Month: July 2020

It’s Got To Be Prefect TWTW # 87

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Garden / Allotment, The Week That Was, work

On Wednesday morning I wrote in my diary that work was a bit sparse. That afternoon I was asked to do something at short notice. A few hours work, but a few hours of paid work. Funny how things work out.

Other than that little work blip my week has been split between sorting out things at my Mum’s house, doing chores at my own house and a little bit of creative time, dog walks and the allotment. That said I’m not sure where the week went Monday morning quickly became Sunday evening.

I found my old Prefect and Librarian badges in a matchbox in a draw at my Mum’s house. I thought that they’d probably been lost years ago, and in truth I probably haven’t laid eyes on them since about 1988. It was a bit of mixed emotions that I found them and some other papers and things from my time at school and university. These are items that I will keep and treasure and others that I will let go. I’m pretty sure that I don’t need my lab record books anymore, and reading through them didn’t really spark any memories for me.

By coincidence my friend @Documentally also came across his Prefects badge when he was tidying his “shed”, he wrote about it in his newsletter.

I’ve been reading more Maigret – Maigret and the Informer – and Austin Kleon’s – Steal Like an Artist & Keep Going – also some other bits and pieces but not really completing anything else.

We’ve been watching  some old films including the old James Bond movie – You Only Live Twice – as well as continuing to avoid watching too much news and getting sucked into Doomscrolling.

I had some brassica plants delivered and I planted them out onto the allotment on Sunday. They’re plants for late winter or early spring harvesting so I won’t be eating them anytime soon. For now I have to stop everything else from eating them – slugs, pigeons and caterpillars in particular – I’ve netted and put out slug traps with beer and salt.

I don’t think I’ll be up for any bathtime ballet anytime soon.

Well that’s it for this last week. Have a good one and stay safe out there.

 

Annual Trip, New Procedure TWTW # 86

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Dogs, photography, The Week That Was2 Comments

Well hello again, welcome!

It’s been a busy week for me, there seems to have been lots happening, some of it important and some less so but it has filled the time.

We had a trip to the vets for annual check-ups and vaccinations. You no longer go into the practice, but let them know that you’ve arrived via the reception window and then when it’s your turn the vet comes out to the car park to see you. If needed they then take your pet inside for whatever treatment is required. This of course pre-supposes that they can of course get your pet into the surgery. Neither of our dogs were keen to enter (they’re not at the best of times), and it took me walking across the car park with the vet to the door to convince them. We had some unusual test results for one so will have to repeat the exercise in a months time (assuming that the procedure is the same).

I’ve read a couple of books this week. Spike Milligan’s excellent Hitler, My Part in his Downfall which was a quick short read, and another Brother Cadfael. Ellis Peter’s The Pilgrim of Hate. I’ve since started reading the next in the series – An Excellent Mystery – these more recent books don’t seem to be as good, and so far there hasn’t been the usual medieval murder and I’m a third of the way through the story.

I’ve been taking a few photos this week, and my roll of infrared film arrived so I’ve loaded that into a camera and have been experimenting. I’ve read a few different articles about getting the best results and so have been trying a few different approaches. Ultimately I’ll see how the roll comes out but I’m about two-thirds of the way through it.

I’ve been enjoying see the world through other people’s views with Window Swap. Touring the world one window at a time.

I went to see my Mum on Friday. It’s the first time that I’ve been able to see her in the care home since she went in there. They’ve opened up to socially distanced visits in their garden just this week. Although the visit was short – only 15 minutes allowed – she seems to be settling in very well.

Thanks to the person who bought me a virtual coffee this week, I won’t name them as I don’t feel like I have their permissions to do so, but they should know who they are. Your generosity helps offset the hosting fees of the blog and is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Yellowstone’s Zone of Death where you might just be able to get away with murder.

