Category: Quick Links

Sick Dog In The Nighttime (Quick Links 109)

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, work1 Comment

Well after finally seeming to have shaken off my lurgy we’ve had a sick dog to start the week off. Monday night / Tuesday morning was the urgent rush to the garden with an upset stomach on two separate occasions. All is better now, but the lack of sleep was telling at the beginning of the week. I have had a couple of work related meetings this week (see below) and I’ve been doing a few other things.

I spent some time at my Mum’s – I went to just sit and have a cup of tea and a chat – and ended up having to make some repairs to broken glass in one of her greenhouses. The storms of the last couple of weeks had blown out a couple of panels. I had to make the repair temporary however as although I found some glass which was suitable for the repair (greenhouse glass is often thinner than regular window glass), it needed to be cut, and despite searching high and low in my Dad’s shed I couldn’t find a glass cutting tool. I’m sure that there’s one in there somewhere, but it eluded me. I did find an old fountain pen though which I bought home, cleaned and got working again. Not quite sure why that was in the shed, but then I’m not surprised.

Work – This week has been a continuation of the prep-work from last week. A couple of meetings that have seen some progression with a couple of related projects, and potentially another one either next week or the following week to pitch for some work. I don’t want to get my hopes up too much but this is progress in the right direction (I think).

Allotment – Still pretty wet out there at the moment so not much to report. The broad beans that I sowed a few weeks ago have now all germinated, so I’ll bring them along and plant them out when they’ve got a bit bigger.

Currently Reading – I’ve been reading “The Wrong Side of Goodbye” by Michael Connelly [GoodReads] this week.

I also started reading The Long Walk by Stephen King or rather Richard Bachman [GoodReads]. This was one of the books that was amongst the list [LINK] I mentioned last week as being unfamiliar. I haven’t read it before, but I did have a copy in an omnibus of Bachman books, which was in our attic. I bought it, plus Skeleton Crew and Firestarter down to read again.

I used to read a lot of Stephen King when I was about thirty years younger than I am now, and have kept most of them, although they are in boxes in the attic. I’m planning to maybe work my way back through them slowly again. Some real treasures up there that I purchased for a few pence each when ever I came across them, and some that my Mum spotted (Skeleton Crew – above – is a UK first edition that she found in a charity shop).

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The Week In Wildlife In Pictures – [LINK]

Nigel the Gannet’s story is a little sad [LINK] one of those to make you go ah. It’s a sad tale no doubt, but you have to wonder why as the concrete decoys have been so unsuccessful they are still being used?

My diary is pretty empty for the week ahead, so if you’re looking for some help on an environmental project let me know.

Have a good week.

Days of Wet Dog Walks (Quick Links 108)

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, work1 Comment

Feeling better this week but not 100%, so I’ve been easing back gently. This virus has really knocked me for six, but I think I’m over the worst of it, although not pushing too hard.

Although it’s been a quiet week, I’ve been doing a couple of things for my Mum. I still have some odd jobs to do for her, but the weather hasn’t been co-operating so they’re waiting for drier  days.

We’ve had a couple of pretty stormy days and it seems that my coat barely has a chance to dry out from my morning dog walk to the one in the afternoon. They’re not really fans of the bad weather either, but I’ve never known them say know.

Work – Been a bit busier this week, although mostly this has been preparing for meetings that I have in this coming week.

Allotment – Total wash out with the weather  this week. I’ve been down a couple of times to check that nothing’s blown away in the strong winds we’ve had this week, and to harvest veg for dinner but that’s about it.

Currently Reading – My reading has slowed down again, as I’ve been a bit more active again this week. I have however read Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta by Richard Grant [GoodReads] over the course of the  week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not sure what will be up next as yet.

The Week In Wildlife In Pictures – [LINK]

Do What You Say You Are Going To Do – Over the years this is something that I’ve said time and again to members of staff, friends, colleagues, people I’ve coached and to myself. If you say you are going to do something, actually do it. If for some reason you no longer can then let people know.

