There was a time not so long ago that such a sight was a relic that was deemed to be in the past. Well funny how things work out and now this sight is going to be around for a while longer because this government, which has been in power for over a decade, appears to have done little or nothing to develop energy security let alone a real move away from a carbon based energy policy. This is something to think about as we approach COP 26. If we don’t sort something out then the current refugee crisis will be nothing compare to when millions upon millions of people are on the move because either their former homes are now under water thanks to sea level rises or their former homes are uninhabitable due to heat and drought. This is just one of the many things that will come about as a result of global warming.
It has been a rough few weeks for me for many reasons and I am still not sure whether I have fully recovered. One thing that is clear is that I have lost my drive to capture images. I know this will change, I’ve been through these dry patches before, but until that time comes I thought I would remaster some of the images I captured in previous years. I plan to make one image a day for the month of October, hence Photober. I have been a little tardy in my posting so these are the first seven images. They were captured between come from 2005, and 2007. Oh simpler times.
I am glad to report that there were no werewolves on patrol in the park at dawn this morning – although as it was nearly dawn I suspect they may well have been reverting to their human form.
Just prove me wrong this morning the aircraft were flying once more – I even saw the U2 out of Fairford heading north to do whatever it does.
Other than that it was very much situation normal on the dawn patrol…apart from a Mute Swan preening itself on the playing field. I guess a Swans got to do what a Swan’s got to do.
Autumn is here with a vengeance only it’s not. We are now well into September and the temperature still has a pleasant feel to it. When I was out at dawn this morning I didn’t need my gloves!
Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining about the weather in general it is just that the warmer it is the less mist I get and that affects the images I can capture and make. If that doesn’t qualify as the most first world problem you can have I don’t know what is: Millions around the world are still suffering as a result of the Covid pandemic; Other parts of the world may no have enough water to survive and Millions are on the move because of War or Famine and all I’ve got to moan about is the lack of mist!
In my defence I’ve never claimed to be anything other than me. I’m not a saint or man of virtue. I’m just a middle aged man (although that is becoming less the case with every passing day!) who is trying to get through the day and so not giving myself a chill for my art is a thing. A pointless thing I will admit but a thing nonetheless.
As I watched the sunrise this morning I also noticed that the sky was clear of contrails. It would seem that aviation still has not returned to pre pandemic levels and whilst that is a good thing for many reasons it is still a proxy variable as to how much life as been changed by the Coronavirus. Lets just hope that the coming winter doesn’t bring new hardships to add to the mix. Then I really won’t have anything to moan about when it isn’t cold enough!
It has been a while since I published anything but there is a good reason for that. However, life goes on and just at the moment the hedgerows and fields have, for good reason, decided it is is autumn and have produced another bumper crop of fruit.
The last few days my old bones have started to stir – the cold autumn chill is slowly starting take hold. Summer is over and to use that well worn cliche:
Winter is coming
It’ll be awhile before the first frosts, I hope but nowadays you can never be certain! Before then the days will noticeably start to draw in, miasma will rise from the river and the mellow fruits will ripen.
Another summer gone and the second full covid winter awaits: Booster jabs, ventilation and hope that the next variant isn’t quite as dangerous as the delta. Suddenly Old Nan’s warning is even more poignant.
The past few days have been a bit intense so today, this being a day of rest, I thought I would try a little bit of painting with my trusty iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate. As a result of this diversion I have completed another painting in my Women of The World series.
There was a time many years ago that I could set my watch by the RAF. 14:55 hrs every weekday, the RAF at Cottesmore* didn’t fly on weekends nor bank holidays, three tornadoes would come shouting up the Mease valley towards the base some 10/15 minutes flying time away.
The USAF were also flying around. This was the 1980’s, height of the cold war and all that. Back then it was A10’s out of Upper Hayford I believe but they too would be putting on their magnificent acrobatics. Anyone who has seen A10s slowly swooping through the countryside will know it is magical – the long slow loops round and around. I was once walking through the countryside towards the east of the county and I swear these two pilots were flying around and around me through the fields.
Then came Glasnost and suddenly the wall was gone and it was the end of history. It wasn’t, of course, but in the heady Clinton days who knew?