Newsletter author David Charles is currently cycling around Britain and recording a daily vlog on YouTube. In part because in a world without Covid-19 he would be cycling to Athens on the Thighs of Steel fundraiser for grassroots refugee projects, but for obvious reasons that has been cancelled. so instead he’s heading out into the “post-Brexit, mid-Covid pre-apocalypse Britain”.

He’s just passed through my neck of the woods, and by the time this post goes live he’ll probably be somewhere in East Sussex / Essex I’d guess.

Our broadband upgrade didn’t happen as it was supposed to, so I’m scheduling this post ahead of time so that the internet can do it’s thing in case something happens next week and I’m unable to get online to hit the post button myself.

Stay safe out there and look after yourself.

Zoomed Out with Blank Exposures TWTW # 85

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Garden / Allotment, The Week That Was, work

Hello! Another week has passed and here I am again, writing about what I’ve been up to in the past week.

I had both the roll of film I sent off for developing and some new rolls of film arrive on the same day this week. There should be plenty of more photos to come as I expose each of these rolls. I’m going to use another different camera on the next roll.

The roll that was developed was a little bit disappointing however. Not because some of the pictures weren’t good, but because I only ended up with 15 frames out of 24.

Looking at the negatives it looks like the camera shutter wasn’t working properly on some of the exposures, and although it was allowing me to advance the roll after pressing the shutter, the mirror didn’t appear to be lifting to expose the film. I’ve had a good look at the camera, but can’t replicate the problem. On the exposed film it was an intermittent problem so there are some “blank” exposures here and there throughout the roll and the last couple of frames. I will give the camera another go, but not straight away.

I’m also planning to experiment with some infrared film, there’s a roll of film on the way (and I already own a red filter, which helps to enhance the image).

I managed to corral all of my online meetings into one day this week, by the end of the day I was a bit Zoomed out (despite having to switch between different platforms depending on who the meeting was with). One of the meetings was only a briefing but as it was at lunchtime I turned off my camera and sound and listened in while eating my lunch, pretty sure no one noticed, but I wonder what else people get up to when they’re supposed to be in a meeting. Outside of that one day work has been quite quiet again this week, with a few emails to deal with but little else outside of that one day.

I finished reading The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes earlier this week, my review is here. I’ve also read another review book, Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald who wrote H is for Hawk, that review is here. In other book news my “to be read” pile is increasing looking like Mount Tsundoku.

I had to go to the pharmacy this week, it’s the first time that I’ve been into town since non-essential shops have been opened. There were lots of people in coffee shops and the shopping centre has set up a “keep-left” one way system but a few people obviously don’t know their left from right. I’d estimate that about one in four people were wearing a mask, and whilst it’s not required please wear one. If you’re asymptomatic it will protect other people, and if you’re wearing one it helps to protect you from the selfish idiots. Wear a mask!

My allotment time this week was mostly spent weeding, the couple of days of rain we had helped them to flourish, I wish it had the same effect on my food crops!

I’ve been trying to catch a glimpse of the comet Neowise this week, but haven’t had much luck. It’s quite low in the sky at the moment, and only really visible in the early hours of the morning so it mostly obscured by houses if I’m looking from our garden. It should be easier to see later in the month, if not I might have to go somewhere with a better view of the horizon. Did manage to get some nice morning Moon pics though.

We’re off to the vets in the coming week, it’s that time for annual boosters, and at the end of the week we’re supposed to be being switched to superfast fibre broadband. It’s a free upgrade that we didn’t asked for and were just told was happening. So this time next week things will either be completely FUBARed or much faster, we’ll see.

Have a great week wherever you may be and stay safe!

Book Review: Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

On By TontowilliamsIn Book Review1 Comment

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

This is a beautiful book, a joyous book but also a sad and thought provoking book. It is also possibly the best book that I will read this year, and I look forward to owning my own copy when it is published later this year.

