28.02.2021 Grey.

 ~~

Sunday 28th 38-44F, heavy overcast, light breeze. Slightly cooler over the next few days. A walk to the lanes. A few crows foraging or in a hurry to be somewhere else. The pale bird of prey retreated upon my arrival. A cold north westerly wind. It stayed grey.

~~

27.02.2021 No walk?

 ~~

 Saturday 27th 36-49F, overcast and cooler. With the light winds turned north westerly. There was a brief brightening at sunrise but it has already clouded over to grey again. No time for a walk. Working hard on a project in the garden. Sunny afternoon.

~~

26.02.2021 A sparrow [or two] in every view.

 ~~

 Friday 26th 38-43F, heavy overcast at 08.00 but sunshine is promised. An early walk to the lanes in a cold south-westerly wind. Only tiny patches of snow cling on in the shadows of field hedges. A middle sized, light coloured bird of prey, lost its nerve and flew away. It was already a field away before it moved. The traffic was intermittent but heavy. The first hint of brightening at 09.30.

 

~~

25.02.2021 There was a nutter from Als.. who posted something so false.

 ~~

Thursday 25th 45-48F a bright start leading to a cloudy day. Similar mild, temperatures continue for another day. Light rain at 13.00 followed by dark overcast.

A longer walk to the lake. Where ice sheets clung onto the banks provide a firm pavement for the mallards. A flock of Shelducks did what ducks do out in the middle of the lake. A pair of grebes, geese and several coots pottered about in the distance.  

I, too, pottered about outside for most of the day. Keeping fit. Doing "stuff" while I still can and the weather is mildly cooperative.

A denialist from Als has been posting denialist leaflets [lies] about the Jinping Plague into people's post boxes. Clearly a Chump supporter. Remember Chump's: "Slight cold and soon over?" That was half a million dead [real] American people ago. The same number of Americans who died, in total, in three wars. WW1, WW2 and Korea. There are now over 2.5 million dead globally. Mutations are cropping up all the time. With more adverse effects and the potential to explode in vast numbers of infected and dead. 

~~

24.02.2021 Eye-watering!

 ~~

Wednesday 24th 46-54F, mild, very heavy overcast and windy. The forecasters are in disagreement yet again. Y'all want sunny side up? An early stroll to the lanes in an eye-watering wind. A few jackdaws went over. Possible first sighting of skylarks but they weren't hovering nor singing. Still quite a few patches of snow visible. It remained dark, overcast and windy all day.

 

~~

23.02.2021 500,000 DSA dead. Donny "Fawkes" Chump still goes free.

 ~~

Tuesday 23rd 45-50F, heavy overcast with a light breeze.  A walk to the lanes. Almost no birds visible. Dull and depressing skies are clearing slightly now at 09.20. The roads were littered with the debris from the hedge slashing tractor. I saw two Teslas within the space of quarter of an hour. A long, grey day. 

Sociopathic, racist white trash, "No worse than a cold and soon over," Chump with 500,000 deaths on his [complete lack of a] conscience finally has his tax records examined by the authorities.  

Being black, while walking home from work at Walmart, in a snowstorm, in Texas, cost an 18 year old a night in the cells. His crime was wearing a T-shirt. I doubt he could afford anything better working at Walmart.

~~

22.02.2021 Cool sunshine.

 ~~

Monday 22nd. 37F. The promised thick mist has not occurred. The sky is completely clear with the promise of sunshine.

A short walk then off on an errand. 53F at 13.00. Weak sunshine. The wind made it feel much cooler than yesterday.

 

 

~~

21.02.2021 When the Give Way sign gave way.

 ~~

Sunday 21st 40F, some cloud but brightening. Mixed forecasts again. Could be wall to wall sunshine. Or not. 

A walk to the village. Detoured to capture the marsh pond half iced over and half clear. No sign of any ducks. Though I kept my distance to avoid disturbing them. Still remnants of the snow clinging on in the shadows. 54F at 13:00! A heatwave! 57F at 15:00! Tropical!

 

 ~~

20.02.2021 Tattooed Ozzy Antivaxers! 🤣

 ~~

 Saturday 20th 38F, breezy and very cloudy.

A walk around the back fields to capture the last of the snow. Bit of a cold wind. The muddy, spray tracks were incredibly sticky. 

Two geese, a kestrel and pigeons flew over. None of my bird pictures were worth sharing. The landscapes were as dull as the overcast weather. Though it reached 47F/8C later in the afternoon in weak sunshine.

I had to laugh at Australian anti-vax protestors... sporting tattoos!  🤣 But no masks, of course. 😏 Queue here for your Da-win Awards. 💀

I see Senator Ted "Entitled" Cruz is in hot water. The only Texan who still is! 😎 Then he blamed his daughters for his amazing gaff. With that level of empathy for his electorate and his fellow human beings, he should go far! Right to the top, if Chump is anything to go by. 🤡

~~

19.02.2021 Rover lands on Mars but still no paint-on, home insulation?

 ~~

Friday 19th 36F, heavy overcast, light winds. Some sunshine is promised. Tentative plans for a distributed heating system in the kitchen and bathroom have been quashed by The Management. 

I wonder if hibernating in an insulated shipping container would work? It would need a proper door.. Nah. By the time I had fitted a ventilation system, to avoid inevitable suffocation, it would be as draughty as our present hovel. The outside temperature peaked at 43F with the living quarters stuck at 61F.

They can send a Rover to Mars but they still don't have paint-on, building insulation? Why? They say that bloke on TV, who used a blowlamp on his pre-treated hands, sold out to the military. Presumably his "invention" didn't work with anything but burning high temperatures. Much the same as the tiles on re-entry vehicles. 

Most insulation works by trapping still air. Which means thickness is everything. Yet the vast majority of buildings on this planet cannot be made any "thicker." There is Aerogel but you need a Bitcoin bank account to pay for a few square yards. We need a low skill, fully DIY, paint-on, breathable, all surface, home insulation. Now will do. Save the planet?

A walk to the lanes in a cool, south westerly breeze. The banks of compressed snow from the ploughing still cling on in places. As does the big heap I made from repeatedly clearing the parking space. Three Whooper swans went over in a perfectly straight line. A few gulls and crows retreated. As they do. I wish I knew who had been spreading fake rumours about my being a danger to wildlife. I'm not, you know.

I see Canada has joined Ozz in fighting the Evil Dr Z. The lifetime dictator of Facebook.1984.con. The tax-free, global monitoring & privacy destruction, fascist/terrorist/extremist publicity platform, global fake news source, child porn hub and false advertising to children behemoth. Did I leave anything out? 

Denmark is thinking of joining Ozz. Evil Dr Z's behaviour, in removing all Ozzy material from their online global dictatorship, may well be causing the very domino effect Evil Dr Z most feared. 

He has denied access to OFFICIAL, vital health information. Including that on Jinping Plague. While false rumours and fake news continue to go unchecked. As he relies on algorithms to save money on salaries for human employees. 

