Galleries

November 22nd – Time for a warning to local cyclists again.

The hedges hat (at last!) been flailed again from Anchor Bridge to Chasewater along the canal. The towpath is littered with sharp hawthorns and will puncture thinner tyres.

Probably a route best avoided for a week or two until the weather washes them away.

November 21st – A late spin around Brownhills after a long day, and at night this place still fascinates me. The lines of Silver Court are still otherworldly and night, and the vies of the canal from the Pier Street Bridge are ones I keep returning to.

After a grinding day, it’s good to be home.

November 20th – Spotted in Victoria Park, Darlaston, toadstools which seem to have been thin on the ground this year – the edible fairy ring champignon. Other fungi forms fairy rings too, but this one is most common, but like shaggy ink caps, they don’t seem to have had a good season.

Nice to see these, though.

November 19th – At the other end of a crowded journey, the barren beauty of Walsall Station at night from Platform 1. Vaguely brutal 70s red brick architecture, vanishing points, extreme perspective, lights, hard surfaces and a little rain.

It’s that late night feelings thing again.

You can keep your Grand Central new New Street. I’d rather have this, any day of the week.

November 19th – The Queen herself today travelled to Birmingham (by train, which won’t have been delayed and will have had a working toilet) to open a station that hadn’t closed and has merely been subject to having a retail opportunity badly assembled on top, and is still unfinished.

Brenda won’t have had to walk up a static escalator, or pull a pushchair up the stairs. She won’t have seen the dingy, grim end of platforms where the 1980s access bridge hasn’t even been granted a clean down.

Someone once said that Royalty must think everywhere smells of fresh paint. In Birmingham tonight, on a late journey from home, the overpowering smell was more reminiscent of the farmyard.

Oh, and Phil – we do speak English. Chances are Shakespeare would sound more like our tongue than the fabricated received English of the Windsors (and spousal attachments).

November 18th – A tough journey to work in a gusty headwind the morning after severe gales blew through. My earlier than usual return home, however was again assisted, so much so that I forgot I had to call in to pick something up in Aldridge. As I trundled up a very wet canal towpath on my errand, it was a very atmospheric sunset. That horse weathervane at Bullings Heath fascinates me. 

Also interesting – and now becoming visible due to the leaf-fall – are the industrial yards and excavations near the canal at Stubbers Green, including the brickworks. I still find the scent of firing bricks peculiar. 

Getting used to a new camera, too. Quite impressed with this one. Let’s hope the weather settles for a bit now.

November 17th – Passing through Walsall Wood, the wind was ferocious on the way home – but thankfully, it was behind me. Clocking up a near record commute time of 35 minutes and hardly having to pedal from Walsall, the few hardy souls I saw cycling in the other direction had my utmost sympathy. 

The view in both directions from Walsall Wood Bridge is great at night and I’ll always adore it – but I had to hold the camera really carefully tonight in case the wind snatched it away.

November 15th – I span up the High Street and back down a canal just to stretch my legs and get some air. Not too bad for handheld shots, this one really. Considering it was relatively early, I couldn’t get over how quiet the town was. I didn’t see a single soul and very few cars.

November 14th – I’m playing around with a borrowed camera, which I think I like but I’m not sure yet. It certainly works well in low light, as these shots of the canal show.

I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that the best camera would be a compact with Nikon optics, Panasonic build quality and features, and a Sony user interface.