December 20th – At early evening, with the right kind of light and sky, the view of Telford Station, the new footbridge and the skyline of the town look gorgeous and you can actually see what the designer of the new bridge was getting at.
The surfaces and textures are gorgeous.
Shame it’s such a disconnected, dysfunctional shambles, really.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2Q7iU9s
via IFTTT
December 20th – In Telford where I’d nipped for one last task before Christmas, the weather was mild and fairly dry, but it did feel Christmassy and my mood was lifted by the abundance of holly on the Hortonwood cycleways and hedgerows.
Holly is such a beautiful evergreen and the veritable archbishop of the hedgerow, it’s easy to see why the pagans loved it as a symbol of midwinter regeneration.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2F1PMKn
via IFTTT
December 19th – Grand Central has always been a piss-poor, cliched name for an overblown shopping mall.
But I do wonder if America is littered with similar malls called ‘Duddeston’, ‘Northfield’ and ‘Bangham Pit’?
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/367TEFM
via IFTTT
December 19th – I took a longer visit to the Frankfurt Christmas Market in Birmingham, and had a great hour two pottering around. The relaxed midweek bible allowed me to visit Centenary Square and me and my companion explored long exposure and the Birmingham Eye.
As ever, the light, the atmosphere and weather combined, and it was a great evening.
Just one question: Will they ever finish Paradise Forum?
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2ZzN6NN
via IFTTT
December 18th – It had been a long day – into Brum early, mechanical problems with the bike and then back to Darlaston. It was wet but quite warm when I returned to Brownhills: The state of the towpath between Catshill Junction and Brownhills is now so flooded I usually hop back on the High Street at Anchor Bridge.
The pub always looks so welcoming in the dark.
This is always a long, hard week, but the weather and lack of light really are getting to me.
Come on Christmas, I need a break.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2Q6RDUE
via IFTTT
December 18th – On the way to an important breakfast meeting in Brum’s Business District, 7:30am. Half way up Moor Street Queensway, one of my brake pads disintegrates in use.
I had thought the calliper had burst, but luckily, the pad just delaminated.
Nothing for it but to effect a running repair – in rubber gloves on the central reservation. In the rain.
The view was good, though.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2SGvSwq
via IFTTT
December 17th – By the time I left work and returned to Telford Station, it was raining again.
Not light rain, either, but the torrential kind I’d been caught in the previous Sunday.
At least I had waterproofs this time.
The colours of the rain and dusk were captivating on the cycleway down to the station from Priorslee.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/356SEQR
via IFTTT
December 17th – In Telford – it was a frosty morning after a rainy evening and there was no shortage of ice on the new footbridge. With every turn in the weather, this ludicrous civil engineering fudge looks more and more shambolic.
In many places the standing water from the night before had frozen on the bridge deck and steps – either due to lack of gritting or the grit washing away before having chance to act.
Someone really should be answering public safety questions about this farce, but I doubt they ever will.
Still, the frost on the local byways was pretty. But by heck, it seemed cold.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2Q51CKd
via IFTTT
December 16th – Another wet day, and again the camera stayed most in it’s case. But returning through Walsall Wood, it was nice to see the tree and the old church looking warm and welcoming; there was clearly an event inside.
I’m not a religious man but that did make for a lovely scene on a very dark evening.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2ZuuOgO
via IFTTT
December 15th – The day had been OK, so far. I’d been to a cChristmas Fair at the Rugby Club, then dropped into the craft centre north of Lichfield – Curborough – for Christmas shopping. While I was there, the heavens opened, and I hadn’t got my waterproof trousers.
I partook of a nice pud at the cafe and waited for the deluge to abate. It didn’t.
Making a dash for home, I got soaked. But I still had time to take a couple of shots of Stowe Pool. Funny now to think that in 2006 I took a sunset view of that church from this point at about this time of year that really kickstarted my desire to document my rides and what I saw.
At this precise point, I couldn’t have felt less like riding a bike.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2QwqfP3
via IFTTT
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 