It's a Meme-athon not a sprint

Well, it was inevitable wasn't it?

The Government* announces a snappy new message (but only for England), and the internet has gone wild turning it into memes. Was there any way this wasn't going to happen?

* Given that Boris's plan isn't going to be presented to Parliament until the morning after he gave an update to the nation (but really only England) on Sunday evening, one has to wonder whether this is a Government message at all, but rather something dreamt up by some spin doctors who clearly have no idea how to create a clear and wholly unambiguous message in a moment of global need and haven't got anything better to do.

Anyway, here's the original. If you know what it means, answers on a postcard please.

And here's how others see it. I've only posted a selection of some I've seen and that don't contain any swear words, this being a family blog and all that. There are many, many other's, some very funny, some a little more shall we say, Anglo-Saxon in their approach.

This one (below) is my personal favourite as it's an animated image that you tap to stop where it displays a random selection of words. Genius! The link to the original tweet is here https://twitter.com/OFalafel/status/1259446167831752710

This next couple focus on the ambiguity of what "staying alert" might mean.

This one implies the Government has run out of ideas (if it had any in the first place).

And if we weren't sure what "stay alert" means, then how is it possible to know what' control the virus" means?

And then of course there's the different messaging in the different countries (well actually it's only different in England).

Another one on being alert.

And again....

Sick of messages for the sake of messages?......

I can match your ambiguity and raise you

Not listening (blocks ears)...

Anyone?

And perhaps my second favourite which many people believe neatly summed up what BJ said last night...

But of course folks, remember, only in England.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Change for change sake

Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.

It's a simple message, and pretty clear. You'd have to be an idiot not to understand "stay at home", even though it seems that more and more people seem to be flouting this pretty straightforward advice. And there's a lovely logo to go along with it just in case your'e in any doubt.

Very Ronseal

• Clear and unambiguous
• Stay home = what it says
• Red = danger

So, what to do eh? Well, let's change the message.

• Stay alert = Eh? What does that mean?
• Control the virus = Eh? What does this mean?
• Green = In my mind at least green is good. All systems go! But they're not.

Not quite Ronseal

Seriously, you have to ask who dreams this crap up. I'm sure the essence of this change is buried in the idea that the Government has to do something to demonstrate that things are getting better. But to confuse the message - especially when the message from both Scotland and Wales remains "Stay at home", truly increases the risk for confusion and mixed messages. It really feels like change for change sake.

• Do I stay at home and be alert?
• Do I only need to be alert if I go out?
• I can go out if I need to do something essential or exercise notwithstanding that...
• I have to stay local (Wales only)....even though I have to stay at home (Eh?). Unless of course I fancy nipping out to go to a garden centre, or B&Q, or KFC.
• What happens if I'm out and someone sees me being not alert? "Oi sonny. You're not being alert enough".

Surely they could have kept the stay at home message but adapted the exceptions?

Boris will undoubtedly be full of his usual bluster when he address the nation later, but it's clear that really he's only setting the scene out for what will be the case for England.

I'm afraid that these mixed and confusing messages are only going to increase the unease about what people should be doing. 

For once, I just wish the politicians would put their petty differences aside and work for the good of the nation. If the vast majority of the people I see posting on social media are anything to go by, there's a fairly obvious split. Those who are willing to put with the lockdown for as long as it takes, and those that are fed up with it all and just want to "get on" with their lives as normal. Giving a message that's not crystal clear about what we should be doing (either way) is only going to make matters worse, and increase the numbers of people who are interpreting "stay alert" as it's ok to get on with your life but just be alert. Whatever that means.

I might have calmed down by tomorrow.

Until then....
#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Socially distanced tea and cake

Today we changed up our walk routine.

Instead of our usual trot (the word "trot" is used here for effect only - no actual trotting involved) we decided to walk over to the next village and see our best friends. We warned them in advance we were coming and arranged for a socially distanced cup of the once we arrived.

Departing the estate where we live, we cross the normally busy A4231 Barry Docks Link Road down into Gilbert Lane. This single track road leads immediately into the surrounding countryside, but I think I can only ever recall walking down it once in the 15 years we've lived here.  There's a barrier across the road shortly after passing a couple of houses to prevent it being used as a rat run as it really only leads to one farm, but could be used as a shortcut between Barry and Dinas Powys.

The early approach into Gilbert Lane

Almost straight away you find yourself in rolling countryside, which ordinarily you don';t see from any of the main roads, and this provides a fascinating new perspective on the area that's on your doorstep. The photo below is looking across the fields towards Sully and the Seven estuary.

Looking south towards Sully

Even though we left at about 9.45am, it was already warn, and as the road descended into the trees the shade was welcome, although the bugs and flies attracted by horse droppings was less so. It was surprising how steep the decline was, the local hilliness (is that a word?) being another thing that you wouldn't normally appreciate in the car.

Descending in the shade

As the road began to flatten out we entered the sun again. Overhead we watched a buzzard being harangued by a couple of crows, and just before the track case to junction with Argae Lane and Westra, a rabbit hopped out of the hedgerow clearly not expecting anybody or anything else to be there. He quickly high-tailed it back into the hedge. Walking on down the Westa, past the boarding kennels we spied several variants of sheep in the adjacent fields.

Sheep off Westra

Footpath across the fields towards StAndrews Major - one for another day

More sheep, but different colour!

