Had a rough night last night this strange dream

I had a rough night last night, couple of things keeping me awake, firstly the aches resulting from a muscle I have upset in my back that been causing me gip for the past few weeks, secondly though, am I really a terrorist sympathiser because I dont want us to bomb Syria.

And then the dreaming started and what a dream, there he was standing up in parliament going on about how many armed men there were in Syria that just needed leading but there will be no British troops on the ground, and then hes going on about no one loves him or thinks him powerful and how she never had that trouble, as he rubs the well worn postcard in his pocket. He would teach them.

The next day a camel disappears from London Zoo and is taken to Q's workshop at MI6 to be fitted with Fire and Brimstone missiles on either side of the saddle. Next a letter and a large package arrive at the family home. She the long suffering looks at them what on earth is he up to now?

She opens the letter and looks, what on earth changing his name! to what! Then she looks in the larger package. Is there something he isn't telling me as she pulls out what looks at first glance to be a dress. Thats it she says and phones him at work, not now he says I will tell you later, all I will say is they will all worship me and follow me for ever, she would be proud. Just then the doorbell rings theres a delivery at the backdoor, nudge nudge a special delivery, as a camel with various bits attached to its saddle and a stool tied to its tail is led into the garden.

What did mummy say she says, she could remember what she said when she found out about the pigs head. When he got home she sent the children to bed and sat him down where she could question him. Now whats going on? Dont you see he said it will work it will be brilliant. Whats this? she says showing him the letter, this name change to Margaret. She would be so proud. And this she says holing up what she now realised was a robe of sorts.

I have said darling havnt I that no british troops will fight in Syria and the folk fighting there need a charismatic leader, that is me I will go and lead them she would be so so proud of me.

Me Margaret of Arabia.

And then I woke up and shivered, NAH, it was only a dream from my pained body wasn't it!

Bombing Syria my thoughts

So some of the politicians want to bomb Syria, to benifit who I wonder.

Why I think we shouldnt;

Civilians get killed because ISIS hide among civilians.

There are already too many planes flying around and bombing Syria, some of the countries involved have said that already when Russia began to get involved. It would have to be worse if we got involved wouldn't it?

If the Americans, the French and others have been bombing Syria for ages and still ISIS are strong, what difference can we make, are we so good?

What about troops on the ground I heard some general this week thinks that ISIS can be defeated in a couple of weeks. Where have we heard such stuff before eh, WW1 etc etc. ISIS will melt away to come out when our troops or others have gone by just as in Iraq and Afghanistan for starters, they dont fight in uniform and obey rules of engagement.

Yes we do perhaps need to join the fight against ISIS but lets please use some intelligence and common sense, there are other ways of defeating ISIS widely discussed in the media who are finding out more and more about them. Our armed services will fight as they are directed, but they are not there to be politicians playthings or reputation builders.

Have you ever wondered about the state of the UK's birds

If you ever just stand out there in your garden and the street and take a bit of pleasure in the call and activity of the birds around you, have a look on the internet for; The State of the UK's Birds 2015.

You could try looking at the websites of the BTO or the RSPB, go on have a look and if you are not concerned at what you see you are a braver than me. The situation for farmland birds is to my mind dire, and other groups are faring badly as well.

The problem is of course birds are the thin end of the wedge, other animal/wildlife groups such as reptiles and plants are also faring badly and we are supposed to love wildlife in this country.

Walk outside again and listen to those birds or watch them feeding, then think what if they were not there, what would you think would it mean anything to you. To me it would mean the loss of a very important part of my soul.

We should all be worried and asking why and what can we do.

Its a small world, connections, and carers

Worked in two gardens today then went to the funeral of a lady I had worked for for a few years.

Then during the readings the interesting stuff began. She was related to Parry who wrote Jerusalem which was sung at the funeral. Its a short hymn and more well known perhaps with that great organisation the WI although there are very few groups who sing it now whatever anyone thinks.

Really touching at the funeral was that one of the livein carers who is Polish and had gone home after the death flew in specially for it, afterwards she said to me that she could now smile when thinking about the lady who had died, she had been with her when she passed away. Bless her.

So then I go home thoughtful, get the car unloaded and start on the days paperwork still pondering how small a world it is, theres a message on my phone, it from a WI.

good driver bad driver answers please which one would you be

So I was driving into Cambridge to work in a few gardens.

On the way in Quy in the distance I saw a delivery driver put on his hazard lights and stop on the opposite side of the road. He gets out walks to the front of his van and scares a pigeon off the road that was just sitting there, never expected that from a red van delivering car parts EU it was and I thinks well done that man.

Onto the A14 traffic at a slow crawl again, get almost to the Milton slip road and at the last minute with the sliproad lights obviously on green an artic  just a bit closer guns it up the slipway and over the still green lights then down the other sliproad back onto the A14, he was driving the lorry like he was driving a small car throwing it all over the place. Whoopee Ive jumped ahead of a few other cars and lorries they must have been thinking, I hope the load wasn't fragile.

Which was the good driver and which the bad? And back to the question in the title which driver are you and which one is a complete prat.

harvest stops and starts this year

This years harvest seems to have been a bit stop and start this year, the farmers have got going then wet spells have come along putting a halt on things till the next few dry days appear. This week they have been flat out from the look of things trying to get it all in, will they though, the cereal crops are looking blacker and cleared fields are showing where the regeneration of dropped seeds are germinating readily.

I came back across the fen the other day on the single track road and there were at least half a dozen combines of various ages and sizes going at it.

Driving along the single track road amidst farmers working flat out was an eyeopener in another way, or was it, have we got so self centred and the answer is probably yes.

