Couple of delivery lorries came past me as I walked up to get my cargo trousers. They were absolutely belting down the residential roads. Presumably the faster they do their rounds the quicker they get home, but their behaviour was not that safe. I hate speed bumps and other artificial speed reduction measures - why should I be penalised when I'm not about to speed, but what else can be done with drivers like that. It's not possible to have speed cameras down every residential road and the chances of a police car being present is very slim. I wonder if anything would be done if anyone took their number and reported it to either the delivery company and/or the police - and would your word be enough for action to be taken?
On another tack, I took my shoes off walking through the woods. Excellent experience on muddy and leafy paths, but not so good where the paths had been 'improved' with stones and gravel!
Thursday 30 June 2011
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Walk in the woods
Went up to buy some new trousers today. Nice weather so I decided to saunter through the local woods on the way to the shop. The council have been actively managing the woods, so there are newly coppiced areas and various stages of regrowth. During the week it's practically deserted as soon as you're 50 yards from the car parks. With yesterday's downpour older tracks have been wiped clean, and the soft path surface has retained fresh animal tracks admirably. Had to keep stopping and examining them. Squirrel and dog predominated, with occasional fox and badger. Some other rodents, probably rats and maybe hedgehog. I've been looking for definite sign of muntjak and roe deer which are rumoured to be in the woods. Again nothing definite, put one fairly well defined path looked to have been made by hoofs rather than paws and disappeared into a muntjak sized hole in the undergrowth.
On the way out I was going quite fast, wrapped up in myself and not really looking. On the return trip, I slowed down and became engrossed in the butterflys, the tracks and the different flora surrounding the paths. Once I'd slowed and immersed myself in my surroundings, I changed a mental gear and dropped back into becoming part of nature. The bird alarms that had accompanied me on the outward trip ceased as my physical and mental energies calmed. Quietness allowed me to identify where dog walkers were the distant alarms and circles of disturbance reached me easily. No animal movement though.
Got back from my trip refreshed and calmed. The shop I'd gone to is a small independent, and must be about the only shop left in Southend that still closes on a Wednesday afternoon! I was after cargo rather than camouflage trousers, but still couldn't find any...
On the way out I was going quite fast, wrapped up in myself and not really looking. On the return trip, I slowed down and became engrossed in the butterflys, the tracks and the different flora surrounding the paths. Once I'd slowed and immersed myself in my surroundings, I changed a mental gear and dropped back into becoming part of nature. The bird alarms that had accompanied me on the outward trip ceased as my physical and mental energies calmed. Quietness allowed me to identify where dog walkers were the distant alarms and circles of disturbance reached me easily. No animal movement though.
Got back from my trip refreshed and calmed. The shop I'd gone to is a small independent, and must be about the only shop left in Southend that still closes on a Wednesday afternoon! I was after cargo rather than camouflage trousers, but still couldn't find any...
Tuesday 28 June 2011
End of the scorcher
Another lazy day this morning basking in glorious sun.
A couple of hours ago the birds were singing mightily in the trees at the bottom of our garden. Not the usual alarms and territorial squabbles, just a loud hubbub of quite musical singing.
Attuned more to nature after spending many weekends in the woods with a bushcraft school, I noticed the pressure was dropping - difficult to say how you recognise this, but you can feel it, it just takes familiarity to recognise what you're feeling!
Insects disappear... sitting in the garden beetles and flies and jumping things regularly irritate you, but they'd all gone. Examining a couple of ants nests they've all gone home and battened down the hatches as well.
The a sudden temperature drop, a sure sign of a cold front reaching us. Faint thunder in the distance which even now is growing louder. A few gulls and swifts can be seen, maybe looking for insects fleeing the oncoming storm, this front must be moving fast as they move on pretty rapidly.
14:20 now, no rain yet. I've brought the washing in, cleared my drying tinder into a paper carrier bag (it was drying on the patio) and brought everything in.
I'll update this entry later - it's the first time I've really looked at all the things happening in the garden as a front comes in. Thunder rumbles continuously in the distance...
14:35
Here comes the rain. Had a walk round the garden in the initial downpour - very refreshing after the hot weather. All the wildlife has taken shelter, just one barmy bushcrafter out enjoying the experience.
Boom! First close thunderclap just exploded and the rain intensifies
A couple of hours ago the birds were singing mightily in the trees at the bottom of our garden. Not the usual alarms and territorial squabbles, just a loud hubbub of quite musical singing.
Attuned more to nature after spending many weekends in the woods with a bushcraft school, I noticed the pressure was dropping - difficult to say how you recognise this, but you can feel it, it just takes familiarity to recognise what you're feeling!
Insects disappear... sitting in the garden beetles and flies and jumping things regularly irritate you, but they'd all gone. Examining a couple of ants nests they've all gone home and battened down the hatches as well.
The a sudden temperature drop, a sure sign of a cold front reaching us. Faint thunder in the distance which even now is growing louder. A few gulls and swifts can be seen, maybe looking for insects fleeing the oncoming storm, this front must be moving fast as they move on pretty rapidly.
14:20 now, no rain yet. I've brought the washing in, cleared my drying tinder into a paper carrier bag (it was drying on the patio) and brought everything in.
I'll update this entry later - it's the first time I've really looked at all the things happening in the garden as a front comes in. Thunder rumbles continuously in the distance...
14:35
Here comes the rain. Had a walk round the garden in the initial downpour - very refreshing after the hot weather. All the wildlife has taken shelter, just one barmy bushcrafter out enjoying the experience.
Boom! First close thunderclap just exploded and the rain intensifies
Monday 27 June 2011
Phew, what a scorcher
Nice day today.
I cut half the lawn yesterday, one triangle of grass is now about 3" and the rest varies up to seed heads 3 feet long.
Spent today doing the laundry - major job as our second son has just come back from University with a mound of unwashed clothing. Then out in the garden topping up on vitamin D. Lovely to be semi retired and able to just lay in the sun idly doing the newspaper crossword. Very civilised.
Haven't got any bookings for casual work in the offing, I suppose I ought to send out a few emails out to get a few more quids worth of employment going.
Maybe I'll mow the other half of the lawn now - or maybe I'll just leave it as an eco garden.
I cut half the lawn yesterday, one triangle of grass is now about 3" and the rest varies up to seed heads 3 feet long.
Spent today doing the laundry - major job as our second son has just come back from University with a mound of unwashed clothing. Then out in the garden topping up on vitamin D. Lovely to be semi retired and able to just lay in the sun idly doing the newspaper crossword. Very civilised.
Haven't got any bookings for casual work in the offing, I suppose I ought to send out a few emails out to get a few more quids worth of employment going.
Maybe I'll mow the other half of the lawn now - or maybe I'll just leave it as an eco garden.
Saturday 25 June 2011
Armed forces day
It's armed forces day in the UK today. The idea is to show appreciation and support for all the members of our forces, current and past. Our local event is running at Chalkwell park, so I donned cammo shirt with my veterans badge on it and ambled down to see what was happening. Event was on from 10:00 to 17:00, we arrived around 12:30.
Not an awful lot there. A Beach boys tribute band was playing, a few tents with refreshments and photo displays, and a couple of tents for help the heroes and other charities. One field gun and accompanying landie where the only military exhibits. A couple of dozen WWII veterans were standing around with berets and blazers.
Maybe we were too early and more people turned up after we'd gone, but it was very disappointing at the lack of support - and the lack of exhibits at the event. I was expecting stands for the local territorial regiments with their equipment on display and maybe regular forces recruiting stands. Thinking about it there was one small RAF recruiting stand, but nobody visible manning it.
Maybe all the regulars and TA forces are abroad in action. The lack of commitment by successive governments to keep the forces up to a reasonable size for the wars they want to fight stretches the few soldiers left too far.
There's another event down on the seafront tomorrow, hope this is better attended.
I really don't know enough to judge if we should be fighting in Afghanistan or involved in Iraq and Libya. If the politicians decide our troops need to be there, they must get the number of troops and all the gear they need to do the job. It's not easy for the civilian population to be behind the army in these actions as they're not as clear cut as defending British soil from an alien invader. Even if you're not fully behind the actions they're involved in you've got to support and admire the dedication and professionalism of the individual soldiers in their many roles.
Not an awful lot there. A Beach boys tribute band was playing, a few tents with refreshments and photo displays, and a couple of tents for help the heroes and other charities. One field gun and accompanying landie where the only military exhibits. A couple of dozen WWII veterans were standing around with berets and blazers.
Maybe we were too early and more people turned up after we'd gone, but it was very disappointing at the lack of support - and the lack of exhibits at the event. I was expecting stands for the local territorial regiments with their equipment on display and maybe regular forces recruiting stands. Thinking about it there was one small RAF recruiting stand, but nobody visible manning it.
Maybe all the regulars and TA forces are abroad in action. The lack of commitment by successive governments to keep the forces up to a reasonable size for the wars they want to fight stretches the few soldiers left too far.
There's another event down on the seafront tomorrow, hope this is better attended.
I really don't know enough to judge if we should be fighting in Afghanistan or involved in Iraq and Libya. If the politicians decide our troops need to be there, they must get the number of troops and all the gear they need to do the job. It's not easy for the civilian population to be behind the army in these actions as they're not as clear cut as defending British soil from an alien invader. Even if you're not fully behind the actions they're involved in you've got to support and admire the dedication and professionalism of the individual soldiers in their many roles.
Friday 24 June 2011
One of those days
We'd arranged to pick up our son from Keele uni today. Not hearing from him we'd assumed he wasn't ready to be picked up - until a phone call at 9:30 this morning. Its a good 7 hours driving there and back. We thought of deferring until Monday, but with various commitments that wasn't on. So - we phone him back and his phone wasn't on, left a message that we were setting out to pick him up about 16:00 with an evening run home. Filled the car with diesel and started the run, he phoned us soon after we'd started to confirm OK.
All worked out OK, but on the M11 on the way back it was dark and raining heavily. As we passed Stanstead I was doing 70mph, traffic coming out of Stanstead surrounded us, the spray from all these vehicles in close proximity created a sheet of spray over the road surface. Road markings were invisible, even the cats eyes vanished. The closeness of the traffic precluded slowing down, so it was hang on to the wheel, rely on the leading cars staying on the road, and everyone else keeping station relative to each other. The only sure mark I had to ensure I was in the right place was the reflected tail light glow from the concrete central fence.
Madness.
Once out of that situation I slowed down and dropped into the slow lane = the white line at the left hand egde stayed visible, even under considerable spray.
Further on, there was a sports car that hadn't been so lucky - parked backwards into the central reservation with hazards on. Obviously he'd had a problem and spun off - didn't look badly damaged, but not a good place to end up in.
Just got home and this is the best idea I can think of for today's blog...
And scruff got his sandwich late.
