1 Aug 2020

1st August 2020 Sly "Pandemic" Jinping's Huawei Cake with TikTok topping to be banned!

~~

Saturday 1st August 63-76F, bright with clear skies but rather breezy from the south east. A warm day is forecast with 25C. 77F by late this afternoon.

A walk past the marsh pond up to the woods and back along the main track. 130 pictures and three horse fly bites in an hour and half. The picture shows the last bit of the approach to the marsh pond. Where there were a hundred juvenile ducks again. They all retreated to the far side.

The weight of the camera and lens were beginning to to get a bit irritating with them hanging down in front of me. I tried different heights but nothing helped. So then I tried the strap on the diagonal over the opposite shoulder. The weight magically disappeared for the rest of my walk. The camera still remained instantly accessible but the weight is taken equally between my right shoulder and the left side of my belly. 

I had deliberately taken a rough route today. This was to fully exercise the boots. The idea was to accelerate their "breaking in." Not that they need very much. Not judging by their rapid settling to a high degree of comfort. Lots of changes of camber forces the boots and my feet sideways at constantly changing angles. Which really flexes the lateral ankle support. Similarly, climbing and descending on steep ground does the same for and aft. Doing it on rough grass exaggerates the effect. As do potholed, gravel tracks.

__________________________________________

Relaxation of restrictions due to the Jinping Pandemic is leading to many more infections. Now former restrictions are being reapplied. Far too many people think they are invulnerable because they have no symptoms. One in seven infected, who show no symptoms at all, can still be super-spreaders.

After the Danish government recommended masks for those using public transport in the rush hour, sales have rocketed. They are now sold out in most online "chemists." Prices for type 2 vary between £30 per box of 50 from the official pharmacies. To £69 for 50 from a high street "cosmetics and healthcare" chain. On whose very own website, customer reviews report very weak elastic, breaking regularly, to fine dust which causes the user to sneeze! Better get me some of those! They sound ideal! 

I bought a couple of dust masks from a builder's merchants just before the Jinping Pandemic broke. The weak elastic broke on my first attempt to put one on at the supermarket. Guess what? The expert advice is not to touch a mask once fitted! Woohoo!

Denmark has stopped literally tons and tons of masks at its borders with fraudulent CE marking because they were rip-off, Jinping Mafia produced crap! May Lifetime Dictator Jinping be praised for undermining our health and wealth in so many different and creative ways!

The pictures of packed beaches and high streets is matched around the world. Leaving governments torn between the cries for more freedom and total, economic collapse. 16,000 Darwin Lifetime Awardees dragged their knuckles along the asphalt in Berlin.

Employing lots of low paid immigrants, for manual work in poor working conditions and overcrowded accommodation seems to be causing lots of health problems. So, enjoy your dirt cheap meat while you still can!

The backlash against Sly Jinping's Communist Mafia is causing all sorts of negative feedback. You can't have your Huawei cake with TikTok topping, and eat it. Hong Kong was a jackboot stamp too far for the insanely corrupt, genocidal thug. TikTok, TikTok, TikTok.



~~

31 Jul 2020

31.07.2020 A White-tailed Eagle pretending to be a gull.

~~

Friday 31st 53F, bright and clear with variable cloud forecast. The wind has dropped to calm so far. There were thousands of wind-powered gulls back again yesterday.

Yet again, immigrants testing positive for the Jinping Virus, greatly outnumber their representation in society. 60% of new cases are immigrants to Denmark. Yet they number only 14% of the Danish population.

Various theories abound as to the reasons. Language difficulties missing government warnings? Larger, multi-generational families? Socially and economically disadvantaged groups in overcrowded accommodation?  What about "compulsory" religious attendance?

Another morning of hacking the tops off tall, prickly hedges. Then taking the remains to the recycling yard. After lunch I enjoyed an afternoon walk in bright sunshine and 73F heat. The sky was decorated with a few, high, wispy clouds.


