These, remarkably enough, are phone photos. How far technology has come…
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2QDoDnw
via IFTTT
February 28th – Brownhills High Street. The rain was still perched upon my world as I came home, looking for a takeaway and some solace in the gloom.
A couple of minutes later I met an old pal, we dived into Costa for a coffee, and rolled the years back.
Brownhills isn’t nearly as depressed as it was; things are improving, slowly.
It almost looks beautiful in the rain. Or have I got meteorological Stockholm syndrome again?
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2PFEb9F
via IFTTT
February 21st – In the wind and withering of a horrible Friday night commute, I crossed Bentley Bridge in Darlaston Green, and stopped to answer a text. looking to my left, I thought the cherrypicker lifts in the yard down the canal looked almost prehistoric in the way they caught the yard lights.
Years ago, this would have been a busy canal, with Garringtons drop forging factory either side – the narrows still visible in the distance where there was a drop bridge between the two yards.
Today, it was much cleaner, and quieter, apart from the wind and the sound of rain on the canal.
How times change.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2w9Ogox
via IFTTT
February 20th – Despite yet another foul day, the flowers of Kings Hill Park in Darlaston have decided the time is ripe and are putting on a thoroughly gorgeous show.
Miniature diffs, crocuses and snowdrops mingle, with the full size days getting ready for act 2, followed later by the fantastic tulips in the planters.
With such resolve to being beautiful, one can really lift the sadness of another day of bad weather.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2wSg6WG
via IFTTT
February 18th – on my way through Pleck, I spotted this clump of daffodils, a welcome addition to my currently grey and grim commute.
I note daffodils are gradually emerging in parks, hedgerows and gardens, and not just the traditional early patches I’m familiar with – they seem a bit early this year but I’m not sure if they really are.
Whatever they are, they are most welcome. Spring is definitely here when these beautiful characters appear.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2PuLyRd
via IFTTT
February 12th – Really getting back into the swing now, but tiredness is a big issue, it has to be said.
Up at stupid o’clock to get a train to Leicester, not many were around New Street Station when I arrived before the commuting day was really kicking off.
I like this place empty, it’s atmospheric and oddly beautiful.
All I needed now was a train…
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2v4yriH
via IFTTT
January 27th – I returned that evening in half-light and as I got to Brownhills, I couldn’t resist a shot of the canal at Silver Street from a bit of a different angle.
Night had fallen but it was the most clear, dry glistening evening I’d seen for a while. Not a trace of anything in the air. It was glass hard clear, and beautiful with it.
An area that’s nice enough by day becomes golden and almost mysterious by night.
The lights on the boat looked really welcoming, too…
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/316YcKT
via IFTTT
January 27th – After the darkness of the weekend, a bright, sunny and chilly morning.
I stopped on the industrial estate near work to answer my phone on the way in, and looking down as I chatted, I noticed these tiny, tiny purse flowers in the bed at my feet.
They are truly gorgeous and a lovely colour.
I have no idea what they are, but they’re lovely. Can anyone help, please?
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/37JzB1d
via IFTTT
January 26th – Like the village itself, Walsall Wood Church of St John is a quiet, understated gem. Originally a tiny church, extended massively by the Victorians, then again pretty brutally by the diocese of Lichfield in the 1980s, its personality has maintained surprisingly well.
It’s a lovely subject at night, has a great clock and presents a great aspect to the road. But for a couple of things.
The bloody streetlight just out of shot on the right, and the pedestrian crossing light in the foreground.
Any decent angle on the building includes one, the other or both, destroying the shot. It’s one of those frustrations that just make the character of a place.
But that’s Walsall Wood for you. Never less than quirky.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/319LESL
via IFTTT
January 26th – And there it were – gone. With neither a thank you nor a goodnight, the mist upped and left, and Sunday was damp, wet but mercifully clear with an appreciable wind.
The air was clearer. I could breath again without feeling that grip on my chest from traffic fumes.
I came back from helping a pal in the early evening, and stopped for the cashpoint in the High Street. It was quiet. The takeaways were doing trade, the pubs seemed alive, but traffic was light and this still identifiable ex-mining village straddling the Walsall to Lichfield Road slumbered peacefully.
I like Walsall Wood. I always have. It’s not prepossessing, exotic or flash. But it has soul and warmth and always looks welcoming at night.
It’ll always have a bit of my heart.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here
from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3aW7iyv
via IFTTT
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 