Tag: storm

December 20th – Sorry to keep banging on about Chasewater, but it’s fascinating me, I’ve never seen anything like this. It rained all day, and going stir-crazy, I donned the waterproofs and went out, first up to Chasewater, then on to Lichfield to do some shopping. The going was fast and windless, but the rain was heavy and persistent. Chasewater was deserted, and the levels continue to rise at a truly astonishing rate. Last Sunday, 16th of December, the level on the pier was at the 58cm mark on the scale on the pier. On Thursday 20th – today – it had risen to the  44cm mark. That’s a whole 14cm increase – about 5 and a half inches – In four days. Considering the huge increase in surface area as the level rises, this is remarkable. I think the lake may be full by New Year. The sandy beach has now returned at the north end of the dam, and the water is now coming up to the balcony boardwalk. It laps along the toe of the dam, and the new culvert between the Swag and main pool flows healthily. If you can, get up there when the weather breaks. I am captivated by the transition.

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 28th – An odd day with freak weather. I left for work in Darlaston early, and it was warm and quite sunny. At work for a couple of hours, the sky blackened and a real storm developed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rain so hard in the UK. Rivers flowed through the streets, causing flooding and chaos. Then, it ended almost as quickly as it started, and we returned to a nice, sunny day. In the afternoon, I had to go to Tyseley, and due to flooding, the trains were seriously disrupted. Arriving on time due to a freak of happenstance, I left late in the afternoon to find serious delays. I rode back to Birmingham through Small Heath, and got a train back to Blake Street. Traversing the back lanes of Stonnall and Little Aston was an interesting and somewhat wet experience.

June 13th – I’d been in Tyseley for a meeting, then hopped back up the Cross City Line to make an appointment in Lichfield. Cycling back, the weather, which had been pretty agreeable, turned quite grim and it started to rain. The countryside looked so green, and the views were unexpectedly cinematic with a sudden rain-haze softening outlines and changing the sky to darker and darker shades. Luckily, I got home before the heavens really opened. 

Can we please have a bit of summer? Just for a bit? 

May 30th – There was something of the smug git about me when I arrived home. I sat on the train, watching the rain pound down on north Birmingham and Sutton. Station after station, wet commuters got on or off the train. Resigned to my fate, I hopped off at Shenstone, to find the rain had stopped. The sun was trying to come out. The sky was still threatening, so I sped home, enjoying the sun, and wondering if the spots I felt on my legs were road spray or rain starting again. Completely against the odds I arrived home dry and warm.

Life doesn’t usually reward me like this. Further down the line I’ll pay, I just know it…

May 30th – That false sense of security. Today, I headed to Telford in light, summer clothes. It was a lovely, sunny morning and the riding was good, but late into the afternoon, the skies darkened. Although the BBC internet forecast didn’t predict rain, it looked like we we in for a storm.

I cycled to the station at my normal time – and it started to rain as the train pulled out. When I arrived at New Street, the rain storm was torrential. Water issued up from platform drains and the overheads crackled ominously. I was going to get drowned. I started to root in the saddlebag to check for aqua pacs for my electronic gadgets…

April 27th – Returning from work, I was caught in yet another rainstorm. I had to go to Brownhills, and it was grim. Traffic was backed up, the wind was gusting and I was sodden and sullen. As I came from Lichfield along Barracks Lane, though, a sight of summer caught my eye; anonymous, usually unnoticed, a gateway. Today, even in the pouring rain, it was green, verdant. Purple flowers speckled the long grass, bursting out around it. I marvelled at it for a least ten minutes. I’m beginning to think I may have a screw loose.

April 26th – I came home under a cloud, as I often do. This one, however, was meteorological rather than psychological. It was grim when I left Leicester, and trying to rain; my train was delayed, and then I got bumped onto the next one 40 minutes later due to lack of space. Arriving at Shenstone an hour later than usual, the black skies were gathering. My mood, and the outlook, was black. Yet the rain held off, and the countryside of Footherley, and the sight and sound of a healthily flowing Footherley Brook cheered me. Oddly, I arrived home in quite a good mood, albeit rather late. I guess that’s why I cycle.

April 24 – the poor weather continued. As I came home on the train we passed through a shower to the south, and I alighted at Shenstone to dry roads and darkening skies. I’d forgotten my waterproof trousers, and this didn’t look good. Conditions became increasingly threatening, and the rain started at Lynn. By the time I’d got to Sandhills, the rain was torrential and I took cowardly refuge in the bus shelter, and watched the storm for 15 minutes. Eventually, bored and cold, I plucked up courage and cycled home. Very wet, very cold and somewhat cheesed off.

April 18th – A river ran down the A461 Lichfield Road at Sandhills after a moderate shower. Out of all the storm gullies on the Walsall bound side of the hill, only 2 were flowing freely, all the others were blocked with silt. It seems that Tarmac – the contractors looking after the roads for Walsall Council – don’t like to bother cleaning drains. I’m 100% sure that the jobs are passed on, but in four years, I’ve never got a gully cleaned out. I give up, to be honest. Most of the storm drains on Shire Oak’s main roads are blocked.