November 27th – A snatched, quick photo taken just after dawn in Jockey Meadows, between Shelfield and Walsall Wood. A pair of grey partridges, fluffed up in the cold, and sheltering from the wind in a tracker tire-rut.
It’s been years since I noticed partridges up here. Good to see them on a Monday morning.
November 10th – A long day, but passing Jockey Meadows in the morning showed me how lovely even the edgelands of the area can be; wedged in between Walsall Wood and Shelfield, the site of scientific special interest that is the Meadows can be scrubby and untidy, and not quite one thing nor the other, but today it was gorgeous in the colours of autumn, with leaves falling gently in Green Lane and long winter shadows.
Just what you need to set you up for a day at work…
October 12th – Passing back through Walsall Wood at sunset, I was rewarded with a beautiful purple sky. How fabulous is that?
There really have been some wonderful sunsets of late.
September 28th – Terribly grainy, long distance ride cam footage of something nice about darkness commutes: Urban foxes.
Follow this short film and you’ll join me cruising around the bend by Coppice Woods on Green Lane between Walsall Wood and Sheffield. Out of the darkness to the right darts a large, fit male fox, who jumps the ditch into the wood.
Fantastic to see, and his antics will brighten many a dark commute over winter.
It’s not all dark. I just wish the footage was better. You may need to click the full screen button to see it best.
September 27th – The wet, dark, mentally arduous commute season has started.
Welcome to the suck.
And people wonder why I hate the dark months…
Filmed real time. Music is Mainframe ‘Take me Home’ – a lost classic.
September 22nd – It was a long day. From Cradley, I had to drive to Derbyshire and back, and by the time I rode home at unset, I was tired and irritable and not feeling well. It seemed I had it with a cold.
Riding down Green Lane from Walsall, the sunlight caught the turning leaves and made them precious. Not too far from home, sunlight after a grim day, and the promise of good food, a brew and the comfort of family.
The lane and light called me on.
September 15th – A bad day in many ways, when not much seemed to go to plan. It wasn’t very bad, just loads of minor irritations – and the weather; occasionally sunny and deceptively warm, but at other times almost painfully chilly, as if winter’s fingers were starting to get their grip on things.
The first tinges of the oncoming cold and dark are always the hardest, and this year they’ve come a lot sooner that I expected – but we have kind of got used to Indian summers in recent years, so perhaps this is a return to normal.
I came back from work in heavy, intemperate traffic having to make a call near Streets Corner, and all the while the skies to the south were showing evil intent.
When I got home, mercifully before the rain came – I realised how glad I was to be back.
Some days, home is the best place to be.
September 3rd – The day was grim and overcast, and the weather horrid, and I was wiped out from the ride the day before. I confined myself to a short ride around Pelsall, Brownhills and Shelfield via the canal and old rail cycleway.
From the day before, in shirtsleeves getting a tan and sweating in the sun, to this: There was an unpleasant nip in the air, a serious wind and autumn touching the greenery in a way I find sad.
I do hope that wasn’t summer’s last breath…
August 31st – Returning home wearily as the light died, there was a very nice, purple-tinted sunset over Walsall, but I couldn’t find a good view of it without seriously going out of my way, which I was way too tired to do. Thankfully though, it gathered well and looked even better over the fields from Jockey Meadows out to the north over Grange Farm.
Thankfully, that’ll be the last late day until next week and I can chill out and catch up with things a bit… and hopefully get some better photos!
August 25th – The morning following another late night of a different kind, and a little fragile, I’d lost contact with online events the night before. I returned in the early hours to find online outrage about travellers having encamped at Oak Park.
Passing the site that morning, the unauthorised encampment was large, and I understood the community shock and outrage.
Thankfully, the authorities acted quickly and they were gone again that evening in the continual game of arrive and evict that’s been plaguing the authority this year.
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