There are passing places and field entrances where you can pull over to let vehicles coming the other way pass. Coming towards me I could see a couple of vehicles and a lorry not too far beyond. Behind me was one vehicle so I pulled off to let them pass, the vehicle behind sat there for a while and also let the two cars past then seeing the lorry was a bit slower decided to go off in a hurry and must have pulled over closer to the lorry still they had made some fast progress eh.

Then a van comes along from the direction I had come and did it pull over where I was, did it even see me sat waiting there, who knows the driver kept on until it got another gateway closer to the lorry before pulling over. The lorry then slowly came past loaded with large bales the whole thing swaying like a fairground ride on the fen road then the van was off like a shot.

Why are we in such a hurry these days, the fen road is not one to hurry on for starters especially if you have got any respect for the vehicle you are driving. Is it symptomatic of the pressure people are under these days to make more money. Whatever I dont like it.

old friends and stories

While at the country fair I also saw and old friend. Neil Lanham was there with a stand selling his recordings of country folk, these are priceless things voices from the past almost as they recall how things were done and how lives were lived last century.

Neil used to tell at Cambridge a few years ago but life moved on, he is has stopped telling but the recording goes. For Neil its the recording of folks real lives that is the thing and those memories as or more valuable than any story from a book.

For you Dad

Fenland Country Fair and as usual the steam roundabout was there, given the rain there were less people but I still enjoyed the event. Collected a bit of the roundabout in action for Dad who would have loved it, I know hes not with us anymore but he still saw it.

Straight from Buglife Sepotember Bug Bites

Oilseed rape flourishes without bee-killing chemicals

As you know, Buglife have been campaigning extensively on neonicotinoids after finding out that they’re harmful to pollinating insects such as bumblebees and other types of wildlife. Our UK Government, Pesticide companies and National Farmer’s Union have long argued against us, saying that neonicotinoids are essential for farmers as they protect the growing crop against pests, especially for oilseed rape.


Now, the first harvest results of oilseed rape planted without neonicotinoid seed treatments have come in, and farmers are experiencing a better than usual crop – yields are higher than the 10 year average. 90% of the harvest has come in and yields are between 3.6 and 3.8 tonnes per hectare, higher than the normal farm average of 3.5. This suggests that the increase in pollinating insects after not using the chemicals, has helped the oilseed rape achieve fantastic yields and has outweighed any losses from pests.

This means the Government’s recent controversial decision to allow these banned bee-killing chemicals to be used in four eastern counties as an ‘emergency’ measure is nonsense.

Buglife is now calling on the UK Government to reconsider its decision to allow the use of banned bee toxins now that it is clear that there is no ‘emergency’ and indeed that bees have helped farmers bring in a bumper crop.

where are the flies this year?????????????

So a serious question based on my observations this year.

Are there as many flies of all shapes and sizes about this year, I dont think so. Why well usually while gardening I get bothered by lots of them and need to knock the biting ones off now and then but this year, no.

Then theres the surveys I do for a particular species of bat every August, four walks alongside a river at night using a torch to find my way, that usually sees me keeping me mouth shut and wafting flies away from my eyes while lots of them are visible in the beam of the torch, this year well theres some but nowhere near as many nor as many of the bat I am looking for.

Does it mean anything? What do I know is its not a scientific number of flies survey but my own view based on observation on four evenings in the Cambridge area. Whatever its worrying if this is replicated across the country as a whole. You might say good no flies. But think on, no flies equals no bats and no birds, not sure I like the sound of that at all.

interesting times for the environment with the greenest government

I dont know if I am being cynical but what the permission for certain eastern counties to use neonicotinoids on oilseed rape seed despite a bumper harvest this year on seed planted without it, and todays announcement of the badger cull being extended, I get this feeling that the shade of green the government was wanting to be known by is fading all the time.

ashes thoughts

So all over the media they are saying we thrashed them, we took revenge.

Hang on we lost a match out of the four and there is still a game to go where I dont doubt the Aussies will try and regain some pride.

But well done England.

Interesting this morning on Radio 4 I heard a joke doing the rounds in Australian started by a journalist.

Q; What do you call an Australian who can handle a bat.

A; A Vet.

Now thats got Basil Brush written all over it.........Boom Boom.

mobile phones and loose dogs

So we are all allowed to have opinions and the occasional rant is allowed right.

Had a nice walk around a piece of land this morning, the last of my walks for this site in Essex as part of a breeding birds survey. Its private with a couple of footpaths on it but I know the locals think they can walk all over despite the fact I always ask permission to access it. Why because someone else owns it. So this morning I have had a good walk and seen/heard four new bird species for the site, Reed Bunting, Common Tern, Redshank and the cream of them for me a pair of Yellow Wagtail.

All's well with the world, when I see this woman appear with two greyhounds, she is looking around and through me, I get closer and say morning, she acknowledges me then starts to enquire what I am doing there, I fob her off with a tale after she notices my binoculars and telescope and says to me are you birdwatching. Then I get told I am looking for my other dog I expect he's off chasing something. What breed I say having seen loose dogs all over this site some hundreds of yards from any visible person, oh he is a lurcher she says. Is he chasing Hares I ask, I expect so she says hes young but its nice to see the dogs chasing the hares she says, before saying the farmer doesn't control them.

So she has no right to be there and thinks its fine to let her three hunting dogs go loose in the countryside knowing there are animals around as well as ground nesting birds, just as long as her dogs are happy.

Moving on I was driving back on the old route and got as far as the road that bypasses Linton travelling from Essex, there is a large John Deere tractor coming towards me pulling a large trailer, yes harvest is in full flow now. I can see that the tractor is veering all over the lane and look at the driver. It was nine thirty this morning in case anyone knows him and the driver had one hand on the steering wheel trying to control the veering while with the other he was looking at his mobile phone. Well that's okay then eh shame he had to go to work and drive the tractor really instead of being able to concentrate on playing with his phone. Works a bummer eh.



