tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5183872696715438432024-03-14T02:31:14.003-07:00It's Later Than You Think.An account of two peoples preparations for a live in campervan adventure around Europe; the trials and tribulations and the rewards for perseverance. The ongoing life saga on the return.Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-73965051334261127662020-06-05T05:47:00.002-07:002020-06-05T05:56:02.582-07:00When AI kills us all. It will absolutely be our own fault.<br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;">As I've recently rejoined Facebook,
it's algorithms are trying to learn about me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;">It is amusing how the algorithms seem
more desperate as days go by (albeit marginally fucking annoying as well). From
group and friend suggestions to adverts. My simple algorithm defeating strategy
is to answer all questions with the answer irrelevant and confirm, and to do it
for all options even stuff I may actually be interested in (I can a always go
and find them on my own anyway, and by and large most groups are just talking
twaddle shops for people looking for validation, or for trolls to lurk, before
fucking people off and causing arguments).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;">I have tried not bothering with the
insertions, but the algorithm is clearly tracking activity and throwing up
flags, and more so over time. It is also checking you and your interests and
seeing if our friendship is social, technical, dietary, hobbies, sports etc.
And this you know because my circle is small, and deliberately so, so when
various topics I know individuals for appear in my feed as suggestions. I know
the algorithm is interrogating your data to try and make matches, and find what
makes me tick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;">This brings me to: I would far rather
pay for Facebook, than suffer the insidious shit that is the algorithm. I pay
Microsoft, my experience is add free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;">The other thing that bothers me is
the how the algorithms personality changes over time. From friendly to
desperate. You may say `you're anthropomorphising a computer program'. But the
simple facts are, AI/Algorithms are written by people. People who do analytics
are only human, and humans are subject to work pressures and targets, and only
have the same suite of human instincts and tools as anyone else. Therefore one
can broadly assume that the tools these people create will reflect those traits
(If, Then, Else, Or, And ... etc (etc isn't as a far as I know a programming
determiner)).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;">They've tried friendly coercion, I'm
not interested. They've tried matching all of my friends and maybe your friends
of friends and interest groups, I've blanked them and they have run into a
brickwall. So today every other `thing' in my feed is an advert. So, is that
nagging or bullying or harassment, and are those things you associate with
computers or with people (there are Matrix and Skynet tangents here clearly).
The point is, that you have people making computer programs that are designed
to drill down into your life and extract information. And when they can't do it
by hook, they try to do it by crook. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;">The algorithms have move from the
mundane suggestions to the unusual. Suggested celebrities to follow in the last
week have included a raft of Drag Queens, Joan Collins, all manner of American
Youtube and reality stars, and all common shit as well like Eastenders, ete etc
etc .... FUUUUUUUUUCCCKKKK OFFFFF.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;">Stephen Hawkins said there is a
potential threat from AI to people, and the reason for that is that people are
creating the AI, and over time they are making that AI a petty, desperate
entitled fuckknuckle.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span>
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<span data-offset-key="2t6qj-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">PS: you know the algorithm is testing you back because it moves the position of the word `Irrelevant' so that you have to look across all suggested reason for not wanting to see XYZ, before settling on your preferred stock answer.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="elcp0-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Clearly this also has implications for machine learning, because it's letting another algorithm know that you are deliberately seeking to conceal yourself from advertisers (which is basically what its all about).</span></div>
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<br />Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-44139711434798341922020-06-02T02:16:00.001-07:002020-06-02T02:16:26.835-07:00In other news June 2nd 2020<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="av3th" data-offset-key="8lq4t-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="8lq4t-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I've done my regular weekly update on the news. As a rule since the end of April I've tried not to go to deep daily because it is all very depressing. And you can overload on misery without much effort at all.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a99rj-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="42pe9-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Things of note: in general the only news is Coronavirus. There is a new Ebola outbreak. Various Islamic countries seem to be having religious conservatism issues. It seems blasphemy is on the rise ... maybe people are waking up to the fact that God doesn't do vaccines in a crisis.</span></div>
</div>
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<span data-offset-key="f2cmp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="471tj-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Donald Trump within his specialist arena actually makes quite a lot of the right noises (G7-8), and trying to bring Russia back in rather than leaving it on the fringes to throw stones in the direction of the rest of the worlds greenhouse.</span></div>
</div>
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<span data-offset-key="dj6rm-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="q60k-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Keith Floyd demonstrates that the lessons of Rodney King were not learned. And that social media means African Africans can be as furious about white America as African Americans can be.</span></div>
</div>
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<span data-offset-key="hjqv-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Brexit is going on but it seems like `same shit different day' with the sabre rattling tooing and froing from politicians on both sides. And extremely polarised commentary from both sides ... how I pine for that fuckwittery to be top of the news again.</span></div>
</div>
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<span data-offset-key="e0su5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="djku1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">There seems to be lots of place fillers on the BBC website. Not news. At best, well written click-bait. This is disturbing and one would contend that the BBC has too many journalists on the books with bugger all to do, but turn out a few words in their purview, in the absence of any events outside of Covid-19, and in a limited fashion Brexit.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1adt4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">There is it appears a green undercurrent, and some businesses and scientists are pointing out that this general pause could be an opportunity to re-orientate the economy greenwards. Perhaps there will be a silver lining.</span></div>
</div>
Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-60773814448594392892020-05-27T03:10:00.002-07:002020-05-27T03:10:34.014-07:00Dominic Cummings (far better than the media would have you believe).<br />
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crivens , people who are envious that
someone has the opportunity and the where with all to travel from a safe place,
isolated in a metal bubble, to remove themselves to another safe space (still
isolated). to ensure that should the worst come to the worst; a four year old
doesn't have to go through the trauma of social services in two separate local
authorities. When by virtue of the process of finding a foster/surrogate care
for said four year old, invariably social services will contact and transport
said four year old 265 miles to aformentioned safe isolated place noted in the
lines above, to the closest relatives of the childs parents. This is the path
of least resistance for social services in almost every circumstance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All Dominic Cumming did was remove the potential for the involvement of
social services and or any other third party, be it his sister, nieces,
parents, social services, the police, trusted other civil servant or a friend
within London doing exactly what he did for himself, in the event that he or
his wife ended up on a ventilator or dead ...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The deliberate mis-direction, mis-understanding of the media and
political opponents to Dominic Cummings actions, are nothing but smoke and
mirrors to disguise (though why they even bother with disguise is beyond me)
the very simple fact that the left in concert with the mainstream media just
don't like Dominic Cummings, the Conservatives... but most of all they don't
like Dominic Cummings because of Brexit. This entire media campaign is just a
spiteful last ditch attempt to claw some weak pointless satisfaction by way of
trying to get Dominic Cummings sacked because he was the Brexit architect. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The media in this country have created this storm in a tea cup, roused
and harassed a weary bored population with a pantomime villain of their
creation just to allow that bored weary population to focus all their anger and
anxiety onto Dominic Cummings, so that the population will eventually force
Boris Johnsons hand into fucking over his friend and colleague. A man who was
wise to this threat from Southeast Asia and writing about it a year before it
happened, and because of this awareness of the threat has probably been an
absolute asset to the entire population that's being roused against him by our
media outlets.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">you couldn't make it up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://dominiccummings.com/2019/03/04/the-most-secure-bio-labs-routinely-make-errors-that-could-cause-a-global-pandemic-are-about-to-re-start-experiments-on-pathogens-engineered-to-make-them-mammalian-airborne-transmissible/<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-77032172970396830082020-05-23T02:09:00.000-07:002020-05-23T02:09:01.154-07:00Time.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was talking to the Amanda yesterday about the perception
of time during lockdown. I’m on furlough, I said that I think that for people
on furlough this will become known as the `long year’. I’ve had a summers worth
of sun and gardening. I’m expecting Autumn any minute and yet we are still in
meteorological spring. This is a general sense of the passage of time now. I
find myself looking at the gardens front and rear, and out in the lanes here-abouts
and having this weird disconnect from time relative to plants in season, fledglings
of all sorts, emergent spider nests, all the small birds looking in trellises
and gutters for those same spiders to feed their chicks, the lack of humidity
accompanying the heat of the sun, and hours to fill productively, without
spaffing a shedload of cash that might be in short supply later if the firm can’t
reopen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hectic modern lives are the thing that makes the passage of
time seem so swift, with days, weeks, weekends, months, routinely mandated
celebrations as milestones of repetition adding to that sense of speed. I think
we all knew it, know it. As a pre-amble to retirement, this phase demonstrates
that a sudden break with routine will be jarring, and you can understand why
fresh retirees sometimes get down in the dumps, and without the right motivation,
just decline.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, I have to say I like this slower pace, boredom can
be an issue, as can overworking the middle-aged frame. But the sense that this
is a long year and that there is still an entire summer to come, is
simultaneously `a bit difficult to get your head round … and a right result’. We’ve
been conned into thinking all `the stuff’ we fit into life is what makes life
rich. Is it fuck, it’s being in the moment and not seeing your life forever
streaming away into the rear view as you hurtle ever forward, ever faster to an
end, whilst spending the `now’ wondering why your life recedes quicker than you
can account for it, and wondering if you have been short-changed?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m reminded of summer holidays as a kid, they were endless.
I guess the imponderable question is: how do you manage to attain this state of
mind and sense of time, when working life re-starts? Amanda has been back at
work for two weeks. She has the opposite issue; time has flown by.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-27884458388664873692020-04-13T02:24:00.000-07:002020-04-13T02:24:20.296-07:00Covid-19<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="14qor" data-offset-key="d71md-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="d71md-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I've spent an hour and a bit, maybe more trawling through translated news sites in far flung places. Thus far Africa seems to be the only place that is as switched on as the UK. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="aou9c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">If I was living in South America right now I would either be blissfully ignorant of the threat, or mostly ignorant, but with the promise of immune system boosting `supplements' to get me through the crisis and gods supporting hand ... god of course providing that support from socially isolated ecclesiastical kitchens worldwide, ably supported by fabulous technology created in laboratories by scientists thus allowing the religious to spout irrelevant and meaningless mumbo jumbo (beautifully and ironically caveat-ed in the the sensible countries, with sound scientific advice, that will actually help if you pay attention).</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2l51-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="14qor" data-offset-key="3l61o-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3l61o-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;">
<span data-offset-key="3l61o-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Russia, who knows? The independents in Russia seem to be saying the same things as TASS, which isn't much, and mostly seems to be concerned with Russia's new tanks and submarines. Covid is very much something in the background and either Russia has climactic advantage at the moment (maybe Covid doesn't do well in the cold, though given Russia's size I think the weather conditions are mostly irrelevant)... or they are lying through their teeth... one of the two.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="203sf-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="14qor" data-offset-key="fn9ff-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fn9ff-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;">
<span data-offset-key="fn9ff-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The Middle-east, again difficult to tell, and especially as the middle-east news crosses over significantly with the North-African Arabic news. Needless to say, a certain religious sect we all know and dislike intently actually seems to be making some inroads in reducing the chances of some people catching and passing on Covid-19 ... by blowing them up.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2da3b-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fa685-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;">
<span data-offset-key="fa685-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I think what is most worrying is the fact that most of these regions are reporting on regions external to their own, as if in some way by pointing at Europe or America and saying `they're in the shit over there' in some way makes the various domestic situations look better. Smokescreen news and politics, very concerning.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cjse3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8sctq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">So my friends, my gut says says the marathon isn't going to be the disease in the UK, the marathon is going to be keeping our borders closed to travellers for far longer than we currently think, foreign holidays probably going to be something of a luxury again for a couple of years at least. And lets not understate the potential for apocalyptic disintegration of social order in the third and developing world, through a mix of misinformation, corruption, lack of infrastructure and believing that the magic man in the sky is going to save you ... if not here then in the next life. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3g7ar-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="69k2e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">So while we all enjoy our very middle-class, first world live-streaming, House-Party, Facebook, Whatsapp, online shopped, jobs about the house and garden with a board game renaissance pandemic. Spare a thought for all those `Shithole Countries', the ones that bring you avocados, out of season and exotic fruit, coffee, tea and rice, because a quick whiz round the web tells you that all those things come from the countries that are least able to support their populations as more of the shit hits the fan.</span></div>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-9494452297129460312016-06-25T14:40:00.002-07:002016-06-25T14:40:21.919-07:00Post Brexit<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's a tired subject now. the EU referendum and the result. Friday was
the panic day for many, (even those who voted out). Glued as we were to the BBC
and other news services doing comparative analysis of the narratives being
presented, trying to find the truth somewhere between the extremes of opinion. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's Saturday, the weekend. There'll be some hand wringing and worrying
going on, and then on Monday people will go back to work, in modern offices
suites in the City of London, and elsewhere. And the money making strategies
that have been the source of many tedious meetings since January 2013 will suddenly
bear fruit. Business will adapt, there will be a prepared for pause. A new
normal will form, and if we are lucky the process going forward will be necessarily
thoughtful, deliberate and still conceived for the greater good of all. But
why?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The EEC was a good idea, European unity after centuries of war, border
changes, annexations, liberations, revolts, and renaissances. After the Great
War and the Second World war (just consider that a moment, every continent and
almost every country on every continent gave up peace to kill 122,000,0000 people
– civilian and military approximately, `One Hundred and Twenty Two Million’ (I
haven’t bothered with a figure for wounded). In the European area where this
insanity started it was decided finally, to bury the hatchet and devote seventy
years to peace and in the main prosperity, growth, technological advancement,
longer life, science and so forth (I’m expeditiously ignoring the fact that in
the wake of this peace and prosperity, that the west decided to have a cold
war, destabilised the Middle East and abandoned Africa and the Indian
sub-continent and others).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unity and peace are great ideals, but you can legislate for them only so
far, and then you have to let the peace habit work for itself. The matter of
free trade seems to me to be intrinsic to the concept of wider peace. Why
should there be trade barriers between peaceful nations? After all we are a
global community, never mind our immediate continental neighbours … one day
regardless of race religion colour or creed we will just be one world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are many areas that aren’t quite up to speed on the notion that
peace and prosperity are better than intolerance and destruction, and the
notion won’t be universal for centuries more (in my humble opinion). And the
bigots and racists within our own country will delude themselves for a while
longer that at least 50% of the UK population is as racist as themselves. We
aren’t, you’re retarded, you’ll never read this, three or four lines of a
Facebook meme is about as intellectual as you get. The xenophobes can sit back
and bask in the sense of isolation, and the rest of the Brexiters can enjoy the
sense of independence, that being self-determining brings - setbacks and all.
