February 6th – I had promised not to moan about the rain again. But come on, it was rain all day from the moment I awoke until late into the evening. That’s not good. And again, that evil, evil wind.
I got out around teatime and did a quick loop of the town. There is something enchanting about traffic, electric light and rain, but I think I’ve seen enough of it.
All I want right now is a dry, calm and sunny spring. It seems unlikely. But I can always hope…
February 5th – Yet again on a Friday, I found myself cruising down from Shire Oak into Brownhills. The wind had indeed been evil, but was at least now more or less at my back. I had to stop to answer the phone on Anchor Bridge, and while I was chatting I noticed the view, from the very bridge I was contemplating the night before. This slope here is more or less continuous from Shire Oak, and the road here is wide. Where I was stood in years gone by would have been a toll house, and when I was a kid there would have been grim maisonettes here and over the road, a large tower block. Now, it’s new build and an old folk’s home.
These days, this view seems utterly familiar, but twelve or so years ago, it would have been totally different. It struck me as I put the phone away that change is ongoing, and so granular that one hardly notices it happening.
February 4th – I came back to Brownhills late, and hopped on the canal from Walsall Wood. Leaving the towpath at the Anchor Bridge, I realised how odd the landscape is here. The canal, of course, remains level (473ft above mean sea level for the anoraks out there), yet the landscape rises above it gently, and the Chester Road crosses above with barely and undulation.
It made me wonder if the canal was channelled out here and what the landscape of the late 1700s looked like before it arrived.
The night was chilly and blustery and I was tired. I suddenly realised I’d been stood for five minutes or more in pitch darkness contemplating the physical geography here absent mindedly, whilst freezing cold.
Cycling catches you like that sometimes.
February 1st – A little over 30 minutes later, thanks to a following wind of epic proportions, just preparing to head into Brownhills.
Catshill Junction, long exposure in a wind so keen I had to hold the camera to stop it blowing off the rail.
This spot has become much more interesting since the new build.
January 30th – A bright, clear but chilly day. Still not well, I went out in the afternoon, and had errands to run in Aldridge and Lichfield. Although the day was lovely, the wind was really not to be trifled with.
Passing through Catshill Junction, I noted something I’ve been meaning to record here for a while: the sculpture erected some years ago on the opposite side to the towpath has had the undergrowth and scrub cut from around it, I’m not sure who by, but my thanks to them.
With the leaves off the trees, the new building here looks really good, and I hope the growth here can be cut back for the summer – otherwise those brand new apartments will be awfully dark and have hardly any view of the canal at all.
January 25th – Crossing Anchor Bridge and heading up the High Street the sky was unusually light, so I just popped the camera on the bridge parapet and set it off on timer.
I never, ever tire of this view. Can’t wait to see some leaves on those trees again.
January 24th – An awful image, snatched at dusk through a hedgerow at Newtown, Brownhills: four red deer females loafing and grazing in the field between the canal and Chase Road.
After years of seeing them around Brownhills, I’m still not over the frisson of noticing them: they feel so out of place and exotic, even though this is their home.
A lovely thing on an otherwise dull day.
January 24th – Passing through Brownhills High Street, I noticed that the former Blockbuster store – empty for a few years since the chain went busy – seems to be having some kind of refit. But what snagged my attention was the logo of the scaffolding company.
Black Country Scaffolding features the ‘official’ Black Country flag, a symbol created a couple of years ago to promote the area, and it wasn’t intended as a commercial thing at all.
It would be interesting to know if they had permission to use that.
January 22nd – It had been one hello of a bad day. I’d had a terrible ride to work – 50 minutes into driving rain and a headwind, and when there, didn’t get time to catch my breath. After a day that seemed to last forever, I had to pop to Stonnall on my way home – but at least the rain had stopped and the wind was more accommodating. Coming down from Shire Oak into Brownhills, I stopped to catch the lights of the High Street. It was warm and wet again, so winter seems to have abated again. But this was a good sight – back in Brownhills after a bad day, and the promise of a couple of days off, a big mug of tea and some decent food.
Some days, home is all you need.
January 21st – I returned to the scene of previous photographic crimes to try an experiment. I set the camera down on the Clayhanger canal overflow brickwork, set it on a 15 second exposure, then used my bike light on brightest setting to slowly light up the scene.
It worked well – a trick I’d scene drain explorers using – but sadly it highlighted all the detritus sitting on the melting ice layer on the canal surface.
I think this merits further experimentation.
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