Galleries

November 7th – A day that started out miserably, with rain and heavy winds finished with a beautiful sunset that caught me just as I ran an errand into Lichfield.

From canal junction to road junction, from Minster Pool to Beacon Park, from the Chemical Hill to Hammerwich, everything was bathed in beautiful light.

Despite the wind, I was glad to witness this.

November 6th – I was crushingly tired as I trundled home with a thankfully assisting tailwind. It was wet again when I started out and I was damp and miserable. The traffic was hell, and sweeping off the ring road at Walsall, I looked westwards to an unexpectedly beautiful sky.

Cheered, I pressed on and noticed that at the Black Cock pub, their annual bonfire and fireworks display were starting, with stalls and a merry go round on the front car park. The lights looked so beautiful in the dark.

It’s been a hard few weeks. I’m tired, I’m grey and I need rest. Thank heavens it’s the weekend.

November 6th – As I’ve noted here before, I very much like Darlaston’s war memorial. Intimate, sombre and peaceful, it sits in its own sensory garden, a little oasis of calm in the middle of a Black Country town.

On this grey and foul morning, it cheered me as I passed, so I decided to record it for posterity.

I’ve never noticed the bench with the poppies on before. Wonder how that came about? It’s very beautiful.

November 5th – At Telford, two mysteries, one easily solved. On my journey I often pass a budget hotel, the rear of which is visible from the cycleway. On top of a cage surrounding what looks like air conditioning and refrigeration plant, a bicycle. It hasn’t moved for a year or more, or at least, it’s been there every day I’ve passed by. I’m wondering if anybody has actually noticed it from the hotel, or if it’s just a really secure locking space?

And then, the bike shed at the place I was visiting. Normally I have a job finding a space on sunny days. Today, only the hardcore mountain biker guy has rode in. And it looks like he got a wet arse doing so.

No mystery about fair-weather cyclists…

November 3rd – The commutes are not being good to me this week. Yesterday was foggy and damp; the journey in was OK, I suppose, but the journey home was in steady, persistent rain. I’d had to call in at the Gallagher Retail Park by Junction 9 on the way back, and when I left B&Q it was raining heavily. Nothing for it but to don waterproofs and go for it.

The traffic was mad, as it always is in the wet, dark evenings. I got soaked. But at least it was relatively warm.

I could do without this, to be honest…

November 3rd – intrigued to note that the Kings Hill Methodist Church in Darlaston is still undergoing extensive work to convert it to flats 12 months after the conversion started. This is clearly no cheap, quick fix – the work has involved relining the roof, with all the tiles removed and replaced, skylights added, and I was pleased to note today all the lead stolen from the front gables had been carefully replaced.

It’s been fascinating to watch this transformation and I’m keen to see the results. What I thought would surely be some bodge has turned out to be respectful, skilled and so far, very sensitive to the original building.

Meanwhile, the metal poppies in the railings of the adjacent park are a wonderful touch, especially at this time of year.

November 2nd – The mist and horrid weather continued throughout the day. Patchy, it would be relatively clear one moment, and quite dense the next. Commuting was a challenge – it’s amazing to see people driving and riding around in these conditions without lights.

Fog is horrid to ride in. It drenches you and gets into your clothes and hair. It’s cold, and the extra vigilance it requires is mentally exhausting on a long commute. 

Hope it clears up soon.