 

Burwell fete at the mill and musicians and privies

Been to Stevens Mill and the museum itself in Burwell this afternoon, free entry today for the fete that was on including entry to the mill itself. Nice little rural museum with enthusiastic volunteers. Cup of tea and some cake and listening to some of the local folk musicians playing on despite the rain, Paul, Terri, Martin and Pat.

Lots of interesting pictures and artefacts and recordings of folk from Burwell as you go round. Its changed a bit since I went just last year.

A few words caught my eye and made me smile they were next to an old Privy.

I still have memories of the Privy that was at Owls End where Mums parents lived for more years than a few and it also recalled a story I was told not that long ago a real cracker about a privy where the door was left open but the seat wasn't down.

More memories that must be passed on and a story that needs telling.

: Why some Badgers age faster than others

: Why some Badgers age faster than others Wonder if this works in humans as well??????

The things you hear

Told some stories today at a village festival, between sets I was wondering about and came across this street organ.

Nothing odd in that you might say well perhaps not, listening to the tune though I had to smile as the Blues Brothers arranged for street organ belted out and it worked.

so which or who is right.......

Friday evening I popped into a motorway services to get some food, I waited in the queue to be served until prompted to go to till 6. I was almost there when the woman there said next please.

The lady at till 5 said to her hes here pointing at me and laughing. Oh I didnt see you said till 6.

I must have lost weight I says getting laughter from till's 5 and 6.

Then today I had a bit of work at a village festival and bumped into a chap I knew years ago while working at Milton. We exchanged pleasantries and then he says you've put some weight on.

So who is right till 6 or the chap I knew.

Somehow I reckon its the chap I knew.

rituals and religion

Now I wont say where the pictures below came from cos I am a little concerned by the content of one but they have to be published, not least because there have been no gloved for ages and when two come together and sent to me well I've got to do it.

The first picture clearly shows a preaching glove in action with that finger laying the law down in a most provocative manner.

 But why the need to preach you may ask, well look at the second picture and ask yourself why the need for ritualistic amputation as obviously evidenced here. Like I said I wont say where they were taken but its clearly an area where strange practices occur.

Thin Green Line

I am going to mention this group again, http://www.thingreenline.org.au/.

Please have a look at there website especially if you like to see animals in the wild, in most cases animals need looking after and protecting by people. Rangers are out there day in day out in lots of countries protecting them and helping scientists understand them.

Unfortunately rangers especially in less well off countries die every year often because of illegal poachers who will stop at nothing to get an animal or the part of it they want. A dead ranger nearly always leaves a family with little if any support to help them survive.

Next time you watch a wildlife programme about animals in Africa, Asia, South America and ooh and aah remember there are people living and dying to protect them, and if you can spare a bit of cash think about donating it to the Thin Green Line. Look on it as paying a bit extra to watch animals on the telly.

Yes I was a ranger in this country England, I will never forget speaking to and hearing rangers from around the world at an international conference just talking about their lives and what forms a routine part of it. A routine part that can become the end of their lives. I came home from that conference with a shirt made by the wife of an african ranger who had been killed by a poacher, its a shirt I wear sometimes when storytelling, a shirt that has its own story.

The English Channel innocent or a pawn in the game????????

So like lots of folk I am sitting watching all the people trying to get into the UK whether via ferry and or any which way they can. Then I hear lots of yapping about in or out of the EU. And then I start to wonder and ask questions and I try to be objective.

A few questions come to mind.
1. If the people trying to get on ferries etc in France (other ports and countries are available) are there illegally and have made it from Italy or wherever without claiming asylum.
a) why dont the French (other ports and countries are available) arrest them instead of just taking them down the road and letting them go so they can try again. Cynically could they not get asylum in Italy France or any other EU country and get freedom of movement anyway. Or is that too simplistic.
b) have they heard how bad its going to be here when DC and his friends make even more cuts.

2. How would leaving the EU make this situation any better for us. How are UKIP and other non EUers going to stop illegal immigrants from getting in. What leverage would we have over other country's in the EU when we are not in it to stop them. What incentive would there be for EU not to just turn a blind eye to people wanting to get into UK. What sort of border force would we have and what would we do with anyone found trying to get in.

I know me expressing my thoughts might provoke some folk to accuse me of this and that but am I the only one thinking these thoughts. Or the only one daring to voice them. What is certain to my mind is that both issues are big and need to well explored and explained, how on earth is Joe/Jean public to gain any real understanding of these issues when most seem to be angled one way or another depending on the bias of the media concerned.

Swallows and Amazons Alan Titchmarsh and engineers

I must be getting past my youth or something like.

I commented a few days ago on Twitter about the fuss a BBC news presenter made apologising for  Alan Titchmarsh saying, bastard trenching, it being another term for double digging. Have you ever tried it.

Then today I see that the BBC is making a new version of Swallows and Amazons, supposedly they are renaming a girl originally called Titty as Tatty. Is one better or worse than the other please, what girl would want to be called Tatty.

In my tweet I pondered what the BBC would do with the lovely little plant named Bastard Toadflax, Thesium humifusum its latin name hardly trips off the tongue, would they expunge it from all flora. What hidden meaning would they find in that other little plant Sqinancywort.

Similarly being an engineer many years ago and having had to file file file one particular test piece as well as know all about grades of files, how would they deal with the Bastard File a file of the commercial grade of coarseness between coarse and second-cut.

