Tag: IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Wet and dark the night

October 10th – A long day and late night at work. The journey home was dreadful, and reminded me that I among enduring The Suck, that horrible period of night-time commuting in the dark, when driving seems worse, the weather is hostile and the journeys drain you physically and psychologically.

Still, to have the gorgeous sunny summer days you need to have the winter, and even Walsall Ring Road can be surprisingly attractive when the wet tarmac, vehicle and street lights combine.

Roll on Christmas…

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#365daysofbiking Fleeting visitors

October 9th – The fungus is really coming on now, I’m pleased to see a whole variety of mushrooms, balls, slime, mildew and brackets, some plain and some strikingly colourful.

Every day is a new discovery, and is one of the nicer aspects of autumn. These tiny parasols were growing on a grass verge in Chasetown, and although plain now, will be very striking when fully grown.

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#365daysofbiking Clear water rising

October 9th – A rare journey to Chasetown in the morning saw me crossing Chasewater on a decent morning.

I noticed at the Nine Foot that the water level, thanks to recent rains, is now less than 200mm off full. It’s been a coupe of years since the reservoir was this full.

I don’t know why but I always get a childish thrill from seeing the water flow down the spillway.

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#365daysofbiking Harsh, still

October 8th – Despite a flurry of updates, the generally lauded night mode on the new iPhone is very impressive but to me, still somewhat harsh.

On one of my favourite night subjects – Clayhanger Bridge – the image is impressive for a phone, but I think a real camera generally does it better, even with this incompetent behind it.

Maybe I’m being harsh myself…

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#365daysofbiking The storm’s passage

October 8th – Returning from Birmingham, caught suddenly in a shower on the platform at New Street Station, I was fascinated by the darkening of the sky, then the light catching the buildings as the end was in sight.

In all the mad, frenetic urban landscape, I love the power it still maintains to capture the light beautifully.

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#365daysofbiking Circling the drain

October 7th -This is one for the collection of things that randomly irritate me. It’s not a huge thing, but it’s been bothering me a while now – several years in fact.

A the place I visit in Telford, facilities have been told to paint arrows indicating direction of flow on manhole covers. Which is a great idea. In theory.

Until you do it on a round cover. Which isn’t keyed. And can be put back in any orientation.

Some of the triangular arrows are also equilateral, and central.

It irritates me every time I notice it, and they’ve just repainted all the arrows…

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#365daysofbiking The nuts are dropping

October 7th – Although plainly of no use to me whatsoever, I still can’t walk past the fallen fruit of the horse chestnut tree without stopping to admire the shiny conkers, crack open a few husks and find the treasure within.

It’s programmed into me, like it must be to every British man of a certain age.

I’ll keep a few in my pocket to guerrilla plant, I guess. Such attractive seeds.

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#365daysofbiking Fair field

October 6th – A favourite local view – from the canal over to the hills of Hammerwich is unexpectedly green right now. Well, green and yellow.

The slopes of Meerash to the old railway are bright green with fresh crop growth and are dusted with bright yellow. Clearly a flowering winter crop.

I wonder what it is? Must go check it out when I feel better. A fare treat to the eye, that one.

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#365daysofbiking The spore of the moment

October 6th – Another day with the cold and no energy, but an unexpectedly fine afternoon with sunny spells. It was, however, rather blustery and Chasewater had white-topped waves beating it’s shores.

I roved for a couple of hours around the common, canals and Chasewater looking for fungi, and was rewarded with the usual suspects – good fly agaric, ammonite, puffballs, honey fungus, polypores and earth balls.

But there was one find I was most pleased with – and a species I’ve not seen since I was a child: Amethyst deceiver.

These tiny, delicate, beautifully purple shrooms are actually edible and absolutely gorgeous. Hard to spot at first, they look brown at first, until you see them in the light – then the magic happens.

A great afternoon against my expectations.

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#365daysofbiking Default browser

October 5th – And then, in the scrub at the top of Chasewater dam, between Pool Road, the bypass and rugby club, this fine solo lady was browsing the scrub and posing for photos.

With the rut starting now and the old herds regrouping, odd to see a lady on her own, but she was in good condition and her coat was sleek and beautiful.

Always a fine sight and one I’ll never quite get used to.

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