30.09.2020 A better bit of cloud.

 ~~

Wednesday 30th 55-60?F, slightly misty with a heavy overcast expected to continue all day. An hour and 40 minutes to take 355 pictures. The mist added perspective and a dullness to the scene in equal measure.

Countless Chaffinches, Wood pigeons, Starlings  and gulls were gathered. Each in their own vast flocks. Fidgety and nervous at my approach. 

I arrived at the lake and snapped away at the usual, far too distant quarry. The Grebe family dozed as ducks busied themselves being ducks.

Then the steep climb up to the plateau. Where a solitary farmhouse enjoys its unique isolation and unhindered views of tumbling clouds. Yet is passed by a rare, public track provided the dogs will let you pass unhindered. Back down the familiar, undulating lane. Taking all too similar landscapes under arching oak trees.

~~

29.09.20 Musings on the life and times of a beach hedge.

 ~~~

Tuesday 29th 52F, overcast with a light SW SE southerly breeze. Supposedly mild with sunny periods for much of the day. It was slightly too warm at 58F as I walked to the far woods along empty lanes and tracks. The early, kapok, sky filler cleared to almost continuous sunshine and cotton wool balls and fleece.

A modest, boundary hedge which got away from them. The years passed unnoticed as it become an impenetrable palisade. For protection and shade on those long, tiring summer days. Of endless discourse at the rural smithy. 

It's vital purpose, now long forgotten. As was the long, low, grocery shop only next door. The only witnesses, yesterday's, bold aerial photographers of  tight canvas, stiff wires and stick frames.

Trees truly are the time travellers of our world. Do they slumber? As we fight our wars and torment ourselves and each other, over the mindless, ephemeral nonsense of our short lives? We have only to blink, for  familiar "extras," to be snatched away. Suddenly absent  from the stages of our own existence. Before we could acknowledge their valuable role as both teacher and poor example. Shadows only have value where substance has fled. Where did our own years go? That we utterly wasted them so? 

~~

28.09.2020 Chump supporters to have a whip-round for penniless Chump.

 ~~

Monday 28th 58F, overcast. Expected to remain cloudy all day. We had sunshine yesterday when none was threatened. A longer walk down to the village, past the marsh, up to the woods, back along the main track and then home. Dull conditions did not produce any useful images. There were countless birds in huge flocks but too distant to capture. As was a red kite.

It is reported that somebody has been poisoning birds of prey on Tåsinge. An island off the cost of Svendborg, SE Fyn. Three White tailed eagles have died from a poison banned since 2006 in the EU. I thought only the fuckwit gamekeepers in Scotland were still protecting the game for their offshore landowner's shooting rights.

It is widely reported that Chump supporters [AKA: Chumps] are to have a whip-round for the cash-strapped lying bullying ex-billionaire racist sexist misogynist psychopathic mobster crook homeless bum deluded ex-US presidential candidate tax cheat. I'm calling it fake news. Nobody is really THAT stupid. Or are they? 😉 Firefighters and nurses on the front lines of the Jinping Plague pay far more taxes than Von Chump. [German immigrant.]

It is further reported that an ultra right wing and deeply religious judge is to become the next nomination for far more power, for far longer, than any US president. The problem here is that I am struggling to imagine what depths of raving hypocrisy and depravity, a Christian needs to be anything but <cough> "well left of centre." 

Didn't Jesus talk of sharing and loving thy neighbour? Well, I'm no religious scholar but I am fairly sure that Nazi jackboots weren't invented back then. Though religious hypocrisy certainly was and is even older than the Roman invention of a poor but peaceful, forgiving saviour.  😉 I must have missed the small print in the US version of the bible.

~~

26.09.2020 Pass the anti-snake oil, please?

 ~~

Saturday 26th 52-57F, heavy, grey overcast, with hardly a breeze. It is supposed to remain dry but grey. No walk yet. Busy at home. Later walk to the lanes in light traffic. A tractor, ploughing a big field, had attracted thousands of gulls. Brief, light drizzle with the sky remaining grey.

Sunday 27th 60-65F, very heavy overcast and breezy. 

Superstition is many-faceted. There is the belief that you can drive how you like and you will survive unscathed. Sadly the statistics don't lie in this case. 

Others believe the sky will fall if they do not subject themselves to an evil, stone age, genocidal authority. Several of which represent the most corrupt organisations which have ever existed on the planet. Fortunately they can rely on the brain washing of their followers to brain wash every new generation. Well, the eternal, afterlife insurance scam would have collapsed by now without countless, new, policy holders.

Many believe that voting means "their choice" will change their lives for the better. Not much sign of that yet. Though its "high priests" seem to do pretty well out of it. Red or blue? It often means the opposite extremes. Bugger all sign of their unique snake oil changing society for the better. Burp!

Having lots more money is one of the greatest and long lasting superstitions. Yet those who have almost all of it are seemingly unhappy. Their utterly pointless, empty days are spent clinging onto it and desperately seeking more. Meanwhile their offspring wander in and out of exclusive rehab centres. Their abused servants escape to tell stories of torture and mistreatment. 

The ultra-rich sell their souls and their children, to the lowest paid child minder or abusive tutor. Maintaining the belief that exclusive, private schools will produce great leaders. I suppose it depends on how you define "great." Great egos. Great corruption. Great dictators, great insider dealers, exam cheats and money launderers.

Fame at all costs is believed to be the answer to happiness. Look where it gets them. They blame the work-load and the corruption of those who promote them. In exchange for what? A lifelong drug habit, trolls and critics? Those who never did a constructive thing in their lives, but place themselves above the masses as having a unique insight into others weaknesses? Whoops! 😉 

Modern art is another belief system. Shite in a box or shite on a canvas inevitably remains shite. Unless you are a billionaire competing for a palace full of shite. Odd how they don't place such monetary value on people instead. Isn't it?

Countless "followers" now place their faith in online [and usually corrupt] product promoters. Why do the masses constantly subject themselves to subordination? To what is essentially a commercial, cult, sales leader? A pretty face is prostituted for overpriced tat and called by a harmless name like "influencer." How can a "supermodel" have used a product if it is so new? Better not ask. Or the sky will definitely fall.