~~

18.02.2021 Fri[d]gid but not frozen 'fridge-freezer?

 ~~

Thursday 18th 39F, heavy overcast and misty again. The rising temperatures are helping to keep the living area warmer. 58-60F is perfectly manageable. Even for "at risk" septuagenarians like us.  Still only 43F in the unheated areas. Far too low for the 'fridge to be turned back on. Too high for safety with cold and frozen foods. 

Our back-up 'fridge, during the annual cold season, is an insulated, "camping," cool box. With pre-frozen, cool blocks inside. The box is placed outside, out of reach of vermin. This works when outdoor temperatures are low enough and we can guarantee to maintain them that way. 

Warmer outdoor temperatures meant a serious health risk with frozen foods delivered by the home shopping service. So we were eating the frozen stuff as soon as possible to avoid it becoming "too warm." Freezers are supposed to be at -16C. Not hovering somewhere around freezing.

After a while we could no longer cool the "cool" blocks down. Not once we had switched the fridge off and outdoor temperatures climbed above freezing. An unreliable fridge-freezer is far worse than none at all. So we have used it only as a storage box for milk and cool [not frozen] dairy products. 

This routine has been going on for years. Even in "mild" Danish winters. Had we known our fridge-freezer could not work below some arbitrary indoor temperature [50F?] we would never have bought it. This is not something they shout out from the rooftops of the monopoly, big shed, white goods, box shifters. A quick check online suggests a minimum room temperature of 15C/60F. 60F? How does that work? It has taken a week to get the living room above 15F/60F with the wood stove going all day.

We have no room for an "unheated garage" chest freezer. The small, unheated shed regularly drops to -6C. Besides, there would be no room for The Head Gardener's, double-digging spades. Not if we put a "proper" freezer in there.

___________________________

I see Tax-free.Facebook.advertising.con is having a tizzy over paying for stolen, copyrighted, news material as "padding" for its tax-free, global, advertising monopoly. The Ozzies have dared to call Evil Dr.Z, the sociopathic, Facebook dictator's bluff. 

So Tax-free.Facebook.advertising.con has selectively targeted vital Ozzy, online services. Just "to make a point." If the Evil Dr.Z's evil ploy fails then the entire world will follow the Ozzies. If he wins he goes on to own the Solar System, advertising monopoly. Tax-free, Google.advertising.con already owns the Tax-free.Milky Way advertising monopoly. 

Did you see the 1%'s, salaried, fake news bullshitters are sharing images? Of a "Texas windmill" being "de-iced" by helicopter to explain the power cuts. Dogh? The images and video are actually years old. The "real" truth is that these "hotly shared" images were a research project by the Swedes. Into using hot water to thaw out an iced windmill. 

For starters: Antifreeze would never be used out of doors. Well, not outside Chump's ex-USA. For so many reasons that you shouldn't even need to ask. Not unless you are a fully paid up, fake news distributor. Feeding the insatiable needs of the gap toothed, brain-dead, red-neck zombies. All of whom hold you in such thrall. [Look it up!] 

Unlike the The Grate Chump's ex-USA, the Swedes actually care about and for, the environment. AND, have done so for decades. I know this will come as a complete shock to my millions of US readers but I can't change the simple truth. It's not my fault you can't face yourselves in the bathroom mirror! While I am just a humble, unpaid influencer. 😉

The Swedes know far more about real ice and very low temperatures. Than the Texans will ever know about importing a "winter break" storm. Just to save on air fares for their annual skiing holidays!  

Meanwhile in balmy Denmark: A walk to the lanes under dull skies. Much of the snow is gone and what is left is not pretty. I could have shared images of badly cracked roads. But won't.

~~

17.02.2021 Keep on cheating!

 ~~

Wednesday 17th 37F, light winds but heavy overcast. The temperature is still rising slowly after holding steady at 36F overnight. A walk to the lanes in spitting rain and thick but patchy mist. 100 yard softness. With 200 yard invisibility about average. 38F at 10.30. 60F indoors.

The open superstore chain monopoly is far worse than mere economics, profiteering and the ruin of small business. One superstore chain has changed its closing times. Why? Because crowds of young people were using the store as a social hangout, without masks, right up to the 2300 closing time at night. 

Obvious questions arise: Why was this allowed? Because they might have bought something? Why were there no security staff demanding these young people wear masks to comply with the law? OR LEAVE! i.e. To protect the staff and other REAL customers from a lethal infection of Jinping Plague.

Why were numbers allowed to exceed the legal limit of 5 in any group? Why was the shop allowed to exceed the legal limits on the maximum number of "customers" per unit area at any one time? All without penalty? Or the police dropping heavy, on the spot, fines? Like they do with everyone else who breaks the pandemic public protection laws.

Is this international money chain of superstores, supermarkets and other outlets too huge a monopoly? So that they need not be bothered with pandemic safety laws? Laws which affect everybody else? Is sheer economic power enough to completely ignore the laws of the land? 

Why aren't they limited to only the food halls being allowed to open? Special [economic] case? Or do they employ or  "know" 😉 people in high places? Do to their elevated social standing which comes automatically with such great wealth?

How many infections can we lay directly at the well shod feet of The Salling Group? [Aka: Billionaire's, money printing, Investment Club.] Keep on cheating!

Salling Group - Wikipedia

 
The head of the Danish cycling association has called the government's proposed new cycle path investment: "Peanuts!" Some of the proposed paths mentioned have been discussed or planned for 40 years in <cough> "cycling friendly" Denmark. This is despite cycles massively outnumbering car journeys in the major cities. Particularly during the rush hours. A recent suggestion for road charging motorists, during busy periods, has been squashed. Like a bug on the hideously costly motorways.

The message to all motorists is perfectly clear:

Your utterly pointless and selfish CO2 release is very welcome in Danish cities. Your massed, premature killing of young and old alike, with your toxic, exhaust pollutants are very welcome in Danish cities. Your universal noise pollution, making life miserable for most of the Danish population, is very welcome! Your defiling of every Danish town, village and city. With your empty, parked vehicles, all day, every day, is very welcome. 

Your walking pace [statistically] short journeys, between queuing for parking spaces, outside takeaways,  are very welcome. Your endless toll in death and injury is welcome. As you drink drive, drug drive, completely ignore the law and universally speed. These insane behaviours are always very welcome. 

Why? Because we need the income from your paltry fines. To pay for all the hospital bed cases you directly cause by your insane, sociopathic behaviour. We need all you "untouchable" drunk drivers. Still driving drunk. Years after multiple bans for being drunks behind the wheel. Despite locals repeatedly informing the police of your continued, drunk driving behaviour.

Keep on driving! Unless you live in "truly cycling friendly" Holland. Where "cycling friendly" isn't just a tourist, marketing ploy. Not some vague rumour still clinging on from the 1950s. In Holland "cycling friendly" literally means everyday reality for all. 