It would seem however that the UK government, within only a few weeks of promising to reduce plastic pollution as part of it’s 25 Year Environment Plan, is about to take a different course, and oppose new recycling targets [LINK]. Now of course these are EU targets and I can already hear all the Brexiteers saying that this is exactly what we should be doing – charting our own course, being masters of our own destiny etc. etc. – but seriously our recycling is already inadequate. The ability to recycle varies depending on where you live, particularly with kerbside collections, but the proposals for 65% of urban waste recycled by 2035 is achievable, but it requires better infrastructure, markets for materials and many things to make it a reality, and obviously this is more than just plastic recycling, but it feels that if the government is simply going to say it can’t support this, it  won’t actually be meaningful target set. It’s not going to wash saying that we’ll set a tougher target – if you were going to do that why don’t you sign up and exceed the EU proposal, that is after all something that you could boast about.

Is This The End Of Civilisation? We Could Take A Different Path – Interesting commentary by George Monbiot [LINK] and I look forward to reading what his proposals are. I am struck by just how selfish we have become as a race, and how governments across the globe seemingly driven by capitalism are continuing to take us down this route, rather than showing true leadership.

I enjoyed reading this  Twitter stream about Tokyo by @craigmod.

So YouTube have written to all of their “creators” – of which I am one – telling them that if they don’t reach new criteria for monetisation then the ability to monetise their videos will be removed [LINK]. I note that they don’t actually say that there won’t still be ads placed before or during their videos, just that they won’t be able to make any money from them. Now I do monetise most of my videos already, but I don’t receive any income from them because I don’t currently meet the criteria either (min. 500 subscribers). The new criteria (min. 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours/year), I won’t meet on subscribers numbers obviously but I do get the minimum watch hours (by quite some margin).

On the face of it, this makes little difference to me (unless I can magically find c.700 more subscribers before the cut off date of 20th February), but what annoys me is this is (allegedly) in response to some fairly high profile failings of YouTube in managing the creators who are making an income from less than savoury videos i.e. ones that don’t meet their eligibility criteria for monetisation. Some of these are creators who have massive followings and are able to make a living from their videos. These new criteria won’t actually affect them one bit.

So instead of properly enforcing their existing criteria YouTube are simply doing something for the sake of doing something and not actually tackling the problem. They claim that they have consulted creators like me in arriving at this decision, and whilst I can only say that I haven’t personally been contacted, if I had been I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to this sort of proposal. It would be a little bit like turkeys voting for Christmas.

Anyway as it won’t make any difference to me, I’ll still be making the occasional allotment video, which I will no longer be able to monetise, but as I’ve said above I suspect there will still be adverts placed on it. If there are then I will be moving to a different platform. The alternative is to try and reach 1000 subscribers by Feb 20th. If you fancy subscribing to me channel you can find it here.

This Stephen King Book List [LINK] is an interesting take. On such a large body of work it must be really difficult just to pick one or even a small selection. I’d add Firestarter and IT – I wonder if the latter wasn’t included simply because of the recent film release, but it is one I vividly remember reading long before it was a TV movie let alone a blockbuster.

I’m pleased to see Skeleton Crew on there though, my favourite collection of his short stories. There’s also a couple that I haven’t read (Revival and The Long Walk), so I might have to keep an eye out for those.

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Have a good week and I’ll be back soon.

Cough, Cough (Quick Links 107)

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, work7 Comments

I’ve spent nearly all week feeling unwell. Fortunately not the dreaded flu, just a virus of some kind, with a hacking cough that has kept me awake at night and generally feeling like my chest and head are going to implode. The usual combination of rest, plenty of fluids etc. seems to have been working, and hopefully I’ll kick it relatively quickly. Other than reading (see below) I haven’t done much else this week, so this is going to be short.

