May 25th – A dreadful commute, in both directions. It was the first rainy day for ages, so I can’t complain really by by heck it was wet. I got soaked in heavy rain in the morning, battling my way through standing water and on slippery roads; then on my return in fine, penetrating, all dampening drizzle.
The roses along the cycleway in Goscote looked beautiful on it though.
Hopefully a better day tomorrow.
May 2nd – A dreadful, rain-sodden and intemperate morning commute – possibly my worst ever set me up for a lousy day. But things got better, slowly, and when I returned, the sun came out.
Coming back on the canal, heading to Brownhills I noticed that a WalsalL Wood resident near the canalside have had a resident take possession of part of their garden, who will hopefully soon have a little family.
What a wonderful thing to have in your garden – perhaps not so much if you plan on getting out there, though…
My only concern is that nest is awfully vulnerable to beer fox…
April 29th – Another grey, bitterly cold day and it’s nearly May, it really is about time the weather picked up a bit. Hopefully the coming bank holiday weekend will be better.
I nipped out mid afternoon for a circuit of Chasewater, and found little to inspire, but I did spot the amazing carpet of cowslips on the dam at Chasewater which are actually remarkable. The steep slope here seems to be liked by a couple of flowers – these yellow beauties and also ox-eye daisies who often proliferate here.
Returning via the south shore I did smile at the coot contentedly nesting near the boardwalk. It’s nice to see that spring goes on, despite the greyness of the weather.
April 28th – A grey, cold afternoon at Chasewater with little to commend it: On a quick spin out shivering and cold, they light was hauntingly grey over the lake. I notice the water level is falling gradually now with it now being about 75mm below the outfall spillway weir.
The gorse is beautiful, the hedgerows verges and thickets were alive with flowers, birds and wildlife, but there was little colour because of the awful weather.
Come on spring, we won’t mind if you wake the sun up!
April 17th – The Telford footbridge construction project continues, and there’s a really interesting stage started now; partially build sections of the bridge have been delivered as steelwork skeletons, namely a couple of lattice piers and the over railway deck section. What’s interesting is that they have been fixed temporarily on spare ground, and other parts are being welded and added. The assembled sections will be completed on the ground, and then lifted into place.
I’ve never seen this done before and passing through on a grey, drizzly afternoon it was certainly interesting to watch the engineers at work while I waited for the train.
This is certainly going to confuse people trying to work out the final layout…
April 15th I cut over Clayhanger Common to the takeaway, and noted that the waters here had almost totally receded now. The lower meadow here is designed to flood, defending the village, and works well. The problem is the path has sunk over the years and is now submerged in times of the meadow doing it’s job.
Thing is now, you’d not really know what had happened.
This really is a curious, well engineered landscape.
April 15th – After a great day of sunshine on Saturday, Sunday was not so great – it was grey, overcast and periodically rainy, but it still felt warm. I’d had some noisiness and drivetrain grind on the ride the day before, so I decided to busy myself investigating it. I was glad I did.
I found issues with chain, sprockets and chainset, the former two of which were very close to catastrophic failure. It’s not often you’re glad to find a serious mechanical issue, but better here in the workshop with all the spares I need than the middle of nowhere.
I slipped out on a test ride at dusk, with the skies clearing. I didn’t see a soul, but the canal looked very moody and dramatic.
Never mind, weather’s warming up this week…
April 13th – I rode to work in steady rain heavy hearted. It’s not often I say this but the morning had no redeeming features I could find; it was wet, cold and very, very unlike spring. 2013 was a pretty bad spring, starting very late with heavy snows in the dying days of March like this one. But at least the sun came out and things dramatically improved. 2018 has tested even my usually stoical resolve, I must say.
Rolling through Kings Hill on an errand mid morning, everything was headache-grey – the roads, the buildings, the sky.
It’s rare I feel so bleak about the weather.
April 12th – another wet, grey and frankly unlovely day. Where is the sun? The warmth on my back? The neighbourhood cats I’m normally welcoming back on warm evenings as I cruise jacket less through the suburbia of Walsall?
I watch, I wait, I plough on in the murk and damp.
Meanwhile, the damp, raindrop bejewelled Kings Hill Park continues to entertain with a variety of flows and planty of spring promise.
Soon. It’ll be soon. You’ll see.
April 5th – I keep going on about this to the point that readers must be sick to death of it, but Spring seems alternately on my shoulders and miles away.
Stood on Catshill Junction Bridge, looking at the leafless trees, muddy wet towpaths and general lack of green, spring seems delayed.
We need warm weather, clear skies and all this will just bolt into life.
It ain’t too much to ask, is it? A bit of happiness from the sun?
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