November 28th – This somewhat poor photo was quite difficult to take, due to the traffic, but after yesterday’s photo of the splendid Walsall Wood Christmas tree, I thought I’d feature the festive decorations in Shelfield. Yes, that’s a normal tree, one quarter covered with colour changing lights. That’ all there is. Utterly bizarre.
November 14th – Further on, I stopped to take a photo and ponder. I’m a grown bloke, and nothing much scares me. Heavy traffic? No problem. Speed? Not at all. Heights? Maybe a little. Darkness? Not at all, love cycling in the dark, especially in rural places. Green Lane, between Shelfield and Walsall Wood at night? Hell yeah. I’ve no idea why, it’s the only place I ever feel nervous out at night, and I’ve cycled in some grim places. Something about the darkness, the woods and the traffic combine to really make me feel queasy down here after dark.
I think it’s to do with finding a car accident down here a few years back. The imagery of that stays with me.
I must be turning into a right wuss in my old age.
October 15th – Returning along Green Lane, Walsall Wood at dusk, something caught my eye on the verge near Shelfield School. I stopped to take a look at what seemed to be small peaches, and found they were actually really nice, perfect little crab apples. These would probably make a decent wine or jam – whilst too acid for conventional culinary purposes, these tiny apples are highly prized amongst jam-makers and home brewers. I’m surprised nobody has picked up the windfalls, to be honest…
October 8th – I don’t like to see the gradual erosion of our pubs. But since so many are being lost, it’s nice to see when they’re saved – if repurposed. I’m thinking here particularly of The Muckley Corner, which is now dwellings, or The Brown Lion, in Pleck, which is a refuge. Like the Knave of Hearts in Bloxwich, the Spring Cottage in Shelfield has been converted into a bustling Co-op store. Whilst the loss of the pub is sad, at least the building was saved, and not altered too much. If only more closed pubs could be saved like this…
September 9th – Returning to Brownhills via Green Lane on the Walsall Wood/Shelfield border, I noted flytipping here was on the increase. After a relatively quiet summer with few incidents, the arseholes are back. Sadly, I can’t report these dumped window frames to the council as they’re on private land. It’s clear the idiots who did this just smashed the gate open with their truck. The same gateway has the remnants of other’s flytipping also.
Please think before you employ a very cheap workman. One of the ways they can be so cheap is to flytip, like this. Think on.
July 6th – Green Lane, Walsall Wood, after a day of heavy rain. It always floods here, and I doubt it can ever be stopped. Nothing to do but wait for a gap in the traffic, close your mouth and go for it.
Note the exemplary driving by the four-wheel drive. It takes real skill to be that much of an inconsiderate cock.
Sorry about the video quality, bad weather and an unwiped lens.
July 7th – One standing water issue I know it’s unreasonable to expect anyone to ever solve is Green Lane, at Jockey Meadows between Walsall Wood and Shelfied. It has always flooded here; it’s the lowest point on the road between the two places, and sits in the marshy wetlands that drain Shelfield, High Heath, Pelsall and Brownhills. I think there’s little that can be done in civil engineering terms to solve this, that wouldn’t involve pumps and huge expense. There’s nothing to do but pick your moment, and plough through it. It’s not like a rural flood, though, so take care. The sewage works is nearby, and when overwhelmed, it will discharge to the Ford Brook. There’s a very real chance of contamination in that water. Close your mouth and go slowly…
July 6th – It rained. Possibly not the biblical deluge forecasted, but my, did it rain. I braved the start of the storm in the morning, and it rained steadily all day in Birmingham, where I was working. Leaving at 5pm it was still pouring, the short, soggy dash to the station I considered a foretaste of a grim journey home.
The weather surprised me, though. I got to Walsall and the rain was stopping. After a short hop to Caldmore, the skies cleared, and blue sky was in full effect at Shelfield as I passed through. Stopping at the Arboretum Junction, however, I was shocked at the amount of surface water still present. Is it the surface, or what? Mystifying.
June 11th – It was spotting with rain as I came back through Walsall Wood. I stopped off to take in Jockey Meadows, between Shelfield and Walsall Wood. These fields, now a notified Site of Special Scientific Interest, are classic, marshy, undisturbed wildflower meadows. It was peaceful, and bullfinches and jays went about their business. I must come back to explore these on a sunnier day.
May 29th – The south end of Green Lane in Shelfield has been resurfaced by contractors working for Walsall Council. The technique – known as ‘Micro Asphalt’ invokes spreading a layer of aggregate and polymer over the pre-existing road surface after slurry sealing. Generally an adequate solution, it’s better than a tar and chip. One of the disadvantages of the process is that it results in the necessity to rework the interfaces with ironworks – manholes, drains and so forth. Sadly, here in Shelfield, they’re halfway through this process. Some genius has excavated a bunch of ironworks to a depth of 25-40mm, and just left them for days on end. No warning signs, no temporary fill, just a man-made trap ready to take the wheels from under a cyclist or motorcyclist.
I don’t know which intellectual giant is responsible for this, but it’s bloody atrocious. We’ve gone from rectifying potholes to creating them. Idiots.
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