July 1st – This is just wonderful. I spotted it a couple of weeks ago but I couldn’t stop to photograph it. Outside a recently well-renovated house on the A461, a new house sign lovingly and beautifully made in the image of the house.
Just look at the detail in that, the tiles on the roof. Its wonderful.
My compliments to the householder, and huge respect for the craft and skill of whoever created this wonderful curiosity.
March 17th – Coming back from Lichfield, tired after a hard week, I stopped on the motorway bridge at Summerhill and tried long exposure photography again.
I finally got just what I wanted. and the experiment of setting the camera on the ground looking down the hill towards Sandhills worked better than I could have imagined.
That’s taken a while, but I’m happy with that.
October 6th – I’d had to nip into Birmingham and Lichfield on the way home, and came back down the A461 at Summerhill long after darkness had fallen, so I thought I’d try some long exposures from the M6 Toll bridge there.
They didn’t come out too badly for 30 second shots. Interesting that the traffic is so light, vehicles rarely stray out of the inside lane….
December 23rd – Christmas starts here for me, really – as I finished work today. It’s been a long haul, this Autumn. After a good Indian summer, it all went horridly wrong and it seems to have blown and rained they rest of the way here.
I sped from work on very quiet streets, in a chill, but not cold night air. I had an errand to run to Lichfield, and on my way back, paused on the motorway bridge at Summerhill to try a long exposure like the one I failed at in Pelsall earlier in the week. This time, it worked.
This is a 30 second exposure; note orion clearly visible in the sky. I’m pleased with this, and it feels sort of Christmassy.
Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful new year to all my readers and friends.
May 26th – I had cause to visit Walsall Wood on my way home, on a surprisingly busy Tuesday evening. The sun was shining, but it was cold, with a sharp headwind; this May has had much of the wolf about it and I shall be glad to see the back of it and get some calmer, warmer days in.
I love the view up Shire Oak Hill to the northeast; surprisingly green, busting, the rooftops and chimneys, combined with a cheerful urban optimism always makes me feel good.
This isn’t such a bad place.
May 22nd – I’d been planning a long ride the following day for a good couple of weeks. Up until today, the weather forecast had been excellent. As I returned from Lichfield, I was having doubts. It was warm enough, but the sky was threatening all sorts, and the wind seemed quite bullish.
At the optimistically named Summerhill, found myself praying for a break in the clouds.
November 27th – I again returned via Walsall Wood, but unlike the night before, it was clear. I see the christmas lights are going up, and as ever, the High Street looked bustling and beautiful in the night. Walsall Wood is often overlooked, yet it preserves it’s village atmosphere and is surprisingly beautiful in parts.
An undervalued gem.
November 26th – A dreadfully weary, damp homeward commute in heavy mist that soaked and deadened everything. Trapped on the right of a dithering vehicle at the Spring Cottage Lights, I headed straight over and through Walsall Wood for a change.
Even on this dark, horrible night, there was a kind of insular, glowing beauty in the murk.
July 15th – Also a pain is the himalayan balsam. This tall, beautiful plant is growing in abundance now, and flowering strongly on damp waste ground, stream banks and the hinterlands and margins. It’s beautiful pink/white, metallic-scented flowers hide the real problem: this is an invasive species introduced by the Victorians.
The plant grows so tall and thickly that it chokes all beneath it, yet once established, like japanese knotweed, it’s very hard to remove.
The A461 Pipe Hill at Lichfield, and most of the verges to the waterworks at Pipe Hill are full of the stuff, season by season edging it’s way to Muckley Corner.
A beautiful undesirable.
June 14th – Headed out to Lichfield late afternoon, and battled the wind, fully loaded, on the way back. Returning down the Lichfield Road, I noticed the cones were out at Springhill for the construction of a new island junction for Springhill Cemetery, currently under construction to the right of the picture beyond the houses.
This has been delayed quite some time now, and has been locally controversial. it’ll be interesting to see how the development progresses.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 