#365daysofbiking Wellness:
November 1st – I’m running behind at the moment, please bear with me.
I had to go to the hospital for an appointment, and went from work mid morning. I was apprehensive, tense, and sad. I looked back down the Walsall Canal from where I came and noticed the curious, dull sunlight on the yellowing trees.
I felt the very chill of autumn in my bones there and then. However beautiful, autumn is always, always melancholy.
#365daysofbiking Stars on earth:
October 27th – A grey, very very low day where things again went horribly wrong. I’m not having much luck with weekends at the moment.
Riding back from a fools errand in Walsall Wood, on the canal between Catshill Junction and the Silver Street Bridge, I noticed that the colony of earthstar fungus that I thought last winter’s cold weather had killed off completely has actually survived with some decent examples.
Hopefully some decent weather might help the group recover and re-spore successfully to give them some better years in future.
A rare bright spot in a very grim, down day.
#365daysofbiking Lost weekend:
October 14th – Sunday was again bad for most of the daylight hours, only improving during the late afternoon. The wind had again been strong, and continual rain again kept me in. I got things done though, and that in itself made me feel better.
Nipping out for the shopping I’d forgotten the day before, I noted the swan family by Pelsall Road where thriving, and they didn’t seem to mind the gloom.
I’m curious though, about Morris and his lights: They haven’t actually been on the last couple of days at least. I wonder if they’re broken? That’s sad if they are.
#365daysofbiking Into the black:
October 13th – A dreadful, wet and dull day during which I got absolutely none of the things done I wanted to. High winds and rain meant I was hemmed in and my mood deteriorated.
Slipping out purely from necessity in the evening to get shopping and a takeaway, I forgot half of what I needed and the takeaway I’d planned as a pick me up wasn’t available.
A somnambulant Brownhills, even at the early hour of 7pm didn’t help.
This autumn is mad. One minute it’s sun and shirtsleeves, the next it’s like a typhoon.
This does nothing for my mood.
365daysofbiking I am traffic:
October 8th – A snatched photo on the way home in the dark. This is a normal commute at the normal kind of time and I’ll have to get used to this now. Rushall Square is always kind of beautiful at night. Even when traffic free, it appears busy with traffic signals, street and shop light mingling.
These commutes are the hardest of all, the first in unusual darkness. But their urban beauty is hard to ignore.
Ah well, down the hatch…
365daysofbiking Ever falls the twilight:
October 6th – I returned to Brownhills in the overcast weather hinterland between night and what passed for day. It was damned grey and inside, I felt that way too. The onset of winter has me by the neck this year and I’m alternately OK with it and then quite down. I somehow feel I let summer slip away – I didn’t, I rode lots and saw lots and it just ended early, but I feel bereft.
From the Silver Street pedestrian bridge, I surveyed one of my classic winter views: Autumn is settling well here now, and the new houses with the nice line along the canal made an interesting match to the colour of the trees before them. There is life here now, lights in the new dwellings, and no longer does it feel desolate to stand here and be confronted with the place I love.
This town is changing, like the season; slowly, imperceptibly if you’re not attuned to it, and I think for the better. Finally, the ghosts of the civic failure here are being exorcised, and there is evidence of a little hope, a little life, a little warmth.
Unlike the season, Brownhills is opening up. Perhaps this grey twilight is better than I thought.
#365daysofbiking Sucked under:
October 2nd – The Suck is brutal this year. The dark evening commutes are hard and the driving is bad. But today was unexpected, unforecast drizzle all the way, and with no waterproof trousers, I was soaked and miserable.
This is the hard bit of winter. Dark, wet and cold, it’s going to get a lot worse before it begins to improve.
Every year this gets more and more daunting.
#365daysofbiking Going down:
September 26th – Crossing Cathshill Junction and heading up to Anchor Bridge, I caught it on the cusp of day and night, and realised that soon, I would be doing this once more in darkness.
I don’t know where summer went this year; it seems barely days since I was riding the roaches, eating ice-cream at Blithfield or riding in short sleeves around North Warwickshire.
Time passes so fast these days. It was a good summer – I doubt I’ll ever see one with such consistently fine weather again.
#365daysofbiking Welcome to The Suck:
September 20th – It started with a bang: The Suck, the gradually darkening, menacing and psychologically hard commuting journeys from now until Christmas began today with a twilight, torrential rain soaked journey from Darlaston to home.
Drenched in spray, nearly left hooked twice, perpetually on guard for bad driving this was the worst journey I’ve had in years.
At one point I just stopped and took refuge in a bus shelter to calm down. The sheer hard work of concentrating and being aware enough to survive in this conditions is a gargantuan effort.
But I made it home, and as I once again get used to this, it’ll be less of a trial.
Winter sucks you down.
#365daysofbiking Up the junction:
September 10th – A quick hop up on to Catshill Junction Bridge which is always a good spot to note the passage of the seasons.
Forgetting the weather (which is decidedly grim right now) there’s a definite tinge of autumn in those trees, towpaths, banks and bushes. It’s still quite, quite green – but there is the kiss of gold at the extremities, and the green looks dark and weary.
And the season’s wheel grinds on.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 