Ramblings of a Cotswoldgent

A Sunday Morning Bike Ride

2012-02-13T12:21:00.000Z

In a fit of madness early yesterday morning I decided to go out cycling, normally this would not be a problem but with the heavy snow still on the ground I knew it may prove a little difficult. But I was fed up with exercising on the rollers, there’s a certain amount of time you can live with cycling away and not going anywhere, but after that it gets pretty boring!

So off I went on my mountain bike with the idea of going off road so as to stick on the snow and avoiding the ice on the roads. The temperature was a balmy minus 3 so I thought I wouldn’t have too much difficulty once I hit the fields. Immediately though as I began to ride up the narrow farm track towards the fields and woods I hit ice and promptly fell off.

After several attempts I gave up on cycling and pushed the bike up the track and finally arrived at a large field where I could try a bit of pedalling. But it was hard work with the tyres sticking to the frozen snow and got even harder when reaching the woods and attempting to climb various hills where in some places the snow was a good five inches deep. After struggling for about seven miles mostly of bridle paths and small frozen tracks my body was screaming at me that enough was enough and after stopping to catch my breath I made the decision to return home as quickly as possibly and I headed for the nearest road.

From climbing all the hills I had naturally got extremely hot but as soon as the climbing was over I began to freeze up with the cold and I found I had icicles hanging off my helmet and chin. Normally a short ride like this would take me 20 minutes or so, but by the time I got back to the main road an hour had passed and I was absolutely shattered and very cold!

Once on the main road I still had another 3 challenging miles to get home, I say main road, but I am talking about single lane roads that haven’t been gritted, so now I had a lot of ice to deal with which meant riding extremely slowly with eyes firmly fixed just ahead desperately looking out for patches of the slippery stuff.

Finally after another three quarters of an hour I eventually reached home; total distance about ten miles, but I felt like I had done thirty!

Typically by yesterday afternoon the temperature had dramatically raised to a healthy 7c, the snow and ice almost completely gone ………..need I say more!

A Tad Chilly This Morning

2012-02-11T12:59:00.003Z

When I took the dogs out for their morning walk this morning the outside temperature was minus 10, by the time I'd reached the Common it was minus 12, so it was to say the least a little chilly!

It took me all morning to unblock the kitchen sink waste pipe, the first time it has frozen in the 9 years we have been here!

Here's a couple of interesting pictures of the fields round the back of the house, one I took this morning and the same scene back in the late summer 2011.

And finally a shot from the front door, all very picturesque, I think you'd agree.

Now can we start moving on to the Spring please?

The Middle East

2012-02-09T10:10:00.000Z

I came across this article on the BBC news website this morning and although I was aware of all the sabre rattling I didn’t realise that we are now very close to another Middle Eastern war. What I find rather hypocritical is that the west complains about Russia and China vetoing at the UN with regard to Syria, but America and Israel can happily meddle and possibly invade Iran without anyone blinking an eye.

I remember watching a documentary a number of years ago about Iran (I forget the exact details) but the BBC journalist (I think it was Jeremy Bowen) interviewed a number of ordinary Iranians and became good friends with many of them. He described how it was such a shame that these wonderful hospitable people should be ruled by such a tyrant as the then leader the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Wouldn’t it be nice if these so called leaders who want to wage war were all put in a ring and told to slug it out so that we the ordinary civilians didn’t have to get involved?

Well in some peoples eyes 2012 is the year of the apocalypse I hope that they are wrong, but Israel invading Iran would not be good start and would only add to the number of conflicts already happening around the world:

e.g.
Yemeni Uprising
Syrian Uprising
Sudan Conflict
Somalia Conflict
Tuareg rebellion (Mali)
Afghanistan War
Philippines
Iraq (still ongoing)
North West Pakistan....................to name but a few!

Venus Fly Trap

2012-02-07T10:24:00.006Z

I’ve seen some good programmes on the military over the years but last night I watched part 2 (Venus Fly Trap) of the “Royal Marines Mission Afghanistan” and was just mesmerised. If you want to see a first hand story of the foot soldiers in Afghanistan and what it's really like then this is a must watch. It's the story of a small unit from 42 Commando doing their routine day to day job in Afghanistan, the catch being if that's routine, I'd hate to be there when the excitement really gets going!

It’s the first programme that I found took me back to the days when I was in the RAF Regiment and brought back vivid memories of service life. Although I really enjoyed my time with the “Rock Apes” the only other unit I would have joined would have been the Royal Marines. I have a good friend who served with 42 Commando back in the eighties and I guess through him and over time meeting some of his friends this also brought me closer to the programme.

I think politicians of all sides should be forced to watch this programme just so they see first hand exactly what their decisions have done in putting these young men and women in to the most dangerous and sadly no win situations. The Marines interviewed were honest in their thoughts and words and you got the impression that they knew they were fighting a lost cause, they hated the Taliban and were quite happy to kill as many as possible and had no problems taking them on in a fire fight, they were professional and dedicated and ruthless in their job.

But IED’s were a different matter, there is no warning and it’s all down to a matter of luck as explain by Corporal Paul Vice a veteran of 4 Afghanistan tours, who as the programme progressed you found yourself beginning to bond with and enjoy his candid explanations and no nonsense approach to the situation they were all in. "“It’s bandit country here,” says the veteran who explains his odds of injury or death in a matter-of-fact way.“The way you think about is, there are five of you in a car. One’s going to die, one’s going to lose his legs and the other three are going to be slightly injured. It is literally not if, but when.”

The shock at the end of the programme when the narrator announced that “Vicey” had been blow up by an IED a few days later was a hard punch of reality and I found myself (no doubt like other viewers) deeply shocked and hoping that he had come through his ordeal. Thankfully after searching the web I came across news that he had survived but obviously had been badly injured.

As I get older I find myself thinking how ridiculous it is that the human race has not worked out after thousands of years of killing each other that it does not actually get us anywhere. But on the other hand when we know there are dictators and terrorists who are prepared to kill indiscriminately it is extraordinary that there are young men and women who volunteer to go out to these dangerous places around the world and serve their country knowing that half the time it's only by sheer luck they survive their ordeal.

Aurora Borealis Pictures

2012-01-26T10:52:00.001Z

I have a friend of mine (PG), who is currently taking a short holiday in North Sweden, Abisko National park to be precise, he's there for a quick visit to see the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights). Last night in freezing conditions but thankfully clear skies he took some great photos and emailed them across to me.

Evidently the lights have been seen in the Northern part of the UK and I've been keeping a watch here in the Cotswolds but so far with no luck. Although we are way down south we may get the possibility for a view as the light pollution is no so bad round here and on most clear nights you can easily see the Milky Way. So fingers crossed I shall keep a watch and in the meatime here's a couple of pics my friend took last night.

(Thanks for the pics PG!)

Cold Weather for Dog Walking

2012-01-16T09:39:00.000Z

Over the weekend the temperature dropped down to -6 and the grass was covered in a thick carpet of frost which glistened in the early morning sun light and made a soft crunching noise as I wondered around the garden doing my morning inspection. The dogs following me round the garden had great puffs of steam coming out of their mouths and it was a very picturesque scene.

Although cold the weekend weather was superb, there was clear blue sky from horizon to horizon, so the dog walking up at Compton Abdale has provided some wonderful scenery and we have not been alone as plenty of ramblers have also been out and about. The girls now 2 years old are reasonably friendly to others humans and dogs so take great pleasure if other people are about and happily play without causing any trouble, occasionally there is the odd one or two doggy chums who are not so friendly but the girls know through either common sense or instinct to keep away.

Such was the occasion yesterday when we came across two very large growling Rhodesian Ridgebacks and although on leads with the owner hanging on for dear life even I was not going to get too close to them. Rottweilers, Alsatians and Rhodesian Ridgebacks are all dogs that I am very wary of, I’m sure that with strong owners and a secure home life they make a good pet, but I am not confident with large hunting dogs and every one I seem to meet knows this and takes great delight in scaring me out of my wits.

Only a couple of weeks to go and the shooting season will finish, we can then walk back on the farm and it will be interesting to see what has changed over the winter. Normally some trees will have come down through the storms and the river will have changed direction in some small way. The girls will chase the wildlife for the first week or so and then settle down to exploring the woods and paddling in the river.......... roll on the Spring!

Winter Fuel Costs

2012-01-09T09:41:00.000Z

The logs from the tree we cut down back in the summer have nearly all gone, fed in to the wood burner. To be fair I didn't think they would last this long and although it has certainly not been as cold as last winter we have used the wood burner pretty well every evening just to keep the chill off.

Really it’s now our main source of heating especially in the evening, we try to run the central heating at a minimum, with the last batch of LPG at 41p per litre I got a pretty good price, but I suspect next refill it will rise dramatically. The cooker, hot water and central heating all run off the LPG, so any savings we can make all helps to make the gas last a little longer.

Meanwhile I’ve managed to have a quiet word with one of the farm hands and he is arranging to supply me with some more logs which should last us for the rest of the winter, this is a lot cheaper than buying logs commercially.

Looking to the future I’m seriously considering solar heating as we have an ideal roof which is southerly facing and a perfect angle for the solar plates. This would be ideal for all the power requirements including the heating of the house. Solar power is certainly coming in to its own and it is especially noticable in the rural communities, up until recently you could get very good Government grants, but as it has now taken off the powers that be have suddenly realised they are losing out big time, so most of the grants have stopped!

If we were to go ahead with Solar power, I would try to install most of it myself, there are some very good kits you can buy nowadays. The problem for us I suspect will come from planning permission as we live in an area of outstanding natural beauty and although the village of Withington is little over mile away someone is bound to have a moan!

There’s no question that living out in the sticks is wonderful but it does have serious drawbacks in regard to living costs, especially now with this recession in full swing. LPG, petrol, food etc have all risen dramatically. Reviewing our monthly incomings and outgoings, (something we’ve really started to get in to), most of our money goes on fuel costs, the price for filling up the car is ridiculous especially when over half of the cost goes to the government in tax. Public transport does not exist round our way so we have to rely on the wheels and in the summer I use the bike as much as I can.

Another future plan for me is to downsize my car, the 4x4 will stay as we find it really useful in the winter, but when we retire we will just own the one car, no doubt some monstrous electrical bubble creation that will run off the solar power!

Alternatively if we win the lottery, I shall have a 4 litre Jag and Mrs CG will have the biggest 4x4 going and we will merrily stick two fingers up to the Government of the day!

An Update to Christmas Lights

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000Z

Well I should have kept my mouth shut, after writing up the last post re “Naff Christmas Lights”, lo and behold I was watching telly last night and this programme appears called “King of Christmas Lights”

I think this picture sums it up very nicely!!

Quaint Christmas Decorations

2011-12-19T13:31:00.002Z

Returning home from work the other evening I had to take a rare diversionary excursion through town, this proved most entertaining as I could review the annual Christmas extravaganza of the battle to win the 2011 "Naff Christmas lights" competition. This event provides excellent entertainment when stuck at the traffic lights.

However, at first glance this year looked very poor, sadly a few property owners had either gone to taste school or had that promised brain operation because some had done an excellent job and a few dwellings were looking reasonably pretty and dare I say added a touch of tasteful Christmas colour to their drab dull winter surrounds.

But never the less I was not to be daunted, I wanted naff and thankfully others had gone completely over the top with lighting that would give the West End a run for its money. Although this gives me great entertainment value it really does make me wonder how on earth these people have the money to waste on their electricity bills especially just so as to entertain little old me.

No matter, with a little bit of patience I've seen some great entrants, far too many to list here, but for a general description most properties begin with a large well lit Santa Claus and of course the matching reindeer normally at an angle slightly above Santa so they look like they are just beginning take off. Fake snow below the reindeer adds a little something and will certainly receive bonus points.

This glorious site is usually complemented with different coloured bulbs of flashing lights gingerly hanging off the guttering of each house, (extra points are gained if blowing in the breeze). Santa of course is always waving (the one arm slowly moving from right to left) and pointing in the general direction of the chimney. A large flashing Merry Christmas sign is an absoloute must for those extra points.

Some of this years entrants have been very enthusiastic, some may say either very brave or possibly foolhardy, reports of over zealous entrants who have been seen clambering all the way up to the top of the chimney to add a few more flickering bulbs of colour, no doubt realising that the extra bulb could just win the game!

A particular favourite of mine had all these usual decorations, but had included falling snow (I kid you not and no I don't know how they did it) and white mats discreetly placed along the drive.

Of course no naff Christmas decorations would be complete without the inevitable large Christmas tree, placed either in the primary garden position, (naturally a real one - and the bigger the tree the better), draped with twinkling lights (extra points for interchanging colours or fluffy snow) or the more standard multi coloured bulbs.

Or when no garden is available the front ground floor window (extra points gained for a plastic or silver tree). Must have plenty of "Merry Christmas" stickers and mandatory disco lights zapping away ready to induce any passer by with a quick fit. Properties with collapsed pedestrians lying in the prone position will receive bonus points.

There have been some good ones this year but I would like to give a special mention to the property with the beautifully decorated six foot tree that had been bent, nay forced to fit within the confines of the tiny four foot window frame, very touching.

Finally if you’re very lucky and you look closely beyond the tree and the "Merry Christmas" window stickers, you can see the 60” plasma screen flickering away in the background which finishes off the psychedelic scene very nicely.

I'd love to get a picture of the winner but it may prove a little difficult and the likelyhood of me being beaten up!

............Oh how quaint is the English Christmas.

More Stormy Weather

2011-12-13T15:00:00.000Z

Once more the storms are coming in from the Atlantic; last night it felt like the windows were going to be blown in, the sound of the wind and rain was deafening. The past few weeks we have had our fair share of stormy weather and to be honest I can’t remember when it has been so bad, certainly not for the past eight years that we have lived here. Thankfully due to excellent warnings from the BBC all items outside the house have been tied up or stowed away so up till now no damage has occurred. Living in a house slightly raised on a hill within the valley causes the wind to funnel through at high speed, so only a mile down the road may seem reasonably quiet whereas with us a gale is blowing!

As I'm working over Christmas I managed to take last week off as holiday hence the reason I’ve been away from the blog.
I got down to some serious hedge trimming, lopping 3 feet off the front hedge that had grown far too high and caused me all sorts of problems during the summer months when I wanted to trim it. With winter upon us all the leaves had dropped off and I thought now was a good time to really get stuck in and give the hedge a good haircut, so I went beserk but it will now be a lot easier to maintain and I won’t have to balance precariously on the step ladder each time I try to trim it.

I have not been down to the farm for months now, simply because the shooting season is still in full flow and we are banned until the beginning of February. I see a tractor go by now and then and I wave to the farm hands as well as have the odd chat on the CB with them when they are out in the fields. The general mood is that all is quiet especially while these storms are about there is little that can be done except help out when a large tree has collapsed across the roads which has been happening frequently in the past few days!

Can't believe it's only two weeks to Christmas!

Stormy Weather and the Grand Prix

2011-11-28T10:30:00.000Z

We had a pretty stormy weekend with gales blowing in from the Atlantic, Saturday night we were kept awake with bins being blown over and gates banging away. The dogs kept barking at all the strange noises and both Izzy and Ella couldn’t fathom the sound of the howling wind, I suspect they thought it was a cat whining but either way it kept them awake.

The milder weather has now moved away and we have started to have frosty starts to the mornings, looking at the car temperature gauge today it was -2 so winter is definitely beginning to arrive. The garden is now looking very bare, the leaves have all gone and the grass has finally stopped growing. In the late mild spell it put on a wee spurt and consequently looks more like a field than garden. I always forget till winter arrives upon us how cold our little area can get, living in a valley but raised slightly by a ridge the wind whistles through the farm and some days it can get very blowey. If there is a cold wind you don’t half feel it and it seems to get right in to your very bones….. No wonder I hate winter!

Yesterday snuggled up on the couch I watched the Brazilian Grand prix, it was the final one of the 2011 series. Although Sebastian Vettel has regained his world crown fairly easily the overall entertainment value has been pretty good throughout the season, enough to make me watch most grand prix races. However being naturally suspicious it was a little suspect the Vettel had a gear box problem through the race and that his team mate Mark Webber managed to pass him so easily and yet Vettel carried on at speed to finish a comfortable second.

Since the Renault debacle some years ago when an accident was actually staged so that another driver of the same team could take advantage of the situation, I am always slightly dubious and it would come as no surprise to me that Mark’s win was more of a physiological team effort to show the likes of Maclaren and Ferrari that it’s not just Vettel in the driving seat (so to speak).

But that’s the last time I shall be watching a grand prix for a while, the contract has moved away from the BBC (or partly) you will be able to watch repeats later in the evening or over the weekend, but it’s not the same and there is no way I’m paying Sky for the privilege, I suspect I will not be alone in my descision.

Traffic Congestion

2011-11-21T14:25:00.002Z

I think I’ve said it before but living in a rural location having a car is a necessity for the CGs, for me to get to work or for Mrs CG to get to the shops we have to use the car. Buses where we live are a non event, in fact I don’t remember ever seeing any public transport, the nearest railway is eight miles in either direction to Cirencester or Cheltenham and that’s more expensive for me to use than the car.

So when I read on today’s BBC news website about the future of traffic congestion and more importantly some of the stupid and idiotic comments by readers (take a look for yourselves), I honestly am relieved that hopefully I shall be well and truly retired by the time the congestion reaches saturation point.

The trouble with this country and its transport system is that life in the UK has been built around cars and lorries, everything from the out of town depots, shops and supermarkets, even places of work have for the past 30/40 years been designed around travel via four wheels. Sooner or later it was bound to happen that our little island could only take so much and eventually things would just grind to a halt.

For me the only real congestion I see is when driving in to Birmingham or visiting work colleagues in Farnborough or Fareham, all the motorways round there are very busy in the rush hour and every time I take a visit I always think I am so glad I don’t have to work round there on a daily basis.

There is only one person I know who rarely complains about the traffic for the simple reason he doesn’t drive! He lives in London and uses the tube or buses and like many inner city commuters is probably reasonably content as one can be in those circumstances.

Interestingly I’ve notice over the past few days that the nearby main A40 in to Cheltenham has some works traffic lights in operation, consequently our little lane is now flooded with traffic during the “rush hour” period with drivers "who know a short cut”.

I had some twit magnetised to my bumper this morning obviously with delusions of being a formula1 racing driver. The lane outside the house is very straight (it’s an old roman road) and the cars hurtle along at ridiculous speeds and sooner or later I will not be surprised when some idiot crashes. But as long as the idiot doesn’t take out my garden wall or damage any CG property then I shan’t be too disappointed!

Did I ever tell you the story when I stood outside of the house near to the road in a florescent jacket and what looked like a camera gun, all sorts of chaos ensued! …………Maybe that’s story for another time.

A Quiet Time

2011-11-15T12:51:00.000Z

Managed to take last week off from work so lazed about and did very little. I find it very frustrating when it gets dark so early and last week we had a constant dank foggy atmosphere so it felt pretty gloomy and I got very little done. Although damp and overcast the temperature has been way above the average for this time of year and there has been no sign of any cold weather which does save us a bit of money on heating!

During Saturday afternoon as I was finishing off some work in the garden the sun appeared out of the gloom and for a short while and it actually felt like it was a summer’s day. By way of proof I was surrounded by flies with the occasional bee or wasp buzzing about no doubt looking for some pollen. To cap it off as I walked back to the front door in search of a cold drink, two butterflies swept across my path happily playing in the unexpected warmth.

