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October 24th – I was in Redditch, which is quite a rarity for me these days. It wasn’t a great day weather-wise, either, and the rain caught me on the way back – taking shelter in the bakery at the top of Unicorn Hill, I realised I had to go for my train. I got soaked.

Like Telford, it’s easy to take the mickey out of Redditch, but it’s really rather beautiful, and at no time does it show more than autumn. From the neat order of Church Green, to the timber frame houses of Ipsley, the grey heron on Arrow Lake and the peaceful solitude of the cycleway, this isn’t a bad place.

It’s even better when the sun’s out…

October 22nd – Spotted in Darlaston after a tipoff by [Howmuch?] – what I must presume to be a World War Two air raid shelter. Just opposite the police station on the edge of Victoria Park, by the Table Tennis Club hut (itself a remnant of life during wartime, perhaps) not really concealed at all, but easy to miss. Two blocked entrances hint at what lies beneath.

I find is surprising and unusual that such a public curiosity survives.

Do any of the Darlaston contingent who read this know more about it? Is there a shelter down there still, or has it been infilled? How big ws it? Was it public, or just for the boys in blue over the way?

A fascinating thing.

October 22nd – In the offices of Smarm, Smarm, Bignob and Braces, advertising agency for SSE Power:

‘Nigel, it’s a great advert for energy. But it’s lacking a certain gravitas. What it needs is a completely irrelevant, wistful, ennui-laden orang-utan, gazing meaningfully into the distance.’

‘I’ll get right onto it, Gideon’

As is the photoshopped buildings and van weren’t shitty enough. What would the librarian of the Unseen University make of it all?

‘Ook!’ probably.

Both spotted in Darlaston.

October 21st – I was lamenting a couple of days ago that the fungus had been poor this year – it hasn’t up on the canal bank near Wharf Lane; I never noticed before, but in a short space, tucked in with the heather and gorse are lots of toadstools.

Mostly, fly agaric, I passed these spotty red wonders a couple of days ago and never noticed.

I’d love to know what the shiny brown one is…

October 21st – A dreadful wind and threatening rain menaced me on the way to work, but fortuitously, it also blew me back. I left after the rain had stopped, and found conditions challenging. As I rode, I noted a developing sunset I couldn’t ignore, so I hopped on the canal to Chasewater, hoping to catch it. 

Sadly, by the time I got there, the gathering dark had swallowed it up – but it was an interesting ride. 

October 20th – Oh my goodness this is clever, but I’ve given up trying to think of a way to explain it – it’s just best to take a look yourselves.

The Co-operative store at Streets Corner in Walsall Wood seems very popular, and the new build has been a generally welcome addition to the local amenities. In the same building, there are two other retail units, still to be occupied. They looked blank for a while, then some time ago, so clever person came up with this.

Behind the windows, images of the inside of a store have been arranged at angles and flat on, to look like aisles in a store. Because of the angles, as you move past, they give a remarkable convincing three-dimension effect.

A reader pointed this out to me ages ago and I’ve struggled to find a way to represent it. It’s a really neat optical illusion, and works best at night.

I take my hat off to the designer…

October 19th- a busy, fraught and not terribly productive day, I spun out past teatime into a dark, deserted and somnambulant town. I had the little tripod, and I welcomed the darkness back into my life.

I spun up the High Street, over Anchor Bridge, and back down the canal, and didn’t see a soul; there was life on the narrowboats, as the chimneys were gently smoking, yet there were no other signs of life at all. 

I love the new LED floodlights on Silver Court – and Anchor Bridge will always be a muse.

Time to embrace the blackness again…

October 18th – Certainly seeing that family with five cygnets about a lot. They were tooling around the canal, grazing and generally patrolling. I saw them several times during the day, but by mid afternoon, they were loafing and preening in one of the canalside back gardens near Humphries House.

I don’t know why, but these gorgeous, grumpy and truculent birds have me captivated.

October 17th – I came back from Shenstone just as darkness was falling, and spotted by chance another bountiful crop of autumn. Isolated in the hedgerow at Footherley, a large, impressive and perfect group of mature glistening ink caps. These are toxic, and shouldn’t be touched, but the temptation to is huge. I love their pure white stalks and brown-black, sing caps.

I don’t think the fungi have been so good this year, maybe due to the dry weather – these are rare gems.