All balanced by nearly 50% of the UK that was happy with the EU/UK status quo,
and will still be a voice for balance in the years ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Britain now stands aside from the EU, but we are linked and
will always be linked. What we’ve done is say to the rest of the union that we
can be self-determining peaceful, productive, without the stifling oppressive over
regulation of everything we say and do. Without being a party to `positive
discrimination on a continental scale’. We can trade on our local continental
plate, and freely with the rest of the world, we won’t war with our nearest
neighbours and I’m fairly sure we wouldn’t war elsewhere if it could be helped.
We will come to your aid in times of disaster as we do all over the world. We
are a mature country, a mature economy (maybe a little spoilt and islandic). We
are reliable, pragmatic and interested, why would you not want to trade with
the UK, why would you not want us as visitors (football hooligan twats aside). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I look forward to a time (beyond my life span no doubt),
where to the rest of continental Europe, the EU is just a background admin
office, not trying to shoehorn it’s one size fits all bureaucracy into every
nook and cranny, and failing miserably because such a management task is way
beyond the whit of even a huge number of individuals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">One day all of Europe will stand on an equal egalitarian
footing … like the Federation in Star Trek, or Ian M Banks Culture. That has to
be the aim. Parents as a general rule want their offspring to fledge and fly
free. The European Union should be there as a support tool to allow partners of
unequal size, to foster trade and peace and when those countries feel the need
to go their own way either in a big way or as a parallel to the union they
should not be impeded or vetoed by their nearest neighbours, because those
neighbours feel that they didn’t get a slice of the pie, even though they didn’t
provide the flour, butter, eggs or pie filling or any of the facilities to
create said pie (maybe I’m naïve). But from where I’ve watched the EU develop
over the nearly three decades I’ve had a side interest in politics, having a
job, paying a mortgage, there seems to have been compromise after compromise to
what seems like no ones best interest, unless they were a speculator sitting on
the fringes eking out miniscule margins but across a global spread, hedging
their bets and staying rich regardless of the crash. And while the Union fell
over its own rules, argued the toss amongst itself, and created the Euro, it
sat in ignorance of exactly how extreme a problem was developing in the
`globalised private sector … banking system’ that all its regulating and
oversight had failed to see coming. And then when it fell to pieces we the grey
collar and blue collar workers paid the price in jobs, pensions and rights.
Rights that the EU allegedly enshrined, but were in fact hijacked by the
wealthiest, using free movement to ensure that wages have been held (for the
poorest) in practical limbo for nearly a decade. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Project fear was the final ranting scare mongering, bullying
drivel trotted out to terrify the people of Britain into staying in the EU, and
I’m sure if you could actually pin down the Remainers reasons for remaining in
the EU, it’s the fear of the unknown and only that, that made them vote remain
in the EU. Lets just note that while President Obama sounded off that the UK
would be better off in the EU than out, that for most of his first term he was
only really interested in the tiger economies of the Far east. I’m also sure
that if beyond all the utter shite that was trotted out by both sides you
actually nurtured the notion that history will record a blip in our fortunes,
the majority voting leave would have been even greater. I’m sure that the UKs
recovery from last Thursday will be rapid. I also think that the businesses
that upsticks to other parts of Europe will spread their particular employment
toxicity to those countries and that their diminished influence in our country
will in the long term benefit us, whilst proving that the European Project has
been fundamentally undermined and hijacked by the banks, and by huge business
cartels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Why as a big business would you not want access to 500
million potential employees in one of the most stable and wealthy parts of the
world. 500 million … half a billion people all looking to earn a living, in an
economic area where the playing field is regulated by an unelected political
elite, that meets only with itself and the business leaders that want access to
that pool of employees at the best price for their own interests. The phrase
conflict of interest doesn’t even come close to describing the situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m glad we are out, the recriminations will
carry on for decades, as have the recriminations since 1973, when we first
joined the EEC. The little people have had a revolution, a revolution that
proves the pen is mightier than the sword or the guillotine. Britain has
demonstrated that it and therefore any country that wants to peacefully demonstrate
its dissatisfaction can do so through debate and the ballot box and force
change. But I bet that that particular lesson won’t be realised or seen except
through the lens of history, when I and all those who voted on Thursday are
dead and gone by decades.</span></span>Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-82975425637268362882016-06-19T05:31:00.002-07:002019-09-18T04:22:15.457-07:00#Brexit #VoteleaveI'm Vote Leave because I spent several months travelling the dark corners of Europe, and except for Germany universally the EU has been a giant cluster fuck for the sole trader and small business.<br />
<br />
You know the Tesco put's small shops out of business and everyone gets up in arms about it scenario. Well that's the eurozone for small traders everywhere, but you have to see it and hear from the horses mouth to be truly informed about the plight of small business and the Europoor in their millions.<br />
<br />
The Eurozone is great for big companies that can squeeze small people in the same way across open borders. One size fits all policies, ignorant of local, ethic, culture, tradition, economy ect ect ect. Entire small business ecosystems wiped out and subsumed by big chains, ensnaring now out of business or out of work locals for minimum wage.<br />
<br />
Yup that's the European Union I want to be in. Not.<br />
<br />
Ill informed is getting your information from the media, on either side. See the forgotten poor, boarded up or abandoned villages and small town streets. Have a sobering look at exactly how far ahead we are and how long it's going to take to drag the rest of Europe into the 20th never mind the 21st century, and all that at the expense of all the poor fuckers in this country now scrabbling around for the same minimum slave wage, because face it if it wasn't so great here there would be no migration (it's not racist to say we are swamped because we are great).<br />
<br />
The word UNION in this context has been hijacked. It's not a union like the ones that we remember fighting for workers rights. It's a union driven by commercial interests alone, and when it come down to it shareholders and CEO trump workers rights every time.<br />
<br />
If you want your your politicians accountable, if you want to be able to hold business's to account and make them live up to their HR policies and `Mission Statements' Equality ect. Then don't give them the excuse that policy has been set by someone in Brussels or (for four days a month) Strasbourg. If you want to be in a union, join a trade union, just don't be a wanker once you're in.Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-54517684989617229072016-02-12T10:22:00.000-08:002016-02-12T10:22:52.305-08:00Where does one begin? … Again.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It’s a been a few weeks since the last post below. The
epitaph to the `Old Man’. A few words on that and then we’ll move on. Death
it’s not an easy thing to explain, or to accommodate. It is very final. There
have been dozens of time in the last few weeks when I’ve thought `I know I’ll
ask the Old Man’ or `The Old Man’s going to love this’, followed very rapidly
by `Oh yes he’d dead’. I don’t say to myself gone or passed over, you need to
be frank with yourself, not brutal, but know it and name it for what it is.
While thinking out into the eather, opening your inner eye to remote viewing
from the quantum realm and consoling yourself, that maybe just maybe there is
coherent energy after death looking over your shoulder when invited to … it
gets me by.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The above said, sometimes you just can’t get past it, and
your day will be ruined end to end.</div>
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Now to business. We have set ourselves a bit of a challenge
this year. The challenge is to visit all the places on the national trust
calendar that I was given for Christmas. So far we have been just east of
Plymouth to Wembury Point and had a short walk along an extremely muddy path Easting:
251777 Northing: 048498 (grid reference cribbed from here: <a href="http://www.gridreferencefinder.com/">ttp://www.gridreferencefinder.com/</a>
). From the beach you can see the Great Mewstone, and a way beyond that,
Eddystone Lighthouse (which for information only; I have dived at the foot of
to a depth of around 25mtrs, at least 25yrs ago, and watched possibly hundreds
of Spider Crabs march across the rocky seabed, going about Spider Crab
business).</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of all the jaunts we’ve planned for this year, Wembury is probably
the shortest. So it was quite a useful warmup. Our next jaunt will be to the
Peak District sometime this month, and in March we have a trip to county Antrim
and the Nine Glens Road to manage in. The Peak District should be relatively
easy in the camper. We’ll do a Friday night drive, Saturday visit with a return
Sunday, brief and to the point unless we can get a day off booked in. Antrim
will be a little more tricky, but we have the Easter week booked off, so the
biggest expense will be the crossing, and the biggest aggravation: the lack of
open campsites. However a plan B, might be to roll the Peak District and Antrim
into one road trip, to overcome the campsites issue (CS sites would probably be
open, but for a seven dayer you’re going to want full facilities at least twice
… unless you can find your way to a municipal swimming pool).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wembury Point. I don’t have a huge amount to say other than
I’d love to go back during the summer. The water had a blueness to it that you
don’t get on the north-southwest coast until you’re well past Minehead, the
soil is red and the water is between 12° and 15° as attested by the surfers who
were on the surf. There’s a small café, but we didn’t use it because we brought
lunch. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Wow what an anticlimactic blog. Enjoy the pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-33983786336840597692015-11-25T14:20:00.000-08:002015-11-25T14:20:05.211-08:00In Memoriam Roland Charles Day (Pa).<div class="MsoNormal">
Death<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Turning ones toes up, kicking the bucket, shucking off one’s
mortal coil and joining the choir invisible, to mix some metaphors. My dad did
this at 11.15am on Tuesday the 10th of November 2015 after what can be
described as a short illness, preceded by a number of other illnesses,
associated with smoking, being a coeliac, burning the proverbial candle at both
ends for too long, double knee transplants, deep bone infection, a blood clot,
and an alluded to cyst on the liver all in in parallel with ignoring doctors’
advice, ignoring my mother’s advice, ignoring the advice passed via my mother
from various people she told about my dad’s various conditions in the hope that
the stubborn old bugger may find a gem of wisdom, which would create an
epiphanous state in the aforementioned stubborn old bugger; inducing a life
prolonging adherence to sagely advice offered by numerous medical professionals
and concerned parties familial and otherwise. Did it bollocks. As my elder
brother said, he lived by his own rules, not that these contradicted any laws
or statutes (sound medical advice withstanding) or brought harm to any person
or animals in the making of his life … except some ants he once incinerated for
his children’s amusement using Humbrol Thinners as an accelerant and a match.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Death is very final, very definite, the end. No more
questions, no more worries about things you said, didn’t say, did or didn’t do.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is a most levelling experience for those of us that go
forward from that point … relay runners carrying a baton, or maybe more poetic;
torch bearers carrying the flame forth through the allotted time we have, before
we also, end. From the bio-electrical spark of sperm and egg to the final
discharge of life's battery. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You suddenly deduct your age from the age of your
nearest and dearest and run a mean time on how much time you may have left of
life, and realise time is short. Don’t waste it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Grief<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Grief is the hangover experienced by the departed's nearest
and dearest in the immediate and long term aftermath of the deceased’s
deceasing. And I guess this is more about grief than it is about Pa (as the
deceased shall now be referred to from hence forth) passing ... there is very little he can do about it. I've been around some
deaths leading up to this one (sort of warm up deaths in readiness for a main
sequence death). As time goes by, as your elders get even elder, you turn your
thoughts to their demise and hope that you can live up to their expectations of
you in the immediate aftermath; things like be sad that's ok, but don't be an
utter bellend and collapse into yourself like you died too. With respect; that
is probably an outcome for many, and in the wake (see what I did there?) of
Pa's passing I can see how crushing a parent, a child’s, a life partners death
can be, but to let that experience destroy you dishonours those that went
before. Life we realise above (and hopefully in time) is shorter than you think …
`It’s Later Than You Think’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For what can only be described as `most of the time' I'm OK,
even though it was only fourteen days ago that Pa breathed his last; frail
looking, yellow white, waxen and riven with blue veins as the hospital cooled
and piloted his systems manually for the last forty-eight hours of his mortality. Not the greatest last mental image, but a certain knowledge that laying there, he was already beyond pain lends a certain cold comfort.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
By the time Amanda and I arrived to see him on the evening
of the 9th of November, the only thing keeping a little warmth in his
shoulders and some bio-electrical activity in his nervous system was the
constant busying of the little Indian nurse making adjustments to fourteen or
fifteen machines that go ping, and the associated pipes and cannulas. A part of
me imagined the old man `Pa' holding one hand in the corporeal while looking to
the light of the quantum realm just waiting for all the nearest and dearest to
acknowledge that the carriage was worn out, and that he should go explore the
space between the spaces, unencumbered by the vessel he had wilfully wrecked in
the pursuit of not letting `the' bastards grind him down. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I, We were the last to arrive, I hadn’t visited in the two
days before when Pa had been initially admitted with some insistent internal
pain, he usually bounced back. But then he had collapsed in hospital, and had
lain unbreathing for an unspecified amount of time, ticker ticking but clearly
somewhat oxygen starved, that was the prelude to the end. When my sister called
me to say matters had become more urgent than usual, a part of my deepest id
suggested that not making the journey would leave me bereft of a last chance,
to say something to the old man (however unheard that last something may have
been) a last rite a silent goodbye, a knowledge you'd rather be without, but have to have the stones to see it for what it is and know there is nothing anyone can do about it except make it easy for the departing. Amanda and I left Pa’s bedside around 9pm on the 9<sup>th</sup> of
November, and popped in to see my mother, then drove back to Somerset. Fourteen
or so hours later I was very glad we’d made the trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's these thoughts that reduce a man to tears. It's looking
at Brent Knoll and thinking I would have carried that obstinate bastid up it if
only he’d survived until spring and the much talked about visit to us in
Somerset. Pa never came here, 2014 came and went in a flash of sorts, and then
this year he’d just waged war against ill health starting with getting an
infection above one of his robo-knees (in his thigh bone). This saw him fitted
with a spacer where a knee was previously; basically a bar full of medication
to keep the leg the right length until a new knee could be installed, or the
leg was amputated (those were the options at one point). So no more walking at
all by the man that made all his children quick steppers. Subsequently he had blood
clot above the knee, plus a surgery to put a new knee in down the line, and
suddenly my morbid expectation that he would never see our home or surroundings
here in Somerset becomes less negativity, and more like a pragmatism borne of
some internal algorithmic probability engine. Being right can be a bugger, but just
seven days before Pa’s passing we spoke about when he and Ma would come down,
see the garden and get the grand tour of Somerset. He didn’t give up, death
cold cocked him in dark ally.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You imagine that you’ll be an utter wreck or a stoic brick,
Vulcan like in your stiff upper lip’edness. But the truth is you are neither.
You are you. You are you, right up until a sight on a misty morning pink tinged hills, diamond set grass and reeds, a
blackbirds shrieked flight from a hedge, or a tune that’s always tugged your
heart strings, tugs your heartstrings. And then you are neither wreck nor
stoic, you are just untethered and lost, floundering for what you feel should
be dignified and respectful missing of ones kin, without the undignified eye
watery nonsense that changes nothing. And yet it comes ... it's a funny business.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Any questions you had, save them in case you get to pose
them in the event that quantum consciousness exists, and isn’t some new balm
for the atheist soul who still really really doesn’t want the end to be the end
if at all possible. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Failing the unlikely event of the consciousness staying as a
coherent form after death, all those questions you had will now and forever
remain unanswered except anecdotally by the deceased’s survivors. Anything you
wanted to say, too late. There will be no more moments. There will be no more
picking up the phone rather than picking up your twenty year old copy of the
`Readers Digest Encyclopaedia of DIY’. There is an absence, a void an almost
quiet part in your own head where once someone’s voice had a corner. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The collected sounds of forty-eight and bit years shared on
the same planet, twenty one of which in the same house. Memories of that voice
are not the same as that voice being part of your internal background chatter.