All worked out OK, but on the M11 on the way back it was dark and raining heavily. As we passed Stanstead I was doing 70mph, traffic coming out of Stanstead surrounded us, the spray from all these vehicles in close proximity created a sheet of spray over the road surface. Road markings were invisible, even the cats eyes vanished. The closeness of the traffic precluded slowing down, so it was hang on to the wheel, rely on the leading cars staying on the road, and everyone else keeping station relative to each other. The only sure mark I had to ensure I was in the right place was the reflected tail light glow from the concrete central fence.
Madness.
Once out of that situation I slowed down and dropped into the slow lane = the white line at the left hand egde stayed visible, even under considerable spray.
Further on, there was a sports car that hadn't been so lucky - parked backwards into the central reservation with hazards on. Obviously he'd had a problem and spun off - didn't look badly damaged, but not a good place to end up in.
Just got home and this is the best idea I can think of for today's blog...
And scruff got his sandwich late.
Thursday 23 June 2011
Armed forces day
Its armed forces day this Saturday (25th June 2011). I was in the TA for five years driving HGVs in the RCT. That's the Royal wagoners for the really aged, or the Royal Logistics Corps if you're more up to date. Royal Corps of Transport when I was in it.
I'll say to start I've never seen any combat, about the most dangerous thing I did was testing a freshly built pontoon bridge over the river Weser. The engineers had just finished it and we were the first unit of lorries to happen by - we were ordered to drive across it and back to make sure it worked. The Weser is a pretty wide and fast flowing river so if we'd gone in it wouldn't have been good. And of course it was night time, tactical so no lights - just tiny luminous dots on sticks on the edges of the bridge to guide us. The bridge wasn't much wider than our lorries either.
It was 'wear your uniform to work' day for reservists yesterday, so to join in and show support I wore my soldier '95 shirt and veterans badge when I went out in the evening. Doesn't seem anyone recognises the vets badge, but the camouflage shirt did cause comments!
Some memories -
End of a 15 day exercise, too tired to care, a group of us went into a quite posh restaurant filthy dirty, still in our combats. The staff served us without complaint, the best rump steak and chips ever!
Should have been double manned, we were being volunteered by our CO for every job going. After several days going practically non stop, an officer had to take over driving my Bedford. Apparently I stayed asleep hanging in the passenger seatbelt as we drove across a ploughed field.
Using up the last of the year's ammunition allocation, blasting away with our light machine guns.
On basic training, on a field exercise I lined up my sights and pulled the trigger on an approaching figure. The training staff had wound us up that we were about to be attacked. It was fear and the desire to stop the enemy getting any closer that motivated the action. Of course they'd arranged that this was our own patrol coming back in at an unexpected time and direction. A very good lesson why you need to follow procedures and not go gung ho firing on anything that moves. OK it was blank ammunition, but I really intended to stop the target - one of my friends.
Middle of an exercise - my lorry was out of service (OK I'd crashed it) and I'd been digging trenches. Totally knackered I was about the only guy left at our location, stopping for a meal I ended up with a huge serving of sponge and chocolate custard. With a wonderful disregard for fieldcraft I sat out in the sun and scoffed the lot. Delicious.
Driving west to east through West Germany. In the west signs in windows urging us impolitely to go home. The further east you got the friendlier the natives became. Right up near the east German border we were digging a trench practically in the front garden of one house. The inhabitant came out, but rather than having a go at us about our activities, he offered a drink from his bottle of whisky.
Driver training. A smart line up of all the vehicles on camp just prior to us all going out learning to drive our HGV's. Ten minutes after we had left camp, a smart line up of all the vehicles outside the local transport cafe.
Down near Aldershot our unit were marshalling an army off road driving competition. I was collecting scores riding round the course on a motorbike. One of my colleagues reckoned he could ride the bike through a two foot deep swamp that was part of the competition course. I let him try, the failure was spectacular, mud everywhere. Next time I delivered the results to the officers I got a very strange look - my uniform pristine but the bike a large mobile blob of mud.
Driver training. Not me, but one of the trainees proved the lorries could drive straight over a car, in this case a parked Porsche. The guy passed his test two days later.
Coming back from Germany, driving one of our Bedfords through customs. Nothing to declare? Only two SLRs, high powered rifles, two LMG machine guns and the beer for half the squadron. Presumably someone had done the paperwork, we were just waved through.
Good times, and just enough of an experience to appreciate what the real heroes who are in regular combat operations go through.
I'll say to start I've never seen any combat, about the most dangerous thing I did was testing a freshly built pontoon bridge over the river Weser. The engineers had just finished it and we were the first unit of lorries to happen by - we were ordered to drive across it and back to make sure it worked. The Weser is a pretty wide and fast flowing river so if we'd gone in it wouldn't have been good. And of course it was night time, tactical so no lights - just tiny luminous dots on sticks on the edges of the bridge to guide us. The bridge wasn't much wider than our lorries either.
It was 'wear your uniform to work' day for reservists yesterday, so to join in and show support I wore my soldier '95 shirt and veterans badge when I went out in the evening. Doesn't seem anyone recognises the vets badge, but the camouflage shirt did cause comments!
Some memories -
End of a 15 day exercise, too tired to care, a group of us went into a quite posh restaurant filthy dirty, still in our combats. The staff served us without complaint, the best rump steak and chips ever!
Should have been double manned, we were being volunteered by our CO for every job going. After several days going practically non stop, an officer had to take over driving my Bedford. Apparently I stayed asleep hanging in the passenger seatbelt as we drove across a ploughed field.
Using up the last of the year's ammunition allocation, blasting away with our light machine guns.
On basic training, on a field exercise I lined up my sights and pulled the trigger on an approaching figure. The training staff had wound us up that we were about to be attacked. It was fear and the desire to stop the enemy getting any closer that motivated the action. Of course they'd arranged that this was our own patrol coming back in at an unexpected time and direction. A very good lesson why you need to follow procedures and not go gung ho firing on anything that moves. OK it was blank ammunition, but I really intended to stop the target - one of my friends.
Middle of an exercise - my lorry was out of service (OK I'd crashed it) and I'd been digging trenches. Totally knackered I was about the only guy left at our location, stopping for a meal I ended up with a huge serving of sponge and chocolate custard. With a wonderful disregard for fieldcraft I sat out in the sun and scoffed the lot. Delicious.
Driving west to east through West Germany. In the west signs in windows urging us impolitely to go home. The further east you got the friendlier the natives became. Right up near the east German border we were digging a trench practically in the front garden of one house. The inhabitant came out, but rather than having a go at us about our activities, he offered a drink from his bottle of whisky.
Driver training. A smart line up of all the vehicles on camp just prior to us all going out learning to drive our HGV's. Ten minutes after we had left camp, a smart line up of all the vehicles outside the local transport cafe.
Down near Aldershot our unit were marshalling an army off road driving competition. I was collecting scores riding round the course on a motorbike. One of my colleagues reckoned he could ride the bike through a two foot deep swamp that was part of the competition course. I let him try, the failure was spectacular, mud everywhere. Next time I delivered the results to the officers I got a very strange look - my uniform pristine but the bike a large mobile blob of mud.
Driver training. Not me, but one of the trainees proved the lorries could drive straight over a car, in this case a parked Porsche. The guy passed his test two days later.
Coming back from Germany, driving one of our Bedfords through customs. Nothing to declare? Only two SLRs, high powered rifles, two LMG machine guns and the beer for half the squadron. Presumably someone had done the paperwork, we were just waved through.
Good times, and just enough of an experience to appreciate what the real heroes who are in regular combat operations go through.
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Sarcoptic (Fox) Mange part two
Treatment for scruff the fox turned up a couple of days ago. I've moved the time for putting the sandwich out from mid afternoon to last light in the evening. He usually wanders through our garden mid afternoon and stops for a sleep if the weather's good, but as it hasn't been the most pleasant weather he's been a bit irregular and the bread was being pecked by the local magpies.
I do wonder if someone else has been treating him - he's not biting and scratching himself anywhere near as vigorously as he was a week ago, and I don't think I've been treating him long enough to take effect. no problem if he is getting two treatments - the stuff is homeopathic and isn't injurious to other animals or at higher doses to the fox. I need to keep the camera handy and start taking a series of pictures to detect and record the regrowth of his tail fur.
I haven't mowed the lawn for months now, it's looking more like a small field out there. Original reason was the lack of rain - the grass stays green better if it's a bit longer. As it grew the tracks of visiting wildlife became more visible. It was actually possible to see where the hedgehog had pushed through the grass in search of slugs. Their scat is distinctive, so I knew we had a visiting hog, but it was nice to track his wanderings round our garden.
Had an unrecognised small brown bird in our garden too. It came up close to the patio doors. it must be the young of one of the common garden birds, possibly a blackbird - must look it up.
We had been visited by rats coming in from behind next door's shed. Not a huge number, but they were occasional visitors to examine our compost heaps. 3 months ago they were fairly frequent visitors, but since then I've seen less traces to the point where none have been seen for some weeks. The foxes eat the rats, I'm wondering if the mange outbreak is in any way connected with the rats' disappearance.
Scruff the fox is the only local fox we've got a the moment. I'm assuming White tip (scruff's vixen), Pongo (White tips cub last year), Joe and Jane (recent incoming foxes with few markings) have all died in this mange outbreak. None of them have been seen now for a couple of months, their regular runs are fading and their laying up spots are unused. It is looking hopeful for scruff now though. From what I've read the surviving foxes will quickly breed to fill up the spare territories created by these departures.
Country watch on the TV has been featuring foxes at Pitsea Tip, which is only a few miles away from where I am. Lovely shots of this years cubs, but they are rather too used to humans feeding them - they're a bit too tame for my liking. I'll have to see if there's public access so I can take my camera down there.
The charity (query that, no registered charity number) that supplied the mange treatment (for free!), National Fox Welfare Society, has got loads of information on their site. They're also after members and volunteers to assist injured or ill foxes in your local area. I'd love to look after and raise orphaned cubs, but I've got mixed feelings about maybe making them too tame and about reintroducing what are after all vermin, back into the wild.
Only a couple of weeks now and I'll be off to Kent for another weekend in private woodland. Didn't see the foxes down there last time, I'll have to make a special effort to look for them.
I do wonder if someone else has been treating him - he's not biting and scratching himself anywhere near as vigorously as he was a week ago, and I don't think I've been treating him long enough to take effect. no problem if he is getting two treatments - the stuff is homeopathic and isn't injurious to other animals or at higher doses to the fox. I need to keep the camera handy and start taking a series of pictures to detect and record the regrowth of his tail fur.
I haven't mowed the lawn for months now, it's looking more like a small field out there. Original reason was the lack of rain - the grass stays green better if it's a bit longer. As it grew the tracks of visiting wildlife became more visible. It was actually possible to see where the hedgehog had pushed through the grass in search of slugs. Their scat is distinctive, so I knew we had a visiting hog, but it was nice to track his wanderings round our garden.
Had an unrecognised small brown bird in our garden too. It came up close to the patio doors. it must be the young of one of the common garden birds, possibly a blackbird - must look it up.