The farm is very quiet at the moment; the occasional tractor can be seen trimming the hedges but otherwise it’s more a case of repair and maintenance with the farm workers staying indoors and doing lots of odd jobs. The only day it gets busy is a Friday when punters come to the farm for a days shooting and all day long the constant sound of gunfire can be heard.

Yesterday it was back to work and for a change I had to visit to the Birmingham office, a short trip up the M5 and then in to the city via the Hagley road. I find my visits to Birmingham quite pleasant but in a way a bit of a culture shock as the roads are packed and the people seem to be in a constant rush.

Anyway, after completing the day’s work I said my goodbyes and stepped in to the lift and found myself surrounded by four young ladies. I nodded a hello and tried to crack a joke and they politely smiled but nobody said a word as they all seemed to be in deep concentration. Each girl had one arm draped in their possessions with the hand firmly grasping the statutory mobile whilst the other hand was frantically tapping away on the tiny keyboard. The only sound that could be heard was the clicking of fingers against plastic as they texted away at speeds I could only imagine about doing; who the hell were they texting, or were they all texting to each other about the old git in the lift with them?

It was a very strange experience and I suddenly felt like a complete alien totally lost in a weird world of young people and technology! After what seemed an eternity but in fact was only a few seconds we reached the ground floor and the doors opened and I politely let them out in front of me but found myself uncontrollably muttering, “Jesus, I am so out of touch”!!

"Get Off My Land"!

2011-10-24T14:16:00.002Z

My weekend walks with the dogs takes me along the bridle path near to Compton Abdale. Some of you may already know through reading previous posts that this land is owned by Lord Vestey who has some 16000 acres around the Cotswolds.
For the past eighteen months I’ve been happily walking around this area with no bother at all, but in the last month I‘ve been caught twice and told to keep to the bridle path. I suspect Lord Vestey doesn’t mind who walks his land as long as they treat it with respect, but his gamekeepers have a different idea and seem to be a bunch of the usual jobs worth.

About three weeks ago I was approached by a chap and his wife in a large 4x4 driving slowly across one of the paths that surround the edges of the fields, he told me I was not on the bridle path and asked me to get back on it. I played dumb and apologised and moved back but couldn’t help noticing various other walkers ahead of me who were not moved. I didn't ask for his details as he knew the padlock code to the gate entrance of the bridle path and so obviously worked on the estate.

Then at the end of last week whilst out walking in the same area the girls decided to chase some pheasants in to nearby woods just off the bridle path and knowing as it was a Friday there was likely to be a shoot I followed them to get them back on track. Of course just at the wrong time a tractor turned up carrying all the beaters and there I was caught red handed. In the far distance I could see the very same silver 4 wheel drive parked up and he had obviously spotted me and called up one of the beaters on the radio to get me moved. The beater came up to me and politely asked if I could move as a shoot was in progress and I apologised and explained the dogs had run off. So it’s really just been a bit of bad luck on my part but of course I’m now nervously keeping an extra eye out in case I get spotted again, if that happens I suspect I’ll have to find a new walking area which would be a real shame.

The shooting round here is big business and some of the sights you see can be quite extraordinary, most of the time it’s townies dressed up to the nines in tweed complete with breaches and brightly coloured knee length socks, normally filling up their 4x4s at the garage, all very amusing. I can never get my head round the tweed thing, I would have thought it would be far more sensible to wear some waterproof camouflage jacket and trousers with plenty of warm fleeces underneath but evidently that is not the done thing, you have to wear the right gear otherwise it is considered very down market!

Love it!

It’s interesting when the land owners and gamekeepers are interviewed about game shooting, they always come back with “management of the land” and of course jobs for the locals. Which actually is complete rubbish, what an earth shooting birds is to do with management of the land is beyond me, lets face it it’s all about money, Vestey can charge a thousand pounds per person for a weekend shoot, not bad for two days work is it?

Sting in the Tail and Feeling Poor

2011-10-17T09:44:00.000Z

It’s very unusual for the time of year but the warm weather seems to be holding and as each week passes by the forecasters tell us the temperature will drop and it will get colder, but so far no change. It is rather strange wandering around in a tee shirt and yet all the leaves are dropping, the insects are flying around and seem to be completely confused at to what time of year it is. Yesterday I spotted the largest and scariest hornet I’d ever seen buzzing around the garden no doubt looking for some flower to pollinate.

Saturday night before hopping in to bed Mrs CG put on her tee shirt and complained about a scratch on her back, the next thing there was pandemonium as she removed her shirt to discover a very large wasp who had obviously decided to take up residency. Panic then ensued but unfortunately it was too late the insect had done the deed and Mrs CG had received two stings. We then played hunt the insect and as it was dark this proved to be quite comical but finally the wasp was caught and thrown out the window. To be honest I did very little having a ridiculous fear of all things black and yellow and large spiders with long hairy legs!

The shooting season has begun in earnest and all day Friday shotguns could be heard around the valley. The poor old pheasants don’t know what the hell is going on, either they are knocked down by loony motorists or blasted by drunken townies on a day trip to the countryside. It’s rather like living on a rifle range only the safety regulations seem to have been thrown out the window. Any bird seems to be fair game and if you happen to be anywhere near the firing the best thing to do is duck (scuse the pun), and hope the idiots with guns see you.

There is no doubt about it the recession has hit the CG household, well to be honest we already knew this having been unable to take a holiday this year, but we are now having to count our pennies every month and reduce the little luxuries that we were used to. With the price of petrol being so high running two cars is now proving difficult and it looks as if I will have to sell mine for something smaller and more economical, the problem of course is trying to sell it as everybody is in the same boat. It’s ridiculous really, we are not poor but whenever extra finances are required such as a car needing repair, dogs visiting vets or some other minor issue we suddenly find we are short.

Talking with friends they all seem to agree that living is a struggle at the moment, god knows when its going to get better as our present government hasn’t really got a clue, nor I suspect has the opposition and it’s all a bit worrying. At least I’m not in the position of retiring just yet as the poor old pensioners are finding it a real struggle with savings being non existent. We thankfully do not have any serious credit card debts but we do have a mortgage and the way I look at it is as long as we stay in good health, have food on the table and have a roof over our heads everything else is a bonus.

The fact that I can’t smoke or drink, take my wife on a holiday, go out to restaurant for a slap up meal or am unable to buy motorbike or radio bits, buy a new bed, redecorate the house, have Sky TV, go and see the Yes reunion tour this November or buy expensive Christmas presents for my family does not effect my mental state in the slightest!

Behind the Times

2011-10-06T08:58:00.000Z

I’m sorry have I missed something here?
I realise that Steve Job was famous but am entirely at a loss as to why the BBC has his death as headline news on the radio and the details plastered all over the front pages of their website

The Mayor of New York said “America has lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein”. I cannot see how he can be compared to Edison or Einstein; undoubtedly he was an extremely clever man in designing the Apple computer, but he did not invent the computer nor the internet.

If you asked someone about JH Muller or Charles Babbage or the great Alan Turing would they know who these people were and their contribution to computers? I very much doubt it.

I wonder if Tim Berners-Lee will be hailed in the same way when he departs this earth, (I suspect there will be a few readers "googling" his name to find out who he is)!

Being the cynic that I am, my suspicions are that one of Apple’s greatest successes is its marketing skills and rather like the death of a pop star which then gives rise to huge record sales is the reason why the media coverage is so vast ..........or is it just a generation thing and I am considered to be behind the times?

The Bike Ride

2011-10-03T11:39:00.001Z

Yesterday I did my usual Sunday morning bike ride a nice little jaunt up to Cleeve Hill and as the weather was so good I took the camera along for some pictures. Not brilliant I'm afraid but at least it gives you an idea of where I go and what I get up to.

This is cycling up the lane from the small village of Whittington (not to be confused with my village of Withington) at the start of the climb towards Cleeve Hill, it was around 8am so still failry early in the morning. The sun was shining and already it was getting warm, I could feel the heat on my back and looking down at my shadow gave me the idea of just riding whilst taking the picture!

After climbing for about a mile you are nearly at the top, you follow the lane round to the right and head towards the radar masts which you can just see in the distance and then finally you arrive at the very start of Cleeve Hill common.

Arriving at the radar masts you pop through the old gate and there is the common stretching out for about 3 miles in front of you, the area is covered with sheep who happily munch away and keep the grass closely cut. Right in the distance in the centre of the picture is a single tree that has been growing in that spot for over 50 years, it has withstood many a gale and storm and it's amazing how it continues to grow in such an exposed area.

As I start to cycle towards the edge of Cleeve Hill I get the first views of Cheltenham. This is looking to the west towards the Severn Estuary, on a clear day you would be able to see the Severn bridge, to the right somewhere in the distance and the haze is the Forest of Dean. The trees are known locally as the Seven Sisters, just to the left of them you maybe able to make out Cheltenham racecourse.

After a good ten minute cycle across the common you finally reach the edge of Cleeve Hill and stretched out before you is the Severn valley. In the picture I'm looking out to the west again, there is Cheltenham with Cranham woods in the distance and Leckhampton hill to the left. To the right centre is Cheltenham racecourse and far in the distance beyond the hills and somewhere in the haze is the Severn Estuary.

And looking towards the right in a north easterly direction is Stanway and Snowshill. Evidently if you go east from here the next set of high hills you will reach will be the Ural mountains, not sure if that's true but it sounds wonderful!

Hope you enjoyed the views of my little bike ride.

Rainbow Jerseys and Large Fence Posts

2011-09-26T09:03:00.029Z

I think most readers know I am a keen cyclist, I can’t run any more, the knees won’t take it and I hate the fact that everything wobbles as you run, that’s old age for you! So cycling is my preferred exercise, nice and relaxing and you get to see a bit of the countryside.

I missed the men’s world championships over the weekend but I saw the recorded highlights of Mr Mark Cavendish winning the rainbow jersey, what a feat and what a great team effort. The guy is a brilliant sprinter and has had a fantastic year winning the green jersey in the Tour De France and now to cap it off the Rainbow Jersey; not bad considering the last British world champion was the late Tommy Simpson back in 1965. I do hope that Mark and the whole of the British team are recognised in the BBC sports personality of the year for 2011, but no doubt some sad footballer will once again win!

Turned my hand to a bit of fence building this weekend, one of the main fence posts in our back garden had rotted away and the whole fence complete with gate was very slanted and proving difficult to open. I thought the post an 8ft piece of 6” x 4” would give me no end of problems in taking it out, but it was so rotten that it came out easy enough and it was just a matter of re-digging the hole and concreting in the new post, all done in a day and I didn’t even mess up the magnificent rose bush that sits near to the post....... brilliant!

The weather forecasters have predicted some very warm weather this week so just maybe for a short time we will have an Indian summer. At least I will be able to enjoy this weeks motobike ride to Swindon without having to wrap up with layers of clothing. Of course we must remember it is now officially Autumn and a few leaves are beginning to fall off the trees, not a large amount yet but normally by mid October they have all gone and the garden is bare. I’m no great fan of the winter, I don’t like the cold and I don’t like walking the girls in the wet, give me warm weather anytime. If I ever won the lottery the first thing I’d make sure I did is buy a place somewhere its nice and warm all year round, you’d find me in a hammock swinging gently in the warm breeze with a very large gin and tonic; Well we all have our dreams!

Mrs CG Goes Global

2011-09-20T14:18:00.000Z

I’ve been telling my wife for sometime to try her hand at blogging and at last she has started with the aptly named Ramblings of a Cotswold Woman, where on earth she got the inspiration for that name I’ll never know.

Now don’t go running off and deserting yours truly, but by all means take a look, I think she has the makings of a good blogger, good luck Mrs CG!

3D TVs, Evictions and a Peaceful Farm

2011-09-19T16:20:00.000Z

I thought I had hit the space age when we recently bought a 32” TV; it seemed so large that it dwarfed everything else in the room. But of course I am still way behind in size stakes, my piddly little 32” is nothing compared to the 60” plasma screens that now dominates most sitting room walls!

I’m sorry but I don’t get HD or 3D, HD is supposedly clearer but my telly has a perfectly good picture and why on earth should I pay a load more money for something I can see perfectly well?
3D well that’s a joke as far as I’m concerned, what's the point when I actually wear glasses, can you get 3D prescription glasses? No I don't think so!

I’ve been watching the fun on evicting the travellers from the Dale Farm site. The travellers originally bought small areas of land on this former scrap yard site and initially brought in their caravans but soon began building homes. Unfortunately for them they are on “green belt” land and so do not have planning permission (and I suspect they didn't even apply) and a long legal battle has been waged with the final outcome being that the travellers must now move on. The local council has been preparing to evict everyone but as usual things get a bit messy! Some protesters have encased their arms in barrels of concrete (doh) and other chained themselves to cars etc. Surely the word “traveller” gives it away or am I just being a bit simple?(Stop press; the Human Rights issue has been invoked .....he he)

The final crop of corn has been cut and the farm harvest is now officially completed. The ploughing is almost done and the winter crop has been planted. The big lorries that collected the grain for the past month have all but disappeared and things are returning back to normal. The combine has been put away for another year and the farm hands can be seen busily cleaning off various machines to be stored away for next summer.

The pheasants and ducks have now all grown up and regularly come up to the house only to be chased away by Ella and Izzy. Soon they will realise it’s not a good idea to come up this way as next month the shooting season will start in earnest. Unfortunately dotted on the nearby road are a few dead pheasant laying where motorists have hit them, the drivers don’t seem to have a clue and rarely brake for the birds.

Here’s a picture I took of the last of the swallow chicks just before departing the CG house, after taking the picture I went inside for a quick coffee, by the time I came back out they had all departed, hmm, the autumn is definitely upon us now.

It's About Time I had Another Moan

2011-09-15T09:00:00.001Z

Nowadays I rarely comment on the news, (I get too frustrated!) But here’s something that that really takes the biscuit. The traffic congestion in this country is as we all know absolutely appalling and what does the government come up with to solve the problem, "tougher driving tests more roads to help curb traffic chaos!"

Personally I think it all started due to the narrow-mindedness of the infamous Beeching report in 1963. Back then the railways were in debt up to their necks and the government being fed up with this ongoing crisis came up with some pretty radical ideas. In short Dr Richard Beeching believed that the railways should be a business and not public service and if part of the railway system did not pay its way it should be closed. The then transport minister a conservative called Mr Ernest Marples decided that cutting back the railways was the best way forward believing that the railway system was relics of the Victorian past and that the future lay in roads.

There was of course an outcry with communities who would lose their rail services especially the rural communities who had no other transport. The Government argued that many services could be provided more cheaply by buses and promised that abandoned railway services would have their places taken up by buses. (I don’t actually think there has been a bus service in our area for the past 20 years!) Incidentally try buying a cheap railway ticket, you'll be hard pushed (see transport minister duff comment "railways are a rich mans toy")

At its peak in the 1950s the railway system was around 21000 miles with 6000 stations and by the mid 1970s it was reduced to 12000 miles and 2000 stations. From then on the main transport service in this country was by road. I can remember back in the 70s the roads being pretty busy and wondering what an earth it would be like in the year 2000!

So here we are now traffic chaos everywhere especially all the major cities and what does the government want to do about it? Spend a further £1.2 billion on local transport improvements and give the green light to more than 20 major transport schemes, oh, and improve the driving test so that drivers learn how to curb their tempers in a traffic queue.

Well all I can think is heaven help us if that’s the best they can come up with.
Up to our necks in debt, fighting two wars whilst at the same time cutting defence, unemployment at an all time high, threatened strikes by public sector workers this winter and the threat of another recession hanging over us.
Oh what joy to be a citizen of Great Britain!

..............There, rant over and I feel a little better already.

Stormy Weather

2011-09-12T09:07:00.005Z

I was awoken this morning by the ghostly sound of howling only to realise it was the wind screaming through the small gap of the bedroom window. The storm has been blowing for most of the night and forecasters say it will peak around lunchtime today. It’s the remnants of "Hurricane Katia" which is moving across the northern part of the UK and although very much downgraded it still has a nasty sting in its tail. The reports up in Scotland are that it could reach wind speeds of 80 mph or more and certainly around here although much lower in wind speed its still has some strong gusts and I have taken the precaution of lowering all my radio antenna just in case.

Not sure if it’s just me but autumn seems a lot earlier this year, not so much of a chill but the weather has definitely turned, breezy and rain seem to be in order for the early month of September, it would be nice to think that we could have a bit of an Indian summer but sadly I think we can safely say that has now long gone.

So this weekend I started preparing the garden for its winter sleep by trimming some of the hedges and doing a general tidy up. It’s amazing how much garden rubbish collects over the summer and I now have piles of branches and hedge trimmings ready for a big bonfire, perhaps I’ll wait till the annual bonfire night and we’ll have a bit of a party.

It looks like the swallows have departed for the south, on Friday I saw the chicks that we have seen grow up all through the summer sitting on our guttering busy feeding up for the long journey ahead, but you could almost hear them saying “we’ll be off soon so see you next year” and now they have all disappeared, no doubt struggling through these stormy conditions.

Last night I let the dogs out as usual for the pre bedtime “wee” and there was a bit of a commotion going on so I popped outside to see what all the fuss was. There sitting quietly in the middle of the front garden was a small hedgehog wrapped up in a ball with Ella taking a keen interest while Izzy stayed in the background with a slightly nervous look about her. A quick shout and they moved away and I put them in the back garden to do their business while Mrs CG and I watched the hedgehog; it promptly unwrapped itself and move quickly to the hedgerow to get away from those pesky pups!

Cotswoldgent Tree Felling Service

2011-09-02T12:40:00.002Z

Took this week off and decided to do my tree felling exercise, a simple task to remove one tree, shouldn’t cause too much of a problem, a minor job so to speak. At the same time I thought I would give the other tree a good trim, although we like a bit of shade the whole thing was getting a bit too big.

Today (Friday) I have just completed the task and it took a lot longer than I thought! Just removing the branches and breaking them up took three days, the trunk and other large items were easy with the help of “Matilda” my trusty chain saw.

Anyway as I went along merrily cutting up every thing in sight I took some pictures for you to enjoy……….

Just the start, doesn't look too bad does it?

But look at the branches!

Ella and Izzy get in on the action

At last down to the tree stump

It looks a little different!

The wood is cut up and stored away!

Ronnie Rod and Keith

2011-08-26T12:08:00.003Z

While trawling through YouTube I found this great tune sung by Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart with a little guitar help from Keith!

The Faces were a brilliant band and from what I hear their reunion tour has gone really well, evidently the Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall has by all accounts easily fitted in to the band and they have had a sell out tour.
If you ever wanted to hear Keith sing take a look at this. A lot of people think Keith could never sing in tune, a certain M Jagger comes to mind, but listening to this he isn't bad!

If you ever get the chance have a listen to Ronnie Wood's radio show on a Saturday night 10pm, (Absolute Radio). He plays some fabulous music and is very knowledgeable on blues and rock & roll plus he is an excellent entertainer especially when telling stories of the good old days. It's on the internet for all overseas readers, just find Absolute radio.

More Hounds and a Bit of Tree Chopping

2011-08-22T12:37:00.001Z

The local hounds have suddenly realised that an early morning visit to the CG household can be quite fun. This morning whilst pulling out the motorbike from the shed in preparation for my weekly visit to Swindon, I heard shouting from the road and took a look round the front of the house to see what all the fuss was. There in front garden were at least 15 hounds happily sniffing away without a care in the world, and when I said “Hello” they all ran over to greet me, I was surrounded by these huge dogs all wagging their tails pleased as punch. The poor old warden came rushing down the track but relaxed when he realised I was none too bothered and we had a quick chat while he slowly gathered up the dogs.