This is a collection of stories from childhood through to adulthood and every place in between, stories from the UK and around the world. Each one is wonderful and unique in it’s own right and yet as a collection I don’t think I’ve ever come across one that is so well put together before. They are a nature insight, a personal story with feeling. Whether it is Golden Orioles or Fallow Deer, Swifts or Goat tipping (I’m not telling – you’ll have to read the book), these are all unique stories but instantly relatable.  Written with love and emotion; sometimes they make you smile, sometimes they make you cry and sometimes they send you off into your own personal rabbit hole about a particular species.

I savoured every story, I took my time reading and in some cases rereading a story, I learnt new things about species that I thought were familiar and new things about species I’ve never come across before. I was reminded about times I’ve had similar experiences and felt moved to go out and explore and experience something for myself.

I can’t recommend this book enough, whether you are drawn to natural history books or not this is worthy of your time and money and if you know someone who is into their natural history then this is probably the perfect gift for them.

Now I’ve finished reading, I want to go back and read the whole book again, although I will probably wait until I get my hands on a publication copy.

Vesper Flights is published on 27th August 2020 by Random House UK, Vintage

From the Publisher:

Animals don’t exist to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what they teach us is what we think we know about ourselves.

From the bestselling author of H is for Hawk comes Vesper Flights, a transcendent collection of essays about the human relationship to the natural world.

Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best-loved writing along with new pieces covering a thrilling range of subjects. There are essays here on headaches, on catching swans, on hunting mushrooms, on twentieth-century spies, on numinous experiences and high-rise buildings; on nests and wild pigs and the tribulations of farming ostriches.

Vesper Flights is a book about observation, fascination, time, memory, love and loss and how we make the world around us. Moving and frank, personal and political, it confirms Helen Macdonald as one of this century’s greatest nature writers.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided me with a free copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. No other payment has been received.

Book Review: The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes

On By TontowilliamsIn Book Review1 Comment

The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Line That Divide Us by Nick Hayes

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

We’ve probably all done it, whether our transgression has been inadvertent or deliberate but we’ve all been somewhere we shouldn’t have actually been I’d wager.

In the Book of Trespass, Nick Hayes sets out to document some of his adventures trespassing and the laws that surround this “crime”, whether it be from The Vagrancy Act, The Enclosures Act or the building of Walls such as the Great Wall of China, The Mexico Border Wall or even the non-existent wall between North & South Korea, the author covers this in detail. This is however taken at a level that everyone can understand. The law is ultimately complex but this book doesn’t descend into too much legalise or become a textbook on the act of trespassing, although it does way heavy on the page count at times.

Each chapter takes on the name of an animal (fox, dog, cockroach, hare – to name a few) and each chapter tackles a different aspect of trespass, linked to that animal. Beit from the Great Trespass on Kinder Scout, through to protest camps such as the Greenham Common and Heathrow Airport camps or “The Jungle” refugee camp in Calais, all are covered alongside the direct experiences of the author.

The book covers the heroes – such as Roger Deakin and the villains – such as Nicholas Van Hogstraten, when it comes to trespass or preventing legitimate access and many of these I was already familiar with.

It is however the authors own personal experiences that stood out for me in this book. It would have been easy to write a summary of trespass across the ages, but he has actually been out an experienced it first hand, and it is these first hand experiences that bring the book together and make it work so well. These tales settle amongst those tales of history and the relevant laws and rules and pull the book together to make it a fascinating read.

Does the author fall foul of those laws he sets out to break? Well I’m not telling, you’ll have to read the book yourself to find out, but the adventure and history are worth the read alone.

The Book of Trespass is published by Bloomsbury and will be available online and in all good bookshops from 20th August 2020.

What the Publisher Says:

A meditation on the fraught and complex relationship between land, politics and power, this is England through the eyes of a trespasser.

The vast majority of our country is entirely unknown to us because we are banned from setting foot on it. By law of trespass, we are excluded from 92 per cent of the land and 97 per cent of its waterways, blocked by walls whose legitimacy is rarely questioned. But behind them lies a story of enclosure, exploitation and dispossession of public rights whose effects last to this day.

