March 22nd – A headache grey day with little to commend it saw me persevere with a ride around Stonnall. It was gusty and unpleasant and I didn’t enjoy it.
With the current situation on my mind I felt spare and lost.
Some days, you just leave, ride the grey lanes, and come home. And that’s all you can ask for.
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August 17th – This needs no explanation: A bag of dog waste, collected by a dog ‘lover’ to look responsible, tossed into the hedge on a canal bank near Clayhanger when nobody is watching. It will now remain here, out of reach, a monument to your lazy disrespect until the wind dislodges it.
This is a filthy, disrespectful and nasty habit.
Those doing this are scum. No more, no less.
Don’t just pick up after emptying your dog, dispose of it’s waste properly. You bought the animal, you are responsible for the shit it extrudes.
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June 2nd – It was a bad day. I couldn’t post on my main blog due to hosting issues and stuff needed doing I couldn’t do. I was rough from an IBS episode and nothing was working.
I finally quit trying and headed out mid afternoon into a grim, grey world that although warm, was windy and intemperate and frequently rainy.
Chasewater was pleasant as ever but couldn’t lift me. I eaded to see pals in Chasetown, which did help at least.
Some days are just hopelessly lost, and all you can do is go with the flow, knowing that tomorrow has to be a better day.
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April 27th – An absolutely awful day’s weather made riding a duty, not a pleasure. I held back and held back, hoping for the heavy winds and driving rain to abate – but they didn’t. I slipped out to the takeaway late.
Compounding the misery of rain in a fierce headwind, I realised I left the camera at home. But I discovered something I wasn’t really aware of: The phone does surprisingly good night shots.
A somnambulant and dripping wet Pier Street looks almost comforting and bright; but it it really was unpleasant.
Here\s hoping for better weather to come.
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March 8th – It was another wet, blustery afternoon and I had to go to Birmingham for a working lunch then come back to Walsall for a legal meeting.
The rain when I arrived at Walsall was horrendous.
I know it’s still winter, and that the early spring lulled me into false optimism, but I’d quite like an break from the wind and rain if that’s OK please.
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#365daysofbiking Fade to grey:
December 9th – A throughly grey unpleasant afternoon leeched into dusk as I took a spin around Chasewater, taking a break from my workload. I saw no deer, and even the birdlife seemed suppressed, perhaps due to the unpleasant wind.
It’s was utterly colourless, wet and my heart was heavy. Days like this get me down.
May 29th – I don’t know why, but I find these oak galls a bit horrible. They are distorted leaf buds, into which a wasp injects it’s egg and a chemical which causes the tree to grown the gall instead of a leaf stalk. The larva lives within the growth, feasting on it. When mature, the wasp eats it’s way out and the life cycle continues.
This tree on Clayhanger Common is peppered with these tumour-like galls – they look like fruit. The gall doesn’t harm the tree particularly, but it’s a very visible parasite.
there are many different types of gall wasp, all with different methods and growths. I’ve not seen this one before, and am unsure what it is specifically.
Nature can be very odd sometimes.
June 16th – First time I’d been to Walsall on a Saturday for over 18 months, and I quickly remembered why. It may have just been the rain, but the lack of anything decent in the town centre, the grinding misery of the shoppers, and the general air of shabbiness the place wears just ground the joy out of me. I walked up Chuch Hill, and then cycled to Caldmore to pick up my favourite sweets and savouries, then back to Crown Wharf and Maplin. Not finding what I was after, I went for a coffee in Starbucks, and locked my bike to the railings out front, as many others were doing. As I left the retail park, I noted with a wry smile that the cycle parking provided – a large quantity of Sheffield stands – was unused. Hidden away, with no CCTV cover, you’d be mad to lock your ride there. These town planning types just don’t get it, do they?
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 