Early Afternoon Mist

While Australia heads for a summer of heatwaves we have cold mist arising in the early afternoon.  The temperature falls and dark clouds gather in the south west.  The west side of the country is flooded in many places after much heavy rain, with wind and rain to again to arrive overnight.  The question is, why is this happening?  This nation has endured rain for millennia, is this unusual I wonder?  Could it be global warming is having an effect?  I am sure folks with several feet of water in their living rooms will not be asking these questions at the moment, but will later.  There has been an abundance of rain this year, caused by the air stream coming further south than normal, and farmers with drenched crops have watched as shopkeepers rushed to increase their profits, using the rain as an excuse.   Rain in the British Isles is not unusual but it does become a drag after a while.  For those suffering flooding, and in recent years this appears to be an increasing number of people, it must be unbearable.  
Roll on Spring!

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Springtime in Utopia!

By popular request I have been forced to stand outside on an early Spring morning to photograph the sun rising over the park.  Quite why people are so obsessed with the park is beyond my befuddled mind, but who am I to object to a request from one of my deluded readers fans?  So I have been out, the damp soaking through the soles of my aged trainers, choking in the mist as the frost rises from the ground filling the air, if it can find room there with all this low lying cloud around.  On the far side of the park bright yellow daffodils shiver and curl up in an attempt to prevent a premature death, their luminosity at variance with the world around them.  Heads down, the few passers by failed to notice and be cheered by them.     

The few passing through, scurrying to work, may grunt a short greeting to those who gather at the park bench in the early morn for their 'breakfast.'  Each day, before most have pulled back the duvet, three or four chums gather to imbibe a varied breakfast from different labeled cans.  Often subtly hidden behind a plastic bag or placed at their side as one passes.  Friendly enough, harmless, not as young as they once were, and humoured by the way the dog insisted on shoving its nose into my Tesco bag one morning in an attempt to steal my (proper) breakfast.  

Spring is indeed with us, rain (and the hosepipe ban continues in this drought), wind, mist, with more showers to follow, indicates Spring is well under way and soon Summer will be declared officially.  I expect Thunder, lightning and floods.  The hosepipe ban will continue however.  

Springtime is here.....   

  

17 Mile (ish) Trip

Huge covering of mist greeted us today, however by half seven the sun broke through as I pedalled slowly past the early morning dog walkers and huffed and puffed my way to the back roads.  Here I delighted in avoiding dead rabbits and various birds left by speeding careless, or uncaring drivers and as yet undiscovered by the crows.  And were there crows?  I'll say!  Of course they could be Rooks but as no-one can tell the difference it makes no difference.  Each time a skwack was heard each nearby tree had a dozen nests.  Soon they will be full of raucous young, deafening anyone within earshot.  I would have pictures but they are remarkably shy and the mist hid the brutes anyway!

The idea when I began was to trundle around the back roads in the sun looking for interesting things.  The mist did hamper this somewhat, as did interesting things that were too far away or too near the windows of the expensive houses that I passed.  I know these houses are expensive as there were Mercedes and the like parked there in abundance.  Now I am not one to look through folks windows but I did notice few people were up and around.  Few closed their curtains either!  While I enjoyed the trip I did make the slight mistake of going down a new road and enjoying the slope downwards.  Great relief from the pedalling but the road sign at the far end pointed me towards Dunmow and unwilling to go back up the slope I foolishly went on, this was far too far from home for my knees.  There was nothing for it but to continue until and hope for a way back to appear.  Luckily I stumbled on a road back and ended up in Felsted instead.

Felsted has yet another 12th century church and I suspect a Saxon one stood there for a while before this time.  Again possibly this spot was used as a pagan site even before the Romans began their tour of Brittanica.  A lovely church, closed today sadly while they spend money renovating the place.  Nice door at the base of the tower, with a Norman arch (please confirm).

Just how many people have passed through this door over the years I wondered?  Today I suspect merely those intent of playing the bells that hang high above, certainly not to fix the clock on the side that appears to have been stuck at three minutes past twelve for ten years!  Right next to the church is an old school building dating to the 1500's.  I wondered why there were names cut into the wood.  Graffiti has always been with us.  We must let the world know we exist.

The flash was required as they lie in a darkened alleyway, but it is possible to make out some names, and the date 1806.  About that time the school moved to an impressive site just down the road and became a major public school.  The school was popular enough for special trains to run from Liverpool Street to carry the sons of the rich to their education at beginning of term.  

A gurgling river would have made a better picture had I not been looking into the now bright sunshine.  The scene would also have benefited from not having an empty water bottle lying there.  Plastic has brought much benefit to us, as well us filling us with toxic chemicals, but people's inability to dispose of it properly is a pain!  Wallace would agree!

