Christmas Eve – On the way back I also had to nip into Walsall Wood, and dropping down from Shire Oak Hill, the sunset view over the Black Country to the South West caught my breath, as it often does. Considering the time of day on Christmas Eve the traffic was quite heavy, but it did feel very much like Christmas.
Greetings of the season, everyone!
December 23rd – Tired, horrid day, washed out. The end of a working day. Heavy with a headache, buffeted by the wind, and finding the roads hostile despite the lighter traffic, I headed home from work for the last time in 2014.
I whipped the camera out as I waited on the lights at the Arboretum Junction, and as I usually do, watched the traffic move past in a blur.
Only the clocktower and the traffic light remain constant.
I was glad to get home. Glad to finish the year. And so, a holiday, family time and fun, and then a new year.
That’ll do; that’ll do.
December 18th – the weather got progressively worse, and on my return I crossed the Alan Woollatt memorial bridge over the A38 at Thickbroom. I had to be back for an appointment, and it was raining steadily but I couldn’t resist long exposure photos of the rush hour.
Before this bridge was built – again, a side effect of the M6 Toll – I used to negotiate that road between here and the turning for Little Hay. It was murder.
Alan Woollatt was a great cyclist and a fine man who fought for this crossing. I think of him every time I use it, and gaze from safety at the traffic speeding beneath me.
November 21st – Thank goodness it’s Friday. Another dreadful, rain sodden commute, but peculiarly, it’s still not getting to me.
Having to nip back to Walsall Wood, I stopped to capture the lights and madness of the traffic.
I normally dread the sadness and loss I feel at this time of year. This time, it’s just not arrived. This pleases and puzzles me. But there is something beautiful about the lights and the water, I guess…
November 7th – It had been an awful day with two dreadful commutes, on in heavy rain, the other in a wet darkness inhabited by very, very crazy traffic. Heading towards Brownhills over Anchor Bridge I stopped for a breather and realised I had a good angle on the new flats. I realise the architecture is a love/hate thing but I really like them, but they’re almost impossible to get a decent photo of.
This didn’t come out too badly.
October 20th – I had to pop into Walsall Wood on my way home, so shot up the Lichfield Road. It wasn’t a pleasant evening, and there was a distinct nip in the air.
As I came over Walsall Wood Bridge, I couldn’t resist a dusk shot up the High Street to Shire Oak. This shows that Walsall Wood is still remarkably green, and I love how the vehicle lights look like christmas lights on the tree in the distance.
I hear lots of people talk about Pelsall and Aldridge as ‘villages’, but Walsall Wood is perhaps the one locally that still retains most of the village character. It’s a lovely little place.
June 6th – I came through Walsall at 4:30pm up the Wednesbury Road, and was met with a large degree of congestion. I’d been seeing smoke from way back in Darlaston and wondered where it was emanating from.
As I got closer, I discovered there had been some kind of house fire in the terraces there, and a couple of engines were in attendance. I have no idea what happened, and the incident doesn’t seem to have made the news.
Everything seemed generally calm and under control. I hope nobody was hurt and any damage wasn’t too bad.
April 25th – Riding in the rain when the weather is warm isn’t that bad – once you’re wet, you’re wet and with waterproofs, that takes a good while. But after a week at work, when you’re tired, the light is poor and the traffic relentless, you just want to get home, have a shower, put something fresh on and have a decent cup of tea.
These bike cam stills give a flavour of the journey. Like riding at night, it’s mentally very demanding, as there’s more stuff that you have to mentally process, and the traffic tends to be mad.
I was glad, If I’m honest, to get home.
March 14th – This is for Richard Burnell. Last autumn, he was exploring the canals of Birmingham, and he happened upon these boxes, mounted either side of the canal in Ladywood. He asked what they were, and I told him – to some incredulity – that they were a traffic counter. I vowed that next time I passed, I’d take a picture or two.
In the tall metal box is a mains power supply and a counter. In the long, flat one next to it, two photo electric beam switches (made by specialists Sick), which detect a light beam reflected from a target in the box on the opposite side of the canal. When both beams are broken together, it’s most likely by a boat, so the count increases. By using the two beams, this filters out false signals from curious hands, waterfowl etc.
Measuring boat traffic is important. Similar systems on cycle routes count bikes, and we’ve all seen the temporary ones that count traffic.
March 14th – In Birmingham, Newhall Street junction by the old Remploy headquarters. A great safety warning on the back of a truck. I only have two issues with it:
Regardless of how cycle lanes are marked, don’t come up the lefthand side of traffic folks. It’s not big, not clever, and is what kills most of the adult cyclists involved in road accidents in the UK.
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