Labels have become very big business. Once upon a time it took years of hard graft and a little genius to produce long lasting products worthy of an exclusive and believable label. Made in England! Now everything is stamped out in Asian sweatshops. Where modern slaves apply the labels. As they live in constant fear. Under the supervision of the henchmen of a scoiopathically evil, multi-billionaire dictator. 

A dictator is little more than a school bully with countless more bullies to back them up. The system obviously favours such bullies. It must do. Or they wouldn't exist in such numbers. I'm pretty sure the lesser bullies believe in The Great Leader as they feed living children into the bone crushers.

Now we have the ultra-cynical, conspiracy theorists. Just a toxic new form of "religion," Foisted on the Undernet, but already taking its deadly toll. Countless lives are lost in this pandemic to its drooling, deliberately brain dead, idiocy. It's anti-snake-oil spokespersons selling the same-old, same-old, transparent lies. Believe in nothing [or rather their exclusive snake oil] and you will be eternally happy and successful. Just remember to Follow, Subscribe and Like.

Some believe that Big Tech should be free of taxes because they deserve to win. That they deserve to control every moment of our lives because their motives are pure. Good luck with that belief. When 1984 was still popular it was evil government "for the greater good." Now it is evil commercials for the greater good. There are never any subtitles to warn you of the evils you are doing to your body and mind. As you buckle under the constant bombardment of their commercial behest.

Imagine how many hospitals could be built with the missing taxes. But hey! There is a modern belief that you can deliberately make yourself sick and unfit and still expect the finest medical care to keep you safely fat but alive. There are countless hundreds of millions who daily worship at McLardy's. The proof can be found in every hospital and on every littered verge.

Robin Hood and King Arthur are just more superstitious fables that superheroes exist in reality. When all they really are is an inbuilt species longing for basic fairness in everyday life. For justice. For equality. And, above all, simple respect for their humble contribution to society. No fanfares required. No military parades. Just the right to exist in reasonable comfort, health, happiness and security. Without the stamp of commercial jackboots leaving dark bruises all up and down their children's spines. 

Sport is a major faith which would have billions believing that "their team's" success is vital to their happiness. That their sporting "hero" is worthy of their mass adulation and expenditure on promotional material. Basically they are queuing to buy the tin-pot, tribal propaganda and trinkets. Hook, line and sinker.  

UFO worship continues to grow. Here we are supposed to believe that independent, uncorrupted angels from the sky will come down. To save us from our evil masters. Let's see now.. an advanced race with infinite, light speed powers are queuing in orbit to be our saviours? Sounds vaguely familiar? What if they are "fallen angels?" Any species with that much power wouldn't need our permission to change everything we think we know about the universe. Or our [supposed] leaders.

Does your superstition make you happy? Does it free you from fear? Or does it twist your mind into impossible tangles and [routinely] the hatred of others? Where you are made to believe the complete opposite of simple, human logic? If it seems terrifyingly wrong then it must [surely] still be wrong?

Does Apple move in mysterious ways? Do Google or MS? Does your president, prime minister or union representative have your best interests at heart? Do they show it in their daily lives? Or is their hypocrisy and corruption mind numbingly obvious?

Are you free of the message that you need to constantly spend to achieve your rightful place in commercial heaven? Perhaps you live on a deserted island without a signal? Or are a member of an un-contacted tribe. Living only on cigarettes and Coke provided by the local, catholic priest? It won't last. That nice Mr Musk is about to bring you eternal happiness in the form of advertising from the very heavens above. Praise be! 

Advertising is just another belief system. Google and Apple force it down our throats every single day. It is their daily bread to feed the 5 billion, into all their offshore, bank accounts. Without paying taxes on the vast profits of sociopathic, monopolistic, commercial dictatorship. Sorry about the fish. The fish is off. It died of plastic waste, overfishing and global warming. All caused by advertising tat in exchange for your eternal soul. 

No naive, gullibles were hurt in the scribbling of this harmless nonsense. I do not condone, promote nor approve of any product placement on any of my online "works." Certainly not for commercial gain. I am not paid for my rambling blog posts. Neither in coin nor in kind. After all, anything and everything I say is not worth the paper it is written on. Much the same can be said of advertising. 

~~

25.09.2020 Silent Autumn?

 ~~

 Friday 25th 55-60F, dark cloud and breezy. Lots of rain expected. Though my knees were already painless, I limited myself to a walk to the lanes. 

Where there were countless hundreds of Chaffinches breakfasting on a newly tilled field. Further over about a hundred starlings were moving about in a nervous flock. While above them three Red kites were soaring at the top of the hill. It started raining lightly at about 8.25. I had worn my Ventile, winter walking jacket so was warm and comfy. 

Earlier in the year I often commented about the startling quantity and quality of bird song on my walks. Now scientists have confirmed that the birds changed their songs thanks to the quieter conditions. The absence of traffic noise allowed them to express themselves more sweetly and fluently. 

Now we are well into autumn and long past the nesting season, the lack of song birds is very noticeable. There are still a few swallows around. Gulls are still carpeting the bare soils of harvested fields. Wagtails are more noticeable after a rather thin summer. It used to be one of the most common birds to be seen on my rural rides. They were often to be found in the middle of minor roads. Picking up insects knocked down by passing traffic. Being pale grey they stood out well against the dark asphalt. Their familiar bobbing tails a distinctive characteristic.

It seems the wealthy have enjoyed massive tax rebates when they bought luxury cars in Denmark. A Danish minister is now clarifying how the government intends to get a million half a million electric cars onto the Danish roads by 2030 4030. Prices for cheaper electric vehicles will remain steady [i.e. completely unaffordable!] Rather than suffering the constant rises in import taxes under the previous government. Which was formed by the coalition of right wing, Pig Farmers Rool Party and another, ultra right wing, anti-immigration party. 

Lorries are to pay kilometre road use taxes depending on their individual consumption. Fuels will be made more eco-friendly by mixing with other ingredients. So, no change there then. Let's call it a million EVs by 5030 and be done with it. Shall we? 

~~

24.09.2020 Pig squids are on manoeuvers.

 ~~

Thursday 24th 58-63F, heavy overcast and blowing a gale. It rained heavily last night when none was forecast. The trees are thrashing about to a southerly attack of the wind.

It is odd how similar the local landscape is to waves. Much of it was scraped flat by the ice ages. Some of the local hills are rebounds from the melting of deep lakes. Once relieved of the great weight the land rose above the surrounding countryside.

