LHC
118 days ago
OK, so I can’t blame the Large Hadron Collider for the partial destruction of the new water-gate, I’ll just have to blame the vast amount of rainfall we continue to have instead.
There seems to have been an astounding amount of panic about (well any level of panic is astounding to me) in the end of the world is nigh type vein. Although I’ve been absorbed by the day’s activities at CERN without the least bit of worry, the poor Sand Martins have had a whole season of consternation to deal with. There doesn’t seem to have been a week go by without their nest burrows been below the water line, wonder how many fledglings got away.
The latest deluge has exposed some sheep remains next to the burrow entrances:
Mobile Lakes
281 days ago
From the title of this post, you are probably imagining vast pools of shimmering water, trundling along the highways and byways of the land on over-stressed wheels.
Sorry to disappoint.
It’s just a reference to a conversation I was having with my godson (a term I use without a capital on account of being an Athiest) about the remnants of water that used to be the mere or lake of Kentmere. The land being reclaimed for agriculture. It is also a nice title for a trial mobile posting by iPhone from Cumbria!
He (my godson) is at that time of life when “careers advice” seems to get increasingly requested and appropriate responses are required. It’s a tricky one. You don’t want to foist your aspirations and desires upon another, but clearly considered opinion can be very helpful indeed.
At this time of year, the heavy thump of the Single Farm Payment “eurocracy” is prevalent on the doormat. Each client’s package bringing with it some 110 pages of explanetary text, complete with attendant sure promise of fines and possible imprisonment, should you be unfortunate enough to make a mistake, or not pick-up and rectify their mistakes.
Bearing the above in-mind, it is (now) hillarious to think back to one’s own “careers advice” (or more accurately) the lack of it. Where, upon finding yourself half way through your A level coursework, you are casually informed that your chosen subjects are completely at odds to your desired pathway through life.
It was therefore amusing to be questioned about cartography as a career, when this was an area I though I could achieve with the rather disjointed group of subjects I had at my disposal. Funnier still, that I found myself at a college studying Surveying – only to discover that it wasn’t that type of surveying at all. It was agricultural Chartered surveying! So, OK, this is how and why I am now inflicted with the nonsensical ravings of Brussels and the Single Payment Scheme.
I don’t get back to the Lakes half as much as I should, and my godson shall be more enlightened.
From David’s iPhone
(edited with photos taken on my iPhone)
Thinnings
351 days ago
Somebody’s been busy with laying hedges and thinning the copse at the bend in the river, along one of my usual daily walks.
It’s good news that there is active management of such a small clump of trees (we are not heavily wooded here) and the favoured specimens should flourish. It’s just a shame that so much timber has been left on the ground. I know the beetles and fungi like their fair share, but when there is reasonable timber (OK probably only firewood) left I feel it’s a bit of a waste.
When I think of waste and wood, I think of carbon, and over the last couple of months I’ve looking at the Carbon Offsetting industry, or more specifically, methods locking-up carbon. There appear to have been some real horror stories with money disappearing into poorly implemented or even downright nefarious schemes, plus a lot which just don’t seem to do much.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion, with the help of the guys at Newton Rigg (sorry now it has to be a University – of Cumbria), that the only viable method is to plant trees (please don’t misunderstand, this is quite distinct from technology efficiency and waste/energy management). Yes, the original and still the best! Defra launched a consultation on a Code of Best Practice for the provision of carbon offsetting to UK customers on 18 January 2007, Joan Ruddock said we would be getting it on 13 July, but despite promises for the Autumn of 2007, we still wait…
…in the mean-time, an international Voluntary Carbon Standard has arrived and I rather think defra have been left with their collective pants down, again.
With some of our Civil Servants publicly denying the need for food security, one can see the political attitude toward the farmer and land-use within the UK. In certain regions of our small islands, there is huge pressure on the use of land for non-agricultural use and in other areas, farmers struggle to eke a living. The importance of tourism to Britain plc and preserving the Thomas Hardy image of the countryside, certainly not as a modern workplace, must not be underestimated and I can see the offsetting business ousting agriculture in the more remote and upland areas. We could end-up with battery-egg on our faces.
Mind you, finding dry land at the moment can be tricky. With, at the last count, 15 severe flood warnings and 124 flood warnings in place across England and Wales, it’s thought a month’s rain landed today (sorry, yesterday). I’ve taken some photos of the beck when out with Rufus – will post later.
Memory
712 days ago
Been fitting a new kitchen recently and as usual, BBC Radio 4 is my constant companion. Yesterday the theme was Memory Experience and I found a couple of things fascinating – the Life Defining Memory usually between 15 and 25 years of age – when important life decisions and career forming moments are lodged in your consciousness, and Flash Bulb Memory.
I’ve often thought about why I get the urge to do things and get driven on in certain areas and not in others. Listening to the people on the programme, confirmed my view that strong, mainly good, memories of designing and drawing (mainly model aircraft), along with a lot of time spent on my own out in the countryside,watching wildlife, were defining moments in my childhood. However, like one or two commentators, my memories like this came slightly earlier. In my case, I went in a totally different direction initially, career wise (which came as a complete surprise to me and the reasons for this are many and varied!) but, eventually the draw of these earlier influences won out – a fact that I’m very thankful for.
I suppose I am no different to most people as far as the Flash Bulb is concerned though, with major events fixing a time and a place in your mind and possibly altering your viewpoint to some degree. My top 3 chronologically are; (1) Apollo 11 and the Moon Walk – watching with my Dad, (2) death of Diana – girlfriend ringing me and waking me up with the news – she had worked for Al Fayed and knew Dodi, very interesting, and (3) 9/11 – painting and listening to Radio 4 (as usual) in a little cottage near Stoke, Staffordshire.
Anyway, I’ve had time to slap on the base washes for my ‘slightly offbeat’ painting (in alkyd), the design of which is coming together in sketch form at the moment. However, I still have a strong suspicion it will end up looking exactly as if I gone about it in usual way – I can’t stop myself 