Tag: rain

April 25th – April is certainly the cruellest month of 2012 so far. Maybe I just got used to life in the dry, but commuting this week has had it’s difficult moments. I headed to Lichfield at dawn in a rainstorm, wrenching myself up the A461 against a merciless headwind. Making the train just in time, the inclement weather seemed to follow me to Leicester, where it hung around menacingly outside, like some school bully waiting to beat me anew on the way home. Fortunately, the trip home wasn’t so bad, just drizzle, really. But whatI did notice was the trees: clearly thirsty, there has been a sudden explosion in foliage and blossom. It’s an ill wind, and all that. 

April 24 – the poor weather continued. As I came home on the train we passed through a shower to the south, and I alighted at Shenstone to dry roads and darkening skies. I’d forgotten my waterproof trousers, and this didn’t look good. Conditions became increasingly threatening, and the rain started at Lynn. By the time I’d got to Sandhills, the rain was torrential and I took cowardly refuge in the bus shelter, and watched the storm for 15 minutes. Eventually, bored and cold, I plucked up courage and cycled home. Very wet, very cold and somewhat cheesed off.

April 22nd – When I got to Chasewater, it was raining heavily. I didn’t care, but it made photography difficult, even with the Gorillapod. I took a few halfhearted shots – the lake looked brilliant, but any attempt to point the camera in that direction resulted in a wet lens. Water level seemed up a bit, too. I cycled back via the parade. At the M6 Toll bridge, I passed two paramedics, parked up awaiting their next call. They looked at me as though I was mad. Perhaps I am, lads, perhaps I am…

April 22nd – I ducked out of it all day. Today was one of the very few days, where if I hadn’t been doing 365daysofbiking, I wouldn’t have left home. I felt ropey, the weather was crap. I had lots of other… stuff to do. But my commitment is real, and I left after tea.It was drizzling steadily. But again, the bike felt good under me. I had waterproofs on. This could just work. I headed onto the canal in Brownhills, and cycled up over Catshill Junction towards Chasewater. It was OK. I stopped to take pictures at Lane’s Farm – and then I saw them… swallows. Hunting insects in the dusk and rain. Swallows, damn it! They’d come all the way from Africa to here, to hunt insects and breed. You can’t bottle that. I continued up the canal in the dusk, enjoying every minute. 

Cycling, an antidepressant. Ride one, twice a day.

April 19th – A week of threatening dark skies continued. I had, however, been oddly lucky; I had to go to Leicester for a few days, and only caught a light shower on the way. As I arrived at South Wigston early morning, the gloom gathered, and it rained throughout the day, but held off just as the I awaited my return train that afternoon. I know we need the rain, but psychologically, I need some summer. A real quandary…

April 18th – A river ran down the A461 Lichfield Road at Sandhills after a moderate shower. Out of all the storm gullies on the Walsall bound side of the hill, only 2 were flowing freely, all the others were blocked with silt. It seems that Tarmac – the contractors looking after the roads for Walsall Council – don’t like to bother cleaning drains. I’m 100% sure that the jobs are passed on, but in four years, I’ve never got a gully cleaned out. I give up, to be honest. Most of the storm drains on Shire Oak’s main roads are blocked.

April 18th – Baby weather – wet and windy, but warm. I worked from home before heading off mid-morning for a meeting in Redditch. It was drizzly and wet, but the riding through Stonnall and Little Aston was great. I saw lots of birds – great tits, blue tits, long-tailed tits, greenfinches, bullfinches, goldfinches, buzzards, a kestrel, a jay. I saw a countless rabbits, and a fox. Summer is coming. I can feel it. The rain is getting warmer….

April 9th – A wet, but warm day with quite a strong southerly wind. I only set out to go round Chasewater, but the riding was good and the weather didn’t seem so bad, so after a hearty lunch at the cafe, I headed up over Shute Hill and Chorley to Farewell, then down through Longdon Green, Hanch, Seedy Mill, Curborough and Lichfield, before returning through Abnalls and Fulfen. I got soaked, but there was hardly anyone around, and the roads were fast and challenging. Poor bank holiday weather by any standards, but I enjoyed the ride anyway.

February 22nd – After a thoroughly awful day at work, I disembarked from the train at Walsall to find myself travelling home through a soft, pervasive drizzle. The town was looking particularly down-at-heel in the dusk, although, it has to be said, twilight at 5:45 is a wonderful thing right now. Walsall has never been blessed with architectural complexity, and on days like this, it really, really shows. I love this place with all my heart, but by jove, it’s very hard to on days like this…

January 27th – It was my turn to leave early. Relishing the chance to get a commute home in the light, I left work at 4:15pm, not realising it was raining. Again stupidly finding myself without waterproof trousers, I made my sodden way home. The roads were mad, as they usually are when it rains, so I dived onto the canal in Pleck and flipped over to National Cycle Route 5 in Goscote. The rain cleared up by the time I got to Reedswood, but I was wet and chilly. Ah, the best laid plans…