A reference point, an anchor, a light in the dark when all other lights have
failed. Wherever your parents are you have a home, and suddenly you understand
that at some point the only home you’ll have in the future is the home you make
for yourself, and that at best you’ll willingly serve the same purpose for your
own children. It’s the final part of becoming a grown up in your own right. The
ethers umbilical’s are cut, you are more your own than ever before, and while
in one sense you are finally nearly just your own, you are less also. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You … I, gather strands of memory like wisps of smoke and
plait them together, to create some blanket of cold comfort, a sack of received
wisdom you need to sort through ensuring that nothing is lost, but the fact is,
that you’re looking for more than wisdom, you’re looking for the opportunity to
ask those questions you’ll never ask, or say those things you’ll never say, or
drag that old mans arse up to the top of Brent Knoll or Crook Peak so he can
see the view you’ve come to love, to walk the beach at Kilve and marvel at the
North Jurassic coast, or any of the other sights we’ve seen this last year and
a half, never mind going through the hundreds of as yet unseen pictures our
recent travels. You’ll never share the knowledge that you think you made the
right choice moving west, or that he’d be happy going to his rest, knowing you
had made the right choice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now the twist, the irreverent humour that we the
children of Roland Charles Day shared in the wake of his passing. He died on
the 10<sup>th</sup> of November 2015 and started work again the following
Monday 16<sup>th</sup> of November as a professional dead person at Kings
College Hospital. He left his mortal remains to science for the furthering of
medicine. In one to three years we will share a sombre day of memory as his
cremated remains are returned to us and his journey on Earth finally ends as
heat vapour and ashes, Fire, Earth, Air and Water, the stuff of the Universe,
of stars and planets.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Memories fade, but energy is never destroyed, just
redistributed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hasta la vista Pa, I didn’t realise how much learning you’d
imparted until you’d left the building. Thanks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-17187842721161267422015-10-19T13:00:00.000-07:002015-10-19T13:00:54.694-07:00Still Here<div class="MsoNormal">
There no reasons for me to excuse our absence from the blog
since May. And I’m not going to, I am instead going to offer some reasons in
brief.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
We haven’t really done much all summer. Amanda has used Moho
once for a one night stopover in a place called Pool Bridge out on Exmoor, and
I think we stayed one night on our friends drive earlier this summer for a
party.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
And that is the extent of our moho travels this summer. The
reasons for this have been mostly financial, we’ve been skint `again’, due to
the difficulty I had getting a job locally (I really did think with my
background in the city that I’d fall into job, how wrong I was).</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I worked a literal, three back breaking months in a garden
centre, Wyevale Group as a wage slave. My opinion of Wyevale is such that I
will never spend a penny in one of their premises ever again. If you haven’t
worked in retail on minimum wage, then you cannot possibly understand why the
working poor exist, and like me prior to the experience, you probably think the
working poor are poor because they can’t be arsed to do better. How wrong that
perception is. </div>
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I’ll have moments digression on their behalf. You came into
work in a recession, you did two years college or maybe even university. At the
two year point you had to get a vocational placement or your studies couldn’t
continue. There was a recession, there were no placements available, you had no
income to support yourself and you couldn’t continue with your studies, so you
took on a job, any job just to stay afloat. And three, four, five years later
you’re still there. Because you only earn £6.50 an hour, some weeks you only
get your minimum hours (circa 16 so the company doesn’t have a National
Insurance bill), and if things are really slow you get banked. I can’t imagine
how tough it is in zero hours where a guaranteed 16 hours would be manna from
heaven. Now the economy is in growth, you can’t get further borrowing because
you don’t earn enough and or don't have a guaranteed level of income and or you’re
excluded because modern apprenticeships pay less than half of minimum wage <a href="https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/who-gets-the-minimum-wage">https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/who-gets-the-minimum-wage</a>
for the first year of the apprenticeship (read all about it from the link). </div>
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Paraphrase the above, for those that were made redundant because of the recession.
And then find a percentage of people with moderate learning difficulties to
tick the disability box, and some lovely old ladies earning pin money (though
it’s nowhere near as nice as it was when it was an independent, and they’ve
made us all change our hours or we’ll be out of a job, and I only used to come
in for a bit to help with my pension and some company/banter since I retired
from full-time work ...), and you have a garden centre. And sitting on top of
this festering exploitation dung heap you have a board of directors <a href="http://www.wyevalegardencentres.co.uk/about-us/board-of-directors">http://www.wyevalegardencentres.co.uk/about-us/board-of-directors</a>
all wanking their egos trying to grow a business (using the homogensing one
size fits all stack em high sell em cheap technique ... well not really cheap,
well in actual fact really quite expensive) all on the backs of some of the
most unfortunate people I have ever worked with or known in work. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBphgdGWFnzzqsDQmM6yaTkyKbSufwoPH5Tz7uAD197pY3knNZY6fTfHM253qqrpy-Bbh6AR8THTTRYfKz9bMp9YZl9WOI0vzVDiVnW4lJ0EbCqLBOo-sIDF8nm4ihAyPvTI5Kat9CCgU/s1600/20150601_112752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBphgdGWFnzzqsDQmM6yaTkyKbSufwoPH5Tz7uAD197pY3knNZY6fTfHM253qqrpy-Bbh6AR8THTTRYfKz9bMp9YZl9WOI0vzVDiVnW4lJ0EbCqLBOo-sIDF8nm4ihAyPvTI5Kat9CCgU/s320/20150601_112752.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Having been through this particular whringer for a few
months, having been taken on permanently (allegedly), only to find out when my
contract arrived that the centre manager decided to change the terms of the employment
offer after the fact; to a seasonal role (yup an absolute and total disregard
for the terms of offer of employment or contract ... if you don’t like it you
can always leave). I have joined a small IBM outfit a mile from home. As they
are my current employer I am going to be expedient with my feelings about the
overall conditions and the working environment. But I will say, IBM has some
way to go before it meets it’s own expectations of itself. It is better than
than the garden centre by many country miles, but I think it falls way short of
the standards IBM touts on its corporate website.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXztWuvqjSui1iuEh7BKbNO9H0LPHGAmeVaTODeJT8LhG0vb6aFtG5wUnTRkOK5QFRwYu1cayvo9qfWlJh1U7LvxNMsE_rGzGOXqpI7A3rZLidn8lNUdDovDi0ZnW9geXn9zBdz7YgO7w/s1600/20150809_115201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXztWuvqjSui1iuEh7BKbNO9H0LPHGAmeVaTODeJT8LhG0vb6aFtG5wUnTRkOK5QFRwYu1cayvo9qfWlJh1U7LvxNMsE_rGzGOXqpI7A3rZLidn8lNUdDovDi0ZnW9geXn9zBdz7YgO7w/s320/20150809_115201.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Back to the main thrust, though I think I may have hijacked
myself above. In the absence of travel, we have concentrated on getting back in
the black and then skidding along the black, doing jobs that required very
little money, like digging gardens and stripping walls, all stuff we have
blogged before and had no intention of boring people with again, but in another
house. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-MkWeT-qdWXEwCn8l30ScETb1dHi5cGNUXUktP13mlpG3quqne5HAo19WY26TvxQf0dMd6cI6pyzQybKM-FP-CtG7SrhXCOl8T3aSp2gyUXv4tpLsRKynMaJtnCFyYsBqpKmgbBoWi6M/s1600/20150922_185131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-MkWeT-qdWXEwCn8l30ScETb1dHi5cGNUXUktP13mlpG3quqne5HAo19WY26TvxQf0dMd6cI6pyzQybKM-FP-CtG7SrhXCOl8T3aSp2gyUXv4tpLsRKynMaJtnCFyYsBqpKmgbBoWi6M/s320/20150922_185131.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Today as I write, I’ve been at IBM for three months and a
bit, Amanda has been at a Solicitors in Bridgwater for six months. I’ve spent
twelve of fourteen weeks decorating the hall and stairs (proper money helps
with these projects). We couldn’t get finance together for a skim, so I did a
lot of fill and paint, fill and paint, so much so that I have tennis elbow,
which I can assure the reader is a proper aggravation and very painful when it wants to be. I’ve 90% finished the
back bedroom, we just need to find some nice curtains and hang some pictures. Three
weeks ago we had a multi fuel stove installed this was the one really big ticket
item we wanted done before the winter. It only took two days to install, but in
a mid-terrace house without a chimney breast of any description in the
original build, things get a little complicated and quite expensive (though not
prohibitively so). </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW6IUdnVTE8OcdOVZAviwGH-t-OeFH6jMgivz0yPoy74o82A0M_qStYONHMYrIIauF6lxtQed0Wl2AGK0mq2eBlMg5MQeXAbuocJX1qs6QVRlumXIYxoDHVYFK2Olq2MEaaC_vII1bAvk/s1600/20150906_120404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW6IUdnVTE8OcdOVZAviwGH-t-OeFH6jMgivz0yPoy74o82A0M_qStYONHMYrIIauF6lxtQed0Wl2AGK0mq2eBlMg5MQeXAbuocJX1qs6QVRlumXIYxoDHVYFK2Olq2MEaaC_vII1bAvk/s320/20150906_120404.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I’ll post some pictures of the process another day, I will
also post some pictures of the odds and end we have done this year, a montage.
I’m aware that I’ve made the year sound terrible, but the truth is as I sit and
scribble,that aside from the decorating, we have in no particular order been:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0-6Qm6hKQGR-LHr1llG7lFrYzOmAjyQQHJwxU_bWMJrerw_5WryBSvYS1vCD44beHRtSzwq3j7VChiXsNAMgN57GbpG-6NASqG1LFeTHp84jVhZOeInbVcpPKXgYWsrjjzmnWyXide6A/s1600/20150919_120549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0-6Qm6hKQGR-LHr1llG7lFrYzOmAjyQQHJwxU_bWMJrerw_5WryBSvYS1vCD44beHRtSzwq3j7VChiXsNAMgN57GbpG-6NASqG1LFeTHp84jVhZOeInbVcpPKXgYWsrjjzmnWyXide6A/s320/20150919_120549.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Back to Kilve, to Tarr Steps, Salcombe for the fireworks,
out murmuration hunting on Shapwick Heath, up Burrow Mump, dug a pond, planted
a tonne of plants rescued from the garden centre skip, up West Quantocks head, Yomped around an ancient lead mine in Shropshire, visited Iron Bridge, walking on our local beach, out around the confluence of the three river mouths
on our doorstep and a load of other stuff that escapes my mind, and the year
isn’t over just yet. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY9-sGFZOH6tQcL27iKlLMKnmqTQw-uSR3CLirqUIOi55r2M_X1jlPbpEsp7JeIrrm1bhG5aTcZLXgQCk72Lgr8039hxtQlrTlN8dBxg4MulKW-GrXHFa0yPz2neT12VeH3A1-j-kfmAw/s1600/20151003_154739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY9-sGFZOH6tQcL27iKlLMKnmqTQw-uSR3CLirqUIOi55r2M_X1jlPbpEsp7JeIrrm1bhG5aTcZLXgQCk72Lgr8039hxtQlrTlN8dBxg4MulKW-GrXHFa0yPz2neT12VeH3A1-j-kfmAw/s320/20151003_154739.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So that’s that, the Twitter feed down the side proves we’re
alive. And hopefully we’ll be back on the bounce next year when projects drop
below £500 a month, and can be done in the evenings, leaving those important
weekends free. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8B-t4vshkOM71IaJuTktTS7j0q0obvd78z81mZUwWDw05ckTXOeyCPjOKIqPkVNsJvdDh8_xjqu1egX36lxADMJqc2YETb_rQGTgcuGkPIK0bc5S0QcE4d6zJORqrGUdvjlqwzf-ggiY/s1600/20151002_171052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8B-t4vshkOM71IaJuTktTS7j0q0obvd78z81mZUwWDw05ckTXOeyCPjOKIqPkVNsJvdDh8_xjqu1egX36lxADMJqc2YETb_rQGTgcuGkPIK0bc5S0QcE4d6zJORqrGUdvjlqwzf-ggiY/s320/20151002_171052.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-41860791583775235082015-05-18T05:19:00.000-07:002015-05-18T05:23:33.019-07:00Porlock Weir<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Last week on my birthday we went to Porlock Weir. It's a small fishing
village just down the coast from us (about an hour if you get caught behind a
tractor trimming the
verges). Weir http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porlock_Weir.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OEYDKRyHCGU/VVnVnUyBegI/AAAAAAAANsY/epWHvXP6WJ0/s1600/20150513_150153%2B%282015_05_13%2B19_33_59%2BUTC%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OEYDKRyHCGU/VVnVnUyBegI/AAAAAAAANsY/epWHvXP6WJ0/s320/20150513_150153%2B(2015_05_13%2B19_33_59%2BUTC).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tiny really tiny.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The weather was fantastic, the drive superb in the Alfa with the roof down, heading west along the A39
coast road. The place itself like many of the northern coastal towns of the
southwest, almost entirely isolated end of the road destinations. That may
sound obvious, but in the context of many of the southern coastal towns, there
is a road in one side and out the other. Along the north, there is a road in
that is the road out, hanging off the A39 like a tendril, and very often those
roads are little more than farm tracks. The north coast of southwest is very
different to the south coast of the southwest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BgND_jt2b4g/VVnWKt-dUOI/AAAAAAAANtY/YDOU76lENVM/s1600/20150513_140930%2B%282015_05_13%2B18_33_50%2BUTC%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BgND_jt2b4g/VVnWKt-dUOI/AAAAAAAANtY/YDOU76lENVM/s320/20150513_140930%2B(2015_05_13%2B18_33_50%2BUTC).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The road in and out</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday day out ... birthday suit, there is a story behind this.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q9whcLFPnPk/VVnWYrzk_TI/AAAAAAAANtw/H3HV3RRM-h4/s1600/20150513_134552%2B%282015_05_13%2B19_33_59%2BUTC%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q9whcLFPnPk/VVnWYrzk_TI/AAAAAAAANtw/H3HV3RRM-h4/s320/20150513_134552%2B(2015_05_13%2B19_33_59%2BUTC).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can make all the buildings disappear by walking to the waters edge.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We didn't do much while we were there, a short walk (me knackered from
work the day before, Amanda still having knee problems), a quick scoot round
www.exmoorglass.co.uk (superb handmade glassware) and a pint before a civilised