Work – I’ve been keeping on top of my emails, but that’s about it this week. Fortunately I didn’t have any meetings or phone calls booked in so I’ve been able to get away with a relatively low profile. With my persistent coughing it’s probably a good thing that I haven’t had to do too much talking.

Allotment – I’d planned to cover the fruit bed with mulch at some point this week, but between being sick and the weather this hasn’t happened. I did manage to sow a few onion “pillules” into some modules – these are normally directly sown into the ground around March, but they didn’t do too well last year, so I thought giving them a headstart might work better – we’ll see. Other than that it has been a quiet week on the plot.

Currently Reading – I’ve had plenty of time to read this week while trying to fight off whatever lurgy it is that I’ve caught.

I’ve read:

Creole Bell by James Lee Burke [GoodReads]

The Happiest Days of our Lives by Wil Wheaton [GoodReads]

Spaceman by Mike Massimino [GoodReads]

and I’m currently reading Pax by Sarah Pennypacker [GoodReads]

I would recommend all of them, although I did find Creole Bell hard going, but that might just be because I was at the worst of being sick when reading that book.

The Week In Wildlife In Pictures – [LINK]

Well I said that this was going to be short, and that’s about it for this  week. Hope to resume normal service next week or as soon as I’m feeling better.

 

May The Force Be With You (Quick Links 106)

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Film, Garden / Allotment, Memories, Quick Links, walking, Wildlife/Nature, work

I finally went to see Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi on Monday. I’d been waiting until the schools went back after Christmas to go to a showing that I could be pretty sure would be quiet – there were only about a dozen of us in the screening. I’ve also managed to avoid all spoilers.

I really enjoyed it, there were a couple of things that felt a little weak, but overall a good film. It made me miss my Dad a lot, as were he still alive and healthy we would probably have gone to see the film together. I guess those days are gone for good.

I spent some time doing some odd jobs for my Mum, as so often happens these things turn out to be more involved than when you start, so weather permitting I’ll be going back this coming week to finish off as I had to get a couple of things in order to complete one of the jobs.

We seem to have a lot of houses up for sale in our road at the moment. There are three currently (including one of our immediate neighbours) and two others have also recently sold. These things seem to happen like that, but whatever happens it seems likely we’ll be getting new neighbours soon.

My plan of cutting back non-essential spending seems to be going well, early days though. The plan is to go at least until March.

Work – Most people seem to be back at work now, and things have been a little bit busier. I’ve been mostly bouncing emails backwards and forwards discussing a couple of projects

Allotment – Potato season starts again. I picked up my seed potatoes from the allotment shop on the weekend, and I’ve set them to chit (grow shoots). I’ll probably be planting them in a couple of months time, depending on the weather.

The weather has been a bit drier this week so I’ve also been weeding the fruit bed. The main problem as ever, is the creeping buttercup, but at least for the time being, I’ve gotten it all out, and now the area is ready for some mulch – I’ll probably be using some straw for that.

Currently Reading – I’ve finished reading  “Tamed: Ten Species that Changed our World” by Alice Roberts [GoodReads]. A really good read and I’d recommend it. Since finishing it however I haven’t really been able to settle into something else yet.

The Week In Wildlife In Pictures – [LINK]

I Cooked this during the week. Lovely:

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Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan – This plan has been promised for such a long time I’ve lost track of how long it has been awaited. Ultimately it wasn’t worth the wait, yet another opportunity by government missed. As and when a plan of this duration is published it is always going to be difficult to get things right, but this plan needs more short term action and mechanisms to deliver (including legislation). Sadly the plan just doesn’t go far enough or look at some of the other areas where action is needed and not just those that are currently in the headlines. [Guardian Article]

Carillion Crisis – How this has been allowed to happen is one thing, but whether or not the government should bail out the company is quite another. In my view there shouldn’t been a simple bail out. It needs something more sophisticated. Companies fail everyday, and I don’t see the government stepping in to bail them out, so I don’t think this should be the exception. The problem is of course just how big, and how many important contracts the company has (which again raises the question as to how this has been allowed to happen). Some, dare I say HS2, could be retendered, others need some immediate action to allow them to continue e.g. health service catering and facilities contracts. Not an easy problem to fix, but something needs to happen quickly.