   

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Misty View to World View

The sun rose as early as usual this morning but had to struggle past the mist that formed late last night and attempted to hinder the suns approach come the dawn.  Funny how enlarging the picture and looking directly at the sun made my eyes water as if I was looking at the real thing!  Anyway the mist cleared by lunchtime and when the sun reached its zenith I naturally fell asleep.  Something wrong somewhere I think.  


The 'Daily Mail,' that organ of truth and righteousness, apart from the half truths, lies and sheer blatant deception, does have a scientific journalist.  I use the term 'journalist' sparingly.  However the Science section knows how to bring science to the people, lot's of pictures and few words, and those repeated often to aid learning.  This is a good idea as we do learn by rote and understand later, in spite of what educationalists may say.  I think it fair to point out my spelling was incorrect there.....


Anyway Eddie Wrenn, if indeed he exists, has written an interesting piece with few words and lots of pictures.  This, like much found in the media today, he discovered while surfing the web for something interesting to earn his wage.  He found a site full of pictures and worth publishing and I must say I agree. The site is called  http://www.stratocom.com/s/1011  and, to the delight of the readership, is dead simple (insert own joke here).  The site contains picture taken from Google, showing interesting pictures from around our blue planet from high above.  There is a button at the bottom that enables the viewer to vote for or against each picture and so in this manner we can discover the most popular.  I recommend a look at this site, some of the pictures are excellent, and you are able, so they say, to move the map around and take your own favourite shot and upload this.  Worth a look.

Daily Mail

David Cameron's favourite Prime Minister, himself, is indulging in his favourite activity this week, Publicity Stunts!  He has outdone himself however by popping over to the United States (which include the Southern States) to visit a proper politician, President Obama.  The photographs showing him 'one of the boys' at a basketball game (whether he knew what  was going on is unclear), and with wife at a banquet, look good adorning his fawning press.  The 'special relationship,' between the 'English speaking peoples' still being strong, in some English papers at least, and mentioned dutifully even if he doesn't believe it either.  In between stuffing his face, posing for cameras, and wondering why they all speak so funny, it is to be hoped the two men can work out a strategy to leave the Afghanistan mess they inherited, sort out the extradition treaty that Blair slanted in the American favour, and do something, however slight, to ease the Syria situation.  There again while there Dave could possibly look into standing as a Republican candidate, he is empty of policy enough to satisfy quite a few I suspect.  


The 'Special relationship' was of course something Winston Churchill dreampt up during the war. His mother was from the US, and not a very good mother it seems to me, and Winston really did like the place.  However Winne suffered from a romantic view of history, his views on the great 'British Empire' were very romantic, and he did see a 'special relationship' between the 'English speakers.' (What about Australia or New zealand, or even Canada I hear you ask?)  The presidents of the US naturally never quite saw it his way however.  There is indeed rightly a good relationship between the nations.  A shared outlook on defence, and many, but far from all, foreign policies have similar outlook.  The UK is always ready to fight Americas wars for them, even though they are late in arriving for ours, and in recent years has foolishly followed George Bush's  military mistakes, at great cost.  There is no 'special relationship' if we are honest, just a similar outlook in many things, and the UK as always is the one that loses out all too often. The many successes British troops have accomplished can easily be lost by one American breaking down under the strain.


I note that the New York Times has a mention of Cameron's visit, hidden away under politics, and mentioning only the banquet, nothing else.  No success of the PR front there Dave.


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A Foggy Day

Just visible in this pic is the hazy mist that has hung about all day.  Behind me, but difficult to picture, the mist was thicker in the lower lying ground.  Until midday the mist was very thick and ideal for clever photographers to make the most of the opportunities.  One amateur was either in his kip or stuffing his face to much to make the effort to go out however and that football does not watch itself.  More of this tomorrow as autumn takes hold of us and winter begins to lower the temperature before it arrives.

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Sunday Mist Rising

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There are three main benefits from rising early on a Sunday morning.  One is the sight of the rising sun clearing away the mist that lies in the valley.  This allows some lovely pictures, if you have a longer lens than my little camera possesses.  The second benefit is the healthy body that is obtained by riding the bike up slopes you did not realise were around that bend you had never ventured along before.  This is enhanced when you get to the end and discover this is a dead end and the road sign has been removed by person or persons unknown when leaving the 'Six Bells' late one night.  A certain desire to knock 'Six Bells' out of them crosses the cyclists mind at this point. The third benefit arrives after lunch when watching the poor picture of the Heart of Midlothian being roundly stuffed by St Johnstone you find the drowsiness overtaking you so that you manage to miss much of the slaughter!  I suppose there is a fourth benefit not connected to the early morning, the mental exercise caused by asking who the Heart of Midlothian's next manager might be, Derek McInnes anyone...?


