December 19th – I see the Italian restaurant the the former Shoulder of Mutton had brome on the outskirts of Lichfield has closed. I noted this with some surprise, as I thought this was a popular, decent place to eat. I seem to recall the signs outside proclaiming awards for quality. It always smelled delicious when I passed, too.
Sadly, now it’s just another empty, boarded up pub. Hope someone can rescue it. Tragic.
December 19th – I headed out mid afternoon on the annual pre-Christmas pilgrimage to Packington Moor farm shop near Whittington. On the way, I spun down Barracks Lane, and the bright colour of some fungus on a tree stump snagged my eye. I stopped to take a look.
A big old tree – I think an Ash – has been cut down here in recent weeks, leaving a hollowed out bole to rot away. The cavity in the stump itself contains an odd, purple mildew, and although clearly only weeks since being cut, the fungus is working to recycle the wood, and growing in slimy, glossy bright orange clumps. I’ve no idea what they are, but they’re beautiful.
Nature reclaims most things, and is wonderful and mysterious in her processes.
As an aside, it’s clear that this tree was suffering a dreadful disease from the hollow core. To the untrained eye, there appear to have been no signs on the outside of the malady within. How do arborists know this stuff?
December 18th – I passed through Chesterfield, the sleepy little hamlet midway between Shenstone and Wall. There isn’t a single ugly house here, they are all gorgeous, and I’m sure there’s history here; after all, the workhouse was just 50 yards around the corner for years.
It’s nice to see that after a period of being empty, someone has bought – and invested no little time or money – in the old Grange Farmhouse. It’s been sad to see it languishing empty for so long, and this really is a lovely, quiet spot, even on dull, overcast days like this.
December 18th – Geekout time again. I nipped in to Shenstone in the morning to beat the storm and pick up a Christmas present. On my way, the wind blew me down Bullmoor Lane to Chesterfield, near Wall. On the bend near Raikes, there’s been an electricity pole for years that’s fascinated me. It has a really complicated arrangement of equipment mounted upon it, and it’s effectively in the middle of nowhere. I’ve always been interested in it’s purpose, so I resolved to find out.
After a fair bit of googling, it’s an ‘automatic recloser’, and a really high-tech piece of equipment with a simple purpose; it’s an 11,000V breaker, performing the same kind of job as the ones you get in a modern domestic fusebox.
It consists of the unit that switches on and off the supply – the big box at the top, which breaks the three phase supply voltage present on the lines above, and an electronic control unit called an ADVC, which detects when there’s a fault, such as overcurrent in the load. A small transformer sits high up to supply the ADVC.
The ADVC reads the signals in the line, like voltage and current, and should it detect a problem, it disconnects or ‘opens’ the recloser, breaking the supply. Since most faults with overhead lines like this clear themselves quickly (they may be weather, vegetation or vermin related, for instance), the ADVC monitors the disconnected line and automatically recloses – reconnecting the supply – automatically.
The system is monitored by complex electronics with a computerised controller, and can communicate by radio telemetry, hence the antenna; it even has batteries so it can keep working if it’s own supply is interrupted.
I’ve been meaning to find that out for years… you can read more here.
This project takes me to some strange places, sometimes…
December 17th – In the dark nights and half-light days of winter, decent lights are needed. Searching, bold white in front, and strong red at the back.
In the darkness of the footbridge at Ogley Junction, I noticed how effective they were. Wouldn’t be without them.
December 17th – I went out in darkness, and found myself in a refreshingly cold night, with a huge, beautiful, partially cloud obscured moon. I rode up the canal intending to visit Chasewater, but spent ages instead experimenting more with long exposure photography.
I’m not a photographer, I never learned any technical stuff. What I know I learned by trial and error, and finding this camera offered me a couple of really long exposures, I’ve been trying them out.
The landscape over Home Farm at Sandhills, Ogley Junction and Warrenhouse yielded some fairly interesting results, but I think I need more practice…
December 16th – On my return, I stopped to play around with long exposure shots at one of my favourite spots – the footbridge over the Chasetown Bypass near Chasewater. I love the curving lines of the road here, the streetlights and the way all the surfaces and lines interact. It’s a lonely spot, but there’s something quite beautiful about it at night.
I guess it’s that Late Night Feelings thing again…
December 16th – on the Christmas card run again, this time in Chasetown. I also came to check out the Christmas lights here, which at least three people have asserted to me are way better than those in Brownhills. They might well be, had they actually got any…
They do, however, have a nice Christmas Tree. Shame about the ugly fencing around it though.
Chasetown remains as gorgeous at night as it ever does; the combination of close packed shops, a steep hill and quite a bit of character make this a lovely place, really. I still think it would be a great spot for a remake of the car chase from Bullit, but maybe on bikes or mopeds.
Steve McQueen, come back, we need you…
December 15th – On an mission to Shelfield before tea (why does Christmas involve distributing stuff far and wide?), I took a route up Walsall Wood High Street to get the church lit up for it’s carol service. Sadly, my photos were awful, but it did look nice and seasonal. I noticed too the the Drunken Duck seemed busy for the hour. Recently under new management, it seems to be gaining popularity.
Must give it a go at some point.
December 15th – At Maquis Drive on the Chase, an unexpected visitor seems to have upgraded his transport method…
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