March 4th – A horrid, horrid day: a very cold, icy commute to work, a bad day when I got there, and then caught in the rain without waterproof trousers on the way home. I got in cold, tired and soaking wet.
Walsall is hard to love in such bad weather. I was glad to be going home.
March 2nd – Two very poor photos of Walsall Wood in a downpour. I was late back from work. It had rained most of the way home. It was cold, and the wind was brutal. I was dry under the waterproofs, though, and I just made a place I had to visit on the way back, so it wasn’t all bad.
Walsall Wood has a sort of soft, beautiful quality in the rain of a dark night. Villagey, yet urban. Energy and motion in the traffic, unstoppable, relentless, with somewhere to be, that isn’t here; yet it’s contrasted with the static streetlights, shop and pub glow and the son sheen of wet tarmac.
I’d rather be at home. I’m still troubled by low energy, short breath and sinus hassle, but that’s improving; but the night was hostile and I’d rather be in the warm and dry.
So I ploughed home.
March 1st – Aargh, that frustration – a great sunset and nowhere to get a good shot of it. Returning home tired and aching, dusk found me passing through Shelfield. Sadly, Shelfield is pretty flat and has no great viewpoints, sadly, and these images don’t really do it justice.
I bet it was a good one at Chasewater or up on the Beacon…
February 29th – I know this journal is becoming somewhat old when I realise this is the second leap year it’s passed. I still find that peculiar, really.
Today was not so sunny, although there were patches of brightness in the morning. On the way to work I noticed flowers – primroses amongst a stack of cut logs in Kings Hill Park and marigolds in a roadside garden flowerbed. I still can’t believe this is happening in February – but given the coldness of the day, and keenest of the wind, it was welcome colour.
February 26th – One thing I have noticed this year is that the crazy mild and early spring seems to have really benefited the catkins. They are lush and large this year, which seems good.
Here on the canal at Walsall Wood they’re the largest such crop I’ve ever seen.
February 26th – Really not well at all, I did a few hours of necessary stuff at work and crawled home mid-afternoon. I wanted a change, so I came over Church Hill, and stopped to take some photos while up there.
Church Hill is one of those conundra that I find troubling. St. Matthews is as beautiful as ever, and the views would be splendid were they not obscured by mature, beautiful trees. I want rid of some of them for a better view, but I also don’t…
No sign of the peregrines on the bellcote, but this is the first time I realised you can see the Workhouse Guardian’s offices from up here – and they look better from such a distance, and also, terribly out of place. Marooned.
St. Matthews itself is suffering the rogues of the weather, and desperately needs some love. I hope the CofE can get around to giving this venerable old church a bit of love soon.
February 25th – I’m experimenting with night shots at the moment, and what better place than Catshill Junction to try them? Quite pleased with these.
Again, that seasonal light-not-yet-died colour was fabulous. Hardly and wind with a flat-calm canal. Wonderful.
February 23rd – After a bloody awful day that started well enough but slid rapidly downhill mid-afternoon, I just wanted to get home. I was cold, I hadn’t had enough to eat and I felt lower than a snake’s knees.
I hauled myself up the hill from Pleck as I didn’t trust my judgement on the ring road this evening, and rolled liquid through the centre of Walsall. Cutting down Darwall Street to pop something in the post, I was caught up short by the view. The bus station, the lights, something about it.
I was so cold, I didn’t stop again. Some times, you just have to keep on moving.
February 22nd – The moon was so large and lovely, I had another go at capturing it. This was freehand with the camera on timer, and didn’t turn out too badly really. The moon fascinates me. I love how it seems to guide me homeward when I’ve been working late.
February 22nd – Dat moon. I first spotted it when I was coming home late along the ring road in Walsall – large and full, it doesn’t seem like five minutes since it was a new crescent, which I suppose means this year will pass very quickly.
I liked the contrast of the electric, traffic-choked urban night and the ancient light of the moon.
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