Was this whale trying to save a life? – Fascinating footage of a whale seemingly trying to keep a diver away from a Tiger Shark.

Not sure what the coming week holds, as I have a few things that I want to do but they’ll be a little bit dependent on the weather. Have to wait and see I guess.

Chickens Outnumber Humans 3 to 1 (Quick Links 105)

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, walking, Wildlife/Nature1 Comment

It’s been a very wet and windy start to the year, with the arrival of Storm Eleanor and a general period of unsettled weather. By and large we seem to have escaped the worst of the storms although we need see some rather high tides when walking the dogs at Portchester Castle (see above). The moat is normally dry but the high tide had pushed water most of the way around to a reasonable depth.

We had a little rodent visitor during the week. A little mouse found it’s way into my office, and although I tried to catch and release it back outside, Wilson caught and ate it before I had the chance.

A Slight Change to the layout of these posts. I thought I’d start to number these posts rather than use the date. Looking at the records in the admin part of my blog software there are 106 “Quick Links” entries, but two of these weren’t truly quick links so deducting those means that this one is Quick Links 105. I’ve also included something from one of the books I’ve been reading to add something unique to the post title. I’ll follow this layout for a while and see how it goes.

Work – It’s been a quiet return to work for me this week. Catching up with a few contacts and trying to get the ball rolling again. It seems as if quite a few people have elected to take the extra few days and don’t return until Monday 8th.

Allotment – The strong winds and accompanying rain have left the allotment a little bit the worst for wear, and exceedingly wet underfoot. I’ve had to resecure the netting over the brassica cage which had been blown open, but that’s about the worst of it.

As I’ve not been able to get on the plot, I’ve been making sure I’ve got all the seeds, plants etc. I need for the upcoming season. I’ve placed an order to fill some gaps.

I’ve also planted the remaining broad bean seeds that I had, so that I’ll hopefully have some extra plants to fill any gaps in the bed on the plot.

Currently Reading – I finished reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s “New York 2140” [GoodReads] on New Years Day, which means it’s technically the first book I’ve finished in 2018, even if I was reading it for most of the week before Christmas and up to New Year. It was good and very believable in terms of a potential future for New York with ice caps melted and sea level rise and the city becoming Venice like.

I followed that by reading “Adventures of a Young Naturalist: The Zoo Quest Expeditions”
by David Attenborough [GoodReads]. This very much reads like a Gerald Durrell adventure and is similar in many respects, but is a great read.

Following that I started reading “Tamed: Ten Species that Changed our World”
by Alice Roberts [GoodReads]. These latter two books where both Christmas presents from people who know me well, and the quote in the title of this post comes from this book. The ten species – dogs, wheat, cattle, Maize, Potatoes, Chickens, Rice, Horses, Apples, Humans – all seem to have interesting backstories and it’s entertainingly written.

I’ve set my Good Reads reading challenge to 3o books for 2018, a little bit higher than last year but not significantly so, and still quite a bit less than the number I eventually managed to read in 2017. It’s not really about the numbers for me, so I’m not sure why I bother with the challenge in this way, but I do like to keep track of what I have read.

The Last Week Of The Year – Quick Links 31st December 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn Birds, books, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, work4 Comments

This is going to be short. I wasn’t sure whether it was going to exist at all or not.

It’s been a quiet and busy week in equal measure. We had a pleasant Christmas Day and Boxing Day, sharing them with my Mum, and exchanging a few gifts. I’ve got quite a few new books to read over the coming weeks, so that should keep me out of mischief if nothing else does!

The turkey was mysteriously very tough to eat, and not really that nice, which is a shame when you’ve gone to the trouble, but the rest of the meal was more than substantial, although I still didn’t have much of an appetite after being sick last week.

