May 22nd – I’d been planning a long ride the following day for a good couple of weeks. Up until today, the weather forecast had been excellent. As I returned from Lichfield, I was having doubts. It was warm enough, but the sky was threatening all sorts, and the wind seemed quite bullish.
At the optimistically named Summerhill, found myself praying for a break in the clouds.
April 15th – Shelfied, just on the marooned triangle of land where there was once a railway bridge, a beautiful display of daffodils, better than ever I remember them.
Every year these gorgeous flowers drag me into spring. They are a joy to the heart. My best wishes and thanks to those at Walsall Council who planted and look after them.
Christmas Eve – On the way back I also had to nip into Walsall Wood, and dropping down from Shire Oak Hill, the sunset view over the Black Country to the South West caught my breath, as it often does. Considering the time of day on Christmas Eve the traffic was quite heavy, but it did feel very much like Christmas.
Greetings of the season, everyone!
November 27th – I again returned via Walsall Wood, but unlike the night before, it was clear. I see the christmas lights are going up, and as ever, the High Street looked bustling and beautiful in the night. Walsall Wood is often overlooked, yet it preserves it’s village atmosphere and is surprisingly beautiful in parts.
An undervalued gem.
November 26th – A dreadfully weary, damp homeward commute in heavy mist that soaked and deadened everything. Trapped on the right of a dithering vehicle at the Spring Cottage Lights, I headed straight over and through Walsall Wood for a change.
Even on this dark, horrible night, there was a kind of insular, glowing beauty in the murk.
November 21st – Thank goodness it’s Friday. Another dreadful, rain sodden commute, but peculiarly, it’s still not getting to me.
Having to nip back to Walsall Wood, I stopped to capture the lights and madness of the traffic.
I normally dread the sadness and loss I feel at this time of year. This time, it’s just not arrived. This pleases and puzzles me. But there is something beautiful about the lights and the water, I guess…
July 7th – Working late, I returned at sundown and winched my way up Shire Oak Hill from Sandhills. I noticed that lots of trees along here are laden with developing fruits – beach nuts, acorns, pine cones and these, unusually abundant sycamore seeds, or ‘helicopters’ as we used to call them as kids.
They seem to be already ripening – but this is only just the beginning of July.
Am I imagining it, or are we heading for an early autumn?
February 21st – Returning home in the wee small hours, I was irritated to discover I’d forgotten my camera. As I sped from Walsall on deserted streets, there was a fine drizzle but the wind was behind me. I saw nothing but a handful of cars, a couple of foxes and a started badger. The phone is useless in low light, but these do capture the atmosphere quite well.
I’d quite forgotten the otherwordly atmosphere of being out on a bike at 1am…
December 27th – The same photo-expedition also saw me returning from Walsall Wood and heading to Stonnall. This meant climbing Shire Oak Hill from the Walsall side – whenever I do this, I always stop to look at the view. This is a fantastic urban skyline, and one I’ve always loved.
Beauty can be found in the most mundane, plain landscapes if one looks.
October 25th – Although it was lightly raining, it was warm, and with the wind behind me I took the back way back to Brownhills, down the Lichfield Road and up over Springhill at Barracks Lane.
I had a play with long exposure shots at Sandhills, and was quite pleased with the result, but puzzled too, when I looked at the images on the computer. In both, a wavy, oscillating thin trace of light is present above the main vehicle trails, which are very straight. I thought about these thin, curling traces for almost an hour, then I worked them out.
They’re the light trail created by the reflection of street lights off the car windscreen, hence the curve and double back as the car enters the dominance of another lighting column. It’s quite mathematical, and I think it could be modelled with fairly basic locus mathematics.
I could be wrong, though…
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