Further along the road we started to encounter the dwellings at Westra, just outside Dinas Powys. The houses along here are mostly big, and no doubt if they were on the market now, very expensive. There are some absolute crackers here, in a lovely location - handy for the village, but in effect, in the country.

The hill up the Westra towards Dinas Powys Common

Passing the houses, we came to a stone stile that marks the entrance to Dinas Powys Common. A large expanse of common ground, it's inhabited by dog walkers, walkers, horse-riders, rugby and of course cricket. It's the spiritual home of my cricket club Dinas Powys CC, the club having played on the common for over 130 years. These days (and probably at any time) it's not in good enough nick to house 1st or 2nd XI cricket which gets played at Parc Bryn y Don at the bottom of Dinas Powys, but it's still host to our 3rd XI and Sundays, midweek and junior games.

The stone stile onto Dinas Powys Common

Walking across the common we descended down to our friends house on the far edge. It felt really odd not only seeing them in person, but not being able to hug and shake hands. We dutifully observed social distancing for an hour or so on their patio whilst having a cuppa and a slice (or two) of cake (which were put down so we could go and pick it up rather then it being handed to us!).

It was a lovely way to spend a morning catching up, and after we left we retraced our steps. There were a couple of alternate routes we could have taken at times, but we'll leave that for another day. All in all, it was a perfectly splendid morning, and ideal for making you feel good in these uncertain times.

Looking back across the common. Cricket pitch in the foreground, Dinas Powys Tennis Club centre right.

Our route 

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

VE Day and lockdown extension

Today marks 75 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe - VE Day. Inevitably there are fewer and fewer people who can  remember this in person and understand the enormity of what cessation of hostilities meant after six years of war. Remarkably and rather scarily, I entered the world stage only 14 years later. Thankfully I have never had to face such terrible times, although the Falklands and first and second Gulf wars were sobering enough, even viewed from a distance.

Although many have tried, it's impossible to compare what we're going through now to the war. Of course there are similarities. People are dying, albeit from a virus rather than bombs and bullets. But we're not being bombed. We haven't got to endure food rationing. We haven't got to send our kids in cities to the country for safety.  And we've only been in lockdown (however relative that is for some) for seven weeks.

Society has changed massively over those 75 years. Not least, communication is instant and in your face There's no waiting for the news on the radio, or going to the cinema to watch the Pathé news. There's no lag time, and that brings a culture of immediacy. Everyone wants things to happen straight away or to "know now". And social media allows us to respond either directly or to the wider world about our thoughts on any particular subject. And generally I think people's tolerance has reduced. Whilst we see glimpses of the "British bulldog spirit" or the "Blitz spirit" of everyone pulling together, it's hard when we live in a devolved democracy, and people's sense of what we should be doing is so visible and arguably being driven by the mass media.  What initially seemed like a novel idea to have to stay at home (for most) is now wearing incredibly thin for many. There are clearly more cars on the road than a few weeks ago. The mere mention of a KFC opening up sends hoards into their cars creating massive queues for a bit of fried chicken and some fries. Mention a DIY store opening, and suddenly everyone who'd been putting off their decorating for years needs to go and buy paint. Some people don't need an excuse. They just get in their cars and drive off somewhere. According to media reports, some are just going for a drive because of lockdown fatigue whilst some seem to be driving to all parts of the country to go to the coast, to pick up a car, to fetch a boat, climb a mountain....the list goes on.

Desperate for fried chicken: KFC queue in Swansea: Photo: Wales Online 

With this weekend seemingly bringing the first sense of what coming out of lockdown means, there are a number of things to understand.

Firstly, the devolved nature of our government means people in different regions will likely be getting  different messages despite protestations that we are on a four country approach. We already know for instance that in Wales schools will not be reopening on 1st June. Scotland has announced that the lockdown will be extended and has advised people to wear masks in shops and on public transport. There is no such guidance from Westminster, or as yet, Senedd Cymru. Wales First Minister announced earlier that lockdown has been extended for a further three weeks with some minor amendments. You can go out to exercise more than once a day providing you stay local (but no definition of what local is). Some gardens centres and recycling centres (tips) may open - cue more massive queues of cars. Recycling centres I can understand, but garden centres hardly seem essential yet - although I accept they may be good for mental health of some perhaps (but so are many things) - and don't get me wrong, I love a garden centre, but can I justify going to my local one just for a browse or to buy some compost? I don't know but I suspect some will see this a just an argument for getting out of the house.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

That's not a moon.....actually it is.

Around 238 thousand miles away, a lump of rock goes round our planet. The moon. This apparently grey, barren lump of dust and rock has for millennia been steeped in mystery and ancient traditions, and acted as a calendar for ancient farmers. It is responsible for our tides and was of course the centre of the space race between America and Russia to see who could first put a man on it's surface. We only ever see one side, with the fables "dark side of the moon" always pointing out to space. Oddly, it's not dark though - it's only dark to us.

Most people probably barely notice this satellite, the fifth largest satellite in our own solar system, and if they do won't take particular notice of it. But it's worthy of more of your attention.

Last night in a first for me, I attached my Canon 100D DSLR camera to my 8 inch Skywatcher Dobsonian telescope to try and take a photo of the moon. In order to do this I removed the lens from the camera and attached the camera to the 'scope via a special mounting ring. Once attached it was simply a case of lining up the 'scope to look at the moon through the camera viewfinder/screen rather than a dedicated telescope eyepiece.

