I know this is going to sound a bit first worldy but I prefer to write this nonsense on my lap top rather than my Mac Studio. Not at all sure why that is.
As I write this I am sitting at my desk, Mac Studio keyboard next to my MacBook. What is the difference? I don’t know. It is just more pleasurable to write on the Air. As I said VERY FIRST WORLD problem.
We all lead complicated lives in one form or another. Some of us seem to enjoy the complexity. The more complex the better so long as we have some sense of control over the complexity.
Our bodies, on the other hand, pay little or no attention to our wishes. They react to behaviour that has possibly continued since our birth. The longer we live the more complicated is this interaction. Yes we can take certain action to prevent the worst excesses of our life. In the end our bodies are the judges of what was and what was not good for them. It would be nice if it was ineffable but it is not really. We all age some more gracefully than others.
So it is with me. Only a few months ago I could walk for miles. Now anything over 2 km and my hip and knees start to complain. I can still make it around my local park not, however, around the next park unless I drive to my local shopping centres and then walk over.
I mention this only because I walked in the park up until the early part of the year. I also captured images there. Not anymore.
Well that is until today. The sun was shining, the weather set fare and I had time to kill whilst my wife did some shopping. A walk was had. By the time I had finished my joints were starting to ache but I had made it around the park. Yippee.
Regular readers of this of this nonsense will know that sometimes I get my facts wrong. However, I do believe that this year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. Also it is the 20th anniversary of the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice movie. If you know the film I think you may know the link with the images.
For those of you who may well not know… Paloma Blanca is a bit of a thing at the moment. Like many of these Internet things it will pass to be replaced by whatever comes next. According the the George Baker Selection entry on Wiki it is one of the most played tracks in history. As with many Wiki claims there is no citation to suggest what the evidence is for such a claim. I wonder of all these TikTok creators pay any royalties to whomever holds the copyright for the song?
As of 19:22 hrs (BST) the days will be shorter than the nights. Winter will soon be here.
Not sure what connects any of these things. I had hoped that something might turn up as I wrote this. It didn’t. Much like life itself it makes very little sense.
Make the most of things whilst you can. In four days time the nights will be longer than the days. Actually, I can be more accurate. At 19:19hrs (BST) on 22nd September. Slowly the golden light will be replaced by the more brittle winter version. However, given the changes we are seeing to the weather who knows what this autumn and winter will bring. Barbi on the beach at Christmas? Bit much? Nowadays you can never who can say?
Any English school child will have been told about the Danelaw. As these children grow into adulthood the memories fade. Most would have a vague recollection …something to do with King Alfred… perhaps burnt cakes? Certainly vikings. A few might be able to provide a more comprehensive explanation: The area of formerly Anglo Saxon England controlled by the Danish (viking) invaders.
Within the Danelaw area things were measured differently. In Danelaw England the land was assessed in Caraucates and Bovates. In non Danelaw England land it was Hides and Virgates.
For me one of the most atmospheric places to see where the two worlds collided is a small village called No Man’s Heath. Today it is fully within the county of Warwickshire but on the border with Leicestershire. Up to the middle of the Victorian period it was split between Warwickshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. Just down the road is the border with Staffordshire. There was a pub, now I believe a curry house, called the Four Counties where the boundary passed through the main bar.
The village sits at a crossroad. The main road through the village was the turnpike from Ashby de la Zouch to Tamworth. However, this is crossed by a much much older road. As it leaves the village and climbs up onto the ridge it is called Salt Street and the hill it climbs is called Salt Hill. This gives a clue as to what used to be transported along the road. It can be traced back to at least the late Bronze Age – 3000 years ago.
From the top of Salt Hill you are able to view Danish Leicestershire and Mercian Warwickshire spread out in front of you. On a clear day, which it was yesterday, the views are spectacular: To the south east the towers of Birmingham can be seen. To the North East the ancient rocks of Charnwood climb towards the sky as they have done since Pre Cambrian times over 550 million years ago.