All it took was for Holland to put the majority cyclists first. Rather than treating than like carriers of some minority disease. Cyclists are not lepers. Walking and cycling streets manufacture small shops and rebuild high streets into thriving, popular places to shop, enjoy a coffee and socialise. Cycling does not destroy shops in favour of the out of town superstores. With their vast car parks. Which can be seen from the Space Station.

I hear The Grate White Trash "Mars o' Logo, immigrant dosser is attacking the head of the Republican Brownnoser party. This is despite his obscenely, obsequious help in escaping from an automatic treason finding. Or is it the Republican Brownshirt party? I can never remember the difference. Is there one?

~~

16.02.2021 Monopolies rule. NOT-OK!

 ~~

Tuesday 16th 30F outside, 53F indoors. Overcast with a national fog warning as milder air moves in. Rain this afternoon. A dusting of snow lying from yesterday. Though not remotely the promised 10cm/4". A walk to the lanes. Slush on the roads in places.

Later it reach 35F. With rain in the late afternoon making a dent in the remaining snow. The temperature indoors is 60F now. Far more comfortable.

Yesterday I mentioned how the Danish superstores are profiting from the lockdown of small businesses. Because they sell food, the superstores are allowed to stay open and to sell their whole range of goods. 

One could easily argue that the superstores now enjoy a TOTAL monopoly. As well as zero competition on pricing and service. Well, not content with their exclusive advantages, they are now hiding their former, specialist "competitor's" windows with their own [superstore] goods. The corridors in the malls, which they completely dominated, even before the Jinping Plague, are now full of racks of superstore clothing. Small businesses tried opening yesterday. In protest at the [narrowly targetted] continuing lockdown. They were fined! 

Meanwhile the world's eJuggernauts are maintaining their global dominance by buying any startups which might compete with their global monopolies. Not content with their monopolies in the West they are aiming to completely dominate Asia and Africa now. eGroceries are the next big thing. So the existing monopolies [like Amazon] are fighting it out in the courts to become total monopolies there.

Affordable electric cars are still largely vapourware. The former "toxic" vehicle monopolies are investing in startups and buying them up. To save money and a wasted decade on EV research. Because they didn't believe that governments would actually call their bluff and ban their filthy technology. 

Now they are all desperately playing catch-up. Smaller car makers cannot possibly compete on research funding. So are unlikely to be able to compete at the affordable end of the eV market. Tesla broke the market and is only now, slowly expanding downwards in price. After proving how utterly uncompetitive the IC engine is against their upmarket, family saloons. 

The Danish government is planning to spend a few millions on Copenhagen cycle paths. National cycle paths will get a pittance to "upgrade." Perhaps they could persuade the local councils to sweep the existing cycle paths to bring them back into normal use? I have repeatedly referred to them as linear compost heaps for over a decade now. No doubt the unused, narrow, sweeper machines have long rusted away. 

Assensbanen - Wikiwand 

It's a shame some long unused, railway tracks [since 1966] can't be changed from dog toilets into proper cycle paths. As has long occurred in the "cycling unfriendly" UK.

There is an old railway track running diagonally across Fyn from Assens in the SW towards the dominant city of Odense. Which track sees only a few hired pedal trolleys in the summer. 

There aren't any real cycle paths to speak of in the whole area. Just a few white lines marking the cyclist's rightful pace in the filthy gutter. 

The old Assens-Tommerup, railway track would provide a direct route for literally miles and pretty miles towards the centre of the island. The arrival of the increasingly popular electric bikes would make a daily commute from Assens to Odense quite practical. Think of the reduction in polluting cars that might cause? 

Nah, they'd make it ultra narrow gauge. To allow for horses to kick puncturing, flint sand all over the cycle path. All part of the "inclusivity" drive. Just as they did with the ultra narrow gauge, Ringe cycle path. Where it is impossible to pass and you have to stop if something comes towards you. So much potential. So few brains applied.

~~

15.02.2021 More of the same but milder.

 ~~

Monday 15th, Gales and overcast. 30F outside, 52F in the living space, 41F in the kitchen, 39F in the bathroom. Yesterday's "milder" temperatures and sunshine have helped to lift the numbers. Ice no longer obscures the kitchen and bathroom windows. Though snow and drifting is forecast for later.

A walk to the lanes in an eye-watering, south easterly, under heavy, grey skies. The horizon was literally leaden in colour. I wore my waterproof trousers just for a change. To have some useful protection against the wind. Only a few crows and jackdaws to be seen foraging on the fields.

We hang over the precipice. Staring blindly into the void of uninhabitable zones on our only planet. Meanwhile, Tzar Pootin's private, gas pipeline to Germany is passing through Danish waters. Germany will face the stark choice of total hypocrisy on containing its "filthy" energy front. i.e. Planet killing CO2 and methane.

Or, openly accepting that Pootin can now play god with their energy sector at a mere whim. One cold snap and Pootin can dictate the price and terms for Germany's future discomfort, diplomacy and politics. What price sanctions for Pootin's deliberate brutality and blatant election fraud now? Better ask Pootin. Germany has abandoned its principles.

Denmark's independent shops and services are getting uppity about the endless, Jinping Plague restrictions. Superstores remain wide open to sell the goods on which the specialists normally survive and prosper. Except that the independents are still locked down and face serious fines for opening after a full year of total inactivity. 

Hairdressers, too, face bankruptcy without enjoying the taxpayer's pandemic support. Which seems to be freely enjoyed by big business. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. The superstores sell food. So have an open license to profit mightily from everything else they sell. They even enjoy much reduced competition!

While the small fry are suffering deep, economic and competitive wounds. The independent retail and service industries have no vast funds with which to support themselves. As they are forced to sit idly on their hands.

I am fully in agreement with the government's very careful strategy. On slowly and selectively loosening the present restrictions. Though I do think that publicly handing the nation's tax wealth to Big [offshore?] Money is grossly unfair on the little guy and the heavily, tax burdened public. We can all live without the superstores, international chains and global takeaways. 

Remove the small private businesses and we all lose out. Small businesses pay taxes and employ lots of people. When they are allowed to. And if they are not permitted to open for business then they should receive fair shares of the national pot. Just to keep themselves and their families afloat. Their skills, knowledge and services need to be there. When we all wake up from this hideous nightmare. 

It must be 15 months since my last haircut. I look like a tramp, despite my amateur hacking in the bathroom mirror. My quarterly visit to the same, solo hairdresser was ample proof. That skill, experience and service has far greater social and welfare value than a visit to any 25 mile distant superstore to buy Jinping's tat. He is still holding out on the real numbers of infected in Wuhan. Still trying to save face for his merciless, genocidal, slave-driven, forced labour, patent stealing, regime? Seriously?

