Golf and lockdown

I know this is a first world problem whilst many people are suffering from the effects and impact of Covid-19 far more than me, but please tell me why I can't play golf in the lockdown?

I can exercise - but only if that exercise starts and stops at home.

Now the golf course will be shut 

I can't get in my car at home, drive alone (in my case about 8 miles to the golf club), get to the first tee and then play three and a half hours of golf in the open air, completely socially distant from my friends (I'm a bit wayward and frankly its easy to keep comfortably apart), walking around 6 miles in the process getting my exercise in a way that's entirely good for my mental health. Then get back in the car and drive home alone.

exercise - tick

social distancing - tick

sensible - tick

The "argument" I guess is that I could be putting undue pressure on emergency services if I have an accident on the way to or from the golf course. Not convinced. And yes I know I only have to wait two weeks before I can play again. 

But then logic and common sense has long been thrown out of the window by the powers that make these rules.

Until next time.... #isolationlife #staylocalsavelives

A brilliant book! This is going to hurt by Adam Kay

I don't normally write about books I read. Actually, I don't often write about much at all. However, a book I've read in the last 24 hours is a worthy exception to the rule.

"This is going to hurt" is quite simply the diaries of a junior doctor - Adam Kay, from qualification through to a post as a Senior Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It was first published about 3 years ago. Spoiler - the author no longer works as a doctor for reasons which will become apparent when reading the book.

My daughter had read the book and eulogised about it to the rest of the family, and my wife read it after her. I picked it up not expecting to enjoy it too much mainly because my maternity placement when I was training to be a nurse was the least enjoyable eight weeks of my three years training, so a book about the life of an Observer & Gynae doctor didn't sound too appealing, but I was hooked within two pages. I was laughing out loud within 10, enough to bring both my grown up son and daughter into the room wondering what the hell was so funny. It appears my sense of humour was right on point with the author's writing (hint - if you want to know, it was the water lilies that did it for me!).

Perhaps it was my nursing experience, enabling me to resonate with so much of what the author was writing about which also enabled me to bring back my own memories or perhaps it was his just his writing style with which he put down on paper his experiences, whether funny, mundane, or in some cases very sad. It was certainly an easy read in the sense that you don't have to be a medical encyclopaedia to understand what he's writing about, and his frequent use of footnotes clarifying medical terms where he used them would certainly help those without a medical or nursing background - or as he pointed out on a couple of occasions in the book, it might have served some of his medical colleagues well too! A lot of his anecdotes about other colleagues and consultants in particular brought back many similar scenarios I encountered during my relatively brief clinical nursing career - "Black Wednesday" when junior doctors changed over being one, or the consultants who only appeared when something important was happening, or the constant pressure from above (ie anyone in a non clinical management role or politician) to cut costs impacting front line patient care whilst spending hundreds/thousands/millions (delete as applicable) on new and "better" (although almost inevitably worse) systems.

Anyhow, the book was so good I literally couldn't put it down, and it took me less than a day to read it. 

I've found the author on Twitter at @amateuradam and tweeted that I'd really enjoyed the book. One thing he notes in his diaries is the lack of acknowledgement and recognition that doctors in particular, but health care workers in general get for what they do, and not just in renumeration terms (in todays context clapping for the NHS already seems like a lifetime ago), so it seemed the least I could do was tell him I enjoyed his work. He's liked my Tweet, so I'm glad he's seen it.

So, whilst you don't have to be of a medical (or nursing) persuasion to read the book - my daughter after all is a 23 year old averse to blood, needles and partial to fainting at the sight of both who enjoyed it immensely, I think knowledge of the "system" will  definitely give you a slight edge when reading it.

Finally, there's a telling open letter to the then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the end. Perhaps most sadly of all, here we are in 2020 and little if nothing has changed for the better when it comes to the management of the NHS.

It's only £1.99 on kindle, or £4 in paperback, although if you live in Wales, you're going to have to wait until the end of the current lockdown to by a physical copy from a shop as books aren't considered an essential item, but that's another story for another day.

Adam Kay has written more books, and I'll definitely be having a peek at these.

Go on.....

Until next time.... 

Haven't we all had enough of this?

Well, lockdown is back at least in Wales For 17 days (at the moment). But we're not calling it that. It's a circuit break, or fire break or loo break or something like that. 2020 has been bloody horrific so far, and there's no sign it's going to get any better soon. The UK Government and devolved administrations seem to be playing off against each other to score points causing confusion, irritation and general disbelief at how uncoordinated they are in dealing with a global situation, and frankly, nothing's really working. Statistics are being cast about left, right and centre and pretty much every theory, approach, or proposed solution has an alternate viewpoint with social media and the media in general being cast along with those who supposedly govern us as the triumvirate of fuel to the fire. 

Here's just some of the things that whatever happens, we'll remember 2020 for:

• Australian wildfires (nothing to do with coronavirus, unless you know different) but still pretty shit
• UK floods (as above)
• Coronavirus
• Covid-19
• Pandemic
• Herd immunity
• No PPE
• Wrong PPE
• Stay home
• Work from home
• Lockdown
• Government briefings
• Close the pubs
• Social distancing
• 2m or 1.5m or 1m (depending where in the world you live)
• R-number
• Toilet rolls
• Common sense
• Shielding
• Close the schools
• Covidiots
• No masks
• Next slide please
• Stay at home, Protect the NHS, Save lives
• Furlough
• Led by donkeys science
• Bleach
• Masks
• Anti-maskers
• Conspiracy theorists/deniers
• Stay alert, Control the virus, Save lives
• Rule of 6
• Go back to work (but work from home if you can)
• Stay local
• Open the schools
• Eat out to help out
• Household bubbles
• Support bubbles
• Extended houselholds
• Hands, face, space
• Track and trace
• Test and trace
• £12bn track and trace down the drain
• Leaks
• Local lockdown
• Tier 1, 2 and 3
• Circuitbreak
• Firebreak

Until next time.... #isolationlife #staylocalsavelives

More money please - its for your own good

Some years ago, our dental practice went private. At the time I didn't think too much of it. The cost for my wife and I as patients wasn't wholly unreasonable, and the kids were still free. Costs have risen over the years. Not horrendously so, but enough to notice. My son who turned 25 last birthday now has to make a choice of staying with this practice or trying to find an NHS dentist accepting new patients. My daughter at 23 will be at that stage soon.

