IFTTT
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 