There are still many fields full of corn yet to be harvested and not just on our farm, on my cycle ride over the weekend I passed loads of fields still waiting to be cut. The problem is that we had such a dry spring that there was a stage where some of the corn had ripened early, then when the good weather broke seed from the ripened corn caused a secondary growth, so that there was corn ready to be cut but mixed in with green corn that was still growing. The only way round this is to delay the cut as late as possible giving time for the growing corn to catch up. Of course you now have to take in to account the weather is beginning to turn, but hopefully over the next few weeks there should be a gap so that the combine can complete its work.

Next week I’m taking a break from work and one of the jobs I’ve decided to tackle is to cut down one of the trees in the front garden. There are two trees in the front which grow close together and the larger one nearer to the house is winning the battle. However through shadowing the branches on one side are very small so it’s rather lopsided. To compensate this I’m going to cut the smaller tree down, this way with more light the remaining tree should have more room to spread and become less one sided. The other good news is that we can use the felled tree for firewood and save a bundle on buying any logs this winter.

The Change

2011-08-19T08:45:00.000Z

There’s no doubt about it, I can confirm as you get older time seems to go by far too quickly. The first mists have arrived in the valley, which means that autumn is just around the corner! Every year around late August these early morning mists begin to cover the river and it’s always the first sign of the temperature change. Yesterday it rained all day but the difference was it had that slight chilly feeling, it’s strange, if I had still been living in town I would not have noticed anything, but living out in the sticks the seasonal changes are much more apparent.

The Early Morning Mist

The ploughing has also begun another sign that things are on the change. There are a few fields of corn left but the main bulk was completed last week and by all accounts the farm manager seems pleased with this years crop. For the past few years the harvest has not been so good so it’s nice to see that things have gone reasonably well this summer.

The Ploughing has Begun

The Harvest Continues

2011-08-15T08:56:00.004Z

The Farm is now running in overload as the harvest is in full swing. Tractors and equipment can be seen coming past the house every half hour either racing off to the combine or returning with a trailer full of grain. Once the combine has completed its work it moves on to the next field and the tractor and baler take over, rushing up and down the lanes of hay picking up the straw and producing large bales to be collected and stored. The workers will carry on no matter the time of day unless of course it rains, the CB radio buzzes with the sounds of the workers reporting back the dew levels and weight of each trailer full of grain, no doubt calculating the prices for each ton they harvest.

Outside the house the cars are covered in dust from the vehicles rushing in and out of the farm track and there is no point in trying to clean them as the dust will return within minutes, it’s all part o the fun of living on a farm!

With the farm being so busy you have to take extra care, vehicles are rushing around at speed and you have to have eyes in the back of your head, as I walked with girls through the farm yesterday morning it crossed my mind that I really should put the girl on their leads but in the end thought better of it and skirted around the edge of the buildings.

It wasn’t till the evening that we heard some very sad news that our little friend Trigger was killed on Friday. An unfortunate accident but made even sadder by the fact that the owner of Trigger was driving the tractor. The poor chap was heartbroken and everyone feels so sorry for him. It was one of those things that can happen and you just have to remember that little Trigger had a wonderful life. He was a real character that used to cheekily trot up to the house from the farm knowing that he would always get a quick snack from Mrs CG and if he ever wanted a bit of piece and quiet he could snuggle down in one of the girls’ beds for a quick nap. I shall miss young Trigger!

Young Trigger on one of his many visits to the CGs

The Conversation Over Supper

2011-08-10T09:32:00.000Z

Over supper with Mrs CG last night the conversation naturally turned to the riots and how we both found it difficult to understand the mentality of these people.

Watching the news and reading the press there is no question that the trouble in London was started by the death of Mark Duggan who was shot by the police whilst having a loaded firearm in his possession.
The locals in Tottenham were angry and began protesting, this quickly spread from a small rabble to a riot which via twitter and other networks grew across the city with people suddenly realising that they could make a quick buck by causing mayhem, breaking and entering, grabbing and stealing whatever they could while the situation remained out of control.

Most of the rioters were young people, many were gang members coming in to the city from their particular area to join in the fun, calling a truce with other gangs realising that they could make a huge killing from thieving and generally having a go at the police. The police had little chance of stopping the riots because they were outnumbered and had no intelligence that this was going to kick off. Others were opportunists taking advantage of the situation, happily joining in to loot what they could whilst the police were caught off guard.
Outside of London in other urban areas you could almost feel the tension rising with other easily influenced members of society thinking “hey we could do this here”.

No doubt the politicians and media will like always try to find some particular reason that has created this mess but in all honesty I think it was just a series of events that came together at the right time to cause this horrendous criminal act. The fact of the matter is if it had been pouring down with rain or in the middle of winter I doubt very much that this would have happened.

Interestingly Mrs CG and I agreed that a number of "today’s young people" have very little respect for society, they are more interested in a quick rich/success rather than in hard work. With most young people idolising multi millionaire footballers or TV celebrities who as role models show little respect themselves and believe they can do whatever they want without consequence. Gone are the days when you treated your elders with respect and dignity, I remember until my teens I was in awe of my father and whatever he said or asked I would do without question, he was my role model, he taught me right from wrong and if I was out of order I was punished.

Sadly this does not seem to be happening any more, the old family unit is no more, rarely does a family sit down to a meal together or just sit down and talk and some parents cannot be bothered to keep an eye on their children, half the time they are unaware of what their offspring get up to. Rightly or wrongly society seems to happily accept this situation with one parent families on the rise and money freely available should you have no inclination to work. A sad state of affairs indeed with little prospect of things getting any better.

Finally again my personal opinion which is I know is very unlikely to be realised, I would be to bring back National Service. Teach the younger generation a trade and more importantly discipline and respect but it won’t ever happen, politicians are too frightened!

Hunting Dogs and Apple Crumble

2011-08-08T08:05:00.003Z

Walking the dogs up by Compton Abdale over the weekend, a huge combine harvester was busy cutting the rape seed, by the time I had completed my usual round trip the beast had devoured most of one very large field. It was a pretty impressive sight, compared to the combine on the farm this machine was a monster but as the owner is a large contractor and is being paid by Lord Vestey I suspect money is not a problem. Down at the farm to cut a similar field would have probably taken most of the morning!

All must be well with the game keeper as every time I pass him he now smiles and gives me a wave, the only thing we are doing is keeping the girls away from the pheasant chicks but I guess that’s enough to keep him happy, no doubt something will happen to upset him but to be honest I’ve had enough of arguing and am quite happy to keep away, I must be mellowing in my old age.

This morning as I sipped my cup of coffee and ambled round the garden inspecting the apple trees I was suddenly aware I wasn’t alone, glancing behind me there were five large hounds giving me the once over, I was nervously wondering whether they were going to eat me or just being nosey, thankfully they were quite friendly and came right up to me to have a sniff and a pat until there was a loud “oi” from the other side of the fence as the huntsman called them to heel, very obediently off they went with tails wagging.

The reason I was inspecting the apple trees was that we had apple crumble last night, amazingly some of the apples are ready to be picked so as we had been invited over to the sister in laws for supper Mrs CG did a bit of baking.
Yum, I could eat apple pie everyday!

Pheasants Ducklings and a Bad Back

2011-08-01T09:17:00.000Z

The pheasant and duck chicks arrived last week, I am aware of this because Ella and Izzy introduced themselves to the ducklings!

The other day whilst doing the usual walk down the farm the girls went walkabout and as per usual thought nothing of it and settled down to wait for them. Ten minutes later and there was no sign of them so I decided I’d better start searching and after wandering around for a further five minutes I began to hear the mad quacking of ducks and knew something was up so headed towards the noise.

Eventually I found the girls trawling around in a very dirty pond chasing about twenty ducks who were floating in the centre of the pond in a panic, they were swimming around in a large group and quickly getting out of the way whenever Ella or Izzy tried to lunge for them. Luckily I had the electric collar on Izzy so quickly got her to come back to me but Ella took a little more persuasion and shouting before she realised that there was no way she was gong to catch one of these ducklings and came to me of her own accord. Both dogs were worn out and thankfully after a quick search no ducks seem to be harmed.

As we walked back to the house via the farm who should turn up in his little buggy but the gamekeeper, thankfully he did not go down to the pond to check his beloved ducks so we managed to get away with it!
A few days later Mrs CG told me she’d seen the gamekeeper on his buggy with a large trailer in tow full of pheasant chicks, so we had the confirmation and there was no chance I was letting the girls near the farm for at least three weeks until those chicks have grown up a bit and more importantly can fly off should they be chased.

I was playing construction man over this weekend putting up a new mast for my radio hobby. In between running up and down a ladder removing and assembling various bits of mast I have managed to do something to my back. I now have a constant dull ache at the base of my spine and attempting to extract myself out of a chair or trying to get in and out of the car has become a new and painful experience; god I really do hate getting old!

CG's comment on Badger Culling

2011-07-21T08:27:00.001Z

Whilst the hacking scandal has been taking up the majority of the headlines it’s been an excellent smoke screen for those who wish to announce bad news.
The Badger culling in the South West of England is a prime example.

My Father who was a vet was convinced that badgers were one of the main sources of the spreading Bovine TB in cattle and although he may have been right (although many scientists disagree), I still don’t understand why you have to kill a load of badgers to control the disease.

Since living in the countryside for the past eight years my eyes have been opened with regard to seeing first hand how barbaric some gamekeepers, farmers and landowners can be and I am totally against it.
Why fox hunting and pheasant shooting is considered a sport is completely beyond me, the excuse for foxes of course is that they kill chickens, well my answer to that is if hunters used all the money they spent on shot guns and bullets to protect their chickens with proper fencing correctly fitted, the foxes could not get in to the pens unless of course they wear bright pink underpants and a cape!

Whilst I accept there is a possibility that badgers do spread the disease, what about other animals like rats, squirrels, boar and deer do they not also spread disease? In this day and age surely you can protect cattle by inoculations or for that matter by introducing some vaccine by ingestion to the badgers?

Once again the Human race driven by profit rather than common sense believes itself to be the only species that matters and all others can go to hell; I for one will be with the anti culling campaigners especially around the county of Gloucestershire.

On a slightly different note, opening the front door of my house this morning I had to do a double take, there in the front garden were four very large hounds from the local hunt sniffing around in the front garden, compared to Ella and Izzy those are big hounds!

Shed Talk

2011-07-20T09:05:00.002Z

Although I am in the envious position by “man” standards of having four sheds they are all but one sadly deteriorating fast. My main tool shed which is approximately 10 x 20’ is built upon old railway sleepers which means there are large gaps underneath the floor, plenty of room for rats to use as their home!

Consequently rats, squirrels and birds get up in the walls and then in to the ceiling nestling within the insulation causing all sorts of havoc. Last year I had to repair one side of the main shed which needed raising back up due to the rats destroying part of the base and already this year I have noticed rat droppings on the floor and on the odd occasion heard them running around in the ceiling!

So I have decided to do another rat purge and will lay traps surrounding the shed, hopefully this will reduce the numbers and at least lengthen the lifespan of the tool shed for another year or so. The eventual plan is to knock down all three sheds and lay a proper concrete base and build one large unit, free from all animal infestations!

Tractors towing various pieces of machinery continue to run up and down the farm drive like large insects returning to their hive. So I am told the bailing and mulching is progressing nicely and they should have a good stock this year. I see the combine harvester has been brought out for its annual service which means within a few weeks once the corn has turned the large beast will start its great tour of the corn and barley fields.

This is when the farm goes mad and the work day gets longer and longer. Sometimes if the weather is fair the farm workers will not stop and will go through the night in their urgency to gathering in the harvest. The odd night Mrs CG and I will be awoken by the sound of machinery passing by or the girls howling wondering what all the noise is when all should be still.

Its part of living out in the country and in some masochistic way I actually really enjoy it.

A Quick Comment

2011-07-19T07:59:00.009Z

Naturally like most I am horrified about the phone hacking of Millie Dowler, but to be honest nothing surprises me with the British press. I seem to remember not too long ago before mobile phones, reporters could be found rummaging in peoples bins or on the odd occasion breaking and entering premises just to get a story.

The politicians and police have always had relationships with the press simply because the press holds very strong power strings and eventually when this hacking stuff has died down I honestly don’t think much will change.

But what I just can’t understand is that we are currently involved in two wars, both which we are extremely unlikely to win and which is costing lives. The British military is facing massive cuts and this country is in its biggest financial crisis since the world war.
Yet politicians are concentrating on a phone hacking scandal, and being very cynical it’s more because they are likely to gain political power over their rivals and settle some old scores.
As the great Victor Meldrew would say “I simply don’t believe it!”

Le Tour!

2011-07-11T07:57:00.004Z

Once again it’s That time of year for the Le Tour in which over a hundred professional cyclists pedal around France at high speed.

Being a keen cyclist I am a great follower of the race and am full of admiration to those guys who ride a daily average of 130km over the undulating and mountainous regions of France and face a continuous barrage of dangers either from the weather, other riders or in this case some idiot in a car. Yesterday a French TV report team tried to overtake the leading five riders but made a complete hash of it by swerving to avoid a tree and instead taking out two of the riders who by all accounts are very lucky to have survived.

Sitting watching the event yesterday in open mouthed horror I actually thought that one of the poor riders who was thrown off his bike and hit a barbed wire fence would never walk again such was the force of impact. But both riders received roadside medical attention and remounted their bikes to ride a further 20km to the finish. Whether they continue the Tour is another matter but today is a rest day, so knowing how tough these guys are they may just manage it.

The driver of the car and his TV team have been thrown off the Tour in disgrace, hopefully some new rules will come in to place to stop this madness from happening again. Yesterday 12 riders retired from the race not through exhaustion or fatigue but all through some sort of accident. Two of the 12 riders had broken bones and the rest from serious cuts and bruises.
No wonder they call it one of the hardest races in the world!

Netherland's Johnny Hoogerland in the barbed-wire after he crashed at the side of the road with Spain's Juan Antonio Flecha during the 208 km and ninth stage of the Tour

A Quick Catch Up

2011-07-06T10:13:00.001Z

Had a break from work last week and so took it easy but still managed to re-decorate the sitting room. We didn’t go beserk and try any radical colours, just kept everything pretty well the same, but a lick of paint does make a hell of a difference. We also changed the room around and splashed out on a bigger telly which is a 32”, it’s amazing when you get a bit of modern technology, I feel like I’m at the cinema, no doubt over time I will get used to it but it does feel rather strange.

Typically whilst stuck indoors decorating the weather was dry and warm so the farm is very busy at the moment with all the hay making. The grass meadows have all been cut and it’s a marvel to watch the Farm hands at work, in a morning they can cut and bale a couple of fields with no problem. However with so much machinery spinning away a lot of the time something will inevitably break down either through wear and tear or hitting some obstacle in the ground and when walking through the farm with the dogs there will always be someone busy fixing something.

The barley has now turned a rich golden colour and is nearly ready for harvesting, the corn has still to turn but I would suspect within another two weeks it will also be ready for cutting. There is no sign of the pheasant chicks arriving just yet but it can’t be too long now and we will have to alter our walks to keep the girls away from them. I hear through the grapevine that this could be the Gamekeepers last year with the pheasants, evidently he suffers from severe back pain and being an ex jockey no doubt this was caused by some fall. The farm boys tell me he’s not a well man and I know we have had our arguments but I certainly don’t wish him ill health.

Over the weekend it was my mother’s eighty fifth birthday and he we had a great family get together. Unknown to my mother nieces and nephews flew in from Australia and surprised her on the day; I haven’t seen so many tears for a long time, all my sisters, mother and nieces crying their eyes out, quite emotional!

Festival Time

2011-06-18T17:48:00.000Z

I watched a programme last night called "Festival Britannia" basically the story of how it all started and progressed to what it is today.

Interestingly the 2000 Trees festival is soon upon us, sited just down the road it's well worth a visit, a nice atmosphere with some good bands.

The programme brought back some memories of early Glastonbury etc and it was also the time I was first introduced to Hawkwind.
Back in the 70s Hawkwind appeared at the town hall Cheltenham, certain friends of mine will probably remember our visit there.

It was a great concert especially as it was one of the first "real" rock concerts I went to, it's probably why I remember it so well, standing right at the front of the stage rocking away and of course gawking at the lovely Stacia (the Hawkind Go Go dancer) dancing semi naked in front of our open mouthed spotty faces!

Enjoy:- Master of the Universe
And a particularly good version We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago

RIP the Bonneville and the Great TV Switch

2011-06-13T09:01:00.000Z

My beloved Bonneville “Annabelle” was sold last week, although I was rather sad at seeing her ride off down the road without me it was basically an offer I couldn’t refuse and she’s gone to a good home where she will be treated to the high life, a heated garage and more attention than I had been giving her recently!

Well I can’t see anyone complaining about water shortage around the South West anymore, it absolutely poured down with rain over the weekend and when the farmer passed me by yesterday for once he had a great big smile on his face.

With the heavy rain over the weekend I decided to do a bit of DIY with regard to our television situation. We have three TVs, one in the sitting room, one in the kitchen and one upstairs in the bedroom. Now that the digital age is upon us and we lucky people have been “digitalized” the gent household should be receiving top notch quality pictures. But sadly this is not the case and frequently the TVs freeze or blacks out altogether, which can prove most infuriating especially if Mrs Gent is watching her beloved soaps.
Last week shouts and noises could be heard coming from the kitchen about the “bloody TV” etc and so I realised I’d better do something quick so that sanity could return to our peaceful neck of the woods.

This is where ham radio geekness comes in to its own and I was able to switch our tellies from receiving off the TV antennas to the sky satellite dish. Since cancelling sky (a complete waste of money) and as my mate says, “I refuse to pay that git Murdoch any money”, the TV in the sitting room has been getting Satview which is free. So with a bit of ingenuity and cabling I have added the other two telly’s to the sky dish and hopefully we will now be able to get good clear pictures without any major interference. It did cost me a new Sat box for the kitchen but for peace of mind and knowing that Mrs CG can now happily watch her soaps interference free I feel it was worth it!

Walking down by the woods yesterday the river was at last beginning to fill up and Ella and Izzy were shocked to find that their little paddling areas were now rather deep ponds. Their short Labrador legs could hardly touch the bottom and they were doggy paddling around literally trying to find their feet, it was all very funny to watch.

Ella has become quite well trained since having a few weeks with the electric collar and she now comes to me whenever I call her which I’m rather relieved with as we have a fair few sheep nearby and I had nightmares of her chasing them. Izzy on the other hand is still a bit of a mischief and will happily wonder off if she thinks I’m not looking. Thankfully we have a dummy collar as well as the live and obviously the dogs don’t have a clue which is which, so now I have switched and Izzy has the live collar and at last it is beginning to dawn on her that I can zap her if she runs off!

Note to all animal lovers: (No animals were harmed during this exercise!)

Rain Cuckoos and Hedgehogs

2011-06-06T09:20:00.004Z

Well the dry period is well and truly over as it rained all weekend which means our summer is probably over! The corn and barley is now shooting up in the surrounding fields and when walking towards the farm the dogs take great delight disappearing in each field trying to track and chase each other and any other form of wildlife that might get in their way.