Obviously, during the pandemic, dental practices like most businesses had a hiatus. But now they're back and catching up. My practice which is now a BUPA one, wants - no, requires - that when patients visit the surgery they pay towards the costs of the PPE required over and above the normal treatment/plan costs under the guise of it being a "safety tariff". This is a minimum of £7 per visit and could rise to £25 depending on the reason for the appointment. They're arguing that their PPE costs have gone up a hundred fold and that this is only a temporary measure. I can accept costs may have gone up, but so has PPE for most businesses - hairdressers, restaurants, shops etc, most of whom never needed PPE or other safety measures in the first place, and they're not charging their customers for the privilege. The good old NHS isn't levying a tariff either. But it seems good old "private" healthcare customers are ripe for fleecing for a few extra pounds - it's not like private healthcare companies are short of a few quid either. 

We all have choices, and so it's hard to complain I suppose but this just seems unreasonable to me.

The frustrations of saving the planet...a little bit at a time

After almost a year of waiting, some significant changes to the management of household recycling are coming to our area. In some ways it's long overdue, and in others there's a strong feeling amongst some that it's just going to generate more problems.

I've long been a quiet advocate of recycling, and within our immediate family (myself, my wife and two adult children still living at home). Ever since home recycling collections became a thing, our authority (Vale of Glamorgan) has had co-mingled recycling in place. Effectively this means any household rubbish that's potentially recyclable all goes in one or more blue bags (no wheelie bins here). The exceptions are food waste and green waste and general black bag waste which are collected separately. Generally, it works fairly well although there are one or two challenges which I'll come on to in a minute. In a household of four adults with a schedule of alternating fortnightly collections for black bag and garden waste, and weekly food and general recycling we generally end up with two full blue bags each week (co-mingled recycling remember), and one to two bags of black bag waste destined for landfill a fortnight. I'll leave green and food waste aside for the moment.

The main problem starts on collection day, or rather the night before collection day. Many people on our estate start putting their rubbish out in the middle of the day, the day before collection (we put ours out late evening). This means that if they haven't secured their bags/food waste caddy's securely, by the morning there could be rubbish strewn everywhere courtesy of gulls, and probably cats, foxes, rats and other loitering animals.

On the day, the waste management team empty the containers and then discard the empty food caddy's and blue (or green) recycling bags. Generally they just get left (thrown) on the floor. Despite assertions from the Council on social media that their staff take great care not to just throw these down I've seen this happen repeatedly. In their defence, it's a hell of a job to have to do and they've got to empty hundred if not thousands of containers per shift - not a job I'd fancy, but at please take care. The upshot of this can result in bags and caddies everywhere, and it's even worse on windy days when the blue and green waste bags, despite being weighted can still sail off in the wind like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, never to be seen again. The plastic caddies are not immune either, and these can often be found on windier days scattered across the road, where they create hazards to traffic - I've seen more than one accidentally run over and smashed to pieces and have on occasion stopped my car to get out and move one safely to the side of the road - whilst others carefully swerve around them.

All this can create some angst as householders go looking for "their" containers. We, along with many others have written large on ours our house number, so it's not too bad. We also benefit from a small number of immediate neighbours who collect up everyone's and leave them outside our doors depending on who's first to the scene in the morning (...thanks neighbours 👍)

From next week though we will have a new system of separated recycling. The most immediate sign of this are our new containers. Now we will have to separate our paper (white bag); cardboard (orange bag); bottles and jars (big plastic caddy); other recycling - plastic tins etc (blue bag) as well as the usual food waste (green caddy), green waste (green bags) and general household waste (black bags). Whilst no doubt helping the recycling centres sort the waste more easily, it creates some further obvious immediate and potential challenges to those I've already mentioned.

Firstly, where do you put all these containers? We're lucky (I suppose). We have a small porch which until now has been kept clear and tidy but is now full of the various recycling containers. I could put it in the garage but it's a faff to go out every time to put something in it. I could leave them outside but the aforementioned wind might take them away or at the very least get bags with paper and cardboard very wet and soggy when it rains (yes the bags have covers, but frankly they're not wholly efficient).  But what about people that don't have the room in their house or live in a flat? It'll be a nightmare to be honest.

Secondly, whereas we only had to worry about chasing blue and green bags and food caddy's down the road after they've been emptied, we now had to add the challenge of getting the white and orange bags plus potentially the glass caddy. Recycling collection mornings are likely to look like armageddon on windy, wintry days, and it may need a while to find everything.

I'm sure this system will be better in the long run (at least I think I'm sure if I didn't have a deep lingering suspicion that all that all our environmentally conscientious recycling effort goes out the window as Councils end up either sending most to landfill or half way round the world to thrill world economies to deal with).

Is there a better system? Well I suppose it's long overdue the time that we all (and I include manufacturers in this) started being more conscientious about the amount and type of packaging used, and more careful about what we buy. It staggers me that just our household fills two co-mingled bags every week which generally is mostly cardboard (much of which comes from online deliveries - Amazon (and others) looking at your packaging strategies) and plastic packaging from foodstuffs. and this in a nutshell is the problem. As a population we are looking at solutions for the symptom, not cause. Deal with the packaging up front, and recycling would be far less of an issue.

Wheelie bins might stop bags floating down the street, but come with their own issues - storage, effort to get them to the collection point, unsightly, and so on.

Anyway, answers on a postcard please!

The older (oldest) generation

Tomorrow marks a sad and poignant day, but one to remember good things too. It's my mother-in-law's funeral, a lady I've known for almost the last 30 years. As a devout Catholic, stalwart member of her local church and matriarch to a large family, she would have wanted a proper send-off, something that's been denied her due to the Covid restrictions on funerals. There will be no church service, and a limited family and closest friends gathering at the crematorium. We will hopefully get a memorial mass at some point when churches re-open fully, so all is not lost, and despite the restrictions in place tomorrow we'll all do our best to remember her life and the wonderful lady that she was.

It also draws a line under her generation within both my wife's and my families. My wife lost her Dad in 2017, whilst my Mum died in 2002 and my Dad at the end of 2016. That means we, along with our brothers and sisters are now the elder (senior?) generation in both our families. Yikes!