Once I had the orbiting rock in my sights, it some careful focusing using the 'scope's controls, and I was ready to shoot. I used a remote shutter please cable to minimise the risk of any camera shake, and fired away. I took several shots at different shutter and ISO settings to see which setting gave me the best shot.

Once I'd taken 30 or so images it was back inside to the computer and my current preferred image post processing viewing and editing software Luminar 4 (other and cheaper [and more expesnive] programs are available). I was pretty impressed with some shots as a first ever effort at doing this, but the best photos still needed tweaking. For one thing, viewing an object through a telescope means the image isn't orientated correctly, so that needed to be changed. Secondly whilst the best of the bunch looked pretty ok, they benefited from some slight tweaking of shadows and contrast to make the features of the moon stand out more. The photo below is the one of the best of bunch after all tweaks have been applied. I'm pretty happy with that, and it's inspired me to try this again.

My first ever photo of the moon through a telescope 6-5-21

Tonight (should skies be clear) should be a special view as it will be a Full Moon. Depending on where you live this full moon is variously known as the Flower Moon, Corn Planting Moon, Milk Moon, the Vesak Festival Moon and Supermoon.

If you haven't got a telescope, then any half decent pair of binoculars will enable you to have a great look at the moon, and if you haven't got a pair of binoculars then just use your eyes.  A great lockdown activity for all the family!

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Juggling tomatoes

Today a rather random collection of news and updates.

I hope you enjoyed my yesterday's post about post lockdown resumption of cricket. Having had some further thoughts on this, I did a little pictorial thread on Twitter earlier in the same vein.

As regular followers will know I try and grow a few things in my small garden, and lockdown has given me added incentive and time to do so. As a result I ended up with about 30-40 established tomato plants in pots (I normally grow two or three), so you can see I somewhat over-planned. Along with this I also overdid the courgettes and cucumbers....

Anyway, I've given some to our neighbours and my wife took some and left them at her mum's so when her brother calls on his "carer days" he can pick them up. That still left a load. So today I put a load out at the front of the drive with a note saying "help yourself". They're all gone now, so I'm happy, and hopefully a few other people will be. Good deed for the day.

My son leant how to juggle this week. He got some proper juggling balls and within 24 hours has gone from not knowing how to juggle to being able to juggle standing on one leg. Impressive stuff. I suggested he needs to try axes or burning torches now.

For those asking, there's little cat news to report. Sleep, eat, hunt repeat.......We did unfortunately add a robin to the list of kills earlier this week #murderer

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Howzat?

Ok, I admit it. I'm getting twitchy. It's only seven weeks since lockdown was introduced, although it now feels like a lifetime. I'm longing to get out and about but I know that I can't. I also know that even when we do get a green light (or perhaps just an amber light) it ain't going to be anything like "normal" as we knew it before late March.

Putting aside the economy, travel and so on, there are some serious implications for what many of us consider "normal" activities. Take cricket for example. My club Dinas Powys CC is a small village club playing in a regional league, putting out three sides on a Saturday as well as Sunday and Midweek XI's. However, if we are able to return to playing this season (and that's currently a huge "if"), we will undoubtedly have to apply some form of social distancing principles. We discussed this briefly at our Committee meeting last evening, but then deferred it on the basis that cricket's governing body, the ECB and our League (South East Wales Cricket League) will almost certainly provide some guidance on this at the appropriate time, but it could impact our game in the following ways:

• Changing into playing kit. Packing 11 blokes into a small changing room probably won't be a great idea, so we'd either have to stagger it, or arrive at the ground ready to play in our gear - a real throwback to the 70's and 80's. OK, it's not the worst problem in the world, but after playing a match when you're hot, sweaty and dirty getting back in the car - yuk. 
• Passing the ball back to the bowler after it's been bowled, normally entails 4-5 players touching the ball in short order. Will that be allowed? Maybe we'll have to use a scoop.
• Spitting on the ball to help shine it (forgive me for this one, but it happens).  Seems like a massive no-no. Maybe the rules need to be changed to allow the use of leather polish or sandpaper to help? No, I thought not.
• No standing in the slips chatting to your mate about where to go for an after match pint, unless you're more than 2 metres apart. Plenty of nicks going for runs in future.
• Will the wicketkeeper be able to stand up to the stumps? He'll have to sledge from at least six feet in future. We'll never see a stumping again.
• Will the umpire be safe to stand at the non-strikers end with bowler passing directly next to him  every time he bowls? Perhaps they'll invent an umpires "kiosk'" or umpires will have to wear hazmat suits.
• What happens if two people go for the same ball in the field? "After you mate",....."no, after you..." Meanwhile the batters run six.
• Batters won't be able to meet mid-pitch between overs and whisper their attacking (or defensive) intentions to each other. It might stop the glove tapping though - that might be a result!
• Teas might be ok providing safe distance is kept with tape markers on the floor and people sitting apart, although communal teas might not be a great idea, and we end up with everyone bringing their own.
• Scorers will have to sit further apart and only one person will be allowed to touch the scoreboard during a match 
• Taking drinks interval will need to be more spaced out - maybe the drinks will have to be put out and people fetch their own rather than having stacked cups and jugs with over a dozen people in close proximity.
• And unfortunately, sadly no after match beers as pubs likely to still be closed. Could bring cans I suppose....

Will it ever be the same again?

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

May The 4th Be With You

Yes it's Star Wars day, or what has traditionally become that day based on the date being a pun of "May the Force Be With You".

