Tag: The Butts

#365daysofbiking I dream of wires

January 4th – A stop on the way home on the North Street Bridge, the crossing point between Walsall’s Butts area and Birchills. The view from the railway bridge to the new college and town has always been great at night.

But sadly, no more.

The welcome electrification of the Chase Line railway below has had an unfortunate side effect of ruining the shot, with the overhead gantry stealing the foreground. But I don’t mind – I’d rather have the more reliable commuter service.

The college anyway was dull and in darkness, clearly not open yet from the Christmas break, and Austin House with it’s peculiar white halo was stark in the darkness.

Ah well, change is what happens while you’re not looking… There are other aspects on this view, I guess…

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#365daysofbiking No ifs, The Butts:

November 15th – Riding home again on a late one, I swung a shortcut through the area of North Walsall called The Butts. One of my favourite parts of town, I love the dense, busy terraced streets, frantic rooflines and the way it all looks so warm and homely at night. There are real architectural gems here, and also usually cats, wandering dogs, people taking the air.

Sadly I don’t come here as often as I perhaps should do, as the dense parking makes for many a close shave on a bike, but it’s so worth it fro the brisk, handsome urbanity.

#365daysofbiking A treat:

October 31st – Happy Halloween!

In The Butts, Walsall, a house decorated for the occasion. The more you look, the more you see. I particularly like the cat pumpkin.

I’m generally indifferent to this particular festivity, but this snatched shot on the way home captured the warmth beautifully.

October 23rd – I was riding to work when I met a gorgeous little lady with a happy, proud brush of a tail. Trotting though The Butts, she meowed at me as I was answering a text and then hurried towards me, greedily accepting chin and ear tickles and nose boops. 

Circling me and begging for more fuss, she was hard to photograph, but happily pottered off when she could see I needed to continue my journey.

A little bit of furry, tiny tabbyness on a damp Monday morning.

July 31st – A good commute for cats. Remember the two sleepyheads I found in The Butts last week? Well, today they were up and about and feeling sociable.

The calico is a lot more elderly that I thought, but is a lovely-natured thing for sure, as is the younger black and white lad with almost red patches in his coat.

Pleased with my attention, he rolled, rubbed and purred his way into my heart.

The other black and white puss was a canal cat in the gardens of Barrow Close on the edge of the canalside at Walsall Wood. He seemed to be someone who knew what he was doing.

Lovely animals that brightened an otherwise dull commute.

July 13th – I met this affectionate lady on the footpath near The Butts in Walsall. She was patrolling the footpath, so I stopped to say hi. She busily sought my attention, rubbing herself on the bike, as well as my legs and feet. Impossible to photograph properly as she couldn’t keep still, she mewed softly and me before following another chap on foot over the road where she promptly rolled over and invited me to tick her tum.

A lovely puss. I like how she’s wearing eyeliner on her left eye…

April 12th – I met this rough-eared flaneur with something of the night about him in The Butts, Walsall. He seemed elderly and deaf, but he wasn’t scared of me and only retreated upon sight of a dog some yards away.

He seemed a lovely old lad and I think someone must love him very much.

I’m glad the warmer days and lighter evenings are here – the season of cat loafing is upon us.

January 21st – Taking a shortcut home through The Butts in Walsall,I was struct by the beauty of the car-lined street of terraces under the ghostly white LED streetlights. I don’t often come this way as I find the traffic down here a nightmare, but it’s a lovely place; by day, busy and occupied but by night, almost somnambulant.

A snatched photo taken just because the scene charmed me.

March 27th – The refurbishment of Austin House in The Butts, Walsall is an impressive thing indeed. Boasting 248 solar panels and a geothermally assisted heating system, as well as state of the art insulation, this ageing towerblock has been transformed by landlords Walsall Housing Group.

It’s sad that they couldn’t push the boat out similarly for the flats in Brownhills, but it is very impressive indeed.