Images

December 20th – As I looped back down the High Street, I thought how Christmassy it looked, but in the photo I took, it doesn’t seem like that at all, in fact it looks quite deserted. I find that a bit sad, really , as the atmosphere at the time was bustling. 

Sometimes I wonder if the camera sees the same things I do…

December 19th – I see the Italian restaurant the the former Shoulder of Mutton had brome on the outskirts of Lichfield has closed. I noted this with some surprise, as I thought this was a popular, decent place to eat. I seem to recall the signs outside proclaiming awards for quality. It always smelled delicious when I passed, too.

Sadly, now it’s just another empty, boarded up pub. Hope someone can rescue it. Tragic.

December 14th – Cycling along the canal near Clayhanger Common, there’s a spot well-worn as a regular site for anglers. I often pass them here. It must be a good spot to fish from.

It’s clearly utter coincidence that the area around it is peppered with litter.

To whoever is leaving this shit here, I’d just like to ask one thing: you brought this crap with you, can you please have the class and common decency to take it back? Thanks.

December 13th – Nice to see The Old Swan at Stonnall back open again and under new management. On a very grey Friday, mid afternoon, the car park was quite full, and the place looked homely and warm. Were it not for the encroaching downpour and lack of a bike lock I’d have nipped in for a swift one.

It’s great to see a well-loved house get another chance, and I wish the new hosts well in their endeavour.

December 12th – I spotted him on the canal towpath in Pleck, Walsall. This large, curiously vocal calico cat. He saw me coming, and scrambled up the embankment, and stood, yowling and mewling at me from high in the scrub. I stopped. I spoke to him,. He replied. I spoke again. He replied. We had quite a long conversation. Then he got bored, and wandered off.

I suppose that was me told, then.

I will continue to talk to cats, dogs and passing wildlife until someone convinces me that the animals are not listening to what I’m saying.

December 11th – The waste fridge problem continues. Spotted in Shelfield this morning on the way to work, this could have been waiting for a bulky waste collection by the council, or more likely, left out for tatters (scrap men) by a householder. With scrapyards now unable to take fridges and freezers due to them being classed as hazardous waste, the tatters have just stripped the valuable electrical parts – the motor, condenser and wiring – and left the rest. Such discarded whitegoods are flytipped in lay-bys, country lanes and industrial estates. 

If this was left for an arranged bulky collation, great. If not, it could stay where it is for weeks. This is a reflection of what happens if waste laws are tinkered with without consideration.

Please, please, please – dispose of this stuff properly. Travelling tatters will not. By leaving stuff out for them, you’re exacerbating illegal dumping and metal theft.

December 10th – Walsall Wood again has a Christmas Tree that must be the envy of the borough. Purchased personally by local councillors Mike Flower, Anthony Harris and Pete Sears, it’s an act of generosity I admire and respect. I’m a million miles from them politically, but you have to recognise the clear community spirit in the lovely tree they donate.

Wee done, chaps. And thank you.

December 10th – If I’ve got time, when cycling to Darlaston, I like to hop onto the canal. It’s a quieter, more interesting and contemplative route, and depending how much time I have dictates where I join the towpath. Today, I was running a bit tight for time so I left it until Bridgman Street, in the industrial centre of Walsall. This is an area of small units, some old, some very new. About ten years ago, it seemed the industry here was threatened with encroaching apartments and gentrification, but the credit crunch saw to that.It’s generally a thriving, humming area with frantic commerce of the daytime being replaced by an eerie desolateness at night. 

The view from the canal bridge is quite good, if not beautiful, showing many of the architectural and development phases of Walsall. Interesting to note that you can now see St. Matthew’s Church from here, a sight impossible until the BOAK building burnt down last year.

December 9th – After some years of the awful skeletal Christmas tree – literally a lighting column with a wigwam of lights strung from it – it’s nice to see Walsall has returned to the tradition of a real tree, and this years looks great to me. Tonight was the first time I’d seen it, and I must say, it’s a nice one.

Considering a couple of years ago the outrage when the tradition was threatened, it seems to be surviving well.

Welcome to Walsall, the land of political u-turns…