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.
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Saturday January 2nd 2021 – Although we’ve not had the inches of snow I would have liked, we had repeated short falls that kept it topped up. Saturday evening, it came on again, so I headed out on errands at teatime.
Coming back from the supermarket in Burntwood, I came down the Parade and through Holland Park and the Black Path, not long after and intense, but short fresh fall.
It’s safe to say it was magical.
And the best bit? The town seemed deserted.
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April 24th – It was a pleasant evening so I hopped off the canal near Aldridge and did a loop over Lazy Hill and back into Brownhills over Shire Oak.
People keep saying things are getting busier. Sorry, I can’t see it.
This is 6:30pm on a Friday on one of the main arterial routes in the area. I had to wait ages for a car to come the other way and change the lights for me. I barely saw a soul in a seven mile ride. I saw more wild animals than people.
I have never seen days like these.
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April 12th – Easter Sunday was so quiet as I slipped out on a changeable afternoon. Mindful of the exercise only diktat, I figured a ride around the backlanes to Little Hay and back would be acceptable.
I was shocked to note very few people about at all. I pretty much had the lanes to myself – and how beautiful they were.
The blossom, green shoots and beautiful skies made for a refreshing, rejuvenating ride that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I really do feel like I’m beginning to get that old spark back.
It’s been gone awhile, washed away in the rains of the winter, I think…
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April 4th – And as I came back along the canal, the situation was similar from Northywood Bridge.
The industrial area on this side of Stubbers Green is normally brisk, even on a weekend: A busy builder’s merchant, B&M not a stones throw away, people continually coming through.
Today, not a soul. Not a car about.
It’s seriously making me wonder how much stuff we do as humans out of genuine need, as opposed to what we do just to keep busy…
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April 4th – A trip out to buy essentials – once a casual, carefree, incidental thing – is now a mission. It involves queueing, or planning which shops to visit who might have stock of what you need.
Nothing is simple anymore. Everything is an extra effort, or requires planning or more time. Even finding a curry or getting fish and chips.
In Aldridge, mid Saturday afternoon. There was the odd, waiting, mostly empty bus. The supermarkets – Morrisons, Home Bargains, Iceland – were steady, but with social isolation measures, a queue to get in each made shopping tortuous.
And then, beyond the carparks this… sunlit ghost town.
These are the strangest days I’ve ever known, or will again.
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March 19th – It’s not just public transport that was deserted, either: The roads and towns are too.
Like something in an apocalyptic 1970s drama, all of a sudden people are draining out of view in this country. It’s most odd.
At this time on a weekday on the canal at Catshill Junction I’d normally see a dog walker or two, usually some runners.
But not today. Even in these final days of winter time, before the clocks change and light floods back to the evenings.
Very quiet.
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March 18th – Every day the streets are a little bit more dead. People are wary of each other. Public transport is emptier and emptier as worried people abandon their journeys and work from home.
I had to go to Telford.
I’m using sanitiser, obeying instructions. New Street and the train services I caught were eerily quiet.
This is a momentous time, yet it feels like it’s arriving by stealth. While everyone is… Out.
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February 5th – Passing through Birmingham New Street Station on my way home, it was rush hour and the place was rammed, as usual.
Being a cyclist, I tend to hang out ant the periphery of the crowd, better to not get in the way.
I looked to my right as the train came in from my left, and realised that at peak time, the station had nobody visible and all the signals were on red.
A few seconds later, people appeared and broke the spell…
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December 20th – A late night at work finishing off, then the Christmas party. I crossed Rushall Square junction late in the evening.
As ever, the lights were lovely and there was hardly anyone on the road, which was a bonus.
Christmas is feeling closer now…
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