I did manage to get out on Saturday morning for a quick ride on one of the motorbikes before the deluge, the reason being that I have decided to sell the Bonneville and I thought it would be nice to give it a run especially as I might not have it for much longer. It’s a shame but I can’t ride two bikes at once and more importantly we really could do with the cash! It’s now advertised on various sites so I’ve got to keep it clean and tidy in case I get a quick visit from a prospective buyer.

Heard my first cuckoo this year which I think is a bit late, normally they can be heard in May, but it’s such a rarity to hear one nowadays that I had to do a second take just to make sure I heard correctly. I haven’t actually seen a cuckoo for about 3 years and from what I gather they are unfortunately very much a rare breed now. It seems hedgehogs are also quite a rarity, watching a wildlife program the other day they were saying that because of the way more and more homes are enclosing their property with wire and wooden fencing the hedgehogs cannot wonderer as they used to. Evidently they can happily travel up to a mile a night scavenging for their favourite food of slugs and worms.

Somebody has come up with the idea that if everyone helped by making small holes in their fences it might allow the hedgehogs to roam freely once again and help boost up the population. They certainly have no problem roaming around my garden but if Ella or Izzy see them they have to roll up quickly!

The crow chicks that have woken us up very early each morning for the past month have finally fledged from their nest in the chimneys. We have two chimneys that are not used and each year the crows return to raise their young. I missed the first set fledge but while working in the shed the other day I heard an almighty racket going on and looked up to see all the young popping out from one stack, beating their wings in mad desperation trying to keep aloft, it was amazing to see how quickly they take to flight and disappear with their parents off towards the nearby woods.

Gales Swallows and Ticks

2011-05-31T15:11:00.000Z

Although it’s the end of May it doesn’t much feel like summer, most mornings there has been a cold chill and since the dry spell a few weeks back we have been getting lots of gales and a small amount of rain. The gales have played havoc with my newly erected radio antenna, which is up at around 30’, it could be seen merrily swinging in the 40mph gusts but thankfully (god knows how), it managed to hold firm. Let’s hope June is a little warmer!

The weather doesn’t seem to put the swallows off who are nesting in the eves of the house roof. I have a grandstand view when upstairs doing my morse code. Glancing out of the window while tapping away on the key I can see them hurling themselves towards me and then at the last moment they sweep up and slip in between the guttering and the roof. The chicks then chatter away like little mad things presumably begging for food, all great stuff.

It’s all quiet on the farm at the moment, a little spraying and grass cutting but otherwise the farm hands are servicing all the machinery ready for the harvest later in the year. New equipment has been arriving in the shape bailers and a melcher and they have been thoroughly inspected and lovingly toyed with by the farmer, I’m not surprised as these things are not cheap evidently a bailer is around £30,000!

I have to be careful when walking the dogs on the farm as I have seen a couple of baby deer with their mothers near to the river. During the early weeks the deer hide their young in the long grass and it’s easy to accidentally come across them. This happened a few years ago with our pointer Fenja and unfortunately she killed the baby. Although the labs are not nearly as ferocious as Fenny, they would be too inquisitive and might attack out of fear so it’s probably best to keep away.

With the dogs in mind, I have become a bit of a “tick removal expert,” having removed two off Ella in the past week, horrid little blood sucking creatures that cling on to the skin with one hell of a grip, but the knack to removing them is pulling and twisting at the same time and they come off with a satisfying click. Doesn’t seem to hurt the girls but does leave a slight swelling for about 24 hrs. What was more worrying was that the other day I found one of these horrid things on the bed, thankfully it was dead, but do they go for humans?

The Morning Walk

2011-05-09T09:08:00.002Z

A slightly different take this week, over the weekend the rain at last fell and we had thunderstorms and downpours that any farmer would be proud of.

Sunday morning I took the dogs out as usual around the farm but decided to take the picture machine with me so that you could see the beautiful area that we are lucky to call home.

The first picture is the just leaving the house and entering the entrance to the farm Ella and Izzy like to pretend they are sheep and have a chew on the barley sprouts!

This is the track down to the barns, one side is barley the other is corn, all early days yet but no doubt with all the rain the shoots will start to speed up in growth.

Now on the other side of the farm buildings we head towards the old railway track, I think Ella decided to have a sit down after all the running around the farm, so many smells to investigate!

We arrive at the old railway track and there are puddles everywhere, the cow slips are all in bloom and although wet it's very pretty.

Further along the track there is a great big puddle that always appears after a good shower, Ella and Izzy love to have a dip and a quick sip before moving on to see if they can locate any wildlife to chase.

Past the puddles we enter the overgrown arrear of the railway; hawthorn and cowslips are plenty and the sun was beginning to break through and made everything look very picturesque.

Up towards the old railway bridge a large hawthorne is bent under the weight of the morning rain, rabbits normally run round here, but I think this morning they heard the dogs coming from a long way off.

Sorry the hawthorne was so pretty I took another picture, I just love this time of year!

Beyond the railway bridge is a small badger set which up to a few weeks ago was lived in, but recently I haven't seen much signs of life and the gamekeeper has definitely been snooping around, so I wondering if he has moved them on?

Ella has a good look and sniff at the set entrance but soon gave up which is a pretty good sign that its been deserted, however you can still see some old grass that has been shoved out of the set, badgers like to change their bedding regularly.

Before leaving the railway track we come across an opening to one of the many rape seed fields which is flowering nicely. These will be left until all the flowers have dropped and the plant literally begins to rot before it's all harvested.

Away from the railway track we turn left in to one of the meadows and begin to head back towards the river, across the valley in the distance is a training area for race horses and in the foreground meandering around the trees is the river Colne.

This is the old owl tree, every year a barn owl nests here and sometime early in the morning Mrs CG and I come down to watch the owl quietly swoop over the meadow hunting for food. Today we were rather late and of course having the girls running around would certainly put off any owls from flying nearby!

Ella checks out the river and takes a well earned drink, the girls love the water and happily take a dip whether its rain or shine, meanwhile out of picture Izzy had found something horrid and was busy chewing away.......typical labs.

Further down the path I spy a pheasant egg, these are regularly dotted around the path and I guess either a fox or some other creature has pinched them and taken a quick snack.

More investigating around the reeds, the girls love it round here as the wildlife tries to hide in the long grass but not much gets by the girls and if there is a pheasant or a rabbit they will have some fun chasing them all over the meadow.

Crossing the river we begin to head back towards the railway, the bridge is an old iron girder which isn't too safe but if you watch your step and tread delicately it's normally pretty safe...... well I haven't fallen in yet!

The river still looks pretty low and I think we could do with some more rain, the forcast for this week is a mixture of showers and sun, good growing weather.

And so back along the railway, turn right and on to the farm track heading towards the barns, home for coffee and a rest, hope you enjoyed the walk!

Rooks and Swallows

2011-05-04T09:36:00.000Z

The dry weather continues, evidently in was one of the driest Aprils on record and from speaking with the farm manager he is now very worried as his crops are in a desperate need of some rain. As the tractors pass along the track just outside the house everything is now covered in dust and I have given up on washing the cars as it is completely pointless. The grass in the garden is beginning to turn yellow and it doesn’t help when you have two young dogs running all over it kicking up the dry soil, it’s certainly looking more like a dust bowl than a typical English country garden! However the forecast for the weekend is rain so hopefully we will get a good downpour, then the farmer will be happy and my garden might just start to look a little better.

The Rooks are once again nesting in our chimney pots and although I’m not too bothered by this as they seem to know which of the pots are not actually used; it’s the noise of the chicks first thing in the morning that drives me nuts. I’ll have to remind myself once the chicks have fledged to cover each chimney pot with some mesh for next year.

My antenna antics for ham radio have continued and I have made myself a Cobweb antenna which looks rather like one of those cobweb washing lines. Mrs CG is very amused at my goings on and has great fun in taking the mick but hopefully once the antenna is completed I can take all the other wires that hang all over the garden which even I accept are somewhat over the top!

With the good weather there is plenty of wildlife to be seen down on the farm and every time I walk with Ella and Izzy we always see something of interest. The deer are well trained with regards to the dogs and as soon as they pick up our scent they are off in to the woods hotly pursued by the girls. God knows what would happen if the girls actually got near to one of them, could be very interesting. Although Izzy did catch a hare last week but I think it was either very old or sick, normally hares will easily outrun the girls but this one just didn’t bother.

The swallows have now arrived in great numbers and last weekend as I was playing with the girls in the garden I could see both swifts and swallows hovering in the strong wind and then swooping low over the fields feeding off the many insects. If you pass quietly by the barns on the farm and glance up you can see them building their nests high up in the eaves of the roofs, it’s an amazing sight as they shoot in to the barns at high speed and then zip back out in to the open.

Finally one evening last week sitting on the bench sipping my Crabbies ginger beers (lovely stuff), just as the sun was setting, I spotted my old friend “Bertie” the bat whizzing over the front garden busy catching moths, it’s a sure sign that summer is just round the corner.

Rubbish and Royal Weddings

2011-04-19T08:24:00.001Z

I think I’ve said before that although I live in the middle of nowhere it’s very rare that I see a fox, mainly because the gamekeeper happily shoots them whenever he gets the chance. Yesterday lunchtime whilst taking a break from work I was walking through a busy residential area, mind in neutral and on auto pilot when to my amazement a large fox ran out not 10 yards in front of me with what seemed to be a carton of French fries firmly held in its mouth, no doubt nicked from the area near the local chip shop, there’s no doubt that there are more foxes living in residential areas than out in the country and when you realise what they can get to eat you can see why.

Driving to work I have noticed more and more areas where people have dumped rubbish, I don’t understand why they do this. It’s not a huge amount of rubbish, more a couple of barrow loads, anything from old TVs to bricks and mortar. In some cases it would be far easier just to take it to the local dump instead of sneaking out to the middle of the countryside and dumping it in the middle of some field, very strange! But I guess if you have to pay to get rid of your rubbish people will go to extraordinary lengths.

The weather remains very warm for this time of year and it’s a real delight to see the blossom beginning to appear on the trees. My new patch of grass is growing well except for a small area of banking which is either because it’s in the shade, or more likely because the birds have realised that they can happily swoop down and have a good meal of grass seed. The farmer is naturally none too happy as his crops badly need the rain, but I suspect sooner or later the weather will break and he will then be complaining of too much rain.

With Easter fast approaching and the “Royal Wedding” only weeks away, most of the UK looks as if they will have a week’s holiday. Businesses don’t seem too happy but there is little they can do, certainly the company I work for will only have a skeleton crew rather like the Christmas period and they are busy calculating how much money they are likely to lose. The “Royal Wedding” is beginning to take over the media and will dramatically reach a crescendo next week. Already papers are printing “Royal supplements” and guessing what the bride will be wearing and who is designing the dress. With the likelihood of good weather London will be heaving as crowds of people head towards the capital to watch the big event. No doubt like others I will watch some of it on TV, but I have to be honest and say I’m not putting myself out to watch the ceremony, the highlights will go on for weeks so I’m certainly not likely to miss out on anything.

The same thing is likely to happen for the Olympics next year, already the media have started the countdown and the population of the capital is likely to swell to ridiculous proportions over the Olympic period. I’m told that most hotels are already booked up and prices for any spare accommodation have increased tenfold. Some of the clever clogs are already putting their homes up for rent and wisely using the deposit to book a nice holiday abroad!

A Grand Send Off

2011-04-14T15:20:00.002Z

I went to a funeral on Tuesday, always a difficult occasion especially when it’s a close family friend. However, Tuesday was a lovely day weather-wise and this particular funeral was set in a delightful small country church. The church was brimming with friends and relatives all squeezed in tightly and the atmosphere although tinted with sadness was very light.

I’m not a religious person but when you have a gathering such as a funeral I find I am always swept away with the emotion of the event. Having seen my father after he passed away I am certain that there is something after life. When I looked down at him just after he had died I was looking at an empty shell, whatever you like to call it, the soul or spark had disappeared. A few years on and sometimes I get the distinct feeling he’s watching me, call it what you will, another dimension of space or time, ghosts, I don’t know, but I’ve definitely had that feeling. As we sang the final verse of the last hymn I had a similar feeling that someone was watching us all.

The service was short and to the point and the coffin draped in flowers was carried out to a glorious horse and carriage, nothing too ostentatious, a simple dark carriage lightly decorated led by two horsed with the black feathered fans rising above their heads. Even I have to admit it was a splendid way to be carried to your grave.

Izzy has an eye infection, nothing too serious that a quick visit to the vets couldn’t sort. But it’s now very apparent that the girls know the vets and do not like the visit, especially when entering the examination area. Both girls where hiding behind myself and Mrs CG while the vet tried to take a look at their eyes. Thankfully some eye drops was all that was prescribed and twenty four hours later Izzy seems to be recovering well.

Great Weather for Gardening

2011-04-11T12:56:00.000Z

The grass seed I planted earlier is finally beginning to appear, hopefully by the end of this month it will have grown enough so that I can remove the protective fencing and let the dogs run over it. There is the odd patch that refuses to grow so I have reseeded and fingers crossed this will all be completed by the end of the month.

The weather is unusually warm for this time of the year and everything is beginning to grow, I even managed to do some essential gardening and mow the lawn in between sitting out in the sun drinking ginger beer! (All very Enid Blyton)! Although a lack of rainfall has got the farmer already moaning about his crops, he reckons he needs a good few days of solid showers to catch up.

The central heating has been turned off and the wood burner cleaned out, the fireguard has been folded up placed in the attic. No doubt there will be the odd cold day but I think spring has well and truly arrived. As the weather has been so good I unlocked the motorbike shed and brought out both bikes which had been hidden away over the winter. The Triumph Bonneville got a good clean and I started her up ready for her annual MOT. I hardly rode the bike last year and I’m wondering whether I should really let her go to someone who will use her properly instead of the odd gallivant down the road every now and then. Besides I could do with the money and as the old saying goes “you can’t ride two bikes at once”.

On the Sunday morning cycle ride I saw my first swallow for this year, skimming low and fast over the fields, quickly followed by a woodpecker tapping away in a nearby tree. I just have to hear a cuckoo now and I’ll know summer is well and truly round the corner.

Spring is on the Way

2011-03-28T10:45:00.001Z

Took some time out from the blog as I was beginning to get writers block, so I thought a rest might solve the problem!

So what’s been happening? Well it’s definitely beginning to feel like spring with the weather over past week being very warm for the time of the year; the Daffodils are coming out in all their glory and although the garden still looks like a bomb site thanks to my two girlies, at least we have a splash of colour between the pot holes and the twigs and rocks spread all over the lawn!

There are a surprising amount of pheasants who survived the winter shoot and they can be seen all over the farm with the occasional brave one risking a visit in to the garden to have a delicate peck at the birdseed which falls from the bird table. Izzy and Ella can be seen glued to the sitting room window when this happens, licking their lips in desperation and whining at Mrs CG begging to be let out to chase the poor bird.

If it’s not the pheasants then it’s the next door cat “Bosley” who will deliberately sit on the window sill and stare at the dogs knowing full well they can’t touch him. Both dogs will climb up on to the inside window sill and try to sniff "Bosley" I think more inquisitively than aggressively but it’s very funny to watch with the cat having that typical air of arrogance that all cats posses.

I have been walking the girls down the farm risking the fact that Ella is still in cruise missile mode whenever the mood takes her. Anything that moves is investigated by both dogs in a frantic boost of energy, the deer have now realised that there are two loonies who race around the woods around midday on a Saturday and Sunday and have become extra vigilant. Hares can be seen in the meadow next to the river running around as if their tails are on fire, occasionally springing up against each other as if dancing or practising some kind of weird martial art. As a precaution I have introduced Ella to the “collar,” the electrical device is used when all else fails and a short zap gets her to return to me at a remarkable speed. However I’m not the mad dog owner who zaps her just on a whim, there is also a buzzer with the idea that you call her and if she ignores this you press the buzz button, if this fails then you give her a short sharp zap. She is already beginning to realise that when she hears the buzzer she returns back to me.

Yesterday while out walking I lost both the girls for about five minutes, I eventually found them nervously sniffing at something on the ground and on closer investigation I saw it was a badger. Unfortunately it was in some kind a coma, definitely very sick and certainly dying; there was little I could do except gather the dogs and walk away. At least the girls had not tried to attack it which could have been very nasty especially with the constant threat of Badgers and TB I think I was quite lucky that the girls had not done anything stupid.

The farm is beginning to get busy and most if not all the surrounding fields have been planted and the first signs of barley and wheat are sprouting through the ground. I have decided to shorten the flower bed in the front garden and to grass it over; mainly so the dogs have a passage way instead of running across the bed. I managed to pinch some soil from the ploughed field at the back of the house last week and have lain down some grass seed, but on closer inspection this morning as yet no grass buds, but I can see what seems to be wheat shoots popping up…….. oops!

Woodpeckers and Garden Banks

2011-02-21T13:17:00.000Z

Cycling up the steep hill past Lord Vestey’s mansion yesterday morning, I heard my first woodpecker merrily tapping away on some tree within the estate. Glancing over the high boundary wall hopefully for a sight of the bird I was greeted instead by the wonderful sight of snowdrops spread out across beautifully manicured lawns stretching all the way to one of the vast buildings in the distance.

Vestey’s place (Stowell Park) is huge; it is some 6000 acres of land nestled near the village of Northleach and is absolutely full of wildlife. Some of the land is farmed but much is left open and there are plenty of bridle paths and walkways that members of the public are allowed wonder. I often take Ella and Izzy walking on the open fields up over the hill by the village of Compton Abdale which is all owned by Vestey.

I have been reliving my schooldays learning basic physics, trying to teach myself all about antenna building for my radio hobby, since it’s much cheaper to build your own rather than pay out a fortune for a custom made job. Investigating the delights of radiation patterns and differing lengths of wire for each frequency will probably be pretty boring to most people (Mrs CG included), but I find it strangely fascinating and will happily spend hours working on new designs. Besides it gives me something to do when it pouring down with rain and I can’t get outside to mess around in the garden.

With gardens in mind we have large plans to change things around, at present Ella and Izzy are unintentionally creating a walkway up over our small bank near to the front door which is now a complete bog. The problem will be come the spring when I try to reseed the grass as the whole area is covered by a large tree which will prove difficult for the grass to re-grow in the shade. So instead we are going to reduce the size of the bank making it less of an angle and also push it back further away from the tree, hopefully then the girls won’t walk in one particular area. Instead of re-seeding I will dig out a vegetable plot in one corner of the garden and use the turf to cover over the reduced bank. Trouble is I can’t start until this blessed rain goes away!

Daft Dogs and Masochistic Moments

2011-02-15T09:50:00.000Z

Ella has pulled a muscle in her shoulder and is limping around the house feeling sorry for herself. Izzy did the same thing a few weeks back and it’s undoubtedly through the constant play fighting, each trying to prove who the top dog is. It’s beginning to get a bit heated especially when food is the topic, the other day they had a real go at each other and poor old Izzy who is a little more sensitive had her nose put out of joint and ended up lying in the corner of the kitchen sulking and not wanting to go near Ella.

I remember when Fenny and Daisy were at a similar age and they had an almighty scrap which neither really won but Daisy had a very neat scare down the side of her nose where Fenja’s claw had caught her. We dived in to stop the fight and had a right old job to separate them; it’s all part of growing up and natures way of showing who is in line when it comes to the pecking order.