Pembrokeshire - stunning as always

Well we finally got away in this annus horibilis that is 2020. A week away in a cottage with our two (adult) children, and a posse of family/friends just down the road on a campsite (21 of us over the first weekend, plus an assortment of dogs), just outside St David's, the smallest city in the UK.

This area has to be one of our favourite places. I've blogged about it before many times. And this year, despite the fact in my 45th year of visiting I've never see it so busy with "staycationers" it was as stunning as ever. We were blessed with several really warm days, although most days it was a tad misty first thing.

We beached, we swam, we went on a boat trip, we BBQ'd, we ate out, body-boarded, we had a bonfire on the beach and we walked. We saw seals, bats, raptors, porpoises, kingfishers, herons, kittiwakes, fulmars, shags and rabbits. We ate chips, drank beer and licked delicious Pembrokeshire ice creams. But most of we just enjoyed the fabulous coastal scenery that this westernmost part of Wales has to offer. Below, are just a few examples of the beauty I managed to capture.

It was a wonderful holiday. Who needs to go abroad anyway?

The southern (quieter end) of Whitesands beach

Sunset from our cottage garden

Rock arch on Ramsey island

Heather and gorse and calm seas near Porthlysgi on the Treginnis penninsula

The famous Blue Pool at Abereiddy - rarely seen without people!

Sunset at Abereiddy

Normality? Not yet, but it's getting there

Things are slowly creeping towards some sort of post lockdown normality. It's certainly not the normal we knew before Covid-19 appeared, but but it's most assuredly better than effectively being confined to quarters for the best part of three months.

Here in Wales we've looked in with a mixture of astonishment and jealousy as England has fairly speedily unlocked the various restrictions associated with lockdown. The Welsh Government has taken a much more cautious approach, welcomed by many but ridiculed by some, although I think the over-riding view has been that a steadier line is the right line.

Anyway, we can now travel pretty much anywhere (within reason) although the advice is as always, be sensible. Non essential retail shops have already opened, and this week sees the much anticipated re-opening of two of the most wanted services - pubs and hairdressers (my wife is delighted - about the hairdresser that is, and already has her appointment!).

Also good news for those looking for a break as self contained accommodation gets the green light  this week and campsites with shared facilities can get going from the end of the month. Our break away to Pembrokeshire is therefore a go-er, and I have to say I'm delighted, relieved and very much looking forward to getting away. Who knows, we might even get to a pub for beer and food!

Finally, team sports are also now allowed, and my cricket club sees it's first action next weekend in a season where frankly, we didn't think we'd see any cricket. I spent most of yesterday afternoon with others from our club helping to prepare the ground for next Saturday, and frankly that's the closest I've felt to normal in a long time.

Preparing the cricket pitch - a semblance of normality

               

Post processing fun

I've posted before about tweaking my photos in what's called "post-processing", when you use a software program like Adobe's well known Photoshop (or in my case, cheaper versions of software that does a similar job). I pointed out in that post that I always thought of it as cheating a bit, but the more I've started to play with this, the more fun I've had. Firstly, you can make fairly mediocre "out of the camera" or OOC photos look much better with a bit of contrast or colour tweaking here and there or a subtle (or not so subtle) crop. But there's also the fun element. In the original post I'd superimposed several images of me in my garden into one shot, looking like I had multiple doppelgängers - scary I know.

Today I've been experimenting with some photos I took of Barry Island's arcades a few months ago.. The original shots were taken on a fairly dull day in February, and looked like this:

These are ok-ish in the greater scheme of things, perhaps as a record of building on Barry Island at the time, but they're hardly stand out, and one it clearly out of focus slightly. Given the generally brash nature of arcades with their flashing lights and bright colours, I thought I'd accentuate all that but winding up the saturation in my software to 100%, and then collating the photos into one image. The result is this:

It's certainly not subtle, but I rather like the way it's turned out and would argue that I've managed to turn some frankly pretty ordinary photos into a piece of art. I acknowledge this sort of thing isn't to everyone's taste, but it was fun fiddling about with this. I might try it some more!

Litterally inexcusable

My parents did a pretty good job of raising me and my brothers and sister I think. We were taught right from wrong, admonished (occasionally very severely when it warranted - and sometimes it was). One of the things ingrained to us from a very early age was not to drop or leave litter anywhere at any time.  It was ok for example to throw an apple core away as that was biodegradable, but anything not likely to break down quickly was safely stowed and brought back home with us.

When we were on holiday at the beach, the last thing we always did before leaving was have a look around to make sure that we left nothing but our footprints as the old saying goes. And that's stuck with me for life, and I hope is a behaviour passed on to my now grown up children. I can't abide people who disregard this and think it's ok to chuck or leave their litter or just chuck it out of their car window. It's a deliberate, lazy thing to do with no regard or respect for others and the environment. Just last week I was on a walk down a country lane near our house - at least a mile from the nearest shop/takeaway and miles from the nearest Starbucks and Costa, but within a hundred yards I saw a discarded Starbucks and Costa cup, a McDonald's food container and cup, and several beer and other cans on the side of the road. They don't get there by accident. Someone's taken a deliberate decision to throw those out of a car or van window.

So it's been with increasing but somewhat inevitable incredulity that we've witnessed scenes over the last week as people have left literally tonnes of litter on beaches around the country, in Cardiff Bay, at the Pierhead in Liverpool after "celebrations" for Liverpool winning the Premier League, and other places. 

Bournemouth Beach (Getty)

Cardiff Bay (Matthew Horwood)

Liverpool (PA)

 

Perhaps even more unbelievable are the "excuses" touted for this. That there aren't enough litter bins, that it's the local council's fault for not policing, or allowing too many people to congregate in one place. Those responsible are routinely described in the media as "revellers" or "beachgoers", when in reality many of them are ignorant individuals with no respect for regard for anything. They wouldn't (I'm assuming) leave their house in this state, but clearly think it's ok to leave this mess for others, often volunteers, to clear up, and they'd be the first to complain if they arrived somewhere looking like the images above. They're probably the same people that pick up their dog's poo in a bag and then hurl it into the bushes

All it takes it for one of their party to pack a bin bag in amongst their cases of beer, fast food, picnic bags etc, and put their rubbish in and take it home. It's not a difficult concept to grasp, but is clearly beyond the comprehension of these ignoramuses. 