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and have been since the original film came out in 1977. It was a film unlike no other. For a start it began as a trilogy of films, but oddly at episode four (or IV) Eh? What happened to 1, 2 and 3 or I, II and III? The filming and special effects were next level for the time. I recall that special cameras called the Dykstraflex were invented by John Dykstra an American special effects artist, specifically for some of the more complex special effects (SE) shots in the film. Whilst the SE of that 1977 rendition now look dated after 43 years, they came about at a time when you could still see the string in SE shots in the episodes of Dr Who and other sci-fi type films/series of the same era.

It was a real fairly story - heroes, different worlds, a range of villains or varying scariness and nastiness, princesses, many strange animals, cute and no so cute droids, and a modern twist on ancient weapons - the lightsabre is a truly defining weapon in filmography. My friends and I must have seen that original at the cinema  loads of times. I've certainly never seen any other film as much.

And as the story has progressed, it's inevitably become more complex with greater twists and turns. The original three films, Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back (most people's favourite, including mine) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi were all great in my view. After a 16 year hiatus, the story returned with the much first derided Episode I: Phantom Menace (mainly I think because of the Gungan character Jar Jar Binks whom it seems everyone hated. Personally I enjoyed (and still do) Phantom, which has some great scenes. Episode II: Attack of the Clones was also a decent film and then in 2005 a full 28 years after the original film, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith brought the by now, perceived 6 episode story to its conclusion.

How were we to know though then, that ten years on from Revenge of the Sith, Episode VII: The Force Awakens was to pop up on cinema screens, follow by Episode VIII: The Last Jedi two years later and finally last year Episode XI The Rise of Skywalker.  Whilst I've enjoyed these latter films, I haven't enjoyed them as much as the earlier ones. Perhaps because I'm just getting older and my tastes have changes, but more likely it's because I find the stories have become a bit weaker. I find that there are some glaring "plot holes" and feel there are some scenes and storylines that are there for convenience rather than holding true to the storyline. That's not to say they're bad though. Maybe I'm just becoming a grumpy old git.

And of course, all the above doesn't include a couple of spin-off films. Solo: A Star Wars Story documenting the early life of rogue, smuggler or pirate (depending on your take) Han Solo, and Rogue One, the story that essentially fits between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope and sets out how the plans for the Death Stars that featured in the very first film, A New Hope were stolen.

The Star Wars universe (the films, books rather than space per se) is absolutely massive, with both canon and non-canon stuff. Mind bogglingly so. For true nerds there are also things like the Star Wars Galaxy Map, an interactive resource that allows you to explore the Star Wars Universe - planets, trade routes and so forth.

We've seen countless worlds, creatures, spaceships, villains, quotes, over the 43 years. It's mostly been a joy, with some real escapism. If I had to pick my favourite moments from all of that it would be nigh on impossible. One of my favourite quotes though comes from that very first film, when Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke, and the two droids R2-D2 and C-3PO are looking towards Mos Eisley spaceport and Obi-Wan says:

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.

Given we're all in still in lockdown due to this wretched coronavirus, there are worse things to do than sit down and watch the lot back to back.

May The Force Be With You

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

Stuff. Just stuff, everywhere

A period of enforced isolation at home due to coronavirus should provide the perfect opportunity to tidy up around the place and de-clutter. However, the initial premise is based on everyone who resides in the same household having broadly the same understanding of what "tidy" actually means. This is not the case in our house. With two adult children still living at home, and all their detritus from 25 and 23 years on this planet respectively, let alone stuff that my wife and I have accumulated over 27 years of marriage and our own historical baggage, it's somewhat frightening when you stop and realise just how much "stuff" we have in the house.

I don't necessarily want to chuck everything away. But nor do I want to just move it to "sight unseen"  which is my son's preferred mode of operation. He recently tidied up his bedroom (mostly anyway), a long overdue operation that took him most of a weekend. But what he's sneakily done, is move all the stuff he didn't want in his bedroom into the spare room.

Neither is it the case that our house is particularly untidy. I think the phrase is "lived in", which with four adults occupying the place is understandable. The loft (and we have a large one) is always a good bet for stowing stuff, but again, all that's doing is moving the problem. I've frequently threatened to just chuck stuff away and see who'll miss it, and how long it takes for them to do so, but I've never quite had the nerve.

And then of course there's the emotional attachment of things. We've got more soft toys lying around than you can shake a stick at, despite the fact the youngest occupant of the house is almost 23. Children's book's that evoke memories of bedtime stories and might one day be suitable for grandchildren. Old school and university workbooks, that will never ever get looked at again are in boxes in the loft. Personally, as a gadget/tech "enthusiast" I have to own up to being reluctant to discard anything that has a plug of some description on it, or an old phone/camera/laptop as they all might be useful one day *cough*.  I did the other day chuck our all our old VHS-C tapes of various holidays, children's Christmas nativity shows etc, but only once I'd made sure I'd backed everything up to DVD and had a backup of that. Chucking those tapes out is something I've been meaning to do for about five years!

There's also other bits and pieces that we've just accumulated and duplicated over the years. We have at least four thermos flasks for example. As someone who always likes a backup, two would be ok, but four? Let's also not get started on clothes. I'm fairly smug in this area. I believe I probably have the fewest clothes of anyone in the house. Certainly since I've retired I tend to live in jeans, a t shirt and a fleece. I haven't looked at a suit or proper collared shirt for over six months and my footwear tends to consist of walking shoes if I'm out and about, slippers in the house and a pair of old tatty trainers in the garden. Even so, I hang on to shirts that I probably might wear once or twice a year, perhaps on holiday but wouldn't be seen dead in on a day to day basis.