It is almost impossible to imagine the lockdown without the internet and online sales. The Jinping Plague has greatly accelerated the massive move to the online economy. We will just have to wait a little longer for the AI robot hairdressers. All full of local gossip and vital cheerfulness. As they simultaneously pull off minor, cosmetic miracles. I speak from very long experience.

~~

14.02.2021 Chump cancer infinitely worse than Jinping Plague!

 ~~

Sunday 14th. Misty, calm and cold with all day sunshine promised. A repeat of yesterday. 9F/-13C outdoors, 48F/9C in living room, 37F/3C in kitchen and bathroom. Iced over windows in in the kitchen and bathroom again. You know it's not warm enough when you can feel the cold air flowing over your face as you cross the living room.

I managed to get the bathroom up to a chilly 43F for my shower last night. That was after 20 minutes of the 2KW fan heater. I have redefined the meaning of a "quick shower!" Next stop the Tokyo Olympics in "Senior Speed Showering." I just hope I remember to turn up.

Snow is forecast for tomorrow but just above freezing by Wednesday. Rain too. Which will turn everything into a mud bath.

Chump's Brownshirts would have acquitted Hitler of the Holocaust. Job done. America can never recover from this. There is no more crime in America. Because the definition of "crime" has just been officially abolished. If treason, the worst crime imaginable by a White House, white trash dosser, is not a crime. Then the term "crime" has no further meaning under US law. How many Republican Brownshirts would have to have died at the hands of the mob for Chump to be found guilty? Ten, twenty? All of them?

The US prisons should be emptying about now. All are innocent under this insane ruling. America's terminal decline has just been rubber stamped by the Republican Brownnoser Party. The irony is that the highest ambulance chasers in the land have just signed a declaration that all ambulance chasers are no longer required. 

No need for the FBI either. Nor the police. Send the NSA home on extended leave until early retirement. There is no more "crime" to be investigated. Think of the trillions in savings! Don't call Saul! 

Hang on, though. If there is no "crime" then the term "lawmaker" has also been abolished. They can close the Senate and Congress now. Hand the country over to the gang leaders, Mexican drugs warlords, armed militia, neo-fascists and Mafia. The White House can go too. It already belongs 50-50 to Pootin and "Plague" Jinping anyway. They paid for it with laundered, US taxpayer's money.

Sly "Plague" Jinping is hiding his personal guilt behind his personal pandemic. By denying the WHO the raw data from the earliest infections. What did you expect from a genocidal maniac? With delusions of grandeur which make Pootin look like a Boy Scout. 

Time for a walk. So I can warm up. I did too. Up to the forest. Then climbed the steep tracks up to the beech trees at the highest point. Returned by the direct route to avoid the road. I had swapped over to my walking boots but should have kept to the winter boots. My toes were a bit cold today. Despite the thick socks. 

The surface of the snow was distinctly granular. With a coating of tiny, blade-like crystals. So that they flashed like jewels as far as the eye could see. Even on distant hills, thousands of yards away. Presumably the twinkling was caused by low lying thermal effects in the bright sunshine. 

Yet again there were countless animal tracks. Even some messy excavations in the snow of the beech wood. Deer dashed away so they may have been making these holes to lie in overnight. The untidy beds of beech leaves they had uncovered may have provided more warmth than the bare snow. Or, perhaps they were just digging for food? Three more deer were grazing out of a huge field covered in snow. Even hundreds of yards away they were very wary of me. Soon breaking into flight for the nearest trees.

13.30 After a morning of continuous sunshine the outside temperature has reached a cosy 30F. 55F in the living area. 38F in the kitchen and bathroom. The walls in the bathroom are at 26F/-3C! It will take time for them to warm up. Because they receive no sunshine. So must rely on rising, outside air temperature. 

~~

13.02.2021 The big freeze continues!

 ~~

Saturday 13th,  7am. 100 yard mist and overcast. 8F/-13C outside, 48F/9C in the living area, 38F/3C in the bathroom and kitchen. The double-glazed <cough> "energy glass" windows in the bathroom and kitchen are hard, frozen over. Like good old-fashioned, bathroom windows in every sense of the word. Increased privacy, but at what price? 😏 

The bathroom walls vary between 28F and 30F. The windows read 26F on the "Jinping Plague" remote reading, laser-guided, thermometer.

We have only one [combined] light and socket ring circuit on a 10A fuse for our entire, mains, power supply. So running an electric heater would mean no kettles or toast. Run a toaster and a kettle at the same time and all the lights go out! The immersion, water heater is on a separate circuit but runs cold from the taps for minutes before it finally warms up. 

The pipes run under the freezing cold floors. So we wash our hands with freezing cold water year round. I replaced all the iron water pipes which the previous owner had installed. Using "Pex" plastic hose under the floors. Instead of his 1.5" iron pipes running across every, single, door threshold in the house!

I replaced most of the doors, with secondhand ones from demolition salvage yards. Because the originals were "medieval" in height. New doors were hideously expensive and rarely available in the weird sizes we needed.

The neighbours used to joke that the previous occupant of our hovel could always see rat and mouse shit floating in his breakfast bowl. It took us a while to remove cubic metres of rat's nest. As we demolished built-in cupboards and searched for more "bedding" between the floor joists. 

Sealing the building against the vermin took ingenuity and patience but we finally succeeded. The official "rat catcher" did not believe us when we told him we had no further need of his services. We still pay the £25 a year standard fee though. Along with all the other taxes applied to the rates, quarterly bills and my [fractional] pension.

We bought this little house hovel when we first moved over here. Fully intending to find something better which we could still afford after selling this one on after improving it. Twenty five years later we are still searching. The trees we planted, as pencil sized, willow sticks are 50' tall hedges now!

I insulated the roof, fitted new windows and laid new floors. I replaced the bare, [sunburnt] dark brown, [once clear] corrugated fibreglass panels in the uninsulated. roof space. By building dormer windows. So that the attic became [almost] habitable in spring and autumn. 

It was always much warmer, up here, than downstairs. Where the walls were single, uninsulated blockwork. Both floors of the house are heated by a single wood stove. Which is completely insane.

So we learned to live up here year round. Even during heatwaves when it is a sweaty 85F. The literally hundreds of climbs and descents per week of the foolishly steep, cottage stairs keeps us fit. Even when we aren't actively digging.

Houses haven't ever sold normally in this quietly beautiful, rural area, for many years. Most end up on auction after years on the market without the slightest interest from buyers. Neighbours have walked away from their mortgages because they cannot sell. 

Those who buy at forced auction rarely have the funds to do up an already, run down place. At least, not properly. While the seller doesn't want to waste money on improvements which they will never see again. So the standard steadily drops. You get the constant dogs barking, or howling, year round, from an open cage in the garden. The constant chain sawing of huge piles of industrial pallets for stinking firewood. So that the constant stench of unknown woods hangs on the air 365x24. Even during heatwaves. As does the stench of pig shit at certain times of the year. 

