In other news….

Posted on October 16, 2019 by Guthlac

 

It’s been raining again!  This is the second flooding event in the past this month.   It would seem that not everything is taken up by Brexit at the moment!

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15 Days

Posted on October 16, 2019 by Guthlac

And so the waiting begins…will we?  Won’t they?

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16 Days

Posted on October 15, 2019 by Guthlac

All I need is the Air that I breathe

I wonder if this is how it felt just before the Titanic hit the iceberg?   The calm before the storm?  I haven’t got the first clue but I suspect I am in good company as nobody has the first clue how the next fortnight will work out.   I think this is a running theme of the Boris Johnson premiership – nobody has a clue as to how things are going to work out.   The only saving grace is that at least our PM’s actions haven’t made a major conflict in the Middle East much more likely (not that the Syrian Civil war hasn’t been hell on earth for many people caught up in it).   No that prize goes to you know who.    His most bizarre defence was that Syria is 7000 miles from America.   That distance didn’t manage to stop 9/11.   We don’t live in a time when distance has any bearing on the consequences of our actions and what might sound great to the base may well inflame your enemies into action with appalling consequences.

One final thought which should chill everyone to the bone.   The New York Times is reporting that there are 250 (ish) American nuclear weapons just a couple hundred miles from the war on the border between Turkey and Syria.   Now I am sure they are very well guarded and can only be armed when required.  I’m sure…I think I am?  Am I?

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21 Days

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Guthlac

The Warren Hills can be described as the roof of Leicestershire.  This sounds very dramatic but compared to say the Alps it isn’t really.  However, it does have its moments:  For one thing on a clear day it has spectacular views across the heart of the Midlands – to the south Birmingham and the Malvern Hills and to the north the Trent valley, Derby, Nottingham and the Peak District hills in the distance.   However, the greatest story unfolds beneath your feet where rocks dating back to the Ediacaran period, more than half a billion years ago,  stand silent witness to all that passes.

On a more human timescale a changing story unfolds as well.  To the north the man made monster of Ratcliffe power station sits silently in the forlorn hope that it might be called upon to once generate electricity.  These calls are fewer and further apart as Britain slowly moves towards a low carbon generating ecosystem.  To the south the mines of the Leicestershire  coalfield, that once feed Ratcliffe and its long demolished sisters,  have all disappeared to be replaced by the National Forest and warehouses.   Both north and south of Warren Hills vast acres of warehouses stretch out proving that Napoleon was right when he described England as a nation of shopkeepers.  Of course he could never have anticipated the internet so now it would probably be better to say we are nation of online shoppers.  As if to reinforce this one of the largest sheds that can be seen from Warren Hills is a vast blue Amazon distribution centre – a second one is opening very soon near to Ratcliffe power station.   At one time Leicestershire had the greatest amount of mineral extraction in the country – now it is the home to the largest concentration of Amazon sheds.   You can decide whether this is a good thing or bad.

 

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22 Days

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Guthlac 

This town (town) is coming like a ghost town

Jerry Dammers

 

Yesterday walking around Leicester city centre the Specials song kept repeating itself in my head.

As with many small and not so small cities Leicester has a massive shopping centre/mall that has sucked much of the life out of the rest of the centre.  The difference is so stark and if you are like me shocking because I am one of those people who mostly shops at the shopping centre.   Walk beyond this and it sometimes feels like you are stepping into a different world of cheap shops or boarded up properties.   If it wasn’t for the growth of coffee shops and other eating places the situation would be far worse.  However, these outlets are never going to be able to replace the large tent poll stores that once populated the main shopping areas of Leicester.

Of course with any such social problem there are many contributing factors and I am sure we can all come up with our own pet theory.  Nonetheless, the city centre is slowly dying and there doesn’t appear to be anything effective to reverse this.  I don’t think that Brexit is responsible for this either as I suspect this is a longer term trend.  However, I cannot see how Brexit will bring about an improvement either but perhaps it might help if the government devoted as much time and money trying to ameliorate a No Deal Brexit to solving these real problems instead.   Just a thought.

Whatever challenges no deal will cause in the short term 
- and they are significant

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - 8th October 2019

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23 Days

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Guthlac

In just over 3 weeks time the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will leave the European Union.   3 Weeks.   Somehow for such a momentous occasion there doesn’t seem to be much activity in the form of preparedness other than the VMS on the motorways and even these are decidedly unclear other than suggesting that export documents might be required.   I have noticed no sense of impending doom or excitement (delete as applicable ) instead people have just got on with their lives and if they have a view on Brexit it is usually a curse on both their houses letting/not letting things come to this.