Sadly, it's becoming more prevalent, and the en-mass exodus to beaches and other places we're seeing as a result of the easing of lockdown is undoubtedly contributing to this herd behaviour. "Someone else has done it so it's ok for me to do it".

It's difficult to know what the answer is. Littering is an offence, but the likelihood of anyone being prosecuted or even identified over this is so remote its inconceivable that it could happen. And if they were caught, a minor fine is probably the worst that would happen. It's been frequently suggested that fast food containers should have car registrations printed on them to discourage littering from drive through fast food places. It's only a small step but it would be a start, and whilst there are undoubtedly some logistics required, it's surely do-able.

For those that are caught, I did see a suggestions somewhere that we should bring back public stocks to shame them. But even if that's a good idea, and I'd vote for it, we'd need an awful lot of stocks. 

We need to change people's behaviour, but in today's "now" and "me" and "sod the rest of you" society, I can't see that happening any time soon, and that's really sad.

Until next time.... 

It's getting silly now

So another week or two passes and still the (not) lockdown continues. I have to admit it's all getting a bit silly now. Initially I welcomed the Welsh Government's caution as Boris and his troupe started lifting lockdown in England.  It all seemed to early, too soon whilst here in Wales we seemed to be playing a wait and see game.

Well, we've waited. England continues to ease the lockdown with today seeing the re-opening of non-essential shops. Inevitable, and perhaps rather sadly we've seen massive queues at shops like Primark (who don't have an online presence) so people waiting for their shopping fix can now be sated.

People desperate for their Primark fix: Credit BBC News

In England too, you can travel anywhere (within reason) and form a ‘support bubble’ with one other household if you live alone or are a single parent with dependent children - in other words, you are in a household where there is only one adult. All those in a support bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household - meaning they can spend time together inside each other’s homes and do not need to stay 2 metres apart. Support bubbles should be exclusive - meaning you should not switch the household you are in a bubble with or connect with multiple households (from gov.co.uk)

Here in Wales we can't do any of that. We can only travel 5 miles (roughly). Nevertheless you wouldn't know it. I've been out and about on some local walks recently and nice that.

1. Traffic seems to be back to "near normal" levels
2. Penarth sea front was absolutely heaving this weekend
3. Cosmeston country park (where the large car park is closed off) saw cars lining the adjacent road as people parked up to go and walk there

No doubt a large element of that is down to the Dominic Cummings affair. He settle standard that the country can basically do what it wants to in spirit if not to the letter of the guidance.

It's ludicrous and whatever frustrations I have must surely only be exaggerated in local small businesses. I was also taking to a local business owner (florist) today. She's providing deliveries but is not allowed to open. However, the garage across the road sells flowers where people can walk in, buy flowers and pay face to face (with a screen in place granted). The florist is potentially losing money because she can't open and sell what the Texaco place across the road does as a sideline.

I know coronavirus hasn't gone away. I know people are still dying. But it has significantly lessened and the projected "second wave" off the back of VE Day celebrations, mass exoduses to the beaches etc don't seem to have had any adverse effect. Surely, we can loosen things up in Wales?

I'm desperate to see Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Government see some sense and offer the Welsh population some serious and practical solutions to easing of lockdown this week, but I fear that for whatever reason they are going to remain cautious.

At least football is starting back this week, so a bit of respite and semblance of normality, even if I can't be there to watch the Bluebirds.

Until next time.... 

May June be better

See what I did there? 😉

So the peculiarity that is 2020 marches ever onward. It seems long time ago that I welcomed in May with a nod to my Mum. What does "Blazing June" hold?

Well for one, it's unlikely to be as blazing as May - it's been an absolute roaster of a month bar a couple of chilly windy days and I've seen tell that in the next week or two we'll see temperatures declining and increased risk of rain, and my garden desperately needs the water to be honest.

Tomorrow sees the first real steps in a very cautious easing of lockdown by the Welsh Government, with the "Stay Local" message, because we need a new message don't we? It allows for people from two different households to meet outside (at last - hooray), but with guidance that this should be restricted to within a five mile radius but using common sense if for example you live in the wilds of Powys.

Whilst this is a welcome development, it seems to me from news, and social media that many people are ready stretching the guidance or flagrantly ignoring it. I will admit that we've hopped in the car and driven the 3 miles or so to Sully for a walk along the coast just to get a different view. We've also had a socially distanced cup of tea with our friends in their back garden a couple of times but have at all times kept well away from people. Common sense dictates that outside and at a distance, any risk is insignificant, but a bit more on common sense in a moment.

Tempting though it is to go to Barry Island one of our favourite walk spots, we'll hang on until it's allowed and the inevitable initial crowds have dissipated.  What we don't want or need is a replication of the recent scenes we've seen in England at Southend, Durdle Door, Bournemouth and Brighton to name just a few examples, and as frustrating as it is, the caution of the Welsh approach may be helping. On the other hand, it may be storing up a mad rush to the coast/beauty spots at the point the Welsh Government give us reign to go anywhere. Personally, I fear it's just delaying the inevitable.

Durdle Door, Dorset 30th May 2020: Image PA

Part of this rush to go frankly anywhere other than home in England is down to the gorgeous weather we're having with people not being in work for one reason or another and therefore having the time to do this, but it's undoubtedly also a reaction to the Dominic Cummings affair as people decide that if it's OK for him to break either the guidance or at the very least the spirit if the guidance, depending on how charitable you're feeling, it's ok for everyone else to break the rules. I think he and the UK Government have a lot to answer for in the way they've handled and communicated throughout this pandemic. I wouldn't have wished the management of this on anyone, but it seems they've made some   poor decisions at times.

The population (across the UK, not just in England) now seems to be split into two distinct halves. Those that are saying "bugger it" I'm going to do whatever I want to do because 1) I'm fed up of it all and 2) Dominic Cummings can and therefore so can I, and those (particularly in Wales) that are saying we should hold fast and not ease restrictions until we're absolutely sure and positive it's safe to do so. I was in the latter camp, but the longer this goes on I'm beginning to err towards the former. I think we need to allow for commons sense, even though some of the pictures we're seeing now suggest that in some parts of the country at least, that common sense is in very short supply.