Next of course we have to move onto the Tit family of birds, Spring/Autumn/ whenever Watch will never be shown before the watershed again.

Is it me or...........

 

The flowers you see in a days work eh...

As a jobbing gardener you get to see all sort and shapes of flowers and plants. You get to know the season just by the plants you see and then........... you come across this one which I saw today.

Still getting over that I move onto looking at a possible new garden which is lovely. In the lawn there are a few bamboo canes oh they are my bee orchids, given I love them I went for a look and lo there is a white sepaled one, something I have not seen too many of.

A nice lunchtime telling stories

I was asked to go along to a community orchard to tell stories to mark midsummer day. So went along told some stories and then just sat and chatted as you do and the time just flew by.

Yes folk liked the stories but the few who stayed behind together with myself and the organisers just sat and nattered, what about, home education and environmental educators worth reading, swifts and are they using a new tower possibly could well be the answer, hedgehogs and leaving gaps in fences to let them get into gardens, bats and bat walks, gardening and why some seeds dont seem to be germinating as usual this year, house sparrows and where they are found, and on it went.

Given the pretty grim stories about the environment it was nice to be in company with people all doing what they can to make a difference. Its more of us doing what we can that will make those higher up wondering if people care take notice, eventually.

The pope speaks on climate change

So today the Pope has spoken about climate change and linked it to the poor, already some in power or wannabes have said he should stay out of it.

Sorry no he should keep saying it, him and as many non politicos and big business owners as can do it. Climate change is for real and its effects are going to be wide ranging and for some catastrophic.

Keep doing it Pope and encourage other religious leaders to do the same.

Sometimes perhaps we dont need to apply technology, but thats my thoughts what do you think.......

So I know we can marvellous things with technology and solve all sorts of problems and make life simpler etc etc etc.

I was driving through Histon today and there was some roadworks closing a lane. How were they controlling traffic not with traffic lights but with a good old fashioned Stop and Go board.

Or so I thought as I got closer I noticed that the chap with the board wasnt actually holding it he was holding a control box, and the Stop and Go board was mounted on a box with a motor in it, he pressed a button presumably and hey presto it turned round.

I couldn't really take it in or believe it, why? How heavy are they and havnt we been told physical activity is good for us, surely he would get more holding and twirling a board than pressing a button.

Just because we can do something does that make it right to do it. I bet the old board works out a lot cheaper than the electric motor powered one.

Or have I got it wrong??????????

Robs third pennine way

The boy Busby has done it he finished yesterday Monday 15th two weeks and three days after starting and all by himself. I think the weather could have been kinder at times but he has persevered, wild camped at times and chatted his way along to fellow walkers.

Well done Rob we are all proud of you especially Mother.

The Titfield Thunderbolt

Who can remember or has ever seen it, a classic British film from way way back from the Ealing Studios.

A right trip back in time with some lovely birds as part of the sound track, nice bit of Lapwing a few times. Stanley Holloway, Sid James and many more old faces from British films.

Cracking bit where they steal a train and drive it on the roads, you have to forgive them the fact you can see the rubber tyred wheels underneath on whatever chassis they use to mount a supposed train on, great film though and great fun.

A little drop of wild to lift the day

Been a wickedly hot day for gardening but it had to be done, three gardens left for the week. So started as early as I could and off we jolly well go. One of them has Bee Orchids every year on the lawn which the owner likes kept short. But recently I have left two of the spikes to see if they would come to anything this year.

Hey presto....

Where are they, on a housing estate on the edge of Cambridge.

So I'm a gardener at times

So I'm a gardener at times, why should I have a perfectly manicured garden, havnt got time to be honest, besides I love the natural world so it gives me an excuse not to mow the lawn, well all of it anyway when a good show of flowers are waving there heads about. Got some cowslips and buttercups in the front lawn that have been mowed around already while they flowered and set seed, now some oxeye daisies are in flower and have been left.

In the back and front gardens some Fox and Cubs are thriving, mind as its an introduced plant whether I should keep it is another matter, talking of introductions there are some Scabious in the back garden that need moving to the front lawn where they should stand a better chance of putting on a show.

wildlife chancers

I have posted at least one of these before but now they are in flower. Two chancers who have found an opening to exploit, a place to live and survive if perhaps not a brilliant place. Its a site I am surveying this year as part of my ecology work, a diversion from my gardening.

There's something about this dog rose growing around an old security lamp post, its something to do with the rose thorns I think, natural security or is that silly?

Then there's this naturally sort of bonsaied elder growing in a thin crack between two slabs of concrete, its trunk has been nibbled by rabbits for years but still it holds on and is full of flower at the moment.

its june and the gardens are lovely

Its crept up while I have been working in them a lot this year, too busy and then its Wisteria, its Roses and its the border at home that I have been working on for a year now.

 I'm lucky and I know it, lucky and tired and I know it, lucky tired and getting by and I know it, it'll do me.

ROB pennine way update

Little brother is still okay and doing well, he is about a week and a half in now with about a week to go to finish. If you are up Hadrians Wall way tonight say hello to him for me please.

Could genetically modified mosquitos prevent mosquito-borne illnesses and why I think we love to not look at the full implications

I saw this article on an environmental news site I subscribe too.  Please have a read of it especially take in the comments, up to 90 percent reductions where trialled and relatively little environmental risk.

So the overall outcome is the number of mosquitos will reduce considerably. Hmmnn so what will happen to the other wildlife that feeds on the current number of mosquitos, like bats and birds, has any research been done on that or do we need to wait a few years before reports of collapsing numbers of such species start to occur. But then dont we have this already?

From: Lisa Palmer, Yale Environment 360
Published June 4, 2015 02:18 PM

Could genetically modified mosquitos prevent mosquito-borne illnesses?

