Tag: Saturday

#365daysofbiking Similarly dead

April 4th – And as I came back along the canal, the situation was similar from Northywood Bridge.

The industrial area on this side of Stubbers Green is normally brisk, even on a weekend: A busy builder’s merchant, B&M not a stones throw away, people continually coming through.

Today, not a soul. Not a car about.

It’s seriously making me wonder how much stuff we do as humans out of genuine need, as opposed to what we do just to keep busy…

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#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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July 19th – I was still suffering with my left foot, so rest was in order and I didn’t do anything except cruise out for a bit of fresh air and some shopping. It was an odd evening – at 6pm on Saturday, Brownhills is usually dead and deserted, but it had rained nearly all day, and right now, from the Pier Street bridge, the town was coming alive – people were walking, jogging and getting shopping in.

All the time under a dramatic, somewhat threatening sky.

July 12th – Shopping in Lichfield in the morning. The city was humming, and crowded with lots to see, including the local MP who was posing foppishly outside a cafe.

The parked bikes were interesting – that maroon ladies Oxford is an interesting beast, and very continental. Roller hub brakes, basket carriers, 3 speed and a dutch lock, it’s in good nick with an interesting front light. A real utility bike, and it looks well loved – it’s actually a far better bike than many of the heavy, cumbersome Pashleys and knockoffs that seem so popular with ladies at the moment.

The Charge single speed is an interesting steed, too, I’ve seen it about a fair bit. I had thought it was fixed wheel, but it’s fitted with a flipflop hub; this is fixed one side, and normal freewheel on the other. This one is set up on the freewheel side, so it’s not really the bike of a fixie hipster.

I often wonder how many of these fashionable bikes are sold fixed, and then flipped to freewheel within hours, never to be changed back… riding fixed is bloody hard.

That rust needs attention, too…

The sand sculpture of the dogs was ace, and seemed to be a busker style thing. You could see the work and skill that went into that – and like a sandcastle, to be ultimately destroyed. It was worth a few bob for the artist.

A great morning.