October 7th – Bridgtown, in Cannock, is a quirky little place. In essence, a former mining community, it exists as a little island all on it’s own. Although it is part of the wider Cannock conurbation, it seems to be separate, and has idiosyncratic, brick-paved side streets full of great victorian terraces. It also a a very distinctive range of shops, and I’ve never worked out quite why. Here, you can buy vintage clothing, Landrover spares, traditional sweets, or a tarot reading. This is a great place, and I’ve never worked out why it’s so unique.

May 26th – A great ride today in blazing sunshine which I recorded in this post on my main blog. But while heading out, I noticed  that these old cottages in Footherley Lane, near Shenstone, had at last received some attention. All the surrounding scrub has been cut down. Hopefully, this is a precursor to someone actually turning them back into homes. Derelict for since I was a child, there’s no excuse for allowing good house to just crumble, unoccupied and unloved. The people who did so should hang their heads in shame.

April 26th – I love the backstreets of Leicester. The terraces here have a lovely, period feel and I adore the busy, community air. At 4:15 in the afternoon, sounds of music, kids playing, the smells of foods cooking. Urban life in all it’s forms. Following on from observations by Kate of Lichfield Lore and good pal [Howmuch?], today I spotted the built-in boot scrapers I had never noticed before. I just love the grace of the old corner shop, too. This was housing built to provide homes for the working class, by the industrial oligarchs. Oddly, I think they did quite a fine job.

December 4th – A wet, miserable day. I had planned to go up on the Chase, but the weather was so bad, I settled for a circuit of the town in the early evening. Up on the A5, I admired the lights of The Terrace restaurant. This popular venue has been going for years and has a good reputation locally, and even at 5pm on a Sunday it was clearly very busy. Hard to believe this was once nothing more than a petrol station and transport cafe.