A Bit of Pain

Hunting Video

"Foxhunting: cruel sport or natural chase?"

12 minutes of rational and unbiased observations of the stupidity of the Hunting Act, well worth a viewing whichever side of the fence you're on.

(I make no pretence that I had anything to do with the production of the video.)

York for the Weekend!!

Time out from gardening, beagles, and the valley.....

 

I've been very privileged at times to be a guest at two or three different Point-to-Points, and have thoroughly enjoyed them all, but right up until this weekend the closest I have ever been to the races was camping on Hexham racecourse on the way up to the Orkneys when I was about seven....so a few decades ago now.....

That has all changed, and I am no longer a racing-virgin.

My far from singular lack of success at the bookies on my p2p trips, well there might have been an odd one or two but very rare ones, has not been altered by the weekend. I have no faith in reading form, or any other scientific methodology in betting, which is a shame maybe as "just liking a name for some mystical reason" is clearly not good enough......

 

The disappointing gambling was ameliorated a lot by the facilities, if not the food particularly, at the (four star!!) hotel........

Then on Sunday, the culture........

The moment before this would have been a much better picture, the two whippets were looking over my way but my camera was off and by the time it was on they were moving away, still, it's not so bad I guess....

 Years ago, somewhere in the mid-90s I was valuing agricultural properties in the North Yorkshire area, Craven & Harrogate Districts in particular, and met some truly fabulous and interesting people, as well as some with other attributes, but that would make another story in itself.

One such was David Yorke, listed as "landed gentry" in places where such things are listed, and a pleasure it was to meet and spend time with him going around the family estate looking at this and that. I met his now late-father, Major Yorke, a former Master of the Pendle Forest Harriers, and had a guided tour of Halton Place, the family seat in the midst of the estate. Happy times.

One thing that was mentioned in our many and varied conversations was the random fact that the family had their own window in York Minster......I mean, how can you follow that? Not being a regular visitor to York, and never having actually been in the Minster I just absorbed the fact as impressive to put it mildly, but then all these years later it came to mind like such things sometimes do.

I think I found it!

 






 I would need to have some help in deciphering all the hidden messages and not-so hidden ones too to be honest, but there you have it.

There were an awful lot of occult and masonic symbols dotted around the statues, paintings, and in fact embedded into the architecture too, but this isn't a blog on esoteric matters, so I'll not even attempt to make an comment on things that go on behind the scenes of the "establishment", it's probably best that we don't know to be fair...

 I got the impression that a lot of ancient historical churchmen were extremely fat and liked to be surrounded by young cherubic figures, so not a lot has actually changed then.......

One fresco made me put the camera to one side and go for a walk instead, I mean, really.

Oh, and that they ruled their realms with steel....

Ha. What else could the irony generator have come up with?

 You don't say much these days?

A long exploratory walk around the main central parts of the old town, then it was time for eats and home. What a lovely weekend though.

York, go, look for yourself, but don't back any three legged horses, no, really.

Long Walks Good Food Fab Company

Since moving in to the "Hobbit House" I have only eaten two pre-prepared meals. No, really, both of which were rubbish pizzas bought because I hadn't got a cat in hell's chance of cooking anything.

I admit to an equally rubbish take-away kebab from Meltham, (and won't be going back to the same place again in a hurry, seriously chaps, where was the "salad"?? All meat & chilli sauce, nice, but not really what I thought I was getting.) but that's it.

Fresh food. Veg, meat, chicken,bacon, & beef mostly, but occasional sausages...ha, there's a story there, but it might have to keep for now.  Casseroles, home-made chips, mash, stir-fries, farm-shop proper steak-pies occasionally, a salad or three, no honestly, steak, a few old-fashioned "English Breakfasts" just for pure indulgence sake...and woah..don't I feel better for it?

 I should coco.

The most gorgeous country, the loveliest views, people, pubs, friends.......So it makes no sense whatsoever to randomly pick an old poem and post it here:

 

 My little buddy, "2e". The walk last week was a bit much for him to be honest. It took him a couple of days to get over it, but he's happy enough now thankfully.

 Gwyn looking for something to chase.....

Quite right I say..........

The point being?

An hour of listening to the cuckoo in Yateholme, while sitting on it's (her?) banks, the reservoir not the bird.

The cormorant.

The heron, a recurring theme.

Para-gliders on Holme Moss.

Sun (Lots) and a cheeky fresh breeze...

Laughter and silliness.

An hour paddling in  the stream, silly but fun, and a saunter, rather than a walk, back to the car to go and feast on a "home-made" beef and pork dinner, with "all the trimmings" as they say..

Happy?

HAPPY.

Why Blog?

I have no real answer to that. Is it some strange way of "wanting to be heard"? Or to brag about just how awesome your life is? Or to tell "everyone" (& I really do use that term loosely) how you've discovered the rarest tin-soldier that the fluff-knitting apfelstrudel baking kitten loving dungeons & dragons obscurely tattooed BDSM stamp collecting tin-soldier collecting fraternity how well your life is going in comparison to theirs??

Fair question I think.



I remember a post on the "original" blog, before I felt "pressured" into sacking it off to appease someone who really couldn't have given a flying fluff about it in reality, on similar lines. I mentioned that a friend of mine had said something along the lines of:

"A Blog? Isn't that just something for people to write about how good their lives are?"

I paraphrase as I can't quite remember exactly what she said.

Well, maybe she had a point, but while I still haven't exactly come up with a coherent focus for this experiment, I do have ideas, and maybe, just one day some of them might come to something.

