June 30th – The sky was grey and rain showers stalked me as I headed out for a spin around Chasewater before tea. There was rain in the distance, over towards Lichfield, but it hadn’t got here yet. Instead, in mingled with shafts of distant sunlight and formed fragments of a rainbow. Never a whole one, the weather just teased me with pieces. The bad weather is so mean this year – it won’t even be beautiful while it’s being grim.
June 28th – Travelling home after a day of incredible weather. We had torrential rain, some of the worst I’ve ever seen, thunder and lightning… but within an hour, it was sunny again and the Midlands was left to clean up after flash floods. I had to go to Tyseley that afternoon, and returned to Blake Street, near Sutton. The trains weren’t running any further, due to the line being flooded, and here, at Wood Lane, between Shenstone and Footherley, the lanes were flooded too. Note the lady driver taking no prisoners. I just hope the air intake on her engine isn’t low down…
The music is ‘Born in a Storm’ by Deacon Blue.
June 28th – Time for a bit of cycling knowledge. After heavy rains – like we had today – the roads are way more hazardous than usual. If it’s the first rain after a dry spell, the surface water becomes greasy and slippery, due to tyre rubber detritus and diesel being washed into the sludge. This makes white lines, ironworks and junctions really nasty. After heavy rain, silt washes of fields and gardens, bring with it loose gravel. This gathers in bands, hollows and dips, often just where cyclists cross junctions. The silt when wet is slippery, but when dry, will steal your wheels from beneath you. The gravel – known as ‘marbles’ to motorcyclists – gets progressively polished by vehicle wheels, and is like cycling on ball bearings. Take care – the hazard continues in the dry, too, and can last for weeks after a storm.
Councils don’t really understand the menace of this stuff to folk on two wheels. I wish they did.
June 28th – An odd day with freak weather. I left for work in Darlaston early, and it was warm and quite sunny. At work for a couple of hours, the sky blackened and a real storm developed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rain so hard in the UK. Rivers flowed through the streets, causing flooding and chaos. Then, it ended almost as quickly as it started, and we returned to a nice, sunny day. In the afternoon, I had to go to Tyseley, and due to flooding, the trains were seriously disrupted. Arriving on time due to a freak of happenstance, I left late in the afternoon to find serious delays. I rode back to Birmingham through Small Heath, and got a train back to Blake Street. Traversing the back lanes of Stonnall and Little Aston was an interesting and somewhat wet experience.
June 26th – Returning home from work, I hopped on the canal. Everything is so green right now – the weather may be generally awful but the plants are having a ball. Overlooking the new pond at Clayhanger, its character has changed again for high summer, should it deign to arrive. The sandy pool is now surrounded by a lush meadow, verdant reed beds and gorgeous, shady trees. A joy. To think a spoil heap once stood here…
June 16th – I ad to go to Walsall to pick something up from the central sorting office. The weather was atrocious – windy and rather wet. I bit the bullet at lunchtime and pulled on shorts – wet legs dry quicker than wet trousers – and actually found it to be warm and oddly pleasant. I cycled along the canal, and noticed the flowers were in fine form, if a little battered. Orchids and waterlillies graced the Wyrley and Essington, whilst in the Goscote Valley upon my return, dog roses and sweet peas grew in scented abundance. Not a bad ride, all in all.
June 15th – It had been a grim, wet, blustery day. I was travelling far away, and couldn’t use the bike, which made me feel like a cheat. When I finally got home that evening, the weather cleared around 7pm. The wind dropped, and the showers became more sporadic. As a penance, I decided to get the shopping in from Morrisons in Burntwood, which meant a spin up a very wet canal and over Chasewater. The air was clear as I checked out the view to Sandhills and over Home Farm… I love that tree. It’s like my seasonal barometer.
June 13th – I’d been in Tyseley for a meeting, then hopped back up the Cross City Line to make an appointment in Lichfield. Cycling back, the weather, which had been pretty agreeable, turned quite grim and it started to rain. The countryside looked so green, and the views were unexpectedly cinematic with a sudden rain-haze softening outlines and changing the sky to darker and darker shades. Luckily, I got home before the heavens really opened.
Can we please have a bit of summer? Just for a bit?
June 9th – Chasewater is rising. In all the rain, the only benefit is that the waterline is slowly, almost imperceptibly enlarging. A landmark occurred this week; the ‘pier pool’ left stranded from the main lake, has rejoined it once more. Curious spits and islands have developed. You can see the ecology shifting day by day. But don’t be fooled. The next meter in depth will increase the surface area of the reservoir hugely, and take a massive amount of water. That, sadly, means a very, very wet summer. A terrible dilemma…
June 7th – Between The Chuckery and Highgate in Walsall, the architecture on the Sutton Road continues to fascinate. On a wet Thursday evening, even in the dark murk of the tail end of a rainstorm, the glistening tiles, Victorian bays and ornate chimney pots still looked precious. A pleasure, whatever the season or weather.
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