Ploughing has started on the farm and the field to the back of the house which has lain bare all winter has been dug up ready for planting. Last year we had rape seed but I think this year barley will be planted which is much nicer as the rape tends to smell when overgrown.
The farm is a complete mess at the moment being covered in a mass of oozing mud from the tractors going in and out with the ploughs, normally at the end of the month a mechanical brush is swept over the whole area and a great mound is collected and then dumped back in to one of the fields. It’s certainly no place to be at the moment unless you like to be sloshing around up to your knees in a quagmire!

Had another masochistic moment on Sunday and went out cycling in the wind and rain, it was really quite a gale and although pedalling most of the way leaning at 45 degrees I once again found myself riding along with a smile upon my face. It’s definitely an addition but a pleasant one, mind you, I did get a few funny looks from people out and about who obviously thought I had a screw loose!

Confess All for £1.19 it's a Bargain!

2011-02-09T08:40:00.000Z

This has got be a joke! Catholic Church gives Blessing to iphone App

2011-02-08T17:22:00.006Z

Its either two wolves or two cats on the wild plains of Cleeve Hill

Got the Blues

2011-02-07T12:09:00.000Z

Listening to the radio last night I heard the sad news that Gary Moore the ex Thin Lizzy guitarist had died. I was a great fan of Thin Lizzy and followed Gary Moore when he left the band to progress his blues career. I saw him play at the NEC in Birmingham back in the 90s and it was a wonderful concert, such a talented guitarist and he will be a real loss to the rock and blues world.

My biggest memory of him playing was when he attended the Stratocaster anniversary concert, (sorry rubbish recording!)and although there had been some great guitarists playing nobody had really set the concert alight. Then on came Gary Moore who introduced himself through a dodgy microphone and looked pretty annoyed that things weren’t working properly, but being the old pro he continued on and played the most amazing version of “Red House” a Jimmy Hendrix classic, he just blew the audience away with some incredible playing, he will be sadly missed.

Mud mud everywhere, the track outside the house is presently one big bog, to get to the cars you have to cross the track and it’s now a case of treading very carefully in case you step in a great clod of mud. It seems to happen every February, the rain and the melting of the snow causes a small flood which in turn becomes a quagmire with all the tractors and lorries going to and from the farm. The cars are peppered in great blobs of the brown stuff and its pointless trying to clean them. On top of that for the last few days a minor gale has been blowing around the house unfortunately we sit upon a slight hill in the middle of a valley so the wind is funnelled and seems much stronger on the farm. Being a Radio ham geek I have been nervously watching my antennas bobbing up and down in the wind wondering when the mast will come tearing down!

Snowdrops have arrived in the village and the first daffodils are beginning to sprout. I am gong to try and protect them from Ella and Izzy who will no doubt try to eat them if left alone. Down in Cheltenham the daffs are a few weeks ahead and they will soon begin to flower, it’s nice to know that spring is just round the corner.

Bikes Sheep and Things That Go Buzz

2011-02-01T11:02:00.003Z

Sunday morning I managed to get one of the Triumphs out on the road and had a lovely half hour ride. It’s been a good few months since I was last out on the motorbikes and I’d forgotten how nice it is to cruise along the old A40 with a good blast of fresh air and the sights and smells of the countryside. One thing is very noticeable, when I turned up at the fuel station and forked out £12 to fill up; back in October it was only £7.50!

Tomorrow the shooting season finishes and we can start thinking about walking the girls back on the farm. I say “thinking” because at the moment there are sheep grazing in some of the fields, they should have gone by now but I hear the stock owner is having problems trying to find another piece of grazing land. This is very annoying for the farmer who normally harvests these particular fields for the hay but while the sheep stay they are causing ground damage. The farmer is in a difficult position as he does not own the land and the land owner has been in hospital for the past few weeks seriously ill with Swine flu. So I think the stock owner maybe taking bit of an advantage about the situation. Either way we cannot go near those sheep, Ella especially would be quite capable of causing mayhem if she were to see them so we are just not going to take the risk until the farm is clear.

There have been a few occasions when either one of the girls has run off chasing wildlife or smelling something horrid and being inquisitive. Of course they come back but obviously they have no road sense and to them any other animal that runs from them is fair game. When our previous dog Fenja had this particular habit we bought an electric collar and to begin with whenever she went in to cruise missile mode we would transmit a small shock which would stop her in her tracks. The collar also has a beep tone and within a couple of weeks she knew that if we sounded the beep she was to return. Some animal lovers are against these tools but provided it’s used sensibly I do not have an issue, as I would rather give the dogs a mild shock to train it to return to me than see them shot for sheep worrying or run over by a car. Ultimately the responsibility lies with the dog owner, if the dog bites someone, causes damage or worries sheep then the owner is liable.

Saw a very good programme last night about the Americans in Afghanistan, this showed a particular unit moving in to old British positions and the difficulties they faced. It’s a very scary situation, young kids (as young as 21) having the daily threat of being blown up by IEDs. My opinion over Afghanistan has not changed and the documentary just reindorsed my thoughts of what an earth are we doing there? The local people resent the presence of the Americans and British, to them its just brings more death and destruction, they really don't believe things will change, it’s a very sad state of affairs.

Radiators in the Sky and Regular MOTs

2011-01-26T12:20:00.000Z

A builder friend of mine popped over for a visit during the weekend and before he had a chance to settle down I managed to get him to check out the radiator that has refused to work all winter, within half an hour he had the thing back up and running, it’s amazing how simple it is to fix once you know how!
My mates reward was a large chunk of Christmas cake that had been sitting in the kitchen since the holidays, unfortunately both Mrs CG and I are not too keen on the old chrimble cake and it would have been a pity to waste, but my mate gobbled down a large piece and happily took the rest home; It felt just like an episode from the “Good Life”!

I’ve been mulling over cancelling my Sky subscription, all I seem to see is repeats and quite frankly paying £20 a month just to watch rubbish has been annoying me for some time. Especially when I did a quick check on how much I watch and concluded that I actually don’t tune to that many Sky channels, more often I’m watching channels that are included on the freeview sites. So after reading up on the net about contact numbers and how in some cases when cancelling Sky would upgrade you with free viewing of all the packages for 3 months I rang them up to have a moan and close the account. After a lengthy chat to (would you believe) “the cancellations dept” (which makes me wonder how many people regularly cancel?) All was completed, but sadly no free offer, they just asked why I wished to cancel and proceeded!

Talking of Sky, I’m not a great football fan but I have noticed in the news the uproar about the Sky commentator Andy Gray who has upset the bosses with comments about female referees, to the point that they have now sacked him. OK so the guy was a half wit to get caught and most people will think he's a twit, but I note that he was proposing to take the News of the World to court about phone hacking and since Sky own the News of the World I can’t help but make a small conspiracy connection.

Had a quick MOT check at the docs yesterday, evidently all systems are running ok but I’m borderline when it comes to cholesterol levels, I know precisely the cause, I am a serious chocolate and pud addict happily scoffing either one most evenings, evidently all the excercise I'm doing isn't getting rid of the cholesterol. Sadly these items are now out of bounds during weekdays, God, I hate getting older!

Not So Lush

2011-01-24T13:00:00.001Z

I like to check my bank account a couple of times a week, this is because a few years back some creep hacked my credit card details and attempted to buy a laptop, thankfully I got my money back but it wasn’t a very nice experience.

A UK company called “Lush” that sells soaps and other bathroom items has admitted this week that their internet site has been hacked and personal bank details have been taken. Unfortunately I shopped on line with “Lush” back in November, and on checking my account this morning noticed that I had inexplicably opened an account with O2 and £15 had been taken out of my account.

On ringing my bank and informing them that I had certainly not opened an O2 account they have informed me that it looks as if I have been one of the unlucky “Lush” customers who have had my details hacked in to and therefore have cancelled my debit card. I inquired why the hackers hadn't taken out a large sum of money in the first instance but evidently this is the norm, at first they withdraw a small amount to see if they can get away with it and then if successful move on to a bigger withdrawl.

Once all the paperwork is sorted I should be able to get my £15 back and at least I can say that thanks to me being a bit vigilant I have not had a large amount stolen, but it just goes to show you have to be very careful nowadays.
So I suggest anyone who has recently shopped online at “Lush” checks their statements to make sure they have not been caught out.

It's "Black Monday" So Let's Have a Good Moan

2011-01-17T12:46:00.003Z

It’s about time I had another good moan and since today is the third Monday in January and considered to be a “Black Monday” I thought I would write down the things that really irritate me or things that I just can’t get my head round.

Please feel free to add to the list, it’s in no particular order and is actually quite therapeutic!

TV soaps – Half an hour of complete rubbish every evening.
Pheasant shooting – Shooting tame birds is not a sport.
Milk before Tea – What’s the difference?
Ipad’s – I have absolutely no idea!
3D television – Pointless and those glasses?
Blu ray – Blu ray Disc (official abbreviation BD) is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD …….What the hell, what’s wrong with DVD?
Blue Tooth – Lost on me.
Tweets – Sorry planet Ga Ga.
Hogging the centre lane on the motorway – Very irritating and very stupid.
Religion – The older I get the less I believe, it just opens a can of worms which leads to the next item.
War - Obvious.
90 second news updates – Waste of 90 secs
Window shopping – Nope sorry, I know what I want and I go straight in and buy it.
Waiting in the queue whist someone counts out their change. - Ladies take note.
£100 at the hairdressers – And people tell me that’s cheap, ridiculous.
Beauty cream – Sorry people it doesn’t work!
Bald men with pony tails – Ha ha.
Fox Hunting – Killing something is not a sport.
Buying fireworks – might as well just burn a twenty pound note?
Make up for men – Oh God help me.
Not washing your hands after the toilet – Just plain filthy.
Rubber necking at accidents – Wait till you’re in an accident.
The shopping channels– Hate them.
Footballer’s wages – Beyond belief.
Management chat – What is that all about? Just speak plain English.
Older men who dye their hair – A joke Mr McCartney and Mr Jagger, for God's sake we all know you have grey hair, just except it!
Using a mobile whilst driving – People never learn
People who don’t use deodorant – This really gets me, I do not like smelly people!
Train Fares – Need I say more?
Checking in a minimum of 2 hours before your flight – why?
Golf – I never understood the pleasures of hitting a little white ball around a field.
People who are late for appointments – Just plain rude, why arrange the appointment if you are going to be late?
Telephone sales/call centres – No thanks
Fitness Centres – You have the whole of the outside to run, walk and exercise.
Men wearing Jewellery – Guys leave it to the girls.
Play stations and general gaming – I’ve tried it and I don’t understand, I was bored within 5 minutes!

Oh Lord, I could go on for hours, but I'll leave it for the moment!

Dogs!

2011-01-10T10:21:00.000Z

At last I managed to get outside to do a bit of cycling, it’s been a while and it can get pretty boring pedalling away on the rollers indoors; there is only so much you can listen to on the ipod whilst sitting on a bike going nowhere!

So yesterday off I went, taking it easy with a smile on my face and not a care in the world. Halfway way round the ride balancing along a sticky bridle path I come across a 4x4 parked up with the driver talking to a woman who was obviouslly out walking her dog, she was leaning on the car bonnet chatting away with the dog on a lead. Bearing in mind I haven't got my glasses on so everything is a bit blurry, I can’t get round the passenger side of the vehicle because there is a large hedge blocking the way so I gingerly pass on the drivers side with the woman and her dog, she takes no notice of me and carries on talking to the driver.

The next thing I know the dog takes a snap at me and I yelp like a wimp as I feel a sharp tug on my left calf. The woman shouts at the dog, “don’t you dare!”, well at least I thought it was at the dog, no apology and no are you alright, she just continues to shout at the dog and I carry on thinking lets get out of here before it really has a go at me.
Thinking back the dog was probably protecting her as I got too close and to be honest at the time I thought nothing of it, it felt like a little nip no harm done and I was well in to my stride with the adrenalin pumping.

An hour later I get home and tell Mrs CG about my fun and lift the damaged track suit to have a look at the wound and blow me there are two neat puncture marks with a load of dried blood, the bloody mongrel had really taken a chunk! First time I’ve been bitten by a dog in years, can’t believe it, just goes to show how eventful a cycle ride can be.

On top of that I take Ella and Izzy out for their 2nd walk of the day and they both decide to chase a hare all over the Cotswolds. Round and round they went happily yelping with joy totally oblivious to my calls and whistles, gallavanting through woods and sprinting across ploughed fields until they disappeared over the brow of a hill totally carried away with the chase, the barking getting more and more distant and there's me looking slightly at a loss with no idea what to do.
I lost them for about ten minutes; there was no way I was going to tramp around after them, so I walked back to the car sat down on a stone wall and waited for them to realise that I had gone on.
..... Dogs! who the hell would have them?

Mishaps and Fun Over Christmas

2011-01-04T11:26:00.000Z

The “heavy” snow finally disappeared between Christmas and the New Year but has once again reappeared overnight, not a lot, about half an inch, but enough to cover the grass and make things slippy!
So 2011 is here and today most people are back at work, talking about their particular Christmas experiences, many whilst coughing and sneezing and moaning that they really shouldn’t be back at work but perfectly happy to spread germs all over the healthy! No doubt over the next few weeks the flu virus will spread over the schools and offices and everybody will be affected, oh joy; you can obviously tell that I’m delighted to be back at work.

Every Christmas we try to have a family get together, we stage this at a nearby pub called the Hare and Hounds at Foss cross. My family mostly come from Cheltenham so it’s fairly easy to get to and it serves some great food and is not too expensive. This year was no exception and we all duly turned up for our annual lunch and happily sat down to some great home cooked food. Unfortunately as we began to receive our main meal there was a loud crash outside the pub, we inquisitively gazed out of the window to be greeted by the site of five cars shunted together and a number of people wandering round in a daze looking lost and confused. The wounded were quickly brought in to the pub, thankfully no one was badly injured, but having two physiotherapists in the family meant that their first aid services were called upon whilst waiting for the ambulances to arrive.

I have to admit it was rather like being in one of those TV hospital soaps and it was all very surreal with ambulance crew and police politely walking around the large table that sat 12 members of my family trying to enjoy their meal. People collapsing from shock and a bit of blood here and there all added to the excitement and occasionally in mid conversation with one of my sisters they would get up from the table excuse themselves and casually check on some poor individual! Full marks to the pub owners though, they did a sterling job, trying to run the pub and organise the emergency teams at the same time.

It was really nice to get out and about with the girls over the Christmas break, we had some interesting walks, especially in the snow mostly good I hasten to add but there was one particular day when Izzy took out a baby monk jack, (Mrs CG is convinced it was a baby deer), but either way the poor thing was captured by Izzy and given a rough time and although we managed to release it from Izzy’s grip we both believe it would have died from the shock, unfortunately, the mother was nearby and I am still haunted by her calls in searching for her offspring.
I should have realised it was going to be one of those mornings as driving to the designated walking area we had got stuck in the snow on the nearby hill. Then after the baby deer fiasco I had lost one of the dog leads and Mrs CG and I got separated for 20 minutes in the fog trying and find the damn thing.

When not out driving getting stuck in the snow, or trying to save baby deer we did manage to get permission to walk on the farm as there was no way the gamekeeper could have his festive shooting parties. In some places the snow was a good four feet deep which proved interesting for the dogs but they somehow managed to get round the problem and happily frolicked about chasing any wildlife that happened to be about, thankfully though too slow to catch anything. The good news is that in another month the shooting season will be over and we will have the freedom to roam about the farm as much as we please.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T09:38:00.000Z

Early Christmas morning over the Cotswold's!

Fun in the Snow

2010-12-21T10:54:00.000Z

Well we have had some fun over the past few days, the snow bomber has once more emptied its load upon us and the county of Gloucestershire seems to be in Chaos! We haven’t been in to town but I’m told the place is like an ice rink, buses sliding all over the place and all minor roads virtually closed.

The best bit is that the local forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning is another foot of snow. We have relations flying in from Boston overnight and although they may well land at Heathrow, I’m not sure they realize that their journey back to the good old Cotswold’s might just take them a little longer than their flight! Well we will just have to see.

This certainly reminds me of the old days when the Cotswold’s was always covered in a thick carpet of the white stuff, anyway pictures are far better at describing the scene so take a look at the shots below.

The house looking very pretty

The farm track, I cleaned off the cars last night....Doh!

The main road to Withington

Looking at the house from the main road

The tree that keeps dropping snow on me!

Don't think I'll be taking the motorbikes out from their sheds.

A little Chilly This Morning

2010-12-07T09:24:00.000Z

Just a little chilly this morning, minus 10 but very pretty, I think it’s the coldest I’ve known in the ten years that we have lived here. The sky is a very clear dark blue and the trees and hedges are covered in thick frost and its makes the countryside look pretty spectacular. Although as soon as you drive down the hill in to the Severn Valley the fog appears like a huge blanket, the car headlights do little to penetrate and it changes the mood dramatically.

I am amazed to see all the wildlife about as you would think when the temperature drops down so low that the creatures would disappear in to hiding to get away from the cold. Somehow they survive but god knows how, thankfully the reports are that the weather will change to a warmer temperature at the end of the week. Ella and Izzy seem oblivious to the cold and happily frolic around in the garden as if it were a spring day, I suppose being labs these kinds of temperatures are what their bodies are used to, but mysteriously they still like a good sleep next to a roaring wood burner.
On listening to the radio this morning I had a smile on my face, England one up in the Cricket!

Freezing Taps and Calling the World

2010-12-02T10:06:00.000Z

Carrying on with the tradition of being a typical Englishman and moaning about the weather I can happily announce it was very cold again this morning. Glancing out of the bedroom window there had been a dusting of snow overnight which gave the garden a ghostly grey colour in the early morning light.

On entering the kitchen to make the first coffee of the day I went to fill the kettle and you guessed it the outside tap has frozen. This can be a pain because our drinking water is via a spring down on the farm and the only connection we have is through this outside pipe. All other water for washing etc is through our tank in the attic which we were advised not to drink just in case something horrid gets in there. Luckily we are well used to this situation and whenever we know cold weather is on the way we fill up a few large bottles just in case.

I’ve been hiding upstairs in my converted radio room for the past few nights, sitting next to the radiator, I’ve morse coded anyone who is about and it’s very weird when one minute you are chatting to some bloke in Israel going green with jealousy when he’s happily telling you he’s sitting outside in shorts and tee shirt with a temperature of 20c. Then 20 minutes later you are in conversation with someone in Russia where you are agreeing with him how bloody cold it is, but feel a little better when he tells you its minus 20 with him.

From the radio reports I’m getting it seems most of Europe is plagued with this cold weather, but hopefully according to the forecasters the temperature should start rising during this weekend, no doubt it will be positively balmy over the Christmas period!

Mice and Thorns

2010-11-29T09:38:00.001Z

The cold weather remains although as yet we have had no snow; the temperature last night was -8, according to the forecasters we have this cold spell for another week and then hopefully things will change. For the first time in over a year I did not venture out for my weekend bike ride, instead choosing 45 minutes pedalling away on my cycle rollers next to a radiator, although I kept nice and warm it proved very boring.

The wildlife is naturally suffering with the freeze and I have notice a blue tit arriving every night to shelter on a small ledge under the roof of the shed door, I have put a small amount of straw there to try and keep it a bit warmer. (I’m such a big softy!) The mice are desperately trying to get in the house and we can hear them scratching at various points in the roof or where waste pipes go through the walls, I’ve also seen them running under the new stack of logs at the back of the house, I don’t mind the mice but there’s no way I’m helping the rats.