We had been visited by rats coming in from behind next door's shed. Not a huge number, but they were occasional visitors to examine our compost heaps. 3 months ago they were fairly frequent visitors, but since then I've seen less traces to the point where none have been seen for some weeks. The foxes eat the rats, I'm wondering if the mange outbreak is in any way connected with the rats' disappearance.
Scruff the fox is the only local fox we've got a the moment. I'm assuming White tip (scruff's vixen), Pongo (White tips cub last year), Joe and Jane (recent incoming foxes with few markings) have all died in this mange outbreak. None of them have been seen now for a couple of months, their regular runs are fading and their laying up spots are unused. It is looking hopeful for scruff now though. From what I've read the surviving foxes will quickly breed to fill up the spare territories created by these departures.
Country watch on the TV has been featuring foxes at Pitsea Tip, which is only a few miles away from where I am. Lovely shots of this years cubs, but they are rather too used to humans feeding them - they're a bit too tame for my liking. I'll have to see if there's public access so I can take my camera down there.
The charity (query that, no registered charity number) that supplied the mange treatment (for free!), National Fox Welfare Society, has got loads of information on their site. They're also after members and volunteers to assist injured or ill foxes in your local area. I'd love to look after and raise orphaned cubs, but I've got mixed feelings about maybe making them too tame and about reintroducing what are after all vermin, back into the wild.
Only a couple of weeks now and I'll be off to Kent for another weekend in private woodland. Didn't see the foxes down there last time, I'll have to make a special effort to look for them.
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Religious rites - does God want them
Genuflecting on entering a church, candles, incense, kneeling all in one direction, hectoring priests. It all seems a bit much for me and puts me off organised religion. An omnipotent god surely isn't bothered whether we adhere to church etiquette. It must be more important that we're just good people.
My personal view is a belief in God, or Gods if you wish to view the various aspects of god separately. I just can't bring myself to subscribe to any of the organised religions. Looking back at history, the divisions and wars caused by what are often very minor differences in belief seem plain crazy.
Religion is a great power for good as well. Having faith in a greater power gives reason for altruistic acts and reason for behaving well towards your fellow people. It also makes it easier to put up with bad behaviour if you think the perpetrator is going to rot in hell for it! Don't forget the social aspects either - services can act as a uniting influence on a community, the start of coffee mornings and social clubs and gatherings for a community.
Returning to the original point of the rites the various churches use. I've been having a look at shamanism - a fairly woolly belief in spirits and energies running through all things. All things are interconnected through these energies and we're just a part of the system. While there isn't anything labelled god here, the universal spirit moving through all things isn't that different to a pantheistic notion of a conventional god. Again the similarities are greater than the differences from other systems.
There's no book of rules, no bible or Koran and there are no laid down activities that are required - so I found it rather unsettling that I started adopting strange little rites of my own.
This started when I was doing a tracking course and we were engaging in 'energy tracking'. The idea is to engage with the energies laid down with the tracks so as to be able to interpret tracks even when they're completely hidden. This produced some remarkable results - I'm from a programming background so want everything to be logically explicable. The leader produced exactly the right atmosphere for this exercise, allowing belief in something that at other times would have seemed quite mad and impossible.
Working in pairs, one student turned their back while the other walked, or did some other action, across a swept area. The area was then covered with a beach mat and student 1 then had to interpret what had happened. This is when I adopted my own little rite. I knelt briefly a couple of yards from the mat (rationale, you can see entry/exit marks more clearly at a shallow angle) before approaching the mat. I then 'dowsed' hovering my hands a few inches above the mat. And it worked.
Looking back, what I was actually doing with the quick kneel and handwork was providing a sop to my concious mind in order to 'let go' and allow instinct and the subconscious to take over. I've seen on scientific studies the human mind deals with 3-7 items of information at one time. Now think of the amount of data hitting your brain all the time - sight, smell, touch, time, balance - millions of data items, most of which get filtered out and discarded. Since then when tracking or in the woods looking for wildlife, I've found these little rituals can quieten your consciousness and allow your instincts to identify clues you'd have no chance of spotting deliberately.
Talking to another bushcrafter, who is similarly put off by the rituals of religion the connection suddenly became clear. All the ritual activity involved in religion isn't there to worship or please god, it's there to prepare you for worship. Whether god is a supernatural person, or the sum of the cosmos' natural energies, the way to connect is through instinctive, unconscious though rather than through conscious structured logic.
I'm coming round to the way of thinking that God is not external to us. Man has developed over tens of thousand, millions of years of evolution. We have evolved from the chemicals of the rocks, we share the evolutionary path that every living thing has followed. There is indeed a connection between all living and non living things on the earth and beyond. We have animal instincts and race memories that are the echoes of our developmental experience. To hear these echoes we need to listen, we need to drop the shell of our industrialised civilisation for few moments. We all share the same echoes - whatever rites we use to prepare ourselves to hear are equally valid - lets not squabble about it.
The answer is still 42. ;o)
My personal view is a belief in God, or Gods if you wish to view the various aspects of god separately. I just can't bring myself to subscribe to any of the organised religions. Looking back at history, the divisions and wars caused by what are often very minor differences in belief seem plain crazy.
Religion is a great power for good as well. Having faith in a greater power gives reason for altruistic acts and reason for behaving well towards your fellow people. It also makes it easier to put up with bad behaviour if you think the perpetrator is going to rot in hell for it! Don't forget the social aspects either - services can act as a uniting influence on a community, the start of coffee mornings and social clubs and gatherings for a community.
Returning to the original point of the rites the various churches use. I've been having a look at shamanism - a fairly woolly belief in spirits and energies running through all things. All things are interconnected through these energies and we're just a part of the system. While there isn't anything labelled god here, the universal spirit moving through all things isn't that different to a pantheistic notion of a conventional god. Again the similarities are greater than the differences from other systems.
There's no book of rules, no bible or Koran and there are no laid down activities that are required - so I found it rather unsettling that I started adopting strange little rites of my own.
This started when I was doing a tracking course and we were engaging in 'energy tracking'. The idea is to engage with the energies laid down with the tracks so as to be able to interpret tracks even when they're completely hidden. This produced some remarkable results - I'm from a programming background so want everything to be logically explicable. The leader produced exactly the right atmosphere for this exercise, allowing belief in something that at other times would have seemed quite mad and impossible.
Working in pairs, one student turned their back while the other walked, or did some other action, across a swept area. The area was then covered with a beach mat and student 1 then had to interpret what had happened. This is when I adopted my own little rite. I knelt briefly a couple of yards from the mat (rationale, you can see entry/exit marks more clearly at a shallow angle) before approaching the mat. I then 'dowsed' hovering my hands a few inches above the mat. And it worked.
Looking back, what I was actually doing with the quick kneel and handwork was providing a sop to my concious mind in order to 'let go' and allow instinct and the subconscious to take over. I've seen on scientific studies the human mind deals with 3-7 items of information at one time. Now think of the amount of data hitting your brain all the time - sight, smell, touch, time, balance - millions of data items, most of which get filtered out and discarded. Since then when tracking or in the woods looking for wildlife, I've found these little rituals can quieten your consciousness and allow your instincts to identify clues you'd have no chance of spotting deliberately.
Talking to another bushcrafter, who is similarly put off by the rituals of religion the connection suddenly became clear. All the ritual activity involved in religion isn't there to worship or please god, it's there to prepare you for worship. Whether god is a supernatural person, or the sum of the cosmos' natural energies, the way to connect is through instinctive, unconscious though rather than through conscious structured logic.
I'm coming round to the way of thinking that God is not external to us. Man has developed over tens of thousand, millions of years of evolution. We have evolved from the chemicals of the rocks, we share the evolutionary path that every living thing has followed. There is indeed a connection between all living and non living things on the earth and beyond. We have animal instincts and race memories that are the echoes of our developmental experience. To hear these echoes we need to listen, we need to drop the shell of our industrialised civilisation for few moments. We all share the same echoes - whatever rites we use to prepare ourselves to hear are equally valid - lets not squabble about it.
The answer is still 42. ;o)
Monday 20 June 2011
Obscene pay
There's a lot in the press about the huge amounts bankers, politicians and some local government managers get paid. the amounts talked about defy any normal concept of 'earnings'. How can any one person be that much better than others that the value they add by doing their job can justify so many times the average workers wage.
But hang on a minute. Look at some of the crazy things going on elsewhere in our society.
Footballers and entertainers receiving vast amounts without producing anything tangible for the community.
The justice system awarding huge amounts of damages to victims of negligence - the concept of a genuine accident without blame seems to have disappeared. Just being famous from being to the telly seems enough for individuals to demand money for their presence. As for the after dinner speaking racket with the likes of Tony Blair...
It's hardly surprising that bankers and CEOs of major companies look at the sums being handed out for kicking a ball about and demand similar amounts. these people are after all running businesses which produce the wealth our societies and nations depend on. Politicians and local government officials have a high opinion of themselves so aren't going to be left out.
Remember, at the end of the day there is a finite amount of wealth to be distributed. The wealth is produced by production activities - mining, agriculture, manufacturing and the like, which are in turn enabled by the service industries - the banks, government, distribution, retail and so on.
It seems to me the reward to the productive and service areas should be higher than non productive areas. Entertainment, the arts, sports are all very nice to have, but cannot demand a disproportionate reward. Within the productive areas, no individual is indispensable - the guy on the production line is just as essential as the top managers. Pay needs to relate to the availability of suitable personell - more people are capable of doing the production line jobs so get paid less, but the top people aren't as unique as they currently seem to think they are. Same applies to the top entertainers - they're really not that much better than their peers. The very top jobs should also carry risk - if the management causes the company to fail, then any rewards (pensions, bonuses etc) the management have accrued should fail with the company. How many managers seem able to ruin one company, then almost immediately get a top paid job in another company - isn't failure recognised at this level?
Lets get back to sportsmen being (semi) amateur, entertainers doing the job because they love the applause, and managers acting professionally and being respected for it.
But hang on a minute. Look at some of the crazy things going on elsewhere in our society.
Footballers and entertainers receiving vast amounts without producing anything tangible for the community.
The justice system awarding huge amounts of damages to victims of negligence - the concept of a genuine accident without blame seems to have disappeared. Just being famous from being to the telly seems enough for individuals to demand money for their presence. As for the after dinner speaking racket with the likes of Tony Blair...
It's hardly surprising that bankers and CEOs of major companies look at the sums being handed out for kicking a ball about and demand similar amounts. these people are after all running businesses which produce the wealth our societies and nations depend on. Politicians and local government officials have a high opinion of themselves so aren't going to be left out.
Remember, at the end of the day there is a finite amount of wealth to be distributed. The wealth is produced by production activities - mining, agriculture, manufacturing and the like, which are in turn enabled by the service industries - the banks, government, distribution, retail and so on.