drive home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4OL0jroOifM/VVnWbZKN1BI/AAAAAAAANt4/szfuO8p_LP8/s1600/20150513_134540%2B%282015_05_13%2B19_33_59%2BUTC%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4OL0jroOifM/VVnWbZKN1BI/AAAAAAAANt4/szfuO8p_LP8/s320/20150513_134540%2B(2015_05_13%2B19_33_59%2BUTC).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Ie5oljCk7Y/VVnWe75G1oI/AAAAAAAANuA/bh3f6U1JQSY/s1600/20150513_134524%2B%282015_05_13%2B19_33_59%2BUTC%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Ie5oljCk7Y/VVnWe75G1oI/AAAAAAAANuA/bh3f6U1JQSY/s320/20150513_134524%2B(2015_05_13%2B19_33_59%2BUTC).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheltered Bay (sort of)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coast path yonder (campsite over there, we will be going back asap).</td></tr>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-38241488449358992712015-05-18T04:50:00.002-07:002015-05-18T05:21:56.936-07:00A bit more wibble.It feels like we haven't done much in months, however the photographic record begs to differ. The issue (if there is one) is that I haven't been writing anything other than cover letters and doing more CV tailoring, and in-between times working some very odd days at the garden centre. There are a couple of things to know about this: 1. it's the most exhausting thing I've ever done to make money (and I spent three weeks hodding bricks once when I was made redundant). 2. It takes a day at least to recover from working for two days, mentally and physically (defined as so physically exhausted the brain just can't function at a higher level, this isn't to say that the job isn't enjoyable in its basic form, but it leaves little time for us and our shenanigans ). 3. I'm in project mode and need to earn some more money and get my `every other weekend' back so Amanda and I can do stuff together.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1VjSooGd-kmNCT_SpINjwBEEIZ_m3bmr38L8SQncDJu2C04KFVo7qCnLxn381fBaCWto9hlKzTWIz5CmjzScvRE5AeyPEtVOCv6aMBNpXIqGwlgsyaXtiFYc0FrgJgJDjD3RgMnWqxOY/s1600/20150503_144632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1VjSooGd-kmNCT_SpINjwBEEIZ_m3bmr38L8SQncDJu2C04KFVo7qCnLxn381fBaCWto9hlKzTWIz5CmjzScvRE5AeyPEtVOCv6aMBNpXIqGwlgsyaXtiFYc0FrgJgJDjD3RgMnWqxOY/s320/20150503_144632.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Harrisons' Hawaiian Themed Birthday Party (before it got all drunken and silly :-) )</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Aside from this we've been putting all our data stuff up into the cloud. it's taken since the 9th of March until maybe seven days ago to get the basics done. Primarily because BT only guarantee download speed not upload speed. So shifting 229gb of data when upload is 0mbps (yes zero megabits per second), tends to add an overhead. And despite complaints about the service from all quarters BT are quite content to offer platitudes and take your money ... and laugh in your face.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dSu29mj8df8/VVnMgPs6ydI/AAAAAAAANo0/Hfn84h8JkTk/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dSu29mj8df8/VVnMgPs6ydI/AAAAAAAANo0/Hfn84h8JkTk/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B004.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-51LmQKU_Jj4/VVnMRETuzpI/AAAAAAAANoM/GSDpsVrsyP4/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-51LmQKU_Jj4/VVnMRETuzpI/AAAAAAAANoM/GSDpsVrsyP4/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B049.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waveney Down</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jcHF-mt66CY/VVnMSqCpaJI/AAAAAAAANoU/vMSsgdyefvI/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jcHF-mt66CY/VVnMSqCpaJI/AAAAAAAANoU/vMSsgdyefvI/s320/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B062.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BARB Burnham on Sea rescue </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IT-CpxMzHSY/VVnMayxj88I/AAAAAAAANok/uqo4duF2-a8/s1600/2015-01-04%2B13.56.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IT-CpxMzHSY/VVnMayxj88I/AAAAAAAANok/uqo4duF2-a8/s320/2015-01-04%2B13.56.21.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Audries Bay waterfall</td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XmE8FzOV1eE/VVnMePLBvWI/AAAAAAAANos/D3QSlq7Fkc4/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XmE8FzOV1eE/VVnMePLBvWI/AAAAAAAANos/D3QSlq7Fkc4/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_i7ALBXHh0/VVnMjNVz1QI/AAAAAAAANo8/NtG87KiUsZ4/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_i7ALBXHh0/VVnMjNVz1QI/AAAAAAAANo8/NtG87KiUsZ4/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We've been to Cyprus for 12 nights but we really didn't do much apart from drinking like teenagers, and sharing some time with a group of our friends from the UK, it's been a while since we all amassed in one place for a jolly, and a grand time was had by all.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OqACdFnzdro/VVnMoD5XmJI/AAAAAAAANpE/kYA3q7shUNE/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OqACdFnzdro/VVnMoD5XmJI/AAAAAAAANpE/kYA3q7shUNE/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B015.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kilve Beach</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Htp8fBUInR0/VVnMyiuxjxI/AAAAAAAANpU/eGw2JmvnWag/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Htp8fBUInR0/VVnMyiuxjxI/AAAAAAAANpU/eGw2JmvnWag/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B037.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qnldWmzhAE0/VVnM3OnWiDI/AAAAAAAANpg/ORiScioV9mk/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qnldWmzhAE0/VVnM3OnWiDI/AAAAAAAANpg/ORiScioV9mk/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B045.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HHI-Shj9hpo/VVnM582AsDI/AAAAAAAANps/333d8B7NEY0/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HHI-Shj9hpo/VVnM582AsDI/AAAAAAAANps/333d8B7NEY0/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B046.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The North Jurrassic Coast ...Triassic as well and much in between</td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OAteyW28RMU/VVnM9vT2-PI/AAAAAAAANp0/2ucYgTjFt6g/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OAteyW28RMU/VVnM9vT2-PI/AAAAAAAANp0/2ucYgTjFt6g/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B099.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-flyrdqj5aFM/VVnNCzYnrJI/AAAAAAAANp8/NuE7Th1kFYY/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-flyrdqj5aFM/VVnNCzYnrJI/AAAAAAAANp8/NuE7Th1kFYY/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B116.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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Moho is currently off the road with a damaged CV gaiter and brake line (which I can tell you was very exciting for the few seconds it took me to realise that I couldn't stop the van while trying to pull out of our turning). But this has inconvenienced us little as Amanda has a new toy, to whit an Alfa (not Alpha ... I tweeted it wrong and haven't heard the last of it) Romeo Spyder.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0o7JRgMBCvs5g33wc28RykwvBnzeeNpNX2tOOvWO5c9cKkuHnp9nUU6w_px3Fz4gBbI-ED0OxC4jWh7uD_POJDcZtRmHGOKboxxnFsOqWv-MOtj0MyJ2INVrhHphPDS9z15g95j-ANrM/s1600/20150516_101655.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0o7JRgMBCvs5g33wc28RykwvBnzeeNpNX2tOOvWO5c9cKkuHnp9nUU6w_px3Fz4gBbI-ED0OxC4jWh7uD_POJDcZtRmHGOKboxxnFsOqWv-MOtj0MyJ2INVrhHphPDS9z15g95j-ANrM/s320/20150516_101655.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moho's new chum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So that's us for now. coasting without a plan, other than for the garden. Back to being skint again ... I think on balance we are pretty shit with money and live in the now. Though if you were to ask me I'd say I'm careful and considered, reality appears to make me at worst a fibber and at best delusional.<br />
Here's a few pics from the last few weeks.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9B-O13kaNoc/VVnNLAIxnNI/AAAAAAAANqM/aTPTgVnwjqk/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9B-O13kaNoc/VVnNLAIxnNI/AAAAAAAANqM/aTPTgVnwjqk/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B141.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QyrmU6DDHZU/VVnNQVZespI/AAAAAAAANqU/IXu5pzSnh5A/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QyrmU6DDHZU/VVnNQVZespI/AAAAAAAANqU/IXu5pzSnh5A/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B143.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kilve Beach</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L4gQmnyAeeQ/VVnNVJSlSDI/AAAAAAAANqc/XYRB6gZoLcc/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L4gQmnyAeeQ/VVnNVJSlSDI/AAAAAAAANqc/XYRB6gZoLcc/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B146.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DYxCotbEF6o/VVnNaERVSZI/AAAAAAAANqk/Vd7ucwvvPTQ/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DYxCotbEF6o/VVnNaERVSZI/AAAAAAAANqk/Vd7ucwvvPTQ/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B145.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balancing Rocks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1OxxwND_JMU/VVnNcP9L4jI/AAAAAAAANqs/N77hjbAqxHU/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1OxxwND_JMU/VVnNcP9L4jI/AAAAAAAANqs/N77hjbAqxHU/s320/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BKilve%2B%2Band%2BFebruary%2B150.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2rxSs_an6i8/VVnNfmqkrAI/AAAAAAAANq0/7WfP6iTMX3I/s1600/20150217_144717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2rxSs_an6i8/VVnNfmqkrAI/AAAAAAAANq0/7WfP6iTMX3I/s320/20150217_144717.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Buzzard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_UaW9tkubxs/VVnNk3cOY7I/AAAAAAAANq8/I2ewG31P5q0/s1600/20150221_083313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_UaW9tkubxs/VVnNk3cOY7I/AAAAAAAANq8/I2ewG31P5q0/s320/20150221_083313.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super Spring Tide</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L22lQH9xdQg/VVnNmAxgfyI/AAAAAAAANrE/wQqPP6-6uQc/s1600/20150221_100147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L22lQH9xdQg/VVnNmAxgfyI/AAAAAAAANrE/wQqPP6-6uQc/s320/20150221_100147.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clifton Suspension Bridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CeQc5GW4lZU/VVnNpixmvXI/AAAAAAAANrM/sFXGPWNhKug/s1600/20150221_100953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CeQc5GW4lZU/VVnNpixmvXI/AAAAAAAANrM/sFXGPWNhKug/s320/20150221_100953.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-35924263625339380422015-03-19T10:05:00.000-07:002015-03-19T10:07:17.314-07:00The Hiatus Mitigation Wibble<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a while since I wrote ... it isn’t like I haven’t
had time on my hands. However looking for a job has pretty much been the
priority, and so yes I have written, for hours on end: cover letters,
application forms and CV tailoring. All to nought it seems. And by the time I’ve
finished that sort of brain draining stuff I’ve not had anything creative left
to say that wouldn’t be a string of expletives describing recruiters and
recruitment agencies. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Technically I’ve been messing about with cloud storage, and
moving our thousands of pictures and video, plus every word I’ve written on to
Onedrive, (this is a terabyte for £5.99 per month, of which currently we need
to use 200gb, therefore paying £9.99 to Google for 2tb wasn’t good value for
money. And especially so when you consider your free 15gb, that you can use
just for blog stuff via Picasa ... see there is a nerd in me still). It’s an
ongoing project despite having unlimited broadband. There is a bottleneck, and
it’s our now `old’ laptop.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moving swiftly on, and to cut a long story very short, I
have a job at last. It came via our next door neighbours visit to our local
garden centre. It could almost be my perfect role.; Plantsman in a garden
centre, cycling distance from home. The money is scrape by, but enough when
pooled with Amanda’s. The hours vary week to week but there is always a
minimum, and I have a qualification that is actually relevant and the
opportunity to expand the skill-set in that area. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fascinating for me was the fact that when I asked the
interviewer why the job hadn’t been advertised on recruitment sites, they said
it was pointless exercise that had a cost for almost no benefit whatsoever. The
much discussed `recruitment black-hole’ described so often on Linkedin is
tangible on both sides of the recruitment divide. I actually took the time one
very grumpy afternoon to write to a recruiters CEO, to complain that after
three weeks of conversations and hours of research regarding a project
engineers role installing automated pharmaceutical dispensaries, that I had
been left high and dry by the consultant dealing with the client. About an hour
later I got a phone call from that agency apologising for the lack of
communication, and that the company looking for project engineers had decided a
different approach was required. Why it took a grumpy letter to be told the
truth is beyond me. There is very little integrity at the sharp end of
recruitment.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amanda also has a new job that provides proper job security
and benefits after almost a year of contracting for a quango. Things are
looking up ... he says tentatively.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But Amanda has also been on the sore end of recruiter shenanigans,
trying to keep her in place in a role she is sick to the back teeth with. While
trying to explain to the recruiters client that Amanda has to serve a notice
period way in excess of the courtesy period required for a contractor (five
days). Anecdotally it also appears as if Amanda’s new employer has suffered the
rigours of the recruitment bandits playing both ends against the middle. So for
all our hours of letter writing, CV tailoring and follow ups over months, I’ve
bagged a job by word of mouth, based on a neighbours random visit to a garden
centre looking for a funky flower pot (absolute truth). And Amanda has (unwillingly
but at my behest) pushed back at the agency hard to allow her (what is effectively
her employee right) to give a weeks notice. So that she can at least get a feel
for the new role before we travel to Cyprus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking on the positive side of these changes; it is quite
liberating, to be able to contribute financially at home again on a regular
basis, not just blocks of finite cash earned by spending weeks away at a time
in London and the surrounds living out of a back pack. It’s pleasant to be able
to go and do my hours (that literally race by) and then have all this other
time (now I have my head in the right place), to write, to look after house and
home, do lots of cooking etc. Of course a Premium Bonds or Lottery Jackpot win
wouldn’t go amiss. But after the other 70 million people in the UK wishing for
this concession from the fates, I’m sure I’d be first in the queue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aside from all the job hunting and settling into new
routines, we have been out and about at the weekends, fossil hunting, yomping
and being agog at what a fabulous country this one is. The bike is finally out
of the shed after an entire winter without a single use (be ashamed, be very
ashamed G). We are swimming twice a week, though we’d like to do more. And we
have hundreds of new pictures from our wanders to post. However, remember
techno bottleneck above? Well it’s genuinely holding things in abeyance. Before
I can really get back on top of pictures and words I need to sort out the
groundwork. And it’s at time like this, I can only put my hands together and say
a little thank you to the vastness of the cosmos, that I have an IT background,
because If I didn’t I really wouldn’t know where to start. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So without further ado, I’ll bid you adieu, because I need
to link our external storage drive as our Cloud Folder, for the final big
synch, spec out a new PC with wireless to be our central server, format this
laptop and rebuild it from scratch as a: typing while sitting in the comfy
chair machine (did I mention I bought a second hand MAN chair ... it’s wicked).