When people think of genetically modified organisms, food crops like GM corn and soybeans usually come to mind. But engineering more complex living things is now possible, and the controversy surrounding genetic modification has now spread to the lowly mosquito, which is being genetically engineered to control mosquito-borne illnesses.

A U.K.-based company, Oxitec, has altered two genes in the Aedes aegypti mosquito so that when modified males breed with wild females, the offspring inherit a lethal gene and die in the larval stage. The state agency that controls mosquitos in the Florida Keys is awaiting approval from the federal government of a trial release of Oxitec’s genetically modified mosquitos to prevent a recurrence of a dengue fever outbreak. But some people in the Keys and elsewhere are up in arms, with more than 155,000 signing a petition opposing the trial of genetically engineered mosquitoes in a small area of 400 households next to Key West.

Many scientists say, however, that genetically modifying the Aedes mosquito — and possibly other types of mosquitoes carrying diseases such as malaria — is a more effective and environmentally benign way of controlling mosquito-borne illnesses than spraying pesticides and other measures. Oxitec’s genetically engineered Aedes aegypti has proven itself in other countries, successfully reducing populations of the insect by up to 90 percent in field trials in the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Malaysia, and Panama. Overall, the trials were so successful that Brazil approved the use of the GM mosquitoes last year.

“Some people don’t want to see GE (genetically engineered) anything,” says entomologist Raymond St. Leger, distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland. “It’s an emotional response. It’s hard to reason people out of a decision they didn’t reason themselves into.”
St. Leger is now conducting field trials in Burkina Faso to test a method in which a mosquito is exposed to a fungus that prevents it from transmitting malaria. He says that Oxitec’s technology to suppress the Aedes aegypti has relatively little environmental risk and that knocking back the mosquito in the Keys, which experienced a dengue outbreak five years ago, “is a matter of urgency.
“You don’t want to wait until it’s endemic,” he says. “The gun is there and cocked and waiting to spread through their mosquitos. The extensive program and spraying with insecticides isn’t working. You need to do something now and not wait until dengue is there. It’s a very dangerous mosquito doing pretty well for itself in Florida.”
Continue reading at Yale Environment 360.

Robs third pennine way trek

So little brother has been going for just over a week now on his third trek along the Pennine Way, his second solo perambulation. He is on schedule and has reached the Pennine Way/A66 crossing.

To me he is doing well especially as I doubt I could do it, he is about half way I suspect. This time he is noticing more people about on the route or at least so far which he puts down to the 50th anniversary of the route.

Keep it going Rob.

Whats this, you call it Whisky!!!!

This will mean a lot to some, yesterday was the 550th anniversary of  Friar John Cor recording the first known batch of Scotch Whisky.

funny bit of weather and counting blessings

So today we've all had a bit of wind today.

 Bit strong for this time of year and I couldn't help it, twenty years of managing parks I was looking round all the time for problems given the trees are all in full leaf now despite  not being involved in park management for the last five years.

Strong winds are always bad enough in the winter but in the summer and gusty blasts like we've had today are a recipe for problems. So my thoughts are with all park managers in the country today I hope its not been too bad, you havnt got too much damage to clear up and no one has been hurt if you stayed open.

And then I count my blessings, it is now over five years since I left Milton Country Park the park I spent many years developing and managing, at the time in 2010 I didn't think I could work anywhere else. But I have proved I can and for myself. Do I miss it, parts of it yes, but I am glad I dont have to worry about strong winds and irresponsible people anymore.

Funny day really Pennine Way and Man knocking on doors

Had a good days gardening today all in all. But as days go its been interesting.

While I am out there digging planting bedding and weeding, my little brother is on day three of his third perambulation along the Pennine Way using me as his daily point of contact. Useful things these mobile phones. Bit strange really thinking about him yomping along all those miles away, I sort of feel connected at least we are both outdoors.

Then just as a contrast one of my clients an elderly lady comes out and says a man has just knocked on the front door, she answered the door for once and he tried to talk his way in asking her questions and saying the answers would be sent to the government. He had no ID as far as she could recall, I quickly checked with a neighbour, yes her door had been knocked but she hadn't bothered answering it, so I called the Police. There have been suspicions that there is a load of these around Cambridge again and today proof. I wont swear but I can wish nasty things happen to him.

So how far is local!

There is a Charles Wells pub in a nearby village which has just has a lick of paint, now in fine writing are the words; Locally brewed beer and Locally sourced food.

So I'm thinking Charles Wells brewery is in Bedford, what 30 to 40 miles away, is that what local is. I would have thought it should be within what five to ten miles?

But you might think different. Is Local a new trendy word in this case aimed at drawing in passing trade who might linger on there pint while eating Locally sourced food which if its anything like the beer could come from anywhere in the country.

This last weekend and the commemoration of VE day

I was working on a site that happens to be a disused airfield, the bright sky clouded and a mist rolled in.

 

As I stood there in the mist looking around at the old airfield, various stories I tell came to mind and thoughts of what people went through to get to VE day.

sad person that I am

So here we see yet more discarded gloves, left to weep and sob at their misfortune, just tossed aside when no use anymore not even allowed to keep other castoffs company.

Look at the first picture this time a pair just left to rot no thought for their feelings whatsoever, what sort of cruel person would do that eh...........

Then I stumbled, well not quite but it is a shoe after all, on this one in the same field in the back of nowhere. Have to admit I was wondering if there was anymore castoffs laying around, thats if they belonged to the same inconsiderate, I mean unfortunate person.

