November 10th – The sadness of things. Post Remembrance Sunday, Darlaston War Memorial is a small sea of wreaths and small crosses, many with dedications to the lost and fallen.
I’ve said many times, this is the most sombre, sensitive and beautiful such monument I know. Standing there today, on a grey morning buffeted by the inclement weather, I was lost in contemplation for a good while.
It must have been the wind making my eyes water.
November 6th – I was crushingly tired as I trundled home with a thankfully assisting tailwind. It was wet again when I started out and I was damp and miserable. The traffic was hell, and sweeping off the ring road at Walsall, I looked westwards to an unexpectedly beautiful sky.
Cheered, I pressed on and noticed that at the Black Cock pub, their annual bonfire and fireworks display were starting, with stalls and a merry go round on the front car park. The lights looked so beautiful in the dark.
It’s been a hard few weeks. I’m tired, I’m grey and I need rest. Thank heavens it’s the weekend.
November 5th – At Telford, two mysteries, one easily solved. On my journey I often pass a budget hotel, the rear of which is visible from the cycleway. On top of a cage surrounding what looks like air conditioning and refrigeration plant, a bicycle. It hasn’t moved for a year or more, or at least, it’s been there every day I’ve passed by. I’m wondering if anybody has actually noticed it from the hotel, or if it’s just a really secure locking space?
And then, the bike shed at the place I was visiting. Normally I have a job finding a space on sunny days. Today, only the hardcore mountain biker guy has rode in. And it looks like he got a wet arse doing so.
No mystery about fair-weather cyclists…
November 5th – Off to Telford, and another wet, warm commute. That wonderful autumn has come to a very soggy, miserable end. I stood on New Street watching the people, signals and trains as the drizzle softened the light. I must have spent hundreds of hours waiting here over the years. This station is in my blood like the traffic fumes and air of the city, and although I hate the state of it, and what’s been done to it, I still love the place.
I find as I get older my relationship with urban spaces is getting more and more complicated. These are still my places, but I feel much more ambivalent about them now. I’m not sure I like it.
November 3rd – The commutes are not being good to me this week. Yesterday was foggy and damp; the journey in was OK, I suppose, but the journey home was in steady, persistent rain. I’d had to call in at the Gallagher Retail Park by Junction 9 on the way back, and when I left B&Q it was raining heavily. Nothing for it but to don waterproofs and go for it.
The traffic was mad, as it always is in the wet, dark evenings. I got soaked. But at least it was relatively warm.
I could do without this, to be honest…
November 2nd – The mist and horrid weather continued throughout the day. Patchy, it would be relatively clear one moment, and quite dense the next. Commuting was a challenge – it’s amazing to see people driving and riding around in these conditions without lights.
Fog is horrid to ride in. It drenches you and gets into your clothes and hair. It’s cold, and the extra vigilance it requires is mentally exhausting on a long commute.
Hope it clears up soon.
November 2nd – A hard commute to and from work, but I wasn’t the only local whose activities were restricted due to fog.
This buzzard, hunting curtailed by the poor conditions, was loafing off the Mellish Road in Walsall.
He looked well fed.
October 29th – much to my irritation, I had to make an unexpected trip to Telford mid-morning. The weather was miserable and it was a grim morning – but one thing that always raises a smile is the quality of the bike storage on Arriva Trains Wales services. One of the best examples of bike provision I’ve ever seen, there are 2 spaces in every 2 car set. There’s a steel wheel support rack with car-style seatbelt to hold the bike in the rack. The whole thing is near a decently wide door with good clear access.
The space is a little cramped, but with manners and consideration it works well and is miles better than other companies, who may well allow bikes but don’t actually provide any means of securing them.
This just makes cycling life a little easier, and is very welcome.
October 27th – I had to nip to Priorslee to pick something up. The trail crosses the M54 via a pedestrian/cycle bridge that twangs gently when you cross it, and resonates with every large lorry that passes underneath.
From the bridge, the embankments of the motorway were displaying wonderful colour even on this dull day, and the view to my destination looked almost bucolic and mysterious.
Autumn has it’s moments.
October 26th – My return was indeed in darkness, and I must get the feel for night photography once more. But at least I get to experience that wonderful atmosphere of railway stations at night again.
I’ve missed that. Hello darkness my old friend,
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 