June 29th – Spotted while I was on my way to calli at the Co-op on the way home: This wonderful frog, who appeared to be laughing.
I have no idea if frogs laugh or indeed, find anything funny. But this gorgeous creature posed for photos under bike light with the most wonderful facial expression.
I was very pleased to see it – not seen many frogs this year.
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April 12th – Mindful Gifts secondhand shop in Darlaston, lunchtime: A selection of every kind of wooden walking stick you could wish for, each with a history and story known only to itself.
This is a wonderful shop and always a delight to mooch around – so much more interesting than a normal charity shop: It’s frenetic, frantic and stacked to the rafters with… Interesting stuff. All in aid of folk with dementia, so what’s not to love?
If I were to need a stick, I’d definitely have the one with the bicycle bell.
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January 9th – Spotted just hanging around outside the wonderful Mindful Gifts dementia charity shop in Darlaston, this lovely fellow. Not sure of his actual staff role, but clearly an important member of the team.
How adorable!
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#365daysofbiking A goldmine:
October 30th – A shoutout here for a little shop in Darlaston I love – Mindful Gifts. It’s a charity shop, but not as we know it Jim: It’s a veritable treasure trove of music, books, ephemera and great miscellany at really low prices.
Mindful Gifts is run in aid of folk with dementia and it a really wonderful charity -and there’s always a buzz around the shop. Find out more here.
Do pay a visit if you’re in Darlaston.
December 21st – I had to return to Shenstone to pick something up I’d spotted the day before, so rode over there on my way back from Darlaston.
Whilst there, a lovely, Christmassy, almost Dickensian image – the florist’s shop, closed for the night, but subtly festive.
Really into this Solstice/Chrismas thing now. And there’s a big reason for that….
February 10th – I had another reason to be in Shenstone, which meant making a call in the village itself, which is always charming after dark – even the hideous clock looks better when you can see the face illuminated rather than the horridly crude brickwork. I loved the shop in Main Street which was almost Dickensian, and the Railway pub, which always looks so warm and inviting.
I stopped, and thought about it: but where I really wanted to be was home. So I put the camera away, and rode off wearily into the wind.
November 28th – Saturday was a much better day. i had an errand to run in Lichfield in the morning, before the weather broke once more, and I took a wander down Quonians Lane, a place I’d passed but never studied before much.
What a beautiful, idiosyncratic building.
November 1st – A wonderful warm, misty day on Cannock Chase, and on the way I called in to a farm shop. Beside the driveway, there is livestock in the paddocks; pigs, chickens, geese, a donkey and a goat. There’s a great butchers there and a cafe, too: not sure about eating sausage sandwiches in full view of the porkers though.
September 1st – And when I say frenetic, I mean frenetic. Look at this junk shop. Does he get all that stuff back in at night? That’s astounding.
September 16th – There’s a shop opened up in the former bank in Darlaston, just on the Walsall Road at the lights. I say shop, it’s more of an… emporium.
It’s called something like Beer Bank, and I’ve not really taken much notice, as I thought it was purely an off-licence, but it’s far more than that. Told about it by mates, I popped in on my way through Darlaston this afternoon. It’s incredible.
The owner of this place sells all manner of British, Asian, Carribean and Eastern European groceries. From fresh fruit and veg to cosmetics, from pickled cabbage to spiced soda, I think I’m going to have fun exploring the products here.
There’s clearly a fierce entrepreneurial spirit at work – every square foot of floorspace is piled high with a whole load of diverse stuff. I loved to see the krela (bitter gourd), okra, chillies and ginger. I’ve no idea what the pumpkin-like green things are. The range of pickles also looks fun.
I love the free bag of onions when you spend £20, too. This is what I love about the Black Country; something unexpected around every corner.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 