Nobody knows what is going to happen and most people just don’t seem to care anymore other than to wish the whole thing would end (whatever the outcome this unlikely to happen anytime soon).   No matter what the Brexiteers might wish Britain is located in the middle of the European Union and we are, you know, a European country.  What the European Union does will also have an effect on Britain and in every real sense we will be dealing with the fallout of Brexit forever.  Does this make me a ‘naysayer‘, surrender monkey or realist again depends on your point of view.

On a more interesting note I am continuing to learn how to make best use of the Adobe Lightroom app on the iPhone.   I have only  captured circa 300 images at the moment so things in the state of flux stage – it could go either way.   Remind you of anything?

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24 Days

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Guthlac

Are you excited yet?  Are you?  Really?   Well I don’t blame you.  The one thing I am sick of is being lied to and it is quite clear by now that the only thing the Boris Johnson premiership is any good at is lying.   I say good at that is not fair because they are crap at it because each of their lies falls apart within seconds of coming into contact with the real world.   But that doesn’t stop them from lying constantly lying.

Of course we are supposed to believe that this is all part of some master plan so cunning it will only reveal itself once all the pieces have fallen into place.  Perhaps that is what will happen but as things stand at the moment that doesn’t seem to be the situation to me.   Instead we have a non-government running around in ever decreasing circles lying as they disappear into the hole they have dug for themselves – perhaps this is the ditch that Boris Johnson wants to die in rather than not leave the European Union on the 31st October.  I just want to scream!

So why the pumpkins?   Well I’m trying out the Adobe Lightroom cloud service, the results of which have been posting over the past few days.  It is still a bit of a steep learning curve at the moment – I spent most of the weekend looking under the hood of the software to see how I can improve things – not sure these pumpkin images are a food advertisement for all that effort.

So which do you prefer the slightly dodgy pumpkin photos or Boris Johnson’s lies?   Is there a contest?  I hope not.

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27 Days

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Guthlac

Recently my son asked a question about where the north south divide is in England.  This is not a uniquely English question as many countries old and new have some form of catological/social divide:  In the latest incarnation of Germany there is both a North/South divide, similar to the England/Scotland divide as well as an East West divide;  In the United States they have a line on a map, the Mason/Dixon line but in England it is a lot more complex – just where does the North start?   The easiest answer is the River Trent – anything north of the Trent is in the north – quite simple really.  Another way of dividing the country is distance from London:   By train I can get to the centre of London in just over an hour – does this mean I live in the south?   If it does then there are many places in the commuter belt live in the north!   Academic papers have been written about this and one of the most recent placed Birmingham in the North.

Of course in this Brexit obsessed world another way of judging an area is whether they voted for Leave of Remain.  If this is applied then the north is all over the place.

So is Birmingham in the North?    I haven’t got the first clue but to me it certainly doesn’t feel as though it is.  What the city centre does feel like is one huge building site with massive new office block sprouting up all over the place as well as the HS2 railway station.  The 2022 Commonwealth games are being staged there too which no doubt is adding to the building mania.

Does this all matter?   Well in one real sense it does because of the huge gravitational pull of London.  If you are caught in that gravity well then you can expect to find the brightest young things being pulled towards the World City.  If not too close then you can resist it but for only so long.  Whether we or the EU like it or not it London, afterall, is the most dynamic and vibrant city in the whole of Europe.  Where that leaves Birmingham is anyone’s guess but they certainly appear to be trying to do their best to maintain whatever distance they can from London – for now.   Should HS2 ever get built then I am not sure that would continue.

As with all things Brexit there is that word again IF.

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And Now For Something….

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Guthlac

I took my iPhone for a bit of a walk around Birmingham today.   This is the first batch I will post some more soon once I have worked on them.

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29 Days

Posted on October 2, 2019 by Guthlac

An early and cold start…memories of the summer are fast fading  and we have to brace for the winter to come.   Only this isn’t the whole story here – this is the second large flooding episode in the past two months and in all the years I have lived here (more than I care to admit to) I cannot recall anything like this before.   Things are changing and we appear to be getting a lot more rain.

There are still people out there who do not believe that Global Warming is real or at least it isn’t part of the natural cycle.  This is just wrong and the science is just too strong to dismiss – it won’t stop people from doing just that though.

I am not a great Greta Thurnberg fan but she is right about one thing – her generation will be the one that will feel the full force of the changes that have been brought about by Global Warming and it is our generation’s responsibility to do as much as we can to ameliorate those changes.  The planet’s climate is going to change as a result of man’s activities and we are all going to have to get used to that.

Compared to this Brexit does seem to be a pointless exercise.

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