February 24th -On Stafford Park, Telford after a thoroughly awful commute nature was doing it’s damnedest to cheer me up.
It actually succeeded. How stunning.
And the rain had stopped, too…
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August 21st – Returning from Birmingham, the train unexpectedly terminated at Tame Bridge due to a line fault or something, maybe the elastic band snapped.
I couldn’t be bothered with the ride home up through Walsall so hopped on the Tame Valley Canal and then home via Rushall Junction, Park Hall and Aldridge.
Passing through a nondescript bit of towpath near the Birmingham Road, a flash of bright, vivid orange caught my eye.
A gorgeous par of feral marigolds, just trying to make me happy.
They succeeded in their aim.
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January 9th – Waiting at New Street early in the day it seemed people were not yet about – I saw very few as I loafed idly, waiting for my train. Despite continual work here, little has changed in the last 12 months – the grim 80s exit bridge has had one end tarted up but it remains ugly and badly conceived; likewise the shiny tinfoil covering to the upper floors, covering only the bits that can be seen from outside the station.
Despite the continual aesthetic tweaks – panelling here, lights there, the odd new bench or seating area – little really changes in this urban, brutalist bunker. It’s a fleeting place, transitory for most. But stand here for any length of time and you’ll realise how little;e has been done to actually improve it.
New Street Station is not new. It’s just now got a retail opportunity on top. The station itself remains as dysfunctional as ever.
June 15th – I passed through Corporation Street in Birmingham, which is odd and otherworldly now the tram lines are finished and operational. I rode down to New Street, mindful of my narrow wheels and the hazards of parallel tracks. I’ve cycled around tramlines loads – always cross at as close to 90 degrees as you can – but they still unnerved me.
The new trams are quiet, too. so I can see some danger as we all get used to each other, but it is an impressive thing, and it’s nice to see Corporation Street not choked by traffic.
A surprising sight I thought I’d never see.
November 3rd – Just around the corner in Corporation Street, a new hazard to urban cyclists in Brum; tram tracks. With a groove just the right dimensions to swallow and lock my wheels, I rode between the parallel lines with care, remembering the northern European practice of crossing them at oblique angles.
The new tram line is sure to catch a few incautious cyclists though, so beware people. I do like the Metro and support it’s expansion, but this one hadn’t crossed my mind until today.
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