Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read, inspired me or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.
Life In General
A quiet week of frosty mornings, amazing sunrises and a slow start to the return to work for me. I didn’t really take a solid break over the Christmas & New Year holiday, doing little bits of work here and there, but not working all day every day. I took an afternoon off to go and see Rogue One, which I wrote about briefly here.
Currently Reading
Entering the Silence: Becoming a Monk and a Writer: 2 (The Journals of Thomas Merton) by Thomas Merton [GoodReads].
This article talks about the new “garden villages” that have been proposed across the UK, what it fails to take note of is that this isn’t new, it’s been on the cards for several years and far longer than the supposed announcement last year. I know this because one of the “new” sites isn’t that far away from me, and there has been intense local community opposition to it for well over five years. The myth that these “new” towns will only go where they are wanted is just that a myth.
The local site will take out a large area of green fields and good quality agricultural land in favour of 6,000 new houses, and with little accompanying infrastructure, even though the proposals will require upgrades to the power network, gas mains, water and sewerage system and improvements to the roads (including upgrading a motorway junction). All required, but no confirmation that this will be delivered.
Another crackpot government idea.
What does 2017 Have To Offer?
The author Charles Stross has taken a humorous look at what 2017 might have to offer. Given how screwed up 2016 was, I’m not altogether sure whether or not some of it might come true. It’s in three parts- Part I, Part II, Part III.
A Stab In The Dark Podcast
I wrote about this in a separate post last week, but want to mention this podcast again, as I’m really enjoying it. Link to the website here, but you should be able to download via your usual podcast platform of choice.
Electronic Scrapbook 