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Misty Dawn

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The best part of this Saturday was the sight of mist rolling, cloud like, across the park. Dragging my bulk from the bundle of rags that for a bed I strolled out to take pictures.  A few moments later I returned and put some clothes on and tried again.  As luck would have it the mist was rolling away southwards which meant the park was being bathed in bright sunshine and high above the sky was increasingly turning blue.  The only thing to do was saunter around and hope the exercise would wake me out of my slumber.  As I sauntered I noticed how the mist was gathering over the town centre.  I headed that way and grabbed a couple of shots where the mist hid the run down appearance of one of the grubbier streets.  The houses are not actually bad, and the people whom I have met are indeed fine examples of decent humanity but the actual road is somewhat depressing itself.

  

I wandered around and ended up back in the park where the local drunk stood talking to the park in the manner he usual  keeps for the town centre.  Poor man, his head was blown away by drink and drugs long ago and now spends his days drinking himself into Hades.  What state his liver is in I hate to think.  We all talk to ourselves but not usually loudly amongst crowds in the busy Market Place. I pictured him from afar but fell some guilt.  I am not keen on 'candid' shots as this appears to me to be an intrusion.  However it did look a good opportunity, although I am not sure if he realised what I was doing or not.  

The bright weather that followed the removal of the mist by the suns heat was followed later by some of those big dark clouds that fill too many Autumn days.  Still, pics are possible here also, if the battery in the camera does not give out!  

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What a Gray Day!

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The temperature rises to just above 'bloody cold,' to 'Crivvens, Help ma Boab!' and we spend a day totally  immersed in dull gray mist. Another sign that Spring is on its way!  With the atmosphere being as it is, my inability to change the weather to my way of thinking showing through, I decided to flounder all day. Some rude and needlessly cynical folk have suggested, and you will not believe this, they have suggested I 'flounder' a bit too much. Had this not been true I may well have been cut to the quick, but as it is I am merely 'nursing my wrath to keep it warm!'  I exercised the weakened body, the bug, the lack of vegetables, too much chocolate and nans making it weak this er.. week. This stroll through the heart of the town indicated the majority of the citizenry were hiding indoors, those not queuing at the Argos counter that is, or visiting those family members who they had hoped to ignore but could put off no longer. The market surprisingly had several stalls working, either they were bored, desperate for cash, or wishing to avoid mother-in-laws. None were worth visiting so no change there! The supermarkets were busy however, the car parks full and the dagger filled eyes as folks fought for the better parking spaces glowered everywhere. Happy Christmas to you also! Now I sit with my feet on the radiator, discovering how depressing scouring the job sites can be, and now awaiting tonight's football. 
How exciting my life is, are you jealous yet?




Today's thought to remember:- There's room on this earth for all of God's creatures.... Right next to the mashed potatoes.




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Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

So said John Keats in 'To Autumn.'
He had a point and in spite of 'global warming' the seasons are still basically the
same. The chilled evening saw mist surround the world by ten o' clock last night,
and this morning we have a world shrouded with thin mist. What a difference this
makes to our outlook. Natural light, and plenty of sun does increase our happiness
quota. Which is why we work best with large windows and an outlook over the sea,
preferably somewhere in the Med! Still, mist produces some good photographs and
while all I managed was this quick snapshot it gives the feel of the morn.

The main purpose of the day was to report to higher command and explain the job
hunt. 'Hunt' being a meaningless word. On Monday I met yet another lass who is
going to help me find work. The previous efforts fell because of my age, knee
and the total lack of jobs available! This new lass, a pretty young Hungarian,
quickly came to the same conclusion. She was kind enough to inform me I don't
look 58, only 48 she said.
"You are lovely," said I, "But could you make it 38?"
"I'm not that lovely," she said somewhat sarcastically.
Reporting to the fuhrer today took little time and I was soon wandering around
Tesco looking for bargains. The trouble with this was the crowd in the middle of
the day.Not only the crowd but the kids they brought with them, all ten million of
them. Sweet little ones with grannie, sulking big ones with mum, adolescent girls
enjoying spending dad's money on clothes and adolescent boys in groups just being
adolescents! Why are we not allowed to shoot them I ask? At least the fridge is
almost full.


My fitness is almost non existent after the recent bout of flu so I wandered up the
old railway in an effort to get away from the kids. This was a daft idea as this was
where folks were taking the kids to wear them out instead of them breaking the house
apart! Jumping of the path to avoid Johnny as he attempted to ride his bike at thirty
miles an hour with his head down and his eyes closed. A long way behind came granddad
desperate to catch up with the brat! I was safer at home!