It seems to me the reward to the productive and service areas should be higher than non productive areas. Entertainment, the arts, sports are all very nice to have, but cannot demand a disproportionate reward. Within the productive areas, no individual is indispensable - the guy on the production line is just as essential as the top managers. Pay needs to relate to the availability of suitable personell - more people are capable of doing the production line jobs so get paid less, but the top people aren't as unique as they currently seem to think they are. Same applies to the top entertainers - they're really not that much better than their peers. The very top jobs should also carry risk - if the management causes the company to fail, then any rewards (pensions, bonuses etc) the management have accrued should fail with the company. How many managers seem able to ruin one company, then almost immediately get a top paid job in another company - isn't failure recognised at this level?
Lets get back to sportsmen being (semi) amateur, entertainers doing the job because they love the applause, and managers acting professionally and being respected for it.
Sunday 19 June 2011
Why blog
Today's blog is a bit rushed.
Why am I doing this - I don't anticipate anyone reading it.
So why do I look at the stats so often?
It's great to spout all this rubbish - anonymous - on public view - writing it all down just helps.
Helps what?
Dunno...
Why am I doing this - I don't anticipate anyone reading it.
So why do I look at the stats so often?
It's great to spout all this rubbish - anonymous - on public view - writing it all down just helps.
Helps what?
Dunno...
Saturday 18 June 2011
End of the world and all that
There's an awful lot of predictions for the world to end in 2012. I'm happy to admit my ignorance of the details of exactly how this is going to happen.
I must say I'm thinking that it's not the world that's going to end, but maybe our civilisation. I've read, and it seems entirely possible, that with our intricate network of interdependent utilities, industries, agriculture, finance and distribution, we're always just 4-7 days away from total chaos. Just take out one element, say electricity, and consider the consequences on everything else!
The natural disasters that have occurred over the last few years - tsunami, volcanic eruption, earthquake have only affected relatively minor areas.
The man made financial problems we're having could well descend into major loss of confidence in national governments' ability to repay loans. The UK public service unions will really have something to strike about if the government ends up without money to pay their wages. It always makes me wonder who's actually got the money that's being borrowed on such a massive scale.
Hang on a minute - my pension was due into my account last Friday and it's not there yet - is this the start?
So, consider the scenario - a major earthquake sparking off volcanic activity and tsunamis. The atmosphere fills with dust, grounding all airlines. Tsunamis destroy a fair percentage of port facilities as well coastal towns and cities. Electric storms generated in the volcanic dust clouds could take out all satellite communications and wreak havoc with national power grids. All this destruction reduces many governments ability to service their debts - assuming the bank systems can continue operation without the data transmission of the satellite and other networks.
Big question - how long does normal life continue. Would everyone altruistically continue working to provide water, electricity, food to the population without the certainty of being paid for their efforts, and without the certainty their pay can purchase what they need to live. How soon do people start panicking - hoarding food, abandoning their roles in society and maybe running for the hills with their families.
If, and it's a big if, the utilities cease working and food distribution grinds to a halt, what happens to the major population centres. Does law and order continue, with equitable sharing of limited resources. Could an orderly evacuation of the most densely populated areas be achieved - is there enough land to spread out people enough to enable them to survive without the infrastructure of supermarkets and big business? Would people be able to acquire the necessary skills fast enough? Can the infrastructure recover if there's a major calamity?
I must say on a global scale, the disasters that we've faced in recent history have not been cataclysmic for the human race, or even our western civilisation as a whole. There's no reason why much larger disasters can't be coped with in a similar fashion. It's only if something on at least a continental, or even global, scale happens that we're in real trouble. That sounds pretty callous considering the loss of life in any major natural disaster, but it's the survival of our civilisation, not every individual I'm considering here.
In the long term, there's a need to have a plan how to deal with these things. It probably won't happen in 2012, but there will be problems, large and small scale, natural and man made, within our life times. Maybe the ultimate plan B needs to allow for us being knocked back to the stone ages. I sure as hell don't have the practical know how to smelt iron.
I must say I'm thinking that it's not the world that's going to end, but maybe our civilisation. I've read, and it seems entirely possible, that with our intricate network of interdependent utilities, industries, agriculture, finance and distribution, we're always just 4-7 days away from total chaos. Just take out one element, say electricity, and consider the consequences on everything else!
The natural disasters that have occurred over the last few years - tsunami, volcanic eruption, earthquake have only affected relatively minor areas.
The man made financial problems we're having could well descend into major loss of confidence in national governments' ability to repay loans. The UK public service unions will really have something to strike about if the government ends up without money to pay their wages. It always makes me wonder who's actually got the money that's being borrowed on such a massive scale.
Hang on a minute - my pension was due into my account last Friday and it's not there yet - is this the start?
So, consider the scenario - a major earthquake sparking off volcanic activity and tsunamis. The atmosphere fills with dust, grounding all airlines. Tsunamis destroy a fair percentage of port facilities as well coastal towns and cities. Electric storms generated in the volcanic dust clouds could take out all satellite communications and wreak havoc with national power grids. All this destruction reduces many governments ability to service their debts - assuming the bank systems can continue operation without the data transmission of the satellite and other networks.
Big question - how long does normal life continue. Would everyone altruistically continue working to provide water, electricity, food to the population without the certainty of being paid for their efforts, and without the certainty their pay can purchase what they need to live. How soon do people start panicking - hoarding food, abandoning their roles in society and maybe running for the hills with their families.
If, and it's a big if, the utilities cease working and food distribution grinds to a halt, what happens to the major population centres. Does law and order continue, with equitable sharing of limited resources. Could an orderly evacuation of the most densely populated areas be achieved - is there enough land to spread out people enough to enable them to survive without the infrastructure of supermarkets and big business? Would people be able to acquire the necessary skills fast enough? Can the infrastructure recover if there's a major calamity?
I must say on a global scale, the disasters that we've faced in recent history have not been cataclysmic for the human race, or even our western civilisation as a whole. There's no reason why much larger disasters can't be coped with in a similar fashion. It's only if something on at least a continental, or even global, scale happens that we're in real trouble. That sounds pretty callous considering the loss of life in any major natural disaster, but it's the survival of our civilisation, not every individual I'm considering here.
In the long term, there's a need to have a plan how to deal with these things. It probably won't happen in 2012, but there will be problems, large and small scale, natural and man made, within our life times. Maybe the ultimate plan B needs to allow for us being knocked back to the stone ages. I sure as hell don't have the practical know how to smelt iron.
Friday 17 June 2011
Education Education Education
Doing casual work for local colleges I'm on the fringes of the teaching profession. I did a couple of years part time FE teaching and qualified with a C&G certificate.
It's in the news that some failing primary schools are to be turned into academies. I don't know much about the government's idea of what an academy is, but I thought it should be a centre of excellence for a particular specialism. Not at all suitable for a primary school. (Age 5-11 year olds for those not in UK). A change of name isn't going to sort out problems, and throwing money at these schools, which is probably what is intended, won't work unless accompanied by decent leadership within the schools and from the education dept.
Bureaucracy seems to be rife in the education system, as it is in many other parts of our community. A main reason I'm a casual worker rather than a tutor with the colleges is to avoid a lot of form filling and box ticking nonsense the tutors (and students) have to comply with. My C&G qualification has been superseded, so I'd have to go through the mill again and re-qualify. A motivation for many tutors in the FE sector is to pass on their knowledge of subjects they're expert in. Many have years of commercial experience in their fields. This counts for nothing in the eyes of the bureaucrats - every tutor must have the right bits of paper to show they have done the right courses in their subject. Absolutely right that teachers need to know their subjects, but why is it impossible to assess an individuals level of knowledge rather than force them through a course which is at a far lower level than their current standard.
It's in the news that some failing primary schools are to be turned into academies. I don't know much about the government's idea of what an academy is, but I thought it should be a centre of excellence for a particular specialism. Not at all suitable for a primary school. (Age 5-11 year olds for those not in UK). A change of name isn't going to sort out problems, and throwing money at these schools, which is probably what is intended, won't work unless accompanied by decent leadership within the schools and from the education dept.
Bureaucracy seems to be rife in the education system, as it is in many other parts of our community. A main reason I'm a casual worker rather than a tutor with the colleges is to avoid a lot of form filling and box ticking nonsense the tutors (and students) have to comply with. My C&G qualification has been superseded, so I'd have to go through the mill again and re-qualify. A motivation for many tutors in the FE sector is to pass on their knowledge of subjects they're expert in. Many have years of commercial experience in their fields. This counts for nothing in the eyes of the bureaucrats - every tutor must have the right bits of paper to show they have done the right courses in their subject. Absolutely right that teachers need to know their subjects, but why is it impossible to assess an individuals level of knowledge rather than force them through a course which is at a far lower level than their current standard.
I'm told by people who have recently completed the PTTLS and DTTLS qualifications in FE teaching that much of the content is given over to political correctness - diversity training, ensuring access for all. It seems the system expects potential teachers all to be bigoted racists who need re-educating, even brainwashing, into thinking the right way.
It's an interesting point that you need to be teaching to go on one of these courses as classroom assessment is a required element. You can't in theory get a job until you're qualified, so can't take the qualification. I applied for my first teaching job while I genuinely thought I had a place on a C&G course. I got the job but lost the place on the course, which put me in a position where I could properly apply to get qualified. If that makes sense to you, it doesn't to me.
Another moan in the FE world is the differentials certain classes of people pay for the courses. If you're not claiming benefits and the course isn't work focussed the fees are pretty hefty. Courses aimed at qualifications to enhance job prospects are often free. Benefits claimants get huge discounts. Pensioners used to be on a par with benefits claimants but now only get a small discount. So the people who pay the most are the same people who are funding the colleges with their tax payments. Plus they can't get the courses they would prefer as many classes are filled with benefits claimants - they have the time to get their applications in, often for multiple courses, the instant registration opens. End result - fees for lesser subsidised students go even higher as the subsidies are not fully reimbursed to the college. Personally I'd like to see the large subsidies limited to one course only. Fees for job focussed courses should be similar to university student loans, repayable when the student gets a job with their shiny new qualification.
A bit more common sense is required all round. There are many people who could teach but are put off by the plethora of bits of paper needed. (Also a few with the bits of paper who really can't teach!) Funding needs to come up the agenda a bit, higher paying students need a bit of priority to get more money into the system and students who are benefiting from gaining qualifications need to make a proper contribution.
A possible solution for the leisure type courses (pottery, art, yoga and c.) is to allow the tutors to run classes on a semi commercial basis. i.e. the tutors run the courses at prices set within college specified boundaries, the college provides premises and such overheads as insurance at reasonable rates. This might also get the college premises used more during the excessive holidays.
The aim of education is to provide people with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills. As with any large organisation this simple objective gets overwhelmed by the paperwork, externally set targets and box ticking that goes on.
Thursday 16 June 2011
Art - what exactly is it?
Over the last couple of days I've heard some interesting comments about art. A photographer is (justly) complaining that a painter has copied one of his images. Invitations to the pub have included comments on the art of football. I used the word 'artist' to mean someone who paints or sketches, offending sculptors, photographers and may other types of artistic endeavour.
My personal definition of art, for what it's worth, is the creation of anything which improves the quality of human life without having any real function.
