Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 8 degrees, cold and chilly, cloudy with bursts of sunshine and trying to rain.
I’m up early and exercising in the back living room and outside on the patio. I mentioned to Julie that it would be nice to take an early walk with Austin, her dog, along the canal.
She took it literally and called me to ask if I would like to do it this morning. I transferred one class to the next day in the morning at the same time; that wouldn’t be a problem, as I’m free then and I know my pupils’ schedules. The other pupils are either travelling or on holiday, so I will be free until 3:00 p.m.
Julie picked me up around 9:30. The sky was cloudy with rain threatening, but it hadn’t begun yet, and occasionally, the sun tried to shine through. When she arrived, Austin went wild when he saw me. He was too excited to stay in the back seat; he wanted to stand on my lap with his head out of the window, feeling the wind on his face.
Why do dogs like that so much?
As I have mentioned many times, my mother lives near the canal, and the paths along its edge are lined with all the flora and fauna of the English countryside. The greens and browns of the trees are quite remarkable.
It was essentially a drive around the block, and she parked the car in front of the open green park that adjoins the canal. As soon as we opened the car door, Austin sprinted onto the green. He was off. The weather was clearing up a little, so it was almost perfect conditions for a walk in England; in Brazil, it would still be too cold.
We crossed the green, which is quite large, and came to a basin that joins three canals together. To the left, towards Wordsley, is too near and too short a walk. To the right, towards Wollaston and Kinver, where I wanted to go, I wanted to show Julie where I worked as a teenager, building narrowboats on the edge of the canal. Unfortunately, a woman with a dog was heading in that direction, so we decided it would be better not to.
And straight in front led to Brettel Lane, where I lived when I was a very young child. ‘The Fish’, a well-known crossroads of the region, where my uncle lived and eventually to Stourbridge.
Since I have been back, I’ve taken this path many times; it is beautiful, but not as interesting as going right. However, because of the woman and the dog, we thought it better to proceed towards Stourbridge. Even though I know it like the back of my hand, it is still very beautiful and quite charming.
We passed in front of the back of the building that faces the canal of ‘Stourbridge Glass Works’, where my grandfather worked a long time ago. There was a large loading and unloading bay that was probably used one, two hundred years ago, with barges bringing and taking raw materials and finished glass to their rightful destinations.
It was an interesting view, a picture with a young man in the background. I called to him, and Julie was a little embarrassed by my boldness.
I asked some questions about the place, but the young man did not know. He then called his boss, who filled us in on the situation of the beautiful old works and his business. Now it is a steel furniture factory. I asked if I could visit it one day, and he said I was more than welcome.
I asked his name, we thanked Dave, and we continued on our way. We were nearly reaching Stourbridge and the Old Wharf, where we had been last weekend, so we decided it was best to start heading back. It was not necessary to visit the ‘Old Wharf’ again at this moment, as we had already been there recently.
When we returned to the basin, we faced two options: either go back to the car or take a detour to the right, towards the red cone, the old glassworks, and the regional museum.
The police had blocked the street for some reason, so we had to walk around it further. Although it was not planned, we entered the ‘Red Cone’ Glass Culture complex. Although it is not as impressive as it could be, it is still very interesting.
At the back of the complex, hidden and overshadowed by the enormous, red, cone-shaped chimney, was a coffee shop —a café that was open until just before Christmas. I had gone once, but now it is closed. I showed Julie the potential of the place; for me, it needs a lot of marketing, but it could be a nice little business with a lot of potential.
It was starting to rain; we were about a mile from the car and slightly further to Julie’s café. We headed to Luke’s café, and I took Julie to meet her rival from the other café, to meet Luke, but he was not there. Dan was there, who frequents both cafés; his mother owns a local pub on the same street.
Dan is disabled, talks loudly, and can sometimes be a little aggressive and rude in his words, but he’s not a bad person. We talked, laughed, joked, had coffee, and Dan asked us if we were a couple, to which I replied that it was only sex, to stop the questions and avoid going into more detail. We paid and left, finally arriving back at the car in light rain.
We said our goodbyes, and Julie and Austin were off back home. What a lovely morning!
The rest of the day was spent giving classes until late and preparing blog posts. My mother spoke to me about adopting a dog; she wants to visit the local dog shelter to look at some dogs, now that the idea has been planted in her mind. I want to adopt a greyhound; this is my top priority if I stay in England.
It seems that everything is coming together, even though much is still missing, and the path will likely be very rocky, but that’s okay.
In bed by midnight.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
