October 16th – With the sun more or less returned to normal and a ferocious tailwind, I hammered back to Brownhills late afternoon for an appointment. Watching me from the far side of the canal near Silver Street, a familiar character who clearly doesn’t care for my sort much, but that’s a huge bruiser of a cat. A real character.

At the old market place by the Pier Street Bridge, I’m happy to see the housing development is using forward with footings already in for the first houses.

It’ll be so nice to see this place inhabited and alive again.

March 9th – I passed through Lichfield on a bright, warm, sunny Sunday afternoon, and the place was bustling. People were queueing for ice creams, browsing in the shops and just taking the air. It was an absolute joy to be there.

Interestingly, there were a huge number of bikes around the city – people really seem to be increasingly turning to bicycles these days for leisure trips at least.

A fine thing to see that lifted my spirits.

July 4th – I returned to Walsall during a glorious golden hour. The town was largely deserted, and I cycled through an empty marketplace. St. Matthews, up on the hill, looked as imperious as ever, but despite the demolition of the hated Overstrand, the view of the grand old lady of Walsall is still wrecked by far inferior architecture. But get close, and she still beguiles…