September 7th – Spotted on the way home, two deer, mom and daughter in the fields near Jockey Meadows, between Walsall Wood and Sheffield.
Very comfortable and relaxed, momma was browsing the crop stubble while her offspring ran around and had high jinks at the field margin.
Lovely to see, shame they weren’t closer…
September 4th – A short run out on a day that didn’t go well and on which I felt groggy and ill with a bad stomach, with the exertions of the previous days taking their toll.
So just a spin on an errand to Walsall Wood, but I did finally get to meet the Chandler’s Keep eyebrow cat, who was sat on the bridge embankment and came to say hello.
I was also interested in the dozing grey and white tabby in a canal garden in Walsall Wood. He looked very inscrutable.
Any day in which you see cats at leisure is a good day.
September 1st – Another evening working late, I managed to pass through Walsall Wood just as the sun was setting behind the pithead sculpture. It’s not a thing I’ve ever been fond of, as many people know, but it does make for an interesting view over the old rail line.
It was a beautiful sky and a lovely evening, but I was far too tired to appreciate it.
August 24th – Another spell of working very, very late. On my return I was tired and irritable, and fell straight into bed. Work is the busiest I’ve ever known it at the moment and balancing everything is very hard.
Despite the late hour, the new leisure centre at Walsall Wood still looked quite busy – it’s been impressive how well used and received this facility has been.
Those people seem to have the work-life balance managed a bit better than me at the moment…
August 19th – Another late night return, this time after 11pm, and stopping in Walsall Wood to use the cashpoint I thought about how busy the little High Street was, despite the bad weather. Three pubs, a restaurant and takeaways were all clearly doing steady trade.
The night is always nice down here, and on a long, weary return, it was good to see.
I’ve worked 74 hours this week. I need a break.
August 16th – A consolation of leaving work late was a very beautiful, deep sunset. With the cooling temperatures, earlier nightfall and climatic change of Autumn, we’ll soon be in the season of the great sunset again, one of the greatest consolations for the end of summer.
It was lovely tonight but I’d rather summer fought off the autumn a little longer yet…
August 4th – The bachelor boys – the mongrel domestic/mallard ducks that live on the canal in Walsall Wood – are sadly down to two now from the original four. Probably lost to age or a fox, it’s always sad to see such close groups decrease in number, and their loss was in the summer, coincidentally at the same time as the local fox cubs would have been learning to hunt.
I spotted the two remaining ducks on the canal by the overflow at Clayhanger Bridge, loafing and preening. The two were relaxed and content in each other’s company and for all the world were like an old married couple.
It’s hard not to love the ducks, although mother nature seems to consider them very expendable.
July 20th – I’m fascinated at the moment by continuing work going on at the sewage pumping station at Green Lane in Walsall Wood. Ever since last Easter, there has been work being carried out here sporadically; from tankers pumping manholes out to new pumps going in and old ones being removed.
I know there’s quite a bit of plant below ground here, presumably to pump the sewage up the hill to the sewage works, not 400 yards away towards Clayhanger.
I noted this evening yet another pump awaiting installation in the little roadside compound. I have no idea what the problem is, but it’s fascinating watching the comings and goings to fix it.
So many ‘invisible’ services support modern life, it can be a surprise to see how intensively they’re maintained.
July 18th – A pootle up the canal to Walsall Wood on an errand in a glorious golden hour. The hottest day of the year so far, the water bubbled as unseen creatures walled in the cool water, and grasshoppers, bees and birdsong filled the air.
An absolutely wonderful evening that shows that while people seem to think this area is ugly, it’s actually beautiful.
July 13th – Running an errand at dusk, a beautiful sunset, and just after a heavy rain shower, very nearly a surface air inversion with small patches of mist drifting off the canal, but just a little too breezy for it to develop into anything.
The weather has been atrocious lately, but evenings like this – cool, clear and peaceful – make you remember what summer’s about.
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