October 5th – As I noticed yesterday, the dark evenings are on their way. Once more incontrovertible, it was dark at 6:40pm as I cycled up Clayhanger Road. Grim, dark and for boding, This is what many commutes will be like for the next few months – time to start carrying the gorilla pod again.
September 20th – On my return from Shenstone, tired and feeling down, I noticed that the trees along Lynn Lane were turning colour, and everything, including the surrounding, freely ploughed fields, was looking very autumnal. The colder, shorter days are coming now, and it’s hard to feel positive. I hate the nights closing in.
August 4th – Up at Chasewater, a cracking example of why the authorities need to sort out the anti-traffic barrier halfway across the dam at Pool Lane. Formerly consisting of plastic barrels filled with concrete, they have now been destroyed. Result? Yesterday, this car was actually parked off the road, on the site of special scientific interest that surrounds the 9-foot pool. Why? Because the owners were too bone idle to park the vehicle in the proper car park and walk a little. This needs sorting.
July 30th – One of the colours of a summer at it’s peak is the deep purple of rosebay willowherb, or old man’s beard. Familiar to many due to it’s floating, fluffy airborne seeds, it occupies hedgerows, thickets and waste ground where it grows in profusion in the poorest soils. Here, at Lynn Lane in Stonnall, it’s well in bloom now, and will soon be seeding. For now though, this delightful flower is alive with bees, wasps, butterflies and all manner of winged insects.
July 4th – In High Summer, every year, a sad but necessary thing happens. The verges on the major country lanes are trimmed. This is for visibility, and ditch maintenance purposes, and while the loss of a crop of wildflowers is sad, I recognise the necessity. I was amused, however, to note that on Lynn Lane, Lynn, near Stonall, the man (or woman) who went to mow, couldn’t bring themselves to execute this clump of poppies, and had neatly mown around them. Love it. Do something beautiful, every day…
July 3rd – Not half a mile from taking the rain sodden, misery-laden pictures in the last entry, a couple of things cheered me up. Cycling is a very effective antidepressant and I almost always finish a ride feeling happier than when I started it. I was cycling down Gravelley Lane towards Lower Stonnall on my way home, and movement on my left caught my eye. Turning to look, there was a young calf frolicking in a field of fresh grass, having an absolute ball, presumably with the rest of her herd, just having been turned out there. I headed for a gap in the hedge to take a picture, but sadly, the view was blocked. I adore cows, they’re so nosey…
Further along the lane I spotted the snapdragons in a field gateway. Antirrhinum are not, I believe, native to the UK, but garden imports from warmer climes (although I could be wrong and feel free to correct me). One often sees them in the countryside at spots where flytippers have dumped garden rubbish, and I suspect these delightful blooms to be of that category. However they got here, they’re gorgeous, and very welcome on such a dull afternoon.
In case you’re wondering, they’re called snapdragons because the flower allegedly looks like a dragon’s head, and if squeezed gently between thumb and forefinger, they open like a mouth.
May 28th – Leaving Aldridge and heading for Stonnall for a fix of countryside in the sunshine, I pottered down Hobs Hole Lane on the Lazy Hill/Aldridge border. Here, in the lee of the ridge that stretches like a spine from Shire Oak to Barr Beacon, the oilseed rape was just going over, and smelled sweet and sickly. Near the Chester Road, I hung a left up onto Back Lane, another unmade track that runs behind the Plough and Harrow pub and comes out near Wood Lane. It was a tranquil, green haven. Sadly a hotspot for flytipping, it was also clean today, which made for a pleasant surprise.
May 9th – This morning was lovely. Not as nice as the day before, but warm and still. There’s definitely a change in the air, maybe a little summer is creeping in at last. On my way to Shenstone, I noticed how Lynn Lane had taken on the colours of foliage and growth. I love this time of year.
February 21st – It seems I’ve got a change of scenery for a few days. Off to Telford early today, and the weather – after a distinctly wintery dip yesterday – seemed really springlike this morning. Heading to Shenstone station along Lynn Lane, I noticed this row of bare trees. Spring will be nearly over by the time they green up, but I’m sure, somewhere in those weathered trunks, sap has started to rise. I notice bulbs are coming up and growth is tentatively commencing for another year. This thought cheered me as I sat on the train…
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