January 13th – The cold had really got me. I was damned ill with no energy at all. I slipped out after dark for a short loop of the canal, then came home, shivering and exhausted.
I was pleased with the shots, though, although there weren’t many on this torpid, tortured evening. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
January 10th – For the first time this year, a pleasant, dry, almost tropical morning commute; sadly, it wasn’t to last and the journey home was cold and damp with a return to mist.
Cycling up the canal over Bentley Bridge my eye was caught by a flash of verdant green – a plant of some variety has clearly seeded into the rotting cavity of an old bench, and is growing well – truly life from death.
Crossing Kings Hill Park purely to catch the day, I tried the twin sisters and liked what I saw; The clock on St. Bart’s is in fine detail and all we need is some green on those trees.
I know it’s way too early, but come on spring!
January 8th – Off to work on a miserable, grey and cold morning. I hit the canal in Walsall to avoid the morning crush hour and was accosted in Pleck by a very cross character demanding food. Sadly, my supply of corn was in another jacket, and the swan who was so aggressively begging showed it’s displeasure by repeatedly pecking my feet.
Of course, the swan was not starving, but urban swans are very lazy and accustomed to the high life, and when loafing in ice-free swim holes near bridges on cold days, they have little better to do that harass passers by for tidbits. I suspect the policy works best on passing mothers and fathers with children, whose guilt twanged, will come back with food.
The ice itself wasn’t severe. Moorhens and coots skittered about on it, but I doubt it would have supported the portly resplendent girth of your average drake mallard.
On the wonderful Dru Marland Canal Ice scale, I guess it was somewhere between IC2 and IC3. Check Dru out here: she’s wonderful.
January 3rd – I was being watched, and I had a feeling this particular ball of floof didn’t care much for me at all. In fact, it looked positively hostile.
I was heading up to Walsall Wood on an errand, and I saw him in a canalside garden at the back of Lindon Drive, just near Catshill Junction. On the far side of the canal, I was in what must have been forbidden territory to the cat, and I’ve often wondered what canal cats make of life on the bank they can rarely get to.
Make no mistake, this is a stunning puss with gorgeous eyes. Someone loves this fine feline dearly. I just think he wanted to end me.
Still, nice to see a cat in Winter. Bit of a rarity at the moment…
December 31st – At last, a decent if rain-sodden ride. Going stir crazy on a wet New Year’s eve, I slipped out at 3pm determined to test the loan cameras on something decent. Instinct had me head for Hopwas Hays Wood near Tamworth.
Both cameras are excellent. At the moment, the GX7 has the edge but the user interface is bizarre to me. I’ve never had much joy with Canon kit before, but this was a revelation.
I didn’t use flash once, just the bike headlight. I’m quite pleased with these.
Oh, and happy new year!
December 30th – While ferreting around the canal and Clayhanger Common for a decent night shot (and failing to find anything at all) I noticed this lovely, sedate and peaceful waterside retreat: At the canalised behind the houses of Lindon View, a bench, table and light, right by the canal.
How lovely is that?
December 30th – I was in Brownhills at dusk again, sorting out questions for the annual quiz on my main blog, and also fiddling with a new camera I have on loan – a Panasonic TZ100. This is a one-inch sensor compact that I’ve been curious to try.
I haven’t read the manual; I popped in a card, charged it up and off I went. So far, it’s very much like the TZ90 but with less zoom and a more strident low-light response, which is warm and pleasant.
Hopefully, the weather will improve soon and I’ll be able to get out and try this, and the Canon GX7 Mark II I also have been loaned side by side.
I’m ready for a more flexible camera in low light. I wonder if these will be the answer?
December 27th – Crossing Catshill Junction Bridge, the ice was treacherous and I was glad to be on studded tyres. Whilst taking the photograph of Humphries House, I could hear a nearby radio, and was confused where it might be coming from. Coming down the bridge towards Brownhills, I noticed a tent in the darkness; there was a fisherman there on the far side, with all the kit for night fishing.
That’s hardy on a night like this – respect.
December 25th – As I returned towards Brownhills the rain got heavier and heavier. My waterproofs were working well, but it was cold, I couldn’t see due to the rain in my face and everywhere was sodden.
But if felt like the best ride I’d had for ages.
Something about the harsh weather, darkness and wind mingled, and made me feel alive.
December 24th – The workboat I noted in the ice last weekend has been engaged in the process of cutting back trees on the far canal banks locally, clearing overhang from the waterway. I noted as I passed over Catshill Junction that once more, the sculpture here was now visible, if looking a bit sad and jaded. The trees that shade light from the new flats also seem too have been thinned.
I always feel sad about the Cycle of Life sculpture here: In utterly the wrong place, even when not overgrown (as it is every summer) it’s impossible to see in detail from and point publicly accessible on the towpaths around the junction and is therefore overlooked and wasted.
I hope one day someone realises and moves it somewhere a little more suitable nearby.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 