And one further point on decluttering - whilst there's lots I'd like to chuck away, I also don't like the idea of just putting stuff into landfill. Yes there are charity shops, bag collections and e-Bay, but half the time charity shops don't want the stuff you have, and the e-Bay route can be a lot of effort for little reward. Freecycle or Gumtree are viable options though, but not always successful. I've put two or three pairs of decent walking shoes/boots on Gumtree with no response at all.

But sometimes you just have to bit the bullet. I'm not going to get all Marie Kondo about this, I'm not quite that OCD (I think) but that time is now. Right, where's the bin bags.....

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

In plane view

Once Mrs H had returned from her early morning supermarket shop where all was good, despite some slight queuing to get in at 7am, and everything obtained except that essential commodity, cardomon pods (that's another story) we decided to take our daily exercise.

As usual, we headed up through the estate on a little used path, crossed the A4050 Port Road and via short walk through the Cardiff and Glamorgan Memorial Park and Crematorium grounds ventured onto Wenvoe Castle golf course.

With no golf being played, but the groundsmen keeping the place ship-shape, it looked pristine and I can't wait to getting back to hacking my way around a course. Normally we do a circular route around the "back nine" but today we ventured over to the front nine for the first time. It's a spectacular course, with lovely views out across the eastern Vale towards Rhoose. From the 6th tee I took the following photo which showed a row of furloughed British Airways planes sitting on the tarmac going nowhere in this lockdown.

BA planes at Cardiff Wales Airport

Since I retired I started playing golf, and normally play with a friend at the Vale Resort. I thought that was hilly, but it plays into insignificance compared with the front nine at Wenvoe! You'd need to be seriously fit to play this course regularly and/or use a golf buggy. If I played here I might need to invest in an electric trolley - pulling my Dad's old manual trolley ups and down these fairways would give me arms like Popeye!

Wenvoe Castle Golf Club - 8th Fairway - the green is down in the dip

 There were a one or two other couples and a couple of dog walkers on the course, but that part, we had the place to ourselves. It was lovely to find a bench at strategic points and sit and take in the views, sunshine and sound only of birds tweeting.

Wenvoe Castle Golf Club - 10th fairway

There are some fabulous trees on this course, The tall evergreens in the photo above are huge and spectacular , whilst there are a few of the what I think are copper beeches shown in the photo below dotted around the course. This was spectacular in today's sunlight.

Beautiful copper beech

Walking back through the crematorium grounds, we heard a plane, and I spotted this Airbus A400M Atlas that we have quite often seen over this area in the last few months doing some sort of training exercise. It's a big old pain and can carry a 37 tonne payload over 2,000 nautical miles and can accommodate 116 troops. You can even get a Chinook inside it apparently! This was about the extreme range of my zoom, so the quality isn't the best.

Airbus A400M Atlas over Barry

 Rather than take our normal path back, we wandered into Pencoedtre wood, a small wooded area at the top of our estate, bordered on two sides by the aforementioned A4050 Port Road and the A4231 Barry Docks Link Road. We'd never ventured into it before, despite having lived within 5 minutes walk for the last 15 years. As woods go it was fairly ordinary, although some of the bluebells we spotted were almost purple. We also spotted a standard squirrel. With only a vague idea that we needed to keep going down and keep the sun on our right, we followed one of a number of paths before appearing out of the trees opposite Lidl, and just a few minutes from our house.  A pleasant 4 miler or so in the sunshine. Just in time for a cup of tea and some cake.

Arty trees and sky photo

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

A day to remember

I've decided to stop putting the date in the title of my posts - this blog platform (like all others) provides the date of posts anyway. I originally started doing it in the vain hope that by now I could be saying we're getting back to normal but.....

Today is my Mum's birthday. She was born in 1927 the year that Cardiff won the FA Cup beating Arsenal 1-0 and who remain the only club to take the FA Cup out of England). Had she still been alive she would have been 93 today but sadly we lost her to ileo-caecal cancer at the end of 2002. That's almost a third of my life ago, but I still miss her enormously - those times when you just want to pick up the phone and have a chat about nothing in particular or sometimes something very specific, or point something out in the garden (she loved gardens). There's no doubt that time is a healer, but only in some respects. The rawness goes at least, but thankfully the memories remain.

My love of photography and photographs means that I'm often sat in my "study" meandering through some of my 22,000+ photos. I inherited a load of old photos when my Dad passed away at the end of 2016 co-incidentally a couple of days before the date on Mum's death. Whilst he was far from a well man, he was independent, but was taken ill suddenly one day and hung on for a week before passing. We swore he was waiting for the date Mum died.

I had the job of scanning many of the old photos and sharing them with my brothers and sisters (and a couple of my cousins). It's remarkable to look back at these old photos - some I'd never seen before, including some of my Mum when she was a child and both my parents in the 1940's and 1950's. I also came across some of both my sets of grandparents that I can't ever recall seeing before, insulting many of my maternal grandfather during his time in the navy - he served on submarines and survived two torpedoing's I'm told. The Navy played a major part in my parents and grandparents life. As well as my grandfather serving, both my parents were in the Navy - which was where they met. Dad was a Petty Officer and was in Malaya during the Malay Emergency whilst Mum was in the Wrens (Women's Royal Navy Service or WRNS).