Afterthoughts from Thursday

I was a poll clerk last Thursday and thought I would share some thoughts. We had a turnout over 70 percent which included quite a few People returning to vote after a lapse, got a few comments got to keep the SNP out. All in all very busy, especially as it's a long long day. Still one lovely lady did offer to bring us some hot food down, have to wonder how she voted.

spring is sprung

Oh yes it is most certainly sort of.

Oak is almost out well this one was anyway in Essex yesterday and I saw my first two swallows skimming around over a field for 2015 as well.

Then in Cambridge while gardening last week I saw these could be a bit later than last year but in showy bloom none the less.

The knots have it

I was sorting some feather board fencing out t'other day for a job and saw this smily face looking out at me. What could I do but take a picture. Two knots and the preservative you could say I suppose but others might see anything, what can you see......

all limp and crying bless it

What can you do eh, there it was all limp and forlorn, stuck on a post by someone perhaps thinking its owner would come back but not yet if ever. Another lost glove pining for the hand that filled it, I could almost hear the tears........

how many gloves are lost

There I was in deepest Essex yesterday on a bird survey when shouting out at me from the ground all washed up worn out and discarded was this glove. How many discarded gloves are there out there all lost and alone.............

had to oast in kent

It would have been rude not to really, see an Oast House that is in Kent.

But did we see any Oast's, no we didn't and I was looking hard I can tell you. Still I like the picture, perhaps the Oasts are hiding somewhere.............

tomorrows word of the day

Go on read it and there you will see tomorrows word of the day, Brustle. Love it its so descriptive of walking through leaves.

really really sad

Right where was I, away for a few days in Kent. Needed to go for a wee wee in Rye and saw this and could not believe it.

Yes its a container of soap tied to a tap to stop anyone taking it away, well I think it was soap, whatever how sad is that what does it say about the state of the town or some people in it. Blimey is all i can say.

almost a good name for a pub

Being brave and unglovely with this one, hope the gloves dont get upset, saw this sock all tattered and torn, aarrgghh, and had to immortalise it.

Anyway what do you think eh, hows this for a pub name. The Ragged Sock, could do a great line in cheese dishes I suppose.

im sniggering but its not funny

Saw this little turret at Bodiam Castle in yes Kent, I've been away for a few days, nurse recommended it for my sanity, it worked I still havn't got any.

Saw the turret and started to giggle, to me it looks like something from a cartoon where someone has run into a wall and there nose has got squashed, well it does to me so there.

Theres a big fuss in part of Cambridge at the moment

Theres a big fuss in part of Cambridge at the moment about half a dozen Plane trees that have been crown reduced because there is a worry about insurance claims linked to the roots and nearby houses.

Was in Faversham Kent a few weeks ago and in front of a most amazing flint faced looking church with its almost fretwork like spire, I saw this Plane that has been pollarded, but has not been killed just. Its definitely trying to grow again so perhaps its in the right place and prayers can be said.

there has to be a better way for solar

As much as I think we should be installing solar panels, is it really right that we use agricultural land? Okay while its doing that its not be over used and sprayed but surely there has to be a way something else could use this land at the same time as the panels. Free range chickens perhaps or even Jumpdike.

yes itss glove

Its been so long since I saw a good glove just laying about and then the other day while walking across a field on a bird survey this one just lay there saying please take my picture make me famous.

I call it Dunexplorin

tah tah ah tah

Time for some silliness, I have been too busy and serious of late so silly it is.

  
                                                                     I should hope it is

Is it too much to ask for some accurate information about TTIP

TTIP or Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to give it its full name, a trade deal between Europe and USA.

Do you know about it, should you know about it, would you care? Should you care?

Its confusing, its a good thing, its a bad thing, it all depends who you are from what I can see.

Politicians, business, countries - UK, Europe, USA. But whatever a lot of folk are not too impressed with it, they have looked at it and can see possible problems, business having too much power and being able to access work in NHS for example or even hold countries to account for actions that damage there trading ability.

Its been going on for years now the negotiations around this, is the general public aware I dont think so, should the general public be aware I think so.

What do our political parties think of it? Well most of them or there local wannabe MP's are wary of it if not against it. Labour, Greens, UKIP. The Tories and the Libs take a different view and actively say we have nothing to fear, we can trust them to make sure no dodgy deals will be done as it could benefit the country (uhhuh) by billions a year.

To my mind that if nothing else says we should know more.

Utter load of rubbish

I have been thinking about an article in the Cambridge News from a week or so ago and I am still fuming. A website PeoplePerHour has the paper suggests listed what the hourly rate of individual trades.

There are also quotes from the company such as"Everbody has freetime and a skill or service that has value to someone. It helps people not only earn extra cash by 'moonlighting', but also take the first step in creating a fully fledged entrepreneurial business".

It goes on to say "By bringing the unit of work down to as little as one hour, and giving power to the worker to define what they can do and at what price, we're unlocking a huge untapped market for micro-services that people can deliver in their spare time".

There is the lovely statement that " Those who earn less per hour are not always worse off, especially if they are in professions where it is possible to clock up the hours."

It appears to suggest you should employ people for the time you need them for a particular task. 

Now some of the hourly rates as listed in the newspaper article;
Receptionist £6.80
Chef £9.75
Gardener £10.23
Builder £12.52
Primary teacher £17.31
and on and on.

Is it just me! Encouraging 'moonlighting' entrepreneurial business, blah blah blah. We have issues with zero hours contracts and exploitation of employees a plenty and this sort of claptrap is being spouted.

Oh and by the way I dont work for £10.23 an hour and cant think of many self employed gardeners who do, but then I'm self employed with insurance and paying tax etc etc etc and not shoving cash in my back pocket.

Did something happen yesterday morning

So what was all the fuss about yesterday then eh, something solar was it.

