Tag: Rushall

April 4th – An odd day – heavy showers in the morning interspersed with bright, warm sunny periods, and a nightmare, torrential-rain soaked ride home. At lunchtime on an errand from work into Walsall, I have no idea what the pigeon was thinking, but it seemed happy. Walsall dripped, sparkled and glistened, and the swans at Bentley Bridge didn’t seem bothered. 

The homeward trip was fun, but very wet. Flash floods hit the main roads and drains blew their covers. It was warm though, so not too bad.

I guess this are April showers, then…

February 3rd – That moment when you reach out for the camera to grab a picture at the lights and they change. Nothing for it but to stash the camera back as it’s still turning off and haul away sharpish.

Normally judge it better than that, but the lights of Rushall were very beautiful tonight. A least I caught an instant in time.

January 12th – this was around 3:30pm, during the rains. I was soaked, and cold. Every single light was red and the traffic was doing the mad things it always does when we have rain.

I keep saying I think I’m developing webbed feet. Shelve that. At the moment I’m considering a coat of Cuprinol to stave off wet rot…

October 6th – Traffic. Tell me when my red light turns green. I cycled home in rain mixed with sunshine, and it wasn’t a bad ride, really, but I’ve noticed in the last few weeks that the traditional winter grump is descending on the traffic, which in autumn always becomes tetchier and more aggressive. 

Very few incidents usually, but in the last week a guy passed so close his wing mirror clipped my arm; I’ve been aggressively cut up; and had abuse shouted three times, including tonight. My cycling hasn’t changed, so it can only be the truculence that seems to come with shorter, darker days.

I hate this time of year on the roads.

July 22nd – On an odd little side street, just off the main Walsall-Lichfield road, in the hinterland scrub between The Butts and Rushall, a remarkable display of feral roses.

Cartridge Lane South was orphaned years ago, and is mostly now just access to a dead-end housing development, and at the southernmost end, borders the allotments that mark the northernmost tip of The Butts. In the hedge there, some remarkable roses that seem to have been flowering for ages.

I wonder how many folk pass these every day without realising they’re there?

June 3rd – A later than usual commute, and I just caught the lights at Rushall Square as they went red. In the last few months, this junction has been resurfaced, with new high-friction braking surfaces and lane markings. As a junction, I’m quite fond of it.

I must spend ages waiting here.

I like the new lane markings coming the other way now, which seem to have improved road use between the two sets of lights no end. It’s a shame it has to be pointed out what the three lanes at the junction are for, but there you go…

December 11th – Thoroughly rotten but very necessary journey into Walsall in an evening rain storm. The wind was against me and conditions were vile, including a rather flooded Grown Lane. As if to poke fun at me, the wind that made my progress so hard on the way in had died by my return, but the rain continued.

A couple of nice Christmas trees, though – at Chuckery up at Hydesville and at a very wet Rushall.

I was glad to get home tonight.

November 24th – I’m never sure what to make of this. It’s remarkable; it’s either a symbol of hope, or abject failure. I just can’t decide which…

This is the extent of Christmas lights in Sheffield. One tree, selected at random in a group of six, half covered with lights. 

But hey, they change colour.

Why bother? I a ask myself. Then it makes me smile, and I think: why not?

September 29th – I’d nipped into Birmingham on what seemed like a reasonable afternoon, then got the train back to Walsall. As I got nearer, the skies darkened more and more. It didn’t look good.

I emerged from the station about 6pm, and it was like dusk, with almost biblically ominous conditions. 

I got as far as Rushall when the heavens opened, but it didn’t last long. It’s been the driest September on record here, and the rain was refreshing, and all too short-lived.