And finally, on a different note, and like my pal Andy Pearce over at the "Better Out Than In" blog I think the time has come for a bit of a change on this blog.

I've been an inconsistent blogger over the 16 years of this blog's existence, with bouts of regular blogging interspersed with an occasional hiatus, most notably from 2016 to 2019. The blog has never had a theme, and was initially started just to enable me to jot down stuff that was of interest to me, in many ways as a sort of digital diary - I was never very concerned about who read it or getting many followers - if you read it and find something interesting or useful, I'm happy but it's not the be all and end all.

Blogging daily during lockdown has helped me come to terms with the current situation, whether I'm having a rant at the Government, posting about my walks or photography, but of late it's become more of a chore to write something every day and not repeat myself, and occasionally I've let my schedule slip and posted something at the last minute not because I had anything useful to write but just so I wrote something on that day.

So from tomorrow, I'm changing tack. I may post daily, but I may go several days without doing so. I'm promising myself to post at the very least weekly. And I may start to focus a little more on specific themes from time to time. My Fence Post post of a few days ago, got me thinking that it' might be fun to trawl back through my thousands of photos over the years and pick a particular shot I've taken that evokes particular memories, or reasons why I took the shot. So if you forgive the pun, I'll give it a shot, and see what happens!

Until next time....

#isolationlife
#staylocalsavelives

America launches astronauts from American soil

The most exciting story for me today was the launch of American astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken into space. What makes this particularly newsworthy is that this is the first time since the shuttle programme ended in 2011 that the US has launched American astronauts from American soil.

Since 2011, the only way into space (and the International Space Station) has been by paying for a ride on the Russian Soyuz rockets - the same vehicle that Britain's Tim Peake went to the ISS on 3 years ago.

Having watched many of the Apollo and shuttle launches, the countdown always gets me - the last couple of minutes seems to go so quickly, and the 10 second countdown at liftoff makes my skin tingle - the don't have that countdown in Russia with the Soyuz - they just go at the anointed time

Additionally, the vehicle used today, the Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon capsule is designed and built by Space X the company opened by the controversial Elon Musk. Thus, it's a commercial undertaking, albeit in partnership with NASA, and provides a route for commercial expeditions to the ISS and beyond in future. The technology used is incredible on a number of fronts. It was remarkable to see the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket return to earth and land with precision, upright on a drone platform in the ocean, enabling it to be re-used for future flights. This is now fairly standard Space X Falcon procedure but it's still amazing to see it happen. The astronauts have futuristic suits and helmets unlike anything seen before except perhaps in movies, and most of their controls in the Dragon capsule are touch screen

After the first launch scrubbed on Wednesday due to the weather, today's countdown and liftoff was perfect. The two astronauts now have a 19 hour journey to the ISS, where they'll spend around 120 days before returning to earth.

With worldwide travel pretty restricted, these tow astronauts have had the ride of their life today, and can no go and self isolate in the ISS for four months. Hopefully by the time they return, things will be a little bit better on this planet.

Image: NASA

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

27 Years

27 years ago at 1.15pm  on this day I married the fabulous Mrs H (or Mrs B as she was then). We chose the end of May to get married as we thought the weather would be warm and sunny, and of course it rained!

It hasn't though dampened the last 27 years of our life together, which in many ways have passed by in a flash. Many of those who celebrated our happy day are no longer with us, but we also have many additions to the family who weren't with us then but of course now are, as the circle of life goes round and round.

It's been an brilliant 27 years when all said and done. I'm lucky to be married to such a wonderful, kind and loving person, and brilliant mother to our two now grown up children. She's someone who seems to bring out the best in everyone and I'm incredibly proud to be her husband. She is also amazingly tolerant of my occasional *cough* bouts of grumpiness (I put that down to my genes - thanks Dad, and watch out James), especially at this moment in time when lockdown is getting us all to a state of raging cabin fever. As well as reflecting on the past 27 years today, I'm looking forward to the future and spending the rest of my life with her.

Me and the wonderful Anne on our wedding day 29th May 1993

And 27 years later...

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

The Fence Post

I take photographs for the simple pleasure of capturing a moment, a view or maybe a special occasion. Something that might invoke a memory when viewed back at a later date. I have no preferred theme to my shooting such as landscapes, wildlife, or street photography, I just snap whatever I think is worth a shot.

Occasionally, a photo may stand out for a particular reason, and this happened today. Mrs H and I went for a walk this morning to get out and about before the weather got to hot, and on account that we're going to be busy later having a BBQ in the garden and a few shandies as it's our daughter's 23rd birthday.

We walked up to the Wenvoe Castle golf course, a place we've been many times over the last couple of months, although it's now open to golfers so we had to be wary of flying golf balls. Actually, the place seemed fairly quiet, and judging by the shots I saw being hit, it was evident that no one-s played for almost three months. There were golfing singletons about (currently rules in Wales allow you to play alone or with one other member of your household) and I did see a woman apparently caddying for her husband which seemed to be a marvellous idea!

Anyway, we walked through the course and then down a lane that splits the first nine from the back nine, and it was along this lane I took this shot of a fence post.

Ageing

Now ordinarily, a photograph of a fence post is nothing to get excited about. It wasn't until I got home and was flicking through today's shots that this one stood out to me from amongst the landscape views of the Vale, a couple of squirrels and a distant woodpecker.

Initially the reason I took the shot was because of the bright morning sun on the vividly yellow lichen. But the more I looked at this shot, the more intrigued I was. I thought about the passing of time, and specifically ageing. The lichen on the post is itself the obvious indicator that this post has been here for several years. But it's also fallen at an angle over time. I don't suppose it was put into the ground this way, unless the person doing it has DIY skills like me! That's two indicators of the passage of time. And then there's the rusting barbed wire, slowly oxidising over the months and years.

Looked at from this perspective, this photo now means more to me that just some yellow stuff on a concrete post, or a colourful snap on a walk. It's got history - perhaps not decades worth, but it's certainly been there a while, and the three things that pull that together - the lichen, the subsiding angle and the rusty barbed wire make me think that for all the wildlife and magnificent views we saw on our four miler this morning, this for me, was the shot of the day.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Cheque mate

Apologies dear readers for my tardy, brief and frankly lacking posts of the last couple of days. I've had other things on my mind (mostly trying to quell my anger around politicians and their aides).

