Tag: sunshine

January 9th – The first decent morning for ages, really, and it was a pleasure to be speeding along dry roads without too much wind. I could get to like this, I really could.

The journey was reasonable too, with the trains, for a change, running well. Only the Christmas tree, still inexplicably up and fully lit on New Street Station’s concourse caused me to frown.

I stopped on the bridge at Tyseley and took photos of the skyline, over the yards and gantries of suburban Birmingham, It looked great in the sunshine.

I’d really like a bit more weather like this, please.

November 21st – In contrast to the day before, it was bright and sunny, but there was a keen wind and it was rather cold. A typical winter morning, in fact, and today it really did feel like the inexorable slide toward Christmas was underway. 

Moor Street Station was as light, airy and beautiful as ever. The flower stall in the old wooden ticket booth caught my eye; such bright colours, untypical of the location and season. The effort the lady who runs it puts into her displays is admirable, and always joyous.

I adore Moor Street Station. It’s probably the best station I use, and it’s a credit to the staff that work there.

July 6th – I was really pleased yesterday to note that Chasewater’s mini beach, at the northern end of the dam, was back in use after so many years dry. This sand spot on the shore has been like visiting the seaside on sunny days for local kids for generations. It’s nice to know that if Barmouth or Rhyl are too far to go, there’s a little bit of beach life close by.

Beautiful.

April 26th – Cycling isn’t great for me at the moment. I had a bit of a domestic accident and have sustained bruised ribs, which is making cycling a bit uncomfortable – but I’m plodding on, just slower and more gingerly than usual. 

Fortunately, I didn’t have far to go; just an errand to a few places in Brownhills. The weather was very, very changeable, and I just caught Brownhills as it was wearing it’s spring sunshine jacket. The canal side looked great, and the daffy on the verge at Silver Street were a joy. Even the canada geese looked fat and happy.

April 2nd – Something odd happened on the way home tonight. Spring came to me. 

I came back through Walsall – when I entered the railway system at Telford, it was dull and cold. When I emerged, blinking into the light on Platform 1 in Walsall, the sun was oddly warm on my back. It was still bitter, and the easterly that sapped my essence on the way home was worthy of any winter, but I could feel the warmth. Pulling my gloves on in the odd entrance tunnel to the orphan platform, I noted the sunlight shining in from outside. From the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood, it could have been an evening in April.

At last. 

I was knackered, but spring is finally tapping on my window. Welcome back, old friend.

March 4th – A day beset by travel difficulties. Actually, a bloody awful day all around, if I’m honest. I set off on an 8am train to go to Leicester. I didn’t get there, due to signalling issues, until gone 12pm. Hopping off the train in South Wigston, in bright sunshine,resisting the urge to kiss the platform papal-style, the deathly dark mood was suddenly lifted.

Readers who’ve been following this journal a while will recall from last year that I’m fascinated by the flowers that grow, untended, on a patch of embankment at South Wigston Station. All year, this once tended strip of border is a riot of colour. Today, I noticed it had already got it’s spring jacket on.

Yellows and blues were the order of the day. Crocus, forsythia and a small blue flower I think may be hepatica or anemone, but I welcome a positive ID.

I went on my way, my mood lifted. Heaven, in a wild flower.

January 30th – The sun came out today, and it felt springlike, which I didn’t mind at all. I guess I’d been mourning the passing of the snow – at night, it makes the landscape light in a way that’s almost joyful, and when the thaw comes, it’s like being plunged back into darkness. I’d felt it keenly since Sunday; the weather has been bloody grim, and to turn out on a sunny morning – even with a wind crafted on Satan’s back step – was a joy to the heart.

I’ve actually found a ramp down to the Solihull platform at Moor Street, which I thought had been closed years ago. As I made my way to it today. I looked at the road system, and the buildings around. I can remember the old Bull Ring well, the network of 60s subways and overpasses. But I can’t place any of it, which I find sad. I know Manzoni Gardens was here somewhere, but…

Brum was also showing beautifully from the overbridge at Tyseley. With decent light, I could zoom right in, and I noticed something I’d not done before; before the mosque, and the shiny modernity of the city centre, there are rows of terrace roofs and chimneys in Small Heath and Sparkbrook. I found it fascinating.

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.

May 15th – Today, I found myself in Redditch, and blessed all day with that smug, just managed to avoid the rain glow. I haven’t been down the Arrow Valley cycle route for ages, and in today’s bright sunlight, it was a verdant gem. The varieties of colour in the different trees nd grasslands, coupled with the water of the river and central lake made for a spot I could happily have spent all day in. A joy to the heart.