Tag: spring

February 15th – The day had been warm for the time of year, and the morning commute grey and foreboding but dry. During the day it rained, and on my late return in darkness, it was on a warm, April-like wet night after the rain.

The journey was unremarkable until I came across this fellow on the canal towpath near Silver Street. A large, healthy looking frog, clearly on the move.

Awakened by the warmth and seasonal imperative, it will be off to the water to mate, then another year of avoiding herons and other predators whilst doing little more than eating. Not a bad life, really.

Pretty soon, the roads and paths at night will be full of frogs and toads on the move, and there will sadly be carnage as many are lost under vehicle wheels. But I shall have my eagle eye out, and like this one, I will assist any I find to a place of safety.

It’s coming on spring. The snowdrops know it. The crocuses know it. The light knows it. My heart knows it, too.

I stop for amphibians. And occasionally, for no perceptible reason whatsoever.

February 7th – In Telford early morning, and I noted the progress on the tree clearance for the new access bridge was still ongoing. All the trees around the bridge have now been removed, leaving close-cropped stumps and if I’m honest, an open, much more welcoming station. Sad at the same time though, as those trees kept a healthy stock of berries throughout the winter for an army of blackbirds, who’ll now have to seek sfustainence elsewhere.

Sad also for the daffodil bulbs, previously shaded out by the scrub, who are now bolting in the new found light. I hope they get a final chance to bloom before the go under the constructor’s digger…

February 5th – A day that started horribly murky and then picked up, and towards the late afternoon as I headed to Lichfield for shopping, the sun came out and once again spring insinuated itself in the flowers, the colour, the families enjoying the light and in a terrific sunset.

So lovely to see the world reawakening for another year.

February 2nd -Spring is easing inn slowly, and unlike the seasonal transitions from Summer to Autumn and Autumn to Winter, this one makes me very happy indeed. I’ve been finding myself almost in the light commuting to and from work – it won’t be long now until the darkness is pushed back enough to feel truly alive again. And in the meantime, isolated pockets of early flowers, like the cheerful yellow acolytes spotted in Victoria Park in Darlaston.

Won’t be long now. Just have to keep the faith!

January 26th – On a particularly bitter day, pulling up at my destination in Telford and pushing the bike through the complex, a flash of white and yellow caught my eye.

Tiny, on it’s own and in the shade of a tree, a single, presumably somewhat confused daisy.

Hello there, little flower: in the cold and grey, this morning you made my day.

May 30th – I wasn’t well today. The long ride of the day before had maybe taken a toll, but I didn’t sleep well, and suffered a migraine in the morning. The day was a bit wolfish, too, with a strengthening wind, so I confined myself to a trip to Chasewater and back over the common and canals mid-afternoon. 

I haven’t been this way for ages, and I’m sad, as it was absolutely beautiful; Brownhills wears it’s spring jacket beautifully, and the buttercup meadows on the farmland to the rear of the old Rising Sun pub have to be seen to be believed; but also at The Slough, the hawthorn blossom is beautiful.

I still felt damned ropey, but at least I felt better about myself.

May 29th – A day of remarkable colour and beauty. I set off in the early afternoon for a ride not really sure where I was going, but headed to Middleton Hall for fuel in the form of tea and cake before heading southeast into the wind, over to Ridge Lane via Kingsbury and on to Mancetter, a place I haven’t been for years. From there, out to Sheepy Magna, then Orton on the Hill, up to Twycross and then down Salt Street to No Mans Heath. Returning in a glorious golden hour via Clifton, Harlaston and Whittington, the sunset over the railway at Hademore was remarkable.

It was a long ride but I felt power in my legs and really, really enjoyed it.