Last week during Thursday's morning walk Ella managed to tread on a thorn, no doubt while chasing various wildlife through the woods and by the afternoon she was limping badly. Both Mrs CG and I were desperately trying to prize it out with tweezers but it had worn right in to the pad and we had no chance. After trying a poultice overnight which failed miserably, we had no choice but to visit the vet and after a quick inspection in which she howled like mad it was decided to knock her out and remove the foreign object. I picked her up from the vet later that day, no worse for wear but seemingly very annoyed with us for putting her through the ordeal. The price for the removal of one thorn was £107 which did not go down too well with me either!

Wood Burners and Mice

2010-11-25T09:25:00.000Z

Managed to negotiate a load of logs from the farmer who promptly delivered them round the back of the house blocking the rear gate. No doubt this was an incentive for me to move and store them as quickly as possible, which I did and they are now neatly stacked away but will require splitting when I get some more energy.They have come at the right time as the weather forecast for the next week is very cold with the possibility of snow, a bit earlier than usual but I’d rather have that than the rain.

There is nothing like returning home and coming in from out of the cold to a nice wood burner especially the one we have. It’s very big and ideal for heating the largest room in the house, we inherited it when we bought the house and I new it was good when my brother in law ( a surveyor by trade) saw it and emmediately offered to buy it off us. The burner is especially useful at the moment since the one other radiator in the room has decided not to work. I’ve tried everything to get that damn radiator working but it's refused to heat up so I just gave up and shouted at it that it was fired (scuse the pun),and being replaced by the much more reliable burner, the dogs thought I’d gone nuts!

Last night while sneaking a rare cigarette outside the front of the house I could hear some leaves rustling near to my feet which was strange as there was no wind what so ever. Gazing in to the darkness I spotted a very small mouse darting here and there obviously looking for food. It crossed right over my feet completely oblivious to me before disappearing back in to the shadows and then reappearing with something in its mouth that was twice its size. It struggled back over my feet dragging what ever it was and sank back in to the leaves squeaking happily no doubt glad it had found something to eat.
Oh the joys of living in the countryside!

I'm Cold so Lets Have a Moan About the Drunks!

2010-11-24T09:41:00.000Z

Cold this morning (-2) with a low lying mist throughout the valley, it was so still I could hear the ducks quacking away in the lake that is a good mile from the house, it took me ten minutes to scrape the ice off the car and another ten to start and warm up! I don’t mind the cold weather as long as it’s dry, can’t stand it when it’s cold and wet. Still, I’m not sure why I’m having a moan, I was on the radio last evening and contacted some chap in Russia, the temperature was -10!

While I was scraping at the car windscreen I was thinking about a programme I had been watching the other night all about the Police, aptly enough it was called “Coppers”. Each week the programme concentrates on a particular aspect of the work involved and this week was about the night shift and dealing with the drinking problems of the younger generation over an average weekend. Who the hell would be a copper in this day and age? I'm not their number one fan, but I do realise they have a hell of a job and it was very apparent in the programme.

Throughout the evening the police were busy either moving drunks along or arresting them for being drunk and disorderly, a lot of the time they step in whenever it looks like a fight is going to develop, it was apparent that there is no respect for the police anymore. As the evening develops the punters get more and more tanked up and tempers begin to fly, they curse and spit at each other and then start on the police whenever they intervene, then try to act so innocent when they get arrested.
And it’s not just the boys, the girls are just as bad, they happily stroll along the high street barely clothed wobbling away on their high heels completely off their heads, oblivious to the fact that they look and act like idiots.

The police take it all in their stride and have a standard routine of arresting the individuals, reading them their rights and calling up the van to take them off to the station to be booked and by mid evening most of the cells are full up with drunks.A lot of them sleep it off and are either cautioned or fined some small amount and then sent on their way to do it all again next weekend.

What is so worrying is that this scene is played out up and down the country every weekend and nobody really wants to do anything about it. I freely admit that when I was a teenager I used to like a drink but I didn’t get in to many fights and I certainly didn’t get so tanked up that I couldn’t stand. It’s a very sad state of affairs and the most worry thing was that the police who were interviewed all said that it was likely to get worse.

Engagements and Attempting a Christmas Shop

2010-11-18T10:27:00.001Z

Glancing over various media websites it was noticeable that the Republicans were quick to comment about William and Kate’s intentions to marry. There was the usual “what was the point of the Royal Family” and next came “who is going to pay”, followed closely by the hope of an extra day off. Then there were the cynics who had decided that Wills and Kate had planned it all with the government to hide all the bad news coming out......... yeah right!

As is normal the media once again went over the top, the classic example being the “Daily Mail” with a 16 page spread the day after the announcement and the TV stations quickly slotting in half hour programmes about the royal couple life stories. Mrs CG was immediately complaining that ITV had moved one of her soaps "Emmerdale", (surely it would have been better if they had aired the programme over the "X factor" or "I’m a celebrity get me out of here")!

Each to their own of course, but deep down I am a royalist, I like the idea we are different to everyone else and that other countries find the Royals a fascinating subject especially our American friends. I’m not sure I would stay in this country if there had been a President Thatcher, Blair or Brown, can you imagine it?

Anyway, who on earth would want to be a member of the Royal family? The pressure that they suffer is a nightmare, every minute of the day they are watched and photographed and the slightest slip or error is recorded for all to see. No privacy, and their lives guided by useless civil servants who are mostly ex Brigadiers or Generals who have no clue about the outside world. It’s a privileged life of course, but it’s a privileged life surrounded by a cage.

The argument between Royal supporters and republicans will naturally roll on, but I suspect that by the time William and Kate become King and Queen the Royal Family will have been somewhat reduced in size, much like the Dutch. Anyway good luck to them, they are going to need it.

I started my Christmas shopping in Swindon yesterday, this town is in my top ten list of all time dumps, not really because of the area, more the attitude of the inhabitants who all seem to possess a very threatening aura about them and you’ll feel like you are going to be mugged at any minute. The town also has an unnatural number of invalids who all parade about with walking sticks or sit in electronic wheelchairs charging around the shopping area happily running down anyone who gets in their way, the strangest thing is most of them look like they are skiving or faking their ailments.

This has developed to the point that when in town with a particular work colleague, we play a game of how many walking sticks, wheelchairs and other items used by the “sick” we can spot and we award to points to each other, I have become somewhat of a master in this game and regularly tot up 60 odd points.

Anyway I digress, Christmas shopping, well it’s certainly started, the shops going berserk with special offers and deals, I suspect because they all realise that come the New Year with the shadow of the new VAT rise and the recession that this may well be the last fling they have for some time. I managed to purchase a few items but to be honest after half an hour I gave up, I was simply sick of the sight of this dump and quickly retreated back to the office, thinking it was far easier to just access the web and buy my Christmas presents online without the threat of being hit by a wheelchair or getting mugged!

Gardening Car Bills and Bouncing Bunnies

2010-11-15T15:08:00.000Z

Took a week off work to recharge the batteries and had a nice relaxing break at home. Most of the trees have dropped their leaves and I’ve been busy collecting them up and either using them to cover the hydrangeas or dumping them in to the field next door. I also grabbed the trimmer and gave the shrubs and hedges a good cut for the winter, cutting and storing the reasonable sized branches for the wood burner and the rest was put on a bonfire.

With the leaves gone, the main hedge to the front of the house is now exposed showing gaps in the fence that Ella has realised may give possibilities of escape and with her “Colditz” head on she has been pacing near to the hedge looking for weak spots. So I spent a whole day re-installing chicken wire and now “escape attempts are futile”!

Mrs CG’s car went to the local garage for a service and has decided to play up big time, new discs and pads, a replacement fuel neck and other minor problems totted up in to one major bill. Consequently the 2011 holiday season may once again be taken at “Cotswold Towers” unless the lottery smiles upon us!

Whilst driving to work this morning bemoaning the fact that I had to return, a rabbit decided to attempt a suicide run across the front of the car. I came out of my daydream and braked hard and the rabbit realising it wasn’t going to make it jumped up as if on a giant spring, it then bounced on the windscreen and vaulted right over the car, I looked in the mirror to see the creature land squarely on its feet and scamper away to the hedgerow no worse for its death defying leap and definitely no idea it had probably just entered the record books!

2010-11-14T11:24:00.000Z

Took this Sunday morning, lines of fog across the valley!

2010-11-05T08:52:00.000Z

Sunrise over the village of Withington

Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night

2010-11-01T10:17:00.001Z

It’s now noticeable how the leaves are tuning colour and dropping off the trees. Over the weekend there was a strong breeze and the garden is now covered in a golden carpet. All very pretty and there is plenty for me to collect so that I can cover the bigger hydrangeas for protection of the coming frosts, however some have already been damaged by the early frost from last week so I hope I can still save them. Ella and Izzy have found a new game in diving in to the piles of leaves I have collected and take great delight in waiting till I have a good sized pile before charging in to mess everything up!

Last night was the now annual Halloween, I say “now” because when I was young the Halloween night wasn’t really the big event it is today and to be honest it doesn’t really effect the Cotswoldgent household as we are so far out in the sticks that no children can be bothered to come to see us, besides its so dark they would be frightened silly!

A lot of people believe it’s an American pastime that has come over here. But in fact Halloween actually originates from Ireland and instead of pumpkins, the humble swede vegetable was used, (I guess the Americans switched to pumpkins). Of course when all the Irish emigrated to the States it grew in to the massive ritual it is today.

For my international friends, the bigger event for us is Guy Fawkes Night, November the 5th, in which in typical British fashion we all make large bonfires and sit a dummy resembling Mr Fawkes on top and have a party while watching him burn!

This relates back to 1605 when Guy Fawkes and a group of fellow conspirators tried to blow up the houses of parliament and kill King James the 1st. Of course as usual it’s all down to religion this time Catholics and Protestants, Mr Fawkes being a Catholic and the King being a Protestant. I won’t bore you with the details but the plot failed and Mr Fawkes was captured, tortured and confessed. He was due to be hung drawn and quartered but managed to jump off the scaffolding on his way to be hanged and in doing so broke his neck therefore escaping the grizzly death planned for him….All good stuff!

Cold Weather and Wild Geese

2010-10-26T09:02:00.001Z

Very cold Sunday night so we fired up the wood burner for the first time and I’d forgotten how much heat it can produce. Within an hour of lighting the room was as warm as toast which is great since I have a problem with the one radiator in the sitting room which fails to warm up. I’ve tried bleeding it, switching off all the other radiators and giving it a good kick, but it just fails to heat, I suspect it maybe bunged up with gunk which will mean removing it and washing the whole thing out, something I shall do when it gets warmer.

Consequently there was a heavy frost on the car Monday morning (minus 2), so I spent a good ten minutes clearing the screens and warming up the interior for the drive to work. Whilst waiting for the car to warm, I stood by the garden gate half asleep gazing at the mist lying very low over the village of Withington lost in a daydream of hot weather. I was suddenly jolted back to reality by the sound of beating wings overhead, instinctively I ducked as a flock of Canadian geese appeared from behind the house. Honking loudly as if warning all to get out of their path, they circled low round the house cheekily inspecting the property before heading west towards the small lake that rests in one of the very large fields owned by the farm across the valley. All very picturesque for so early in the morning

I've seen Horatio in Eastenders!

2010-10-21T13:05:00.001Z

Today is Trafalgar Day; it commemorates the victory of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson’s British fleet over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October, 1805, which I’m sure most of you will know. However school children seem to differ somewhat in who Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson was .

In a recent study of 2,000 secondary schools in England, children aged 12 to 16 were questioned about a series of key events in maritime history over the last 200 years. Horatio Nelson wouldn't be impressed to learn kids think he was a football captain and Columbus' discovery of America went completely unnoticed.

It gets better; three quarters did not know that Trafalgar Square was home to Nelson's Column, with eight per cent believing it was from EastEnders, while 15 per cent thought it was a shopping centre or chocolate biscuit.

My favourite; one-in-six thought Sir Walter Raleigh was the brains behind the Chopper bicycle.
Followed closely by; some 14 per cent said Captain Cook starred in Star Trek rather than commanding the Endeavour.

The report found six-in-10 youngsters did not know the Battle of Waterloo was fought in Belgium, with one-in-six opting for London's train station as their answer.

Finally one-in-20 children believe the Spanish Armada is a tapas-style cuisine........... Oh yummy!

First Frost and a Visit from the Starlings

2010-10-20T08:46:00.000Z

Over the weekend Jack Frost appeared for the first time this autumn and using this as an excuse we fired up the central heating to see all was working well in preparation for the winter months. The wood burner has also been prepared and we have plenty of logs to see us through most of the cold season but as yet there is no need to light up as the central heating is providing plenty of warmth. Ella and Izzy have immediately realised that upstairs there is a very large radiator that pushes out loads of heat which means that most evenings they are now to be seen happily lying by this radiator dozing away until we come to bed.
It will all change when I start lighting the wood burner as they will soon realise that they can take advantage of having an all day warm area downstairs in the main room.

With the return of the frost I have started to cover the hydrangeas around the garden surrounding each plant with a wire mesh and filling with leaves. This hopefully will keep them free from the majority of the cold so that the young plants can continue to grow to a reasonable size for next spring. As I was happily completing this task I suddenly realised I was behaving just like my Father and I found it to be a very strange experience, here I was deciding to do something my father used to do every autumn back in the 60s and 70s without even thinking about it, how weird is that?

Yesterday as I arrived home I was greeted by the site of a very large flock of starlings flying over the house, so many birds together resembled a great swarm bees or a small dark cloud as it hung over the roof of the house. It was an incredible site and not one I have seen for a numbers of years, the noise as they swooped low over the house was like a drum roll getting louder and softer as they twisted and turned around the garden and then within seconds they were away across the fields heading north.

Illness and Indian Summers

2010-10-11T10:29:00.000Z

Well I suppose I’ve been lucky, but last week for the first time in approximately 2 years I caught a cold and have been somewhat out of it since Wednesday. I’m your typical man when it comes to being ill, I don’t like it and feel that everybody around me should suffer the same misery and pain that I have! There is no doubt that women can take most ailments and suffering far better than men, Mrs CG has now caught the cold but still continues on regardless except for the occasional muttering under her breath of what a wimp I am.

My mother who is 86 has a good friend who is similar in age and they are both as tough as nails. Two weeks ago Mother’s friend tripped over her son’s terrier and broke her arm, a quick trip to the hospital for an x-ray and a plaster cast and everything was back to normal, laughing and joking with everyone that she had broken a bone, a real “stuff and nonsense lady!

Over the weekend the sun shone and it almost felt like summer once more, the warmth brought out the wildlife no doubt anxious to grab all the food it could before the real autumn sets in and we had a treat watching Bertie the bat whizzing round the house in the evening dusk and seeing the last of the swallows swooping low over the garden collecting flies for their long migration south. However even in the fine weather the leaves are turning colour and beginning to fall, the last of the apples on the tree are ready to be picked for one final apple pie and there is no doubt that autumn is just round the corner.

Sadly Mrs CG and I didn’t win the Euro lottery this week, the lucky ticket winner of the £113 million is still to be found, evidently they are losing £8000 per day in interest….shame!

The Morning Fog and Grinning in the Rain

2010-10-04T11:33:00.005Z

Driving over the top of Cleeve Hill this morning I usually have a panoramic view of the Severn Valley stretching west all the way down to Bristol and east towards Birmingham. But today instead of the towns and fields I was greeted by the wondrous sight of low lying fog stretched out across the whole valley. The cold air above this white mass was very clear and provided a fantastic sight rather like looking at a large bay by the sea, but the blue sea was replaced by the white fog clinging to the valley. Here and there the hill tops looking like islands were rising up above the great white cloud and in the distance the Welsh mountains stretched high out of the gloom. I’ve seen the low lying fog many times, but never in such quantity and with such clarity, it was shame I didn’t have a camera as it would have made a great picture.

Would you believe it, Brother in Law was just further down the road with a camera, thanks Steve!

I think the cycling is definitely becoming addictive; I pedalled along yesterday morning in high winds and rain and strangely enjoyed every minute of it. Within 5 minutes of riding down the road I was drenched, but masochistically I cycled for nearly two hours around the Cotswold countryside. I even stopped midway for a quick drink and snack sitting in the rain with a grin whilst watching the swallows fighting and tussling in the winds presumably heading south on their migration trail; On arriving home absolutely soaked, my usual greeting by the dogs was curtailed and they stood on the other side of the kitchen not wanting to go near me in case they should catch something………I must be nuts!

Banking Revenge Car Washing and Near Death Experiences

2010-09-28T09:50:00.003Z

I’ve been thinking about how I can have ago at Lloyds bank with regard to their demand of charging me £5 a month for having an overdraft facility even though I very rarely use it. It’s interesting how the banks seem to feel that they are untouchable by the very people that supply them and I figure that one way round the problem is to hit them where it hurts with a bit of PR and some customer action.

So I am toying with the idea of starting an action group with the aim to raise over a million customers and organise a day where each customer who can afford it withdraws £100 or as much as they can. This way we get a withdrawal of approximately 100 million pounds in one day, Lloyds might then just sit up and take notice.
The problem is that this £5 charge goes public mid December so I will have to get my skates on to implement the plan. I figure Facebook would be the best website to get as many quick hits as possible and providing the mood towards the banks remains the same as it has been for the past year I can’t see a problem in getting the numbers. Who knows if the media get hold of it we could have some fun causing a minor bank run! …………Alternatively I could just not bother and switch banks.

Did you know there is a car wash association and according to its President car washing is a technically demanding job that requires skill and precision when cleaning an average car? I have to be honest here, I was driving in to work whilst listening to this nonsense and I began laughing so much that I nearly had an accident. But the guy was dead serious, so in my quest for knowledge I "googled" the association and blow me there it was.....(Car Washing a Serious Career).
It got me wondering, if there is an apprentice course in this difficult field of work, or if there is a university out there that gives a degree in car washing?

Whilst doing my cycle training over the weekend part of my route took me down the notorious Aggs hill. This is a very steep lane that comes off Cleeve hill on the south side of Cheltenham. As I sped down the steepest part of the hill with white knuckles clinging on for dear life, I approached a number of ramblers who were slowly walking up the lane and so naturally I moved out to the middle of the road to whizz past them. Unfortunately this was the same time I spotted the car rounding the bend below on its way up the hill.

Realising I was in a dangerous situation I began applying the brakes but on squeezing the levers I found I had pressed a little too much and I felt the back wheel seize and the rear of the bike began to slide and wobble uncontrollably. Immediate evasive manoeuvres were suddenly required to shoot safely between car and ramblers which incorporated some frantic sliding, steering and cycling skills I frankly didn’t know I possessed, but somehow I narrowly missed all and continued speeding on as if it was a normal everyday occurrence.

Within seconds and with me continuing on down the hill at warp 10 the shaken ramblers began a rapturous applause and a “well done, good cycling” no doubt from the nervous relief of not having had that maniac cyclist from ploughing in to them but then I really don’t think they realised how lucky they were!

The Dreaded Dip in the Road

2010-09-21T09:05:00.000Z

My Faith is restored in the National Grid who are in the process of finishing a large gas pipe line installation over the Cotswolds between the villages of Wormington and Sapperton. Over the past month I have noticed a large "dip" appear in the road near to where I live just by the crossing where the pipe travels under the road. The reason I noticed this was when riding one of the motorbikes I nearly came a "cropper" as I flew over the "dip". After gathering myself together and tentatively returning home to check the bike I decided to email the National Grid to ask if they would investigate the said "dip".

