February 4th – Yes, I know, vandalism. But I couldn’t fail to be intrigued by this graffiti I spotted mid day when travelling through Droitwich station. Anagrams. Then the cryptic ‘Elm is a Lea Tree’. It must be a message, I’d guess to ‘Miles’, but who knows?
Mindless graffiti is bad kids, don’t do it. But it is unusual to see something so literary.
Odd place, Droitwich.
January 13th – A better day, at least: the sun was out as I cycled through Victoria Park in Darlaston and under the Mystic Bridge. It was still very wet, though and I was running late against a headwind. But the light was nice, and I felt better.
One of the things about cycling nearly everywhere you go is the massive connection you have with the outdoors and the weather. Periods of continued poor conditions can get to feel like a personal attack, and that’s how I’ve been feeling just lately.
There has to be a break in this soon, for a few days at least.
December 20th – Oh man, am I unwell. Really grim cold, headaches and even my jaw hurts. Hopefully, it’ll blow itself out in a day or so.
I got out at lunchtime, again on Christmas errands – over to Weeford and Packington via Stonnall and Shenstone, then back through Whittington, Fradley and Lichfield. Setting off on a bright, cold day, it felt like winter at last. The scenery was good, the light excellent and only a headwind honed on Satan’s oilstone dampened my enthusiasm.
I do like the wind turbine at Curborough – considering how many people, including the local MP, were losing their minds over it at planning, I think it’s rather elegant.
Sadly, at Packington, the heavens opened in a series of short, sharp, heavy showers, which continued for the remainder of the afternoon. Battling home from Curborough into driving rain and a headwind was not fun.
Still, I have been asking for some proper winter weather, and that was definitely it…
Be careful what you wish for.
December 16th – New Street, mid morning. These are not photos of the station pre-upgrade, but afterwards. Some of it may be improved later, but nothing shows the shallowness of the turd-polish this project really was than this view; just a little away from a main route through the station, bare 60s concrete, dirty 80s cladding and ugly, dark structures.
New Street looks stunning in press photos from the concourse, and from the streets nearby; but use it and you soon realise that the Emperor has no clothes and the station is still failing, still unpleasant and still unfit for purpose.
You can’t polish a turd, as the saying goes, but they have rolled this one in glitter.
August 6th – Whilst it’s always a good year for something, it’s also always a bad year for something else. So far this year I’ve yet to see a single hazelnut, and horse chestnuts don’t seem terribly profuse. Acorns too, seem in short supply.
Likewise, cotoneasters – beloved of blackbirds and other berry-eaters for their high sugar content seem to be having a thing year. There are plenty of ripening fruits on the branches, but they’re thin and small, caused by the lack of heavy rain I guess.
They also seem to be ripening rather earlier than usual, too. Maybe they’ll fill out in time.
July 26th – The latest addition to the local architectural scene is a set of steps built by the Canal & River Trust down off the canal towpath at Clayhanger, to the foot of the embankment.
The steps are well made, have a sturdy handrail, are ballast filled and are well levelled, painted and a really, really nice job.
If only we saw such attention to detail when urgent repairs were required.
The steps have only been built to allow surveyors access to the toe of the embankment, because scrambling down a bank is clearly too much for them.
This is funny in one way, but also opens up an area to kids and the nosey that was previously well hidden and a haven for wildlife wanting peace and quiet.
You couldn’t make it up.
July 15th – Yes, well done – that’s how headphones generally work.
Telford railway station billboard on a grey morning. Advertising eats itself.
May 19th – Most of the day, the weather was dynamic. Sun, rain, wind, hail, sun… but even in the sun, it still looked black over Bill’s Mothers. The coos knew what they were doing.
I got soaked three times. But the rain passed as quickly as it came and it wasn’t cold.
May. It rages and it roars and it blows; but usually, it creeps out on tiptoe, spent from all the tantrums.
April 2nd – Slow handclap for the Canal & River Trust, then, who micropiled around this sluice earlier in the week – there’s little evidence of their handiwork and you can barely tell they were there. Excellent.
Except for the existing trip and accident hazard no effort has been made to fix at all. Someone on foot or a bike is going to go flying off that, you muppets.
I’ve reported it several times, but I may as well have been peeing into the wind.
March 26th – I escaped work early, and despite a fearsome wind, headed down to Kings Norton on the train and cycled back up the canal, and through the Sandwell Valley.
At Kings Norton station, this poster and one of the worst photo editing failures I’ve seen in ages.
Just what is going on with the spokes in that wheel, and are images of bicycle wheels so sparse that you have to badly photoshop your own?
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