Images

December 17th – At Telford after a flying visit, overlooking the station towards the town centre, a remarkable sunset to close the bracket of the wonderful dawn.

It had been a long day. Inbetween the two, I’d spent a morning in Darlaston.

Every Christmas I swear I’ll take it easy in the run-up. Every year I fail to do so and end up in a mad rush. Will I ever learn?

Mind you, I’d have missed this wonderful sight…

December 17th – I had to nip into Eddington early in the day, so I hopped on the train and sped down the Cross City Line. As the dawn threatened to break over Hill Hook, I caught this shot of Sutton Coldfield transmitter through an open train door.

This week hasn’t been great weather wise, and in such dark days t can be hard to find beauty. But I was glad I saw this,

December 15th – The magic numbers are important, so very important.

This is the data page of my bike GPS, the screen where I keep the figures important to me while riding – distance, battery level, time, average speed and all that geeky stuff. Top right number though, is sort of a mirror of the one bottom right; daily sunset time and sunrise.

Today, 3:52pm. This should, hopefully, be the earliest it gets. From now on, the sunset gets later every day (although the sunrise continues to get a wee bit later). This number is one of my small motivational yardsticks that get me through winter and this figure has several notable points; but none is more significant to me than this.

By January, it will be after 4pm again. It may be weeks away, but the darkness will be retreating, and spring will be tiptoeing in.

Today, as I wheeled the bike indoors from another wet commute, the raindrop-dappled glass glowed at me reassuringly in the darkness, and I knew in that instant that so very nearly, so very close now, so soon I will have beaten the advancing darkness for another season.

December 14th – There’s a small stub of driveway or track off Old Park Road in Kings Hill called Kings Hill Field. I think once, it went right across the park to the Darlaston Road, and I suspect it’s the remnant of an old right of way, now curtailed by the lovely Kings Hill Park. There’s a small row of terraces, and the gates to the park; and in the right light, by chance, it looks beautiful.

This is why I love this place.

December 12th – A wet, horrible day, but a remarkable, surprising find – a rosy earthstar.

This curious thing, looking like plasticine or glazed ceramic, is a fungus like toadstools. It’s relatively rare, and I’ve never seen one before. It’s in a bunch of about 5 in various stages of life on a small patch of CLayhanger Common, and I spotted it entirely by chance.

A great find on a very unpleasant day.

December 9th – In Darlaston itself, a reminder of the great architecture present in this underrated town. Darlaston Police Station is a beautiful building, more ornate than any police station I’ve seen. It scans foursquare in a quiet, tree-lined side street overlooking Victoria Park.

On this chill winter morning, the low sun through the trees make me stop and take a good look.

If you’ve never visited Darlaston, please do. It’s a wonderful, unassuming place, full of gems like this.

December 8th – A grim day in which everything went wrong, including leaving home with a flat camera. At work, I recharged it, but I left for home in steady rain and got as far as High Heath before I felt motivated to use it.

Today, the ride in had been dogged by wind and a mechanical issue, work itself had been a succession of protracted difficulties and conflicts, and the ride home was wet and I was without waterproofs. I stopped in a deserted, wet Green Lane, this desolate view is exactly how I felt.

Tomorrow will be better. It has to be.