Friday February 19th 2021 – Back at work, I stopped on the way to check out the planters at Kings Hill park, which usually have loads of brightly coloured primroses.
Sadly, so far there are only these in bloom at the moment, but others are ready to open, which will be worth seeing.
Still, who can’t fail to be cheered up by a hot pink primrose on a grey February Friday?
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3tnze6H
via IFTTT
Wednesday February 17th 2021 – On the canal at Walsall Wood, a familiar pair of beaky chancers come towards me hoping for food.
They make out they haven’t eaten for weeks, that they’re starving to death, and also they’ll feed my body to the pike if I don’t cough up a treat.
But unluckily for them, I’m empty handed, my usual small bag of corn left in the garage after filling; fortunately they seem in a rudeness of health that matches their people skills, and despite their menace, only hiss at me and scud off, to browse the canal bottom for tasty green goo.
Waterfowl can’t half turn on the sob story…
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/30KgLF5
via IFTTT
Monday February 15th 2021 – One of my most beloved spring flowers, one that was also one of my mum’s favourites too, is the humble aconite.
These small, yellow, woodland flowers are not terribly common, but there, if you look really hard. They don’t last long, a couple of weeks in flower, tops, with only a few days at their peak, but they’re well worth catching.
These, just past their best, were spotted growing under trees on the Hortonwood cycleway in Telford, in a spot one would normally pass without noticing.
I’ve passed by that spot many times – and all that while they’ve probably been trying to get my attention. Poor things…
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3bPMXxh
via IFTTT
Friday February 12th 2021 – It’s been a hard week on the bike – cold, grim days, ice under the wheels and rain and snow.
Some weeks of commuting are like war: You push on, enduring them, trying not to become a casualty, stoically going forward as much as you can.
I was glad it was Friday and this week of bitter riding had passed. All I need right now are sunny days – even if cold – and a sight of some decent signs that this harsh season will end.
I was glad to be nearing home.
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3bKXb1Q
via IFTTT
Thursday February 11th 2021 – We’re in an odd time of snow, with showers every day but little actually settling much. What there is, is powder and pack ice and I’m impressed with how well the Continental Top Contact II Winter tyres are handling it. For a non-studded tyre, grippy and trustworthy.
Which is just as well, it’s lethal out there.
Mind how you go, folks.
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3bODg29
via IFTTT
Wednesday February 10th 2021 – Still very cold, I had to call in to Walsall on my return from work.
This is at a shade before 6pm on a regular weekday.
Normally this would be busy with commuters, people grabbing a drink or groceries on the way home.
This is pandemic Britain. Haunting, beautiful, but utterly incomprehensible.
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3leD4fK
via IFTTT
Tuesday February 9th 2021 – It was very, very cold. There was periodic, not really settling snow but continual sub zero temperatures, and hedgerows near puddles around the area like this one in Green Lane had become ice grottos.
You don’t see this much: Last time I’d seen one this good was a decade ago at Stubbers Green: Every time a vehicle passes, it splashes water onto the vegetation, where it ices up.
Beauty, even in the harshest days.
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3eEigwR
via IFTTT
Friday February 5th 2021 – I was coming home at the end of a long week, tired and hungry. The weather was again unpleasant and it felt like snow might be coming in again. I just wanted to be home with a mug of tea and the family.
At the bend of Borneo Street in The Butts, Walsall, just before it joins the Lichfield Road, one can pause at the allotment gates and look up the terraced street of Victorian houses towards Walsall.
On this night it was dark, and maybe a little bit spooky, with so few folk around. The blue-white LED lights contributed to the ghostliness, but the contrasting house lights here and there made me realise there was warmth to be found within.
Taking that as a cue, I took a quick snap, and rode home to the warmth and comfort of home.
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3sO70C4
via IFTTT
Thursday February 4th 2021 – It was again cold, and rather wet, but I couldn’t resist a quick stop in Kings Hill Park to check out the snowdrops.
They are such lovely, delicate but hardy flowers. It was a rotten morning weather-wise but they were bright in the gloom.
They never see the warm spring themselves, but always speak of its promise. Harbingers of better days.
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/30dJDpb
via IFTTT
Tuesday February 2nd 2021 – In Kings Hill Park in Darlaston, the spring flowers – crocuses mainly, but snowdrops too – are up now, and as i’d not been there for a week or so, they were a cheery surprise on a bright, but sadly sunless day.
The miniature daffodils here are also ready to burst forth and although it’s still bitterly cold, spring, like the flowers, is coming up. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3sNT1fg
via IFTTT
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 