Drop the Onedrive app on our phones and tablet and then set up the synch
settings to ensure, local deletions don’t affect cloud data. And then find a
relatively convenient way to get files from Onedrive to Blogger, sure in the
knowledge that someone somewhere is making sure all our precious data is
multiply redundant on many servers ... as well as on our 2tb external unit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-11248836200692021022015-01-27T12:09:00.000-08:002015-01-27T12:10:57.998-08:00Wavering Down and Cross Plain, Mendips.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rqg4Ag4T6JU/VMej4qjdJEI/AAAAAAAAGmg/RUpyoJoqYdI/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rqg4Ag4T6JU/VMej4qjdJEI/AAAAAAAAGmg/RUpyoJoqYdI/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B050.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cultivated and uncultivated</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday last, feeling somewhat recovered from germs (though
still not fighting fit by any means), we took the opportunity in bright sun but
fearsome cold to take a walk up Compton Hill, above the village of Compton
Bishop. Then across Wavering Down, then over Cross Plain, above the village of
Cross down past an old quarry site for a pint, and then back home. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a7sqZ2NpO6M/VMejPhTRC-I/AAAAAAAAGmA/hORS1ZoMdR0/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a7sqZ2NpO6M/VMejPhTRC-I/AAAAAAAAGmA/hORS1ZoMdR0/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B019.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Cross Plain belowFor me it was hard work breathing wise but the legs could
have gone on forever. For Amanda the reverse, the knees were rebelling but the
breathing was fine ... once warmed up. As per previous post, the lumbar spine
has been bitching ever since, but once I’m back in the pool perhaps that will
change the overall `physical dynamic’, to use unnecessarily flowery language. We
would like to point out that this time last year in Spain we were super duper
fighting fit. The difference couldn’t be more stark.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dBIOj4Y6W6M/VMelPS4AbzI/AAAAAAAAGng/4_mKxD1FHoM/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dBIOj4Y6W6M/VMelPS4AbzI/AAAAAAAAGng/4_mKxD1FHoM/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B012.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crook Peak, Brent Knoll</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back to the present. For context, this route starts in the
same place as the walk up to Crook Peak but turns right (east) at the top of
Compton Hill not left (west). As walks go it isn’t that long maybe three miles,
but it is steep in places and the views are spectacular. You walk among sheep,
and gorse and bracken, across close cropped grass and patches of land, where
with a little more erosion, I think you would find something akin to Limestone
pavement. Between that condition and its current condition is this thin layer
of soil covered in tough grass. Here and there the soil is deep enough to hold
a lot of water and the red mud sticks the proverbial to a blanket.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hi5Bn2wqT7Q/VMelH0tIk3I/AAAAAAAAGnY/0VVi6omQGSg/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hi5Bn2wqT7Q/VMelH0tIk3I/AAAAAAAAGnY/0VVi6omQGSg/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B011.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crook Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Down in the quarry at the end of our particular walk you can
see the layers of limestone. Right at the foot of the man made cliff you can
see a stain on the rock where water percolates down onto the slab, this is stained
black from saturation and then drying. It’s a fascinating look at the way water
makes its way through an aquifer and out through cracks, and gives a clue to
the workings of Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole a way inland. Take a close look
at the picture of crystallised pocket in the cliff, this clearly predates the
quarry and gives an idea of what’s probably going on elsewhere in the rock that
makes up the Mendips.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crook_Peak_to_Shute_Shelve_Hill#Geological">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crook_Peak_to_Shute_Shelve_Hill#Geological</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wookey_Hole_Caves">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wookey_Hole_Caves</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Gorge</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As ever enjoy the pictures.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F7pmgGsH9aw/VMfijZGA61I/AAAAAAAAGuM/gEcSfGSBgqs/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F7pmgGsH9aw/VMfijZGA61I/AAAAAAAAGuM/gEcSfGSBgqs/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B038.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hills are Alive</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eWgsQeeJCCk/VMei4-y-OxI/AAAAAAAAGls/T3wxtcdQwJw/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eWgsQeeJCCk/VMei4-y-OxI/AAAAAAAAGls/T3wxtcdQwJw/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B011.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drystone wall repairs, with profile boards</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yxXsZ0IC1sA/VMejYW2lKDI/AAAAAAAAGmI/gJscVOPy_3o/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yxXsZ0IC1sA/VMejYW2lKDI/AAAAAAAAGmI/gJscVOPy_3o/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B026.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bXueOd7g9Mw/VMejglJGlfI/AAAAAAAAGmQ/5H6YbaWzX7o/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bXueOd7g9Mw/VMejglJGlfI/AAAAAAAAGmQ/5H6YbaWzX7o/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B044.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheddar Reservoir and Glastonbury Tor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xtmW-ED5CaQ/VMejvK1xqvI/AAAAAAAAGmY/cL7BrNavEUw/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xtmW-ED5CaQ/VMejvK1xqvI/AAAAAAAAGmY/cL7BrNavEUw/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B049.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HGtbRNC7vgE/VMekJLS9GrI/AAAAAAAAGmo/E1z_Oa9312U/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HGtbRNC7vgE/VMekJLS9GrI/AAAAAAAAGmo/E1z_Oa9312U/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B057.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quarry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7gxavUBcpww/VMekYbz7t3I/AAAAAAAAGmw/-DEUHnoMnU8/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7gxavUBcpww/VMekYbz7t3I/AAAAAAAAGmw/-DEUHnoMnU8/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B063.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Limestone pocket with crystals</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q21bbXQaSXA/VMekpYHPZaI/AAAAAAAAGm4/P9Fh9UUe15k/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B065.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q21bbXQaSXA/VMekpYHPZaI/AAAAAAAAGm4/P9Fh9UUe15k/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B065.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water Stains at the foot of the Quarry Cliff</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eOv7F69L3wY/VMekwzfvhSI/AAAAAAAAGnA/quUegoLVs6c/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eOv7F69L3wY/VMekwzfvhSI/AAAAAAAAGnA/quUegoLVs6c/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B003.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drywall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SODKdbuXCbQ/VMek4reNPHI/AAAAAAAAGnI/w3BYVdDbj9o/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SODKdbuXCbQ/VMek4reNPHI/AAAAAAAAGnI/w3BYVdDbj9o/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B006.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sxvDGJ04suo/VMelATlwmnI/AAAAAAAAGnQ/IP0Lb4fwRqM/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sxvDGJ04suo/VMelATlwmnI/AAAAAAAAGnQ/IP0Lb4fwRqM/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B008.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drywall Protection</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gHIYWiVNTbM/VMelWg3c4zI/AAAAAAAAGno/gfIECJLP8DE/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gHIYWiVNTbM/VMelWg3c4zI/AAAAAAAAGno/gfIECJLP8DE/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B015.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1UZwGHnTajc/VMeleVNYocI/AAAAAAAAGnw/YmtAvrQ4q-U/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1UZwGHnTajc/VMeleVNYocI/AAAAAAAAGnw/YmtAvrQ4q-U/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B019.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House on Cross Plain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3cQeZBNlHBA/VMellSJJLYI/AAAAAAAAGn4/k3mp_lrcQJc/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3cQeZBNlHBA/VMellSJJLYI/AAAAAAAAGn4/k3mp_lrcQJc/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B032.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lvX7-g-eW5U/VMfiK6LdotI/AAAAAAAAGt0/XAVvukO7sKE/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lvX7-g-eW5U/VMfiK6LdotI/AAAAAAAAGt0/XAVvukO7sKE/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B033.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where's me Wellies</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L3DzrdMpIQ0/VMfiST8-XYI/AAAAAAAAGt8/IkoiOYLnyQ4/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L3DzrdMpIQ0/VMfiST8-XYI/AAAAAAAAGt8/IkoiOYLnyQ4/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B052.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tmCg21rOaHs/VMfiaVDyB6I/AAAAAAAAGuE/r92FE7cUf_k/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tmCg21rOaHs/VMfiaVDyB6I/AAAAAAAAGuE/r92FE7cUf_k/s1600/Amanda%2BOlympus%2BWaveny%2BDown%2Band%2BCross%2BPlain%2B020.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F7pmgGsH9aw/VMfijZGA61I/AAAAAAAAGuM/gEcSfGSBgqs/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F7pmgGsH9aw/VMfijZGA61I/AAAAAAAAGuM/gEcSfGSBgqs/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BCrook%2BPeak%2BWaveny%2BDown%2B038.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hills are Alive</td></tr>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-82328769221742779422015-01-27T08:10:00.000-08:002015-01-27T08:11:55.830-08:00Burnham on Sea Beach in January<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3OEBsWKrlk/VMeq6583F_I/AAAAAAAAGoM/6wsH4btCKps/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3OEBsWKrlk/VMeq6583F_I/AAAAAAAAGoM/6wsH4btCKps/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B086.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Aside from walks on the hills north and south of Burnham on
Sea this month, we have taken (or I have taken as I get rather bored being
stuck indoors) walks along the beach during the last month. The idea is that we
are getting in shape to do the Mission Mendip Walk later this year (whether I
can take that kind of punishment I will know in a couple more weeks, it’s an 18
mile walk and my lumbar didn’t half complain the other day. However it may just
be a case of building back up). But I digress.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UedehI6O8tg/VMerAWyXXyI/AAAAAAAAGoU/Gjt-JyKteCU/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BDecember%2B14%2BJanuary%2B15%2B002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UedehI6O8tg/VMerAWyXXyI/AAAAAAAAGoU/Gjt-JyKteCU/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BDecember%2B14%2BJanuary%2B15%2B002.JPG" height="168" width="320" /></a></div>
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When the sun shines ... and even when it doesn’t, Burnham
beach always has people walking their dogs, walking themselves, running,
kiting, land yachting, metal detecting , fishing or kicking a ball about. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uJ2aX6THou8/VMerRuSgFMI/AAAAAAAAGok/pr7e2bD7wKg/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BDecember%2B14%2BJanuary%2B15%2B017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uJ2aX6THou8/VMerRuSgFMI/AAAAAAAAGok/pr7e2bD7wKg/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BDecember%2B14%2BJanuary%2B15%2B017.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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Maybe it’s because there are no Groynes, maybe it’s because
the town is almost an island right on the seas edge, self contained with a
captive audience. I think I’m saying other beach fronts I’ve been to are busy,
but none to my recollection have been quite so busy or well utilised as Burnham
on Sea given the towns apparent size.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3_xrUbv1M2Q/VMesJ-1mgOI/AAAAAAAAGpU/43PytPEpKKc/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3_xrUbv1M2Q/VMesJ-1mgOI/AAAAAAAAGpU/43PytPEpKKc/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B018.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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The pictures below are all from this month, taken by myself
or Amanda. Amanda has taken some excellent zoomed shots; mine a little less
exciting. They extend from our neck of the woods round by the river mouth
(River Brue) out as far as the Lighthouse (mentioned recently in the Huffington
Post as one of the world’s most beautiful <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/homeawaycouk/worlds-most-beautiful-lighthouses_b_3676915.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/homeawaycouk/worlds-most-beautiful-lighthouses_b_3676915.html</a>).
