Sledging is fun

Hello again,

A really short blog today. We have just come back from a weeks holiday in Scotland and a fine time was had by all. When we arrived it was snowy and -8 degrees (excellent for sledging). Two days later it was +12 degrees and we were on the beach in shirt sleeves - excellent.

Will blog again next week

Until then...

It's snow joke!

Hello again,

You might have noticed on the news this week, that we have had some snow in London & the South East. Actually it was a decent snowfall, some 200mm. Obviously, everything ground to a halt; cars, trains, buses, schools etc. but that is to be expected. It was even the case that we couldn't do any work with the business either - you try installing irrigation & lighting in gardens covered in snow! Anyway it resulted in a day off for pretty much everyone and a fine time was had by all.

Two points to make:

Firstly, see the image of Brian the Badger. He has moved from the boot of my car to the porch of my house. This is real progress, a definite step forward. For now Brian is Brian the guard badger, protecting the house from undesirables. He did however get a bit covered in snow, even with the protection of the porch. I think he looks rather magnificent there but I still have plans for him. I will faithfully report any devleopments on the Brian front, as and when they occur

Secondly, snow men are becoming so sophisticated. The winner this week was the snow dalek that was made in Kingston, a faithful reproduction of Dr Who's foe. Congratulations to the people who made it

Until later

Lift the spirit

Hello again,

These are uncertain times that none of us has experienced before. Recessional gloom, the economy seemingly in meltdown, the footsie crashing, the pound plummeting and unemployment rising at an alarming rate. We are all fed a daily diet of this information by the self-satisfied "I'm still going to get my pay cheque no matter how bad the economy is" BBC news department. They revel in the misery, amplifying it to create bigger and bigger headlines and thereby creating a self-fullfilling prophesy.

I am not denying that things are bad; I run two small businesses, a garden irrigation & lighting contracting business and a wholesale business and trading conditions for both have never been tougher. Money in the economy is scarce, protecting jobs is getting harder, winning work is more testing and getting payment more challenging. With all this gloom though, whether it is real or magnified by the press, it is hard not to be dragged down and to only see the negatives in life.

This is where public art has an important part to play in life. Art lifts the spirit, it takes you away from the "now", it refreshes the soul and lightens the mood. It won't take the problems away but it might just divert your attention for long enough to believe that this recession will actually end at some point, things will eventually improve and the BBC will eventually find something else to gloat about.

See the photo? This beautiful sculpture called Horse and Rider is by Dame Elizabeth Frink (1930-1993) and stands majestically at the corner of Dover Street and Picadilly, outside a coffee chain. Happening upon such a sculpture unexpectedly is a joy and is a credit to whomever commissioned it. Public art doesn't usually get much attention, except for the spare plinth in Trafalgar Square, but it does contribute to and enrich our lives. Like good architecture, public art affects us coniously and subconciously and taking a moment to admire a work can help us through these trying times.

Sadly though, as a footnote, when ordering my coffee I remarked to the member of staff about how lucky they were to be able to see the sculpture every day. The "Trainee Barista" stunned me with his mumbled reply "what sculpture?" before shoving my overpriced, weak Americano in a paper cup at me . I was lost for words and that doesn't happen very often.

Until later

A Badger's Tale (Tail)

Hello again.

Long time, no blog... My New Years res is to blog more consistently.

For some time now I have been keen on the idea of adorning the interior of my house with a stuffed Badger. I had the idea that I would like to cut one in half (cross ways), mount it's front end on one side of a wall and it's back end on the other. To make it a bit more surreal, I intended to attach said Badger about 2m above ground level.

I thought this was a great idea, sadly my wife (and daughters) weren't in agreement. I was surprised by the strong resistance I met when I mooted the idea and even though I badgered (sorry for the pun) her for some time, she did not bend. To her, it was a black and white issue - no dead animals in the house, full stop.

Anyway, over a couple of months, I kept my eyes open for a suitable bit of taxidermy. I had a hope that presenting my wife with a "cute" stuffed Badger would soften her resistance to the idea. However, I didn't find anything and the idea began to drift to the back of my mind.

However, two weeks before Christmas, a large box was delivered to my office from one of our suppliers in Birmingham. We get quite a lot of deliveries of garden irrigation and garden lighting product and the box raised no eyebrows until I opened it. Inside was a stuffed Badger, an old, dusty Badger mounted on a board. Clearly the old fellow had seen better days, his ear has been chewed, his underside is bald and he has a very "interesting" aroma. However, none of this mattered to me, it was a Badger and it gave me the opportunity to carry out my plan.

I took Brian, as he has been named, home that evening in my car. However, before I left I thought I might give him a bit of a spruce up and and tried vacuuming his fur. Sadly the vacuum sucked the fur out of one of Brian's back legs leaving it looking like a plucked turkey, so I stopped and decided to take him as he was.

