Tag: 365daysofbiking

August 25th – I headed out to the shops late in the afternoon. We’d had heavy rain, and everything was glistening and wet. Scooting around Clayhanger Common, I found these two unfortunate common toads enjoying the drizzle at opposite ends of the path from Clayhanger to the Pier Street footbridge. I can’t tell if they’re wounded from attack, infected or have a parasitic condition, but in one, half the face is eaten away, and the in the other, the nostrils have become wide open sores. Both animals behaved normally, and were as lively and active as toads get, yet I don’t think either will live long. I’ve not seen this before, and find it curious that I should see two half a mile apart. I’m thinking it’s a parasite, but can’t stop thinking about the past of this area as a refuse tip. 

I’d welcome comment from anyone who knows about amphibians and their ecology. 

EDIT: It seems these unfortunate creatures are suffering from attack by toad fly larvae – read about them here on Wikipedia, but not if you’re squeamish. Nature really is horrid sometimes.

August 24th – I’m not sure this cottage has a name. Standing on the junction of Footherley Lane, Gravelly Lane and Mill Lane in Lower Stonnall, it’s a handsome, four-square but fairly low Staffordshire cottage. I love everything about it; it’s standing at the junction, the ivy, the imposing doorway and oblique angle. I suspect it to be quite old, and the gardens are often full of beautiful flowers. This home is a lovely landmark on my way home, and even in the dark, it’s lights welcome me on my return from a long ride.

August 23rd – Those who think I’m being negative about the sculptures in The Wood should think about this. This miners trust, a true social relic of the coal era hereabouts created this, the original Oak Park for the village and community. When I was a kid, there were ground staff on site in a depot behind the then recently built recreation centre, and the old park was pleasant and well maintained. Paid for initially, and now held in trust by those who worked away from the fresh air and light, it had flowerbeds, paths, well-tended lawns, a bowling green and tennis courts. Slowly, it has been allowed to decay. The tennis courts lie locked out of use, and are slowly being reclaimed by nature, the paths and flowerbeds overgrown and lost. The neatly manicured lawns are now hastily mown scrub. The only thing to survive is a bowling green, operated by a club, a true social asset. 
The miners left this for us, because they understood the value of light and air. We let it rot, and instead erect rusty metal – of the kind they were all too ready to escape from – in their memory, while our next generation grow more and more obese.
There’s something very wrong in all this. 

August 23rd – Rust never sleeps. A couple of years after installation, Walsall Wood’s iron cutout people look dreadful, in my opinion. Had they been coated, or made from stainless steel, they would have worked a whole lot better, but the rusted, corroding versions just look like visually confusing scrap these days. The text milled into every figure is very hard to read now, as there’s no contrast due to the oxide.

A wasted opportunity. Walsall Council paid thousands of pounds in development funds for this. Surely a more enduring use of the cash could have been found.

August 22nd – Just around the corner from Lynn Hall stands this attractive cottage. I’m not sure it has a name, but it is a typical, four-square late victorian Staffordshire cottage, made with the characteristic blue and very, very red local brick. I pass this home an awful lot, yet until recently, have never really studied it. I noticed particularly the chimney, with its original, ornate pots and interesting design. I love chimneys, they add real character to buildings, and I mourn the passing of their ornamentation. 

August 22nd – The harvest seems to be taking forever this year. A bad summer, a series of late, false starts. Several fields around Stonnall and Shenstone are half-harvested. This must be a nightmare for farmers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen wheat lying ripe in the fields this late before. The swaths of straw at Springhill, I noted last week, have now, in one day, been baled and gone, yet work inches forward at Lynn and Sandhills. 

This is one dreadful year.

August 21st – Autumn is tapping on my shoulder. Soon, it will be that most depressing of bank holidays, the summer one. To me, that one signals the end of summer and start of autumn, like a marker post. Tonight, there was distinctly autumnal weather to remind me. Sudden, very heavy showers alternated with sunshine. It was getting colder, and there was a chill edge to the rain. This is what autumn always feels like at first.

Hello darkness, my old friend. 

August 21st – The Mount, a handsome, old, recently renovated house stands at the brow of the hill in Lichfield where the Burton Old Road, Church Street and Trent Valley Roads meet. It’s a wonderful looking place, and has been lovingly restored. I noticed yesterday that the original access hatches still exist in the rear chimney. These blue cast-iron doors allow access to the flue for the sweep – a once common feature, yet few survive, let alone adjacent like this. The Mount was previously used by an organisation – I think the Scouts or sea cadets – and was empty for a long while. Excellent to see the place loved again.

August 20th – I don’t know what to make of this. Near Shenstone, it’s now time to harvest the spring-planted potatoes. I’ve never seen spuds being automatically reaped, and have often wondered how it’s done. Looking at the state of this field, not very well. If parts of this crop have been harvested, there is a large quantity of taters left in the ground. I’m hoping someone collects them by hand, or maybe they will be collected by some kind of second pass of the machine, otherwise the waste would be terrible. A conundrum.