April 6th – it’s not just about the blossom and attention seeking flowers, though.
So many new leaves, but is there any new leaf as crisp, beautiful, green and geometrically beautiful as the humble beech?
Go on, next time you pass one, take a close look. They’re wonders of verdant perfection.
April 4th – Again at telford, just by the side of the cycleway, lots of this curious shrub – bright red leaves I think, rather than flowers with white, bell shaped blooms. Every year the pieris surprises me and this year it’s especially lovely.
So much coming into flower now, such a change from the grey days of winter, which were only a few weeks ago!
March 29th – Along the cycleways and towpaths of the Black Country, despite the wet but warm morning, life is springing forth. Everywhere, some seasonal starting gun has been fired and leaves and blossom are appearing everywhere – and it’s wonderful.
There is little better on a grey spring morning that seeing the new green life, and the promise of a verdant, beautiful – and hopefully dry – summer.
March 21st – Gosh, it was cold this morning. After the warmth of the last week or so, riding out in the early morning in a wind air air temperature just above freezing was a real shock. Just as well, then, that the day was gorgeous with bright sun and blue skies.
The change in temperature hasn’t bothered the trees at all – they’re bursting into life. fresh new green leaves appearing, more every day.
I feel the gladness in my heart that only spring can bring – whatever the temperature!
March 16th – Spotted by the roadside in Darlaston, even the cherry trees are now taking spring seriously. This one, just on the verge outside a factory, is ready to burst into leaf.
Still can’t budge from the idea that spring is early this year, but I’m not sure if it really is, or I’m just relieved.
Anyone?
March 7th – I noticed on the way to work that another spring achievement had been unlocked – the hawthorn hedges are sprouting beautiful, bright green leaves, that smell fresh and look gorgeous.
I always welcome the spring greening and any step towards it, and seeing these fresh leaves this morning was a welcome and happy surprise.
I know we’re not out of the winter yet – after all we had some of the heaviest snows for years in April 2013 – but it feels like the cold and dark is ending now. Whatever happens now will surely only be a transient to something much better.
November 19th – Riding to Lichfield on a grey afternoon to get a little shopping in and get some fresh air. I went through the backlanes of Hilton, Wall Butts and Chesterfield, and was cheered here as I was elsewhere earlier in the week by the still wonderful autumnal colours.
I’m finding the darkness a little tough this year, but rides like this, although mostly dull and grey, the brightness I do find helps immensely.
Spring can’t come soon enough – yet it’s barely winter. Oh dear.
November 16th – A hazardous time of year, and not just just from the black ice on frosty mornings. Many hazards lurk in the damp autumn waiting to steal the wheels from beneath the incautious cyclist – one of the worst is leaf mulch. Fallen leaves, ground into a pulp by feet and wheels turn to a soapy, slippery grease that makes steering and braking a hazard.Combine this on busy roads with road grime, oil and spilled diesel and you have a real recipe for an accident.
The only answer is to be vigilant, beware of the front brake and take it easy.
November 9th – A wet night in Walsall, returning later than usual through the area near the Civic Centre, I noticed the fallen leaves were forming a glistening, multicoloured carpet. This area is surprisingly beautiful at any time of year, with usually unnoticed mature trees and wide pedestrian areas, but in autumn, after dark, even with the peculiarly strident street lighting this place is special.
Walsall is a place of many hidden beautiful and unexpected corners.
November 4th – The autumn colours were great this morning. When I started my ride to work, it was in semi darkness and drizzle; by the time I got there it was sunny, with clear blue skies.
Looking up in Darlaston’s Kings Hill Park through a canopy of yellow orange leaves, it felt good to be alive, to be there in the here and now.
It happened every year. I dread the onset of Autumn, and the wily old devil charms me to love in the end.
It was ever thus.
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