There are obviously huge grey areas - the streamlining of cars can be both functional and pleasing to the eye. Purely functional objects such as military tanks can have their own aesthetics. I have heard the building of flat pack furniture described as a remote branch of sculpture.
There is a trend in much modern art for the artists to want to challenge the viewer of their artistic masterpiece. there is a desire to make the enjoyment of the artefact dependant on thinking about it and maybe creating a story from it. The artisan aspect, the skill required to create the object, is now taking a very secondary role. Seems to me if the enjoyment of art is dependant upon the viewer requiring education to think in the same way as the artist, something's going a bit wrong. Some artists seem to have a very fascist attitude that everyone must agree with their point of view - many implying that anyone not admiring their work must be stupid or artistically stunted.
I work on the fringes of art, and often talk to people who paint for pleasure. These individuals are mostly determined to increase their technical abilities. The common view is that if you can't make the paints (or whatever medium) conform to your aims, you'll never produce worthwhile art. Look at the early works of Picasso - realistic portraits, paintings and sketches - artists need the apprenticeship of producing art from life before they should advance into the abstract and surrealist theatres.
The photographer having a go about an artist copying his work has a very valid outlook. He'd posed a model, lit them and produced a very imaginative and attractive image. An artist had come along, liked the image and copied it without adding any value of their own. A lot of found art, starting with the famous 'fountain' / urinal is much the same in my view. Turning an object to a different angle doesn't negate the original designers copyright on the form of the object.
The earlier comment about erecting flat pack furniture being a form of sculpture raises interesting thoughts. Why is art now so separated from everyday living. We talk about the art of cooking, the art of conversation. It must be good to inject into everything we do the desire to make it better than functionality demands.
It's why I write these blogs. My thoughts solidify. Don't rush and do things cheaply. Slow down. Acquire a serene mind and take the time, effort and care to do things in a way that is pleasing to you - and hopefully to others as well. That's the real art of life.
My personal definition of art, for what it's worth, is the creation of anything which improves the quality of human life without having any real function.
There are obviously huge grey areas - the streamlining of cars can be both functional and pleasing to the eye. Purely functional objects such as military tanks can have their own aesthetics. I have heard the building of flat pack furniture described as a remote branch of sculpture.
There is a trend in much modern art for the artists to want to challenge the viewer of their artistic masterpiece. there is a desire to make the enjoyment of the artefact dependant on thinking about it and maybe creating a story from it. The artisan aspect, the skill required to create the object, is now taking a very secondary role. Seems to me if the enjoyment of art is dependant upon the viewer requiring education to think in the same way as the artist, something's going a bit wrong. Some artists seem to have a very fascist attitude that everyone must agree with their point of view - many implying that anyone not admiring their work must be stupid or artistically stunted.
I work on the fringes of art, and often talk to people who paint for pleasure. These individuals are mostly determined to increase their technical abilities. The common view is that if you can't make the paints (or whatever medium) conform to your aims, you'll never produce worthwhile art. Look at the early works of Picasso - realistic portraits, paintings and sketches - artists need the apprenticeship of producing art from life before they should advance into the abstract and surrealist theatres.
The photographer having a go about an artist copying his work has a very valid outlook. He'd posed a model, lit them and produced a very imaginative and attractive image. An artist had come along, liked the image and copied it without adding any value of their own. A lot of found art, starting with the famous 'fountain' / urinal is much the same in my view. Turning an object to a different angle doesn't negate the original designers copyright on the form of the object.
The earlier comment about erecting flat pack furniture being a form of sculpture raises interesting thoughts. Why is art now so separated from everyday living. We talk about the art of cooking, the art of conversation. It must be good to inject into everything we do the desire to make it better than functionality demands.
It's why I write these blogs. My thoughts solidify. Don't rush and do things cheaply. Slow down. Acquire a serene mind and take the time, effort and care to do things in a way that is pleasing to you - and hopefully to others as well. That's the real art of life.
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Tracking stick
Hum. Homoeopathic stuff to cure our local fox of sarcoptic mange still hasn't turned up. Had to buy a new pot of honey for his sandwiches. At least he's getting some useful vitamins and stuff and getting accustomed to taking the bait which will eventually contain the treatment for his mange. Went to local large pet shop to see if it was purchasable - helpful staff but rather blank looks about sarcoptic mange.
I picked up a nice straight piece of hazel some weeks ago at a bushcraft camp. Stripped of bark it's been drying out in the back of my car. Judged it to be light enough now to need sealing.
For those of you who know nothing of tracking, it's helpful to measure the stride and width of tracks and, for humans, the size of their shoe. A nice long, light stick is used with some elastic bands on is used. the bands can be moved to mark stride lengths or any other measurement you wish to preserve. I'm also going to copy the tracks of rats, squirrels, weasels, hedgehogs - the ones I get confused between - onto a flat carved on the stick for reference.
For measuring I've sanded a band every foot down the pole, and squeezed some green leaf juice on the unsanded bit next to the band to accentuate it. I've carved a 'cartoon foxprint' onto the base end of the pole so I can leave my 'greyfox was here' print in soft ground. A quick sand down all over and a rather more meticulous treatment of the ends to get them looking nice and it's ready for finishing/sealing. Options are varnish, oiling or wax. I had some furniture polish in the cupboard so went with that. I only hope the scent wears off or the pole will be tracking only - it'll have to stay in the car when I'm stalking or otherwise trying to get near animals.
It's drying/hardening in the sun at the moment. I wonder if the smell will put scruff the fox off coming for his honey sandwich?
I picked up a nice straight piece of hazel some weeks ago at a bushcraft camp. Stripped of bark it's been drying out in the back of my car. Judged it to be light enough now to need sealing.
For those of you who know nothing of tracking, it's helpful to measure the stride and width of tracks and, for humans, the size of their shoe. A nice long, light stick is used with some elastic bands on is used. the bands can be moved to mark stride lengths or any other measurement you wish to preserve. I'm also going to copy the tracks of rats, squirrels, weasels, hedgehogs - the ones I get confused between - onto a flat carved on the stick for reference.
For measuring I've sanded a band every foot down the pole, and squeezed some green leaf juice on the unsanded bit next to the band to accentuate it. I've carved a 'cartoon foxprint' onto the base end of the pole so I can leave my 'greyfox was here' print in soft ground. A quick sand down all over and a rather more meticulous treatment of the ends to get them looking nice and it's ready for finishing/sealing. Options are varnish, oiling or wax. I had some furniture polish in the cupboard so went with that. I only hope the scent wears off or the pole will be tracking only - it'll have to stay in the car when I'm stalking or otherwise trying to get near animals.
It's drying/hardening in the sun at the moment. I wonder if the smell will put scruff the fox off coming for his honey sandwich?
Tuesday 14 June 2011
Big Business
I'm semi retired now, hence the time to waste on blogs nobody will ever read. Just had an invite to go back up to the big smoke for a drink with various ex colleagues - both working, retired and redundant from the major bank I used to work for. The team I was a member of originally had 14 members; it's now down to one worker and one manager and is still expected to do the same work.
The last retirement/redundancy do I went to, there was the guy taking early retirement, 7 ex staff members and just one guy who still had a job standing around with pints. The ratio did improve as the lunchtime went on.
This all brought back my absolute astonishment at the apparent inefficiencies of large organisations. The number of people actually doing any work is small compared to the number of lower, middle and higher managers all spending their expensive time holding meetings.
Not only do they not do much management of their staff, but they all seem to be trying to advance their own agenda rather than pulling for the benefit of the organisation. Empire building is rife. In my experience the highest management set direction, middle management bicker about distribution of responsibility and resources, and the workers get it done by talking directly to each other at the working level - despite the managers interference.
It does seem that once any organisation - business, government or charity - expands beyond a certain size, managers lose sight of the aims of the organisation and instead feather their own nests. I've worked for small companies and there's a realisation that not doing the required job can directly lead to the company going bust and everyone losing their jobs. The top management of a small organisation also see directly what's happened, and don't rely on data which has been favourably filtered as it passes through each layer of a large organisations management.
I've worked at project manager level - my projects came in on time and within budget. My last major project came in with zero defects. Why? I always thought of my job as manager as facilitating the work of the guys actually doing the job. Let them do their work, don't put silly obstructions in their way. If they tell you there is a problem, they need praise for letting you know so you can deal with it, not a roasting for admitting everything's not perfect. At the end of the day, the vast majority of staff want to do a good job for their own satisfaction - any who don't need sacking!
On a related note - Staff Motivation Days.
Where I worked these things were so unpopular they had to be made compulsory.
It kind of works this way - High management wants more efficiency from the staff. Middle management blame the attitudes of the working staff who just want to get the job done, not to promote their immediate mangers selfish interests. How to turn this round? Get the staff more motivated and engaged with the companies(? managers?) aims!! Bring in the experts, spend some money, tick the boxes!!
So the staff are dragged away from their backlog of work to be preached at for a half or whole day.
The preachers do seem to be pretty stupid and unaware what's going on in the company elsewhere. One of the messages is that the bank wants only the very best staff - then when pay is mentioned it's market matching, i.e. you'll only get exactly industry average pay despite being 'the best'. Another one is that you must be engaged with the company and be passionate, really care, about your job. Which contrasts nicely with how much they care about staff when the latest round of redundancies is announced. Another nicety of the whole process is that every member of staff must complete the exercises, questionnaires etc to gain maximum benefit from the session - unless of course you're a high enough manager when the absolute rules clearly don't apply to you - it's enough to grace the session with your presence for a couple of hours.
One year the annual appraisal had plenty of categories for 'engagement with company values'; 'team participation'; 'contributing to meetings'; ' passionate working': BUT nowhere to actually say whether you could do your job or not.
Managers were so 'busy' at meetings they bottled out of doing their real jobs. Initially we all had to suggest a number of people from outside the department we'd dealt with and would provide feedback - first year we provided a list from which the manager selected and obtained the feedback. A couple of years later we selected our own feedback providers and also had to get the feedback from them and put it into an easily digestible form for the manager. Not that it made a blind bit of difference as a normal distribution curve meant it was practically impossible to get anything outside an average rating. If the manager wanted to give their pet sheep employee a high grade, they also had to identify a sacrificial goat to keep the bell curve a nice shape.
And why are you not allowed to discuss salaries? Maybe because the managers aren't confident they're being fair?
I'm out of it now. I earn a quarter of what I used to, don't have to commute, and for once in my life I'm content, if not yet actually happy. For the first time in my life I get genuine thanks for doing my current casual employment. Real thanks feel good, unlike the corporate 'thanks' from a harassed manager (another box ticked), or the (sometimes financially generous) official thank you schemes.
And didn't the stress levels rise as I remembered my time as a corporate cog.
The last retirement/redundancy do I went to, there was the guy taking early retirement, 7 ex staff members and just one guy who still had a job standing around with pints. The ratio did improve as the lunchtime went on.
