November 11th – I think the rain made this, in a funny kind of way. When I came past the war memorial in Darlaston, it was raining quite heavily, but the statue, wreaths and tributes positively glowed in the murk. It looks like Darlaston did it’s fallen proud. So touching, and beautiful, it was a great sight on a wet, grey monday morning.

A few minutes later in the town, I saw the regular street sweeper cheerfully litter picking in the rain. Just as I passed, a lady from a local shop shouted to him, and came out with a cup of tea for him, and praised him for his hard work.

Life here, distilled. I love this place.

June 10th – A day of pottering around on errands and short journeys, during which I spotted these lovely huge poppies growing in the hedgerow in Hall Lane, Walsall Wood. They look too large to be native, and think they must be garden escapees. But whatever their origin, they’re very, very beautiful. A joy to the heart.

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…

June 19th – cycling back from Blake Street station, I took a spin up through the backlanes of Litte Aston and Stonnall. There seems to be a bit of a wildflower theme going on at th moment, and when I spotted this patch of poppies growing in a ripening oilseed rape field at Little Aston Forge,I just had to take a picture. In the distance is Shenstone. A lovely view.