The Scilly Isles
I like islands and the Scillies, along with the Aeolian Islands are one of my favourite places in the world. When we went to the Scillies, we flew direct from Ipswich in my own plane. What a landing and takeoff, as the runway is short and with a hump like a camel!
But that was a long time ago!
Today, islands like the Scillies are in the forefront of the fight against global warming, as they will be the first to go under the waves. So I was interested to see that they were taking part in an energy saving experiment yesterday called E-day. As there is just a single cable from the mainland, you can easily see how much electricity the Scillonians are using.
So did they save much electricity? Not really, as the weather was against them.
But look into the web site and it is a mine of information.
Just look at the National page and see how many tons of CO2 we emit for a start!
Moon River
Andy Williams was on Jools Holland last night and it made me think about his song, Moon River, which is strongly associated with him.
I hadn’t realised that kit was actually written for Audrey Hepburn to sing in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. But I do remember the Danny Williams version that predates Andy, being a bit hit in the UK.
It’s all here on Wikipedia.
Man’s Inhumanity to Man
I have just watched the story of the Blitzing of Coventry on BBC2. Looking back from nearly seventy years it is possible to say that good triumphed over evil and that it just stiffened our resolve to stand up to the Nazis.
I’ve stood twice in the grounds of the bombed cathedral and it is a place with a quiet significance that moves me deeply. And I’m not a religious person.
Coventry Cathedral
Compared to the later bombing of Hamburg and Dresden, the bombing of Coventry was not as severe. In the 1960s, I met a woman who had survived the inferno of Hamburg, and she told me that just as it did for those in Coventry, it just made them angry and wanting to fight more.
So was it worth it?
I would argue that it wasn’t on a strategic level, as to bomb important targets accurately has been shown to do more.
But we never learn!
We just tried to obliterate Iraq, when perhaps a more subtle, but more targeted and demoralising approach might have been better. In Iraq too, we virtually forgot all of the black propaganda methods that we were so good at in the Second World War. Surely with all the technology we now have from satellites to Hollywood, it could find a place to get messages across and cause chaos.
But then big explosions play better at home.
The Clapham Omnibus
In the previous post on the Supreme Court, I mentioned the Clapham Omnibus , and particularly the mythical man who rides it.
So who was he? Wikipedia provides an answer. Australia even has a version – “The man on the Bondi tram”.
My wife was a barrister and I don’t know whether she used the phrase in Court, but she certainly used it in real life!
Was That Right?
Just watching the new BBC series of Emma.
It looked like they’re walking past a field of oil seed rape. It was certainly very yellow!
View From My Window
My house sits above the Stour Valley and I can look out of my bedroom window and see for several miles across it.
View From My Window
In front you will notice my lawn, which like most of the land is in desperate need of some rain. We had a splash last night, but the basset was outside enjoying a lamb bone and didn’t even get wet!
Life of Brian
I’m just watching a program about Monty Python on the BBC.
I still have “Always Look on the Bright Side” on my phone! Life of Brian is still one of the best films ever made.
Indian Summer?
Why do we talk of an Indian Summer? It’s here on Wikipedia. But it will just confuse you!
New Plants
Still whatever we call it, all my new plants seem to have taken well.
Don’t ask me what they are?
Gategate
We have had a lot of scandals lately in the UK. Two major sporting ones; Bloodgate involving Harlequins Rugby Club and Crashgate involving Renault have come to light in the last few months. There’s even a list of “Gate” scandals in Wikipedia. I haven’t counted, but there are a lot that occurred in the UK.
We need a Gategate! It’s a pity an MP didn’t guy a set of ornamental gates and stick them on his or her expenses.
I just wonder how many people who use the suffix ‘gate’ with impunity, even know the story of the original Watergate scandal. The burglary that started it all was on June 17th, 1972.
The Return of the Elm
Look at the paintings of John Constable and you’ll see lots of English Elms. Sadly most of them are no more as they were devastated by Dutch Elm disease in the 1980s. At our previous house, we had several large specimens and I can remember the day they all came down. We’d tried everything that we could to save them, but you can’t resist nature.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about the English Elm.
Ulmus procera Salisb., the English Elm or Atinian Elm was, before the advent of Dutch elm disease, one of the largest and fastest-growing deciduous trees in Europe. A survey of genetic diversity in Spain, Italy and the UK revealed that the English Elms are genetically identical, clones of a single tree, the Atinian Elm once widely used for training vines, and brought to the British Isles by Romans. Thus, the origin of U. procera is widely believed to be Italy, although it is possible the tree hailed from what is now Turkey, where it is still used in the cultivation of raisins.
But, we still have some English Elm in this country and they seem to be resistant to the disease. This seems to be surprising, if they are all genetic identical, so perhaps they are not, or there is another factor.
The Conservation Foundation is now distributing elm saplings to schools, that have been grown from this possibly disease-resistant strain of English Elm.
This is the sort of initiative that we should all support.
Incidentally, some years ago, I met David Bellamy, one of the founders of the Conservation Foundation. One of my companies had won a green award.
He was not as I expected, in that many media experts are full of their own ego and never listen to your point of view. I found him to be very much a listener, who made some extraordinary incisive points, that many would not accept.
He is very much a maverick and we need more thinkers like that. They may not always be right, but challenging them often produces a train of thought and a result, that is infinitely better than a conservative approach.
I always describe myself as scientifically green.
The English Elm project ticks all the boxes, as those children in thirty years time will want to take their kids back to their school to show their children, their elm trees.
The Anonymous Widower 