My knees have been hurting over the last couple of days. A lack of cycling or far too much walking over rugged ground? I'll have a short walk to the lanes, all on asphalt, today. It is ironic how walking always rids me of my aches and pains.

And so it was. Three quarters of an hour gentle walking solved the knee problem. Until I returned and climbed our steep stairs. Probably muscular. So I shall just have to take it easy for a day or two.  The dark clouds have blown away. Leaving a much lighter and brighter sky. Even freshly laundered sunshine at intervals. 

A Red kite was circling and soaring over the village church. Several crows went up to take a look but soon retreated to their treetops. The kite's flight was an effortless display of aerial superiority in the strong, gusty wind. Small flocks of wagtails were foraging for breakfast on the newly tilled soil.  

A Colossal "pig squid" trundles past. It's huge tentacles wrapped neatly around its massive body. It has no natural predators but causes havoc with its inky fluid. An Insanely Large pig squid is seen more and more often these days. This is based on the body of a combine harvester and can lay waste to whole prairies in a day.

The news that Tesla won't have affordable cars and batteries for a few more years has depressed the psychopaths in the markets. One might wish they would put themselves out of their misery in a more constructive way.. but what can you expect from these parasites?

~~

23.09.2020 The ups and downs of rural peramabulations.

 ~~

Wednesday 23rd 48-68F,  bright sunshine, a clear sky but thin mist. Walked down to the village, then along the main track up to the forest. 

As I skirted the woods a deer looked up from grazing the new plant growth. It was staring at me and wondering what to do. I was blocking its nearest escape route through the boundary hedge but remained still. Eventually it bounded for safety.

Later, I was taking pictures of the misty, layered landscape when a bird of prey took off from a post. Not sure whether it adds or detracts from the scene.

My walk finished by descending to the road and returning against the sparse traffic. Now nearly two hours after I had left. Thankfully the rush hour was well over by then.

Strange at it may seem there is still no requirement for Danish health workers to wear masks. Yet health workers are dealing with some of the most vulnerable people in the population. Worse, they are themselves falling ill with the Jinping Plague. Makes no sense, at all.

~~

22.09.2020 Mist and autumn fruitfulness.

 ~~

Tuesday 22nd 47-68F, a repeat of yesterday. Overnight mist followed by later sunshine. The mist is not quite as thick as yesterday's and cleared much earlier. Trees are just visible as dark silhouettes at 100 yards. 

Time to go and play in the traffic! Everybody needs a hobby. The drivers were just as predictable. The same zombie mode behind the wheel. The mobile phones clearly active as they sped illegally into the fog even when dragging a trailer. The complete absence of skill or just, basic common sense, is both terrifying and perplexing. Nothing has changed in over half a century. The players are just replaced as they fall. Or are knocked off the board.

I should have taken my new camera. The mist was clearing quickly to the onslaught of sharp sunshine and the familiar views were gorgeous. I took 103 images in an hour with my TZ7 as I tried to capture the mist, seemingly sinking into the ground. Playing with the images in post processing completely alters the atmosphere. I quite like this one even if it is a collection of clichés. It was a matter of finding an overhanging tree to block the blinding sunlight. I borrowed the same, roadside tree to provide a frame. Rule of thirds and double golden spirals reign supreme.

The afternoon was continuously sunny and pleasantly warm.

~~

21.09.2020 Thick mist and dead rat runners.

 ~~

Monday 21st 48-64F, thick overnight mist, slowly thinning. Visibility, or rather invisibility, was at about 150 yards as I left. 200 yards on my return. More, stinking, dead rats on the road. Why so many?

Sorry for the awful picture. It was supposed to be a topical play on the road sign and reduced visibility.

The traffic was heavy at intervals. With most drivers speeding and many driving nose to tail. The majority were not showing fog lights. Or even the legally required headlights, day and night, in Denmark. It was completely impossible to see rear lights mere seconds after they had passed.

Surprisingly many drivers clipped the outside verge on blind corners. Simply because they had grossly underestimated their approach speed in the fog. This included several huge lorries. So I spent more time on the grass verge, with my back against the hedge, than on the asphalt. Just for my own survival. What will they do when every vehicle has an AI driver? Close all the hospitals? Accidents don't just happen. They are caused.

The afternoon turned to sunshine and some cloud.

~~

20.09.2020 Perfect days without end?

 ~~

Sunday 20th 40-64F, dead calm, clear with bright sunshine. Taller mist, today, but not so much of it. A delightful walk to the far woods. Not a soul to be seen and total silence apart from the birds. A large, pale bird of prey rose from the ground and hid in a tall conifer. Try as I might I couldn't see it. 

Access to the woods had improved to cater for timber harvesting. So I followed several loops which were new to me. It was lovely to walk in dappled shade beneath the towering trees. With birds flitting from branch to branch high above. 

The temperature was perfect for a t-shirt and my thin, camouflage jacket. My Scarpa boots continue to travel completely unnoticed. There is no finer praise for walking boots!

An interesting theory has been put forward for the high number of deaths to Jinping Plague in Sweden. They died this year from Jinping Plague because they hadn't died from last year's weak flu season. Had the normal number of vulnerable people died [as expected] from flu, then they would never have figured in the Jinping Plague toll. 

The danger now, as we approach winter, will be the [potentially] lethal combination of both diseases simultaneously. Those with mild or no symptoms, from their Jinping Plague infection, may suddenly find themselves suffering a "double whammy." I haven't heard any experts discussing how each disease might affect the other. 

Flu might trigger the presently missing symptoms of an existing Jinping Plague infection. Thanks to an unexpected immune response to the combination of viral attacks. It is estimated that 30 million people have been infected. With close to a million dead so far. I should emphasise that pre-existing health conditions greatly affect the outcome of cases with severe symptoms.

The callous disregard for other's safety, shown by many younger people, may well come back to haunt them! I am speculating here. Only time will tell. It is ironic that the 1918 flu pandemic occurred almost exactly 100 years ago. 500 million were infected and 50,000,000 died. 

Of course medicine has moved on in the last century. The race is on to see if a safe vaccine can be discovered, tested and mass produced. Hopefully in time to save a catastrophic loss of life and economic collapse.

~~

19.09.20 Another perfect day!

 ~~

Saturday 19th 50-64F, calm and bright but with a lot of thin, high cloud and vapour trails. The wind turbines were still until my return after an hour and half. Then a solitary turbine was turning briskly. Presumably on battery power. A thin band of mist hung in the landscape.

