Images

Setember 3rd – I noticed on my return that the grain harvest was now nearly over. Apart from a few fields by the railway, the wheat was finally all cut. Bales – square and cylindrical – dot the Stonnall and Shenstone landscape. This has been a very difficult, poor harvest, and is weeks late. I don’t think I’ve ever known it so bad. Please let there be an Indian summer…

September 1st – At home farm, I smelt the fresh earth before I saw it; I’d now that scent anywhere. The farmer has wasted now time, and ploughing and harrowing was in full swing. Presumably, there’s another crop to go in here now – maybe potatoes or a vegetable of some sort. The golden hues of late summer will soon all be fresh and brown like this, part of time’s passage. Lovely, but sad at the same time.

September 1st – I guess it really is coming on to autumn now. I spun out around five o’clock and noticed the sun was already low in the sky. That was really sobering. I slipped up to Chasewater for a quick nose around, and then over to Walsall Wood along the canal. On the way back down the canal, I noted the basin at Ogley Junction was still host to the buttes and stricken dredger that had sunk during operations at Anglesey Basin earlier in the year. Somebody must own this equipment, and it’s been stuck here for months now. I can’t be cheap to buy this stuff, so I’m wondering what the deal is. You can’t just forget about such plant, can you?
Having said that, if you look closely, behind the blue dredger is a white one, just visible. It’s been there, in dry dock, brand new and unused for pushing 3 years now. It’s called ‘Hamster’, and British Waterways – now a charitable trust called the Canal & River Trust – seem to have completely forgotten it exists, too. Mystifying, and it says much about the shambles that is waterway management in the UK. 

28th August – It was bright and sunny, in complete contrast to the day before. I commuted to Darlaston, which has been far too irregular of late – I love the journey and the place, and miss it when I’m not there. On the way, I travelled down one of my favourite Walsall residential streets – Scarborough Road. Consisting mainly of inter-war council houses, this wide, tree-lined street is a testament to a more socially concerned time. There’s always someone here who waves as you pass; a pensioner stood in their garden, school kids or folk just pottering about their business. I always feel comfortable here.

August 27th – I bloody hate summer bank holiday. To me, perhaps wrongly, it represents the end of summer. Last break until Christmas, from now, the nights draw in in earnest, the weather closes in and the warm days and sunshine once again become hazy memories. Except this year, we didn’t have much summer, either, and I felt doubly cheated.

I had to skip over to Burntwood at teatime. Driving rain, and a biting headwind. Some times, people ask me why I do this: today, deprived of summer and battling the elements, I was asking the question of myself…

August 26th – An afternoon ride to get some fresh air, and a gentle loop around Chasewater took me past Fly Pool, near the north heath. One of the quieter bits of the park, one can often find interesting wildlife in these areas. I noticed this fine fellow gently spinning on the ‘No Swimming’ marker in the middle of the pool. It could only have been perfect if the sign had said ‘No Fishing’…

August 24th – I’m not sure this cottage has a name. Standing on the junction of Footherley Lane, Gravelly Lane and Mill Lane in Lower Stonnall, it’s a handsome, four-square but fairly low Staffordshire cottage. I love everything about it; it’s standing at the junction, the ivy, the imposing doorway and oblique angle. I suspect it to be quite old, and the gardens are often full of beautiful flowers. This home is a lovely landmark on my way home, and even in the dark, it’s lights welcome me on my return from a long ride.

August 23rd – Rust never sleeps. A couple of years after installation, Walsall Wood’s iron cutout people look dreadful, in my opinion. Had they been coated, or made from stainless steel, they would have worked a whole lot better, but the rusted, corroding versions just look like visually confusing scrap these days. The text milled into every figure is very hard to read now, as there’s no contrast due to the oxide.

A wasted opportunity. Walsall Council paid thousands of pounds in development funds for this. Surely a more enduring use of the cash could have been found.