Galleries

#365daysofbiking City of light

December 27th – A late afternoon visit to Lichfield was in order to sort out some post Christmas buys. The place was oddly quiet and I expected it to be much more busy than it was.

The weather was warm, very grey and overcast but rather warm, which seems to be the order of the day for the winter so far.

The lights of the city however, were as bright and beautiful as ever and I thinks it’s a place I’ll never tire of photographing in low light.

This journal is moving home. Please find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2TcAg3n
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Decent exposure:

December 9th – As darkness fell, I pulled myself up and decided to find a decent photo opportunity or two. The pedestrian bridges over the Chasetown Bypass are always good, and the Canon G1X really comes into it’s own on the long exposure work.

The crescent moon over Catshill doesn’t bode well for the weather, though – mum always said when the crescent was on it’s back, it was holding rain in it’s belly. I hope she’s wrong.

My unusually distorted shadow caught under Middleton Bridge arch from my bike light was an oddly serendipitous thing, too.

Grim days are what we make of them, I guess. Never was that more true than today,

#365daysofbiking Fade to grey:

December 9th – A throughly grey unpleasant afternoon leeched into dusk as I took a spin around Chasewater, taking a break from my workload. I saw no deer, and even the birdlife seemed suppressed, perhaps due to the unpleasant wind.

It’s was utterly colourless, wet and my heart was heavy. Days like this get me down.

#365daysofbiking Darkness my old friend:

December 8th – Speeding around a wet, sleepy Brownhills is always strange. I feel almost invisible. Rolling up the canal to Pelsall was lovely, but very soggy.

I love the lights of the Watermead Estate at night, and the effect they have on what would otherwise be an utterly dark canal.

Sometimes the darkness isn’t so bad. I’d always rather be riding in the light of a beautiful spring or summer, but as Judy Collins put it ‘Sometimes the darkness is your friend.’

#365daysofbiking Canal dreams:

December 7th –  After a long day at work carrying out boring tasks, I left collecting a pal on the way. We popped in passing to Walsall’s Town Wharf, as the Arboretum I was aiming for actually had an event ongoing.

Town Wharf and the waterside here are gorgeous at night. Finally reaching potential after near enough two decades, this place has taken a long, long time for regeneration to happen, but it looks wonderful in the shadow of Walsall’s remarkable New Art Gallery.

Sadly, the state of retail being what it is, the centre of Walsall only 100 or so yards away, remains depressed.

But here at leat, developer dreams seem to be coming to fruition.

#365daysofbiking Gifted:

December 6h – Every year for the last decade or so, Walsall Wood Councillors (currently messers Harris, Sears and Clarke) have dug deep in their own pockets and clubbed together to fund the Christmas Tree in Walsall Wood, and I was pleased to note tonight that the tradition continues.

Walsall Wood has a lovely tree this year, and it does look most excellent.

I am miles away from the donors politically, but I must compliment them ion their annual act of generosity.

Thanks you, and do have a very merry Christmas!

#365daysofbiking Not forgotten:

December 6th – In an otherwise unremarkable, workaday wall  on a main road in Place, Walsall, one of the UK’s many hundreds of industrial memorials to the lost employees in the Great War.

The fourteen lost souls listed on the memorial worked for the Cyclops Foundry which was near where the plaque is now, and has long since passed into history – but the original memorial was saved and restored by the NHS, who operate Walsall Manor Hospital, opposite, not once, but twice: They refurbished the memorial in 1989, and replaced it totally in 2002.

I’m glad it survived and still stands today, bearing witness to those lives lost, and it’s good to see that 100 years on, people still place crosses here to remember them.

#365daysofbiking Time’s Arrow:

December 4th – Once again in Redditch, I passed through Arrow Valley Park on a grey, unclear and cold afternoon. 

It was interesting to note the final vestiges of colour on the trees around the lake, and I was intrigued by the sailing club, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen a boat on the water here. I guess I just pass by at the wrong time – the club itself looks like a lovely facility.

The lake itself is also home to a remarkably large variety of waterfowl, presumably,y enjoying the peace undisturbed…

#365daysofbiking Fruitless endeavours:

December 3rd – Spotted in the rain from the canal at Bentley Bridge: Ripe, delicious-looking eating apples rotting off the branches of the tree that fruited them, which is on a piece of edge land between two factory yards on the far side of the canal, both sites derelict. 

The tree and the ground out stands on appears unreachable to all except maybe those in a canoe or boat.

Which is a shame, as I bet the crop is lovely.

#365daysofbiking Up the junction:

December 1st – Out without my camera, I crossed Streets Corner junction which is still subject to protracted works for junction improvements. It’s nearing completion, however, and the thing is taking shape now.

Massively delayed by issues with gas mains underneath, resurfacing should take place this week and hopefully it may all be open properly for Christmas.