This all brought back my absolute astonishment at the apparent inefficiencies of large organisations. The number of people actually doing any work is small compared to the number of lower, middle and higher managers all spending their expensive time holding meetings.
Not only do they not do much management of their staff, but they all seem to be trying to advance their own agenda rather than pulling for the benefit of the organisation. Empire building is rife. In my experience the highest management set direction, middle management bicker about distribution of responsibility and resources, and the workers get it done by talking directly to each other at the working level - despite the managers interference.
It does seem that once any organisation - business, government or charity - expands beyond a certain size, managers lose sight of the aims of the organisation and instead feather their own nests. I've worked for small companies and there's a realisation that not doing the required job can directly lead to the company going bust and everyone losing their jobs. The top management of a small organisation also see directly what's happened, and don't rely on data which has been favourably filtered as it passes through each layer of a large organisations management.
I've worked at project manager level - my projects came in on time and within budget. My last major project came in with zero defects. Why? I always thought of my job as manager as facilitating the work of the guys actually doing the job. Let them do their work, don't put silly obstructions in their way. If they tell you there is a problem, they need praise for letting you know so you can deal with it, not a roasting for admitting everything's not perfect. At the end of the day, the vast majority of staff want to do a good job for their own satisfaction - any who don't need sacking!
On a related note - Staff Motivation Days.
Where I worked these things were so unpopular they had to be made compulsory.
It kind of works this way - High management wants more efficiency from the staff. Middle management blame the attitudes of the working staff who just want to get the job done, not to promote their immediate mangers selfish interests. How to turn this round? Get the staff more motivated and engaged with the companies(? managers?) aims!! Bring in the experts, spend some money, tick the boxes!!
So the staff are dragged away from their backlog of work to be preached at for a half or whole day.
The preachers do seem to be pretty stupid and unaware what's going on in the company elsewhere. One of the messages is that the bank wants only the very best staff - then when pay is mentioned it's market matching, i.e. you'll only get exactly industry average pay despite being 'the best'. Another one is that you must be engaged with the company and be passionate, really care, about your job. Which contrasts nicely with how much they care about staff when the latest round of redundancies is announced. Another nicety of the whole process is that every member of staff must complete the exercises, questionnaires etc to gain maximum benefit from the session - unless of course you're a high enough manager when the absolute rules clearly don't apply to you - it's enough to grace the session with your presence for a couple of hours.
One year the annual appraisal had plenty of categories for 'engagement with company values'; 'team participation'; 'contributing to meetings'; ' passionate working': BUT nowhere to actually say whether you could do your job or not.
Managers were so 'busy' at meetings they bottled out of doing their real jobs. Initially we all had to suggest a number of people from outside the department we'd dealt with and would provide feedback - first year we provided a list from which the manager selected and obtained the feedback. A couple of years later we selected our own feedback providers and also had to get the feedback from them and put it into an easily digestible form for the manager. Not that it made a blind bit of difference as a normal distribution curve meant it was practically impossible to get anything outside an average rating. If the manager wanted to give their pet sheep employee a high grade, they also had to identify a sacrificial goat to keep the bell curve a nice shape.
And why are you not allowed to discuss salaries? Maybe because the managers aren't confident they're being fair?
I'm out of it now. I earn a quarter of what I used to, don't have to commute, and for once in my life I'm content, if not yet actually happy. For the first time in my life I get genuine thanks for doing my current casual employment. Real thanks feel good, unlike the corporate 'thanks' from a harassed manager (another box ticked), or the (sometimes financially generous) official thank you schemes.
And didn't the stress levels rise as I remembered my time as a corporate cog.
Monday 13 June 2011
Contrast - M25 v country walk
Took a run up the M25 and M11 a few days ago to visit my aged mother up near Peterborough.
Motorways - why do that idiot minority treat travelling as some sort of competition. One classic white van man undertook me, shoved back in to the middle lane, undertook the guy in front.... Twenty minutes later he was still in sight about two hundred yards ahead. He'd annoyed scores of other motorists and his own stress levels were probably sky high that he couldn't get clear of the dense traffic. I must admit I'm not a good driver - when someone like that pushes, I do get annoyed and push back. Extremely dangerous for everyone. I am learning to control my anger, and now will drop in to the slow lane when I see this sort of situation developing; I'm never in that much of a rush and the slow lane really doesn't go that much slower when the traffic is so dense. I can then watch with trepidation the fast laners all closing up to insanely tiny separations to try and stop the undertakers getting back in. One tiny perturbation in the flow and all the brake lights slam on - its not that uncommon for a wave of emergency braking, sometimes to a standstill, to happen in the fast lane, as the slow lane wanders serenely on. Fine being in the slow lane until a Damn Great Lorry attaches itself to your back bumper...
Arriving, somewhere in England in a small village near Peterborough. The locals know me from when I looked after my post operative mother for a couple of weeks a while ago. Friendly greetings.
Walk with my mother and bird watching brother. Down to the mill, a grey fly catcher swoops across the pond. Inspect the lack of water in the mill race - today you can see the bottom of the channel. Off across the fields towards the next village. I'm pointing out the rabbit holes and tracks; fox scat and some interesting plants. My brother spots a high flying predator (Kestrel?) and we lesser mortals spend minutes even trying to spot the tiny dot in the sky. I finally get it framed and focussed in my telephoto lens, and track it as it drops like a stone towards it's prey. Larks rise bubbling from the crops on either side of us. A row of ancient gnarled Hawthorns stand, the remains of a one time boundary hedge. The sheep have left a furry trail of wooly tufts on the wire that now separates us from the field. Arriving at the next village, we stand by the bridge watching a family of Swans feeding, gliding through the water and waddling up onto the bank, home to their nest.
Looking across the river, my mother comments that King John did something memorable here, but she can't quite remember what...
Back by the same path - the alternative is a road route. Rooks, Jackdaws, Butterflies, a superb blue dragonfly. Back to the village with it's stone buildings, a magnificent horse chestnut and the small friendly shops.
And ruin the mood with the return trip up the motorways!
Motorways - why do that idiot minority treat travelling as some sort of competition. One classic white van man undertook me, shoved back in to the middle lane, undertook the guy in front.... Twenty minutes later he was still in sight about two hundred yards ahead. He'd annoyed scores of other motorists and his own stress levels were probably sky high that he couldn't get clear of the dense traffic. I must admit I'm not a good driver - when someone like that pushes, I do get annoyed and push back. Extremely dangerous for everyone. I am learning to control my anger, and now will drop in to the slow lane when I see this sort of situation developing; I'm never in that much of a rush and the slow lane really doesn't go that much slower when the traffic is so dense. I can then watch with trepidation the fast laners all closing up to insanely tiny separations to try and stop the undertakers getting back in. One tiny perturbation in the flow and all the brake lights slam on - its not that uncommon for a wave of emergency braking, sometimes to a standstill, to happen in the fast lane, as the slow lane wanders serenely on. Fine being in the slow lane until a Damn Great Lorry attaches itself to your back bumper...
Arriving, somewhere in England in a small village near Peterborough. The locals know me from when I looked after my post operative mother for a couple of weeks a while ago. Friendly greetings.
Walk with my mother and bird watching brother. Down to the mill, a grey fly catcher swoops across the pond. Inspect the lack of water in the mill race - today you can see the bottom of the channel. Off across the fields towards the next village. I'm pointing out the rabbit holes and tracks; fox scat and some interesting plants. My brother spots a high flying predator (Kestrel?) and we lesser mortals spend minutes even trying to spot the tiny dot in the sky. I finally get it framed and focussed in my telephoto lens, and track it as it drops like a stone towards it's prey. Larks rise bubbling from the crops on either side of us. A row of ancient gnarled Hawthorns stand, the remains of a one time boundary hedge. The sheep have left a furry trail of wooly tufts on the wire that now separates us from the field. Arriving at the next village, we stand by the bridge watching a family of Swans feeding, gliding through the water and waddling up onto the bank, home to their nest.
Looking across the river, my mother comments that King John did something memorable here, but she can't quite remember what...
Back by the same path - the alternative is a road route. Rooks, Jackdaws, Butterflies, a superb blue dragonfly. Back to the village with it's stone buildings, a magnificent horse chestnut and the small friendly shops.
And ruin the mood with the return trip up the motorways!
Sunday 12 June 2011
Cycling on pavements
Letters in our local papers often complain about people cycling on pavements. Counter letters from cyclists claim they have to because of the dangers of cycling on the road.
The thing I find most interesting about this is the attitudes shown by the cyclists involved. They appear to think they have an absolute right to break the law if they can justify themselves - they don't consider that pedestrians have a right to walk down the street in complete safety. The cyclists may consider they're in danger from car traffic and move on to the pavements, but where do the pedestrians go if they consider they're in danger from the cyclists?
This attitude isn't unique to cyclists. Car drivers seem to think they have a right to speed and park on double yellows. Young people think under age drinking and sex is perfectly acceptable. Narcotics use seems accepted by sectors of society.
What is so corrosive of society is not so much the actual offences, but the attitude that it's OK to ignore laws that an individual finds inconvenient. That's bound to cause offence to other members of the community who will then use that behaviour as a justification to commit other offences, or maybe as a justification to assault or otherwise attack the original offenders. If we all want to live in anarchy that's fine, and if everyone could agree on what's acceptable without a legal system and enforcement anarchy would work.
Talking to people, the individuals holding these attitudes often query whether anyone actually minds about their illegal behaviour. It's quite clear from local newspapers' letter sections that people mind very much. People don't complain directly to the offenders about illegal and anti social behaviour because of the climate of fear we live in. You're very likely to be told to F*** off if you politely ask an offender to desist, I have quite a bit of personal experience of that! I've also been told by professionals not to interfere as it's possible I may get stabbed. Not surprising then that people cycling on pavements get the impression nobody wishes to complain about their behaviour.
If it's allowed to continue, the type of offences that people will think OK and self justify will creep up. My car had various parts stolen and vandalised some years ago. The thief was eventually caught, but he was not ordered either to return the parts or compensate me. (Who says crime doesn't pay). I took the trouble to investigate a private prosecution to recover my losses. His attitude was that he had no money, all his friends were doing the same, and that I wouldn't mind as I'd be insured - very similar attitudes to the criminal cyclists.
Ideally individuals need to think about what they're doing and the consequences if we all follow their example of picking and choosing which laws we wish to obey. When people committing these type of offences are dealt with by the police, they often complain the police should be dealing with 'real' criminals. If they stopped committing the 'minor' offences then the police could indeed get on with stopping more serious offences.
Given that a minority will be scofflaws, the authorities do need to have the occasional crackdown on particular offences to prevent the idea building up that an offence isn't ever enforced. this attitude has certainly built up in the minds of cyclists.