So today's photo are a a celebration of the memory of Sylvia "Kit" Hiscocks. One of a kind.

Aged about 16 months (1928)

Aged 5 (1932)

1951

With her best friend Dusty in the WRNS

A Summer Fete

Enjoying France in the 90's

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 30th: Sport. Remember that?

So April peters out in a damp farewell after a period of prolonged sunshine and warmth. In any normal year we'd have had a great April, getting out and about in the nice weather, maybe some trips to the beach, seeing the start of the cricket season whilst moving swiftly towards the denoument of the football season.

Instead, everything remains up in the air. We're still in lockdown (or a variation of it depending on how compliant you're being). It's still open to question whether any cricket will be played this year. The sport's governing body has said no professional cricket will take place until July 1st at the earliest, the launch of the new Hundred competition has been postponed until next year and the recreational cricket suspension remains in place for the foreseeable future. Our league has just today suggested that they think the chances of cricket starting up by 1st July is unlikely (and I agree).  The football powers are still debating options for the completion, or cancellation of the current season (or something else), let alone the implications for the 2020/2021 campaign.

On the brighter side of things, the panic buying at the shops seems to have dissipated with most things bar flour (blame all those lockdown home bakers) readily available and those retailers that are open for business having put sensible and appropriate social distancing measures in place, or have adapted their business models to focus on home deliveries.

The calls continues for the Government to provide at least it's thoughts on an exit strategy form lockdown, although there seems to be a reluctance from on high to do this at this time.  Personally I believe it's too early to ease things (much as I'd like them to). I saw an interesting meme on Facebook this morning for which I can claim no responsibility which summed it up for me:

Reopening the country early, is a bit like stopping your antibiotics early because you're starting to feel better

I checked my car mileage this morning. It's a nerdy thing or perhaps OCD, but I like to know how many miles I've done each month. In the last month I've racked up the grand total of 43.9 miles. For many people it might be zero. I've had two or three trips to the surgery for my blood tests, and one trip to Canton with my wife to check on my mother-in-law one evening when we thought there was problem (there wasn't). That compares with just over 1,000 miles a month before I retired last November, and 560 in February and 400 in March. Apart from the obvious fuel saving that I and every other driver in lockdown has made, the impact on the environment must be huge. We've seen pictures of before/after lockdown improvements in air pollution across the world (although be careful believing everything you read/see - photo editing software is very good these days 😉. This article from Guardian at the end of March, a whole month ago was already showing some striking effects of the improvement due to the reduction in travel - it's probably even more significant now, even though traffic seems to be picking up again.

Although the weather's been a bit showery today, we did manage to get out for an hour. This shot was taken on the local golf course.

Wenvoe Castle Golf Club: 10th fairway

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 29th: Quiet day and disturbing figures

On the personal from it's been a quiet day, painting followed by a 2 mile walk around Cadoxton with Mrs H to get some exercise. Not much else to report really. My photo today is from a path near to our house where hawthorn blossom was falling like snow. A colour photo doesn't do it justice, so I've put a black and white silver tone filter on it, which makes it much more dramatic.

Today's Government briefing on the coronavirus pandemic pointed to a "slightly worrying" upturn in the amount of traffic. Certainly from what I've seen on my (not always) daily walks and from what my wife is reporting from her trip to work, shopping and to care for her mother is most definitely an increase in traffic. It seems that the country is deciding it's time to ease the restrictions not the Government. However, given that the total number of deaths being reported is now in excess of 26,000 now that care home deaths are bing includes, 6,000 higher than the 20,000 that one of the earliest briefings suggested might have once been the "best case scenario", it's clear that we're far from out of the woods.  Stay at home people.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 28th: Exercise - what does it means for you?

Hurrah, it's raining!

There are a couple of pluses to this rain - and who'd have thought anyone would be saying that about rain after the persistent precipitation and devastating floods of a couple of months ago - yes it was less than seven weeks ago when our focus was on flooding not coronavirus!

Firstly, the garden needed rain. I know, only gardeners say that, but my clay heavy soil had pretty much solidified and and starting opening up cracks you could fall into following the recent dry spell. And it means I don't have to water my fledgling fruit and vegetable plants  for a few days at least as nature does the job for me.

Secondly, it might stop some of the idiots who think lockdown is a nice opportunity to get out and about, have a picnic, climb Snowdon or otherwise go beyond the spirit of the guidance about being allowed out once a day for daily exercise. Perhaps it's worth re-iterating the Government's guidance here. You can exercise:

Yes – provided it is alone or with members of your household.People must stay at home as much as possible to reduce the spread of the virus. But you can also still go outside once a day for a walk, run, cycle. When doing this you must minimise the time you are out of your home and stay at least two metres away from anyone else that isn’t from your household.