So what has all this ancient history got to do with taking photographs of birds in my garden this morning? Well it struck me the flights are back. It no longer is the RAF from Cottesmore nor the A10s from Upper Hayford but rather F15/16 flying back from Wales after honing their skills. You can always tell when they’re flying over – they go the wrong way and make such a racket about it. Where I live the predominant flight path is NW/SE but the Americans are usually East/West that is if it isn’t the spy planes out of Fairford which, in that case, is SW/NE. The F15/16 don’t fly as low as the Tornadoes but they seem to be louder. Perhaps I have got used to the quieter modern commercial aircraft engines , I don’t know. What I do know the USAF out of Lakenheath (or is it Mildenhall?) also like to be home for for afternoon tea as they fly back around about the same time as the RAF all those years ago.
It is amazing what you notices whilst sitting on a bench in your garden watching birds flutter about.
I know technically it wasn’t the RAF but rather the instructors and students from the joint training base teaching pilots to fly the Tornado but I have been on the base and it was an RAF base.
My friend told me the other week that when it comes to calculating how manys years such and such happened you must always remember to add one to your estimation because we all seem to have mental blockage about 2020. Now for some 2020 was, for many reason not just Covid, simply the worst year of their life. Fortunately, for most of us 2020 was a year to forget- hence the need to add a year.
So how has 2021 been for me? I find I am having difficulty thinking about the year at all. Some things have returned to a strange normalcy but yet very different. I know I have changed – much more cautious, much more likely to prefer the comfort of home to going out. This, of course, could be also part of the aging process, which I have to admit is starting to creep up on me. Every day my joints complain just a little bit more and the mirror shows that I am losing the fight with gravity. One of the greatest conceits that the young hold is that they will never get hold nor will they ever die. One may be correct but in the end we all die. Whether any part of our life lives on beyond those who knew us on a daily basis is not in our control.
This brings us to Kedleston Hall. When the grounds were laid out in the middle of the 18th century the then owner of the house would never have seen it as we now enjoy it today. He might have an idea and Robert Adams plans and descriptions but that is all. No doubt by the time he died it would have matured but the plan was for generations to come. As a member of those future generation I would like to thank them for their foresight: It is a wonderful place to visit at any time of the year and I find it especially good at lifting the morale when the grind of life is just a little too much to bare. We all have those days/weeks/months and the unfettered air of Derbyshire helps me purge the heavy metals of life away for just a while.
At the moment the jury is out on the best way to live your life in this Pandemic/Post Pandemic world. Now I understand the government’s predicament – they had claimed, well Boris had claimed, that when Freedom Day arrived we’ll all be, well free, to carry on our lives as if the pandemic had never happened. Only it did and is continuing to exist and people are still getting sick and some of those are dying. So we are in the crazy position that we can do all the things we did before but the government would appreciate it if we didn’t because, you know, Covid. I could bang on about the inept way that this government has handled things but too many words have already been written. The government has, many people have died possibly as a result of this ineptitude and no amount of well deserved praise for the vaccine roll out will replace the site of those crammed trains just before Christmas as a result of failure of the government to get a grip. Shortly after this we started to suffer the worst wave of the pandemic. Are these connected? I don’t know but I do have my suspicions.
The vaccine roll out has been world class; The science has been world class but so have the death rates. How many of these deaths could have been prevented by a better government? It is impossible to say but it is not a difficult counterfactual to consider.
So do we continue to wear masks? Well I do and in the strange middle England, National Trust world I inhabit so do most of the people I come in contact with. Is this wise? I suspect from a purely epidemiological assessment it probably doesn’t make that much of a difference as the people I come in contact with no doubt are double jabbers so don’t really present that much of problem. I suspect this is a microcosm of how the world has changed: we now go about our business with a sense of insecurity. I know I have changed my behaviour and no longer undertake things I did before. Will I change my stance? Well that depends on how the pandemic develops but the one thing I don’t believe is that this is anywhere near over and I do suspect that we will have to endure further restrictions in the future when the inevitable new variant appears.
Still it does give me time to work on my Women of the World series of paintings.
Simon's Blog 