International transport, articulated lorries use the narrow winding roads as rat runs. As they have for years. Because they won't use, or simply ignore the lorry GPS. Which shows the main transport routes are only a mile or two away. 

When we first moved over here the traffic was like the UK back in the 1950s. Now it is more like the UK in weight and volume. We saw the same effect in [very] rural Wales. From noticing and remarking on a single car passing our garden. To a constant roar within only 10 years. We went from holding a perfectly normal, quiet conversation outside. To having to bawl endless repetitions above the endless traffic.

I very rarely see other pedestrians on my walks and rides. A very few, weekend joggers do a lap of the rural block to fight the flab. There are no pavements or cycle paths on any local roads and no, official, public footpaths. My solo journeys along farm tracks are always "last man alive" affairs. 

Though I always have to run the gauntlet of the traffic. Before I can turn off into the wilds or the much quieter lanes. Once or twice a year I may see another "walker." Remarkably few cyclists share the roads during my morning "window." Usually between 8 and 10am but with variations. 

I get a wave from many drivers after years of morning walks and once frequent rides. These days it may be simple politeness. Because I usually hop, or climb onto the verge. To let them pass unhindered against oncoming traffic. I wish there were rear view mirrors for pedestrians. To save all the neck wringing.

The reason I am sharing all these personal trivialities is that I am feeling unusually vulnerable. The twin threats of Brexit and the Jinping Plague are laid over the recent and severe bouts of dizziness. A year of detached rural, self-isolation is beginning to take its toll. Not that we ever exchanged more than few words with the neighbours over the decades.

Meanwhile, I worked for ten years at the only factory. Learned the language, despite the handicap of age, which few immigrants bother with. Until, prematurely, the billionaire, takeover merchants exported all the factory's production to China and Russia.

All was well when I could completely lose myself in our rural isolation with my countless hobbies. Or go for a trike ride. Then a much uglier world suddenly intervened into my isolated bubble. Throw in the global climate threat and an unusually cold winter and "somebody" has completely changed the rules of fair play.   

It always seemed pointless to improve the house any further. We were always going to move on. Weren't we? Though now it seems we wont. Not ever! Except in a box. Or compulsorily to an old people's prison. With the guards handing out "zombie" pills. Between stealing our remaining trinkets. 

Former household "names" are dropping like flies. They had wealth enough for the finest health care but died anyway. 

The supposed, political leaders, during these difficult times, are either hideously incompetent clowns. Or sociopathic, genocidal "untouchables." Who put their personal greed above the needs of countless billions.

A walk to the lanes as the temperature rose slowly from 8 to 12F. -13 to -8C. The mist hung in layers and patches. Half way up and half way down the trees and hedges. Leaving a dark gap somewhere in the middle. The sunshine was doing its best but struggling to gain full power. Hoar frost clung to every twig and surface. Beautifying a frigid world. What slush had melted in the gutters had turned to black iron overnight. One, very brave, "racing" cyclist passed on a training ride and we exchanged cheerful greetings.

My boots crunched and squeaked on the hard frozen snow. Light and fluffy enough for manual, septuagenarian clearance. In the complete absence of others, far younger, doing anything at all. It was exactly the same in my twenties, and later. I was always the only one clearing paths and pavements. Using an ordinary garden spade back then. Because I valued the exercise, the fresh air, the novelty and easier access. They valued huddling indoors keeping the TV company. There were prescription pills for sloth and pretty much everything else, even back then. 

I have just spent another couple of hours moving my earlier piles of snow out of the way. So it can melt in its own time. Without causing a flood or turning the ground to mush. As it always does when the annual "permafrost" loosens its grip on the soil and the gravel drive. The now single, snow pile is about eight feet long and four feet x four feet high and wide in olde terms. Say about two cubic meters? 

It has reached 28F/-2C outside at 13.30 in continuous bright sunshine. I was stripped down to my T-shirt while I was snow clearing.  Now I have my tatty, old, down jacket on again. As it is still only 53F/12C "indoors." My clever wife fooled the ice on the bathroom and kitchen windows. She lit candles in the windows and the ice was almost all gone by late afternoon.  😎

 ~~

12.02.2021 Emperor "Plague" Jinping bans BBC News.

Friday 12th, Calm, 6F/-14C outside, 48F/9C in the "living" area, 38F/3C in the kitchen and bathroom. Brightening to a promised sunny day without new snow showers. About another inch of snow lying and demanding to be tidied up. 

A walk to the lanes and beyond to see the view of the distant sea from the top of the hill. Snow as far as the eye can see in brilliant sunshine. The roads were hard packed again with darker stripes. Animal tracks everywhere. Deer, hares, cats and probably rats. Clear signs of tail dragging would suggest the latter. I retreated to the verges each time a vehicle approached. Nearly wiped out by a corner hugging, articulated lorry on a blind corner!  

9.40. Waiting for morning coffee. 11F, 50F, 39F/ -12C, 10C, 4C. More snow clearing to come. And so it was. Nicely warmed up after clearing the drive.

In badly broken news: Genocidal, Chinese, emperor, "Plague" Jinping has banned the BBC News. Claiming that the brutal and corrupt, Chinese dictatorship is far too small-minded to have room for real news. The completely fake <cough> news will continue to be provided by all the emperor's, loyal, propaganda sociopaths. 

And you thought "1984" was bad? "Plague" Jinping is clearly trying to outdo Mao, Hitler and Stalin combined! Give a complete nobody a little power...   

In further broken news: The Chump Brownshirt Party has split down the middle over idolatry issues. To become two, parallel, racist, fascist parties. Which will both compete fiercely for a share of the votes of gap-toothed, racist rednecks, billionaire TV bible thumpers and other armed militia. Keep taking the 1%'s dirty money!

Meanwhile The White House continues to be fumigated and the racist graffiti whitewashed over. After the cheating, Mars o' Logo, white trash, trailer park family and its "party goers" left in a huff. I bet Pootin is pissed at losing his "tame" admiring puppet. Did you hear how his billion dollar palace was riddled with mould? You get the builders you deserve? 😉

~~

11.02.2021 No punkah wallahs required!

Thursday 11th Heavy overcast and breezy from the north. About an inch of new snow overnight.  More forecast by one forecaster. Sunshine by the other. The wind is supposed to be less than walking pace. Yet the garden anemometer is whizzing round/around despite the intervening trees. 

22F/-5C outside and still falling at 8am, 50F/10C in the heated "living room," 39F/4C in the kitchen and bathroom.

It takes 20 minutes to raise the tiny bathroom to a "barely" tolerable 53F using a 2kw fan heater for my shower. It is not just the air temperature but having all of a room's surfaces at their original, lower temperature. Solid surfaces always lag well behind the air. The body radiates its heat to these surfaces regardless of the measured air temperature. The bathroom, outside, [uninsulated] block-built wall measured 30F with a laser guided, remote thermometer. Which is below freezing!  The back door, of solid timber, measured 28F/-2C. The inside of the door regularly frosts over when it gets really cold outside.

