January 26th – Ah, hello rain, you’re back.
Passing through Walsall to make a call on my commute home, the heavens opened. For what seemed like the thousandth time this year, I got wet. But the rain was warm and the wind was behind me, and it didn’t last too long.
However, I did catch it whilst in Park Street, in the town centre. Something about the light and surfaces combined. I though it was rather beautiful.
January 26th – Jasper Carrot fans will know the familiar comedic cry of ‘I got this mole!’ but for the past week or two, a grass verge in Darlaston has had a fairly industrious chap digging beneath it, and he’s making me curious.
The verge is isolated by roads, a wall and a factory yard. Yet on this 100 square meter green oasis in a sea of hardstanding, a mole throws up fresh molehills every night. Nothing unusual in that, you might think; lots of places have moles. That’s very true – but how did he or she get here?
Do they travel over the surface to find new territories? Do predators perhaps carry them away, and the lucky ones make an escape? How did my worm-munching mate get onto this little patch of grass?
Suggestions welcome.
January 25th – There’s been a bit of a running debate lately amongst friends and family about just how much one should clean a bike in winter. I must admit, I’m from the ‘Only clean when the crud is ~25% of the total weight of the bike’ school, but others differ.
Visiting a client this afternoon, I checked out the bikes parked in their bike rack. This clearly well-used semi-hybrid has a fairly clean, well-lubed chain, but oh – the caked mud on that front mech is crossing a line.
That thing really needs some mudguards – all the mud from the back wheel that isn’t doing a skunk-strip on the rider’s jacket is being dumped on the chain and front mech.
January 20th – A beautiful, cold winter day – exactly the kind I’ve been hankering after. As I rode to work the light was beautifully soft and lit Darlaston up, but it was still hovering around freezing, which gave the air a keen nip.
The swans on the canal at Pleck seemed annoyed by ice that wasn’t easy to break by swimming, but wouldn’t sustain their weight if stood on. Darlsarton’s parks – Victoria and Kings Hill – were as beautiful as ever and I see work on the old church at Kings Hill is ongoing.
A wonderful day to be on a bike, just enjoying the ride.
January 19th – In Darlaston’s Kings Hill, the former Servis domestic appliance factory site is soon to be transformed into housing. Once employing thousands, this ground was cleared after the company went bankrupt and lofty promises of new retail and leisure developments were made. But permission was granted for houses, which in fairness, we do need.
A few months ago, surveyors marks appeared on the nearby pavements and roads; then ground inspection bores were made. Now the heavy plant and high vis are arriving, ready to move rubble and earth and create a new neighbourhood.
Soon, you’ll never know Servis were ever here.
January 19th – A beautiful, hazy an sunny winter morning – chilly, but not bitter. It was dry, and the pleasure and speed of dry roads seemed alien to me after so many wet weeks. Jockey meadows were beautiful, as were The Butts in Walsall, with those gorgeous terraces. Even Darlaston’s 1930s factories with their stark, monolithic walls were a joy in the mellow January sun.
All this is great for my heart and soul. More, please!
January 18th – After months of being shut to be rebuilt, the North Street Railway bridge, linking The Butts with Birchills in Walsall is very, very close to reopening. Rebuilt higher to accommodate electrification of the railway beneath, the bridge seems much steeper than before.
Still, it was fun to ride up and down while traffic free and still closed – and at the top, a decent view of the New College at night.
January 17th – We had snow. Not much, maybe half an inch, and it was very, very wet. It was enough though, to be beautiful, and so I headed out into it as soon as I could. The light was pretty poor though, and the photography didn’t work out so well, but it was a nice experience apart from the endless mud.
Still, it’s better than the endless rain, and seeing the gorse flowers in the snow was lovely.
January 16th – Another bitterly cold, but generally bright day, so I headed to Hints, Weeford and Shenstone to best enjoy the it. I’d finally got the ice tyres on, so felt confident (literally) breaking the ice and riding through the slush and frozen puddles.
The landscape looked wonderful again, but it was also good to see even more fungus near Hints – on the same large, felled log, yellow jelly fungus and ascocoryne – and perfect specimens too.
This sudden cold snap has been so much what I’ve been wanting and hoping for..
January 15th – First really cold day of the year, with the lightest, cutest dusting of snow that sat on the landscape like icing sugar. Not yet having fitted the ice tyres, I let some air out and rode the heaviest bike I have. It was gorgeous; the temperature didn’t get above freezing all day, and I got cold and hungry, but it was worth being out in. It was good to be off work but it was also good to be out in the glass-hard, clear day. Stonnall, Wall and Hammerwich positively glowed in the cold winter sunshine.
I’ve needed this for so long.
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