However, it's a new day and I have something else to rant about 😀

Cheques. Remember them? About 10 years ago there was a plan to phase them out in 2018, but that got pulled when people realised that a lot of people, and primarily the elderly were, and were likely to continue to be dependent on them. You don't see them very often these days (we even pay our window cleaner and milkman via online banking (OLB) and Direct Debit respectively), but when you do the circumstances fall into one of two camps. You're either a payer or a recipient.

As a payer you have to pay for something via cheque. "What?" I hear you say. Surely there aren't places that don't accept card payment these days, and where the amount is too great for cold hard cash?

Leaving aside the increasing distaste amongst most people for coins and folding paper in favour of contactless - I last withdrew cash at the beginning of March and still have all of it in my wallet),  it's true that some places still don't or won't accept card payments. Primarily the reason given is the setup and fees associated with managing card payment that means that some, often smaller companies don't like the financial hit. However, this has been offset in recent years by systems such as iZettle that run off credit card sized readers that can attach to you phone (think Christmas market traders for instance). These can be set up at low cost although I accept there's usually a "per transaction" fee. So the argument that it's too expensive to take card payments doesn't really hold water.

The second scenario is when you're lucky enough to be the recipient of a cheque. If you're unlucky, this might be to offset payment you've already made, but the best occasions are when it's someone just giving you some money - it happens! But then the realisation hits you, that you've got to pay the darned thing in before you can get hold of that lovely moolah. and that's where things might become tricky.

I've recently been sent a cheque as a donation to the cricket club where I'm secretary. A lovely gesture (thank you to the donor, even though they're unlikely to be reading this). I'm also expecting a cheque from someone who doesn't do online banking so bank transfer is out, in respect of payment for something that I've already paid for on their behalf.

I've been a customer of my bank's OLB system almost since they rolled it out years ago. Despite some of the scare stories, I'm an advocate of OLB. I find it incredibly convenient, easy, safe and secure and increasingly feature rich. However, they don't cater for the paying in of cheques which feels like a big gap in their offering. I tweeted their customer service Twitter account this morning to enquire whether there was any likelihood of them having such a feature in the foreseeable future. To their credit they responded within minutes, but their response was negative - it's not something they are planning, at least any time soon.

They did suggest, not very helpfully, that I could visit one of their branches or pay it in via a Post Office, but obviously that wasn't my point. For one thing this would entail a physical visit to said branch or the Post Office, which rather flies in the face of encouraging online banking. But a visit to a bank it will have to be. However, with increasing branch closure (not to say reducing Post Office branch closures) and currently reduced opening times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, visiting branches is becoming increasingly challenging, especially if you have to work. It's a good job I'm retired and have the time to go.

Some banks do have this functionality within their OLB offering - it usually requires you to take a photo of said cheque and attach as an image, but that's got to be easier and quicker than getting in a car and driving to the nearest branch. Assuming it's still there and open of course.

Photo: wiseguys.co.uk

Out of interest, a quick Google can return a list of banks that do allow the depositing of cheques via phone. 

Banks where you can pay in cheques with your phone

• Halifax
• Barclays
• Lloyds
• HSBC
• Bank of Scotland
• Starling

Banks where you can't pay in cheques with your phone

• First Direct
• Monzo
• Nationwide
• Natwest
• RBS
• Santander
• TSB

Until tomorrow.... 

#isolationlife 

#stayhomesavelives

Better late than never

I’m writing this at half past ten in the evening. I’ve completely forgotten to think about writing a post today even though I have a reminder set on my phone, and in all honesty there hasn’t been anything particularly urgent occupying my mind  today, well not worth blogging about anyway.

Maybe it’s a more general reflection on my current state of mind, which is being bloody fed up of all this coronavirus malarkey. 

Sure, it could have been a lot worse. We’re all fit, well and comparatively unaffected by the virus (other than the frustration of lockdown). My son returns to work (virtually) tomorrow after several weeks on furlough. 

I’m looking forward to the Welsh Government announcing something positive tomorrow at their breifing, although the news tonight reported that any changes are likely to be ‘cautious’. 

Hopefully I’ll have something a little more constructive and positive to post tomorrow.

Until then

#staysafe

#stayathomesavelives

Broken Britain

I'm angry. Still angry. I don't often get angry. Grumpy yes, angry no. The Dominic Cummings affair though has pushed me over the edge, and judging from what I'm reading, hearing and seeing, many, many others.

Will BJ and DC now see the anguish, hypocrisy and anger they have caused over this matter? They probably have (if even indirectly - they probably have lackeys to do that for them), but are choosing to ignore it. I'm not going to go on at length - there's enough information, analysis and opinionating out there to go around with lots to spare.

And now Boris tells "England" that non-essential retail will be opening from 15 June, whilst here in Wales we remain ostensibly in lockdown.

I give up.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

I've hit the wall

I've got nothing to blog about today. I'M FED UP and frankly I just can't be arsed.

I can't write about the garden (again). WellI could but you might be getting bored of that. I haven't taken any photos today (although I might have a blog plan for June based on photography). I certainly can't write about the current Dominic Cummings situation. Well again I could, but it'll just make me even madder than I am about it already, and I'm already taking medication for blood pressure!

So sorry folks, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow when hopefully something might have inspired the embers of an idea for a post.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Incredible bird photography

Yesterday a picture of a swift appeared on my Twitter timeline. As most tweets contain a photo, that fact in itself is not particularly interesting, although I suspect that not everyone is familiar with the swift, a summer visitor with its beautiful scythe like wings. Famed for allegedly being able to sleep on the wing, and rarely coming to ground, you know it's summer when you see these birds flying high chasing insects.

No, what really struck me was the photograph itself. It's an astounding shot of a swift heading straight towards the photographer, it's wings like razors.  A copy of the image taken by Somerset based photographer Carl Bovis (@CarlBovisNature, website) is below, but go to the tweet link above and open the image for a full view.