Unfortunately my Mum’s car broke down on Boxing Day – although we didn’t actually realise it at the time – just as she got home. She asked me to look at it the next day and although at first I couldn’t find a problem, when I took it for a drive it was evident that it was undrivable, and had to call the breakdown service. They were able to diagnose the problem but couldn’t fix it roadside, so towed the car to the garage where it stayed until they were able to get the relevant part and return it to us on Friday. No great problem, but a bit of a nuisance and a change in plans for the remainder of the week.

 

Work – I’ve been checking emails, and not doing much else. I still need to finish my 2018 planning and targets, but I wanted to reflect on these over the Christmas break and finish that in January.

Allotment – We’ve had snow, a lot of rain and some high winds this week, so not much  to report from the plot. I am however starting to think about next season, and I really need to look at what seeds & plants I need and get them ordered.

Currently Reading – I started Kim Stanley Robinson’s “New York 2140” [GoodReads] and enjoying it so far. I suspect that it will see me into the New Year as it’s quite a big book and I seem to be reading quite slowly. Once that’s done I’m not sure what’ll be next as I have quite a few to choose from after Christmas.

That’s it for this week folks, I did say it would be short. There’ll be a Quarter Four review later and possibly something for the New Year on Monday. For now though, I hope you have a great New Years celebration if you do, and service will probably return to normal next Sunday or the Sunday after.

 

Merry Christmas – Quick Links 24th December 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn Birds, books, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, work2 Comments

Well ’twas the night before Christmas and all that. Whether you read this before, during or after I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Not sure what I’ll be posting next week, as both my Sunday Quick Links and my fourth quarter review are due on the same day. You may get one or both, but hopefully something. I also normally try to post something on New Years Day as well. Not that I am expecting anyone to read it on the day it goes live, as I’m sure you have much better things to do than read my ramblings. Anyway, if you have been reading these posts, thank you.

I was expecting a quiet week this week, and other than an appointment I attended with my Mum I’ve not really been anywhere. This is probably just as well as I’ve not been feeling very well, and think that I managed to catch a stomach bug on one of my rare trips out. I’m recovering now, but did at one point wonder whether it was going to be a pre-Christmas instant diet or something that would drag on over the festive period. Hopefully it’s the former.

Work – I’ve been doing my end of the month admin a little early, so that I can pretty much be work free next week. I’ll be checking my emails, but that will be about it and I’ll pick things up again the following week. I’ve been working on my targets for next year, and things need to get serious to develop at least some income.

Allotment – Not much to report this week, it’s been quite a mild week, and the ground has been a little soggy at times, so I’ve been staying off of the beds now that they’re dug.

Currently Reading – I read Stephen King’s “On Writing” [GoodReads] this week, there’s quite a bit of his life story in there as well as tips and approaches to writing, although I felt that I had read most of it in other places.

Neil Gaiman Reading A Christmas Carol – Audio version of the author reading the classic Dickens Christmas tale. [LINK]

Open Railway Map – Open source map of many of the worlds railways [LINK], pretty cool to look up your local lines.

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The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

Brexit Is Going To Be Titanic – Exactly like the ship

https://twitter.com/delboy1978uk/status/943053737995718658

Merry Christmas From The Muppets

Bird Spikes In Trees – Although this only came to light in the last week, it seems that this has been going on for a while – but why? As this other article points out, we are seemingly blind to the damage that we are doing to the planet.

Alarming Customer Service Fail From Amazon when they started sending “coded death threats” to a customer [LINK]. If this had been me I’m not sure I would have noticed, as I do read quite a few crime novels anyway.

Dolphins – Nice piece by author Philip Hoare [LINK]

The Future Worlds of Work – Although I haven’t read the full report yet, I do intend to but these different scenarios [LINK] for what the future of work will look like in 2030 are quite interesting on the surface. I think I far prefer the Green or Yellow versions but I suspect without intervention that the world is heading towards the Blue scenario. I might come back to this again once I’ve had a proper read.