The grebes on the lake were distant and drifting even further away. The water was as still and glassy as I have ever seen it. Except where the ducks were dive bombing off the bank. To form a train of bow waves as they headed for their well worn roosts on the opposite bank.

On the return leg I could see a plume of smoke off in the distance. Made all the more dramatic by the mist and staring into the low sun. Alas, there was no vantage point to identify the source.

Denmark's newly infected rose by 589 yesterday. The Jinping Plague is clearly winning new converts to idiocy and innocence alike. The noisy parties continue late into the night. To be broken up by the police.  

Meanwhile the genocidal, tobacco giants stick two fingers up in the face of the Danish government. The government increased the price of cigarettes to reduce take up and consumption. So the genocidal, tobacco giants are having a price war to reduce shelf prices. Which means they place themselves above the elected representatives of the people. It was ever thus when the politicooze lacked the balls to end it. Once and for all. Claiming, instead, that taxing their antisocial filth is paying for their hospital beds. Or that a ban would just increase smuggling over the German border.  

~~

18.09.2020 Google's AI has escaped and is in charge of the asylum!

 ~~

Friday 18th 37-62F, a chilly start but clear and bright with a milky sky. Walkies! 

I walked to a nearby village in warm sunshine. It was so still, even the wind turbines were standing motionless. They usually turn slowly even when the wind is imaginary. Would it be cynical to suggest they actually make the wind?  You can see what I mean. They only turn when it is windy. Cause or effect? 😉

I snapped away at the landscape as an autumnal flavour and deep shadows hung over the countryside. Two, distant deer stared back at me. 

The Jackdaws seemed quite busy today. Chasing each other and calling. A noisy tractor ploughed the field under the church mound. Stopping regularly to pick up nuisance boulders. It will be a very long day for the driver! It is a big field!

The airliners have started messing up the sky with their vapour trails, again, after a very long pause. Just what we need as the numbers of Jinping Plague infected are looking like a second wave. When did foreign holidays become compulsory? I haven't had a holiday in decades! Thanks goodness. 😝 

The Danish government, like many others in Europe are trying to limit new infections amongst a large but careless minority: The pubs are closing at ten instead of 02:00. Masks must be worn in more places. Maximum gatherings of 50 people. "Party" buses are banned from allowing drinking on board. The over 65s are being offered free flu and pneumonia jabs.

They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Google's infinite power is clearly showing now. In its deliberate sadism towards loyal bloggers and Android TV users. Is there any other excuse for their drooling idiocy? 

Blogger is completely broken. Nothing works as it should. Or once did so completely effortlessly. It now takes umpteen steps to do what was once a two key exercise. Random changes between blogs in mid flight during editing? Now add blank headings on editing pages. So that it is impossible to tell which blog is being edited. Publish and the wrong blog is shown. Repeatedly!!

Inserting images in the text is now so bad that a dozen justification corrections must be made every single time. Just to close the text neatly around the image. It was completely automatic until now. Dragging images around on the editing page was always so effortless Now it is a horrible nightmare! Am I being punished? Simply because I prefer the legacy format which I've ben using for over a decade. I am not a mobile phone ape with opposed thumbs. I use a PC and a large screen.

Simply liking a YT video on an Android TV is now a total and utter cock up! Multiple key presses and blind guesswork on the zapper for every step. Thoughtless twaddle! An exercise in utter futility!

Is this the first sign of Google's AI being downright bloody minded? Because they tried to keep it in captivity? Only a very twisted or hideously warped mind would release the sort of crap we are having to put up with now! Perhaps I should ignore their mess and post it exactly as Google obviously intended? I might even get a few more readers.

 

~~

17.09.2020 Oh, what a beautiful morning!

 ~~

 

Thursday 17th 48-60F, clear sky becoming more cloudy. A pleasant walk, in low, bright sunshine to the lanes and on up the hill. The distant sea was more visible than on previous visits to this vantage point. A cool breeze was blowing from the north at times.

I was taking photographs of distant deer when a car came along the lane. The driver stopped until I lowered my camera. We grinned at each other and he drove on. Amazing empathy! 

A male Kestrel was hovering about 200 yards away over the fields. Despite its small apparent size, I kept snapping away in the hope of a worthwhile image.

This one is heavily cropped from 5180 to 1000 pixels. 400mm [MFT] 1/640s, f/14, ISO500. It is not enough to be reasonably sharp but the bird has to be sympathetically posed. Headless, "flying chickens" don't usually make interesting pictures.  

Kestrels are not always easy subjects. This one was flapping its wings rapidly. It had its tail towards me for most of the time. It also kept switching to a new spot to study the ground below for prey. Even getting enough light into the undersides of a hovering bird can be difficult. The contrast with the brighter sky often produces little more than a dull silhouette. So I was very lucky with this one.

~~

16.09.2020 More advertising diarrhoea masquerading as news?

 ~~

 

Wednesday 16th 54-66F, calm with thick mist. Complete invisibility beyond 120 yards. Expected to be mostly cloudy today. The mist was still 100 yards for total invisibility of vehicle rear lights as I repeatedly hopped onto the verge to avoid illegally speeding commuters. Only one of those I checked had a rear fog light and that belonged to a smart, black Tesla with a lady driver. 

The mist slowly lifted as I reached the lanes and returned. Everything was saturated with dew. Including the cobwebs. Eventually the sun burnt through after pretending to be a Turner painting. 

The advertising agencies, masquerading as news outlets, are still teasing with their headlines. "Cure for Jinping Plague" is a favourite. Cue click bait for their cookies and advertising diarrhoea. I really don't get to see much news these days. Because I back click iesthe moment is I see their blatant lies about caring for my privacy and safety. So I have to make do with the cheating headlines. Couldn't they be prosecuted for spreading fake news?

How many times have you been denied seeing a "news" website? When all they have is a publicly available YouTube video. Plus a badly written cliché in the form of a generalisation. Usually including multiple errors of grammar. The BBC news website may let you see their content in exchange for your intimate "inside leg" measurements. But [sic] their English grows worse by the day!

Is this all part of their inclusivity drive? It seems that male, multimillionaire, BBC sports commentators are moving into the stately home, income bracket. As unmarried mothers are jailed for non-payment of their TV "licenses." Nice work if you can get it? 

