May 21st – One for the botanists. I have no idea what this is. It’s rather lovely, and growing just on the edge of the railway bridge in Hollyhill Lane, just on the edge of Shenstone. I scoured the hedgerows on the way home, but couldn’t see any other examples.
What a gorgeous flower. Any ideas?
May 21st – Today, I was mostly in Tyseley again, which meant a short hop on the Snow Hill line. I jumped on the train at Moor Street Station – a beautifully restored building, more of a film set than commuter hub. Like it’s sister Chiltern Railways station, Marylebone, it’s a bright, airy, wonderful place to catch a train from.
A rare delight in the UK rail system.
May 20th – The greening is now in earnest. All over Cannock Chase and the Shugborough Estate, nature is doing it’s damnedest to get our attention. From Brindley Heath to Severn Springs, Milford to Haywood everything is a fluorescent, vibrant, verdant shade of growth. To be in England: can there be anywhere finer right now?
By the way: Cycling over the Shugborough Estate at 8pm, when all the tourists have gone is the way to see it. Hardly a soul, and very, very peaceful.
May 20th – I escaped late afternoon, and headed over Chasewater to Cannock Chase. It was a pleasant, warm afternoon and evening, and the Chase and countryside around it was pretty deserted. Whilst the swans I was watching don’t appear to have had success (although both birds are still hanging around the nest, which seems odd) couples elsewhere seem to be doing well. I noticed a pair nesting on one of the ‘orphan’ pools in Chasewater’s northern lakebed. Secluded by reeds and young willows, they have a very well protected nest, and had the sun not been shining on them, I’d never have noticed. Meanwhile, on the canal at Rugeley, this pair of proud (and surprisingly tolerant) parents allowed me to photograph their seven healthy cygnets.
May 19th – Junction 9 of the M6, and Wood Green, the area around it, is horrible. Heavy traffic, poor air quality, grime and an utterly inhuman, dystopian architecture all contribute to make this place awful. There is humanity here, and great buildings, in the backstreets. But in the immediate vicinity of the junction, there is little to credit this place, despite the fact that it hosts the River Tame, A major railway and a motorway side by side. The crowning glory of the inhuman design is the pedestrian underpass – dark, with 90 degree bends. Grey, filthy surfaces and forbidding outlooks that are dark and foreboding.
I hate this place with a passion.
May 19th – A little bit of computer strife led me to PC World, near Junction 9 at Wednesbury, a place I loathe visiting with a passion. I needed an new hard drive, and they had what I wanted. I reserved the drive online, and went to pick it up late afternoon. Strolling up to the desk with my note, there was some confusion and I found that the order had actually gone to the Currys on the other side of the road, which apparently happens a lot. Having collected my goods, and being shocked at there being a near-identikit macro PC World inside the Currys store, to the one 400 yards away, I headed over to Decathlon, a sports and outdoor superstore, to see what they had. I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: Decathlon, a French company, have the best bike rack I’ve ever used. We need more of these. They suit road bikes (like mine) and mountain; hold the bike securely, offer excellent security and don’t mark your paintwork or bend your wheels.
Sadly, the stuff inside was mostly tat…
May 18th – Some things are changing, though. Up at Streets Corner, for example, work is well underway on the new Co-op store where Saturn Motor Sales had their yard. Although work has been ongoing for a while, signs have only just gone up, proclaiming the development to be complete by late 2012. This is great news for the Wood, and I look forward to having another store to compete with the Tesco Express over the road. However, with a new store up the road in Shelfield and branches opening all over the place, I do wonder if the Co-op can maintain this period of aggressive expansion.
May 18th – only just still standing, the fabric of the old St. John’s School in Walsall Wood High Street continues to gently decay. Soon, I think the roof will collapse, the clearly rotten timbers unable to support the tons of roofing tiles resting upon them. Permission has been granted for some years now for a development of flats here,meaning demolition of most of the old school and the old bungalow next to it, also empty now for several decades. Sadly, the downturn came, and the developers ran out of money.
A small, suburban, architectural tragedy.
May 18th – Well, that’s one technique. Over the last year, both myself and The Stymaster have grumbled to Walsall Council about the badly spelled road sign that stood here on the southwestern flank of Hollanders Bridge, in Walsall Wood. I say stood, as the obvious solution to crap spelling is apparently just to remove the whole sign…
Like, wow. I have nothing further to add.
May 17th – Sadly, I have to announce that Mr. and Mrs. Swan seem to have abandoned their nest at the back of Sadler Road. I’ve popped past a couple of times this week, and although in close proximity, neither bird has been sitting, and I think they’ve abandoned the eggs, but can’t see from the opposite bank. I know there were eggs, as I saw the female fretting, turning them last Friday. Either they’ve been predated by rats or (very brave) foxes, or have just been barren, I don’t know which. I feel oddly bereft by this, as I was so looking forward to recording the growth of the cygnets… yet this couple had a false run last year, too. Maybe they aren’t old enough yet, or just haven’t got it together. Sad.
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