That’s it for this week, catch you all again soon.

Quick Links 17th December 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn books, Film, Fork To Fork, Garden / Allotment, Quick Links, Self-sufficient, work

My week started with lots of comments on the weather, particularly the snow, of which we had not a flake. Although when I had to try and take the car to the garage on Monday morning it was sleeting just a little amongst the wet and windyness that was our prevailing weather conditions. The car was returned fixed on Tuesday – turns out the oxygen sensor in the engine had failed and needed to be replaced – so I was able to make the service of remembrance on Tuesday evening.

As I didn’t have the car at the start of the week I had to reorganise a few things, but it wasn’t as bad as it might otherwise have been, and actually ended up with more time than I might otherwise have had.

On Friday I went to see Monty Halls talk at Selborne, it was really a summary of what he’d been up to during 2017, although the focus was on The Freedom Trails which I’ve mentioned here before. He has another different series coming out early next year, which will be completely different but looks like it will be just as good. He also signed both my copy of The Freedom Trails book, and another one of his that I’ve had for a while. If you haven’t watched the TV show then I recommend it (LINK)  – not sure whether this will work worldwide and if you don’t have an account you’ll need to create one – but that’s free.

I haven’t managed to get to the cinema to see The Last Jedi yet, although I might be able to early next week. If not I’ll leave it until the schools go back in January.

Work – Not having a car for the first couple of days this week meant that I had to move a few meetings around, but otherwise I’ve been getting a few things done before the Christmas period. I did hear that a bid I’ve been collaborating in has been unsuccessful which means my first quarter won’t necessarily be as busy as I thought it might be. Shame, but that’s how it goes.

Allotment – The ground has been frozen on the plot most mornings this week. I’ve been tidying up the fruit bed, in particular the loganberries – removing last years dead stems, and tying in the new ones which will bear next years fruit.

Currently Reading – Not much change from last week on this front, although I did finish From Source to Sea [LINK] late last night.

If you’re looking for a Christmas present idea or two, you might want to check out this list of Agatha Christie books that make good presents.

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The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

I’ve also been enjoying the Comedy Wildlife  Photography Awards

A Couple of Movies That I’m Looking Forward To Next Year – 

I’m Very Cynical of politicians who suddenly start doing something that they haven’t really done before [LINK] and Tory government politicians suddenly growing concern about the environment leaves me a little cold. In fairness I’m willing and hoping that actually this [LINK] is genuine and not like the last time when David “Hug-a-Husky” Cameron declared that they were to be “The Greenest Government Ever” and then promptly forgot all about it once elected and successive “Environment” Secretarys did precious little to protect and promote the environment. So far Michael Gove – despite my ongoing suspicions – seems to be doing a good job, although his wildlife minister Theresa Coffey less so.

I’m planning on a relatively quiet Christmas, but I am planning to post next week, so until then I wish you adieu, and leave you with this snowy video I made back in 2010 – the last time we had any serious snow fall.

Snow – Parallel Highway from tontowilliams on Vimeo.

 

Quick Links 10th December 2017

On By TontowilliamsIn Quick Links1 Comment

Ever have the feeling someone is watching your every move?

It’s been a pretty busy week both with work (see below) and other stuff. Next week is looking the same (although less work related busyness and more personal stuff). Unfortunately on Thursday afternoon on the way back from a meeting the dashboard of the car lit up like a Christmas tree. I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong suffice to say it needs a trip to the garage. The earliest they can fit me in is Monday, so it meant our plans for the weekend had to be tweaked (we’ve had a pre-Christmas thing with a part of the family) and I’llbe unable to attend a service of remembrance that I was planning on going to. There is another one on Tuesday, which fingers-crossed and the car gods permitting I will be able to make. I have several other things in my diary for next week too, I can work around most of them apart from the one on Tuesday  and a book reading / signing I have a ticket for on Friday.

