December 4th – Similarly, when I passed the canal junction at Walsall further on my way to work, I hopped off the ring road and on to the pavement to take this one from the Smiths Flourmill Bridge.
It’s early in the morning, the sun is low, and the two constants of Walsall – the waterway and that huge Victorian chimney stand as markers to the place I love.
A great morning ride.
December 4th – A better day, at last. It was a bright, warm morning with blue sky, sunlight and a lovely golden winter atmosphere. I sped past Jockey Meadows, then did a double-take, stopped, and got out the camera.
After the weather of the last week or so, a real tonic.
December 3rd – So enjoying the tailwind, I let it blow me to Walsall Wood, where I noted they have an excellent Christmas tree again this year, which I think is funded by local Tory councillors.
I’m by no means a Conservative, but respect to them for this act of generosity.
When I see the tree at Walsall Wood, I know Christmas is just around the corner. It’s one of the milestones of the season for me. A lovely thing indeed.
December 3rd – I went to work on a grey, threatening, but mostly dry morning, against a steady, but not harsh headwind. There was heavy rain and a gale forecast – so serious, a public Christmas light turn-on event and market had been cancelled in Walsall.
I missed the worst of the rain, and it merely spotted a bit as the wind blew me home. I averaged 19MPH – only the traffic lights stopped me. A remarkable journey in what is also unusually warm weather.
This year has been a bit strange meteorologically.
November 30th – Telford, early in the rain. Not quite fully light. The skeletal, brutalist 80s footbridge and covered walkway at the station is like some strange portal. Ghosts of people, further away than you think; exaggerated perspective and peculiarly yellow lighting.
An otherworldly, slightly unsettling place.
November 30th – New Street again, but early morning feelings rather than late night ones. Seven in the morning, steady rain, not yet clear of the night before.
Something about the light, machinery, wet urban surfaces, overhead wires and signals spoke quietly of urban strength, reassurance, safety, control. Alpha Tower in the distance stood as a fixing to location.
My feelings towards this place are ambivalent these days. But this morning, on the darkest and most miserable of days, something beautiful happened and it took my breath away.
It’s what Birmingham does, and I suspect has always done.
November 27th – In Telford, the skies westwards were foreboding, and eastwards more optimistic, but it was to be a terrible afternoon both in terms of work and the weather. The stark beauty of low sun and early winter cycleways was gorgeous, but the western sky wasn’t making idle threats and I would return home in a rainstorm, battling bad connections having had a terrible day.
Sometimes, the omens are not good from the start.
November 27th – Passing through New Street mid day, I was again struck by the contrast between the media hype of a reborn station, and the grim, badly maintained reality of the place itself. Those brick arches are probably the oldest remainder of the original station, and it wouldn’t surprise me were they to be Victorian. They should be made a feature, but they are decaying, stained and lie mostly unnoticed. Even some of the lights above them have given up.
Closer to the central area of the same platform, a gap in the above-platform construction lets the rain and wind howl in, concentrated and focussed by the angles and surfaces. No shiny cladding here, as it’s not outward facing. Just original 60s concrete and cheap white cladding.
A notice on the platform says ‘Mind the gap’ – the credibility gap is more hazardous.
November 26th – Spotted in a works bike rack, this fine steed. A very decent bike, with very curious panniers on the front of the crossbar. They seem to be holding cells for the front light, but I must confess I don’t understand how they’re comfortable to ride with. If those were on my bike, I’d keep banging them with my knees.
Still, bikes are very individual and we all have different solutions for luggage and general carrying needs. Studying other people’s bikes is endlessly fascinating.
November 24th – Working very late, I returned sapped of mental energy. I got as far as the Black Cock Bridge before realising I’d not taken any photos. So, as an excuse to have a breather probably more than anything, I quickly took this.
It was indeed, a bright moonlit night. But the source of the curious light was a car on the far side of this precarious bridge.
I was glad to be homeward bound.
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