Upon entering the house, I was met by my daughters; Dolly (5) burst into tears, Daisy (7) screeched "yeuucggkk". At that point I started to think that I might struggle to get my way on this one. Upon entering the kitchen, I held Brian up, trying to show off his best side (if he had one) and to make him look as cute as possible. I failed and my wife looked sternly at me before stating firmly "do you really need me to comment?". Knowing the taste of defeat, I responded with "shall I put him back in the car then?"

So since then, that is where Brian has been residing, in the back of my car. He has spent Christmas & New Year in the boot of my car like an aged dog, frozen in time. It hasn't been a problem until yesterday;, my sense of smell had been ineffective (due to a winter cold) and I was happily co-existing with Brian. However, on my journey home last night, my olfactory abilities returned and Brian's "individual" aroma nearly got the better of me. So much so that I had to turn the heater off in the car and open the window.

So, what now for Brian? Should he stay or should he go? As the Pulp Fiction quote goes "he's got personality and personality goes a long way". The problem is, the type of personality that Brian has is not that desirable. However, I have new plans for Brian, watch this space and find out.

Until later.

Seagulls, seaside & summer

Hello again

I have just been on holiday with my family. We decided, like a lot of others, that a UK holiday was the order of the day bearing in mind the environmental cost of flying. We are trying to fly only once per year from now on, so the UK holiday industry had better watch out.

I am a supporter of local trade and I really wanted the holiday to be an advert for what we (UK plc) can provide for tourists. We chose Suffolk as our destination and rented a cottage in Woodbridge. Sadly, the downside of holidaying in the UK is that the 80:20 rule applies eg the weather is (at best) 80%, service you recieve is 20% below the standard you would hope for, the accomodation is 20% short of excellent. It really is a case of so near, yet so far.

With the changing environment, British people want to holiay in the UK and for the good of the larger economy we want to attract foreign tourists to the UK. For this to be a success we must go the extra metre (which is the most difficult metre) and make the UK experience as good as it can possibly be - don't fall at the final hurdle.

Let the British holiday set the standards for the rest of the world, not be an "also ran". People don't mind paying a bit more if the service is excellent and people don't mind a bit of rain if they receive a warm welcome. We must exceed the expectations of the tourist and charm them into holidaying in the UK, year after year.

I shall get off my soap box now,

Until next time

Allotments - go on, get one.

Hello

I might have mentioned in previous blogs that I have an allotment. We took it on, as a family, at the end of 2007 at which point it was chest high in brambles and shin high with couch grass. Over the last 9 months we have dug it, put edging boards in, built the ever important compost heap, put up a decent sized poly tunnel and acquired the ubiquitous allotment shed.

With low expectations for our first year, we have had an abundance of produce, much more that we hoped for; potatoes, carrots, courgettes, cabbage, tomatoes, rocket, kohl rabi, beetroot, radish, onions, garlic, shallots, beans (runner, french & broad) and most recently sweetcorn (see image). We still have squash, jerusalem artichokes, globe artichokes, aubergines, rhubarb to come. On top of that we have had cut flowers on demand from the sweet peas and the multi-headed sunflowers that just keep flowering and flowering.

It is easier than you think, just get one, get stuck in and you will find that all the plot holders near you will offer you advice, seeds, plants, encouragement and best of all cups of tea. At first it does seem like all work and no reward but (like giving birth I suspect) when the rewards arrive you forget about all the backache & blisters and sit back in your deckchair with a nice cool drink and bask in the smug self-satisfaction that you don't have to buy your veg from Waitrose or similar.

Try it,

Until next time...






Waterwell - for Garden Lighting and Irrigation

Snails, what can you do?

Hello

I seem to have been fighting the good fight all year against slugs and snails, both in my garden and on the allotment - see the photo of said critter on my precious young Acer forestii. So much so, that as the weeks and months have gone by, I have become more creative (devious) about how I deal with them. It is now time to take stock of the situation.

I am not keen on the use of pellets; bad for slugs (good), bad for birds (bad). Beer traps are effective, but a waste of beer. If someone filled my swimming pool (if I had one) with beer, I'd probably get drunk, fall in and drown as well. Encouraging wildlife to scoff them down seems good, birds and hedgehogs are welcome but they don't eat enough, the slugs & snails have the upper hand. I am now considering eating them myself; l'escargot, Surbitonstyle. I understand one has to feed them a healthy last supper (five days long) to rid them of impurties and then out with the garlic butter etc etc.

I have even taken to picking them up and throwing them at least three gardens away, to a wild garden further up the road. I realise that this sounds a little cruel, but I reckon they are tough enough to survive, the snails have their shells to hide in and the slugs seem to bounce. Anyway, if I was a slug and the options were, as listed above; I'd take my chance with the short flight of fancy. Imagine, you spend all your life in the undergrowth and then for a brief moment you are flying high in the air, across gardens, over fences, ponds and lawns. What a tale you would have to tell your offspring but would they believe you?

If anyone has any better suggestions, then please don't hesitate to comment

Until later

Waterwell - for Garden Lighting or Irrigation