Work – I was at another business networking event on Monday evening. I think it went well and it’s the last one for a while. Earlier in the day I had an unexpected phone call about some work. If it happens it will mean that I’ll be pretty busy pretty much all the way the first quarter of next year. I’m not holding my breath, but to be honest I could do with the money so I am hopeful. The rest of the week was mostly spent catching up with myself to ensure that I can take some time off completely from work over the Christmas period.

Allotment – With everything that’s been going on this week, and the family commitments at the weekend there’s not much to report from the allotment. It’s really the dormant season anyway so I’m comfortable with not having time down there this weekend.

Currently Reading –

I’ve started listening to the audiobook of “Persephone” by Julian Stockwin [LINK] when I’m in the car. I’m enjoying it so far, although I think I’m just starting the third (of 10) CD so I have a little way to go.

I’ve also been reading “From Source to Sea: Notes from a 215 Mile Walk Along the River Thames” by Tom Chesshyre [GoodReads], it’s a good read so far, not too heavy and would probably act as a pretty good guide for someone thinking of doing the same thing.

Thomas The Tank Engine Does Stunts – 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – 

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The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

I’d Like To Visit this bookshop if I get a chance to the next time I’m in London.

My top nine #2017bestnine Instagram photos this year are all allotment related.

 

Quick Links 3rd December 2017 ☃️🎄☃️

On By TontowilliamsIn Quick Links

Merry Christmas, okay well maybe not just yet. Greetings!

Our Christmas tree went up early (for us), normally we start on putting up the Christmas tree and other decorations on the first weekend of December, but this year because of our family arrangements we need to be a little bit ahead of our normal routine. This means that we’ve pretty much finished our Christmas shopping – with the exception of groceries etc. – and we’re progressing with decorations. I suspect I’ll still be glad when it’s all over.

I also sat and wrote all of our Christmas cards, although I didn’t post them until yesterday  as I felt that just because our Christmas plans were moving like a runaway train maybe the recipients would appreciate a little more hiatus before being bombarded (and then we received our first card in Saturdays mail, so someone is even further ahead than we are).

Other than work (see below) this week has been fairly quiet. I’ve been trying to catch up on a few TV programmes that I’ve recorded over the last few months / year and wondering how so much time has passed so quickly when looking at some of the dates of the recordings!

Work – A bit of an odd week workwise. I had a call on Monday asking if I had some time to help with a particular project, and what I would charge. Although I had reservations about the deadline within which I would have to work, I did have enough time around other things, and gave a price which they seemed to be happy with. As so often happens, things moved on and I didn’t end up doing anything to help, although this might come back again later on. In between that I’ve spent time preparing for another networking event that I am attending on Monday evening, and some thoughts to another workshop that I’m involved in later on in the week.

I also had a follow up email from someone who asked me a while ago if I would be interested in some work, but there were never able to progress it due  to lack of funding. Well it would appear that it might be back on the cards again. They’re going to send through a spec to which I can respond.

Allotment – Still digging and doing winter chores on the allotment. I recorded an update video last weekend, but didn’t include it in last weeks Quick Links, so here it is:

Currently Reading – This has been another week of not really reading anything specific, but I did sit down and look through what I’ve read this year and prepared a post on some of the books that I would recommend as potentially being suitable for Christmas presents.

I also received the CD audiobook of “Persephone” by Julian Stockwin [LINK] in the post. It was a prize for entering Julian’s Lucky Dip competition a few weeks ago on Twitter. A nice surprise to win.

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The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

Rats Of New York  – Are you an uptown rat or a downtown rat? [LINK] What the genetics of the rat population of New York has taught researchers.

Avengers: Infinity War

The Longplayer Conversation – Chris Watson & David Attenborough

Thanks to @Documentally for the link to this one in his newsletter.

That’s it for this week. In case you haven’t had enough Christmas yet, here’s another pic of our preparations.