My own opinion is that all law should be enforced. It's OK saying there are limited resources, but if an officer is on patrol with no priority matters, it doesn't take much to hand a fixed penalty to a pavement cyclist. I'd also say, and this applies to all offences, that if anyone continues to commit any offence repeatedly, the deterrent of the penalty is clearly not working and needs to be ramped up. A six month prison sentence for littering may sound extreme, but if anyone continually ignores penalties handed out by the courts, even the most minor offence becomes contempt of court (and contempt for everyone else's rights) rather than simply littering. Another issue is compensation. Courts often refrain from issuing compensation orders because the criminals have no assets. How come we can arrange for law abiding university students to rack up debts for when they have money, and we can't do the same for criminals. even if there is insurance in place, the criminal should repay the cost of their criminality to the insurance company - in every case.
The thing I find most interesting about this is the attitudes shown by the cyclists involved. They appear to think they have an absolute right to break the law if they can justify themselves - they don't consider that pedestrians have a right to walk down the street in complete safety. The cyclists may consider they're in danger from car traffic and move on to the pavements, but where do the pedestrians go if they consider they're in danger from the cyclists?
This attitude isn't unique to cyclists. Car drivers seem to think they have a right to speed and park on double yellows. Young people think under age drinking and sex is perfectly acceptable. Narcotics use seems accepted by sectors of society.
What is so corrosive of society is not so much the actual offences, but the attitude that it's OK to ignore laws that an individual finds inconvenient. That's bound to cause offence to other members of the community who will then use that behaviour as a justification to commit other offences, or maybe as a justification to assault or otherwise attack the original offenders. If we all want to live in anarchy that's fine, and if everyone could agree on what's acceptable without a legal system and enforcement anarchy would work.
Talking to people, the individuals holding these attitudes often query whether anyone actually minds about their illegal behaviour. It's quite clear from local newspapers' letter sections that people mind very much. People don't complain directly to the offenders about illegal and anti social behaviour because of the climate of fear we live in. You're very likely to be told to F*** off if you politely ask an offender to desist, I have quite a bit of personal experience of that! I've also been told by professionals not to interfere as it's possible I may get stabbed. Not surprising then that people cycling on pavements get the impression nobody wishes to complain about their behaviour.
If it's allowed to continue, the type of offences that people will think OK and self justify will creep up. My car had various parts stolen and vandalised some years ago. The thief was eventually caught, but he was not ordered either to return the parts or compensate me. (Who says crime doesn't pay). I took the trouble to investigate a private prosecution to recover my losses. His attitude was that he had no money, all his friends were doing the same, and that I wouldn't mind as I'd be insured - very similar attitudes to the criminal cyclists.
Ideally individuals need to think about what they're doing and the consequences if we all follow their example of picking and choosing which laws we wish to obey. When people committing these type of offences are dealt with by the police, they often complain the police should be dealing with 'real' criminals. If they stopped committing the 'minor' offences then the police could indeed get on with stopping more serious offences.
Given that a minority will be scofflaws, the authorities do need to have the occasional crackdown on particular offences to prevent the idea building up that an offence isn't ever enforced. this attitude has certainly built up in the minds of cyclists.
My own opinion is that all law should be enforced. It's OK saying there are limited resources, but if an officer is on patrol with no priority matters, it doesn't take much to hand a fixed penalty to a pavement cyclist. I'd also say, and this applies to all offences, that if anyone continues to commit any offence repeatedly, the deterrent of the penalty is clearly not working and needs to be ramped up. A six month prison sentence for littering may sound extreme, but if anyone continually ignores penalties handed out by the courts, even the most minor offence becomes contempt of court (and contempt for everyone else's rights) rather than simply littering. Another issue is compensation. Courts often refrain from issuing compensation orders because the criminals have no assets. How come we can arrange for law abiding university students to rack up debts for when they have money, and we can't do the same for criminals. even if there is insurance in place, the criminal should repay the cost of their criminality to the insurance company - in every case.
Thursday 9 June 2011
Red Foxes - Sarcoptic Mange
I take a great interest in foxes - I regard them as my ally animal in bushcraft.
Shortly after the mating season this year all the urban foxes disappeared from our garden - usual for the vixens, but the males had been sunning themselves in the open until they suddenly went. Just a few days ago, after weeks of absence, a big male I call scruff walked across the lawn - he was in a dreadful state with a bare tail and an even more patchy coat than his norm. Yesterday a smaller male with similar problems stayed in our garden long enough for me to get a quick photo. Posted the pics on facebook, one of my friends asked what I was doing about it...
Well, it really hadn't occurred to me to actually do anything; I'm interested in the foxes, but quite prepared to let nature take it's course. I'd usually never feed or try to tame a wild animal. A quick look on the web found www.nfws.org.uk - national fox welfare charity which had loads of info on mange. Emailed my pictures to them to check it really was mange, they emailed back within 12 hours - it certainly was mange and they asked for my address to post a (free) treatment to me. I'll have to feed the fox(es) with bait containing the homeopathic treatment. That's a bit against my principles, but secretly I'll be delighted if the foxes get to trust me and tolerate me near them. The attitude and service provided by the NFWS is exactly what a charity should be, a huge thumbs up to them. Not everyone is going to approve as foxes are vermin and can be a real problem, but no animal should be left to suffer a lingering death through something nasty (but curable) like mange. I know that's inconsistent with letting nature take its course, but...
I'll also take this opportunity to air my odd view on fox hunting. I'm pro hunting as well as pro foxes.
If that seems strange, my reasoning is that if foxes are valuable to the country community, even if it's for something many find abhorrent (i.e. hunting), they will be allowed to survive or even nurtured. If they're valueless, and a nuisance to boot, it would be quite easy to wipe them out completely.
With hunting fox populations will be controlled rather than eliminated. The habitats they need such as copses will be kept. The hunts will want hedges rather than barbed wire round the fields. The hunts do also tend to take out the weaker members of the fox population.
Without hunting there is no incentive to maintain a population of foxes, or to maintain the habitat they need.
Another thought concerning foxes killing hens and caged domestic pets. If humans are going to cage animals which are natural prey to foxes, it's the human's responsibility to ensure the protection is sufficient. Imagine the terror of those caged animals if a fox gets into their cage - they're totally unable to obey their instincts to flee. It's my opinion (based on no evidence) that the fox kills a whole coop full of hens to shut them up. It must frighten or confuse the fox that the hens don't try to escape, but stay there squawking their heads off at him.
And a pic of a happier fox -
Shortly after the mating season this year all the urban foxes disappeared from our garden - usual for the vixens, but the males had been sunning themselves in the open until they suddenly went. Just a few days ago, after weeks of absence, a big male I call scruff walked across the lawn - he was in a dreadful state with a bare tail and an even more patchy coat than his norm. Yesterday a smaller male with similar problems stayed in our garden long enough for me to get a quick photo. Posted the pics on facebook, one of my friends asked what I was doing about it...
Well, it really hadn't occurred to me to actually do anything; I'm interested in the foxes, but quite prepared to let nature take it's course. I'd usually never feed or try to tame a wild animal. A quick look on the web found www.nfws.org.uk - national fox welfare charity which had loads of info on mange. Emailed my pictures to them to check it really was mange, they emailed back within 12 hours - it certainly was mange and they asked for my address to post a (free) treatment to me. I'll have to feed the fox(es) with bait containing the homeopathic treatment. That's a bit against my principles, but secretly I'll be delighted if the foxes get to trust me and tolerate me near them. The attitude and service provided by the NFWS is exactly what a charity should be, a huge thumbs up to them. Not everyone is going to approve as foxes are vermin and can be a real problem, but no animal should be left to suffer a lingering death through something nasty (but curable) like mange. I know that's inconsistent with letting nature take its course, but...
I'll also take this opportunity to air my odd view on fox hunting. I'm pro hunting as well as pro foxes.
If that seems strange, my reasoning is that if foxes are valuable to the country community, even if it's for something many find abhorrent (i.e. hunting), they will be allowed to survive or even nurtured. If they're valueless, and a nuisance to boot, it would be quite easy to wipe them out completely.
With hunting fox populations will be controlled rather than eliminated. The habitats they need such as copses will be kept. The hunts will want hedges rather than barbed wire round the fields. The hunts do also tend to take out the weaker members of the fox population.
Without hunting there is no incentive to maintain a population of foxes, or to maintain the habitat they need.
Another thought concerning foxes killing hens and caged domestic pets. If humans are going to cage animals which are natural prey to foxes, it's the human's responsibility to ensure the protection is sufficient. Imagine the terror of those caged animals if a fox gets into their cage - they're totally unable to obey their instincts to flee. It's my opinion (based on no evidence) that the fox kills a whole coop full of hens to shut them up. It must frighten or confuse the fox that the hens don't try to escape, but stay there squawking their heads off at him.
And a pic of a happier fox -
Wednesday 8 June 2011
Tracking
I've recently been out in the woods for a weekend, camping and cooking on an open fire. When I went down there, I was wrapped up in myself and thinking only of me, my problems, what I was doing with my life.
The first night I was entirely on my own, I didn't light a fire and sat listening to the sounds of the woods as night closed in. I had my camera and wandered off to where I knew there was a badger sett - after sitting there for an hour poised to snap an emerging badger I'd had enough. Plenty of badgery noises but none appeared in camera range. Returned to my sleeping site, but rabbits were redigging their warren and their noises kept me awake, so I retreated to my people carrier to sleep.
Up at first light I stalked out. The rabbits and squirrels here are shot by the gamekeeper so are very wary. I'm getting quite good at stealthy movement and only set off one lot of bird alarms as I moved. Finally got in position to snap a group of grazing rabbits. Check camera settings, very slowly raise my canon with its long telephoto and - "CAW CAW CAW". A rook in the tree above had been watching me and must have interpreted the camera as a gun. The rabbits shot off at high speed and the woodland emptied of creatures.
Later in the morning my friends turned up. We built our camp, lit our fire and settled in to a weekend practising bushcraft skills. Immersed in nature I slowly came out of my self absorption and aware of all the flora and fauna around me. I relaxed. It's truly astonishing how living in a densely populated urban situation causes me nagging low level stress all the time - something I don't even recognise until it goes away. A huge Buzzard flew over, circling repeatedly, a bird I'd never seen before. All activity ceased as we stood and watched this magnificent creature of the skies. As it disappeared behind trees we just smiled at each other, no words were needed for this shared experience.