This is where the romance ends as the 21st century comes crashing in. The road from No Man’s Heath is a track way which is regularly used by drivers of heavy 4 x 4 vehicles to ‘off road’. The result is a track way that resembles the face of the moon with deep ruts and craters! The track way is in such poor condition that I had to abandon my walk along it and head back to No Man’s Heath.
Before we get too sanctimonious about the evils of the 21st century the road that preceded the turnpike to Tamworth was in a similar state only a few kilometres to the south East at Statfold. This was caused by the heavy wains and carriages that passed along the road. I guess nothing really changes.
A couple of kilometres to the north of No Man’s Heath is the most westerly parish in Leicestershire – Chilcote. It is a small village with a very photogenic church which looks a lot older than it actually is. The first time I photographed this church was almost 50 years ago. Not quite the 1200 years since the establishment of the Danelaw but it is a major chunk of the time I have been staggering around on the third rock from the sun.
Buried deep in the folds and dales of middle England this memorial to the past stands a lonely sentinel. A witness to the whimsical eccentricities of the caprice of the chronometer. Its man made passage cataloguing vagaries of the follies of man.
Forgotten by its makers it stands alone a picket against all that nature can project at and against it.
What a load of bollocks! The problem is it was actually quite enjoyable putting such nonsense together. I asked Word’s AI co-pilot (I believe at the time of writing this is mostly OpenAI’s mussings – I could be wrong) to rewrite. It came up with some equally pompous nonsense which didn’t sound like me. Nor was it as much fund to concoct. I may not be the most eloquent writer but I do enjoy come up with my own brand of nonsense.
Of course the reality doesn’t match up to the syrupy twaddle. Perhaps the only ‘fact’ contained within it is that it does stand in or on the border of Hrepingas (the early Medieval name for the people who settled in and around what became modern Repton). Yes, the bales of straw are standing in the undulating countryside in Isley Walton and has a certain bucolic charm. Unfortunately, this is shatter either by a plane taking off from East Midlands Airport or vehicles racing around Donington Park.
Of course the reason for me standing in a field on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border is that I am on the trail of images for the next photographic project – Paradise – Consumed. This will cover the district council area of North West Leicestershire (whilst it still exists). I have not really worked on this project much since the winter so my intention is to try and plough on regardless during the autumn and see where I am by Christmas. Wish me luck.
Good start but I really don’t know how to fill the central section. I’m sure I’ll come up with something.
Thankfully, the new season has brought much needed rain. Praise the gods. My watch tells me to the nearest minute when the rain will arrive. Unfortunately the capricious weather god doesn’t seem to have read the memo. Instead of arriving in 8 minutes as reported by my watch it arrived a full 50% late at 12 minutes. Shocking inaccuracy.
As for these sketches. They are what they are. Not created by an AI app. At least the last time I looked I wasn’t artificial intelligence just good old flesh and slowly congealing blood.. But then, if I was an AI app would I know? Would you know? After all I do write a lot of gibberish (Ed. Note: This piece is exhibit No. 01!). Perhaps that makes me human after. all? Our tech lords (they are mostly if not exclusively male) would like us to believe their latest version of their specific AI is so good at writing etc. they are incapable of churning out this type of nonsense. (Ed. Note: The WordPress AI is having a fit with that last sentence.)
So there you have definitive evidence. I am not a robot. Or is that what a robot would say? Alan Turing must be spinning in his grave. (Ed. Note: This is impossible as he was cremated – well that’s what Google’s AI tells me!)
I’m going for a stiff drink!!!!
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Autumn is almost upon us. Technically autumn starts on the 1st September but nature abhors such neat lines. The summer bedding plants on their last legs and the nights are drawing in. Perhaps we’ll have a wet autumn. Lord knows we need it.
When I was walking around my local botanical gardens the other day the lawns were mostly dried out with just a hint of green.
A damp autumn and a wet winter will do the world of good. Thank goodness global warming is a hoax.
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