commute – Page 87 – BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking

November 3rd – After a spring and summer of waiting for something to start, the 80s footbridge that links to two sides of Telford Station with the nearby retail park and town centre is finally being removed and replaced.

Some details seem off. There’s always been a ramp down to access the Staples store over the road, but now that will not apparently exist and a pedestrian crossing has been installed over the slip road. I’m also concerned about the ramp arrangement on the Shrewsbury-bound side of the station.

It has to be said though, replacement is desperately needed. The bridge, although appearing disabled-friendly is not; there are no braked in the inclines and negotiating it in a hand-propelled chair requires strength and skill.

The bridge supports have now been fenced off and it’ll be interesting to see how this project develops.

November 2nd – Further on my way to work, I caught something out of the corner of my eye n a patch of roadside verge grass. On the neatly mown turf were lots of one of my favourite toadstools – the delicate and very short lived Japanese Parasol. With a delicate crinkled cap no larger than a two pound coin and a very slight stature, these pretty little fungi will be gone without trace within a day.

These are a wonderfully fragile, transient beauty and I’m so glad to have seen them this year.

November 2nd – Despite the gloom and cooling weather, there are still patches of colour to be found. On a dew-dampened canal towpath as dawn swelled over the Black Country, the clover still looks perfect in purple.

The dark, cold months are about finding joy where you can…

November 1st – Also growing well by the cycleways and roadsides of Telford is a surprisingly copious crop of puffball fungus.

Still young enough to be tasty, I made a mental note passing in a hurry, to on my return pull out my bag and gather some for tea.

Not everything about autumn is sad!

October 25th – Pleasingly, I escaped work in daylight, so took the chance to spin along the canal home. On the embankment at Pleck, the fly agaric are dying off now, after yet another spectacular display – but one or two good examples remain, like this huge one.

I have no idea what’s so favourable for these most traditional of toadstools, but there’s a huge quantity grow here. Right in the urban heart of Walsall.

You never can tell.

October 24th – I popped to Telford late morning on a quite errand and noted this row of trees near the cycleway, whose uniformity has always fascinated me.

All ornamental cherries, the branch at the same height, are about equall in height, blossom and shed at the same time, and never seem to need management at all.

And in autumn they make for great photos!

October 24th – With the immediate rush easing off a little, I took a diversion on the way to work to check out the earthstar fungi a little further up the industrial estate I discovered accidentally a few weeks ago.

They’re doing wonderfully and there were some perfect specimens.

I love how they look like they’ve been made out of clay or plasticine. Their shapes almost look inorganic.

fungi are fascinating. I wonder if we’ll get any in the usual spot on Clayhanger Common this year? They normally come later, around December…

October 23rd – I was riding to work when I met a gorgeous little lady with a happy, proud brush of a tail. Trotting though The Butts, she meowed at me as I was answering a text and then hurried towards me, greedily accepting chin and ear tickles and nose boops.

Circling me and begging for more fuss, she was hard to photograph, but happily pottered off when she could see I needed to continue my journey.

A little bit of furry, tiny tabbyness on a damp Monday morning.

October 20th – And in the green heaven of Kings Hill Park, where clearly busy people tend the flowers unseen to me, a bright, colourful reminder that the beauty isn’t over yet.

Spotted with raindrops, battered by the wind, these planters are still absolutely gorgeous and remind me of why I love the outdoors and why I appreciate this town and it’s hidden, lovely spaces.

I’m BrownhillsBob, not DarloDave. But for a twist of fate, I could have been – and would have been proud to be so.

October 20th – In to work early, and on a morning of patchy rain and light, fast sunny spells, two pauses in my hurried journey at Victoria Park and Kings Hill Park, both looking absolutely gorgeous in their autumn jackets.

Darlaston is a grubby, grimy industrial Black Country town – and is everything the Black Country is; busy, historic, full of hidden beauty under an ostensibly ugly exterior, charming, real and a great place to be. And like the wider Black Country, it’s full of green parks and open spaces where the hurried traveller can catch a breath, sip his tea and think about the day to come.