Tag: night photography

January 3rd – Ah, that prickly, uncomfortable time between New Year and starting work again. Once you get back to the grind, Christmas seems a long way off and life gets back to normal quickly, but in the interregnum between festivity and workaday occupation, things feel otherworldly and disconnected. I hate it.

The nights are opening out though, which is good; the weather hasn’t been great, particularly that morning, and I can’t seem to get anything done, which is a pain, but everything must pass.

I spun into town for a few items and some fresh air, and swung past St James, the parish church of Brownhills. I’ve always found it stark and austere, and the extension added in the early 90s (in the foreground) is, to me, hideous. But the church is the heart of Brownhills, or at least Ogley Hay, even if most of the surrounding community seemed to be Methodist.

The sky was a deep, azure blue and the moon was nearing full. It was quiet. Not a bad night to be out, but my heart was elsewhere.

I’ll feel better when I’m back at work.

January 2nd – Today, I was at a loose end. Things hadn’t come together well, and I felt miserable and disconnected, but I got my rug together and headed into Lichfield at dusk. It rewarded me beautifully – I love the Christmas lights here; even more poignant at the close of the festive season. It’s amazing how poncing about with a camera and creating a little can cheer you up.

For those counting, it’s the third anniversary of riding 365 days a year. I actually started the project in April, 2011 in order to ride every day of the 30 days of that April, mainly to stop fellow twitter cyclist Renee Van Baar from nagging me about it. At the end of that month, i was enjoying the thing so much I carried on, and vowed to make it 365 days.

Sadly, over the new year of 2011/12, I suffered bad food poisoning, and was off the bike for two days. I was gutted, and so feeling cheated, I started again. Today was the third anniversary of that resolution.

I often agonise over to whether I continue this, and I welcome reader opinion, so please do comment; but this journal is so much part of what I do on a bike every day now that it would be hard to stop. The readership continues to grow; over 5,100 followers.

Statistics for this year gone have been a total distance of 9,296 miles. That’s still about 25½ miles a day. A remarkable total of 14,446 photos have been taken. On the journal so far, there have been 3,028 posts. I have cycled continuously, every day, for 1095 days. 

In total, the journal has run for 1,368 days from the start, and something in just shy of 35,000 miles. Think about that; I’ve cycled every day, rain, snow, wind or shine of the last 1,368 days, all except 2. I’m proud of that.

I guess I proved a middle aged, ordinary geezer with a fondness for cake and tea can do this.

Thank you for riding it with me. As long as people are enjoying this, I’ll keep doing it.

Your comments are, as ever, welcome, even if it’s just to tell me to shut the hell up…

New Year’s Day – I was miserable. The weather was miserable. That’s all there was to it.

I wasn’t feeling good – not over-indulgence, but the semi-regular bad stomach and that post-Christmas feeling when the work that seemed so far away two days ago is suddenly noticed, bearing down.

I span out after dark, up Coppice Lane and the cycleway, and back along the canal. It was raining, and windy so quite tough going. But I felt better for it, and got home more cheerful than I left it.

I always find January 1st difficult if I’m hemmed in. Tomorrow will be a better day.

December 30th – I had loads of local stuff to do today, and very little time. Plus, I was having a bad day with everything failing, so I felt it probably wasn’t best to be out in difficult conditions. 

The feeling was compounded by a couple of intemperate drivers who hooted at my very existence.

The sunset was nice though, from Pelsall Road to Chasewater, it was gorgeous through all it’s phases; these are good winter sundowns right now. 

Sadly, the weather is to warm op over the next couple of days, so I think this is probably the last decent one until the weekend. But what a corker.

December 29th – The return was no less magical, but very challenging. I was mentally and physically exhausted when I got home. I’ve never seen black ice this bad, and by the time night fell, it was very challenging riding indeed on all but the main routes. It was good though, to see the sunset reflected in the snowy pink-white landscape, and my old muse Rugeley Power Station was clearly at full tilt.

The mist rolling off the Trent at Wolseley Bridge was enchanting, too, but I saw too many cars slid off the lanes around Longdon to feel comfortable on the roads, despite the ice tyres.

I was glad to get home, but glad to have seen this, to have experienced it and to feel that pain in my forehead and the icy grip on my chest.

It’s not often one feels so connected to the environment.

December 23rd – Tired, horrid day, washed out. The end of a working day. Heavy with a headache, buffeted by the wind, and finding the roads hostile despite the lighter traffic, I headed home from work for the last time in 2014.

I whipped the camera out as I waited on the lights at the Arboretum Junction, and as I usually do, watched the traffic move past in a blur.

Only the clocktower and the traffic light remain constant. 

I was glad to get home. Glad to finish the year. And so, a holiday, family time and fun, and then a new year.

That’ll do; that’ll do.

December 22nd – With a light heart and the wind behind me, I returned via Walsall in mild drizzle. It was warm, and I had to stop to take off some layers – the weather has been crazy this last few days – windy, but blowing hot and cold.

We’ve just passed the winter solstice and this makes me happy. I’m in the darkness here and now, but from here, the days lengthen in that all too familiar sinusoidal acceleration pattern, and soon, we’ll have light and leaves again. Fact is, I’ve survived the closing in again, and this year, it barely affected me at all. Considering I was dreading it, that’s some relief.

Cresting the Black Cock Bridge, this conifer decorated beautifully with hundreds of lights demands attention. It’s so bright, so sparkly, yet not glaring like a lot of such things. It’s really, really beautiful. And it’s huge.

Such a gorgeous beacon of light in the darkness.

December 22nd – A day at work in Darlaston, then nipping into Brum on an errand. New Street Station is mad at this time of year, and the lousy revamp is crippling passenger flows. Stood at the end of the platform for blessed space waiting for the train to be made available, I took a couple of shots. I love the differing lights here, the colours, surfaces, angles and textures.

I guess most folk would dismiss it as ugly, but I think it’s curiously beautiful.

December 21st – I was spinning up to Walsall Wood to make a quick delivery, and I realised there was a carol concert happening at St. John’s church, and it was lit up. 

It looked and sounded very Christmassy. 

Sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get a decent night shot of this humble but handsome church without that bloody streetlight spoiling it. Just can’t get a good angle.