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yP759tF_oZM/VMeu0aABn8I/AAAAAAAAGrI/Z54x7RPBjNU/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2Bbeach%2B270115%2B043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yP759tF_oZM/VMeu0aABn8I/AAAAAAAAGrI/Z54x7RPBjNU/s1600/Graeme%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2Bbeach%2B270115%2B043.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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The mud can appear, silver, blue or tea coloured dependent
on the light conditions. It can look like gently moving water or be pan flat
depending on the previous tides conditions. The Quantocks can be erased by a
subtle mist lit by a white sun, and the sea can be fearfully rough as it slams
the steps and sea wall. There is architecture and interest, little quirks, and
a sense of wholeness that belies that fact the seafront part of town is maybe only
600mtrs end to end (that’s the bit with building along it). Enjoy the pictures.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M0f4NPsOxbQ/VMerJNpaSmI/AAAAAAAAGoc/-5D_8_B-B_E/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BDecember%2B14%2BJanuary%2B15%2B010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M0f4NPsOxbQ/VMerJNpaSmI/AAAAAAAAGoc/-5D_8_B-B_E/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BDecember%2B14%2BJanuary%2B15%2B010.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cCM86PHGB7o/VMerZSGPWfI/AAAAAAAAGos/BP51jvaPLdk/s1600/Burnham%2BBeach_2%2B6115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cCM86PHGB7o/VMerZSGPWfI/AAAAAAAAGos/BP51jvaPLdk/s1600/Burnham%2BBeach_2%2B6115.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-15ZF5tzEZ3o/VMerhYwdQgI/AAAAAAAAGo0/aL3JUKX4gYU/s1600/Burnham%2BBeach_5%2B6115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-15ZF5tzEZ3o/VMerhYwdQgI/AAAAAAAAGo0/aL3JUKX4gYU/s1600/Burnham%2BBeach_5%2B6115.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lpcC1UKacus/VMeroHlhrRI/AAAAAAAAGo8/RP0jlHVej4g/s1600/Burnham%2BOn%2BSea%2B17115%2B034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lpcC1UKacus/VMeroHlhrRI/AAAAAAAAGo8/RP0jlHVej4g/s1600/Burnham%2BOn%2BSea%2B17115%2B034.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ovyhELLcUac/VMer8Cee8BI/AAAAAAAAGpM/oRISyNG06ak/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ovyhELLcUac/VMer8Cee8BI/AAAAAAAAGpM/oRISyNG06ak/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B014.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rL0OWOAvcjY/VMesXSTew6I/AAAAAAAAGpc/ElAn0Up8Lo4/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rL0OWOAvcjY/VMesXSTew6I/AAAAAAAAGpc/ElAn0Up8Lo4/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B021.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LzLVeciX7uo/VMeskRHsriI/AAAAAAAAGpk/F4RxFshhXd0/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LzLVeciX7uo/VMeskRHsriI/AAAAAAAAGpk/F4RxFshhXd0/s1600/Grame%2BSamsung%2BBurnham%2B230115%2B042.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-70190187881897726732015-01-20T06:48:00.000-08:002015-01-20T06:48:49.892-08:00Quantock Common<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Sunday last (18th January 2015), and in spite of us both being a bit ragged (I have a head cold thing that leaves me breathless, and Amanda has a knee thing that really needs a proper look at). We decided to head off to Steart Point to the nature reserve and newly flooded area.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warm Breath Lets you breathe easy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A hollow pond fed by run off, it may disappear in spring</td></tr>
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However we missed the turn (no idea how) and I just couldn’t be bothered to find a way to turn around (the A39 heading west is busy and the side roads few and far between, as well as narrow). I just carried on to a spot we’ve driven past a few times, it’s between Nether Stowey and Holford and is a sizeable carpark just off the A39, with National Trust signage. The truth is I was under the weather and maybe Amanda should have been driving.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birch, Beech, Oak and Bracken</td></tr>
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The walk is steep in places starting in ancient oak wood, with the odd Beech and Birch dotted about and we only went as far as Shervage Wood, which almost exclusively Oak. The pictures are from below the wood, as it in itself is densely packed with stunted and twisted oaks. Very interesting from my perspective, as they are clearly a product of the wind that whistles over the hills from the Bristol Channel. As you descend the slope, the trees (probably of similar age but with relative shelter) grow tall and straight.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AAUWNI89PqY/VL5eCSNd8LI/AAAAAAAAEus/mRF-y_8FHKY/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AAUWNI89PqY/VL5eCSNd8LI/AAAAAAAAEus/mRF-y_8FHKY/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B022.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hLFE6cxBMqU/VL5eKf1n3lI/AAAAAAAAEu0/Pfu3c1VD9dQ/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hLFE6cxBMqU/VL5eKf1n3lI/AAAAAAAAEu0/Pfu3c1VD9dQ/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B023.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainbow ahead of cloud.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Both of us were suffering, I could barely catch my breath
and had to stop every 50mtrs or so, and Amanda’s knees refused to warm up and
get with the program. However we pushed on because ... well sometime you just
have to.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yNcgRhbJKsI/VL5eSzEB8hI/AAAAAAAAEu8/Z_AzcIPIsKA/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yNcgRhbJKsI/VL5eSzEB8hI/AAAAAAAAEu8/Z_AzcIPIsKA/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B030.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same cloud about to rain on Burnham on Sea (Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station is the big square thing on the coast)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x20NkpHLnVo/VL5ejQCR-mI/AAAAAAAAEvE/jtwSWomqxsA/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x20NkpHLnVo/VL5ejQCR-mI/AAAAAAAAEvE/jtwSWomqxsA/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B032.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Levels and the Mendips</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8wBycIlEpjE/VL5etuWeMJI/AAAAAAAAEvM/ibM79AlX4wY/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8wBycIlEpjE/VL5etuWeMJI/AAAAAAAAEvM/ibM79AlX4wY/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B036.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View inland across the Heath</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Pictures as ever speak a thousand words. But for clarity, it was freezing or below, the wind was light, the sun was fiercely bright. When we started out after our nice early wake up there was the remains of a minor snowfall, that in turn had been frosted over, giving the ground a sparkly white aspect. On the way up we had to remove the rubber feet from our poles to utilise the spikes because the rubbers kept on skidding on the frozen ground. But once the Sun’s rays had played over the ground for a couple of hours we descended in red mud and slippery leaf litter.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xKZiQxHz-Kg/VL5e3mnVqSI/AAAAAAAAEvU/jjq_FZ4O7Zk/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xKZiQxHz-Kg/VL5e3mnVqSI/AAAAAAAAEvU/jjq_FZ4O7Zk/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B049.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horse roam free, breaking the ice with their hooves.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-16ZSRw-LN-s/VL5fAlNUj8I/AAAAAAAAEvc/ZGz0UUhNf4s/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B064.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-16ZSRw-LN-s/VL5fAlNUj8I/AAAAAAAAEvc/ZGz0UUhNf4s/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B064.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twisted Oaks Shervage Wood</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sz8J2LL3Itc/VL5fI4yXnlI/AAAAAAAAEvk/YM2QbiCxsAo/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sz8J2LL3Itc/VL5fI4yXnlI/AAAAAAAAEvk/YM2QbiCxsAo/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B065.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the saddle between Shervage Wood and the earlier Trig point from where we took most of the panoramic pictures. We were approached by two horses, who demonstrated deft skill at breaking the ice on puddles to get to the water. It was a great short but steep walk, it helped me expand my lungs which just didn’t want to work, and I’ve felt significantly better since. Enjoy the pictures.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7XDc6VnR3To/VL5fSCBsS4I/AAAAAAAAEvs/ScbAkVdM9Ao/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7XDc6VnR3To/VL5fSCBsS4I/AAAAAAAAEvs/ScbAkVdM9Ao/s1600/Amanda%2BOlypus%2BQuantocks%2B170115%2B076.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Massive open grown Oak, made into a giant branched Tepee </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yifQ_GcAkSQ/VL5fZyiZL6I/AAAAAAAAEv0/FOXgURlsPOA/s1600/rained%2Bon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yifQ_GcAkSQ/VL5fZyiZL6I/AAAAAAAAEv0/FOXgURlsPOA/s1600/rained%2Bon.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quantocks, Heath, Cloud, Sky, Mendips, Sea, Levels ... you can have it all.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div>
<br /></div>
Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-14269712402721097022015-01-05T10:27:00.000-08:002015-01-05T10:31:16.874-08:00St Audries BayIt was our first day out of the New Year, a little tentative because of the weather, and Amanda’s knee problem.<br />
<br />
Cold grey, quiet and empty sums ups the ambience of the west on Sunday; mist and fog that deadens noise, a chilling grey damp that reduces vistas to percentages of miles and sounds to eerie disembodied susurrations or ghost ship clangs. To qualify that: St Audries Bay is off the beaten track anyway. Only directly accessible through two holiday campsites that terminate on cliffs that the sea desires be made flat, or from beaches adjacent west three miles to Watchet, to the east you’d struggle to find a way down or up for another three miles unless you knew exactly where you were going (if you didn’t then you could wander for double that).<br />
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The danger; were you without wit is deadly on that stretch of lonely coast on a winters day. The tide comes as far as the foot of the cliffs, though in truth despite being the second fastest tide in the world, it has a long walk ashore. However were you foolish and you got caught between steps up those cliffs, you would be lucky to survive.<br />
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The feeling of emptiness, and other worldliness of St Audries Bay on that winters day is so difficult to describe. Green grass made grey green, grey tea colour sea, an almost featureless grey sky, all blended together by the ice cold damp of mist. I was reminded of the atmosphere of the film `The Road’ a deadly quiet you dare not break for fear of cannibals, or Jurassic park for fear of Velocirapters. But for all that, it was also beautiful and empty, the sea a long way offshore, a vast open beach of mixed geology explained in scientific detail below, courtesy of the UK Fossil Network and Wikipedia.<br />
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The forshore landscape is alien, great bands of blue grey rocks all tilted fifteen or so degrees to the flat of the sea, great wide bands of red and grey. That on the vertical plain are simply stripes, but in the near horizontal plain form vast sheets of geological history 200 million and more years old, and looking for all the world like well worn giant cobbled stairs laying fallen. Between these steps of grey stones are runnels of smooth red mud and sand from softer bands of rocks eroding into fine silts washing out into Bridgwater bay and the Bristol Channel. Close in to the cliffs are rounded pebbles from the size of pea to bigger than a mans head. Many of these grey lumps are replete with myriad fossil remains. Between the less mobile rolling rocks and their smaller cousins are bands of beach quality sand. And littered all along the foot of the cliffs are whole trees bleached white, bark sloughing, skeletal roots trying to hold the remains of soil that once held them too close to the edge of the cliff’s top. Enclosed by mist your perspective, your view is shortened and this in turn encapsulates this view and creates an island world in the minds eye.<br />
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As you descend from the mobile-home park, that feeds the beach its visitors, in the summer you become aware of a waterfall a few hundreds yards distant. I was reminded briefly of falls as we drove through the alps. Ones that have so far to fall the water turns to spray before it ever hits the ground as a stream. However scale and volume of fluid play as big a part in that equation as plain old height. At about thirty feet the fall isn’t high and the volume of water is not huge, however on the day we visited the fall was swollen by days of rain and so we were treated to spray and stream, another layer of sound and sight to add to the entirely alien world we’d entered 29 miles from our front door.<br />
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Please read the exerts below, and or visit the sites. And if you’re down this way visit St Audries Bay, or Watchet and walk east a way, you won’t be disappointed.<br />
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Exert cribbed from here UK Fossils Network<br />
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St Audries bay is most interesting for the geology of Somerset. To the East the bay exposes nearly the whole sequence of rocks from the Upper Triassic Mercia Mudstones and to the West of the bay, the beds succeed down to the Lower Jurassic Blue Lias beds. The Aldergrove beds (alternating gray mudstones and limestones) are well exposed. The Lower parts of the Blue Lias beds can be seen higher up walking further West.<br />
http://www.audries.ukfossils.co.uk/Audries-Fossils-Geology/geology-guide.htm<br />
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and of course.<br />
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Somerset<br />
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The Quantock Hills are largely formed by rocks of the Devonian Period, which consist of sediments originally laid down under a shallow sea and slowly compressed into solid rock. In the higher north western areas older Early Devonian rocks, known as Hangman Grits, predominate, and can be seen in the exposed rock at West Quantoxhead quarry, which were worked for road building. Further south there are newer Middle and Late Devonian rocks, known as Ilfracombe beds and Morte Slates. These include sandstone and limestone, which have been quarried near Aisholt. At Great Holwell, south of Aisholt, there is a limestone cave, which is the only one in the Devonian limestone of North Devon and West Somerset. The lower fringes around the hills are composed of younger rocks of the Triassic period, these are known as New Red Sandstone rocks which represent the deposits of large river systems that crossed a desert plain, and often contain irregular masses or veins of gypsum, which was worked on the foreshore at Watchet. The scarp is to the west with a dip slope to the east. The west side is cut by combes with broad valleys on the east. The hill tops are open heathland with woods on the slopes.<br />
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Several areas have outcrops of slates and between St Audries and Kilve, younger rocks of the Jurassic Period can be found. This area falls within the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is considered to be of international geological importance. At Kilve are the remains of a red brick retort, built in 1924, when it was discovered that the shale found in the cliffs was rich in oil.[55] At Blue Anchor the coloured alabaster found in the cliffs gave rise to the name of the colour "Watchet Blue".<br />
<br />Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-16085839383675495632014-12-31T04:24:00.003-08:002014-12-31T04:24:45.591-08:00Happy New Year<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a funny old year, circles or circuits completed, ends beginnings, metaphorical
repeats of previous years events or strange parallels with the past. History repeating itself maybe
(but not quite).</div>
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On this day last year we were in Ribamar Spain, looking
forward to dinner in the company of Dutch, German and English travellers much
like ourselves, looking for a bit of adventure and sun, before it’s too late to
do so anymore. Before continuing our journey around Europe.</div>
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Today I’m in a double locked data center SCC (service
control centre) in Woking Surrey. I’ve been living four days a week in a
B&B opposite Woking station for the last month and a bit; sleeping in a
child size single bed, eating take away’s or subsisting out of a Coop on the
walk to this place of temporary work, while Amanda has been at home alone
getting us ready for Christmas and keeping house ... in between going to work
of course.</div>
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It couldn’t be more diametrically opposite last years
situation; separated by work, stuck in one country miles apart. It’s a Yin to
last year’s Yang, poetic justice administered by fate, a karmic backlash. The
makings of metaphorical soup.</div>
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I’d like some space to get my head around all the changes
and to re-cap and recount the year and the events since the last post and this
one. But that wasn’t the purpose of the blog, and it’s not relevant (I may have a scribble for my sanity, writing certainly helps with compartmentalisation) , and I
shouldn’t be looking to excuse our absence this last month or three.</div>
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What I’ll do, is prepare another photo set of the year and
post it in the New Year. And we will live in hope that next year (when hopefully
a full-time role closer to home comes through) that we’ll be getting out and about again looking at stuff. </div>
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In partial mitigation technology has let us down; both of our laptops were bulging
at the seams with photos. Our tiny Netbook developed a fault, so I transferred the
photos to a terabyte drive for safety. And the unit I’m using now had a Google Chrome
induced illness (fixed now), that meant the hard drive was being tetchy so all the
photos from it went to the terabyte drive (then compounded by me being away so
much) so that as I write today I have no access to our pictures. I think in the
New Year, I’m going to set us up some `Cloud’ space, and get our technology
re-aligned. The `Cloud’ what a lovely metonym. I refer to the post before last; we generate so much data now that it’s simply become a scary prospect to have
it all under one roof, fire, flood etc could see it all lost. </div>
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Final word: I’m working in the `Cloud’ or one of the Clouds,
all six acres over two floors of it, the machine world where people tend and
care for electronic property, the trillions of ones and zero’s defining every
aspect of modern life including every word on this page. At this moment I am
conflicted, by my loathing of this environment, the wonder at what it contains,
and the terror of how much would be lost if an intergalactic EMP actually went
off right next to our little planet.</div>
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Happy New Year to all those who work in the 24 hour, 365 days a year environments that we have created to make our lives simpler ... oh the irony.</div>
Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-5536600069806641542014-09-26T03:26:00.002-07:002014-09-26T03:27:02.837-07:00SEOs and Job Hunting v2.0Just as an immediate follow up. I bothered to put labels against the previous post. Labels and the use of labels is how Google and others grab freely given information and then re-post it in Search Engine Optimisation or Optimised Search Engines.<br />
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I put the labels in because when people search those terms for whatever reason this blog will now be in the results, maybe in the millionth position but there all the same. If we were making money or running ads from this site, then labels and Adsense would go hand in hand.<br />
<br />
Call it baiting, BT and Barclays and the Jobsites who are so frivulous with your information. A one finger salute, that says, for all your high ideals, your individual parts are human and greedy. And we know you turn a blind eye.<br />
<br />