The key bit here for me is that "...you must minimise the time you are out of your home".   Interestingly in relation to cycling, the website cyclist.co.uk initially said on 24th March shortly after lockdown was announced, that

No guidelines were given as to how long or how far the ride could be although with limited services and restaurants and cafes shut, it would suggest rides are to be kept short and close to home

And on 24th March, Wales updated it's guidance to say that:

Cycling for exercise in Wales has been restricted to rides that are within reasonable walking distance, as the Welsh Government publishes new official guidance that prohibits long bike rides for leisure and exercise.'Cycling should be local, as a rule of thumb limited to travelling no further than a reasonable walking distance from home,' the new guidance states

Returning more generally to individual daily exercise, the challenge is that for one person it might be a 5 minute turn around the block , whilst for others, perhaps more used to bigger bouts of exercise a 10 mile run might be what they deem to be their daily exercise. Whether a 10 mile run or 50 mile cycle is what the government meant by daily exercise is another thing. I know that every time I step out of the door at the moment I feel guilty, even though I'm only going for my turn around the block or at most a 2 mile circular walk.

And so to more mundane matters. I said a couple of days ago that I'd kicked my procrastination in respect of decorating into touch and bitten the bullet. Well, I'm pleased to say that bar a couple of minor snagging issues the living room is complete, and very please with it I am too. It's been far too long since this room was re-decorated. I was looking at some old photos the other day and I can see this was last done probably done....well actually, I'm not going there, it's too embarrassing.

Before (top) and after....next!

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 27th: Who to believe?

Well before anyone had ever heard of coronavirus/Covid-19 we were hearing about "fake news". It's not new either - it's probably been around since humans first started communicating with each other, but as communication channels have evolved, it's certainly become more visible.

Fake news is the sharing of misleading or downright wrong information, hoaxes for various purposes.  At one end of the spectrum it might be for sensationalist headlines to attract news "consumers" (think tabloid headlines, especially of things like weather headlines. On Twitter I follow meteorologist Liam Dutton who regularly lambastes the Daily Express weather "columnists" about their sensationalist, and usually wholly inaccurate weather warnings which he argues are merely "clickbait" designed to get people clicking on the links to drive access to content. At the more amusing end of the scale are things like the football transfer silly season when X footballer is reported to have been seen at Y club. A vaguely personal example is of a relative of mine, Barbara Archer who starred in several films including as Rosie the bargain at the Black Swan Inn  in the 1964 film 633 Squadron and the 1958 classic Dracula with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. She was once reported and photographed on a red top newspaper as driving a flashy American car and living the high life whilst her husband rode a bike and had to have fish and chips for his supper (or something like that), but according to my mum who was Barbara's cousin, she couldn't drive at the time and her husband didn't own a bike! The fish and chips bit might have been real!

Then there are the conspiracy stories. Man didn't actually and on the moon. The earth if flat, we're just being shield from that fact, the Queen's a lizard etc.

But there's a more serious side to this where media channels are manipulating the spread of disinformation for a much darker purpose, and the problem is that it's getting harder and harder to unravel the truth from the lies. The current President of the United States Donald Trump of course is a proponent of everything is fake news unless it come from him, although as we've seen, some of his information is clearly fake. Think bleach as a cure for coronavirus.

Yesterday some social media outlets had posts suggesting the first participant in the coronavirus vaccine trial had died a few days after having been administered the trial vaccine, when in fact she's fit and well.  It appears this story emanated from people who are opposed to vaccines.

There's also much contention about what's being reported regarding the statistics around Covid-19, not just in the UK, but worldwide. It may well be that what's being reported is not wrong per se, but rather it's being manipulated to provide a specific message, or to avoid giving a specific answer to a specific question.

Who are our trustworthy news sources? All my life I've trusted the BBC. But there are clearly people that don't. Some argue the BBC is too supportive of the Government. Conversely some argue it's constantly attacking and undermining the Government. You can't win. 

I'm sure that such a debate could (and probably) will go on for a very long time about fake news, and what can or can't be done to control it, or even whether it should be controlled (free speech and all that), but for the moment, the difficulty I and I suspect many others will have to continue to wrestle with, is, who do we believe?

If I'm not careful I'm going to go round in every decreasing circles with this post, so I'll just leave this here, but urge you - don't believe what you read without checking it.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 26th: Dull day

Well done to everyone who spotted the deliberate mistake in yesterday's post - I had the date as April 26th, which is of course today.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't got a lot to say today. It's been a very lazy day, even in lockdown terms. My wife's been to check on her mum, my son's spent time on a multi-way chat with some of his old university buddies who are now spread around the world. My daughter's been watching Harry Potter films and I've finished a book I was reading and been doing my own pottering in the garden making the most of the sunny weather before it disappears, potting on some of my tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes. To be honest, I've overdone it with my sowing - I've got far too many plants and nowhere to put them. I'll have to see if the neighbours want some (suitably socially distanced of course).

Tomato and courgette plants anyone?

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 25th: Photography

Years ago I had Zenit Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera (a Zenit because it was relatively cheap not because it was good) and enjoyed taking many "snaps" on 35mm film.

With the advent and evolution of the mobile phone, pretty much everyone has a camera on them all the time these days, and the latest cameras on the latest phones can provide staggeringly good results on a par with dedicated cameras under the right conditions. In addition to my iPhone XR, I also have three other cameras, all models a few years old now.

• A Panasonic TZ60 pocket travel zoom, usually reserved for holidays abroad or where I don't want to be carting around too much weight
• A Canon 100D DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) one of the smallest DSLR's available, and what would be deemed an "entry level" DSLR
• A Panasonic FZ330 Bridge Zoom. Only recently purchased but an older model, I bought this for it's long zoom when I need something more than the TZ60.

