April 3rd – The day had been beautiful, but the late afternoon was punctuated by frighteningly intense rain and hail storms, and riding back home tentatively in light drizzle, my tenacity was rewarded with one of the finest rainbows I’ve ever seen.
Wednesbury was a great place to catch it, and it was worth the soaking.
The weather doesn’t have to be good to have a beautiful day…
April 2nd – The Easter Monday bank holiday was foul – it rained, was cold, windy and overcast and so I busied myself with some technical website stuff, and doing bike maintenance. I slipped out late in the rainy evening for a quiet, reflective circuit of Brownhills, and tried my hand with Morris and the Canon camera again. The street lights are problematic and I just can’t get the image I want at the moment.
Ah well, another evening, perhaps.
April 1st – A ride out to Hints and Hopwas for cake on a warm, but generally overcast but thankfully dry afternoon, that was much better than expected. Spring inches on in the reluctant winter gloom, with primroses showing well in Hopes Cemetery where the daffodils were also gorgeous, and a swan couple nesting near the social club up in the village.
The Tame at Hopwas was flowing well, and spreading into the flood margins. People downstream at Elford will be worried. Let’s hope the rain holds off.
An unexpectedly good ride.
March 31st -Spotted on Clayhanger Common, a touch of optimism in the gloom: one of my guerrilla seeded patches of cowslips is just coming into flower.
My favourite flowers that I spread the seeds for ten years ago now have returned, and in the middle of a wet Saturday when it seemed the sun will never shine, they appeared to cheer me up.
Spring, right there.
March 31st – Heavy rains continued into Saturday with a break in the afternoon, And I took a spin around Clayhanger Common to check out the flooding situation.
As usual in heavy rain, the canal overflow had swamped, and the lower meadow was flooding over the new spot path. I often wonder who comes out and resets the breakers on the street lights after the water level drops.
This area is designed as a flood buffer to hold water away from CLayhanger Village and resolve it’s historical flooding problem – and it does a great job.
March 30th – A day of rest, with a journey up to Tesco in the late afternoon. The rain seems to be settled upon us for the weekend, which is a bit of a blow, but the forecast clearly isn’t as bad as many had predicted with a return to snow and ice.
I guess I should stop moaning, really; at this time in 2013 there was still lying snow around and it was very cold. And we are more prone to white eEasters than white Christmases in this country. But it feels like I’m missing out.
In Brownhills, the waterfowl didn’t seem to mind. One swan partner of the nesting pair just up around the bend was idling, and came over, hoping for food, and was grumpy when none was forthcoming. The Canada geese, however, were just loafing, and paid me little heed. We stood for a while together, just listening to the rain on the water.
There had better be a decent summer after this…
March 29th – Again returning from Shenstone, again it was raining as as I alighted from the train. My heart was heavy and I didn’t fancy the wet ride home but something caught my eye in the shrub border to the platform.
An ornamental blackcurrant, in flower. It was dripping with rain, but that glorious pinky red was most vivid in the gloom. And for that, it made me happy.
March 28th – I’d been in Birmingham seeing a client and returned from Shenstone in a gap in the rain, down wet lanes, glistening and dripping in the odd light of a clearing sky.
The wind was against me and I was cold, but there was something captivating about the quiet and the sound of my tyres on the wet tarmac.
Winter seems endless this year. I just want to feel the sun on my face and the warmth to ride without a jacket a little.
Not too much to ask, is it?
March 27th – A wet, cold unpleasant commute in both directions made for a horrible day, but seeing wild primroses in bloom defying the gloom on a roadside verge in Wednesbury really cheered me up.
Joy and the relief it provides can come from unexpected places.
March 12th – A grim, rain-sodden commute in both directions. Coming home was a washout.
On the way, I passed the impressive flight of Birchills Locks, whose varied textures and levels made for an interesting photo in the grey, dripping landscape.
A day of warm spring sunshine isn’t too much to ask, is it?
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