The air movement from the heater fan has to be carefully directed not to increase evaporative cooling of exposed skin. Particularly when wet! The wood framed, bathroom windows have been frozen shut for several days. Making the government's expert advice to "air all rooms" frequently, each day, a bit of nonsense. 

Given the general "leakiness" of our home I doubt we have much to worry about on that score. We just need to survive the hypothermia, the particles and carcinogens from the old wood stove. The radon in the air, agricultural poisons in the air and drinking water and the spores from the mould on the walls. Oh, and let's not forget the Jinping Plague. 😂 

10.00 23F/51F. Now continuous sunshine. The snow and drifting forecasts have been cancelled. I have just walked up to the highest point of the forest and back by the direct route in about an hour. It snowed while I was crossing the prairie on the approach. The sound of forestry work could be heard. It must have been deeper than I could see through the bare trees despite clearly hearing their voices. My boots crunched and squeaked throughout my walk on on about 6" of crisp snow. I saw a couple of birds of prey and several deer dashing about in the woods. 

I cleared the 130 yards of the drive and the "parking area" of snow again. Another kind person has delivered our [online] grocery order. My wife spent the rest of the morning giving it a wash where it was feasible. Just in case of contamination. That which cannot be cleaned is put aside for as long as possible before being used. There are obvious examples where this is just not possible. We take every precaution, we can think of and must just hope it is enough. 

At least we have enough wood fuel briquettes for the stove for the next few days. More exercise, multiple handling 10kg bags of blocks. Load them from a pallet onto a trolley. Wheel the heavy trolley to the checkout. Push the heavy trolley outside. Load the blocks into the boot. Drive them home and unload them into a wheelbarrow. Unload them and carry them inside. The price has risen to match the increased demand in the cold weather. So I bought 18 x 10kg bags.

11.30. 26F outside/53F inside. It snowed quite hard before the sunshine disappeared completely into another overcast.  

15.30 25F/55F More snow in the afternoon. About another inch. Cleared the parking space again.

17.45 18F/-8C Getting dark very quickly. Snowing again. Expected low of -11C/12F tonight and tomorrow morning. Clear overnight and sunny tomorrow? We'll see.

I was just reading the expert's advice on keeping a Danish summer house at a minimum of 15C/60F to avoid burst pipes. How does that work when you are living in a house where you can't even reach those temperatures? Should we turn off the water and drain down the pipes? 😏

~~

10.02.2021 Wotalot of snow!

~~

Wednesday 10th, very cloudy, 19F/-7C outside, 48F/9C indoors, 42F/6C in the kitchen & bathroom. A hoar frost is coating everything this morning. A completely different feel to the day as I plodded towards the lanes. Jackdaws squabbled overhead above the now clear roads. The sun teased but never managed to break through. 

A barely perceptible northerly breeze had the wind turbines turning briskly. Despite the evidence of my own eyes that the frozen drizzle was falling all but vertically. It was certainly cold but the absence of gales made the snowy landscape appear almost cheerful today.

Sly "Plague" Jinping is "very unlikely" to have started the pandemic according to the WHO team. Though he is guilty of trying to cover it up to save face for his untouchable, lifetime dictatorship, status. The WHO team are spreading their search much wider now. For possible Asian infection paths via imported frozen food. It still seems to be unclear which creatures were involved in the virus leaping to humans. Bats and pangolins are mentioned in passing.

~~

 

9.02.2021 Home improvements?

 ~~ 

Tuesday 9th Heavy overcast and very windy again. 25F/-4C outside, 47F/8C in the living area and 43F/6C in the kitchen and bathroom. The forecast is for -12C overnight lows at the end of the week. It reached 50F indoors after a whole day of 25F and gales.

A walk to the lanes in an unpleasantly cold wind. I had my jacket hood fastened firmly under my chin but still needed my gloved hand to protect my face at times. The main road was clear today. Though the lanes still a passable mess of thinly packed and crumbly snow. Probably blown off the unhedged [prairies] fields. 

A road sign had been flattened. With multiple tyre tracks on the verge from the vehicle being being "rescued." There's an awful lot of it about. Mostly lorry tyre tracks tearing up the verges before the arrival of the snow.

By sheer coincidence it has just been announced that a Danish, home owner's, energy improvement fund will soon become available. Probably no later than March. 675million Danish Kroner is about £80 million British pounds. Claimed to be double that which was available last year. Which I never heard about in the news. That'll be the present government being elected on a "climate" mandate. 😎

Compare that sum to the 200 billion to be spent on a planned, offshore wind farm. Which will ensure huge, quarterly bills far into the distant future. For those few who can afford them. The "stick and carrot" system of Danish, national CO2 reduction. If nobody can afford the bills then they don't use any energy. 

Except in defeating the Danish tax system using the Black Economy. No builder's or tradesmen's receipts? No 25% VAT. 👍 I wonder if that works on luxury Tesla model subsidies? For the landed, Danish upper classes and absentee, Russian landlords? Wont the planned "energy island" be a sitting target for terrorism or attack by rogue nations with gas and oil to sell into a dwindling market? 

How many decades before the vast CO2 footprint [in concrete alone] is "paid off?" Hasn't anybody heard of democratising energy? Now would be an excellent time to develop low voltage DC domestic systems to get rid of the hundreds of billions of power supplies. Putting solar panels on domestic roofs while they are being properly insulated? Nah. Where would be the [fat] profit in that?

The previous arrangement for Danish home improvements has been only a slight reduction in taxation on the cost of the whole project. Not an actual monetary grant for home improvements per se. So the home owner has to stump up literally hundreds of thousands of Kroner [tens of thousands of pounds equivalent] to receive a paltry tax reduction after the event. Heat pump installation? £15k? External insulation? £15k? New "energy" windows? £15k? 

No doubt with all the usual petty limitations, time wasting paperwork and a complete lack of monitoring on cheating. So most of the allocated funds will go straight to local civil servants salaries and big business. 

All sitting in the comfort of their centrally heated and palatial offices. Decorated with original works of Danish modern "art" and costly but horribly uncomfortable, Danish architect designed furniture. The more badly designed and uncomfortable, the more costly it is. The same goes for the "art."

Once the "home improvement"project has been completed, the home will be considered improved and instantly gain an increase in its official valuation. Leading to increased taxes for the life of the building. Plus all of the endlessly multiplying, assorted, extra taxes of course. 

Though, hopefully, offset against the slightly reduced cost of heating. Or, far more likely, improved comfort, but at slightly increased expense. Because most Danes seem to wear only their underwear while at home in winter. Mind you, I am basing this observation on having seen less than ten "locals." Usually running out to the official dustbin site on the verge in their undies. While [always] leaving the door wide open behind them. Perhaps they were all paying lip service to the government's admonition to open the windows several times a day? To clear out the stale air and carcinogens from their wood stoves.

