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Beware the Ides of March
A plague does not happen overnight, there are warning signs. Signs that only make sense after the devastation, just as we experienced in Lamont Towers last night. Lets roll back a month to the garden. Two holes appeared in the ground slowly near the base of a tree where divots were formed after we felled a 35m fir tree 20 years ago and the roots rotted. Then two nights ago a strange cat appeared at 7pm sniffing around the holes then sat still tail wrapped around his legs poised. I visited the greenhouse much later to restart the paraffin heaters and noticed through the dark, reflections of cats eyes peering back.
(more…)Farewell My Adorable Poppy
My 40th birthday present was a Golden Retriever, we named Poppy. Sadly she passed away on Friday aged 13 3/4. I may write more on life with a camera and a dog, but for now my star has shot-up into the sky.
Covid 19 in 2020
With some Engineering skills and a 3D printer, I joined the National 3D Printing Society to create face visors for people in healthcare areas as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). This is because there are severe shortages of PPE. Accountability for this must be served at a later date for those in charge, but for now lets get printing.
I have printed 221 after 3 weeks although a lot of optimising of print settings took place in the first 10 days then moving to 24×7 printing. This whole effort is a non-profit exercise from supply to delivery with the largest cost, filament used to create them. To help sustain this activity a JustGiving charitable drive is underway to finance supply of filament used in their manufacture and keep supply going.
(more…)Catalonia Revisited
We have had several holidays in Catalonia the beautiful North East corner of Spain. The region and its leaders are in a struggle for independence from greater Spain. This struggle has always been visible while touring round its villages, towns and cities. We saw a few signs dotted around the main towns, often in English like this one in 2014.
Girona, Catalonia, Spain On our most recent visit this year, this movement is more visible and, a reasonable assumption – more popular. More houses fly the Catalan flag, or a twisted ribbon insignia (much like the Scottish National Party’s emblem). Another campaign similarity with Scotland are signs that say “Si” or “Yes”. It often feels like a shared understanding exists between the supporters in each country.
This year these signs have grown in size, number and sharper messaging.
Why you SHOULD give a sh*t
Birthdays that come with a zero after the number can give you a nasty jab in the ribs. Like when your government’s National Health Service marks your day with a “Bowel Screening Kit”…ouch!
Bowel testing kit
