27°C, lighter winds
Walked in Lancashire lowland farmland. Fantastic what you can find only a mile from home. A hot day in May.
Hot may
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Monthly Archives: May 2012
The house is in a funny mood
25°C, few clouds, little wind.
I have another temporary resident in my house. I arrived home earlier than usual to a house that is distinctly buzzing. There is a swarm up by the eaves, I guessed that they’re looking for a nest site. It can’t be that much of a problem can it? Maybe I won’t be able to open the bathroom window as often if I want to keep them outside.
Later: one got trapped in the back bedroom; good, because I can have a close look. I think they might be honey bees. The abdomen is not as bright yellow as a yellow-jacket wasp and the thorax is hairy. If this is right and they want to stay- I’d like to let them.
Last time I looked outside, it was quiet up there, but they haven’t gone. there is the odd bee going in or coming out of a circular hole where an overflow pipe used to be in the wall. They have probably gone inside the eves through a nice safe hole that is just the right size to keep predators out.
Perhaps if I put some kind of mesh over the bathroom window, then they won’t be able to cause me any problems inside the house.
Besides: why does the front room smell of fire? Okay, so I have been a slob and not cleaned the fireplace since last Friday, so why did it only start to smell of wood ash today?
The only thing to do is to sit quietly for a long time and think really really hard. Then I will know what to do.
Oxalis has been waiting
22°C, Sun. CA:20
Oxalis has been waiting for a few weeks. today it opened itself to the sun, recent days have not been good enough. Now it’s warm enough to put the hammock up.
Oxalis Palmifrons
The Nation is getting excited by the Olympics. Roads have signs warning of closures when the torch relay will pass through. I’m still puzzling over that one. what will actually happen when they run with it up a road. Do all the locals come out and wave flags? If so, what do they actually get out of doing that? What is their motive?
There is a Royal Jubilee next week. Work changed the half-term to straddle the bank holiday, so no extra days holiday (unlike last year). I raise this because the jubilee seems to invoke a similar reaction in the British people. On the face of it, both Jubilee and Olympics have the same problem- the obscure motive of spectators. Okay, it’s one thing to enjoy watching the course of a sporting contest unfold, but another to watch some selected elite run along the road with a torch. It’s taken me a while to figure it all out. My conclusion- don’t be misled by the crapulence of these events, it’s not the events at stake. The core of this is the national unifying effect of patriotism.
Here I am, feeling like I’ve arrived just because I am sitting in my warm garden, by my (self dug) pond bathed in an almost ultraviolet light from this Ceanothus shrub. It’s having a good year, last season it was still sulking after I moved it to make way for the pond. Now it’s in full blue-indigo bloom.
Explain
27°C, windy
Gove: “He said: “To suggest that anti-Semitism can ever be explained, rather than be condemned, is insensitive and, frankly, bizarre. AQA needs to explain how and why this question was included in an exam paper.”
Aah, freedom of expression. Where do I be
Michael Gove speaking at the Conservative Party “Big Society” policy launch (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
gin to explain why this is so very wrong. Gove has some responsibility to the nation for the education system. Maybe he wants a system that stifles free roaming thought, one that avoids an old, valid and effective technique to combat opponents= know your enemy”. The Anti-Semites are a standard opponent to post-war westerners. We speak of freedom of expression but the minister of education wants to prevent freedom of thought in this statement. Gove doesn’t want us to explain bigotry, he wants condemnation. Perhaps we are to think through our stance without discussing the issues. This is where he has gone so badly wrong. That is why I have reacted so much, even though he is a member of the much despised UK government. Sorry to say, I still haven’t found grounds to forgive their recent crimes against honesty and openness.
Soon there will be sun
14°C, light gry skies, no wind. CK:53 miles
Weekend up North. Saturday was I tired or was I harbouring some latent poorliness? After Sunday’s ride, it was obvious that all those debilitating feelings the day before were exhaustion. The ride went well- it felt so natural to be back in the fixed-gear. Muscles ached towards the end but nothing that would have been mended by a cafe stop.
Don’t like February
7°C, rain
Don’t like February, especially when it happens in May. Top temperature today, 7° which rose from a startling 6° this morning. Feb has returned four months on, it would appear. Since I had little teaching to do, I strode into town and bought socks. Stripy socks are back on the shelves so I got a bundle of 7 (pairs). That’s how exciting my day has been, oh and played with Scratch for an hour or so.
Scratch was quite engrossing I have to admit. I’m teaching it very soon, so ought to.
Time for a nap, I did get up before 5am today (before you say anything).
Of mice and a man
14°C, windy with sun
Could it be that I don’t, as previously thought, live alone? Could it be that these tiny pellets that I have found behind the fridge are left by visitors? Could it be that these visitors take the dog biscuits behind the fridge- where the dogs can’t possible get to, or put them? Do they go there just to eat the biscuits?
If that were so, those visitors could be mice. there certainly is a mousey smell there, or was until I washed it off with bleach. Mice that like dog biscuits enough to come into my house. There’s a thought.
Rocester
15°C, SW winds, sunny
Rode to Rocester (pronounced Roaster) & wound through windy lanes between grassy fields. The grass picked up waves of wind that gave the surface an oceanic quality. A lovely day then. Just to dampen it a bit was my uncharacteristic lack of energy. It all felt like such an effort, and that wasn’t because the bike’s gears were still jumping about a bit. After some adjustment they were much better anyway. the last thing I will say about them is that the levers felt heavier than ideal- so perhaps a change of cable sheaths will finally fix the issue.
I have come home with that sticky throat (the bit in the back of my mouth anyway) that I get when hay-fever is bad and I react to dust on a dry day. However, that and the empty feeling in my legs is also characteristic of on-coming cold feeling. Time will tell.
Caravaggio
14°C, sunny bits & windy
Film: Carravagio by Derek Jarman. A good film has the ability to occupy your thoughts for the next day, or even days after that. Carravagio had some good ingredients- the cinematography was matched to the painter’s style. The sets were minimal and no scenes were shot outside. Rooms were mostly bare and light to draw ling inky black shadows just like the paintings. Tenebrist in style, apparently. Tilda Swinton supported along with various other well known British actors. In a few places, modern props were used to disconcerting effect.
Today, I’m left wondering why this film failed to light any spark in me. A few times I even looked ay he video player’s remaining time display. Not a good sign.
Sun & weekend in step
11°C, sun
How often does a run of good weather break at the weekend? Okay, so we’ve had the wettest April on record. That only makes days like this seem more refreshing. The sun is out, fresh verdant emerald growth is illuminated in its semi-translucency.
See any weird silhouette hound in the picture?
I have a new sofa. Erm, no it’s only new to me via eBay for £30. It’s an Ikea design from a few years ago with a leather cover. It’s smaller than usual for a two seater but that’s a bonus.
My bike wheel is repaired and to celebrate I bought some pressies for the house (fleece throw, a duvet cover & stuff).
Back-ache is nearly over and work stress is a little diminished.
This day is going well. I’m going to snooze in the attic bedroom.
Micycle 