Tag: tenacity

#365daysofbiking Tenacity

February 14th – Having missed a train at Blake Street station, I took refuge from the cold in the waiting room.

It’s perfectly neat, tidy and cleaned well: But it’s noticeable a visitor from outside is being allowed to come in from the cold.

I loved how this ivy frond  which looked healthy and seemed to be growing well has worked in through the window frame and climbed down the electric cable.

The tenacity of plants is fantastic.

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January 10th – For the first time this year, a pleasant, dry, almost tropical morning commute; sadly, it wasn’t to last and the journey home was cold and damp with a return to mist.

Cycling up the canal over Bentley Bridge my eye was caught by a flash of verdant green – a plant of some variety has clearly seeded into the rotting cavity of an old bench, and is growing well – truly life from death.

Crossing Kings Hill Park purely to catch the day, I tried the twin sisters and liked what I saw; The clock on St. Bart’s is in fine detail and all we need is some green on those trees. 

I know it’s way too early, but come on spring!

July 3rd – Also on the towpath near Darlaston, the poppies are beautiful at the moment, too. Another kind of urban pioneer, these too will grow just about anywhere, be it in a wayside patch or a fissure in some brickwork.

Riding urban backwaters at the moment – be they canals, tracks or inner city streets – is a real riot of natural colour.

July 1st – New Street Station is still a mess, still barely functional, and mostly, I think, now beyond reclamation. But on an early summer sunny morning, there’s something about the concrete, steel and surrounding architecture that renders it if not impressive, then rather fascinating. Architectural styles and textures clash. Machinery grinds and rumbles. Rails screech and clatter. Overhead wires buzz and crackle.

In the midst of this, the most unnatural, built environment that one would consider utterly hostile – signs of life. Shrubs and weeds, their seeds deposited by birds or wind, by luck find a little moisture, a sheltered fissure and just a little nutrition.

If only human design had such bare-faced tenacity, audacity and beauty.