January 12th – this was around 3:30pm, during the rains. I was soaked, and cold. Every single light was red and the traffic was doing the mad things it always does when we have rain.
I keep saying I think I’m developing webbed feet. Shelve that. At the moment I’m considering a coat of Cuprinol to stave off wet rot…
January 12th – A better day health and mood-wise, but not in terms of the weather. I had to go to Droitwich, and got wet on the way. On my return, it was sunny in Worcestershire and Birmingham; as I got to Walsall near 3pm, the sky blackened and dusk seemed to fall early.
The sky was incredible, seen here at Station Street in Walsall, just as the rain started.. The following downpour? Not so much.
January 11th – I had to go to a meeting in Leicester, and for some reason felt very low for most of the day. My health wasn’t great and I felt grim and lacklustre.
Only one thing for it – comfort food on the way back. I called in a a favourite asian snack shop, and bought the most wonderful dhokla, patra and five small, crunchy samosas. The whole lot was less than £3 and came with various sauces.
They tasted wonderful and got me home feeling better. Sometimes, you just need a bit of soul food.
January 10th – A terrible, snatched photo, but a signifier of this bizarre season – an early arrival spotted on a roadside verge in Chase Terrace.
This winter is seriously strange.
January 9th – Another way to tell you’re having a wet, warm winter: grass is growing in the mud down the centre of Thorneyhirst Lane. In January.
The mud and slurry were unbelievable, and they’d also just flailed the hedges so this route is probably best avoided for a few weeks.
January 6th – A fair commute in both directions for once, in fact almost sunny.
On the way, the sun was trapped above low smog but I didn’t mind – as I came through central Walsall on the ring road, it made everything look beautiful. I don’t know if it was just in the haze or my mind, but everything was suffused in a delicious yellow, soft light.
The Workhouse Guardian’s Office in front of the Manor Hospital may still be derelict, and gradually being carried to dust, but it’s at times like this it regains some of the lost stature.
Could do with a few more days like this, please.
January 5th – Passing through Walsall in the morning, winching myself up Bradford Street, I was reminded of what a fine and idiosyncratic place this is architecturally. At first glance, this place doesn’t seem to offer much merit.
But look closer. Look up.
It’s why I love Walsall.
January 4th – Still, once I was wet there was no point in not enjoying the environment. I keep playing with this view of Clayhanger Bridge from the canal. Today, I used the bike light to highlight the railings and overflow. It seems to have worked but would have benefited from a tripod.
One day I must set out to learn what I’m doing with a camera.
January 4th – A wet commute both ways; not full on rain, but periodic drizzle. It was a clingy, cold kind of wet that soaked you without actually doing much.
Fed up of the traffic on the way home, I hopped on to the canal at Walsall Wood – a real mistake. Everything is saturated, and the mud and puddles are endless.
January 2nd – This awful weather is accumulating crud on the bike, and on me.
I think I might have to break the habit of a lifetime and hose the worst of it off. I don’t think I’ve ever known a winter like this.
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