Perhaps I'm just a [rather old and bitterly cold] cynic? I slept with two thick jumpers on, last night, over full, thermal long johns and thick, loop pile "farmer's" socks. Even the mouse mat is too cold for comfort this morning. So I have pulled the cuff of the stretched [charity shop bought] jumper down over my hand. I have my fleece hat and thick down jacket on over a fleece jacket and two jumpers as I sit here at the keyboard. I could see my breath in the kitchen and bathroom just now. Best avoided! 😱

It's not all bad news though. At least we don't have a huge stack of filthy, industrial pallets. Or demolition waste "decorating" the entire garden. To be regularly chainsawed into firewood year after year. Then fed into a pre-war, water heater that looks like an oversized, cast iron radiator. Like a number of my neighbours have for literally decades. Including during record breaking, heat waves. Are we witnessing a "thriving" traditional, Danish, cottage industry? 😉

We used to pay about £20 equivalent in rates for only a rare emptying of the inherited, septic tank. Then the rural countryside was compulsorily connected to a "proper" sewage system. Whereupon the cost of sewage treatment rose to well over £400 pounds [equivalent] per year. 

It took years to get the system working [almost] properly. Probably because the clowns who dug the trenches for the new pipes used upturned, repeatedly half-empty, beer bottles as "bubble levels." 😇

The pumped sewage system still floods after heavy rain. Causing stoppages and backup in the pipes. So the toilet cannot be flushed without the risk of a free "shoe shine!" They have dug up the pipes on the front field a couple of times over the years with only marginal improvement. The bath plug hole still gurgles loudly when we flush the toilet after rain. 😝

When we bought our rural home hovel there were no drainage pipe joints, at all, under the bathroom floor. As I discovered when I dug up the badly crumbling concrete myself. To allow shiny, new, PVC drainpipes to be fitted for the new, officially approved system. Whereupon I discovered a large sump of stinking, black sewage under the entire bathroom floor! With the toilet emptying directly into "the dark grotto." It's no wonder the house is subsiding!

Only a short length of concrete pipe was aimed roughly out through the wall below ground level into the septic tank. The outlet of which was carried into an open sewer/beck at the bottom of the garden. Before wending its way picturesquely though the Danish countryside. 

Leaves and twigs would regularly block a drain grating out in the middle of the back field. Leading to a large lake of free "fertilizer" for the farmer who owned the land. We used to joke that we should start a boat hire business. Because the flooding happened so often. It still floods, but in a more modest way than times past. I often see the bright reflections of the sky in the overgrown back gardens. While I'm out on my morning walks.

Let's be careful out there!  😊

 

~~

08.02.2021 Abandon hope...?

 ~~ 

Monday 8th February, overcast with gales to 40mph and a snow drifting warning. The trees are rocking back and forth in the gloom. 25F/-4C outdoors, 48F/9C in the open plan, living area, 53F/12C at bedtime last night after the wood stove was burning all day. A steady 39F/4C in the kitchen and hall. The outside temperature is expected to drop to -9C by the end of the week.

Eight taxes + 25% VAT and a £75 government "snatch" on our very modest electricity bill.

We could have gone to the library, to stay warm, but it is closed because of the Jinping Plague. Though the wood stove would have gone out after a couple of hours anyway. Making it even colder indoors. 

The wind was blowing straight through my fleece trousers and supermarket bought, thermal, long johns on my walk.  The road was covered in long drifts off the exposed fields in several places. I saw the snow plough lorry coming and dashed to the other side of the road. To let him continue ploughing unhindered. He actually gave me a thumbs up! I recrossed the road and plodded on. 

It has reached 51F indoors after two hours of the wood stove being lit. 27F and still overcast outdoors. Little/no sign of the promised sunshine so far.

13.00. Lunchtime. Still overcast and 27F outside with snow flurries. 52F indoors.

~~

7.02.2021 And colder still!

 ~~

Sunday 7th 24F/-5C outdoors. 50F/10C indoors. Overcast and windy again! Some sunny periods are threatened but look unlikely right now. Yesterday's generous dollop of sunshine had no noticeable affect on indoor temperatures. Little sign of the snow melting so far. 

I am still wearing the GripGrab "Pilot" scull cap and "Nordic" split winter mitts on my walks. The hat provides good protection for the ears and back of the neck when walking or cycling in winter. It has a soft finish which is very comfortable under a helmet or hood. They do a thinner one for autumn and spring in the same close fitting "medieval" design.

The mitts are fine on a bike/trike but I find them a little too clumsy for photography with my old, TZ7 compact camera. Perhaps I ought to try harder? It's not as if these mitts are particularly bulky. I could even practice indoors. You have to be an idiot/masochist to take off your gloves at -5C in a gale just to take snaps of the snow! 😉

I went through years of winter cycling agony before finally finding the [GG] Nordic mitts. I have no connection with GripGrab, or any other company and openly detest all advertising in every form. I just feel I ought to pass on the message when I find something really useful. Just don't buy them from Amazon.slavery.con. Support a local retailer if you can. Not a global, sociopathic dictator. 

It had reached 25F/-4C by the time I left for my brisk, 35 minute walk. It was blowing a gale and expected to become slightly worse. Gusts to 17m/s is about 35mph in old money. It was roaring in the hedges and trees again. Where the farmers hadn't already been subsidised to rip them out. A few Jackdaws and a solitary Fieldfare. Plus three, Sunday joggers. I kept my hood fastened and still had to use an extra [gloved] hand. To protect my face from the chilling wind off the miles of open fields. The DMI has just issued a snow drift warning due to the wind speed.

~~

6.02.2021 Getting colder!

 ~~

Saturday 6th 21F/-6C. 51F/11C indoors. Windy! From NE. Early cloud has cleared with the promise of a cold but sunny day. Now it has clouded over again! I want my promised sunshine and I want it now!

It didn't take long for the sun to find its way out again. I walked up to the forest, plodded uphill alongside and then descended to the next village. The wind was roaring in the hedges and laying long pleats of snow wherever it could find the slightest gap. A buzzard left circling on the updraught from the cliff face of the forest receding behind me.

Every time I stopped to take [53] photographs my fingers would ache with cold for the next ten minutes. Each time, my gloved hands were thrust deep into my jacket pockets to speed the recovery. As I neared home I decided to cross the last field to save time. Completely forgetting the [dry] drainage ditch. Where the snow ploughing had recently covered it over. I sank instantly up to my waist and then fell forwards. Face down! What a silly person! No injuries reported so far. 😊

 ~~

5.02.2021 Cold and more snow clearing.

 ~~

Friday 5th 29F. Overcast with a cold NE to easterly wind. A walk to the lanes. The roads were clearer and wetter today. Though not without stretches of hard pack and slush. I took to the verges, with each approaching vehicle, to avoid being sprayed. A few drivers waved. Not many birds visible today. 

More snow clearing later. Probably due to drifting rather than new falls. At least ten more days of continuous frost forecast. Though no more snow shown until next Wednesday night.