Around Cambridge it was very cloudy and then got a bit dull for 9ish of a morning and cold. Then it got brighter and warmer, all over then?

Mind you seeing all the pictures of people standing together wanting to see something I blundered into a new bit of wordery, Social Eclipse.

Its a good job we were not relying on seeing it to sow crops is all I can say.

So what sort of wood was it then......................

It was Ivy a very large branch growing off to one side of a listed wall, and I mean listed not listing although how long before it did is another matter.

what sort of wood is this then

Worked on a woody plant today in a garden that I am not going to name just yet. Can you guess the plant from these pictures is the thing.

You dont usually see a stem this big, well it was a new one on me so what is it????? Growth rings very thin really, does that help.

Better show you the bark!

 Can you guess what it is yet, or has that line been discredited!!!!!!

Supermarkets, business etc etc

Went to see Mum yesterday in Chatteris, on the way I noticed that the new ALDI was not looking like its conversion from a COOP was underway, hmmnn I thought, was supposed to be open soon.

Why did the COOP close, well my suggestion runs as follows.

TESCO had a big new supermarket built off the bypass causing all sorts of local issues with traffic and diversion of a drain, it was due to open early this year, then when the wheels fell off TESCO financially they decided it wasn't going to open at all despite a rumoured 25 year lease on the building so there it still sits on a site that should also house a new Travis Perkins depot.

Meanwhile COOP see TESCO supermarket taking shape, they have been in Chatteris years running a store that was big, but did it do enough trade and take the decision to close, lets face it they have financial problems as well. I can guess it was not an easy decision to take or perhaps stop when TESCO announced its brand new swish supermarket was not opening.

ALDI now come into the frame. They were announced as taking on the COOP store and local rumour had it, it would open within a month of COOP closing. All COOP signage was down very quick after it closed.

Now ALDI are saying it could be 2016 before they open and Chatteris has just one small Budgens and a couple of even smaller convenience stores to supply its needs, as locals say you cannot do a big shop in the town now and have to travel miles.

So what am I bumbling on about, business large and small only exists with customers and staff prepared to buy from them or work for them. To my mind they forget this too many times and its customers and staff who lose out while they sit there wiping out a line of words on a list of stores.

It doesn't matter to them one bit that a town like Chatteris with its large surrounding area of farms is now without somewhere that people can do a weekly shop. Its all about finance and competition and long term strategy.

Still there has to be a winner in here somewhere and lord help Chatteris its UKIP who are according to a local newspaper running a minibus once a week for folk to get to another nearby town with two supermarkets.

Save the whatever, stop the thingy.........

Out last night a with a few folk, a conversation sort of starts up, someone works for an organisation trying to stop illegal wildlife trade. Very laudable and necessary to my mind.

Someone else there then comments, how can we try and stop this when we did this in the past, followed by another person commenting, yes its like industrialisation how can we try and stop other countries when we did it and got rich.

I was very tempted to bite hard but thought better of it. But you have to wonder how they would resolve those issues or would they?

Whats in a word or is it legal!

Noticed a couple of temporary notices pinned up yesterday on the fence next to a garden I work in. Was wondering what it was about so had a look as you do.

Tree work right, okay which trees, as I know they have been talking about some being needed and sure enough the furst notice talks a bout a Beech with the fungus Ganoderma. After reading the first notice I saw this bit of the second and started laughing.

Is this some treework term I dont know or a new word for an old fault.............

Have you seen the word, worked out what it should be, well to me anyway. Try putting fork in the place of folk, guess what it makes sense then.

Mind you with my mind in overdrive I have been imagining folk musicians playing and singing while being squeezed and having sex at the same time. Think I might need a lie down, hah...........

But then a thought pops into my head, is this a legal notice to comply with legislation in which case with the wording wrong is it legal, after all if the wording and description of fault is wrong how can you complain about that work, oh dear my head hurts. Think I definitely need a lie down.............

Partridge update

Wandering out of the mist this morning not one but two red legs,

Malcolms on the grumble

I posted the text below on a site for countryside managers and thought to my self, Blog it as well.

 

 

I was at a birthday do last night for the head ranger of a site the other side of Cambridge to where I used to work. Well it was supposed to be his birthday do but it partly turned into a goodbye and thank you do for him and the other two full time staff employed there for the support they have received during there recent struggle to remain employed.

Cambridge Past Present and Future who amongst other things manage Wandlebury Country Park and Coton Countryside Reserve have agreed a new management plan which sees the future site specific staffing more geared to visitors over all there properties rather than practical work on one or two. As a result of this three full time staff who carried out the bulk of the practical work as well as visitor liaison etc etc on those sites are to be made redundant on 30th March 2015. In their place there will be one new full time post and a number of part time posts all of which will be paid at a lower hourly rate plus increasing numbers of volunteers. The new arrangement will allow them to be more flexible and have staff present when visitor demand is highest. Practical work will be mainly carried out by contractors. The rest of the work of Cambridge PPF will go on as usual. Two additional outdoor based part time employees who primarily worked at busy times have also decided to leave.

Having been made aware of the ins and outs of this saga since it started a few months ago, and having seen how other visitor facilities close by are now managed I have to say I become more and more sceptical of the future of parks of all types and sizes and countryside areas as a whole. Increasingly I am hearing people state that the future of the environment whether physically or legally is in a more parlous state than it has been for decades. 

I suspect we are close to a tipping point. All employers of park and countryside staff whether local authority, NGO or charity are in search of the mighty pound having had to cut corners, staff and anything else that can go except the baby and the bath water. Volunteers, who I am not knocking, are becoming the bedrock of sites existence across the board. There use encouraged by managers who see them as a vital resource to maintain and increase visitor numbers and income generation.