I swap and change between these depending on where I'm going, what I'm photographing or sometimes just based on whichever one I pick up first.  I take a LOT of photo's. Currently I have getting on for 22,000 photos on my hard drive (and yes, they're backed up in at least three separate locations) including off site in the cloud. The best ones, or those that have the most personal impact, including holiday ones I upload to Flickr, and you can see some of the albums I've made available publicly from this link.

I guess like many people, 99% of my photos are bog standard or worse, but every now and then I take one that really stands out. I find it's a hobby that you are continually learning on. Every time I press the shutter I learn something new. I try these days not to just use the "point and shoot" settings, but adapt whatever settings best suit the circumstances (or at least try to).

With lockdown, a lot of my usual haunts such as Barry Island, Cardiff Bay and other local areas are out of bounds, and being stuck at home you might think there's a limit to what I can photograph. But I've started messing about with taking macro (close up) photographs of flowers in my garden, and some of the shots have come out pretty well.  I've attached a few here.

I've also started to focus more on the post-processing - loading photos into software that allows me to tweak and play with the image, mostly to try and enhance the photo, but sometimes just for a bit of fun. The top tow photos here are the same flower - it's pink not blue.

I find photography immensely satisfying, but equally challenging when you miss that shot. On occasions though you just have to take what you can with whatever camera you have - they say the best camera is the one you have with you. Today we walked up on the golf course again, and disturbed a pair of green woodpeckers (to see one is an event in itself, to see a pair is amazing). They flew out of some trees and into some other trees further ahead. We couldn't see them with the naked eye, so I took the camera I had with me today - the Panasonic TZ60 pocket travel zoom, pointed it at the tree and zoomed all the way in, past the optical zoom and into the digital zoom where the picture starts to degrade rapidly. I thought I'd just taken foliage, but if you look carefully towards the top of the photo, you'll see a partially hidden woodpecker - his red head is the giveaway. On one hand it's a terrible photo. Fuzzy, the bird not really visible and certainly not centred. But the fact I managed to capture even this, made my day.

Spot the green woodpecker

And finally, just so she doesn't feel left out, here's a close up of the cat.

Until tomorrow....
#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

April 24th: Lockdown and disinfectant

So we're just over a month into Lockdown (Monday 23rd March).  How are you all coping?

We've settled into a pretty regular pattern at Chez Stats. Mrs H who's a nurse works Mondays and Tuesday's, but not directly at the coalface of CV-19 and thankfully things have been relatively calm for her at work. On her days off she continues to support her 94 year old housebound and frail mum who lives in Cardiff, alternating days with her brother, so she gets some down time. She's also i/c the shopping duties. My son who was initially working from home, has now been furloughed, and has another couple of weeks before that's reviewed. In the meantime he's taking the time to do some online learning relevant to his industry. My daughter who works for a big insurer as a customer service rep is working from home, but continues to have struggles with IT systems issues which seem to be affecting quite a lot of people.

I've got the garden looking tip-top, and have after some procrastination commenced some overdue decorating. I'm also taking the time to do some reading and practice my photography skills, although I'm finding it hard to concentrate on doing any one thing for very log, but that's just me I think, not a result of lockdown. I've also turned my hands to a few culinary projects, which thus far haven't ended up poisoning anyone. Apart from some shortish walks, which aren't daily, I've only been out of the house a few times. Twice for a blood test (a regular requirement for the arthritis drugs I'm on), once when we though there was a problem with my mother in law, and one other time to pick up a takeaway.

The general feeling is that the data are suggesting we're past the peak of infections, and whilst we are technically still in a lockdown situation, it seems that we are beginning to see a very gentle easing of restrictions. I've seen that some B&Q stores are opening, and anecdotal reports that locally traffic is up 25%-30% on three weeks ago. There's continuing chatter in the media about strategies for getting our of lockdown, perhaps fuelled by news that some of the European countries are now starting to relax restrictions. Today's news is reporting that Wales could introduce a traffic light type system for easing the restrictions at the end of the current lockdown period in early May.

However, there's also a fairly strong message coming across that restrictions of some form or another, particularly in respect of social distancing are likely to need to remain in place until at least the end of the year. How this will manifest practically is anyone's guess at the moment.

On the sporting front, we now know that professional cricket won't commence until at least the 1st July, and the recreational game remains suspended until further notice. Realistically I don't see any chance of any cricket of substance this year for my local club. As far as football goes, no one's any the wiser as to whether the current season will be cancelled, finished behind closed doors or something else. It's too early to even think about that that means for next season, but on the upside it means I haven't had to fork out money for next season's season ticket yet.

As far as holidays go, our June Corfu trip is still technically on at this moment in time, but I can't see any way that it's going to happen. Similarly, the chances of our late September mediterranean cruise happening are vanishing rapidly, and there are huge questions about future of the whole cruise industry. We do have a couple of "in-country" breaks booked later this year, so finger's crossed one or both of those might yet come off.

And I can't close today without a nod to the good ol' US of A. Their parody of a President incurred disbelief overnight at his suggestions that disinfectants and light might be used to treat coronavirus. He even suggested that light could somehow be injected into the body. I was staggered that he got elected in the first place, but over his tenure his actions and messages have become increasingly "bizarre" (I'm being kind here). It seems no one has got the gumption to stand up to him and tell him he's an idiot. What is even more amazing, is that there are people stupid enough to listen to him, believe him, and vote for him.

Inevitably, this story dangerous as it is, has been widely mocked on Twitter. This is my favourite...so far

Until tomorrow....
#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives