Tag: rain

July 1st – One bonus of the huge amount of rain has been the refilling of Chasewater. Steadily, almost imperceptibly, the water has gradually crept up. Now, it’s inches from the foot of the dam in one spot. The little pools – so long a characteristic of the stricken reservoir – have now mostly joined the main lake again. A wonderful sight. Nice to see the toe of the old pier in the water at last, too.

According to Graham Evans of Chasewater Wildlife Group, the water is currently at the levels it was in 1976. After a winter of almost constant rain, it was full by summer, 1977… yet, I can’t see that being the case here, somehow. I was hoping for a little summer…

June 28th – Travelling home after a day of incredible weather. We had torrential rain, some of the worst I’ve ever seen, thunder and lightning… but within an hour, it was sunny again and the Midlands was left to clean up after flash floods. I had to go to Tyseley that afternoon, and returned to Blake Street, near Sutton. The trains weren’t running any further, due to the line being flooded, and here, at Wood Lane, between Shenstone and Footherley, the lanes were flooded too. Note the lady driver taking no prisoners. I just hope the air intake on her engine isn’t low down…

The music is ‘Born in a Storm’ by Deacon Blue.

June 28th – An odd day with freak weather. I left for work in Darlaston early, and it was warm and quite sunny. At work for a couple of hours, the sky blackened and a real storm developed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rain so hard in the UK. Rivers flowed through the streets, causing flooding and chaos. Then, it ended almost as quickly as it started, and we returned to a nice, sunny day. In the afternoon, I had to go to Tyseley, and due to flooding, the trains were seriously disrupted. Arriving on time due to a freak of happenstance, I left late in the afternoon to find serious delays. I rode back to Birmingham through Small Heath, and got a train back to Blake Street. Traversing the back lanes of Stonnall and Little Aston was an interesting and somewhat wet experience.

June 16th – I ad to go to Walsall to pick something up from the central sorting office. The weather was atrocious – windy and rather wet. I bit the bullet at lunchtime and pulled on shorts – wet legs dry quicker than wet trousers – and actually found it to be warm and oddly pleasant. I cycled along the canal, and noticed the flowers were in fine form, if a little battered. Orchids and waterlillies graced the Wyrley and Essington, whilst in the Goscote Valley upon my return, dog roses and sweet peas grew in scented abundance. Not a bad ride, all in all.

June 9th – Chasewater is rising. In all the rain, the only benefit is that the waterline is slowly, almost imperceptibly enlarging. A landmark occurred this week; the ‘pier pool’ left stranded from the main lake, has rejoined it once more. Curious spits and islands have developed. You can see the ecology shifting day by day. But don’t be fooled. The next meter in depth will increase the surface area of the reservoir hugely, and take a massive amount of water. That, sadly, means a very, very wet summer. A terrible dilemma…

June 7th – Between The Chuckery and Highgate in Walsall, the architecture on the Sutton Road continues to fascinate. On a wet Thursday evening, even in the dark murk of the tail end of a rainstorm, the glistening tiles, Victorian bays and ornate chimney pots still looked precious. A pleasure, whatever the season or weather.

June 6th – The life I mentioned in the last post manifested itself in many ways. Birds sang, flitted and fought in the hedgerows. I saw a fox stalking near Lynn, and there were rabbits and even hares aplenty. After the deluge, nature was busy doing it’s thing. On the footpaths at Sandhills, Shire Oak, there was a profusion of snails, of several different shapes, colours and sizes. It made walking a unexpectedly challenging activity…

June 6th – I left Darlaston late in the afternoon to head to Tyseley for an important meeting at short notice. This happened to coincide with heavy downpours, which I managed to avoid with an air of smugness that must surely come before a drowning. At 5:45pm, Moor Street in Birmingham was busy, and wringing wet in the midst of a rainstorm. At the other end of my short hop, I waited ten minutes for the rain to ease off. With all the gutter-less canopies, Tyseley is surprisingly hypnotic in the rain.

June 3rd – The photography was as lousy as the weather. The light was grim and every interesting shot was into the rain. Splashing despondently along the canal to Chasewater, something caught my eye. There was, in the midst of the rain, a temperature inversion going on. It was colder than it had been for days, and the canal water was clearly warmer than the air, and it was gently, almost imperceptibly, generating mist. I stood in the rain, watching the steam form and disperse, mesmerised. There’s beauty everywhere if you look for it. Even in Brownhills. In the rain.