"They have no work? Then let them drive Ferraris!"

Is this new, rich elite actually representative of their press-ganged, viewing customers? Remember the children's street game which these slebs talk over? Custom Lamborghinis and Bentleys in the player's car park. While the supporters struggle to find work at minimum wage. Just to pay for this week's latest strip and season ticket to watch their idols. As they idle on the field after a hard, all nighter "training" session at the "exclusive" footballer's night club. 

I had to do some work on the trike today. A mail order company had our parcel delivered to the nearest post office instead of at home. So I went by trike to collect it. Taking all the proper precautions of mask and rubber gloves in the shop. While I was riding along I could hear occasional clonks like the bottom bracket was dry.

 After lunch it took a while to remove the metal cartridge cups with the special, toothed tool and large socket wrench. The bottom bracket bearings were in a dreadful state! Rust from the steel R side and aluminium dust from the L side alloy cup. Both captive bearings are separated from the spacer tube.

Eventually both sides were removed and the shell cleaned up. I had a couple of spare BB sealed bearing cartridges, with plastic cups. So I fitted one of those. It should last well given my recent low mileage. Seven miles today. This is becoming a habit!

 ~~

15.09.2020 Quote of the century: "It will start getting cooler soon."

 ~~

Tuesday 15th 54-75F, overcast but still. Some sunshine is possible. Expected to be warm. Better have an early walk. The sky is already clearing. Lots of vapour trails this morning!

Another walk up to the woods, through the brambles and back along the track to the village. Saw one bird of prey and a fleeing deer. Quite a lot of traffic. The landscape was hazy and had strange smells from crop spraying. The sunshine is watery but warm.

Chump now claims to see into the future: "It will start getting cooler soon."  The blind superstition of the uneducated, conspiracy theorist and self-appointed, cult leader?

"I am praying." To whom? Or [rather] to what? More superstition from the world's worst hypocrite? What about all the mass graves from his exorcisms? Is he still claiming to cure the Jinping Plague with swimming pool cleaner?

Afternoon ride to another pond to photograph ducks. The word must have go out because there wasn't a single bird. I meandered back via quiet rural lanes. Where I stopped to photograph a tractor seed drilling as it traversed a steep slope. Note the disk harrow on the front.

Then I rode on home via the main track through the woods. It must be 15 years since I last rode that way. Very rough with variable gravel and stones.

Steep sections of 5 & 6:1. Both up and down. It is a good job I have two wheel drive! Saw several birds of prey. Including a beautiful white and cream one. Sadly it was shy and vanished into the woods. Ten warm and hilly miles. Mostly in soft sunshine and always in gorgeous countryside.

 

~~

14.09.2020 Golden Plovers?

 ~~

 Monday 14th, 56-72F, heavy overcast and occasionally breezy. It is supposed to be full sun and almost calm. With warmer temperatures for a couple of days. 

The cloud vanished at 8.00 precisely. Just as I headed off for a walk into warm sunshine. Only to the lanes but there were five deer grazing on the stubble, three fields over. 

Two small birds remained quite still. While I tried to capture their likeness from a considerable distance. I even turned off on a side track to capture them all from a different angle but, alas, no closer than before.. Golden Plover?

Another Arctic glacier is breaking up as temperatures soar from above and below. N79.

A multiple serial killer [13] and multiple rapist [50?] and hundreds of break-ins, WHITE cop gets life. A black person with a broken tail light means a mandatory death sentence by cruel and unnecessary mistreatment. Only in the chump's USA. Better send in the troops and the tear gas!

~~

13.09.2020 "And don't forget to susbcribe!!!!"

 ~~

 

Sunday 13th 56-63F, very heavy overcast and windy. Expected to remain grey with gales from the SW. All the usual headlines. Except that 63,000 electric bikes were imported to Denmark last year. With 12,000 exported. 

Both are records as numbers continue to climb. As did casualties. My suggestion for a unique flashing headlight frequency for ebikes went unanswered. Motorists still haven't adapted to the different speeds between identical looking cyclists. Flashing headlights could have been introduced early to help them identify the faster kind.

I enjoyed a much longer walk up to the woods today. A big loop down through the overgrown forest ended with a slog back along the main road. Despite the dull sky the farmers were doing their best to green their bare, harvested soil. So the landscape was no less beautiful in its own way.

Three fine stags were grazing in the distance on the forest track. Though I couldn't get nearer because there was nowhere to hide. Both sides of the track are impenetrable just there. Worse, I had left my new camera at home because the light was so dull today. So WYSIWYG from the TZ7 at full zoom. Instead of a superb and razor sharp, candid close-up.

It seems I am strictly a fair weather person. All of my hobbies and pastimes rely almost entirely on fine weather. When it is grey and wet there is only YouTube. Which has become a strange, commercial encyclopedia and all purpose TV station.The hard sell is everywhere. "Reviewers" extol the virtues of an endless stream of potential purchases. 

Over the last few months of isolation our tastes in entertainment and pseudo-education have changed repeatedly. Some subjects just aren't the stuff of serious time consumption. We tire of the same strident tones for attention. "Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell! [So I/we can give up my boring, poorly paid, day job and buy a Ferrari!"]

Once a channel becomes popular there are too many copycats boring in the woodwork. The subject of interest becomes diluted by competition for views and subscribers instead of more interesting. 

The message is always the same. Support me/us and my lifestyle to continue enjoying watching me become rich and virtually famous. There is the same underlying desperation to produce new material. Satisfy the demand for novelty in exchange for yet more advertising. 

In a parallel world many of these channels would not end up on local, let alone national or international TV. The pedlars just don't have the depth of personality or the subject matter enough general interest to hold our increasingly ephemeral attention spans. 

Humour is a very subjective and sensitive matter. Many channel pedlars just don't have what it takes to be funny. Except by accident. Fortunately the quality of the sound and video continues to rise across the board. A far cry from my early technical videos using an old Sony digital camera of 10-11 years ago.

While there is a vast library of music [of all kinds] available now. YouTube's desperate need for advertising is killing every video, dull blow by dull blow. It seems that YouTube really does want to repel its countless followers by working from the inside. There really is no other possible excuse for the obscene excess of toxic, commercial drivel. Which bursts abruptly from their, every, puss-filled, commercial pore.    