I have almost undying admiration for the dry humour and dogged loyalty to a path that Kevin has in his mission to dispassionately record some of his odd moments in the world. His original Blog can still be read HERE

I think his observations are dry to put it mildly, and comic-tragic at the same time. Non-judgemental and sometimes almost palpably rich in pathos.

We were at Junior School together, but to be honest I doubt if either of us would ken the other if we passed in the street, it would (frighteningly) be some 36 years ago now, so that ameliorates the situation a tad I think....

The point of bigging-up Kevin like that was more to illustrate that he has a focus, and at least as far as this project goes, I have little-to-none. This is not a brag. it's not a diary, as such, and it's not any kind of vehicle for a personal vendetta full of cheap shots against the hand that fate has dealt me, with my own help it has to be said... Or any other subtle or otherwise vitriol.

It's just a place to empty my head occasionally. Sure FaceBook has it's moments, but sometimes you get to thinking that it's a very empty gourd, and makes the loudest noises that nobody really hears.

 I really do want to turn this into a BRAG though, but am keeping it impersonal as far as possible.

Maybe if you follow the words I wrote about "where the lines cross" you might see how happy I am.

Dear reader I hope you are too?

These two are clearly NOT mine and I am not pretending that they are, I just wanted to "share" in case you hadn't seen them.

Cue an opportunity for vitriol, but no, restraint instead.....

Ha. Life's good.

  

Bl**dy Frustrating

In a follow on to the post of whenever it was, like a couple of weeks ago I had a nice post planned for yesterday.

I have used the same route a few times lately, the arching re-born trees and the almost deafening bird-song creating the effect of a green cathedral, and a proper good place for doing a lot of thinking. When I went a couple of days a go I found a Woodpecker's nest and went back with my video camera yesterday to record the sound and hopefully some footage of Mum & Dad dropping by to keep the chicks topped up.

Patience, not one of my stronger virtues it has to be said, was with me, and while the cacophony of avine music wasn't just quite what it had been the previous time, it was nonetheless worth recording. I caught M&D doing their thing, and two or three of those walking videos I've always liked. On returning to base camp the PC refused to believe I'd even put a card in the slot, then asked me to format it, let alone copy the files... Files? What files? There was an "empty" card, and nothing to show the efforts of the last few hours, which I had prematurely been so pleased with.

Recuva, Restoration, and four or five other programs all failed to find anything, on a 16 Gb card, how flaming maddening.

I am so going to try again, when I have chance, but the chicks will be growing so quickly, and the weather forecast is appalling for the next few days..... Fingers crossed.

Here are a couple of recent ones of the same place, a little slice of local heaven.

There will be more, just not tonight. There are times when I find it challenging to keep the 'personal' from the detached, what with so many things to say and think. Maybe that's just me.

Life Continues to Mock

Well, there you have it. Even though I guess two out of three suggestions isn't too bad

I haven't got the hang of Google + at all, and have no idea how to use it properly, trying to learn about it the above screen came up, nice, thanks chaps, that helps like not at all.





"I post on Blogger, and then all sorts of shenanigans seem to happen and profiles become posts, and vice versa, and pictures post or not seemingly at random.

Maybe I should get as tranquilised as the rest of the population and just accept that none of it makes sense.....

On another note, I have so many ideas for pictures & words right now that I feel like my head is full.

Who gives a toss though? "

That is currently the profile up there in the right corner, but on G+ I have edited it, I'm just waiting to see how long it takes for Blogger to catch up. How frustrating is this nonsense??
 

I'd rather just have the old blog in a form I can handle thanks, why mess around with my profile & layout and goodness only knows what else when it worked fine just the way it was??

I.I.A.B.D.F.I.

A good rule for life.




I had a brainwave today:


"This is Mr Uist, Mr Skye and Mr Lewis..."
"But they can't be."

"What do you mean by 'They can't be'?"
"No man is an island....."


Well, when I thought of it I thought it was funny, but that was hours ago now.

(Not one of mine sadly, but I like it   If I could remember where I found it, I'd give proper credit, but if I had to guess I'd say it was somewhere like "Retronaut". )

Flickr Account

While it's still technically "live" with 204 pictures of mine, here is a slideshow of my pictures from a few years ago.

I have no idea how long they'll let me maintain an unused account, and don't think I have enough time to sync them with my machine now. Maybe, if I could be bothered I would, but life's not as long as it sometimes seems is it?

I ought to get that gizmo for reading old dysfunctional hard drives and resurrect them directly, but seeing as I'm now at over 20,000 pictures on the current machine I have no chance of keeping up....

Welcome to the world of digital photography I guess.....

>>>>>>> sighs, but smiles<<<<<<<<


Update: I deleted them all as they were too related to the past.

My Views.

The pictures are from my living room, taken a couple of weeks ago, or so. I've hunted around those fields, but sadly no crock of gold...... I'll keep you posted if it turns up though.

No, of course I won't, that would be silly.

Questions

Gremlin, old love, I do miss you.

Edale 95

Boxing Day 95. Edale.


Staring over thirty snowed moors,
Take the mind,
Lost the paths that age brought,
Fill anew with wonders long now sought,
Now lost, now found in vistas,
Wind blown skyline,
So rare and fine,
Thirty miles or more.

Just One of the Nicest Sundays

As if I'm going to get personal and actually tell anything about the nice things that sometimes happen.

 

Take this as a sort of follow on from the last walk, in as much as this is where we would have got to if I'd kept on going past the Water Board gate....

 

Gwyn, of course.... (just such a nice shot I couldn't resist posting it.)

 

Goodbent Lodge from the road over Digley.

From here it was a good walk up on to Issues Road and into the village for a visit to the Fleece Inn for a spot of lunch....

What a lovely day though.