May 31st – The season of the dog rose is upon us. You can keep your fancy hybrids, your blobs of colour on thorny sticks; give me the colour and scent of a wild rose any day of the week – bringing colour in an uncontrolled riot to towpaths, hedgerows and edge lands all over.
These were just by the canal in Walsall near Bentley Bridge. A joy to the heart.
May 25th – As we advance to late spring and early summer, some of my favourite flowers are emerging now; birds foot trefoil ‘egg and bacon’, buttercups, elderflowers and ox-eye daisies all brighten the verges, hedgerows and edge lands of my commute.
Such lovely flowers. How I love this busy, colourful time of year.
May 12th – In total contrast to the rest of the week, a beautiful, warm but breeze day and very enjoyable riding indeed. As I set out early, bird were making the most of the early light, and the world seemed to be gently drying.
Arriving at work, my attention was snagged by the flowerbeds on the industrial estate. I love how tulips look like they have some kind of arachnid inside them.
A gorgeous day, which was wonderfully restorative after an awful few days.
May 3rd – Some advertising wonk was paid to come up with this for the Halifax building society (or are they a bank these days?) – and it irritates me as these posters are all over the place – in this case on the Walsall Road in Darlaston.
Top Cat appears to be advertising mortgages. That’s right, Top Cat. That’s a cat, who lived in a dustbin and survived from the proceeds of theft and confidence trickery and really wouldn’t ever be considered for a mortgage, although he probably would be suited to a career in the City.
Although I suspect the bankers learned the coin-on-elastic trick from him…
April 22nd – A rare break in the clouds saw the sun shine as I came up from the canal at Bentley Bridge on my way back from an errand at lunchtime. To left and right here, out of shot are massive scrapyards, yet running like a green vein through the centre, the canal; peaceful, tranquil, verdant.
I love the Black Country and this scene typifies the way it’s canals exist as magical green natural corridors through great sprawls of urban life.
Wonderful.
April 19th – In Darlaston, at the Victoria Road allotments, a salutary warning that they don’t take any shit from officialdom…
I wonder what the poor chap did wrong to merit such a punishment?
April 11th – After being closed during roadworks since last summer, it’s good to see the steps from the canal up to Bentley Road in Darlaston back open. With them closed, it meant a trip to Bughole Bridge – not too bad on a bike, but a fair walk to get back to the same place. The steps on Bughole Bridge are also much harder to get a bike up, unlike these, which are so shallow, you can actually ride down them if you’re careful.
Long overdue, but glad to see it.
April 5th – I noted from the local news reports today that these old derelict buildings on Park Lane on the Darlaston/Wednesbury border are now scheduled for demolition and replacement with new housing – not before time, either: they’ve been derelict for as long as I can remember; an eyesore, they’re of no historic value whatsoever and in times of a housing shortage, their replacement is long overdue.
What is interesting – and I’d never noticed it before until @thestymaster commented today on Twatter about it – the old garage sign here is a bit of an antique, but it has sadly seen better days.
April 5th – It was quite clear from the view over to Wednesbury from where I pulled over to answer a call in Kings Hill that Bill’s Mother now lived that way on – it was looking mighty black over there.
The sunlight that remained, though, caught the twin sisters a mile away and reminded me why I love this most urban of views.
A real Black Country vista.
March 8th – All I can say is they must be from outside the borough.
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