Swift - Credit Carl Bovis (@CarlBovisNature, https://linktr.ee/carlbovis)

As a very amateur photographer and nature lover myself, I'm absolutely taken aback by this image on a number of levels. Firstly taking pictures of any bird in flight is a feat in itself, evidenced by the number of times I've shot some lovely branches of a tree but no bird! To get your camera settings right to get a clear, sharp shot AND manage to get the bird in the frame takes incredible skill, and no doubt patience (and you have to have the right gear). Carl undoubtedly has all this plus bags of experience taking these sort of shots. Secondly, swifts generally fly quite high - I did tweet Carl and ask him about this, and he graciously replied quite quickly telling me that on this occasion the bird was quite low - nevertheless a head on shot of a swift must be quite rare! And thirdly, to capture this bird so precisely head on makes this image all the more stunning. Its wings are like knife edges and in the image you can immediately sense the manoeuvrability and speed of the bird.

Intrigued, I immediately started following Carl on Twitter and looked back through his timeline. The images he takes of birds are quite remarkable. They put my feeble efforts of a wildlife to shame, but I guess I take comfort in that I love taking photographs however they come out, and eventually, with enough practice I may one day take that real "keeper" shot!

I've also jumped straight in to buy Carl's book because if this one image is anything to go by I'm going to love leafing through his book to see the photos and learn more about how, when and where he takes these amazing shots.

Finally, and on a serious note, it appears that someone used (whether intentionally or unintentionally) a photo of Carl's on a Twitter post without crediting him. The net result is that many of those viewing that tweet believe the poster to be the photographer especially as their profile picture showed them holding a camera. Unlike many photographers, Carl does not watermark his photos, but to use his or indeed anyone else's images without crediting the original photographer is a big no no.

Twitter, as I've mentioned on many occasions before, can be a pretty unpleasant place at time, but when you find jewels like this, and are able to communicate directly with people that until that day you'd never heard of before, it shows the platform can be used for. It certainly made my day.

If any of nature, photography or birds are your thing, give him a follow. You won't regret it!

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

How quickly will we forget?

To say it's been an odd few months is no understatement. Before Christmas we were all concerned with  the trials and tribulations of Brexit (remember that?), Boris finally having got his way to "Get Brexit Done. Blimey, if that was all we had to worry about! Looking back now, we can see how the Government loves a soundbite/message and was perhaps a foretaste of what was to come with "Stay At Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives", shortly followed by "Stay Alert (I still don't know what that means"), Control the Virus (I still don't know what that means either), Save Lives".

Anyway, fast forward to the start of the year and we all watched from afar as the coronavirus spread westwards at a rate of knots, blissfully going about our business as usual, before it was too late, and we were suddenly in lockdown (or a lighter version of it, because let's face it we were never in real lockdown).

During the last couple of months, we've (mostly) seen people being nicer to each other, helping neighbours and friends out who are isolating or shielding, clapping the NHS and other key workers. We've left notes and sometimes gifts for our postmen/women, refuse collectors. We've seen business models change to adapt to lockdown. We've learnt to work from home, obey social distancing rules and live without things that previously we might have seen as "essential". We've done all those jobs we've been putting off for weeks, months, or even years. we've de-cluttered, we've learnt to cook. We've possibly exercised more, perhaps not because we wanted to exercise per se, but because it was an excuse to get out of the house, but hey, let's not decry the fact that we are at least exercising! Many of us have discovered more about our local area than we ever knew before, and probably would never have known if it weren't for this pandemic.

Sure, we've missed (and continue to miss) many things. Popping round to a friends house, or the pub, or going to a restaurant, theatre or on holiday, but we've survived.

At some point though, things will start getting back to some sort of normality. In some places in the UK (England I'm looking at you), this has started sooner than for the rest of us. Having said that, despite Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland continuing their stricter lockdown approach, we do have coffee shops, garden centres, fast food outlets, DIY stores, car washes, etc open, and we do have people using them, almost certainly on non-essential visits. We also have people getting in their cars and driving to places for exercise, or just because they want to.

Let's not kid ourselves here. Whilst in Wales, at least locally, we're not seeing the mass migration to beaches and parks that are happening in some parts of England played out across news and social media, we're not holier than thou. When a picture of a packed Southend beach from last weekend was posted on Twitter alongside an photo of an apparently empty Whitmore Bay at Barry Island as a comparison, along with the predictable comments, what you might have missed were other comments and reports on other social media timelines saying that actually, Barry Island was busy that day (not ridiculously so, but it wasn't empty either. Apparently Cardiff Bay was also packed. Anyway, I digress.

So, the question I have is this. When we do see lockdown lifted, and restrictions eased, how much of everything that we've done and adapted to in the last two to three months will remain, and how much will we quickly forget as we rush back to our cars and self centred lives? Will we continue to talk to our neighbours over the fence, or check in on that little old lady at the end of the road? Will we not moan about queues, or take public transport instead of jumping into our cars, or God forbid even carry on walking? Will we stop appreciating the NHS, and all other key workers we've been so resolutely thanking and applauding these last few weeks? I'm not suggesting we continue clapping every Thursday - that needs to end sometime.

Will we all flock back to Wetherspoon's for our cheap beer after decrying them so vehemently for not paying their workers early on in the crisis and saying we'd never visit s 'Spoons again? News reports of massive queues at recently opened McDonalds for example (or let's face it, anything that opens - Starbucks, recycling centres, garden centres - God knows what will happen when the high street shops open), suggest that however much we say one thing, as soon as the opportunity arises, we instinctively resort to our previous behaviours, and will do anything for a soggy burger and fries, or cup of coffee. In a nutshell, how easily we forget.

I'd like to think we won't, but I'm not holding my breath.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Two planets and a spaceship

Last night I spotted two planets and a spaceship!

Venus has been shining brightly in our skies for some months, although will soon disappear from view. You can't miss it. It's the brightest object in our skies low in the west in the early evening and I've previously taken a photo of the planet when it was in conjunction with the star cluster Pleiades.

Venus/Pleiades 4th March 2020

In the last few days though, it's been joined in the sky by Mercury the planet nearest to the sun. It's a rare sight - for a start it never gets about 28º from the western horizon making it difficult to see unless you've got a great field of view, and secondly it's usually not very bright meaning observing it requires binocular or a telescope. Currently though, it's easily observable with the naked eye - but not for long. This photo was taken by someone I follow on Twitter last evening (@susan_snowy) and shows both planets well.