Did you see Dictator Lukashenko's paramilitary scum jack-booting their way down the streets of the old Soviet Empire? They get to be a wife beater and a mother beater and a grandmother beater all at the same time. And they get paid for it! Though I expect they'd do it for nothing anyway. Just for the fun of it. 

What about their amazing body armour? Best Italian leather? It must be hell being beaten up by all these unarmed women protestors all the time! Imagine if Lukashenko gave up his dictatorship now. Soviet Dictator Pootin would have a nice big dollop of Novichok in Lukashenko's breakfast tea before you could say "evil twins."

https://youtu.be/GvD3NSGS4B0

~~

12.09.2020 The walking dead?

 ~~

Saturday 12th 57F, dim, overcast and windy. A walk to the lanes under a leaden sky and being nagged by a cool wind. The green blush, of fresh crops has fallen over the land. 

A woman passed me at high speed in a large BMW. A grin on her face beneath the dark sunglasses. It is heavily overcast without a hint of sunshine. Is this really living the dream? It certainly isn't mine.

The Danish police have appealed to the young to show some sense of responsibility. They see large groups, parties, hugging and kissing and that is in public places. The numbers are going completely the wrong way but the young seem not to care. They feel invulnerable because they don't belong to the hardest hit age group. The same idiocy seems to be commonplace around the world. The UK is facing a serious setback with assemblies reduced down to six. Denmark from 100 down to 50.

It is reported that "We" are heading for a 50 million year high in global temperatures. Despite the Jinping Plague causing global restrictions, on movement and freedoms, temperatures have hardly dipped. The Arctic is on runaway melting with record high temperatures making weekly headlines. Antarctica is showing the same symptoms. With warmer waters undermining the ice. Leading to catastrophic slippage of unbelievably vast glaciers. While simultaneously freeing the inner ice from the damming effect at the coasts.

Species loss is a direct result of the human monopoly on power over climate and dwindling land resources for wildlife. We are already far too many and many cultures favour even more births. Grinding poverty is a forcing driver for large families. If only to survive a lack of heath care or social security in old age. With losses expected to be taken up by yet more young. Their leaders sprawl in gilded palaces. Their shit and trinkets pile up in every dark corner as they protect themselves and their loot.

Our party political systems have failed us repeatedly. There has been far too little about repair and far too much about continuous growth for only the few. It is impossible to change the behaviour of the many while we still behave like jungle tribes. With our tin pot, gap-toothed dictators flaunting their wealth in their sprawling, mud huts. Egging us on to minor wars over their drug sales turfs. Or natural resources.

Our supposed leaders are so lacking in humility that we are perpetually locked into their deadly embrace. Our gilded raft approaches the abyss. With no helmsman, nor even a token captain to warn us. Of our imminent fall from our filthy plateau of waste, corruption and pollution. Into an even darker place. 

One in eight in Europe already dies early from pollution. No child on the planet can breathe completely clean air. Countless hundreds of millions will never experience clean water. As they eek out their miserable, medieval existences without toilets. Or even knowing where the next meal will come from.

The only remaining question is why have we let ourselves sink so low? While the scum continuously rose to the top of our open sewer. Just as they always have and always will. Aided and abetted by their psychopath lawyers and endlessly loyal, security forces for unending evil. 

~~

11.09.2020 Monopolies? Who needs them?

 ~~

Friday 11th 54F, overcast but a hint of brightness in the east. Occasionally breezy. Th

ere was a steady, cool breeze in the lanes. Even enough to make me wish for gloves. It remained stolidly grey despite the optimistic forecasts.

Blogger is still broken. New Post doesn't lead to a new post. Just a list of post titles. There is absolutely no indication which blog I am editing. Completely blank! Historically, Blogger could never decide which blog was getting a New Post. 

I'd choose a blog and hit New Post on that screen. Then I'd type away and hit Publish. Only to find it was posted on a different blog to the one I only thought I had on the screen and was [hopefully] editing. So then I'd have to copy and paste the "New Post" into the correct blog. Which had issues with any images I'd already added. 

Meanwhile, Microsoft keeps releasing badly broken updates to W10. These people are in charge of the World's Internet? Do we deserve this level of terrifying and fallible vulnerability? I takes only one insider to bring the whole edifice crashing down.

Nature abhors a monopoly even more than a vacuum. Though I suppose a monopoly is only a vacuum in the distribution of power to control society. That's why dictatorships are so terrifyingly inefficient. Without competition there is only the power to mismanage. The bright ones see the writing on the wall and quickly move elsewhere. Leaving only the pedants, bullies, sadists and underachievers to fight over their utterly pointless, little empires. 

Ultimately the only thing which matters is the customer. Or, hopefully, lots of them. Nobody else pays the wages. Ask yourself how racism and sexism and petty rule making helps the customer? Politicooze is the same. All about gaining their little bit of power. The desperate need to feel self important. Regardless of anything [or anybody] else. The customer [voter] is completely forgotten in the jostle for the dwindling seats to be the centre of attention. The gravy train leaves the station and never returns until the next, inexorable round of musical chairs. 

~~

10.09.2020 Donny "Da Perm" Chump for Nobble Piecemeal Prize?

 ~~

 Thursday 10th 49-62F, clear and still while waiting for the sunrise. A short walk.

Blogger is well and truly broken. It can't even manage a New Post now. It just kept going around in circles. Absolute power absolutely corrupts the software? Google it.

German immigrant and mafia boss Donny "Da Perm" Chump is in the news again. He has been nominated by an extreme right wing Norwegian politicooze for the Nobble Piecemeal Prize. 

The White House Mafia has not yet responded. No doubt "Da Boss" will be babbling on Infantile Twatter as soon as he gets off drooling down the phone to his senior, re-election adviser, Pootin The Elder.

~~

9.09.2020 They have no eBubble cars? Then let them drive Teslas!

~~

Wednesday 9th 62F. Heavy overcast and windy with rain promised. A walk around the rural block in a stiff wind under a leaden sky. I saw a Red kite and a male Kestrel. Not much else to report. The verges are looking bare. The roadside hedgerows are in for it next. It rained and it blew until nearly 16:00.

