Friday, August 09, 2013
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Old New Forest
When King Harold avoided a Scandinavian future for the English by defeating Harald Hardrada, he had to make his way as speedily as possible from the north east coast to the south coast where William the Bastard was about to make his own invasion attempt.
Of course, poor old Harold got an eyeful of arrow, and William won the Battle of Hastings in the year the English lost control of their country to foreign invasion for the last time ever, in 1066.
In 1079 Harold created from an existing ancient woodland a hunting forest, identified and described in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the New Forest.
It's a very desirable place to live, and one of my cousins is lucky enough to live there. Every year I go to visit her and her family just for a day, and yesterday was that day.
The New Forest is famous for its wild ponies. People love to see them (though they don't always drive as if they realise a wild pony can run out into the road at any point, and this year the death toll has risen). Some now have reflective collars round their necks in an attempt to reduce deaths. Even though I visit every year, and knew there were also cattle grazing on the forest heathland (deer are restricted to specific areas) I had no idea till yesterday there were wild donkeys.
I thought some of you might enjoy a few pictures of the creatures that wander nonchalantly across the roads to the delight and, sometimes frustration, of passing motorists.
An adult pony wanders off the road on to the verge.
One foal had wandered away from its mum, and was having a leisurely stroll past the cars.
A group of donkeys oblivious of the traffic mayhem they were causing. Some were youngsters with their fluffy juvenile coats just beginning to moult off.
Of course, poor old Harold got an eyeful of arrow, and William won the Battle of Hastings in the year the English lost control of their country to foreign invasion for the last time ever, in 1066.
In 1079 Harold created from an existing ancient woodland a hunting forest, identified and described in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the New Forest.
It's a very desirable place to live, and one of my cousins is lucky enough to live there. Every year I go to visit her and her family just for a day, and yesterday was that day.
The New Forest is famous for its wild ponies. People love to see them (though they don't always drive as if they realise a wild pony can run out into the road at any point, and this year the death toll has risen). Some now have reflective collars round their necks in an attempt to reduce deaths. Even though I visit every year, and knew there were also cattle grazing on the forest heathland (deer are restricted to specific areas) I had no idea till yesterday there were wild donkeys.
I thought some of you might enjoy a few pictures of the creatures that wander nonchalantly across the roads to the delight and, sometimes frustration, of passing motorists.
An adult pony wanders off the road on to the verge.
One foal had wandered away from its mum, and was having a leisurely stroll past the cars.
A group of donkeys oblivious of the traffic mayhem they were causing. Some were youngsters with their fluffy juvenile coats just beginning to moult off.
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Monday, August 05, 2013
Awful Pretty, Pretty Awful
First the good part.
At the end of July I took my friend Rob to London Zoo. I really needed to see the baby Malayan tapir before he lost his stripes.
I was lucky. His stripes are beginning to disappear under his adult grey back, but he's still stripey and sweet as anything.
The Francois langurs have a new baby, but unlike the adults the babies are ginger. You can just about see the baby's head and part of its body.
Meanwhile, my expensive summer continues - though luckily not quite as expensive as it could have been. On Saturday I came downstairs to find that my shower had flooded the kitchen, which is below the bathroom. The ceiling was stained from floodwater from a leaky gutter last year, and I still haven't had the stains painted over. Just as well. As I walked to the shops on Saturday afternoon, I was determined to ask every neighbour I met if they could recommend a good plumber. The first one I met said she'd recently had a similar problem, but the plumber was supplied but the company that insures her pipework. A light bulb lit up in my brain. Didn't I have just such an insurance policy? I checked when I got home, and I did. A plumber came out today and, instead of as I'd imagined ripping up the floor tiles and floorboards, he sawed holes in the ceiling:
The company will send someone out to patch the holes, but the repainting is down to me. This year, next year, sometime, never...
I was lucky. His stripes are beginning to disappear under his adult grey back, but he's still stripey and sweet as anything.
The Francois langurs have a new baby, but unlike the adults the babies are ginger. You can just about see the baby's head and part of its body.
Meanwhile, my expensive summer continues - though luckily not quite as expensive as it could have been. On Saturday I came downstairs to find that my shower had flooded the kitchen, which is below the bathroom. The ceiling was stained from floodwater from a leaky gutter last year, and I still haven't had the stains painted over. Just as well. As I walked to the shops on Saturday afternoon, I was determined to ask every neighbour I met if they could recommend a good plumber. The first one I met said she'd recently had a similar problem, but the plumber was supplied but the company that insures her pipework. A light bulb lit up in my brain. Didn't I have just such an insurance policy? I checked when I got home, and I did. A plumber came out today and, instead of as I'd imagined ripping up the floor tiles and floorboards, he sawed holes in the ceiling:
The company will send someone out to patch the holes, but the repainting is down to me. This year, next year, sometime, never...
Sunday, August 04, 2013
Who New
So, the new Doctor Who is Peter Capaldi. That makes 2 out of 12 Doctors I've seen with my own eyes, in person.
Tom Baker passed me at Charing Cross Station years ago. Peter Capaldi walked past me in the street a couple of years back. I seem to recall he went into a cake shop or cafe.
See how sad I am? I think this is a big enough deal to make a post about, even more than remembering a week or two ago that I once worked with someone who was on a plane with the world's first female elected head of state, Mrs Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, putting me at two degrees of separation.
Tom Baker passed me at Charing Cross Station years ago. Peter Capaldi walked past me in the street a couple of years back. I seem to recall he went into a cake shop or cafe.
See how sad I am? I think this is a big enough deal to make a post about, even more than remembering a week or two ago that I once worked with someone who was on a plane with the world's first female elected head of state, Mrs Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, putting me at two degrees of separation.