Images

November 25th – Ladies and gentlemen, I can make an announcement. This coming winter will be warm, without much snow or ice. 

I have guaranteed this by purchasing new snow tyres for this season. Therefore, fate dictates that I won’t need them. Which will probably be a shame, as they look like they mean serious business.

This has been a public service announcement to 365daysofbiking readers.

November 23rd – I was passed by a grit lorry on the Chester Road, and winced as the rocksalt tinkled off my bike. It is winter now in all but name, and I’ll get used to it. The cold was bitter, and frost was on the way, so it was good to see Walsall Council teams out on a Saturday treating the roads. As I passed the back of the depot at Apex Road, the yard was busy loading lorries as they came in, and I noted that the salt barn was pretty much full, all set for the winter ahead. A sobering thought.

November 20th – Just the one picture today, as the commutes were horrid and wet, ad the images I took in the morning were spoiled by rain on the lens. I grabbed this as I left the station at Walsall in the early evening. The rain had stopped, but everything was wet and cold. The traffic seemed tetchy and aggressive tonight, too, but nothing really matches the glisten of a wet urban night scene. There wasn’t much business for the taxis tonight, but it’s nice to see Station Street undergoing a bit of a revival.

Even on a cold wet Wednesday in Walsall, there’s beauty to be had.

November 19th – It didn’t feel icy. But it was cold, and I guess the first really winterish commute of the season. But this sign – a new appearance today at Moor Street Station – seems to indicate lawyers have been earning their corn somewhere. The language is mealy mouthed too. 

Oh well, it kept a sign maker busy somewhere…

andycolman:

Day 321 – Past It’s Prime – I must have ridden past this wonderful contraption dozens of times but it has never caught my eye until today. Having a poke around on the interweb, I discover that it’s a threshing machine. I have also seen much better photos of the exact same machine. In my defence, the farm it is on seems very securely cordoned off and I could only get this picture by holding the camera up over a wire fence.

This was taken with smallest and oldest of my regular cameras – a tiny Samsung Digimax from around 2005. It still somehow manages to take some nice pictures though.

Meerash Farm, Hammerwich. Lost horizons.

November 13th – Heading home from work late again, I hit the canal for a bit of a mental challenge. It’s been a hard couple of days, and night riding in a darker than usual environment is really good for clearing the head. I wait until I get to a dark spot, then kill the lights for a bit. It’s great fun.

This image is taken without flash, and this is how it looks from the bike.

The front light I’m using at the moment – a Hope Technology Vision R4 – is great, and bright enough to stun a badger. Here, it’s on the lowest of three ‘trail’ settings, and it’s more than adequate for tiding in woodland at night.

As soon as the weather clears, going to try it out on the Chase one evening…

November 12th – I had something important to do in the morning, had had planned to take the rest of the day of, but I got called in to work. In Walsall Wood on my errand, I noted with sadness the seasonal lake is filling up at the original Oak Park. This was once a bowling green.

It would bring tears to a glass eye. This water will stay here until spring, and nobody at the council – whose responsibility this virtually abandoned public park is – seems to give a toss.

November 8th – I’ve noted before, that at night Stonnall is a different place. Darkness has a remarkable effect on the dormitory commuter village that I find puzzling. By day, it’s a nondescript, but pleasant place; old houses mingle with postwar new build and a few ex-council houses with neat gardens and an open, if slightly characterless atmosphere. 

At night, however, I’m not sure why, but the place develops a wholly different character. The old buildings here come alive, and the new stuff just slinks into the background. You get hints, whispers of what the old village might have been like, before it was sold out to developer and speculator.

Some places seem lost, but retain their essence at certain points. Stonnall does this on dark winter evenings. I remain convinced that the spirit of some places is never lost, just hidden.