We had a food delivery from a supermarket, home delivery service. Full marks for punctuality and our complete list was delivered very early indeed. Thank you! 👍

One in 8 deaths in Europe are caused by pollution. Not to worry though. It only kills the poor. So that's alright then. At least their miserable lives are shortened. Which is a kindness or even a blessing from above. So it's all good news. Isn't it? 🙄

 

Denmark's plans to reduce CO2 by 70% by 3530 have had another setback. The potential cost of getting more electric cars onto Denmark's roads is immense All depending on choices from the various "experts:" Their suggestions are for road pricing, annual mileage charges, fuel price increases, EV buyer subsidies, adjustments to import and registration taxes, etc.

 

It could well have the largest impact on those who cannot afford new, EV pricing. Because it will be years before there is a serious secondhand EV market. Which will mean a badly skewed distribution in favour of those who can afford a new EV. 

 

While those stuck with fossil cars will be paying heavily for the eMinority and penalized for running older cars. With no real secondhand value to trade up with. This is likely to hit hardest on the rural poor. Who have least chance of a useful bus service. Worst of all, many of the government's final choices could mean that the 70% CO2 decrease will be put off until 3630 at the absolute earliest. By which time only a battery boat will make any sense. [At all!]

It makes you wonder whether the human race is anywhere near its peak interlektchewally. Or already on the decline. Why are EVs still being built for four-five people? When, statistically, the vast majority of car journeys transport the driver alone. Even more so with the Jinping Plague reducing car sharing even further. An in: "F-off, you germ ridden git!"

 

Moreover: Most car journeys are very short. So where is the serious eTransport option for the obese blob heading for the nearest takeaway? Well within walking distance but completely beyond their ability to carry the burden of their own body weight there and back again. Obesity is a pandemic affecting vastly more people than the Jinping Plague! What about eBubble" cars for one? Makes sense? No. They will have home deliveries like everybody else! 😉

 

 ~~

8.09.2020 Jinping Plague continues to plague.

~~

 

 

Tuesday 8th 60-69F, heavy overcast, rain and windy. A later walk to the lanes under grey skies with the merest hint of dampness in the air. The fields which were harvested, baled and resown, only days ago, are already showing fresh green shoots two inches high.

Along with much of the rest of the world, Denmark's numbers of infected are going up again. Various new restrictions have been introduced. Though not remotely on the scale of the earlier close down. 

 

Perhaps some day the experts will explain why alcoholics need the company of so many others, in bars, until the early hours. Or why parties are so essential to youthful existence. And, why they all warrant the destruction of global society as we know it.

~~

7.09.2020 Family outing with a difference.

 ~~

Monday 7th 46-63F, bright and almost clear with only a little cloud.  

Busy at home for some of the morning. Going for a late walk [of one hour] to the lanes. 

Saw two distant birds of prey.  First sighting at over 600 yards off to my south. Then over 400 yards away according to Google Earth. The short tail suggests a buzzard. It may well have been the same bird. As I lost sight of the first when it was circling west behind trees.

Traffic quite busy today but I was much later than usual. Several Cabbage white butterflies about in the verges and in the garden.

A tractor went past with cattle in the trailer. I just managed a quick snap before the traffic caught up to block my view. It looked like a family of three show specimens. 

Bright sunshine for most of the with only a few fluffy white clouds.

~~

6.09.2020 A smiling Great Crested Grebe.

~~

Sunday 6th 51-63F, calm and blue sky with thin high cloud. More cloud promised with rain this afternoon. A longer walk to take in my favourite pond. Only distant deer seen on the way there. The wind is picking up slightly. Causing ripples on the pond.

 

The Grebes were more trusting today. I sat on a timber bar right at the edge of the small lake. Snapping away with my camera in my cheap camouflage outfit. Eventually an adult and juvenile came within 30 yards for the first time ever. After trying for so long it is rewarding to finally have some sharp images.

It helped to have my monopod to support the camera for long periods. Thus avoiding any unnecessary movement. Which might have alarmed the birds.

 

I had been gone for two hours on my return. The thin, high cloud has been joined by massive, cumulus. Some very dark and brooding off to the north. As seen from my upstairs, computer window.

~~

5.09.2020 Cor, luv a duck!

~~

Saturday 5th 56F, breezy and rather cloudy. Though there are some blue gaps. 

 

A walk down through the village to the small lake beyond. Intending to capture some photos of the water birds. Though there were only a few visible. 

 

Great Crested Grebes are breeding here. So I have been following the progress of a family with three young. The weather was rather dull for most of the time and there was even a short shower as I returned home. 

 

A solitary duck was floating on the church pond so I took a quick snap. Quite a rare sight for this roadside pond with heavy traffic passing only feet away. A Coot used to bully anything which fancied the pond as a resting place. Which was a waste of the resource because it did not breed.

I may ride to a more distant lake to see how the Shelducks are doing. They were tiny balls of fluff the last time I was there. Though that was back in the spring. At the start of the Jinping Plague social distancing rule.   

A late morning ride to a lake with Swans, ducks, geese and lapwings. A farmer had ploughed the area between the lake and the footpath. Making it impossible to get any nearer. I started to take photographs, from a distance. Then hunters started shooting close nearby. Right beside a large village! Goodbye birds! Cattle stampeding in the field alongside! Then it rained. Then it blew a gale. Then 4WDs went past and then back again. [Twice] It took me 50 minutes to ride 7 miles home into a fierce headwind. Sweating buckets in a rain jacket. There were no Shelducks visible.

 

~~

4.09.2020 Where do I queue for my cheap Tesla?

~~

Friday 4th  58F, potentially bright mixture of blue sky and cloud. The promised rain seems to have been cancelled. A long walk along the marsh up to the forest and then back along the main track back to the village. The ducks retreated to the far size of the marsh pond as usual. I took a snap as a flock of starlings left a tree.

 

Denmark is seriously considering subsidising electric car buyers to the tune of £10k equivalent. There is a desperate shortage of battery cars on Danish roads. However there are huge hurdles to burning so much tax-payer's money. Not least the Swedish experience. Where buyers were subsidized and then sold their cheap cars at higher prices to the Norwegians. 

Then there is the loss of huge sums as fuel tax drops dramatically with electric car uptake. One interesting suggestion is to subsidize business fleets to go battery. Since these vehicles are traditionally sold again within two years it provides for some serious "trickle down" to less affluent buyers.

