January 20th – It was an awful day for travelling (and work generally, really). I went a long way on a fools errand, and on my return, got tangled up in travel chaos on the Cross City line.
In between, however, the day was misty, bright and cold with a beautiful frost. Sadly, I spend most of my cycling time dashing late from one place to another and didn’t get chance to take many pictures.
I’d like a few more days like this if possible…
January 15th – I spotted this unfortunate tree on the cycleway in Telford today. It must have been growing like that for years, and I’ve never noticed it. Oddly, as yet, it doesn’t seem to be distorting the fence…
I love trees that grow unusually in response to their environment.
January 14th – Endless rain. It seems generally OK in the mornings – except today there was rather challenging black ice in abundance – followed by a wet commute home. I really am at my wit’s end with it. I just want a decent dry spell for a change, to let me, the bike and the countryside dry off a little.
On the footway beside the Black Cock Bridge the rain and the streetlights collided beautifully.
January 13th – Caught by the rain again, for heaven’s sake. My return from Darlaston was a hard ride – wet, the traffic was mad, and the New Ring Road in Walsall really shows it’s bad design in heavy rain – it’s just one long pool of standing water. Fed up with the traffic and looking for a good picture, I dropped onto the canal.
I got home soaked again. All I want is a dry week. Is that too much to ask?
January 10th – I don’t know where the rain came from. It had been a decent day, but I’d not taken any photos, but then I came to ride home and it rained quite heavily. For the second time this week I was caught without waterproofs, and I was not amused.
As I crossed the lights at Shire Oak I noticed the pub was busy. Apparently recent changed hands, it looked welcoming and friendly on an otherwise wet and grim night.
January 9th – The journey home was similarly blessed; the weather was good, and the trains on time. At Walsall I got that Late Night Feeling thing again, and couldn’t resist a shot of platform 1, which always feels a bit like Walsall’s very own platform 9 and three quarters.
I even had a decent exchange with another cyclist at the lights in Rushall. Can’t be bad.
January 6th – I was caught in a sudden shower at Blake Street, and it formed an almost imperceptible rainbow and the sun shone throughout. It was happenstance that I found myself on Moor Street just as another shower ended. In both instances, I caught trains arriving.
The train service has been lousy of late, and doesn’t look like getting any better. I know the weather’s been bad, and I wouldn’t complain if that were the cause. London Midland still seem to be suffering from preventable problems – train failures, crew shortages. I’ve only been back three days and have only caught a couple of trains on time.
My return journey from Birmingham this evening was cancelled. It made for a horrid journey home.
Every year the prices go up, we get the wearily ‘maintaining high service’ line; it’s rubbish, it really is.
January 6th – It was a beautiful morning, but with a heavy, harsh southwesterly wind. It took me longer than usual to cycle to the station, and I ducked through the backlanes to get there, the high hedges offering some shelter.
As far as the wind would allow, the air was soft and very slightly misty, and it made the countryside of South Staffordshire look beautiful in the watery sunlight.
I saw these trees in Forge Lane and recalled Joni Mitchell’s line ‘Trees are shivering in a naked row’.
Here’s to less aggressive weather for a while…
January 3rd – The journey home was much better than expected, too; when I made a dash for it, there was a gap in the rain and I made it to the train just in time, similarly at Birmingham New Street, where the city glistened beautifully in the wet. Taking advantage of a following wind, I shot home from Walsall between showers until I emerged from the takeaway, and got drenched in the last mile home.
Considering the horrendous weather in other parts of the country we escaped lightly, and so did I. Can’t help thinking I’ll pay for that later…
January 3rd – I was back in Telford today, only the weather wasn’t quite as nice. I was fortunate really, as I expected us have much more rain than we did, and the winds here weren’t as bad as forecast either. I caught a short, heavy shower as I arrived at Telford, and sat it out for five minutes on the covered walkway that forms the station bridge and connects it to the town centre. I could see light on the horizon, and the downpour soon lightened.
The geometry of that walkway fascinates me; it’s very 1980s, but also very solid. Dingy at night, it could do with better lighting, but it’s not a bad piece of urban design, really.
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