Galleries

February 3rd – Also on the square, the tell-tale sign of a secondhand steed.

This road bike – a Carrera (Halfords own band) low end job – has been clearly bought by someone who’s a wee bit too big for it. The saddle is so high as to make the geometry look unsettlingly wrong, and the steerer – the fork tube the stem and handlebars mount from has been extended by a ‘suicide’ riser. This is a device to increase the height of the bars relying on clamps to keep it secure. 

Often the clamps slip or come loose, hence the nickname.

Finally, the flat bars are far from original.

People, buy a bike that fits, even secondhand. It’s a lot safer and comfier in the long run.

February 3rd – Out in Brum after completing a rush job, this made me smile – near St Philips cathedral, a hybrid electric car, a Mitsubishi Outlander – being charged at a public charging point. 

First time I’ve ever seen that and it filled me with optimism for the future. 

Nice car, too.

February 1st – I returned to Walsall in the early evening, and had to pop up to the Manor Hospital, so took a line through the Wharf, which looks better now there’s some development around it. Nice to see the Wharf Bar renewed after it’s recent closure, and with the new cinema, restaurants and bars, at last the area seems alive after years of seeming almost somnambulant.

That hotel, though. Can’t abide the architecture. It’s like some soviet secret service interrogation headquarters… and I’m a fan of Brutalism. Ugh.

February 1st – An odd morning. I had to go to Tipton, then Telford and as it was raining when I left, I headed to catch the train. Sadly, assuming the service I caught stopped at Tipton when it didn’t, I ended up at Wolverhampton. With a 30 minute wait in store and the weather clearing, rather than hang around, I hopped onto the canal at Horseley Fields and rode to Tipton on the canal.

Ninety minutes and a breakfast later, I took a train to Wolverhampton, and then one from there to Telford, so I did a sort of loop around the north Black Country.

It actually felt springlike at Wolverhampton, but the picture doesn’t convey it at all. But the weather was warm, and dry save for a strengthening wind, and there was a definite joy in the spring flower shoots on the towpaths and verges I passed.

February already – where did January go?

January 31st – The grim weather continues. Having slipped out for a customer meeting in the afternoon, I came back from Birmingham in the early evening to find the train going to Shenstone full: rather than wait in New Street, I caught the Four Oaks one instead. This meant an extra couple of miles to ride home and a serious hill on the way, but I just wanted to be back there.

In steady rain, I alighted at the station, and stopped to take a picture from the over bridge.Even in the rain, it’s a beautifully photogenic station at night.

If the drizzle and greyness could finish up soon, that’d be great, thanks…

January 30th – A thoroughly uninspiring day’s riding. I travelled to work on a murky, damp Monday morning and there wasn’t even visible trace of the dawn. 

In the evening, I left Darlaston in light but persistent drizzle that found every not-quite done up zip and flap in my clothes, with a crosswind that made the whole journey an ordeal.

Still, it’s staying late much later now than a month ago – a whole hour – and I keep looking at the green shoots on verges and in parks and know that darkness will reach it’s end soon.

I contented myself with a handful of shots of the canal on my way back to Brownhills, all the time dreaming of warmer, lighter, better days.

January 29th – for the first time in some years, I paid a visit to the railway museum at Chasewater, which was as pleasingly eccentric as ever. This free attraction, run by award-winning volunteers is a little gem, and contains much to enthralling and entertain even if you aren’t a railway buff.

Some of the most interesting stuff though, isn’t in the museum but outside it. That’s certainly nearly a case of the cart before the horse, and that odd little railcar.

That panda looks a bit delinquent to me.

January 29th – A horrible, grey, wet and misty day that had very, very little to commend it. I set out in rain, and came back in rain and there was no cessation between the two. 

My heavy heart was not helped at Chasewater, where some scumbag has dumped an old IBC full of what looks like kitchen fitter’s waste: now a repeat flytipping spot, the space next to the Nine-Foot wouldn’t be suffering if the council had put in a barrier years ago. There’s no reason for anyone except rangers to be here in a vehicle, after all.

The mess these filthy toe rags have left will cost us all to clean up. If you know who it was, please dob them in to the police.

January 28th – A wet, dripping Lichfield was beautiful in the late afternoon and dusk, though. Surprisingly cold but glistening, I always love this city in the rain.

It’ll be nice to see some leaves on the trees of Beacon Street again, though. Hurry up, spring!