Sites are suffering physically through lack of management or indeed increased management in some areas to get more people in, but to my eye the cracks are beginning to show. The more you do the more you need to maintain, the more you need volunteers because there are no more employed staff members on the horizon.

Apart from showing I am becoming a grumbly old man and some would say when have I not been, what does this illustrate. 

 

More and more those still employed in parks and countryside as well as visitors to those sites need to be banging the drum far and wide helped by the rest of us who remember better times. The environment is important in so many ways, each of us must do our best to tell and show people this.

After all its no good the baby sitting in his bath water if he hasn't got a duck to play with.

a norfolk jolly

Popped down to the Norfolk coast yesterday for a bit of fresh air and a look at birds. Yes it was cold but it was lovely.

The best views of any bird had to be a Barn Owl which just kept flying around really close quartering the ground looking for food.

Mind you the Teal just outside a hide window came close second. Didn't get a picture of the Barn Owl I was too engrossed in watching it, but the Teal.........

They were sitting on the grass bank catching sun and dozing, but a quiz for you here, there are two Wigeon in the picture as well a male and a female, can you see them?

a bit of wassail

Its that time of year again , Old apple tree, we'll wassail thee.......

Got asked to be involved in a wassail at a local community orchard, would I tell as the Greenman with face paint and a wreath. How could I not do it even if for naught but thanks, its Wassail.

The result,

a priceless moment and a small world

I had a storytelling job this evening and after I had finished while having a chat with a lovely elderly lady called Audrey, she tells me she once lived in Earith, I go on to say one of my aunts was in service in a big house which is now a restaurant/hotel there in the 1930's. She talks about her husband and where she lived with her family.

A bit more chatting and it comes out she knew Mr Busby, my grandfather. He used to deliver the medicine for her mother on his rounds by bike from the chemist where he worked.

Yet again I am left there thinking oh what a small world.

after some work a nice stop

After the strong winds last night today started bright and very still in comparison. Worked in a couple of gardens Ely way. Finished work at 2 than thought where to stop for a bit of a rest and some sandwiches with perhaps the chance of a nice bird or two.

Beet lagoons I thought so off I went with the wind getting up again, parked up had my sandwiches and looked at the ducks bobbing around on the water. Then I noticed a larger bird flying in from the south, hang on I says I know what you are. Sure enough a Marsh Harrier working over the reed beds wheeling about in the wind almost playing with the wind, spinning and tumbling and turning to move back across the reeds scattering the ducks when it got too close. Then it dropped after again working the wind onto something in the reed bed, I am thinking that's it then for now when another shape and another Marsh Harrier caught my eye. I stayed a bit longer before thinking I better be off, only driving a little way along the road before seeing yet another rundown fen farm barn.

The fens are full of them, barns that have seen good service but are now just not needed and so sit there falling apart overt time, which to me is a real shame, its part of our farming heritage and an older less intensive farm life that's going.

Finally wondered what the view might be like towards Ely across the road and saw this, a lovely view of the Cathedral, the winter colours and sun are superb.

Rhubarb semaphore you just wouldn't understand....

Argh almost like the old days, a good book a funny one of course full of rhubarb semaphore, spam fritters and the loyal and ancient order of goat. You just wouldn't understand........

Over 60's rebadged as apprentices to cut down wage bills

That was the headline in the local paper this week in the article on the front of the Jobs section.

The interesting figures from the article are that the number of over 60's starting an apprenticeship between 2009/10 and 2013/14 increased by 520 per cent. 25 times more than the figure for under 25's which grew by 21 per cent in the came period. There is a suggestion that people in work are being rebadged as apprentices instead of trainees with a possible link to lower pay.

And there I was thinking apprentices were all under 25, or is there a fiddle in here somewhere me wonders..............

What is Sheltered Housing

On the 29th November 2013 the housing association that runs the scheme my mother is in said on its website;

All of our residents enjoy daily visits Monday to Friday from the scheme staff to make sure they have no general problems. We believe that the decision to move into sheltered accommodation should not be seen as a loss of independence, more like a move away from isolation and towards independent living with vital support available when necessary. - See more at: http://www.circle.org.uk/roddons/your-home/sheltered-housing#sthash.Gvi04Nmq.dpuf

All of our residents enjoy daily visits Monday to Friday from the scheme staff to make sure they have no general problems. We believe that the decision to move into sheltered accommodation should not be seen as a loss of independence, more like a move away from isolation and towards independent living with vital support available when necessary. 

Yesterday 9th January 2015 I was sitting with Mum when the warden told her that now she will only get a visit on Monday and Friday. Over the past few years that scheme together with many others has gone from having a resident warden to a mobile warden, from home visits to phone calls to check they are okay. And now to this two visits a week, only a week or so ago she was told it would be two visits and a phone call a week, that has changed again to this two visits a week and you have to wonder if they will go as well soon. 

Makes me wonder if sheltered now means you have a pull cord if anything happens.

All of our residents enjoy daily visits Monday to Friday from the scheme staff to make sure they have no general problems. We believe that the decision to move into sheltered accommodation should not be seen as a loss of independence, more like a move away from isolation and towards independent living with vital support available when necessary. - See more at: http://www.circle.org.uk/roddons/your-home/sheltered-housing#sthash.Gvi04Nmq.dpuf

All of our residents enjoy daily visits Monday to Friday from the scheme staff to make sure they have no general problems. We believe that the decision to move into sheltered accommodation should not be seen as a loss of independence, more like a move away from isolation and towards independent living with vital support available when necessary. - See more at: http://www.circle.org.uk/roddons/your-home/sheltered-housing#sthash.Gvi04Nmq.dpuf