Tag: Christmas

December 9th – Lichfield Food Festival was huge, and very busy. I dined on tasty burgers, sweet treats and some rather divine curry goat. I bought cheese and treats and enjoyed a busy afternoon in the city, feeling very festive in the dying light. It was much better than I expected and I had a great time.

Sadly, all the food took it’s toll and the ride back was arduous. But as ever, Lichfield at Christmas was a joy. I’m glad I went, but a bit more snow would have made it perfect.

December 1st – Visiting Walsall Wood on an errand on my way home, I stopped to admire their excellent Christmas tree in the grounds of St. john’s Church, which is always a personal donation by the local councillors, which is jolly nice of them.

The church also looked lovely in the cold night.

The Wood is absolutely lovely at night… even more so at Christmas.

January 1st – I wasn’t well, and didn’t go far. Not overindulgence from the previous evening – I partook of no alcohol at all on New Year’s Eve – but the recurring IBS I sometimes get, thankfully very rarely these days.

I was also drowning under a sea of paperwork I had to complete for work, which always drives me mad. At least the day was wet, so I didn’t miss good riding time…

I spun up Walsall Wood on an errand, and hopped off the canal at Hollander’s Bridge and took a quick shot of Binary Mews. It still disappoints me that the addresses here don’t go 1,10,11,100,101 etc…

Passing St. John’s, I forgot to note this year that the Christmas tree in the Churchyard – donated as it always is by the local councillors – was looking splendid this year with a new set of coloured lights. The generosity of the politicians is noted, and appreciated.

I welcome 2017, and a return to normality. When my stomach settles, of course.

December 27th – Passing through Leomansley in Lichfield, in a hurry, I did a double take, and had to stop to record the Lichfeldian cervine genetic engineering project’s latest results.

I also learned from the ever informative, cardigan bedraped LichfieldLore that this is the home of the wonderful and witty A-Snalian thing. If you look closely, I’m being watched over the wall.

I’m told this is the second set of deer and penguins, the first being lost in the storm on Friday. That must mean there are others now roaming free.

Be afraid, kids, be very afraid.

December 25th – The traditional Christmas Day ride was short this year – not much time, and the wind was somewhat challenging. A dive into Stonnall and back up to Chasewater had me pass these characters outside the converted barn at Stonnall.

They genuinely made me smile. Merry Christmas!

December 24th – Christmas Eve was a quiet, resting day. After all the work and stress of the previous weeks, I pooled around Hammerwich and the local canals just looking to see what was around. It wasn’t a cold day, and the although a bit windy, the riding was good.

Hammerwich Church remains beautiful, and it’s the little details that make it – the working weathervane, the architectural details, the views of the old windmill.

In the village itself, a small, charming nativity outside a private house.

I think it must be Christmas!

December 22nd – Up very early to head to Bakewell, I kn ew I’d be worn out on my return, so I went for a spin in the early hours before I left.

Heading through a dark, pre-dawn Brownhills that was quiet and untroubled, I didn’t see a soul and felt like a somnambulant, cycling ghost.

At Silver Street, even the boats were in darkness and the waterfowl weren’t up yet. I surveyed the scene with a full day ahead and reflected on the quiet, so far unawakened would around me.

December 21st – And so, on the way back to Brownhills, a familiar subject that was today in darkness due to the lack of moonlight. The canal was millpond still and there was little wind – a situation that looks about to change, with incoming intemperate weather threatening.

I can remember really, really cold Christmases – with snow on the ground, if not truly white – but we haven’t had one for a few years now.

I suppose s decent covering of snow this winter is too much to ask?

December 20th – I keep passing this sign at the garden centre on the Chester Road near Mill Green, and as I passed it tonight, I realised that as with every year, it’s purpose had now all but ceased; few people will be buying the traditional nordman fir now, and so inexorably, the season is ticking away; One more day at work, then holiday, then on my return, a new year and nights that open out again after the winter solstice and shortest day, which occur the very next day.

Time marches on quickly for me these days, but this autumn, with the huge workload and long hours, has seemed particularly cruel.

I long for spring flowers, warm breezes and the sun on my face.

Soon be over the peak.