November 25th – It was a bright, frosty and hazy morning, but sadly I had another appointment early and missed the best of it. It was still beautiful, however, when I headed to work. Passing that jewel of Walsall, the Arboretum, the view over HathertonLake to the bandstand was irresistible.
A cracking day.
November 24th – I’m never sure what to make of this. It’s remarkable; it’s either a symbol of hope, or abject failure. I just can’t decide which…
This is the extent of Christmas lights in Sheffield. One tree, selected at random in a group of six, half covered with lights.
But hey, they change colour.
Why bother? I a ask myself. Then it makes me smile, and I think: why not?
November 24th – A gorgeous, frosty winter morning. I had a call locally before riding on to work, so when I passed through Walsall on the canal, the autumnal colours that were still hanging on looked gorgeous.
I’d love more days like these. Refreshing, beautiful, quiet – in recent years, there haven’t been enough. I’d also like some decent snow this year.
I hope the weather gods are kind to me…
20th November – Still clinging on, and looking handsome despite the decay, the mellow, early winter sunshine lit up the Workhouse Guardian’s Office beautifully. Derelict for some years, this listed building is marooned in front of the new Manor Hospital on Pleck Road in Walsall.
I wish someone would find a suitable use and rejuvenate this lovely edifice; every detail of it is gorgeous from the stained glass windows to the beautifully ornate finial and weathervane. But such old buildings are expensive to renovate and convert, and in such an unusual physical position uses must be very limited indeed.
In the meantime, this Victorian wonder is being gently carried to dust, Havershambling away unloved, except by the few who see it’s beauty. I pray the arsonists don’t spot it.
November 18th – Not all change is for the worse. Here at James Bridge, on the Walsall-Darlaston border, the road between the two crosses a river: the Tame, in it’s nascent stages. At Besot, a mile or so away, it’s in confluence with the Ford Brook, and becomes the major watercourse of Sandwell and North Birmingham.
This river used – even here – especially here – to be nothing but a foul conduit for industrial effluent; but the industry that discharged into it has either gone, or been forced to clean up it’s act, and the river now runs relatively clear.
Today, mallards drifted in the strong flow, basking in the hazy but warm morning sun. This was unthinkable even a decade ago.
I never thought I’d see this waterway clean.
November 17th – Ah, that Late Night Feelings thing again. I found myself at Walsall Station, in the early evening – not as a passenger but waiting for one, helping a beginner commuter by travelling together in the evening Walsall traffic.
I love the lights of this station at night. It started raining soon after, and made for a wet, hard commute come. Not a good start for a beginner…
November 12th – Bentley Mill Way at Bentley Bridge, between Darlaston and Walsall is closed for a major road improvement project, which seems to be starting quite slowly. As I passed today, there were a few groundworks going on and a JCB removing old tree stumps, but not much else. The closed road – that’s a surveyors car judging by the guy that got out of it – is flooded quite deeply now.
It’ll be interesting to watch this project progress: I noted yesterday on Google Maps that it’s already showing Bentley Mill Way as being a dead end. Nifty.
November 12th – The fungi are still going well, particularly the fly agaric which are particularly prolific on the canal embankment right in the heart of urban Pleck – some gorgeous specimens from young to old and weathered.
Knowing Pleck I’m surprised they haven’t been either consumed or squished…
November 11th – Riding along the Darlaston Road in Pleck, Walsall at about 5:30pm, towards Walsall. I’m on the left as I’m hauling uphill and the banjo in the taxi overtakes me and turns left, not too far from wiping me out.
Fortunately, he hesitated, and I saw what he was going to do, so I drifted to the left as he pressed towards me. Long time since I shouted at a driver.
This was not a case of not seeing me. He saw me, he went for it. Thankfully, I have my wits about me.
November 10th – I had to leave work mid morning and head up to Great Wyrley, which was a longer ride than I expected – but very enjoyable, all the same. On the way, I went up Green Lane, but on the way back, came through Leamore. I’d forgotten just how great the view was from the top of Pratts Mill Bridge; on a clear day a great view of St. Matthews, but even on this hazy, smoke-fogged day the view across the terrace rooftops was ace.
It makes me think of Douglas Dunn’s ‘On Terry Street’.
Walsall – always a surprise in store.
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