Blow me! Today I received a telephone call from one of the Project managers who was ringing from the site and asking me exactly where the ghastly "dip" was in the road. After a short conversation and some directions he agreed that there was indeed a large "dip" in the road and it would be investigated further, If not by the National Grid but by the Council. I came off the phone some what shocked but elated, it's good to know that a whole team of National Grid staff will now be dedicated to investigating the dreaded "dip" in the road.

Will the team be known as "The Dippers"………I wait in anticipation?

Crossing the Severn and Eating Apple Pie

2010-09-20T10:38:00.007Z

Glancing out of the window on Saturday morning the weather looked good and I decided to haul Brigitte out of the shed and take her out for morning ride. Taking it nice and easy I ambled over towards the city of Gloucester and after crossing the river Severn headed west and took the meandering road that follows the Severn towards the town of Chepstow which is just inside the border of Wales. As you ride down the north side of the river towards the welsh border the banks begins to widen as it starts to turn in to the estuary and eventually the Bristol Channel.

Just outside of Chepstow is the old Severn Bridge which spans for about a mile across the Severn estuary and produces fantastic panoramic views as you cross towards Bristol. Riding over the bridge so early in the morning meant there was a lot less traffic and I managed to stop halfway to take in the full scenery. I am very lucky in that I live in an area of outstanding views and scenery but the one thing I do miss is the sea and standing halfway across the massive Severn Bridge certainly gave me a big buzz as I viewed the magnificent scenery from 200 feet above the water. The trip was such good fun that I shall try to repeat the ride but this time with a camera so that I can post some pictures.

For the rest of Saturday I decided to start cutting back the overgrown plants and shrubs in the garden, to be honest we have left the garden to do its own thing this summer, especially since any work we attempted would be immediately thwarted by the pups who naturally thought it was one big game. The only thing we managed to do on a regular basis was cut the grass and that on some occasions that was a struggle. So now there is a great pile of garden waste that I have piled altogether ready to burn, maybe I’ll wait till November so that we can have a great big bonfire for Guy Fawkes Night.

The two small apple trees have gone berserk this summer and produced a healthy harvest and everyone we now see we offer a bag of apples as it would be a real shame if they were wasted. I have already had quite a few apple crumbles (my favourite pud) as Mrs CG is a master chef when it’s come to pies and crumbles! (Last night we went round to my Sister in Law for supper, I was in seventh heaven with two selections of Apple and blackberry pie) and its not just the apples, when walking the dogs it very noticeable how many blackberries there are so it looks as if all fruit has benefited this year from a reasonably good summer.
I think this winter I am going to at last set aside an area of the garden for vegetables, that’s if the pups will allow it! It's about time we started to grow our own and more importantly if it tastes as good as the fruit we grow it will be wonderful and of course it’s far cheaper!

Sunday morning I did my usual local cycle ride and passed through the village of Brockhampton which is nestled in the valley between Syeford and Charlton Abbotts. As usual I was attempting the climb just out of the village when I glanced across the valley and could see a gamekeeper sat on his quad bike waving a white plastic bag and shouting “coo coo, coo coo”.

It seemed rather ironic to me that here was a chap calling the pheasants to him to feed and yet next month he would be happily blasting away at the poor creatures with his mates.

Scratched Bikes, Hamstrings and Little Terriers

2010-09-13T10:24:00.002Z

Waking up Thursday morning and seeing blue sky I decided to ride to work on the new bike and so on quickly consuming breakfast went to the bike shed to haul Brigitte out of her slumber. Removing the bikes from the shed can be a bit hazardous at the best of times as I have to back each bike out of the shed and swing them round so that I can negotiate the small gate in the back garden. I attempted to do this with Brigitte on Thursday morning, but as I backed the bike round on the damp grass I felt Brigitte beginning to slip and frantically tried to hold her as she began to wobble.

Instead of letting go (as there is no way you are going to hold up a very heavy motorbike), I tried to hold her up and felt my hamstring “twang” in the process. So there was me hopping around in agony whist poor old Brigitte was on her side with coolant flowing everywhere. Somehow I managed to heave her up and got the side stand down and thankfully apart from some minor scratches on the fairing she was ok.

Not being accustomed to pulling a hamstring, I have to say that it’s a very weird sensation, you can actually hear it go and the pain for the first five minutes is very excruciating, luckily having two sisters in the Physiotherapy business I knew that the first thing to do was shove an ice pack on the leg. After a few phone calls to family medical contacts and a quick chat to my local GP I had booked an evening slot at the physiotherapy clinic and had some serious treatment which included sticking needles in my thigh (my first experience of acupuncture) which I have to say certainly eased the pain.

Consequentially I have to admit I was a misery over the weekend more so as I couldn’t do any cycling, but as the weekend progressed I did feel much better and I think in all honesty I was very lucky and by the looks of things have not seriously damaged the hamstring. Certainly today although I can feel the odd tweak the leg is not too bad, but being a boy (as Mrs CG would say), I naturally squealed in pain, I hate to think what I would have been like if I had really damaged myself.

Having an extra dog in the house did not help matters, my mother had gone away for the weekend and had asked us to look after “little Becky” her terrier, who although very sweet is definitely getting a bit senile and grumpy in her old age and we had to break up a few potential fights mainly at feeding time. Heaven help us if she had been really duffed up as my mother would have been mortified, but I think it now shows that it’s going to be difficult to look after Becky when my mother decides to go away for the odd weekend as the two pups think that the little terrier is still up for playing throughout the day and if she doesn’t get beaten up from food fights she might well collapse from exhaustion!

We are also trying to get the pups out of waking up early in the morning, especially Ella who thinks it’s great to be wide awake at 5.30 every morning and cannot understand why nobody else is raring to go at that particular time! Hopefully with a gradual weaning process of getting up later each morning will cure them of the habit, but I hope it happens quickly as poor old Mrs CG is becoming a walking zombie through lack of sleep.

Pass the Oxygen Luv I'm going for a Cycle

2010-09-07T08:51:00.002Z

Now that autumn is just round the corner I have to start planning my fitness regime accordingly to the hours of light and the weather. I’m not a fitness guru and have no intention of becoming a middle aged Olympic athlete, I like a drink and the occasional cigarette, but whether through media or public opinion or my own guilt complex I like to keep reasonably fit and to do this I generally cycle two or three times a week.

It seems that I’m not the only one who thinks this way, there is no question that as I meander around the Cotswolds most cyclists I pass are of a similar age to me, they are easy to spot with grey or no hair, but if camouflaged by helmet and glasses the big giveaway is the fact that they wish you a polite “good morning” or “good afternoon”, (the younger generation never say a word)! So at least I take heart that I’m not alone in the quest for a middle aged man trying to keep fit.

Interestingly there was a report in some paper that bike sales have increased dramatically over the past couple of years and that the biggest buyers in the market are the forty/fifty year olds, this is put down to the fact that this generation is much more in line with the idea of staying fit and something like running is far more likely to cause injury than the more softer exercise of cycling.

So for the winter months I have a set of indoor cycle rollers that I can place the bike on and pedal away to my hearts content while listening to the ipod. The problem can be boredom as obviously you are not going anywhere, normally after about ten minutes you start to look around and the mind starts to wander and then you start playing I spy and glancing at your watch trying to hurry the time along. To get round this I also have a small rowing machine which I can switch over if the pedalling gets too monotonous.

As I cycle away I sometimes think that there is absolutely no way I can imagine my father doing the exercise thing when he was the same age as me; His idea of exercise was to come home from work and pour himself a large whisky or gin and tonic!
I suppose it’s just a different generation with different ideas. In fact Mrs CG and I often chuckle at the thought of us f-ing and blinding and what our parents would think of us still acting like a bunch of kids in our fifties!

A Week Off

2010-09-06T09:20:00.001Z

Apologies for not recently writing a post but I had a week off from work and didn’t touch the computer to try and regain some sanity!

I managed to get quite a few menial jobs done around the house, including filling in the pot holes in the kitchen and sitting room walls, hopefully the pups are now over this spate of vandalism and will settle down to just the digging the garden and the occasional chewing of some item of clothing! There is no question that the little mites are beginning to settle down, I can’t believe they are now ten months old. We managed to leave them for a few hours the other weekend while we went off for a family lunch fully expecting to return home to a mess, but they were as good as gold and were asleep for most of the time we were away.

I have been searching for a motorbike to replace the small Yamaha which although is very good for short journeys is a little under powered when having to travel further a field to Birmingham or Farnborough. During my week off I managed to find a very nice Triumph Trophy at a local dealer in Gloucester and after a bit of haggling got a reasonable deal on the purchase. It now sits proudly alongside the Bonneville (Annabel) and I have christened the Trophy with the name of “Bridget”. I give all my cars and bikes names, don’t know why, but it probably goes back to the time I got my very first car a Morris Minor whom I called Manfred!

The farm had a small reprieve with the harvest last week as the weather was reasonably good, but now we are back with sun and showers which means that the last of the wheat is proving difficult to cut. The longer this goes on the quality of the corn goes down and of course the price, however with Russia having a bad harvest this season the price hopefully will be better than last year.

With the weather changing there is a definite autumn feel around the countryside, the pheasant chicks are growing up fast and now patrol around the house causing the girls to go in to fits of frenzy. The pheasants still think they are invincible and happily trot along the lane not realising the dangers of the mad motorists who believes that tooting the horn as they speed by will make the birds run away. I did tell one motorist who was picking up the remnants of his bumper after hitting a couple of the birds that I didn’t think the birds had copies of the Highway Code! Don’t think he appreciated my sense of humour.

Torn Shoulders and Further Walks

2010-08-23T06:02:00.022Z

Autumn has definitely arrived, looking out of the window at 6am Saturday morning the tell tale signs were there clearly to be seen, mist rolling down the valley and a cold chill in the air. It was a pretty site and I managed to find the camera to take a quick picture although it's a bit dark because the sun was still yet to appear.

My poor wife has once again torn the muscles in her shoulder, this time from the dogs pulling on their leads when they spotted some wildlife, unfortunately Mrs CG was on the other end as they tried to give chase. This is not the first time it’s happened, a few years back Fenny decided she’s like to introduce herself a rabbit and Mrs CG’s arm was nearly taken off in the ensuing chase. So this weekend I was on walk duty and it proved quite interesting.

Saturday lunchtime on walk number two of the day I decided to risk going down to the farm thinking that the usual pheasant chick hot spots I could cover by having the pups on the lead, all was well until I let them off in an area which I thought was clear, I failed to see the twenty odd ducks that were happily paddling away in the nearby ford.
All hell then happened but thankfully none were killed and it took me half an hour to grab Ella who had decided to forget the word “come” as she was far too busy chasing all these delightful ducks. We had a serious talk afterwards but somehow I don’t think Ella really was listening!

The walk Sunday morning across the hills between the small villages Compton Abdale and Yanworth was thankfully less uneventful, no wildlife was to be seen as I suspect word has got out about two maniac labs on the loose, so thankfully I could take some picture of the wonderful scenery.

Looking north east towards the village of Compton Abale snuggled in the valley

Looking north towards Cleeve hill which is in in the far distance

West back towards Withington

Facing south are the counties of Oxforshire and Wiltshire

The weather was brilliant and although damp underfoot the girls and I had a great time exploring the bridle path and the surrounding area. Hopefully I can find some more paths like this which is unmolested by wildlfe and only has the odd walker passing by.

Ticks and Education

2010-08-19T09:49:00.004Z

Izzy has a tick just above her eyebrow and it’s proving very annoying to remove. Doing a “Google” comes up with various remedies, including smothering with Vaseline to suffocate the little bugger, wiping alcohol over the tick, and if you’re blessed with manual dexterity pinching and twisting off the thing in one swift motion. In the end we chose Whisky and the tick was so pissed it fell off muttering it “loved us”!

“Education, Education and Education”; Tony Blair our tainted ex Prime Minister used to rant this all the time and on waking up today I found myself muttering those words as I listened to the radio announcing that this is the day all the older teenagers dread; it’s the results of the A-levels and all over the country there will be the sound of envelopes being ripped open to see what grades have been attained.

Back in the 70s A-levels didn’t get the fuss that the media spouts off today, but hey that’s progress for you. Back then the A-levels in my humble opinion were harder and a Degree was extremely impressive. There certainly wasn’t the variety of degrees available as there is today and businesses are not necessarily impressed that you have a degree.

I always remember a mate of mine who left school and didn’t bother about university education but gave himself a degree anyway. It was in some weird subject, Early Athenian Mythology or something similar, his thinking being that no one in their right mind would have a qualification in the said subject.

Later on searching for work he had written to a well known company and duly sent off his CV. He received a phone call from the personnel department asking him to contact a Mr so and so the manager of department x to sort out a time for an interview. My friend rang the manager who seemed delighted to arrange a chat with a person who had a similar degree to him! The interview mysteriously never took place.

Charlie’s Foxes and Retirement

2010-08-18T10:55:00.003Z

I just love this story (See Foxes); So Prince Charles has foxes that can jump 4 feet over an electric fence (and back out after tucking in to a good meal?) I find it pretty remarkable that they even have foxes around Highgrove as there is bugger all around here and on the very odd occasion I do see one it’s pretty mangy and in no way looks like an Olympic high jump champion. Anyway, I would have thought that all his hunting chums would have exterminated the foxes round Highgrove years ago.

At least the hens weren’t part of his personal collection; it would have been bad “egg” (scuse the pun), if he couldn’t have his boiled eggs for breakfast!

Good news that teenagers smoking rates have dropped since the legal age of buying cigarettes rose from 16 to 18, now the youngsters can concentrate on binge drinking and really get to grips with messing up their livers!

Mrs CG and I were discussing retirement last night and if by any chance we were actually able to, where would we live?
Would we stay here in the Cotswolds or would we try to move abroad to warmer climates?
Living in Europe is something that we find very appealing but through lack of funds is unlikely to happen. The interesting thought is where in Europe could we go where it’s fairly cheap but is warmer than the UK in the winter?

Spain or France sounds nice but there are so many Brits there already, Portugal might be worth a thought but it is expensive, oh well might try the Isles of Scilly or perhaps Guernsey as you can get cheap flights from Gloucestershire airport!
In the meantime I will pray to various Gods in the hope of winning the lottery, or if readers are feeling particularly kind donations can be sent to “CGs warmer climates retirement fund”.

Finally I do love a bit of Local News ; Why does it take 7 days to clean the toilets?

Walks and Fixations about the Weather

2010-08-16T10:32:00.003Z

With the farm being out of bounds through the delivery of the pheasants chicks, finding good walking areas for the dogs can sometimes prove difficult especially as you have to take in to consideration that you can’t go near livestock (sheep and pheasants in particular) and try and keep away from any main roads. But Sunday morning I found and ideal route that takes you over the top of the Cotswold hills between the scenic villages of Compton Abdale and Yanworth. It’s a lovely bridle path that runs for about two and half miles and winds through large arable fields and provides fantastic views over the whole of the Cotswolds. The girls love it because they can frolic around without me shouting at them to heal and I can walk relaxed without nervously looking out for trouble and at the same time getting a marvellous panoramic view over the counties of Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. Next time I’m walking up that way I will try and provide some pictures.

Over the weekend I tried to patch up the holes in the kitchen again but it’s taking time because I have to wait for the filler to dry before I can progress with each layer. Mrs CG managed to find some proper plaster for me so hopefully once I’ve filled in most of the craters I can skim with the plaster which should prove interesting as having little experience of plastering I could make a right hash of it!

With the media reporting rather pessimistically that summer is officially over the farm is in somewhat of a lull as little can be done harvest wise as the rain continues to hamper operations. The rape seed has been brought in but it’s proving difficult with the corn as it is just not dry enough to be cut and the farm managers concern is growing by the day. The forecast this week is not brilliant but I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a break in the weather so that work can at least be started, it will not be good for the farm if there is yet another poor harvest.

Being British and naturally having a disturbed fixation about the weather I generally look up the forecast on the website Positive Weather Solutions I reckon it's The Sun newspaper's answer to weather forecasting, (open the link and you'll see why!)
These forecasters have for the past few years got the long range weather forecast reasonably correct, although I fully realise that it is not an exact science and like the Met office can and do sometimes get it all wrong, (although if the Met got a few more pictures like PWS they may well get a lot more hits on their site!).

Currently PWS are issuing statements as to why they got the August weather so wrong, (something to due to do with the jet stream). But it does amaze me that the British public believe the long range weather forecast to be so precise when explanations are heaped upon them saying that it is not necessarily 100% accurate.
I guess once again we can blame the media, well The Daily Mail anyway!

No Overdraft Mr CG

2010-08-12T13:19:00.002Z

Having been with the same bank for 35 years I have finally reached the decision to leave and move elsewhere. This after receiving a letter to inform me that they were changing their banking charges once again and which when implemented would cost me an extra £60 a year just for having an overdraft facility that I rarely use but covers me in case of emergencies. Interestingly with that particular charge you are now better off having an unplanned overdraft which seems rather daft to me.

Loyalty these days with banks does not hold for much, gone are the days that you could see your bank manager, he hasn’t the time to see you now, instead you are pointed to a lowly clerk, normally some graduate who has been instructed to sell you as much as possible during the embarrassingly quiet interview that takes place. I used to get really sick of getting a note to ask me to pop in to discuss my account. It always turned out they just wanted to sell me some rubbish so they could get more money out of me. In the end I actually told the poor junior to leave me alone and if I wanted something I would contact them. I suspect I had some nasty note written in my file, “leave alone, customer is a weirdo”.
So this time I will look for an internet bank, that way I don’t have to talk to anyone about upgrading my account or changing credit or debit cards every time I am summoned.

My Uncle was a bank manager and held in high esteem, he was very successful in his work and gained numerous banking awards and accolades, (not bonuses I hasten to add!)
I once visited him at his branch years ago and was entertained in his vast office with numerous cups of tea and biscuits while nervous staff kept knocking politely at the door with various bits of paperwork to sign or tentatively seeking advice on some important piece of work.
Now the public see banking institutes and in particular bankers as the lowest of low, greedy and Fagin like in manner, no one wants to be associated with a banker.

It’s remarkable how quiet the roads are at the moment, this of course is due to the summer holidays and the kids being off school, but for some reason this year seems quieter than usual. The last two weeks I haven’t had to shout at anyone when behind the wheel and to my amazement have arrived at work with no stress and nervous twitching; that will all change of course come the beginning of September.

Killer Dogs and Moon Craters in the Kitchen

2010-08-10T08:26:00.003Z

One pigeon, a squirrel, a grouse chick and a duck are the tally so far for Izzy, I feel like sticking little pictures on her backside to show off her kills like a fighter plane. Admittedly each creature was not fit, the pigeon was definitely sick and to Izzy it was just a toy in the garden which was crying out to be played with and once sufficiently duffed up she decided to bring her prize in to the house. With feathers drifting everywhere “Muggins” then had to take it off her and realising it was still very much alive but with a badly mauled wing takes it back outside and puts the poor creature out of its misery.

The squirrel just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and put up a hell of a fight, but when up against two labs I’m afraid it stood little chance. The others I won’t go in to details but again wrong place and wrong time for the poor things but at least it was a quick end.
No question, at this rate Izzy will be catching up with the late Fenja; however the difference being that Fenja was a born hunter who would happily take on anything including badgers, deer, and cats.

