Galleries

October 27th – I managed to finish work in the early afternoon and got myself and my bike to Lichfield for a lovely autumn sunny afternoon.

The old city and the sisters of the Vale looked gorgeous with the low sun and long shadows, as did Festival Gardens, the war memorial and Minster Pool.

Lichfield can be awfully up itself sometimes, but it’s a very beautiful place and it would be impossible not to love it – and a content afternoon mooching for gifts in the junk shops and charity emporia was a great way to unwind.

Some great weather at last!

October 25th – I popped into Darlaston on an errand from work at noon, on a lovely sunny late autumn day, and took time to appreciate the architecture of this lovely town. Across the hedges and careful topiary of the gardens of Rectory Avenue, the twin historic fascinations of the Columbarium and St Lawrence’s Church; just around the corner Pardoes Cottage, a curiosity in it’s own, handsome right.

My inly frustration is the inability ti get a good angle on that lovely church, although it’s one positive aspect of autumn – in summer one can barely see the church at all!

October 23rd – I was riding to work when I met a gorgeous little lady with a happy, proud brush of a tail. Trotting though The Butts, she meowed at me as I was answering a text and then hurried towards me, greedily accepting chin and ear tickles and nose boops. 

Circling me and begging for more fuss, she was hard to photograph, but happily pottered off when she could see I needed to continue my journey.

A little bit of furry, tiny tabbyness on a damp Monday morning.

October 22nd – A very decent, dark sunset descended on Brownhills. The day was still very windy, an rather wolfish so not really great for riding, really. But I can live with clear skies, a little sun and strong wind.

Sunsets like this, now hovering around 6pm before the end of British Summer Time next weekend, remind me that winter will soon be upon us.

October 22nd – A quick run up to Aldridge in the early afternoon reqarded me with great autumnal views and a surprise – almost submerged in dense thicket by the old railway bridge at Stubbers Green, what I think is an evening primrose, in strident yellow bloom.

I don’t know if this is normal at this time of year or an aberration, but it is rather beautiful and a lovely autumn find.

October 21st – A blustery, showery day, so I restricted myself to a short ride around the patch, washing through the leaves shaken free by the storm. At the new pond at Clayhanger, I noticed a healthy, beautiful holly bush with a dense crop of berries growing in the marsh at the back of the pool. That’s a sign Christmas is coming, for sure.

Autumn has been strange this year. It’s like we fell out of summer with a bump and kept bouncing off winter with no transition…

October 20th – And in the green heaven of Kings Hill Park, where clearly busy people tend the flowers unseen to me, a bright, colourful reminder that the beauty isn’t over yet.

Spotted with raindrops, battered by the wind, these planters are still absolutely gorgeous and remind me of why I love the outdoors and why I appreciate this town and it’s hidden, lovely spaces.

I’m BrownhillsBob, not DarloDave. But for a twist of fate, I could have been – and would have been proud to be so.

October 20th – In to work early, and on a morning of patchy rain and light, fast sunny spells, two pauses in my hurried journey at Victoria Park and Kings Hill Park, both looking absolutely gorgeous in their autumn jackets.

Darlaston is a grubby, grimy industrial Black Country town – and is everything the Black Country is; busy, historic, full of hidden beauty under an ostensibly ugly exterior, charming, real and a great place to be. And like the wider Black Country, it’s full of green parks and open spaces where the hurried traveller can catch a breath, sip his tea and think about the day to come.

October 19th – A day marked by a ludicrously early start and thoroughly wet, rain-sodden homeward darkness commute. The weather really isn’t being kind to me this week.

The riding wasn’t bad, really – they do say drowning is quite pleasurable once you stop fighting it, and I flowed like the rainwater through the streets from Darlaston with an occasionally startling crosswind. Reaching the town centre, I took a short cut past the civic centre. With nobody about and beautifully glistening surfaces, it made for a good night shot.

If the weather-gods are reading this, can I please have some dry, non-windy weather for a short while please? I’d be ever so grateful…

October 17th – Well, if the day before had gone unexpectedly pink, the sunset when a gorgeous purple over Brownhills.

Rolling down the hill happy after seeing the deer, I was greeted by the most gorgeous sky. Unusually, I ducked off the High Street at Anchor Bridge, and on to the canal to catch it better.

Within the space of ten minutes, it had gone.

I was very pleased to have caught this. We’re having a great sunset season this year!