The Book of Trespass takes us on a journey over the walls of England, into the thousands of square miles of rivers, woodland, lakes and meadows that are blocked from public access. By trespassing the land of the media magnates, Lords, politicians and private corporations that own England, Nick Hayes argues that the root of social inequality is the uneven distribution of land.

Weaving together the stories of poachers, vagabonds, gypsies, witches, hippies, ravers, ramblers, migrants and protestors, and charting acts of civil disobedience that challenge orthodox power at its heart, The Book of Trespass will transform the way you see England.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided me with a free copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. No other payment has been received.

It’ll Come In Handy One Day TWTW # 84

On By TontowilliamsIn books, The Week That Was, work

Well it’s been one of those weeks this week, where I’ve been pretty occupied, but in some ways don’t feel like I’ve gotten very far – see below.

The weather has also played a big part in that with the week bookended by spells of rain, that has meant I haven’t had to go out and water the allotment. My ankle is grateful for this as it’s still a bit sore and I’ve been trying not to spend too much time walking about on it.

I’ve been sorting through a lot of things at my Mum’s house this week. I’m sure if you ever said to her that she was a hoarder she would have refuted it but she certainly liked to keep things “just in case they come in handy”. I think it’s partly how she was brought up, many things were in short supply and rationing was still very much present in her childhood. So if you thought something might have a later use you’d keep it rather than throw it away.

In some ways I admire this view, we are very much more a disposable society these days but there are limits to how much you can or should keep I think, particularly if it is clearly worn out. It means that now I have a lot of things that I need to dispose of and in the current situation with many places still closed down finding new homes for it or even disposing of it isn’t an easy task. Fortunately there is no desperate rush and so I’m tackling it a little bit at a time.

Some things like my old Snakes & Ladders board (above) won’t be going anywhere.

I’ve also finished the second roll of 35mm film that I was given for my birthday. This roll went through my old Minolta camera, for which I also have some macro photography equipment, so hopefully there should be some good close up pictures. I posted the roll off on Saturday and with luck might get the results back by the end of this week coming.

I’ve also ordered some more rolls of film as I still have a couple of different cameras that I want to try, and I am enjoying the more mindful taking of photographs that film cameras present. It’s not like digital where you can effectively take as many pictures as your memory card will allow and then delete some of them and keep going. On film you only have 24 or 36 pictures you can take before you need to change the roll of film and at about £20 a time (film + developing costs), it isn’t cheaper than digital.

How To Make Peace With Your Phone While Reading

Drone Light Shows – Better Than Fireworks

I read Walks with Sam by David W Berner this week. You can read my review of it here. I’m reading The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes at the moment, which I’ll also be reviewing soon. Both are review copies from NetGalley.

Work has been quiet this week, hence why I’ve been doing so much sorting at my Mum’s house.

My week ahead is looking fairly busy, some more sorting and a few other things to do. I also have to make a trip to the pharmacy at some point, which I think is the first time since non-essential shops have been open so not quite sure what the arrangements are now – I guess I’ll find out.

Whatever you’re up to this coming week – Stay Safe!

 

Book Review: Walks With Sam by David W. Berner

On By TontowilliamsIn Book Review, Dog1 Comment

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.

Sam is a dog. A black golden doodle and on his walks with his owner David the two of them discover not just their local neighbourhood but also their feelings about it and some of the things that are going on in it.

This is no epic travel piece, it is a more sedate, local amble or series of ambles around Sam and David’s local “patch” which they discover they don’t know as well as they thought but by the end of the book know it and themselves much better.

This is a well written and captivating set of stories, each based around a walk experienced by human and hound. There are some of regulars, like the crazy man and others that they meet along the way. It is in part a journey of discovery with both partners at different times in their lives and in part about the actual journeys they take together.

If you liked Travels with Charley or Travels with Macy or similar stories then you are probable going to like Walks with Sam too.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided me with a free copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review. No other payment has been received.