While I'm still be bitter about the abuse the system is open to I do fully understand the diversification that the internet allows, and that should we ever run ads from this site based on the equipment we've used or the places we've been, then we would happily use labels all the time for commercial gain.Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-28970634396757400052014-09-26T03:13:00.002-07:002014-09-26T03:13:15.862-07:00Job Hunting<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a new kind of scam about these days, more of an annoyance than a real problem but still a bit of a bar to finding work.</div>
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Imagine, you’re looking for a job back in IT, though it could be any industry. You’ve gone through the official process signed on via .gov.uk (and various agencies) even though you’re not entitled to any money because you have savings and your partner is earning above the threshold the Dole money/job seekers allowance is paid out, to the most discriminated against majority in the UK, those that get the full on slap in the face for all their hard work and contributions for the previous twenty eight years ... the working age white male.</div>
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Search Optimised Engines SEOs are clever pieces of software that crawl through the internet picking up morsels of information from cookies and other data that’s been deemed available by you, and from you when you are stupid enough not to read through a websites T&C’s and tick the box that says the website can’t sell your details to all and sundry if you tell them not to. </div>
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So that’s the technology. Effectively a software robot that has many tendrils covered in ears and hands that can wander freely and grab any information specified by the programmer, and the rules as specified by the Data Protection Act and others etc in the world of the legitimate.</div>
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None of this of course takes account of the criminal who will steal your information if you leave a window or door open (just like at home), or the unscrupulous and immoral (the accidently on purpose abusers of your details). The chances of you finding which turd leaked your details is difficult if not impossible by dint of the expense of running down the perpetrator. However BT salespersons definitely fall into the category of accidently on purpose, didn’t tick the box when you asked them to, when you ordered your new phone line. Then having righted it once, then accidently forgot to tick the box again `when you asked them to’ when you subsequently upgraded your service. Thus you found that your inbox is filling with junk mail, likewise your letter box, your SMS inbox and the odd random call asking you if you want double glazing, a loan, or to upgrade your BT service to include TV and god knows what else ... Barclays Bank were another bunch who used this tactic, they are no longer my bank. </div>
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You know it was BT because when you go back through the sales people (not the offshored helpline because they will do nothing but annoy you), the sales person will invariably say `Oh it looks like the spare me from the bullshit box wasn’t ticked. I’ve sorted it out. Is there anything else I can do for you today’? `Er no ... fuck off, I’ve wasted enough time on your company already’.</div>
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Where the internet is concerned it is even more difficult to protect yourself from this kind of scamming and apart from following links to UNSUBSCRIBE from mail out services you are pretty much buggered and should use a service like identity safe from Norton you keep yourself armoured out in the electrical eather (I may have said this before in another post). </div>
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The sophisticated methods used are beyond the mere mortals ability to comprehend. But imagine if you will, this Search Optimised Engine WebBot; it is a software robot hence Bot it reports back to a server somewhere and you would be hard pressed to find that server. It lives on a server or on multiple servers, distributed so it can rebuild itself if it’s attacked (this is real not a science fiction plot). A server that is one of millions of potential homes in places where data protection laws don’t exist, or maybe more sinisterly exist to allow state sponsored control and spying on their own citizens and others, China for instance. Russia is another, but the issue in Russia is far more towards the criminal activity that old cliché `Cyber Crime’. This said there are plenty of unscrupulous people hosting these evil Webbot/SEO software devices in the United States, Canada and South America and probably in the UK as well.</div>
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How does this affect the job seeker? </div>
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When do you post the most detail about yourself online? </div>
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Is it on Facebook or Twitter or Linkedin or any of the other social media platforms? When you sign up for you BT extras, your Mobile Phone add-ons, or when you get your first email account?</div>
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No. None of these. They’re all fairly well protected and legislated for in Data Protection (accidently on purpose arseholes aside). And if you’re negligent in maintaining your privacy, or in allowing these companies to share your details with their `preferred partners’, in the main you have only yourself to blame (but of course you can resolve the issue by altering your privacy settings). Even this blog I have set in a moderated mode, anyone can read anywhere, anyone can comment, but as for us the authors, if you contact us, you go through Google ... not direct. When I look at the traffic that scans these pages most of it comes from places where Cyber Crime comes from. Bots out scanning for holes in security, to either rip off the site, or rip off visitors to the site or to spam it with advertising.</div>
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The place you place the most information about yourself now is on job sites. You put your CV online, your contact details etc etc etc. You have no choice if you’re applying for a role. </div>
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Again if you look at the top end of recruitment the Hayes, the Ranstads and the Reeds you get a fairly robust security response. When you get to the Fish4Jobs, Monster, Jobserve, things get a little bit loose and you find that even though you’ve said `No I don’t want to receive alerts and emails about specifically tailored products and services from our preferred partners based on the information you have given us’ (I’ve read that stuff a lot lately it’s indelibly etched into my forebrain), that you must have missed something in the process because lo and behold your inbox starts filling up as if a biblical data flood has just tsunami’d over your firewall. And your only choice is to divert the flow to your junk email because you won’t actually be able to track down where your settings on these jobsites contradict your wish `not to be contacted’. You may have been botted read on.</div>
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Let’s do some illustrative numbers, the kind of numbers people give up on once they exceed the number of zeros in a Lottery jackpot.</div>
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There is a lot of data out there and this is a fairly unscientific approximation. Number of Zetabytes divided by human population.</div>
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4.000.000.000.000.00<b><i>0.000.000</i></b> This is 4 Zytabytes, remember a million is only one plus six zeros (the bit in bold italics).</div>
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5.714.285.714.285: This is 5 trillion 714 billion 285 million 714 thousand 2 hundred and 85 bytes. In a Zetabyte you still have six more zeros to go.</div>
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As above very unscientific given that not everyone has a digital life by any means (that actually pushes the numbers per capita up). There is approximately 5.714.285.714.285 bytes of data for every person on the planet. I cribbed this from here: http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/just-how-much-data-is-out-there.html (and it’s quite old relatively speaking).</div>
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<b><i>To put the data explosion in context, consider this. Every minute of every day we create:</i></b></div>
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<b><i>- More than 204 million email messages</i></b></div>
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<b><i>- Over 2 million Google search queries</i></b></div>
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<b><i>- 48 hours of new YouTube videos (Tardis Numbers in 1 minute 48 hours of video is uploaded to Youtube).</i></b></div>
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<b><i>- 684,000 bits of content shared on Facebook</i></b></div>
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<b><i>- More than 100,000 tweets</i></b></div>
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<b><i>- $272,000 spent on e-commerce</i></b></div>
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Some of this data is rogue, malicious and very cleverly put together. Data has a price, your details have a price and it may be a fraction of a penny, but if you’re selling billions of fractions of pennies, you’re going to make millions of pounds.</div>
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So back to our SEO Webbot. You’ve applied for a job through a legitimate portal; Universal Job Match .GOV.UK, or any of the others mentioned above. You’ve spent three maybe four hours filling in a application form, attaching your CV with your home address, Date of birth, email address, the companies you’ve worked for, how long you’ve been at work, your likes and interests, maybe hobbies (I don’t have mine on my CV for this reason). You’re marketing yourself. You’re sending out marketing information about you, and what you want. </div>
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The fact that you’ve just sent an application to a company that only exists on a server somewhere, populated by SEO’s and Webbots, who then match your details with specific products and or services and then sell your details to all and sundry is just hard luck. The fact that some unscrupulous persons have reamed your posted CV and publicly visible details, then written a job description that is almost too good to be true and then posted that job ad with a legitimate looking company logo and details on a legitimate portal, is again hard luck. The fact that you the job seeker have in good faith applied for the role because you’re a dead ringer for it is just tough luck. The fact that literally as soon as you’ve clicked the submit button your email inbox and junk mail box start filling up is also tough luck. </div>
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And here’s the real rub. You have to be so very careful about clicking that UNSUBSCRIBE button. Because likely as not, when you click on the UNSUBSCRIBE button, from your email, you are actually just confirming that there is someone at that mail address. Exactly the same as answering the phone to those marketing phone numbers that are just checking someone is in during the day, so that details can be sold/passed to companies that make marketing calls during the day to premises that are occupied.</div>
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It’s a bit daunting. Since I last needed to look for job in 2006, the world has changed. In 2006 Facebook was barely two years old, Youtube was only a year old. Many people still didn’t have technology at home. Tablet type devices were fairly pointless and clunky and required a stylus to do anything. Now that’s all changed technology has proliferated in ways that just twenty years ago no one except the science fiction community could have imagined. In 2006 looking for work on the internet was a painless process. In the six years since then the mess and melee that is the web has exploded, and hidden in plain sight of almost every legitimate service is an SEO or Webbbot listening like spider feeling its web for the vibration of a fly, and rushing and grabbing it ... but instead of killing it or paralysing its prey, it copies it, then lets the original move on freely. The copy though is encapsulated and recopied and devoured by multiple mouths in multiple locations.</div>
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So looking for work, no longer just a demoralising drudge post recession when you’re just one of millions looking to get back on the ladder. You’re now prey for internet scammers as well.</div>
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I’ll see if I get a response from the UK.GOV universal Jobmatch people, because of all the sites that suffer from this kind of `Spoofing’ they are the worst protected almost unsurprisingly.</div>
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http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/just-how-much-data-is-out-there.html</div>
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization </div>
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Bot</div>
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website_spoofing</div>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-57922984789053465522014-09-12T09:30:00.001-07:002014-09-12T09:30:16.044-07:00Crook Peak Video Walk and PicturesNo words really. We shot some video and stuck it together and now we want to see how it looks on here. This was a recent walk up Crook Peak. Not overly long but quite steep, and perfect for a Saturday afternoon, when all the chores are done at home.<br />
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<br />Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-36305483629315757942014-09-11T06:01:00.001-07:002014-09-12T09:26:45.494-07:00Burnham on Sea the 2nd highest tideI wrote the previous piece because we took some pictures last night around sunset, and the highest tide of the year, but the piece took on a little life of it's own and I found myself scanning our old pictures, and the words were no longer relevant to the pictures below.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Marina</td></tr>
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It was an odd evening. Now the holiday makers are gone, there is a new evening scene on the prom. There was a fishing competition taking place, an RNLI exercise in Search and Rescue, but mostly there were locals, jogging, dog walking, and bearing witness to the high tide. It as an odd thing to come out for ... though who am I to speak? When I am one of those that would make such a journey just because.<br />
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There is a quality, a something indefinable about this tiny town in Somerset, enjoy the pictures.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clay Pits and saltings</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crocodile</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The River Brue sunk under ten metres of salt water</td></tr>
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<br />Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-23227448358430290592014-09-11T05:45:00.001-07:002014-09-11T05:45:29.556-07:00SunsetsThere is something about a midday blue sky that is heartening and mood lifting even if it’s cold and accompanied by a wind like a hammer of ice. There is something magnificent about a mountainous cloudscape marching and churning across your vision, rounded peaks of cloud as tall and taller than mount Everest. Clouds given perspective by the land below that shapes them as much as the wind that eases them through the atmosphere. Giant flat anvils set high above foothills of grey and white fluff, arched over themselves by a cloudscape their own in cirrus.<br />
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There is an ethereal beauty in sunrise through the veil of condensate lingering in limbo between the day and the night, waiting for the suns warmth to send it aloft to meet the cloud mountains, and march with them wherever they go. Pale gold and orange light, deepening the blue for a few brief minutes, as the light from the sun rampages, bouncing off any and every surface it strikes in straight lines that regardless of their nature in physics, manage with unerring ease to refract and reflect off any and all surfaces, until the sky above gentles blues and the light shines into all but the deepest north facing crevices.<br />
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Our sky wears many faces.<br />
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However, there is no sky like a sunset sky. A sunset sky guides the imagination, to nebulas in the deeps of space, to alien worlds lit by dying red giant suns, alien landscapes visualised for us by the sky, showing us fleeting visions of deserts or mountains, seas and hills, cast in every hue of pink, orange, red and gold. Behemoth gas giant aliens, dragons and giant fish with scales of pink silver briefly present their flanks to your eye before morphing and fading with ever changing luminosity from proud leviathans to darkening curtains before the night.<br />
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Sunsets that cast the mundane you see every day in rainbows of black through bruise purple, sky blue pink, vermillion and rolled gold, casting water in the role of mirror, confounding and convincing your senses with the thought that there is a mirror world in and of your world right there, right there in front of you, and you can touch it, right up the moment your do and the image recoils in ripples.<br />
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Sunset may be may be the most exciting part of any day.<br />
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<div>
There's a mix here, the first is Burnham on Sea night before last, the second BoS about a fortnight ago, from there we go Coimbra earlier this year, Southwold (2012), Tarragona Christmas 2013, Poblo nu Del Delta New Year 2014, Southend on Sea late summer 2013, Genoa, The Camargue and finally Lisbon and the banks of the Tagus earlier this year.</div>
Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-44367832961506917372014-09-09T06:36:00.000-07:002014-09-09T06:36:05.770-07:00The Somerset Levels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I thought I’d belt out a few words on the subject of the
Somerset Levels from a newbie perspective.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They’re awesome.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xpoPT4xiD_U/VAy5QY7LciI/AAAAAAAAEj0/8gWk865kVDM/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xpoPT4xiD_U/VAy5QY7LciI/AAAAAAAAEj0/8gWk865kVDM/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B001.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dead Grass Snake (first reptile road kill I've ever seen).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Levels">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Levels</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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That’s it enjoy the pictures.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AjpFvo25SOg/VAy5RoFjzBI/AAAAAAAAEj8/BZgFXgHq5K8/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AjpFvo25SOg/VAy5RoFjzBI/AAAAAAAAEj8/BZgFXgHq5K8/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B003.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hay Collecting (not baling).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
But seriously, they are amazing. I bought the Ordnance survey maps of our immediate vicinity (Explorer series maps 140, 153 and OL9) this includes Weston-Super-Mare, the Quantocks and Exmoor. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LjgPgfTEUo4/VAy5TNU58JI/AAAAAAAAEkE/Bu0gJCrjTZw/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LjgPgfTEUo4/VAy5TNU58JI/AAAAAAAAEkE/Bu0gJCrjTZw/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B005.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-smAHWuisI1o/VAy5UtQZynI/AAAAAAAAEkM/WEUfWjuB-9w/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-smAHWuisI1o/VAy5UtQZynI/AAAAAAAAEkM/WEUfWjuB-9w/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B007.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top Right of tree, that's a Buzzard, they were following the Hay collectors</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PTL3ScYTYe8/VAy5WFgvT3I/AAAAAAAAEkU/sQgiyyy1DUA/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PTL3ScYTYe8/VAy5WFgvT3I/AAAAAAAAEkU/sQgiyyy1DUA/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B008.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two more Buzzards taking off.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UOmffYxJink/VAy5XICaCVI/AAAAAAAAEkc/Xg4qCP-DskU/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UOmffYxJink/VAy5XICaCVI/AAAAAAAAEkc/Xg4qCP-DskU/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B014.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mendips, Crook Peak<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The first thing you notice about the levels on a map,
