July 9th – Nice to see that with the sun continuing, so does the indolence of the local cat population.
Second night running this lovely puss was asleep in exactly the same spot by the narrows at Catshill Junction.
This time it was displaying a surplus of feet.
Sweet dreams, puss!
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July 8th – Yay! The season of finding sleeping cats in quiet spots is upon us.
A summer tradition sadly curtailed due to the poor summer this year, with the increase in temperature, I’m finally meeting more wayside sleepyheads and neighbourhood flaneurs out enjoying the weather.
I spotted this tidy little cat on the opposite side of the canal at Catshill Junction, curled up in the grass by the narrows. A dapper, glossy coated puss with a cute black heart on its nose, it barely woke when I said hello.
Welcome back, cats. Good to see you guys.
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July 7th – The sunset was the culmination of a glorious golden hour.
Birmingham and Aston shone and shimmered in the gathering dusk.
A train caught the sky and was golden: Britannia fought a pitched battle on the former hotel roof with the TV antennas. The skylines and canal spoke of quiet dignity, worship and daily life.
I spent many hours as a young man in these streets, on the canals and at this station. The ghosts that haunt me here are not scary, or hostile, but warm and comfortable like enveloping sheets of memory.
My place, my past, present and future.
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July 6th – Feeling down, out for an evening ride to cheer myself up: Just a short loop up to Chasewater at dusk.
My stomach had been bad and I wasn’t feeling great, but the evening light did make me feel better at least.
Sometimes, in summer when the weather’s not great and you’re stuck in, it can be worse than being stuck in on a grey winter’s day. The feeling of a chance lost, of summer passing without you, can be painfully real.
But today, the sunset was beautiful, Chasewater and the canal did it’s best to catch my eye, and I remembered that after all, tomorrow is another, usually better, day.
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July 5th – Spotted just in the shadow of Spaghetti Junction on the canal, a glorious lavatera or mallow. This shrub grows here every year completely untended by humans and is always absolutely gorgeous.
I still find it stunning that such beauty can be found in such urban spaces.
A true wonder of nature, and good to see it’s still in rude health!
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July 3rd – Ah, hello you guys.
The Watermead swan family – minus dad, as is so often the case these days – were grazing the algae with mum at Catshill Junction as I came home.
I can’t get over how fast these cygnets are growing!
Must be all the greens.
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June 30th – A rest day, a day for bike maintenance and feeling a little bit down after the exertions of the previous days. The weather was less warm and it felt a bit like that had been summer.
I slipped out in the afternoon for a gentle spin and cruised a loop of Brownhills on a test ride. I felt OK, fluid, and not stiff, but I was already yearning to be out again – but the wind was quite strong and I really wasn’t into it. I ran some errands and caught up with things.
The landscape at Home farm was beautiful in its high summer jacket, and on the positive side, it does look now like summer has started.
As my ride reminded me, perhaps this was the start, not the end.
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June 28th – Riding out in the morning for a long ride with an old friend, we passed through Anglesey Wharf where coal from the Chasetown, Norton and Burntwood mines used to be loaded on narrowboats for transport south.
The wharf long ago fell silent, although the remains of the coal chutes and conveyors remain witness to a dark industrial past – but today, the spot is peaceful and teaming with wildlife.
Growing around a coal loading chute that used to be polished to a shine by the black gold are now the most delicate, beautifully scented wild sweetpeas, unthinkable in the wharf’s heyday.
It’s lovely to see and a great memorial to a lost industry, and a nod to a much cleaner future.
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June 27th – The Watermead swan brood now are growing fast, and the chicks are getting quite a size, with them now in the lanky, scruffy stage of their development.
It’s more common now to see lone cygnets browsing and feeding away from the parent group and this busy forager was feeding on one side of Catshill Junction while his mum and 2 siblings were snoozing on the grass by the narrows on the Walsall Wood side.
With plenty of water greens to keep them healthy they’ll soon be adult-sized birds.
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June 26th – Sad to see the last of the orchids fading away now but it’s been a great year for them.
I think they like the rain, so the summer has been good for something, at least.
I love these gorgeous purple flowers – a real symbol of the cleanliness our canals now enjoy. Such a shame they’re so transient in nature.
Until next year, then…
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