Since Izzy is turning in to a bit of a killer I’ve decided to plan ahead for the winter and have been ringing around the local farms asking for permission to walk across land where there are no problems with regard to pheasants. Now that the pheasants chicks have arrived the gamekeeper has already asked us to keep both dogs on a lead and come the beginning of the shooting season we will not be allowed on the farm at all.

With the girls now sleeping upstairs I have started the large task of filling in all the holes in the walls around the kitchen, I must have got through at least two packets of filler and yet the place still looks like a war zone. It’s amazing, great gouges in the wall that look like craters on the moon, it’s strange why the girls like the taste of the stuff there must be something in it that is appealing to labs, if only I could do the same about the craters in the garden!

Whilst sitting having supper last night with Mrs CG we happened to be watching Eastenders. I think many of you know I’m not a great fan but even I asked the question isn’t Phil a little old to be becoming a crack addict?

Watch out for the Northern Lights

2010-08-04T13:49:00.006Z

Being a Radio ham I regularly check out sunspot activity and solar radiation, this assists in predicting radio propagation. Over the weekend reports were coming in of a massive Solar storm with eruptions directed towards the earth.

See the quote below which gives details of what the scientists have been investigating.

According to boffins analysing results delivered from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, Sunday saw a massive convulsion involving almost the entire face of the Sun facing Earth. The event was apparently centred on Sunspot 1092, a huge solar pimple so large as to be visible without the aid of a telescope. It appears that the sunspot may have triggered a huge "coronal mass ejection" in which huge amounts of superhot plasma were spurted towards Earth accompanied by solar flares, tsunamis, magnetic filaments and other sun-wracking upsets across half the sun's surface.

"This eruption is directed right at us, and is expected to get here early in the day on August 4th," says astronomer Leon Golub of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "It's the first major Earth-directed eruption in quite some time."

Normally a blast of radiation like this could be expected to wipe out much of the human race, but fortunately we are protected by the Earth's magnetic field. Instead the deadly solar plasma is expected to stream down the planetary field lines towards the poles, crashing into oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere and so lighting them up to form aurorae - the so-called Northern Lights.

Golub and his colleagues believe that the aurorae may be so intense as to be visible from the northern United States and other countries such as the UK which are normally too far south to see the Lights.

The best time to look is early tomorrow morning just before dawn.

This picture of the Northern lights was taken last night in Canada

Cloning Cows and Abattoirs

2010-08-04T08:04:00.005Z

Prolonged use of alcohol, cigarette smoking, injecting drugs; in fact most things introduced in to the human body and taken in excess will do harm. Using a mobile phone whilst driving, not wearing a helmet while cycling can also be dangerous.
So when I heard this morning about the offspring of a cloned cow getting in to the food chain my mind naturally wanders to what’s the big deal? Ah its summer there’s little news about, so the media has been digging for a story.

Whilst listening to the radio report on "the cloning story" the word “slaughter” was mentioned, it’s interesting that an animal is slaughtered at the abattoir, rarely are the words "killed" or "electrocuted" or "shot" used.

I remember many years ago I must have been around five years old, being taken to an abattoir in Cheltenham one Saturday morning. Being completely innocent I really had no idea what an abattoir was but was told by my uncle who was the manager there that it was where food came from.
I was told to wait outside his office whilst he collected some papers and the office in question was raised above the main floor by some steps which meant I had a panoramic view of the whole production line. I could see pigs lined up on a conveyor and waiting in turn to be electrocuted, once stunned they then fell in to what seemed to be a large pit where they were then hoisted by their rear legs to have their throats cut. I naturally was horrified and remember thinking that what I was witnessing could not be real. Looking back all those years ago it must have had a large affect on me as I can remember the whole process as if it were yesterday. But remarkably it didn’t put me off eating meat and as a reward for being so quiet whilst my uncle was working I was given a horses tail for being such a good boy!
Later when I used to go out with my Father to help with his veterinary rounds I saw many animal corpses and helped him in carrying out autopsies, I thought nothing of it and without doubt it got me used to blood and guts and indeed death.

Can you imagine the outcry if in 2010 you actually took a bunch of school children to an abattoir?
The media would go beserk.
It is a sad fact there are people in this country who have absolutely no idea of where or how meat is processed, they see it on the supermarket shelves but really do not know how it got there. It would be interesting to see the reaction of teenagers if it was part of the school curriculum to have a tour round an abattoir.
I wonder how many vegetarians we would have once the visit was over?

Motor Mechanics Hedgehogs and Bats

2010-08-02T08:29:00.003Z

I decided that I needed to save money when servicing the car, in other words do it myself as in the old days when I never had any money to pay a garage. No problem with the Subaru I thought, shouldn’t take too long, start with an oil change and I’m saving myself a load of money.

So Friday evening I collect all my tools together, find a nice container and proceed to jack the car up, locate the sump nut and happily unscrew and empty the contents in to the tray. I change the oil filter old for new, screw the sump nut back up and go to the engine to begin filling up with fresh oil. To my amazement the dip stick still shows oil in the engine, in fact its full, nothing has been removed, I can’t understand it, so what is the litres of used oil lying in the tray? After much head scratching and investigating it turns out that I have just emptied the transmission oil; Jesus, what have I done?
I have just completely emptied the transmission sump, doh!
Panic, where the hell do I get transmission oil from, and how much do I need to add, more importantly how the hell to I fill it up, where’s the bloody cap?

After some research on the internet I find out what oil is required and would you believe you have to fill the transmission sump via the dip stick pipe, which is very thin! 8 litres of oil is required and it takes nearly 2 hours of gently filling and checking, an expensive and lengthy pastime, something that I shall not forget in a hurry. Once completed and panic over, I finally managed to locate the real engine sump nut and changed the oil, it took me half an hour.

The combine has been fired up and has started cutting; the two fields at the front of the house which were full of rape seed have been harvested which gives us a little more walking area for the dogs. Hopefully the rear field which has barely should be done in the next week providing the weather holds, this will then keep us away from the gamekeeper who has been advertising that “his birds” are arriving this week. It’s interesting that he is already asking us to walk the dogs on a lead when the birds will be penned in for the next month; God knows what he thinks the dogs are going to do, climb over the fencing and do SAS manoeuvres no doubt!

Spotted a hedgehog in the garden last night, the girls seemed bemused and had no idea what to make of it; both dogs were sniffing madly but unlike Fenja in her heyday did not attack and left it alone to happily walk around the garden. But later I spotted Ella jumping up in the air every couple of minutes and went out to see what she was doing, it turns out she had spotted Bertie the bat whizzing around and thought she could catch him in mid flight!

CBs Metrosexual and Doing the End to End

2010-07-27T15:11:00.002Z

Being a Ham Radio enthusiast does sometimes have its advantages especially when the farm boys are preparing their new tractors for the harvest and need help in installing their CB radios. Whilst never a great fan of the CB fraternity it has suddenly taken on a new light when used by the farming crowd. It never occurred to me that to empty a combine full of corn you might need to communicate with the other farm hands out in the fields for emptying the corn in to a loader, or when there is an emergency and someone needs help. Some readers will say that’s what mobile phones are for, but they cost money and take time to dial in; one particular instance when a farm worker had badly damaged his hand there was absolutely no way he could dial a number on his mobile, luckily he had a CB in the tractor cab and he managed to push the transmit button with his knees!

How did we men survive without?
Face moisturiser
Hair gel
Nasal hair cutters
Male handbags

Are you a Metrosexual?
A recent Datamonitor survey has shown that 73 per cent of European and US men said that spending time in front of the mirror was 'important' or 'very important', compared to 72 per cent of women with the same response. Thus mirroring the arrival of the metrosexual era, with skincare emerging as the key trend.

Since getting back in to the cycling theme I’m toying with an idea of sometime in the future (probably when I’m much older) of attempting the end to end bicycle run, (Lands End to John o’Groats). Although I would probably do it the other way round since Lands End is rather closer to home. The problem is getting the actual spare time to do it as it seems from research the minimum time required is around ten days. Which would be fine for me, but Mrs CG would be none too impressed!
Maybe I could hire a camper van and get Mrs CG s my back up driver?

A short one

2010-07-21T12:09:00.001Z

Have to be quick today, back at work!

Boring stuff on Eastenders this week, just a murderer, a paedophile and a bit of bullying, I think the script writers are having a blockage!

You may remember some time ago I complained about retailers and their interpretation of early Christmas advertising.
This one takes the biscuit!

Does Anyone Understand Big Brother?

2010-07-20T08:33:00.003Z

Allowed Izzy and Ella upstairs last night so didn't get a lot of sleep! Ella is the biggest fidget going, she was either trying to have a chew on the curtains or running off with my socks. Izzy was quite content to lie on her new bed and fall fast asleep.
It's scary how so alike they are to Daisy and Fenja!

Does anyone understand "Big Brother"?
Came downstairs this morning to find Mrs CG glued to the telly watching it.............sorry just don't get it along with most of the crap on TV.
It's true I'm becoming a grumpy old man and I love it!

The Tour The Garden and The Farm

2010-07-19T08:02:00.004Z

Managed to take two days off work this week which is quite nice, nothing planned, just a lazy couple of days to do absolutely nothing!

Has anyone been watching the "Tour"? I can't believe how those guys climb the mountains with such energy and speed. Now reasonably fit on a bike I reckon for fifty something I'm not too bad, but those young cyclists are incredible. To race an average of 130 kilometers a day for three weeks and have those mountains to climb is just unbelievable. Poor old Lance Armstrong who is on his last tour is now finding it hard but to be fair he has had his tour ruined by all the accidents he has suffered. My money is on Alberto Contador keeping his title but it's going to be close with the young Andy Schelck still only 23 just 30 odd seconds ahead.

The garden is beginning to return to its natural colour after the mini heat wave we have recently had. With rain falling for the last few days the grass and plants are having a well earned drinks and there are definite signs of recovery, although the long range forcast is a return to drier weather next week. Personally I'm hoping for some more hot weather, the past few summers have been awful and it would be nice to have a good one for a change, especially since we have no plans for a holiday this year due to lack of funds!

The farm is slowly preparing for the busiest time of the year, all the harvest machinery has been cleaned and serviced ready for the big push which will happen as soon as the weather begins to clear. During the early summer there was a spate of thefts around the area and two tractors were stolen from the farm, yes I know how could two tractors go missing and no one know about it? Well they did and no one saw a thing, evidently machines are turning up in different parts of Europe, engine numbers wiped and in some cases a lick of paint. The farm manager was as expected at his wits end, the last few summers have been bad for him with various machines catching fire or breaking down and the recent poor harvests then these thefts to top it all off, at one stage I reckon he was really thinking about packing it all in.
So I really hope this year the farms fortunes change and it has a good harvest.

2000 Trees Festival

2010-07-17T09:49:00.020Z

Once again the 2000 Trees Festival has come to Upcote Farm, which by luck happens to be just down the road from me! Last night whilst guzzling vast amounts of "Badgers Bottom Cider" I watched Frank Turner who is an up and coming star and no doubt will be moving to bigger stages in the years to come, but if you get the chance go and see him, he's very good. The festival is limited to roughly 3000 people but as it's a small good natured affair and for the young students only £50 for the whole weekend you get good value for the bucks. I'm hoping one day it will be the new "Glastonbury" then I can charge large amounts of money for the corporate car parking!

The Pups are no longer pups but fully fledged Labradors and in to everything that can be chewed or played with. The regular walks still happen down the farm but soon we will have a limited area to amble as the pheasant chicks will be in their pens by the end of the month. I won't go on about what I feel about the pheasant shooting, I've said a lot past posts and it will continue whatever I happen to say in this blog.

A final note about the Raoul joke; its a joke, not a political statement, treat that way and if you want a comment from me I would say that the police are normally very good at catching murders and rapists but are a useless when it comes to petty theft, burglery and traffic regulations these are the situations in which most people come in to contact with them and judge them on that basis.

Moan now over so enjoy the pics.

Mr Happy with Izzy

Ella & Izzy

Raoul Moat Still Out There!

2010-07-09T15:47:00.002Z

Jab in the Ribs

2010-04-20T11:11:00.001Z

I was speaking to some old boy the other night who was telling me he served on the Atlantic convoys during the Second World War. He was torpedoed twice and on both occasions picked by convoy escorts which by shear luck happened to be nearby. He was telling me he never imagined that the ban on flying over Europe would remind him of the shipping blockade attempted by the Germans during those dark days. He said he had been watching the television and seen that ordinary everyday supplies that we take for granted were not getting in to the UK and this reminded him of when times were hard back in the early 1940s. With his index finger jabbing in my ribs he then told me that when it comes to supplying the country it’s no different from then, we just get all our imports by air instead of sea. How right he is!

Mad Dogs and the Changing Season

2010-04-14T08:20:00.001Z

Living in a rural area the broadband speed on my computer is dreadfully slow. Having rung various providers it seems little can be done about this problem as BT is unwilling to spend the money to upgrade the local exchange. So it’s interesting to read today that the village of Lyddington has raised the money to set up their own network which now provides super fast broadband at 40mbps. I also love the name of the firm “Rutland Telecom” reminds me of Rutland television and Eric Idle!

Over the weekend I managed to cut the lawn for the first time this year, but it’s a bit tricky trying to guide the mower when you have two barking maniacs following your every move. At the moment the pups get everywhere and are going through what I would term their version of the “terrible twos”. Ella is happy to chew on everything especially anything made of wood or plaster and naturally her lead. Izzy has decided to ignore the words “come or here” and will happily look at you blankly as you whistle or shout and then continue with whatever she is doing. Occasionally she will come back to you on her terms but I think it’s going to be a case of time and patience and eventually we will get there, incidentally Ella is as good as gold when it comes to commands, sometimes you would not believe they come from the same litter!

The fields around the house are now beginning to sprout with the green shoots of rape and corn from the winter planting. Tractors have been out spraying fertilizer whilst the quieter weather is with us and there is a definite feeling of the change in season. The first swallow was seen by Mrs CG and Bertie the resident bat has been spotted flying low around the front garden. A pair of robins are nesting in the rear hedgerow along with Mr and Mrs blackbird who have taken up their usual residency by one of the sheds, all this yet I read some snow is forecast for next week, typical British weather!

Plane Stupid

2010-04-08T08:10:00.002Z

Is it me or are some people just plane stupid? How on earth can you get away with trying to bring a dead body on to a plane without the airline authorities seeing that it’s a corpse? And what person (especially a Qatari diplomat) in their right mind would attempt to have a smoke in the toilet of a jet on its way to America?

With the Election now underway I have decided not to bother reading or watching any news coverage about it, but its proving very difficult considering it’s everywhere you look. I have to admit the thought of any of that lot getting in to power somewhat depresses me and if I watch another day of Brown or Cameron or Clegg yapping on I will do something I will probably regret.

Mrs CG bumped in to the Gamekeeper yesterday whilst walking the girls on the farm. Unfortunately this was right at the time when both pups had spotted a hare and were in a full charge across the fields looking as if they were uncontrollable. The Gamekeeper suggested they should be on leads whilst the birds are nesting and departed no doubt to have a good moan about “those bloody dogs” to the other farm hands. I suspect the conversation would have been slightly different if it had been me walking the girls, but my time will come later. In some seriously strange way I am greatly looking forward to renewing my battle with the miserable old git.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

2010-04-03T08:12:00.004Z

Does anyone remember "It Bites - Calling All The Heroes", a catchy little number.
Love this, bit of "Humble Pie - Black Coffee".
Iggy doing his thing when he's "Bored".
Great American band "Little Feet - Rock and Roll Doctor".
This is great, "Dr Feelgood - Roxette" Wilko Johnson doing his thing!
For the Chairman "Jethro - Minstrel in the Gallery".
And Finally a bit of "Queen - Now I'm here", Christmas 1975 I think.

Enjoy, and a Happy Easter to All!

Thieves Rogues and Vagabonds

2010-03-31T08:52:00.005Z

Living out in the sticks does have its minor drawbacks, such as visits from opportunists on the look out to see what they can pinch. Touch wood we have been very lucky and although I have no doubt that on the odd occasion someone has had a snoop around the outside of the house, nobody has as yet attempted to break in. The sheds to the back of the house are possibly an easier target, but the one lock up is built like fort Knox and the main shed is well lit with a good padlock.

During Sunday someone broke in to my next door neighbour’s garden shed and took his racing bike. He had just had the bike rebuilt by a local bike shop and was naturally fuming, especially after spending a large amount of money and now the bike was gone. Interestingly the bike had a pannier and this had been removed by the thief before taking the bike. Nothing else from the shed was taken which is quite strange considering there were other smaller and more valuable items. After a visit by the local constabulary suspicion is falling towards the shop as it looks like this was a theft to order and the only people who would recognise the value of the bike would be employees or customers.

When my next door neighbour came round to tell me on Monday evening I naturally checked all my sheds were locked up and noticed that I had left the lock to the main garden shed open, luckily nothing seemed to be missing. We have a good lighting system that virtually surrounds the house and I have no doubt that this would put off potential burglars. But with just one lock on the shed it made me realise how easy it would be to break in and remove something and be away without being seen so I have decided this weekend to put wire mesh over the windows and reinforce the door with extra locks. There is no doubt that a determined thief could eventually take what they wanted but I don’t want to make it easy for them.

A while back we used to have a notorious family living just up the road; they had a reputation going back generations and were well known by the police for fighting, burglary, drugs and even firearm offences. They had been kicked out of Cheltenham for their behaviour and wandered around Gloucestershire in caravans, setting up camp where they could until land owners managed to get court orders to move them. Finally they ended up near our village and lived there for a number of years and were often to be seen scouring the countryside in their very expensive 4x4s looking for anything valuable to nick, boasting quite openly what they were doing and that they were untouchable.

Eventually they were moved off the land and went back to being nomads but keeping out of Gloucestershire as they were too well known. About 5 years ago they bit off more than they could chew by breaking in to a large manor house and stealing valuable paintings and antiques and I believe at the time it was one of the biggest robberies in the country. The father and sons were apprehended and are currently serving a long stay at Her Majesties pleasure.

Chris Hoy Watch Out

2010-03-29T15:00:00.010Z

Yesterday I managed to complete a 30 mile bike ride, something that I’ve been building up to over the past few weeks.

The Hell of the North bike ride takes place the weekend after Easter and is a 100 or 50 kilometre ride across the Cotswolds cycling on bridle paths, tracks and lanes. As it’s still fairly early in the year I have no intention of trying to do the 100 kilometres as I would undoubtedly have a heart attack or collapse through exhaustion, I figured the 50k (30 miles) wouldn’t be a killer and I should be able to manage it at my own pace. So I thought I’d better attempt the distance before the big event just to make sure I could do it and I’m pleased to say it wasn’t too bad although I am suffering a bit from aches and pains but these should wear off in a couple of days.

However the official bike ride uses a lot of bridle paths which are very boggy at this time of the year, something which I found out yesterday and although I only rode a few miles on these tracks, I was constantly getting stuck in the heavy mud. I think it may get quite interesting with some 500 riders all taking the same route.

Watching the World championship cycling over the weekend, Britain did reasonable well in its medal tally and by all account is looking good when it comes to 2012. Unfortunately you get little idea of how fast these riders are travelling until somebody comes off at high speed. This happened in one of the women’s races where the riders touched as they were approaching the finishing line, they were travelling so fast that one of the bike frames broke up as it hit the floor and the rider literally kissed the wooden floor leaving very nasty burns to her mouth and nose.

Take a look at the pictures below; I think I will stick to my amateurish mountain bike efforts.

Ouch!

Bet this hurt!