November 14th – I’m playing around with a borrowed camera, which I think I like but I’m not sure yet. It certainly works well in low light, as these shots of the canal show.
I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that the best camera would be a compact with Nikon optics, Panasonic build quality and features, and a Sony user interface.
November 10th – Passing the narrows on the canal between the M6 flyover and the Bentley Mill Way aqueduct on the Walsall-Darlaston border, I note someone is preparing to drain a stretch of canal – presumably for the works near the aforementioned aqueduct.
Theses just-delivered, fresh cut planks – stout, and carefully profiled – will be dropped into the slots in the narrows, sealed with plastic sheeting and a similar dam built on the other side of the worksite. The dammed section is then drained.
It’ll be interesting to see what work is done.
November 7th – A day that started out miserably, with rain and heavy winds finished with a beautiful sunset that caught me just as I ran an errand into Lichfield.
From canal junction to road junction, from Minster Pool to Beacon Park, from the Chemical Hill to Hammerwich, everything was bathed in beautiful light.
Despite the wind, I was glad to witness this.
November 4th – These are interesting little brown toadstools. I haven’t a clue what they are, and I’m curious. They are growing on the canal towpath near Bentley Bridge and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before. Can’t find them in my book of fungi, either.
Anyone got any ideas, please?
October 18th – I felt much better today, and had an errand to run to find a bunch of conkers for a good pal. Sadly I didn’t escape until late on a grey afternoon, so didn’t have time to take photos. Later on, the errand done, my pace slowed and I found myself returning from Aldridge, and I noted the marina at the back of Brickyard Road was busy now, presumably with boats overwintering.
It looks like a nice mooring with secure, modern facilities – and there are some nice boats there. I’d quite fancy a narrowboat to live on were it not for the cold and continual running costs.
October 17th – I wasn’t feeling much better today, and resolved to get out to try and lift the black dog from my back. And as usual, it worked.
The day was as dull as autumn makes them; overcast and threatening, but my journey to Lichfield was illuminated by the remarkable colours on display. From my favourite horse chestnut tree at Home Farm to the line of maples at Darwin Park, it all looked beautiful.
Sometimes all you need is fresh air, bustle and the beauty of nature just doing her thing.
October 14th – Hadn’t seen these guys for a bit, but when I passed the overflow at Clayhanger Bridge, the three crossbreed mallards were having a conflab in the shallows. It was a bit like how I imagine a Roman bath-house to be, but with ducks.
What I particularly like about these chaps is that they’re always together, and that they always seem to be smiling.
October 12th – At the moment, with continued decent (but nippy!) weather, every ride around the borough is beautiful with autumn colour.
When the mood lifts and you get used to the oncoming chill, autumn is a beautiful season.
October 11th – A gentle run along the canal back to Brownhills was in order, and on the way, I noticed a beautiful sky. My grandfather used to call this a ‘Mackerel Sky’ – presumably after the markings of atlantic mackerel.
He used to have a saying ‘Mackerel sky, 24 hours dry’ – and it broadly seems to work, I think. Wonder if there’s a meteorological basis for this or if it’s just an old wive’s tale?
October 10th – I suspect this chap, getting some compact and much needed shut-eye on a waterside jetty at Newtown, Brownhills is the same smug cat I spotted a couple of weeks ago.
He was lazing in the mild afternoon, and with tail as draught excluder and warm on a plastic tarp, I suspect he could have been in heaven.
You have to admire the propensity of the everyday omg to nap just about anywhere.
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