Author Archives: essiep

Camellia sinensis

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13°C, sunny. Cold start with frost; c67miles

Ouch; knee pain, though the knee buffeted in that crash last month, I suspect this is caused by the summer bike’s pedals.
more later
Rosie excelled herself today. She’s learned a new trick and played it at a carefully timed moment. When I was outside for a while, she struck. Somehow, and I’m still trying to work out how, she opened the oven door and got the food out. Her motive was very strong- a chicken that the lodger cooked 48 hours previously. Oh well, fair game then (no joke intended).My only concern was that in her greed, she’d get bone splinters in her throat; dogs do that I’m told. I pulled her away by the collar, which she resisted with all her 25kg might and did that cartoon rubberised-telescopic neck thing. That meant however far you pulled the collar, her mouth was still at chicken level on the tiled floor.
Suppose I would have done the same if I were a dog. I’m still impressed, thinking back.

Dangling ‘gentlemen’s bits’

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13°C, some rain under grey sky

Corkscrew Hazel : is displaying his man-parts. they dangle and flap in the wind, sharing pollen.  This may be why I have slight hay-fever symptoms.

The same plant has opened its ladies-bits too, tiny purple buds just opening; a certain sign that spring is under-way.

Apologies: Pope’s turn, the Pope writes a letter of apology for child abuse by the presthood in Ireland. Apparently Germany are in interested in a similar thing, the RC church have been sheltering child molesters for some time, probably centuries. A few years ago, they apologised for their previous support of the Holocaust during the Second World War too. Let’s hope we get more apologies for other abuses of trust by the church this year, culminating a a big one for centuries of lies and general making-it-up about all sorts of fundamental human beliefs.

Fishtank

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13°C, rain has come after a long dusty dry time

Fishtank: Raw, sharply realistic story of a mid-teens girl finding an escape from the dreadful estates around Rodney Marshes in Essex. What impressed me, apart from the almost Mike Leigh social-realism was beauty. There were moments in the film where it was more overt than others, sometimes beauty was just a prop in a scene. there must be something in the association between ugliness and beauty that makes the contrast more stark. Dipoles I suppose.
what about the scene where Mother is putting out the laundry, holding a cigarette while hurling verbal abuse at her daughter. the light in the shirts, the flapping fabric, all white and pure. Other moments- death is close, so is fear and violence but so is the will to survive in an oddly modern setting.
At times, my heart was in my mouth.
Beautiful.

Five

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12°C, dry, some cloud

Like last year– waking up absurdly early. Today, 5 am, out of bed by 10 past.
Unlike last year– spring is starting about 2 weeks later here. Some shoots peeking through.

All clear

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11°C, dry & calm,

It’s okay Rosie: no insurance required after last week’s report from the Gov’t. They wanted all dog owners to pay for compulsory 3rd party dog insurance. It fell over when it became obvious that the breeds that need insurance are already banned under UK law. BBC

The Filthy English

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9°C, enough sun but strong northerly wind.

England is a dirty place: With the vegetation at its annual lowest point right now, you can easily see through sparse hedgerows, grassy banks and ditches, and in all of it; on every lane, however far from towns, is rubbish. At its thinnest, you only see beer cans and McDonald’s wrappers every yard or so. I suppose, being generous, that some must be wind-blown litter, perhaps blown from uncapped bins. Riding along you can see some lanes have extra gatherings in places where there is some shelter- ditches, or maybe under a big tree. But, in openings, such as gateways, there can sometimes be seen a television set here, a flat-pack and old mattress there. Fly tipping. What is the motive for dumping this stuff- it’s not money: the car is loaded with junk, the council tip is paid-for in advance and the effort to drive to a gateway is the same as driving to a tip. So, it’s not laziness then, but what is it? Why do it?

I can see I need to work on commas in that passage.

At last; a decent, satisfying ride. The last ten felt like I was on the 100th mile ( and yes I do know what that feels like). took some photos on the phone, but can’t unload them for a few days yet. You’ll have to just wait.
Another long day, this one started at 5am.

Steam, slabs & pulmonaria

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-1 to 9°C, cloudy now.

Five-thirty; running out of steam now. I have been on the go for 12 hours today, lots of spring energy, lots of bulbs planted and these years of compost bin collections is showing results. I was like this last year, so nothing too weird then.
Bags of recycled organic compost for £2.25, so I bought a bunch. Doris, it’s true the stuff does smell nice; go and sniff some if you are doubtful.
Looking forward to a good cycle ride tomorrow, should be able to ride the summer bike.

Trees

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5 to 11°C, showers incl. hail.

 http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/JjZc9ayGlaM&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1
Rosie did something funny today: on arriving home and jumping out of the car, she turned and ran across the green (this is very bad), but she galloped towards a cat under a tree. The cat didn’t run for it immediately, there was a pressing reason for that- she was in mid-crap! The look on her face seemed to day ‘NOT NOW! Can’t you see I’m squeezing one off?’. After a few vital seconds, the cat did make a run for it in that classic, centuries old traditionthat cats & dogs have always held.

Laburnum Vossii

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-2 to 6°C, light winds, very dry, some sun

It’s barren here: no sign of winter ending, everything is dry and bare. I did plant out the Laburnum tree however in the gap between home and the sun going down. Again, chose a spot that was shielded by a slab; how many more of these damned things are there under this soil. I should know, I have lived here for 13 years.

Senseless

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+6°C, dropping fast

Is there something up with VW’s sensors? My car needed diagnostic tests to find why the emissions warning light up. It turned out to be nothing, probably the sensor is faulty causing the equivalent of a false positive.That’s the second time something like this has happened in 6 months. It’s no use, VW, using sensors that are less reliable than the thing they are testing for reliability.

I have deeds, this is a good thing on a symbolic level.