Tag: spring

February 29th – I know this journal is becoming somewhat old when I realise this is the second leap year it’s passed. I still find that peculiar, really.

Today was not so sunny, although there were patches of brightness in the morning. On the way to work I noticed flowers – primroses amongst a stack of cut logs in Kings Hill Park and marigolds in a roadside garden flowerbed. I still can’t believe this is happening in February – but given the coldness of the day, and keenest of the wind, it was welcome colour.

February 28th – A much nicer day, and I was getting over the cold at last. Still bunged up and with a mouth full of ulcers, but I had energy and the sun was out. I needed to pop to Chasetown, and called in at the wonderful St. Anne’s cemetery on the way back, currently a riot of crocuses. This spot is delightful and well worth the visit, and today, I was accompanied by a huge bumblebee, already busy in the flowers.

Can spring, light days and warm sun really be so close?

february 24th – Another interesting thing about spring is the colours of the dusk. Tonight, quick shots as I rode home; a gentle indigo in Birchills, soft orange in Pleck and deep, deep blue at Clayhanger.

Winter feels nearly through now. I’m really enjoying the outdoors again. This is what I’ve missed. Light, air and colour.

February 24th – Darlaston is changing right now. In its parks – Victoria and Kings Hill – spring his here, and the first signs of a green summer are just seeping into the landscape. Daffodils, crocuses, primroses and snowdrops dapple the lawns and beds, and everything seems just a shade more alive.

I actually saw a honeybee today. It’s not yet March.

In the parks though, the peace is uneasy; a susurration of labouring diesel engines, the whine of hydraulics and the rupturing of concrete as nearby, the land the old Servis factory stood on is reclaimed for new housing. So much concrete on site to be pulverised, an army of fascinating machinery is working away at it.

Change is good. Chase is interesting. But the change for the greener lifts me the most.

February 18th – A day off and a ride into Staffordshire on what was a bitterly cold but bright spring day. I was testing some modifications to the bike, so only took in a loop of Farewell and Fradley, and was sadly cursed by the p*nct*r* fairy, but it was a fantastic ride with some great sights.

If you’re contemplating riding the canal between Hanch and Fradley, take a mountain bike. It’s hard going. 

That dog starting at the duck is my hero.

February 16th – Not neglected at all, and a wonderful place to be right now is Kings Hill Park in Darlaston. Regular readers will know this place needs no introduction or explanation, and at the moment it’s alive with spring flowers – Daffodils both large and miniature, snowdrops, crocuses and primroses. And still, it’s only the middle of February.

If you have time, get up here soon. It’s a joy to the heart, and just the restorative I needed after the awful sight of Corporation Street Cemetery.

February 12th – Still just light for 75% of my commute home, the bright western skies were a cheering feature of commutes this week. The ring road traffic was driving me nuts, so I took a shortcut past the Walsall College site and over the new bridge at North Street, which is still closed to general traffic. 

The Walsall College building I’ve always found to be a hideous, cheap-looking tin shed, but it does look rather wonderful from behind at night, and the classic view over to the church never ages,

I’m so looking forward to leaving the darkness behind this year.

February 12th – A mad, mad, bonkers season. Discernible by the blossom before the leaf, this is blackthorn (that’s sloe) in bloom on a motorway embankment in the Black Country. 

Out on an errand in the morning, I spotted loads of it in healthy, bright bloom. As a hermaphrodite flower I’m not sure if this early blossom will be good or bad for the crop come autumn.

Along with the daffodils now widely in bloom, this early spring is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

February 7th – On my return, I cycled back down the canal into Brownhills. My favourite tree near Home Farm at Sandhills is handsome even when bare, and it doesn’t seem long now until I see it in leaf once more – but there seems to be a lot of bad weather to go through yet before those warm, sunny spring days return.

On the towpaths, the mud has to be seen to be believed, and at Anchor Bridge in particular, the rotting leaf litter her has made a slimy, hazardous goop which is hard and unpleasant to ride through – until things dry out a bit, take care!