Venus (top left) and Mercury (bottom right)
Copyright @susan_snowy

Over the next few days as Venus sinks lower in the skies there will be a "conjunction" (a visual coming together, even though they're actually about 31 million miles apart).

It's worth getting out and having a look as soon as it gets dark - I was out at 10pm last night to see this whilst preparing for the International Space Station (ISS) to pass overhead.  Mercury is elusive, so to be able to tick this one off your "I've seen list" is well worth doing.

I've posted about the ISS several times previously, but make no apologies for doing so again. This is a real spaceship, around 250 miles up, going at 17,500 mile per hour, orbiting the earth once every 90 minutes. Currently with a crew of three (two Russians and an American). Last night's pass was epic. It appears (as it almost always does from the west/west south west and flew overhead visible as a very bright yellow dot. The pass was six minutes in length and the brightness didn't fade until it it disappears from view over some houses. Sometimes it fades quickly depending on where the sun is (it's the sun reflecting off the station that makes it visible). My photo below, isn't the best ISS shot I've ever taken (got my exposure settings wrong), but who cares!

ISS flying overhead
150 second time-lapse:
Tripod mounted Canon 100D
18-50mm lens
ISO100
f11
remote shutter

Still in space, next week (May 27th to be exact) sees the launch of Space X's Crew Dragon, on top of a Falcon 9 rocket with two American astronauts who will fly to and from the ISS. This is a historic launch and flight as it's the first time American astronauts will have launched from US soils since the shuttle programme ended in 2011, relying on Russian Soyuz craft ever since.

This flight is called "Demo-2", and follows "Demo-1" an unmanned flight to the ISS just over a year ago. The two astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are NASA veterans. They might not have time for Twitter at the moment, but can both be followed at @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken respectively. whilst there have been test flights, you've got to admit it takes some balls to be sat on top of a rocket - especially in an historic first. The launch will undoubtedly be available to view on stream, probably via Nasa and Space X.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Happy Birthday Dad

My Dad would have been 91 today. He died in December 2016 a week after after collapsing at home. He wasn't a well man by any means, but I don't think anyone expected that he wouldn't recover from that event. We all thought he was too stubborn and bloody minded to go that easily.

Born in 1929 when the world was a very different place, he grew up in Sale, Manchester. His father was variously in the army, a confectioner, and a school caretaker (he might also have been a bookie). The family endured a torrid few years in the 40's. The first of his two older sisters Dorothy, died in 1945 from tuberculosis at the age of just 22. Six months later his mother died aged 52, and on Boxing Day 1947 his other sister Joan also died of tuberculosis at the age of 26.

Aged 8, 1937

After a period working as a railway clerk, Dad joined the Royal Navy and served abroad during the Malay Emergency. It was in the Navy that he met my Mum, who was also in the Navy as a serving WREN.

He was a qualified sailing instructor (Front left)

A post sailing pint and a fag! (Standing, with cigarette)

On leaving the Navy he briefly worked for Littlewoods as a trainee manager before working for Mars, the confectionary company, initially as a salesman with a little van in the south of England (Hampshire and Wiltshire) but latterly as a manager on the chocolate line at Mars' large factory in Slough. We were never short of chocolate or Spangles (remember them?) in our house!  I can also recall the smell of chocolate that pervaded the air any time we drove near to the massive industrial estate where the Mars factory was located!

Dad's Mars van c1960

In late 1969 Dad left Mars for a manager's position at Geest (the banana people), where he was responsible for (amongst other things) making coleslaw. That move necessitated a relocation from Slough to rural Lincolnshire, a place where we lived for 10 years in the village of Donington. The part we lived in was wholly agricultural, and flat. Big sky, sugar beet, sprouts, cabbages as far as the eye can see! It can be a stark place, but I love going back there when we go to visit my elder brother who still lives close to where we lived. As an aside, and perhaps in a spooky foray into the future, I remember once coming with my Dad on a trip to Barry where the Geest ships sometimes docked. Now I live here. Spooky indeed.

A Board meeting. Dad top left. Think this was during his time at Geest
No computers or mobiles in those days!

After being made redundant from Geest in a move I don't think he saw coming, he had a short spell as a manager with the packaging firm Linpac, based near Goole on Humberside. Dad commuted there by car, around a 160 mile round trip, no mean feat in the 70's. I don't think he was ever particularly happy there, and in 1979 after much deliberation and input from all of us as a family, at the age of 50 he took a brave decision to quit and took a substantial pay cut to work as a Field Commissioner for the Scout Association covering Avon and Wales. He'd been heavily involved in scouting as a volunteer until then. So we uprooted again and moved to Chepstow. He worked for the Scout Association until he retired, but was highly respected and kept involved almost up until his death particularly through his massive network of contacts and my sister who also works for the Scouts in a roughly similar type of role.

In his Scout uniform of which he was hugely proud

As well as this work, he was also active in the local community. He was Secretary of the local Athletic Club for several years, played in the local quiz league, and sang in the Chepstow Male Voice Choir. He could be a truculent and antagonistic bloke at times, perhaps the embodiment of the "grumpy old git" (I think that's where I get it from). He was never wrong about anything in his eyes and the word stubborn was made for him. He was still driving until about a year before his death. When his licence was pulled for health reasons, he kicked up an awful fuss - he'd recently been berating other drivers (actually, skip the "recently") for driving too close to the white line as he was getting through wing mirrors at an alarming rate. He absolutely wouldn't have it that it was probably him not the other drivers.....

He loved his beer, cricket, the sea, dogs (of which he had many over the years), France, where he visited several times and had some dear friends, but above all he loved his family.

I miss him , and strangely (or not) I often have dreams where the two of us (and occasionally others) are travelling somewhere. I'm sure a dream psychologist would have a field day with that.

I'm not sure what he'd make of our current situation had he still been with us. I'm guessing that despite being in the vulnerable group on both age and health, he'd have still taken his dog out, and gone shopping himself.

A poor quality photo, but the last one I have of him, with my younger brother, about 3 weeks before he died

I will raise a glass to the "Squire" tonight.

Until tomorrow

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives