Tag: Walsall

September 26th – Despite the colder, more inclement weather, the catroplis of Scarborough Road in Walsall continues to introduce new characters. This absolutely tiny, beautifully shaggy mature tabby was doing it’s best to ignore the nutty cycling guy but couldn’t resit a sniff from the safety underneath a nearby car.

And what a gorgeous set of whiskers!

September 18th – Riding through the backstreets of central Walsall, it’s getting distinctly autumnal. I keep thinking it’s too early, but then, we’re very nearly two thirds into September now, so I suppose not.

Here on the corner of Charles Street it looked lovely, and not having been here for many years, it’s changed a bit, too. Last time I was here the flats on the left didn’t exist and there was a row of Victorian factories in some decay. I remember well a cafe here I used to use a fair bit.

Ah well, nothing stays the same and time keeps moving on.

September 16th – A frustrating daytime of delays and faffing before a decent night out with family. I was in Walsall getting – of all things – parts for the car. In Ablewell Street, I stopped and looked at a sign I’d passed many times, and always amuses me.

I know it’s an organisation (and a worthy one at that) but the sign is almost random in it’s minimalism and in context of such a busy urban place, perfectly pitched.

I love it. I needed breathing space, so I took five minutes and thought about the serendipity of the sign.

September 13th – Also falling from trees now and altogether less of a hazard are the knopper galls, the genetically mutated acorn-cum-insect-cocoons that are bastardised from the normal oak fruit by the knopper wasp.

These seemingly dead, spent galls will most likely have larva inside them and they will overwinter in the fallen galls before boring their way out in spring – although those dropping in vulnerable positions like these on the footpath will be lost under feet, cycle tyres and to the wind and elements.

It’s not until you think about it you realise what a high rate of attrition there is with such things – just how many larva are lost and how this must affect the fecundity of the knopper wasp as a species.

Remarkable how they survive at all. 

September 11th – Inescapable now, action is slowly but surely draping it’s cloak over the shoulders of later summer.

I notice the leaves are turning (maybe a little early), and tinges of red, gold and brown are catching hedgerows and woodlands. It’s now sunset way before 8pm, and we’re heading towards the darkness at an alarming rate.

But the beauty is there in the sunshine particularly, and my annual dread is beginning to ease a little…

September 8th – I had to take a short cut across Church Hill in Walsall on my way back and as I passed St Micheals Church in Caldmore, I remembered it had a curious feature: A football perfectly wedged in the wrought iron cross on the roof.

Legend has it it’s been there for years, and bounced into it’s trap off the opposite wall.

Glad to see it was never removed. You can find out more about this little oddity here.

September 7th – It’s about time I started doing ride cams again, and having discovered how to overcome the piss poor battery life of the Hero 5, they should be a lot less hassle to capture.

On my way home on a grey day in North Walsall rush hour, life on a bike is faster and more efficient than many of the motorists around me seem to think…

Soundtrack is ‘Smash It’ by Fuzz Townshend (yes, THAT Fuzz Townshend).

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

September 4th – A slightly better day weather-wise, although rain was never far away.

On the canal on the way to work, herons aplenty, my favourite urban bird. I liked how one was sheltering under the M6 motorway flyover, an interesting juxtaposition, and the adult fishing by Bentley Mill Aqueduct had a spectacularly well-defined chest pattern.

Like cats, I’ll never tire of seeing these guys.