Tag: change

September 12th – By the time I was coming back towards Brownhills, the sun was coming out again and blue skies were peeping through. I noticed today the almost total absence of wildflowers on the canal – the flowering season is well and truly over. The leaves are still verdant and lush, but the joy of the wildflowers has ceased, at least for another year. I feel autumn tugging at my coat. This is not good; I’m in that depressing period when I know what’s coming but haven’t adjusted to appreciating it yet. Autumn colour always lifts my spirits, so bring it on…

June 1st – I see that Wordsley House in Stonnall has  now been sold, and this includes the barn and land.  The barn is now marked down – like most agricultural buildings in the area have been – for conversion into dwellings. It says much about the economics and demographic of this burgeoning Metroland that all the farming has now gone from the village. The transformation – from comfortable rural village to almost totally soulless commuter resort –  has been completed in the 30 years I’ve been riding through here, and I find it desperately sad. The only redeeming feature is the rolling countryside and greenery – although it is under threat too, as the lower image from Google Earth Streetview shows. In danger of losing the remainder of it’s greatest assets to overdevelopment, I fear for Stonnall’s future. Sad, destructive and tragic.

July 28th – It was the kind of hazy, warm, mellow evening one dreams about. Heat haze shimmered off the roads, and as I cruised down Shire Oak Hill into Brownhills I took in the the view, and reflected on how much it had changed since I was a lad. There used to be flats and maisonettes here, almost as far as the eye could see. It was never as green as it is now. We don’t realise just how verdant Brownhills is now, it’s gorgeous.