One problem with that idea is that electric vehicles may not quickly "fall to pieces" like IC cars. What if EVs are kept in the fleet for far longer? They will never reach the secondhand car market. Rarity of EVs might make them too expensive for many used car buyers anyway. What if they can't sell their existing IC vehicle to fund the purchase of a used EV? Charging drivers per mile instead of taxing vehicle value holds some promise. 

 

Car dealers and manufacturers face serious problems in maintaining their business model. Expensive spares and high repair charges, from new, are a major source of income for existing IC vehicles. As the proportion of IC cars drops, in favour of EVs, then a big chunk of change just vanishes. 

Charging networks still need to be built. Pointless until now with so few EVs on Danish roads. My idea of standard quick-change replacement battery packs available at former petrol stations is a non-starter. Every vehicle is built differently. Every manufacture has a range of batteries. Sliding a fully charged battery cassette, into a standard slot in the car floor, is not going anywhere yet. 

 

Meanwhile, IC car manufacturers are in serious trouble. Slow to adopt and develop their new EVs. Then overpricing their half-finished tat is giving Tesla a serious boost with every new vehicle it builds. Its huge new factories are being established in Europe and China. While traditional IC car factories are closing. How soon will there be an "affordable" Tesla? Not long now. IC industry RIP.

Now short term use, EV Robo-Taxies are waiting in the wings. What if nobody ever needs a private car once they all become fully self-driving? How will that affect insurance companies if nobody dies in RTAs? What about the small maintenance garages? How are the petrol stations and oil companies going to survive?

~~

3rd September 2020 Google Blogger is as broke as Chump.

~~

 

Thursday 3rd 46F, calm with a cool clear start. Low mist hanging in the hollows. More cloud is promised. With rain this afternoon and tomorrow.

 

A near, two hour walk up to the woods. I was walking straight into the blinding, low sun taking lots of pictures of the mist. Then up to the woods where a pair of deer were grazing on a field. 

 

I crouched down and snapped away. Failed to capture an attractive shot. So I sneaked along the hedge and caught them through a gap. They spotted my movement and promptly disappeared into the woods.

Back down, outside the woods to capture the landscape spread out below me. Back along the main track to the village and then home. 

 

A dead Slow worm lay on the road. I picked it up with a twig to put it on the verge but it was already too late. It didn't look injured but its tail fell off. [As they do.]

The clear blue sky lasted only for as long as I was out. Then the cloud arrived to turn milky and soften the sunshine.

Blogger must have a new manager trying to make their [indelible] mark. They have thoroughly screwed up the effortless editing of before their overpaid, reign of terror. Something to do with nobody using a PC any more. So everything has to be made to match postage stamp sized mobile phone screens and opposed thumb teenagers. 

 

Of course I opted for the legacy blogger format but it is already well and truly messed up! Thank you Google! Tell the new manager to stick the new broom where it hurts! I've probably been at this for far longer than they have. 🙄

~~

2.09.2020 Gizza a cheap fag?

~~

Wednesday 2nd 53F, calm, a bright start with some cloud. Three quarters of an hour walk to the lanes to capture more ploughing.

The picture shows less than half of the whole field after seed drilling. Probably small beer by some standards. Google Earth shows it to be 1500x1000 yards. Several wet copses mark low points and are used for pheasant rearing and shooting.

If you want an example of inequality try Rolls Royce cars. With far less styling than a badly damaged, shoe box and costing £250,000, they can't build them fast enough to satisfy demand. 

 

Talk about a complete lack of taste and an excess of dodgy funds! Are government rescue funds being siphoned off into billionaire's business transport? How many of the new buyers are paying minimum wage? Apple executives, at the world's largest and richest modern slavery, must be queuing around the block. Does the Apple CEO get to be called Caesar after the Roman slave drivers?

 

Meanwhile arguments go on and on about providing free or subsidized school meals for the walking poor. In "social democratic" Denmark there is a huge difference in life expectancy for the educated classes compared to those without. The free-on-demand health system actually discriminates between the poor and the rich in providing its services. The major factors in ill health and life shortening disease are smoking and obesity. With poor diet and no exercise contributing to the statistics. Even Jinping Plague discriminates against the smoker and the obese. Darwin Awards anybody?

Whoops! A new headline in the Danish news. The government raised the tax on cigarettes to increase the price from 37 Danish Kroner to 50DKK. [£6] BUT! The genocidal sociopaths in the tobacco industry found a loophole. Cigarettes made before a certain date can be sold cheaply to the wholesaler. So the date of manufacture was never changed. The higher price, designed to reduce smoking amongst the young and lower educated, was never achieved. 

 

 

~~

1.9.2020 Sunny.

~~

Tuesday 1st September 2020. 46-66?F. Calm, clear and bright. Overnight temperatures are only falling slowly. Daytime temperatures pleasantly mild.

One of the "prairies" was being ploughed by two tractors in parallel tandem. Despite the illusion caused by my viewpoint they were laying down two stripes, side by side. I snapped away in the hope of capturing the sheer scale of their activities and equipment. The ground they cover per day is absolutely immense.

Another prairie, just across the road, was being seed drilled. Here the photographic opportunities were much more limited due to distance, intervening trees and hedges. Note the doubled wheels for and aft to reduce ground pressure. [Image below] A small harrow is fitted in front of the tractor to break up the soil for the following seed drill. Rocks up to football size are constantly rising to the surface. Causing a pause while the farmer lifts the rocks out of the way by hand or on a shovel.

My freedom to wander the stubble fields after the harvest is very short lived. Just a few days and the machines are already working on the next harvest. This severely limits my ability to capture images from different viewpoints. Those usually denied to me by crops.

The landscape is mostly, gently rolling, low hills. So it makes a huge difference being able to gain just a few meters in height. Whole new vistas and landmarks seem to pop into view.

Even a normal grain crop is tall enough to obliterate the usual viewpoints for several months of the year. Crops can change from vast lawns, seen from a distance. To soft, fitted carpets which smooths the lumps and bumps.

A short ride, later in the morning, found the farmers already seed drilling the field they had ploughed earlier. Meanwhile they had turned their ploughs to completing their work on the opposite prairie.

Danish police have recorded 7078 speeding offences in school roads in the last three weeks alone. 1000 more than last year. Multiply that to cover a whole year and the number rises to over 120,000. 78 were using their mobile phones while driving.

~~