Up at first light again the next morning, off on my own on another camera sortie. Moving quietly down a ride a sudden 'crack' to my right makes me freeze. Looking carefully in the direction of the noise, nothing to be seen. Birds start their alarms. I stay motionless, listening to the alarms and trying to pinpoint the source of the disturbance. The alarms sound a little odd - you get to recognise the calls for Fox, dog, cat, dog walker and this was somehow different. Nothing emerged, so a few minutes later I continued on, slower and quieter and with a raised sense of anticipation. Reaching a more open part, I looked again toward the disturbance source. Looking backwards to check I wasn't silhouetted, I crouched and brought up my long lens. Odd. Very odd. A horizontal log had a most unnatural looking leafy bump on it. Stayed static for several minutes and no movement, but the birds certainly weren't happy still. From behind 'thump thump thump' a heavy footed person was approaching rapidly, not in view yet. I stood up and retreated beside some bushes - not hiding but so I'd see who this was before they saw me. A fully camouflage clad figure stomped round the corner going fast. A few words exchanged, we had permission to be camping so I had no problem, but I asked if he was army, as he was in full combat uniform, and he was a bit evasive. Off he went again at high speed. I decided to follow to see what he was up to. He'd disappeared into the distance but his heavy footed high speed gait had left an easy trail of dust spurts, even on the hardest ground. 100yds up the ride there was a patch of soft mud, containing a plethora of British Army boot marks. Crouching, I worked out what they showed. They were in a wide rut anyone would normally avoid, so it had been dark when they were made. There were large and small size prints. Looking at how they overlayed, two taller/heavier guys had led the group followed by one slightly smaller and two much smaller people. Finally maybe two larger sets of prints brought up the rear. I say maybe as these prints were twisting and turning. Interpretation - a group of army cadets had gone along this track as a tactical patrol. The older members had led and brought up the rear with the younger ones protected in the centre. The last 2 or three guys had been turning to keep an eye behind and to the sides. Continuing on the trail I met up with the original guy coming back along his route. We stopped and had another chat, he said he'd come and talk to our group. I really surprised him when I asked him about the cadets and the tactical exercise they were doing! The disturbance I'd heard was the cadet patrol, the odd lump on the log was a head peering at me. Apparently they'd thought I was the enemy (I was in cammo gear) and they'd radioed in 'enemy in sight' and were about to turn my lights out. To their credit, everyone did their job properly and I was id'd as a non-combatant. I did finish tracking the sergeants dust plumes and found their HQ... The night after meeting the cadets was enlivened by the climax of their exercise, a brief firefight with blank rifle fire, flashbangs and a maroon.
The rest of our camp was spent foraging, identifying plants, gathering firewood and cooking. Everything takes far longer than with domestic conveniences, but it's all far more real. After a couple of days in the woods, instead of looking inwards I had become part of the natural system, I had a proper place in the world.
 |
| My Basha - Army surplus desert cammo pattern |
The first night I was entirely on my own, I didn't light a fire and sat listening to the sounds of the woods as night closed in. I had my camera and wandered off to where I knew there was a badger sett - after sitting there for an hour poised to snap an emerging badger I'd had enough. Plenty of badgery noises but none appeared in camera range. Returned to my sleeping site, but rabbits were redigging their warren and their noises kept me awake, so I retreated to my people carrier to sleep.
Up at first light I stalked out. The rabbits and squirrels here are shot by the gamekeeper so are very wary. I'm getting quite good at stealthy movement and only set off one lot of bird alarms as I moved. Finally got in position to snap a group of grazing rabbits. Check camera settings, very slowly raise my canon with its long telephoto and - "CAW CAW CAW". A rook in the tree above had been watching me and must have interpreted the camera as a gun. The rabbits shot off at high speed and the woodland emptied of creatures.
 |
| Alert Rabbit |
Later in the morning my friends turned up. We built our camp, lit our fire and settled in to a weekend practising bushcraft skills. Immersed in nature I slowly came out of my self absorption and aware of all the flora and fauna around me. I relaxed. It's truly astonishing how living in a densely populated urban situation causes me nagging low level stress all the time - something I don't even recognise until it goes away. A huge Buzzard flew over, circling repeatedly, a bird I'd never seen before. All activity ceased as we stood and watched this magnificent creature of the skies. As it disappeared behind trees we just smiled at each other, no words were needed for this shared experience.
Up at first light again the next morning, off on my own on another camera sortie. Moving quietly down a ride a sudden 'crack' to my right makes me freeze. Looking carefully in the direction of the noise, nothing to be seen. Birds start their alarms. I stay motionless, listening to the alarms and trying to pinpoint the source of the disturbance. The alarms sound a little odd - you get to recognise the calls for Fox, dog, cat, dog walker and this was somehow different. Nothing emerged, so a few minutes later I continued on, slower and quieter and with a raised sense of anticipation. Reaching a more open part, I looked again toward the disturbance source. Looking backwards to check I wasn't silhouetted, I crouched and brought up my long lens. Odd. Very odd. A horizontal log had a most unnatural looking leafy bump on it. Stayed static for several minutes and no movement, but the birds certainly weren't happy still. From behind 'thump thump thump' a heavy footed person was approaching rapidly, not in view yet. I stood up and retreated beside some bushes - not hiding but so I'd see who this was before they saw me. A fully camouflage clad figure stomped round the corner going fast. A few words exchanged, we had permission to be camping so I had no problem, but I asked if he was army, as he was in full combat uniform, and he was a bit evasive. Off he went again at high speed. I decided to follow to see what he was up to. He'd disappeared into the distance but his heavy footed high speed gait had left an easy trail of dust spurts, even on the hardest ground. 100yds up the ride there was a patch of soft mud, containing a plethora of British Army boot marks. Crouching, I worked out what they showed. They were in a wide rut anyone would normally avoid, so it had been dark when they were made. There were large and small size prints. Looking at how they overlayed, two taller/heavier guys had led the group followed by one slightly smaller and two much smaller people. Finally maybe two larger sets of prints brought up the rear. I say maybe as these prints were twisting and turning. Interpretation - a group of army cadets had gone along this track as a tactical patrol. The older members had led and brought up the rear with the younger ones protected in the centre. The last 2 or three guys had been turning to keep an eye behind and to the sides. Continuing on the trail I met up with the original guy coming back along his route. We stopped and had another chat, he said he'd come and talk to our group. I really surprised him when I asked him about the cadets and the tactical exercise they were doing! The disturbance I'd heard was the cadet patrol, the odd lump on the log was a head peering at me. Apparently they'd thought I was the enemy (I was in cammo gear) and they'd radioed in 'enemy in sight' and were about to turn my lights out. To their credit, everyone did their job properly and I was id'd as a non-combatant. I did finish tracking the sergeants dust plumes and found their HQ... The night after meeting the cadets was enlivened by the climax of their exercise, a brief firefight with blank rifle fire, flashbangs and a maroon.
 |
| Hairy footed fox track |
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Owning Land / Planning permission
This is the subject that pushed me into starting this blog. A guy I visited owns a fairly large plot of land and has built many large shed type structures to live in; He's got a caravan and several old cars. His general philosophy is being eco-friendly' (and there are certainy some elements I admired), but the general impression on me was more of a rubbish tip. I wouldn't want to live next door! My thoughts below are also applicable to travellers and others who wish to ignore planning rules.
Firstly, nobody actually owns land. Might seem strange as a statement, but it's only through our social systems and laws that individuals can purchase rights over any property, including land. So any rights you may have by purchasing land are within the framework of the society that let you buy in the first place. A fox certainly isn't going to recognise your 'right of ownership' because they're not part of human society. If you simply take possession of land without purchasing, then you're definitely acting outside society's rules.
In an ideal world there would be plenty of any commodity, including land, so it would either be cheap to buy, or there would be spare land for the taking. This country (UK) is so densely populated that land is in short supply - so much so that society has put in place special rules as to what you can do with the land you may purchase. There are also specific procedures to change the uses land may be put to.
The price of land reflects the shortage, and the use or potential use is also reflected in the price. Building land where you may live is in very short supply and commands very high prices. This tempts many to buy land which is reserved for agriculture or to buffer towns (green belt) and try to build homes there. If this is permitted certain areas of the country will become uninterrupted swathes of dense buildings, including areas of perhaps poor quality buildings not conforming to building regulations. National Parks and other desirable areas may become dotted with uncontrolled residences. Some may see this as OK, and if there was plenty of room, or it could be guaranteed the scale of the problem would be small, I'd agree - but I think if a few are allowed to build like this, many more would follow, citing the few as a precedent.
The ideal solution is that every individual wanting to build or live on land should recognise that they only hold that land by courtesy of our rules and laws and must respect their responsibilities: They must apply for permission to do what they wish to in the proper way and abide by the community's decisions. They must not simply go ahead covertly and rely on lack of enforcement.
Some will argue that they do not wish to be bound by society's rules. That's a fine argument if they don't want to use what our society provides. No running water, electricity, transport infrastructure, NHS, education for their kids or DSS benefits may make them realise they do need to operate as part of society.
The big stick solution is one I will return to again in this blog. If people wilfully refuse to abide by the norms and rules of our society, they lose the rights they have acquired through being part of that society. In this case their right to the land would be either compulsorily purchased or simply confiscated and sold to a responsible landowner. Where land is illegally occupied, depriving the rightful owner of their rights, that is simply theft.
Firstly, nobody actually owns land. Might seem strange as a statement, but it's only through our social systems and laws that individuals can purchase rights over any property, including land. So any rights you may have by purchasing land are within the framework of the society that let you buy in the first place. A fox certainly isn't going to recognise your 'right of ownership' because they're not part of human society. If you simply take possession of land without purchasing, then you're definitely acting outside society's rules.
In an ideal world there would be plenty of any commodity, including land, so it would either be cheap to buy, or there would be spare land for the taking. This country (UK) is so densely populated that land is in short supply - so much so that society has put in place special rules as to what you can do with the land you may purchase. There are also specific procedures to change the uses land may be put to.
The price of land reflects the shortage, and the use or potential use is also reflected in the price. Building land where you may live is in very short supply and commands very high prices. This tempts many to buy land which is reserved for agriculture or to buffer towns (green belt) and try to build homes there. If this is permitted certain areas of the country will become uninterrupted swathes of dense buildings, including areas of perhaps poor quality buildings not conforming to building regulations. National Parks and other desirable areas may become dotted with uncontrolled residences. Some may see this as OK, and if there was plenty of room, or it could be guaranteed the scale of the problem would be small, I'd agree - but I think if a few are allowed to build like this, many more would follow, citing the few as a precedent.
The ideal solution is that every individual wanting to build or live on land should recognise that they only hold that land by courtesy of our rules and laws and must respect their responsibilities: They must apply for permission to do what they wish to in the proper way and abide by the community's decisions. They must not simply go ahead covertly and rely on lack of enforcement.
Some will argue that they do not wish to be bound by society's rules. That's a fine argument if they don't want to use what our society provides. No running water, electricity, transport infrastructure, NHS, education for their kids or DSS benefits may make them realise they do need to operate as part of society.
The big stick solution is one I will return to again in this blog. If people wilfully refuse to abide by the norms and rules of our society, they lose the rights they have acquired through being part of that society. In this case their right to the land would be either compulsorily purchased or simply confiscated and sold to a responsible landowner. Where land is illegally occupied, depriving the rightful owner of their rights, that is simply theft.
Introducing
This blog is just a personal rant against the common social failings of people today. I've suffered serious depression which made me really think about what we're doing to ourselves and each other. Stress is so common today; there are no real answers but this internet blog gives me the chance to air my opinions. I realise it may often sound pompous or stuffed shirt type stuff, but I hope to say just why I think we need to respect ALL the rules and be nice to each other. Living at such high densities as we do, selfishness and lack of personal responsibility is dragging us all down and making us all unhappy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)