Galleries

May 18th – Some things are changing, though. Up at Streets Corner, for example, work is well underway on the new Co-op store where Saturn Motor Sales had their yard. Although work has been ongoing for a while, signs have only just gone up, proclaiming the development to be complete by late 2012. This is great news for the Wood, and I look forward to having another store to compete with the Tesco Express over the road. However, with a new store up the road in Shelfield and branches opening all over the place, I do wonder if the Co-op  can maintain this period of aggressive expansion.

May 18th – only just still standing, the fabric of the old St. John’s School in Walsall Wood High Street continues to gently decay. Soon, I think the roof will collapse, the clearly rotten timbers unable to support the tons of roofing tiles resting upon them. Permission has been granted for some years now for a development of flats here,meaning demolition of most of the old school and the old bungalow next to it, also empty now for several decades. Sadly, the downturn came, and the developers ran out of money.

A small, suburban, architectural tragedy.

May 17th – Sadly, I have to announce that Mr. and Mrs. Swan seem to have abandoned their nest at the back of Sadler Road. I’ve popped past a couple of times this week, and although in close proximity, neither bird has been sitting, and I think they’ve abandoned the eggs, but can’t see from the opposite bank. I know there were eggs, as I saw the female fretting, turning them last Friday. Either they’ve been predated by rats or (very brave) foxes, or have just been barren, I don’t know which. I feel oddly bereft by this, as I was so looking forward to recording the growth of the cygnets… yet this couple had a false run last year, too. Maybe they aren’t old enough yet, or just haven’t got it together. Sad.

May 16th – Today found me in Tyseley, which made a change. I don’t come down this way much, but when I do, I always love the air of bustle in these industrial, urban streets. There’s always something going on around every corner; stuff to be shifted, things being unloaded. The backtreets are alive with the buzz of small industry – sewing machines, lathes, injection moulders all add to the background susurration, along with the clank of metal, clatter of doors and hiss of compressed air. Intermingled with it all is the faded air of a once possibly genteel Victorian place, whose station still bears the hallmarks of that period, from when the nearby terraces must also date. Most people pass this place in disgust, but actually, if you spend a while and traverse its streets, it has a kind of faded charm all of its own.

May 15th – The wild garlic, or ramsons as it is occasionally known, is a blast right now. There’s a glade of it growing on the riverbank of the River Arrow, just in a copse adjacent to Ipsley Meadows on the Arrow Valley cycle route. To enter this shaded, secluded place is a full-scale assault on the senses; the heady smell of garlic is strong; the carpet of white flowers gorgeous. The sound, too, of birds singing in the trees above. The foliage of the plant can be eaten and used in cooking, as can the flowers. A wonderful thing, to be sure.

May 15th – Today, I found myself in Redditch, and blessed all day with that smug, just managed to avoid the rain glow. I haven’t been down the Arrow Valley cycle route for ages, and in today’s bright sunlight, it was a verdant gem. The varieties of colour in the different trees nd grasslands, coupled with the water of the river and central lake made for a spot I could happily have spent all day in. A joy to the heart.

May 14th – Today, I went to Leicester for a two hour meeting, which pretty much wasted the whole day. It was a terrible Monday anyway; a day of forgetfulness, lost objects and minor irritations. Whilst waiting for a train home at South Wigston – thankfully, the trains were on time today if nothing else was – I noticed this curious label attached to the railway sleepers in the four-foot. Someone out there must know what this means. A yellow label, apparently mass produced, bearing the legend ‘Appendix A’ and pointing toward Leicester. Any ideas? Am I the only person that notices this stuff?

May 13th – After visiting the MG car show at Chasewater, I headed up the old Ironstone Road over Cuckoo Bank and over to the chase. On the way, I checked out the Hednesford Hills, which I hadn’t been up for a very long time. It was as lovely and deserted as I remembered it. Up on Cannock Chase, I did Birches Valley, but the presence of hoards of mountain bikers was more of a hinderance than company, although the beautiful scenery was as lovely as ever. Returning on the canal through Rugeley, I spotted my first mallard ducklings of the year. Bobbing adrift in the wake of a narrowboat, the flapping balls of fluff found their mum and regrouped.

It was a nice afternoon’s ride, but the wind became increasingly difficult and made for a challenging, draining ride home.

May 12th – I shot around Stonnall, Shenstone, Little Hay, Canwell, Hints and Hopwas. I had the sun on my back and speed in my wheels. The countryside was beautiful, with the most vibrant greens and yellows. Birdsong was all around, and I really had the sense of nature going about it’s seasonal business. The canal between Hopwas and Hademore was limpid and placid, and the return through Lichfield was equally lovely. Can there be anywhere finer than South Stafforshire on a sunny late spring day?

May 12th – I took great ride out through South Staffordshire, but it started by checking out the swans on the canal at the back of Sadler Road in Brownhills. I was concerned to see both birds off the nest, and feeding from bread left by walkers nearby. `it was a warm day, but having seen Mrs. Swan fretting over her clutch of eggs the evening before, I felt sure this was bad…. I went on my way with a somewhat heavy heart.