Galleries

January 17th – It was a nice day on the canal, and as I came past Lathams Bridge on the way home, I couldn’t resist a couple of peaceful shots of the waterway. The marina doesn’t seem very busy at the moment, I must say, but the view is as lovely and serene as ever. You wouldn’t think you were only tens of metres from a busy, large marl pit and a bustling chemical waste transfer and treatment facility.

The new pond at Clayhanger, this year will be thirty years mature and no longer new is looking stark but beautiful, with the last of the previous night’s snow still hanging on on the shaded bank. I wonder how many times I’ve parked my bike and sat on that bench over the years? At least ten different bikes and it must be hundreds of times. Looking at the rot, I don’t think it’ll stand many more…

January 17th – Still off, but thankfully brighter if still sporting a rather productive cough, I headed up to Aldridge for a change of scenery.

I was feeling much brighter about myself, and looked for snowdrops, but was sadly unable to find any. But one winter reliable did please me with it’s colour – the gorse is looking stunning, particularly welcome in a little weak winter sun.

Going to have to watch the macro mode on the TZ100, it’s quite limiting at the moment…

January 15th – I went to work. Really battled in. They sent me back home again, or rather, put my bike in a van and gave me the keys.

I’m not a malingerer. I don’t do time off sick. I feel unnatural, separated, spare and deceitful.

I went out for fresh air as dusk fell. The loop: Up past Silver Street on the canal, Catshill, Anchor Bridge, back through the centre. I nearly didn’t make it.

I noted that the waterside looked great in the half-light. Even the rotting, derelict husk of MacWarreners still had an air of dignity about it; like a ruined actor decaying in a faded, out of season end of the pier pub.

I think I know how it feels.

January 14th – Still awful, but hoping to be better for work next day, I pushed myself up the canal to Chasewater to try out the TZ100 instead of the Canon I’m getting very accustomed to.

Coming back to the quirkiness of a Panasonic after the Canon was a shock, but as I’ve been suspecting, it’s the sensor size that’s making the difference. Although structured for different styles and uses, the two cameras seem to be equally good in low light – streets ahed of the TZ90 – but the Panasonic, like the Canon, will benefit from playing with.

The ride wore me out, and it was bitingly cold. I got in, and collapsed into bed.

January 13th – The cold had really got me. I was damned ill with no energy at all. I slipped out after dark for a short loop of the canal, then came home, shivering and exhausted.

I was pleased with the shots, though, although there weren’t many on this torpid, tortured evening. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

January 12th – I came from Derby to Leicester, made a call in Leicester, back to Birmingham and then Walsall. At 4:30pm I was in Derby; by 6:30 I was in Walsall. Not bad, really.

Through my increasing aches and congestion – the cold was really clouding things now – I got the Late Night Feelings vibe in several places, and a bit of a Peter Saville in Walsall.

I love travelling. I love riding a bike. I don’t love the cold virus.

I was glad to get home.

January 12th – I found myself un Burton Upon Trent for a meeting – I’d been in Lichfield for breakfast, Burton Lunch, Derby mid afternoon and Leicester by 5pm. It was a busy, hectic day, but the railways served me well.

I haven’t had a look around the centre of Burton in an absolute age. It’s a very odd place. Some great shops, lovely people, but it seems half asleep, almost somnambulant. They have a sculpture of a Marmite bottle, as the dark goo is made there. I saw lots of odd things.

I like this place. But on this Friday, when I was starting to feel a bit odd with a cold, it felt a bit… strange. 

January 10th – Sorry, more night shots. You must be sick to the back teeth of them, but I’m finding new low-light vistas opening up and it’s really turning my gears at the moment.

I crossed North Street, the umbilicus between Birchills and The Butts in Walsall, and stopped even though it was misty and cold, just to take a shot at the view from the railway bridge toward the town centre. 

This view is one of those that’s always much more impressive as a whole than one is able to capture in a photo, as it’s so wide. But tonight, I liked the light on the snaking rails, the lights from the collage and WHG HQ and the rising plumes of steam from the boiler flues.

I’d have played some more, but it was cold, and I was hungry. Som many things to try with this one. I’m dying to see what it does with a station at night.

January 10th – For the first time this year, a pleasant, dry, almost tropical morning commute; sadly, it wasn’t to last and the journey home was cold and damp with a return to mist.

Cycling up the canal over Bentley Bridge my eye was caught by a flash of verdant green – a plant of some variety has clearly seeded into the rotting cavity of an old bench, and is growing well – truly life from death.

Crossing Kings Hill Park purely to catch the day, I tried the twin sisters and liked what I saw; The clock on St. Bart’s is in fine detail and all we need is some green on those trees. 

I know it’s way too early, but come on spring!

January 9th – Oh my, what a gorgeous puss this one is, a garden wall sentry in the Butts, Walsall.

Uninterested in me until I called, it was watching human proceedings down the street. An impressive neighbourhood presence, I suspect someone loves this one a great deal.

I think the cats must be emerging out of frustration. I later saw, but was unable to photograph a black puss hunting on the wasteland at Bentley Mill Way. I’m not used to seeing cats this active in the dead of winter.

Welcome though. Most welcome…