Weekend Walks - Up The Cut

To everyone who posted kind comments and sent messages of comfort after the loss of Stephen, Jon & I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

So what's been happening in our corner of the world? On Thursday we went charity shopping and, with the temperature reverting back to single figures and non-stop rain, I was appalled when I caught a glimpse of myself in a shop mirror, with my bedraggled hair, Wintery layers and woolly hat I looked like a bag lady - the chap who followed me around the shop telling me how pretty I was must have either been on drugs or needed his eyes testing. Needless to say, I didn't bother with an outfit photo.

 We found a few bits - a very circussy looking 1980s striped blazer by Hammells (there was even a red nose in the pocket!), a vintage Monsoon cotton velvet maxi dress, a handmade dress with a quirky lighthouse print, a 1970s Dhobi cord jacket, a pair of 1980s Rodeo salompettes (the cool kids love vintage ski wear), a 1980s wool tank top, a 1970s St Michael tapestry waistcoat, a Hawaiian shirt, a handmade circle skirt made from a 1970s St Michael sheet and a 1970s St Michael dagger collar blouse....Jon and I reckon that after the Apocalypse all that will remain will be cockroches and garments bearing a vintage St Michael label. 

In amongst the six foot rail rail of twisted, stained and knackered high street teeshirts Jon found this Italian-made Vivienne Westwood "Man" sailor top. 

Later we watched the final two episodes of This Is Going To Hurt, the BBC series based on the diaries of NHS doctor, Adam Kay and starring the brilliant Ben Wishaw. It's graphic (not for the squeamish), the humour is dark & brutal and the soundtrack is superb (The Libertines, Jarvis Cocker, the Chemical Brothers, The Maccabes and Florence and the Machine to name but a few). 

And, for a little light relief (not!) we watched the first episode of Chernobyl.....

On Friday Jon whizzed a sack of eBay sales round to the Post Office & I ironed and listed some stock on eBay. We walked down to the Gala Baths and swum 30 lengths (clocking up a total of sixty this week) and walked back home via the Co-op for some cola for our rum & snaffling a pack of hot cross buns at the same time, demolishing one and a half each for lunch, slathered in Normandy butter.

Ever wanted to see a cat off his tits? This was Mr Trousers after he discovered the Nepeta (cat mint) we've got growing in the border. He'd missed Ollie by minutes who - hold the front page - had eaten his dinner in the house (soon scuttling off to the shelter of Gilbert when I tried to take a photo for proof.)

Despite the day kicking off with a heavy frost I'd decided I'd had my fill of thermal leggings so threw caution to the wind and risked bare legs. The dress & jacket are Dilli Grey sale finds, the Lottas were an eBay bargain.

Friday evening was spent with more Chernobyl and despite plenty of rum and cola, I was bringing mugs of tea back to bed at 6am on Saturday.  After a veggie sausage sandwich and a flurry of housework we continued with our regular weekend walks from home, walking along the Walsall Canal in the town centre. The West Midlands has an extensive canal network and Birmingham is said to have more miles of canal than Venice. Round these parts many refer to a canal as 'the cut' such as saying they are going 'up the cut' - meaning that they are heading along the canal towpath to get somewhere.The canal network of the United Kingdom played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution. The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network which, at its peak, expanded to nearly 4,000 miles in length. Walsall Canal, once an integral cog in the Birmingham canal system, is 8 miles long and opened in 1799. With the intoduction of the railways, and later the motorways, the canal network went into decline and the Walsall Canal was thought to have been lost forever but, with the hard work of volunteers who brought it back to its former glory, its now popular with walkers and cyclists.

We started in the centre of town, at The New Art Gallery, Walsall's jewel in the crown. Built at a cost of £21million and opened by the Queen in 2000, it is home to The Garman Ryan Collection, 365 works of art left to the people of Walsall by Black Country born Kathleen Garman, wife of the sculptor Jacob Epstein and her friend, Sally Ryan. There's a fantastic book about the wild life of Kathleen and her six sisters, The Rare and The Beautiful, if you'd like to learn more. The collection features many examples of works by key European artists of late 19th and early 20th Century, including Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Turner and Degas. 

 

 I have never walked along this stretch of canal before and fell madly in love with these gorgeous Victorian buildings. It was a no-go area for many years before it was restored and even now I wouldn't recommend visiting alone - or after dark.

If you follow the track you'll eventually reach Wolverhampton.  

It’s a bit black over Bill’s mother’s is a common Black Country expression for when the sky is dark with rain. Bill being a reference to local lad, William Shakespeare, with his mother being Mary Arden of Stratford and a rainstorm usually approaching from the south-westerly direction.

We loved how the walls bear the scars from the tow-ropes of horse-drawn boats .

Commissioned by the Incorporated Seamen and Boatmen's Friendly Society, The Boatman's Rest served as a mission to distract the boatmen from frequenting the local public houses, such as The Navigation, located next door and still trading. Joel Cadbury, one of the renowned Cadbury's chocolate clan (Bournville being a few miles up the road), laid the foundation stone in September 1900. Standing at the top lock, according to the 9th March edition of the Walsall Advertiser in 1901, 200 boats passed through the locks each day, carrying a total of 400 to 500 people on board. The top lock was an ideal location as it was one of the busiest in the Black Country because of the coal being transported out of the county. Other cargo included wheat, iron ore and limestone.

Now trendy waterside flats, Smiths was formerly the Albion Flour Mill, built in 1849 but abandoned in 1960 & falling into dereliction for 45 years. 

This is a roving bridge, designed to allow horses pulling narrowboats to change towpaths without untying the rope.

 Born in Walsall, John Edward Grey moved to London at an early age and was keeper of zoology at the British Mueum until 1840.

When I write about visiting the cinema this is it, Walsall Light, which opened in 2016 with eight screens and capacity for 1155. There are no premium priced seats as the company ethos is that all the seats are VIP luxury seats. Each screening is introduced by a member of staff who remind patrons to turn off their mobile phones. Alongside the blockbusters, independent and international films they screen they also show live opera, ballet, theatre and pop concerts from around the globe, including Royal Opera House and the National Theatre.

Ninety minutes later we were back where we started at the New Art Gallery.  

Back at home we thawed out over a mug of posh coffee. Lord Jon has retired to the lounge with a bag of Black Country pork scratchings to watch some trashy Sci-Fi leaving me to escape to life in post-colonial Congo before another evening of rum and nuclear catastrophe.

See you soon!