is the blue of the Rhynes (ditches and canals). These form (literally) a
spiders web pattern across the entire district known as Sedgmoor. They are also
the reason the levels are still here. The second thing you notice is the
overall absence of contour lines except at the edges and around the once
islands of:</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Brent Knoll</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
and</div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Glastonbury Tor</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There are a
few others but none so immediately recognisable. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyne">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyne</a></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-th21cOJHMmM/VAy5Y9gU31I/AAAAAAAAEkk/U7PhWAckE58/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-th21cOJHMmM/VAy5Y9gU31I/AAAAAAAAEkk/U7PhWAckE58/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B016.JPG" height="320" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhyne</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LeAXLcTAcQc/VAy5acgbQXI/AAAAAAAAEks/lJuthD_T-bQ/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LeAXLcTAcQc/VAy5acgbQXI/AAAAAAAAEks/lJuthD_T-bQ/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B017.JPG" height="320" width="179" /></a></div>
<br />
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At the very
edges to the north are the Mendips and to the south the Quantocks, with a slim
but substantial ridgway formed by the Polden Hills inland but extending west of
Glastonbury sitting between the two major ranges. That sounds like quite a lot
of hilly bits. However on paper these lumpen pieces of land sit in seas of
white broken only by the blue webwork of Rhynes. The unitary boundaries and
works of man in the form of towns, roads and railway (though not much of the
last) make up the rest of the usual infill detail. As maps go it’s actually
been one of the most difficult to navigate, just because the white is so
extensive and the blue of the Rhyne systems so ubiquitous. But once you have
your eye in, other features start to resolves themselves. However you can’t be prepared
for the scale of the Rhynes and their impact on the landscape. The map gives
you the perspective, it lets you see the sheer scale of the endeavour to
reclaim the moors and marshes from the 1200’s onwards.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEupyNwpaHQ/VAy5dQu3zCI/AAAAAAAAEk8/sttUFNRrHTc/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEupyNwpaHQ/VAy5dQu3zCI/AAAAAAAAEk8/sttUFNRrHTc/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B022.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brickhouse Sluice </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F8dYMLM23kE/VAy5fMS92XI/AAAAAAAAElE/Rhg0t7qC0YA/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F8dYMLM23kE/VAy5fMS92XI/AAAAAAAAElE/Rhg0t7qC0YA/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B025.JPG" height="320" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brickhouse Sluice bottom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LrfaptDKH90/VAy5gfhAEYI/AAAAAAAAElM/XsQtQc511XY/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LrfaptDKH90/VAy5gfhAEYI/AAAAAAAAElM/XsQtQc511XY/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B026.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Rhyne at Brickhouse Sluice</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-58dJUeaqswU/VAy5jKJsYUI/AAAAAAAAElU/2J-hHZEzMSs/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-58dJUeaqswU/VAy5jKJsYUI/AAAAAAAAElU/2J-hHZEzMSs/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B032.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The outfall two stage drop</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cOSrnwGfz-w/VAy5ksbQprI/AAAAAAAAElc/9b8lAEDmbSY/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cOSrnwGfz-w/VAy5ksbQprI/AAAAAAAAElc/9b8lAEDmbSY/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B036.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The working parts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Some Rhynes are little more than ditches ... albeit big
ditches. Others like King’s Sedgmoor drain are wider than the rivers Huntspill
and Brue someway inland (also worth noting that the Huntspill is not in anyway following its
natural courses for a significant distance, the Brue appears on paper and on
the ground to be a little more natural, but extensively managed). The rivers are
more akin to navigations like canals, but without locks, just dotted here and
there with sluices to control the levels and major sluices at the point where
they merge with the River Parret and eventually discharge into the Bristol
Channel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the engineering effort, and
confounded by the task of maintaining them (see floods a paragraph or so
lower).</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--i8VrFDHW7s/VAy5oO1MQFI/AAAAAAAAEls/1JF9wbJcLWg/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--i8VrFDHW7s/VAy5oO1MQFI/AAAAAAAAEls/1JF9wbJcLWg/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B039.JPG" height="221" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crook Peak (we were up top of that on the Saturday)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pHo_N9_NOvk/VAy5btgVPCI/AAAAAAAAEk0/7its2jhGTyQ/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pHo_N9_NOvk/VAy5btgVPCI/AAAAAAAAEk0/7its2jhGTyQ/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B019.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dragonfly</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_Sedgemoor_Drain">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_Sedgemoor_Drain</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Rhynes
provide both irrigation and drainage for the land, the entire Levels landscape
is more or less manufactured. After 2013 winter rains, clearly there had been
failings (that said historically the flooded areas have always flooded right
back to the 1200’s and the monasteries, so no surprises that if your home was
built in a major flood risk area at some point it’s going to get flooded) Exert
from here appended: </div>
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<br /></div>
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_flooding_of_2013%E2%80%9314_on_the_Somerset_Levels</div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Early attempts
to control the water levels were possibly made by the Romans, but were not
widespread.</span></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_flooding_of_2013%E2%80%9314_on_the_Somerset_Levels#cite_note-FOOTNOTECunliffe-13"><i><sup><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[13]</span></sup></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book" title="Domesday Book"><span style="color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Domesday Book</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>recorded that drainage of the higher
grounds was under way, although the moors at Wedmoor were said to be useless.</span></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_flooding_of_2013%E2%80%9314_on_the_Somerset_Levels#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWilliams199271-14"><i><sup><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[14]</span></sup></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In the Middle Ages, the monasteries of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glastonbury_Abbey" title="Glastonbury Abbey"><i><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Glastonbury</span></i></a><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athelney_Abbey" title="Athelney Abbey"><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Athelney</span></a></span></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">, and</span></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muchelney_Abbey" title="Muchelney Abbey"><i><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Muchelney</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">were responsible for much of the drainage. In 1129, the Abbot
of Glastonbury was recorded as inspecting enclosed land at<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lympsham" title="Lympsham"><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Lympsham</span></a></span></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">. Efforts to control flooding on the
Parrett were recorded around the same date. In 1234, 722 acres (292.2 ha)
were reclaimed near<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westonzoyland" title="Westonzoyland"><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Westonzoyland</span></a></span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">and, from the accounts in the abbey's rent books, this had
increased to 972 acres (393 ha) by 1240.</span></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_flooding_of_2013%E2%80%9314_on_the_Somerset_Levels#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWilliams197050-15"><i><sup><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[15]</span></sup></i></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3saXDnpyGbk/VAy5poGLOsI/AAAAAAAAEl0/EcXkQeNanD0/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3saXDnpyGbk/VAy5poGLOsI/AAAAAAAAEl0/EcXkQeNanD0/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B041.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River Bridge (that's its name) over the the River Brue<br />Facing West.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JMqPfIt0RgE/VAy5sPoyvCI/AAAAAAAAEl8/6Esu9HJFe34/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JMqPfIt0RgE/VAy5sPoyvCI/AAAAAAAAEl8/6Esu9HJFe34/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B045.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Facing East</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8wKdo0fFZs/VAy5udakdmI/AAAAAAAAEmE/8eUiE36FSNs/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8wKdo0fFZs/VAy5udakdmI/AAAAAAAAEmE/8eUiE36FSNs/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B049.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Inland a mile or so, off the beaten track, the land is flat
and great for cycling if you’re past your best years of fitness, traffic is
minimal as are the actual roads, and you’re never more than a couple of metres
from a Rhyne unless you’re standing in the middle of a field, in which case
your likely as not surrounded on all sides by a Rhyne.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HpwRd-ffLH0/VAy5vs9U_gI/AAAAAAAAEmM/dZFaTrv6-X0/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HpwRd-ffLH0/VAy5vs9U_gI/AAAAAAAAEmM/dZFaTrv6-X0/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B053.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indistinct but there is a buzzard in the top of that Hawthorn </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d7lRXk03A0M/VAy5wq1bdOI/AAAAAAAAEmU/y69SdNGQoEk/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d7lRXk03A0M/VAy5wq1bdOI/AAAAAAAAEmU/y69SdNGQoEk/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B069.JPG" height="202" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Centre Frame a dear, there were two</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://www.somersetwildlife.org/reserves.html">http://www.somersetwildlife.org/reserves.html</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyqrXS3qYT4/VAy5y5WhhKI/AAAAAAAAEmc/c-zktnx9hLQ/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyqrXS3qYT4/VAy5y5WhhKI/AAAAAAAAEmc/c-zktnx9hLQ/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B079.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ObazImuMVc/VAy5zojGM7I/AAAAAAAAEmk/XTrJpePr2vs/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ObazImuMVc/VAy5zojGM7I/AAAAAAAAEmk/XTrJpePr2vs/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B085.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River Huntspill</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DG63VDhZfr4/VAy50QRR-2I/AAAAAAAAEms/WRkdLM6tlEM/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DG63VDhZfr4/VAy50QRR-2I/AAAAAAAAEms/WRkdLM6tlEM/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B086.JPG" height="125" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of many Swallows</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pFlFuFkWnIw/VAy51DNYW_I/AAAAAAAAEm0/D-ZRb6oPmAo/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pFlFuFkWnIw/VAy51DNYW_I/AAAAAAAAEm0/D-ZRb6oPmAo/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B087.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhyne Maintenance</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jaia1xxDj4k/VAy52JQviyI/AAAAAAAAEm8/-BvvAIob7RA/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jaia1xxDj4k/VAy52JQviyI/AAAAAAAAEm8/-BvvAIob7RA/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B088.JPG" height="163" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glastonbury Tor </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7XxNblwcgY/VAy53TV4f1I/AAAAAAAAEnE/2LtzkWXfge0/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7XxNblwcgY/VAy53TV4f1I/AAAAAAAAEnE/2LtzkWXfge0/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B089.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This may be Cripps River</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KlFym5oIwDE/VAy54kvu3XI/AAAAAAAAEnM/46ZoKJjUeGc/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KlFym5oIwDE/VAy54kvu3XI/AAAAAAAAEnM/46ZoKJjUeGc/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B091.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swans </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EwfnjX-TvY4/VAy56NniTzI/AAAAAAAAEnU/ZmRqTKNW3IM/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EwfnjX-TvY4/VAy56NniTzI/AAAAAAAAEnU/ZmRqTKNW3IM/s1600/Grame%2BFuji%2BLevels%2Bbike%2Bride%2Bsept%2B110.JPG" height="241" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We think Guineafowl oh and Rabbits</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So that’s Rhynes and levels first impressions dealt with. I’m not going to say much
more except notes under pictures. But to give a flavour of what’s out there,
all these pictures were taken on Sunday 7<sup>th</sup> September 2014 from 11am
until around 5pm and we weren’t even trying. We weren’t so far from the beaten
track that we couldn’t take two major through roads back home via the
Watchfield Inn, in a little under an hour (rough estimate 14 miles over six
hours including half an hour in a pub). Now scroll back up the pictures and fit those
times and distances to what’s just running around on the levels on any given
day twenty minutes down some country lanes.I've not yet mentioned the dragonflies (in squadrons not just the odd one or two here and there), foxes, kestrels and Sedge Warbler, and stuff we just didn't get to ID before it made cover, or the fish in the Rhynes in their hundreds if not thousands and some that were truly impressive in size right on the surface totally un-bothered by our presence. Not a word of Roman salt works, King Arthur, listed monuments or the specific reserves.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
We've barely scratched the surface of our doorstep. This blog has sat doing not much for a few weeks, that is about to change.</div>
Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518387269671543843.post-30994974084070282322014-08-26T07:01:00.002-07:002014-08-28T04:21:07.869-07:00Burnham on Sea<div class="MsoNormal">
While I’m in the creative mood, here are a few sunset
pictures from our new home towns wild seawall. And a few odd shots from around the seaside part of town. We live literally five minutes from
the mouth of the River Brue, which itself then feeds into the mouth of the River Parrett http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Brue, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Parrett">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Parrett</a>
which discharges into Bridgwater Bay and the Bristol channel. The intermediate strip of land is Stert Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgwater_Bay</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ucyDcb4DJAw/U_yP3tv3hpI/AAAAAAAAEfw/4kMXBiUK19Y/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ucyDcb4DJAw/U_yP3tv3hpI/AAAAAAAAEfw/4kMXBiUK19Y/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B006.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Towards Stert Island</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UyB7Gx73iPo/U_yP4kP-AqI/AAAAAAAAEfs/dCgrCaLbwRc/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UyB7Gx73iPo/U_yP4kP-AqI/AAAAAAAAEfs/dCgrCaLbwRc/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B001.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hw2R-3qkqyA/U_yP6tQKwmI/AAAAAAAAEf4/csjliqaYNpE/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hw2R-3qkqyA/U_yP6tQKwmI/AAAAAAAAEf4/csjliqaYNpE/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B010.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWDmf4HLgYk/U_yP7jNzkiI/AAAAAAAAEgA/EKvSq-VMIKY/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWDmf4HLgYk/U_yP7jNzkiI/AAAAAAAAEgA/EKvSq-VMIKY/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B014.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OFPUxFCFZLc/U_yP8Rt3_JI/AAAAAAAAEgI/TBoGuJV8Gq0/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OFPUxFCFZLc/U_yP8Rt3_JI/AAAAAAAAEgI/TBoGuJV8Gq0/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BSalcombe%2B2014%2B023.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Towards the Bay of Bridgwater</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0gxquJ3MLzE/U_y-Usg_lXI/AAAAAAAAEiU/4ueuARPGb0Q/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0gxquJ3MLzE/U_y-Usg_lXI/AAAAAAAAEiU/4ueuARPGb0Q/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B003.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River Brue at Low tide</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oCrn4OqHpII/U_y-VtDl5iI/AAAAAAAAEic/fQ3V6IU8mJc/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oCrn4OqHpII/U_y-VtDl5iI/AAAAAAAAEic/fQ3V6IU8mJc/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B005.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steep Holm (right of it Flat Holm) </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fEytWT0LeBM/U_y-Wy3AuvI/AAAAAAAAEik/cg4m7btLKi0/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fEytWT0LeBM/U_y-Wy3AuvI/AAAAAAAAEik/cg4m7btLKi0/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B011.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hinkly Point Nuclear Power Station (towards Minehead). </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BgpImZPgX84/U_y-XwAxTNI/AAAAAAAAEis/AXjy_-HAwSA/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BgpImZPgX84/U_y-XwAxTNI/AAAAAAAAEis/AXjy_-HAwSA/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B013.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quantock Hills </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jmPOAfYjmuY/U_y-ZD-Ga6I/AAAAAAAAEi0/AK322sMgBPk/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jmPOAfYjmuY/U_y-ZD-Ga6I/AAAAAAAAEi0/AK322sMgBPk/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B019.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Wall towards town</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bMTl7CJKo1I/U_y-acu9M1I/AAAAAAAAEi8/NnQouSGAtIo/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bMTl7CJKo1I/U_y-acu9M1I/AAAAAAAAEi8/NnQouSGAtIo/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B022.JPG" height="175" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beach Towards the River Brue (direction I came from)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JBscv3AhtA8/U_y-bae2A8I/AAAAAAAAEjE/cl4HdYiB9oc/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JBscv3AhtA8/U_y-bae2A8I/AAAAAAAAEjE/cl4HdYiB9oc/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B030.JPG" height="119" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boats of the Brue</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--jVZiOOVspg/U_y-dH6E9_I/AAAAAAAAEjM/nKX_nf7FHuk/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--jVZiOOVspg/U_y-dH6E9_I/AAAAAAAAEjM/nKX_nf7FHuk/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B052.JPG" height="256" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King Fisher in a Clay Pit pond</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g4na-gXxGzY/U_y-eQ16lrI/AAAAAAAAEjU/0_xxL4OhWzk/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g4na-gXxGzY/U_y-eQ16lrI/AAAAAAAAEjU/0_xxL4OhWzk/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B044.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Across the saltings to Minehead and the Bristol Channel</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dZlZCLd5w5c/U_y-gH8VXuI/AAAAAAAAEjc/0x9s4QRVCr8/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dZlZCLd5w5c/U_y-gH8VXuI/AAAAAAAAEjc/0x9s4QRVCr8/s1600/Graeme%2BFuji%2BBurnham%2B26814%2B028.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Towards the Quantocks</td></tr>
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Grim's Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141927678427787365noreply@blogger.com2