~~

4.02.2021 The GOP has completely lost its sense of smell!

 ~~

Thursday 4th 27F, cloudy but white. 12C/53F indoors in the living area. 14C/57F after the wood stove had been on all day. I have more snow clearing to do!  After my walk. 

Which was to the lanes on snow clad roads. It was difficult to decide where to walk. The hard packed stuff, where the traffic had travelled, was too slippery. While the crumbly and untouched snow was too much like hard work. The traffic was quite busy today.

Later I cleared 130 yards of drive and most of the parking area of snow. I heartily recommend the oversized, plastic, snow shovels they sell at the supermarkets in season. I just wish they were better made. The handles, in particular, just aren't designed for a long and hard life. I saw several lorry snow ploughs/salt spreaders on the roads over the course of the day.

After four years of The Chump and only a year [and counting] of the Jinping Plague, the GOP has permanently lost its sense of smell. This despite the White Trash really piling up. Perhaps they should change their name to "The GOBs?" [Good Old Brownnosers or, more simply, GOBshites] Sadly, for them at least, "Brownshirts" was already taken. By Chump's followers. At last we finally know the true cause of that. Heavy metals in most US baby food. Anyone would think it was China!

Lifetime, genocidal dictator, Sly "Plague" Jinping has started his own Jinping Youth movement. He wants them to "man up." Is there suddenly a shortage of [Party Approved] rapists at his gulags? I wonder whether Sly swatted up on causing maximum misery? Using George Orwell's "1984" as required reading. I expect Sly's still green with jealousy at the death toll caused by his equally psychotic predecessors. Despite his [namesake] plague he still has a lot of catching up to do. 

Pootin's days must surely be numbered. His vicious jackbooted sociopaths may actually cause a backlash. People are heartily sick of the Soviet-era corruption still dragging on. They are beginning to realise they really have zero choice at the coming Pootin Party elections. Which we can all safely predict with 101% perfect foresight. Pootin's Party wins. Shit happens.

Denmark is to build a massive North Sea wind farm at vast expense. I suppose it makes a change from building gas pipelines to carry Pootin's loot to the sugar factories. I would have thought the hundreds of billions for wind farms would have become unnecessary. If only they had earmarked some of the taxpayer's money on properly insulating all of the poorly uninsulated Danish homes. [i.e.Most of them.] Not to mention all the uninsulated offices, factories, shops and hotels. 

Just think of all the happiness that would have caused the Danes. Happiest people in the world? They might all have become deliriously happy! Think of the savings in CO2 on not having to supply so many of them with happy pills! You can't please all of the people all of the time. Certainly not the huge number of Danish children on antidepressants. 

Just remember: No matter who you pretend to elect there is always the 1% who are really in charge. And, the ones you only pretended to elect allow the 1% to exist. [Tax & justice free.] 

Which must surely mean that the 1% wanted the Jinping Plague to flourish? Because, like every other, genocidal dictatorship, nothing EVER happens without the lifetime dictator's permission or approval. 

~~

3.02.2021 Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

 ~~

Wednesday 3rd Feb. 30F, dark, heavy overcast with snow promised. The forecasters are at odds with a difficult prediction for southern Denmark. It could fall as sleet if temperatures rise. 

Leaden skies on my early walk up to the forest and back along the marsh. I had a nasty shock when my old TZ7 camera completely failed to launch. Five Mallards were keeping a tiny patch of water open right out in the middle of the pond. They looked about to abandon but I kept my distance via the tractor tracks and they shuffled off the ice and back into the water. A large, bird of prey was less brave and left on first sighting of my lumbering form. 

Changing batteries solved the TZ7 reluctance to perform. The battery seemed fine yesterday. Perhaps it succumbed to the cold? The first flurry of snow arrived at 9.20 as I enjoyed morning coffee. Though without the bread rolls again. Because they have been strangely absent from the shops. No marmalade either. So it was honey today. I hope the snow doesn't hinder this afternoon's grocery delivery.

100mm/4" of snow by lunch time. I went out after lunch to do some clearing.

 

~~

2.02.2021 Winter wonderland?

 ~~

Tuesday 2nd Feb. 17F/-8C. Hoar frost, with mist clearing to bright sunshine from an almost clear, blue sky. It was all rather beautiful. With a sugar coating to every twig. The mist becoming stratified in places.  So that the tops and trunks of the copses were clearly seen above and below a soft, white stripe. 

I walked briskly to the lanes. Not because of the cold but because of the lateness of my leaving. I am finding my Ventile, winter jacket superbly warm provided I dress normally beneath it. There is no need for fleece undergarments or even thick jumpers. The GripGrab, medieval, "Aviator" scull cap is also proving itself. In keeping my ears and head pleasantly warm. Without the need for a trapper's fur hat. It just reached freezing point in the afternoon.

The various, Danish supermarkets, home delivery, grocery services get worse and worse regardless of the chain involved. I have come very close to shopping myself because of the pathetic lack of stock elsewhere. 

I can walk into the local shop[s] and get everything we could possibly need to last a whole week. All the other branches don't stock these everyday items. Not when the shopper fills our basket at any other branch. It is often a real struggle to put an evening meal together. 

We are regularly reduced to having something on toast. Despite using three different services the backlog of failure to supply simply adds to the overall frustration. It is  not as if it is a free service and the delivery prices and charges for completely imaginary carrier bags are rising. We are often charged for five bags when the shopping is easily delivered in two!

We are supposed to self-isolate because of our vulnerable age group. Which we have been doing for a full year now. If we ignored the government's very sensible rules we could stock up for the lean times. For when the supermarkets cannot supply the everyday stuff. 

What makes it worse is that many of the items they advertise as "special offers" never existed in reality. Though this very obvious scam, to increase foot traffic, has been going on for twenty years! I would often ride for miles around all the nearest branches and never found the items in stock anywhere. The staff used to say they never arrived. And never would in my personal experience.

~~

1st February 2021

 ~~

Monday 1st. 30F, dark, overcast, white and misty. Rumours of sunshine this afternoon is bound to be fake news. A bus just went very slowly along the road. It must be icy.

A walk along the snow covered, tractor tracks on the fields.

Isn't it ironic how the fascists demand greater freedom during this devastating pandemic. Yet freedom is always the very last thing on their minds if they ever get the merest whiff of real power. Would they be so tolerant of public demonstrations, which they demand for themselves, once they smell the easy [Taxpayer's] loot? 

Trillionaire, Lifetime Dictator, Tzar Pootin [The Truly Awful] 5000. Justice 0.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55876033

GOP cheers on its educationally challenged, racist, white trash.

'She is weighing us down': Georgia GOP cringes at Marjorie Taylor Greene spectacle - POLITICO

Ask not what is in it for me. But how I may serve the people to the very best of my ability. So that I may leave an improved world as my lasting legacy. Yeah, Right! 🤣

 

~~