Tag: quiet

#365daysofbiking Ghost town

April 4th – A trip out to buy essentials – once a casual, carefree, incidental thing – is now a mission. It involves queueing, or planning which shops to visit who might have stock of what you need.

Nothing is simple anymore. Everything is an extra effort, or requires planning or more time. Even finding a curry or getting fish and chips.

In Aldridge, mid Saturday afternoon. There was the odd, waiting, mostly empty bus. The supermarkets – Morrisons, Home Bargains, Iceland – were steady, but with social isolation measures, a queue to get in each made shopping tortuous.

And then, beyond the carparks this… sunlit ghost town.

These are the strangest days I’ve ever known, or will again.

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#365daysofbiking Fallen silent

April 3rd – A dusk ride out on a Friday at 7pm and there’s an unnatural silence descended on the area. The Shire Oak Pub should be alive, homely, lit up and buzzing with activity.

Because of the Coronavirus restrictions, it is silent, and shut.

Curtains drawn, it’s fallen silent, like the roads around it, in which I feel like an alien intruder.

These are very strange days indeed.

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#365daysofbiking Anchored down

February 4th – When you can’t got far the routes are limited, so one thing to do is the same route in the other direction – so that’s what I did.

I love the view of the Anchor Bridge by night and it’s just right for a long exposure photo.

That bridge has seem some life over ther years, and been widened and rebuilt many times.

A real quiet spot for me, and a place for a breather as I get my riding legs back.

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#365daysofbiking Night lines

February 3rd – My short local bimbles continue as I build strength back up – and a run up to Catshill Junction, then to Ogley Junction and back up the Lichfield Road was about my limit on a chilly Monday evening.

I enjoy the canal at night. The sounds of waterfowl, the quick glance from foxes and rabbits suddenly illuminated by my bike light. The peace, quiet and the sky.

Hopefully soon my range will start expanding a bit more.

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#365daysofbiking Oddly peaceful

January 4th – It wasn’t particularly late – I think about 5pm, maybe 6. I was test riding after repairs. I’d relented and cleaned the bikes and done to urgent jobs on them. So a test ride around the bounds of Brownhills was very much in order.

I’d dropped down off Castle Gate onto Chester Road to burn in new brake pads, but as I pottered up the Chester Road back towards Brownhills, I realised there was next to no traffic and hardly anyone about.

I guess it’s the post-Christmas lull, but even the Shire Oak pub looked sleepy in the evening.

A peaceful, but somewhat odd, journey.

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#365daysofbiking So close

November 10th – Up at Chasewater to hopefully catch the beautiful sunset that never happened, it was clear the reservoir would overtop the weir this week and water would once more flow out into the spillway and Crane Brook, for the first time in a couple of years.

The authorities seem to like to let the lake fill completely every winter now – something that rarely happened previously, presumably to stress test the dam after work to strengthen it a decade ago.

Despite the wind the Nine-Foot pool was glass still and early quiet as dusk fell, maybe in anticipation of the moment when the water finally crossed over…

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#365daysofbiking Kinda blue

April 6th – At Chasewater itself, it was also quiet, and no sign of the annual insect cloud I’d heard about during the day – they must have settled for the evening.

I love how every time you go, the light at Chasewater is different. Tonight is was sort of grey and china blue, the peace only disturbed occasionally by the honking of geese and the the odd mallard or grebe scudding along the water.

A beautiful evening, despite the dullness.

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#365daysofbiking Quiet and still

April 6th – Nipping up to Chasewater after a day of bike maintenance and cleaning. It was a dull but clear afternoon that felt more like late October than April. Still cold, at Ogley Junction it felt very quiet and still.

I note the factories were quiet too – unusual really – they used to run right over the weekends. I hope this isn’t a sign of trouble ahead.

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#365daysofbiking Oddly empty

March 19th – Returning from work late, around 8pm I sailed through the Civic Quarter in Walsall and found it oddly bereft of people and even the roads were quiet.

Glad to see someone has finally painted over the horrid spots on Hatherton House which although painted by the tenant, were nothing short of an act of vandalism to a historic building.

This place is always odd at night: I love the interrelation of the light, trees and built environment but will always hate those streetlights. Awful design.

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#365daysofbiking Sleeping silence

February 21st – I’d been in Lichfield meeting friends, and came back late in the mild evening. Cresting Shire Oak ready to roll down the long hill into Brownhills, the quiet interested me.

Shire Oak junction was dark, the pub shut and almost eerily somnambulant. There was little traffic and nobody around.

Always strange to see such a usually busy junction deserted.

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