A large, white, bird of prey joined the gulls circling aimlessly at about 200'. So I took a few snaps. 200mm at 1/2500s at f7.1. 200mm Micro 4/3 = 415mm at 35mm equivalent. I was quite pleased to have captured it as a first try with my new camera and telephoto lens. My old TZ7 would have made a complete mess of a bird at this height and distance. It has a cycle time of seconds between shots. The G9 can take as many images as fast you can re-squeeze the shutter. Or can be set to rapid bursts of exposures if desired. Assuming enough forethought.

I cropped the best [or rather, largest] images from 5000 pixels down to 1000. So I'm afraid these shots are a bit "noisy." These birds are huge when close up! So it must have been much higher than I had guestimated. I  struggled to distinguish it from the gulls at that height. It has a wingspan of up to 2.5 metres! That's over 8'!

Google would have me believe it is a White-tailed Eagle, in Europe. Or White-tailed Hawk in the Americas. It is certainly not one I was able to identify unaided. I call all white birds of prey "Goshawks." Which only goes to show my complete ignorance. Though I know the Goshawk has "pointy" wing tips this bird had very obvious "fingers."

It was hunted to extinction in the UK by the early 20th century. Where it was the largest bird of prey. Later, successfully reintroduced. A fish and carrion eater. It was often blamed for the deaths of lambs on which it was seen feeding. When the lambs were already dead and the eagle simply taking advantage of a free meal. Much like the Red Kite. Another carrion eater which was blamed for economic losses.

The new, Scarpa boots are coming along nicely. I hardly noticed I was wearing them for much of the time. I call that a success.


~~

30 Jul 2020

30.07.2020 These boots are made for walking!

~~

Thursday 30th 55-66F. Bright start but cloudy. Fast moving from the west. It is expected to be breezy again today. I woke up early dripping with sweat. Very unusual for me. Fortunately I haven't [completely] lost my sense of smell. Yesterday's headache has gone too. I probably shouldn't spend time on the field tracks after spraying. But that's also true for my walking, or cycling, down the roads between the fields.

There really is no escape if the toxins are airborne. We both spend hours outside in the garden each day. Surrounded by grain fields in every direction for miles. We were warned not to drink the well water early on.

It was cloudy so I spent some time loading the trailer with vicious hedge clippings. Then twice unloading them again at the recycling yard. Which has a large concreted area open all the time for dumping garden waste.

My replacement boots have arrived in the post. The next size up from the first pair. Which were far too tight in the toes area despite being my normal boot size. Now in a previously, unheard of, size 47. I was still given a nice discount because the 46s, on special offer, were too small.The picture is badly posed. They really are not that much bigger than the Eccos.Though they are deeper in the body of the shoe.

The new pair were so immediately comfortable that I took them for an after dinner walk for nearly an hour. Even climbing the hill of the newly harvested field to get some elevation for different viewpoints. I wanted to exercise them a bit more than simply clomping along the smooth road. With its fairly gentle slopes.

I am very pleased with the comfort levels so far. The previous Eccos crippled me from the first trial! I was clamping the folds of the ridiculously thick, leather tongues in G-cramps in a desperate bid to flatten them! The Scarpa boots have a thin, bellows tongue. Which gave no problems at all.

The Eccos squeaked all the time and have now cracked across the base of the toe caps. They never did settle down to provide the desired level of unnoticed comfort. Though they remained completely waterproof to the bitter end. Which was better than both pairs of Salomon Discovery GTX. Very comfortable in the foot. Though the first pair were replaced under guarantee when they became leaky. The second pair soon lost their waterproofness too. Even when just crossing the dew covered lawn. This is at odds with many of the reviews. Which praise them for their Goretex GTX waterproofing.

If you think my choice of walking boots is overkill then you haven't seen the steep and branch littered fire breaks I regularly climb and descend in the forest. Nor all the untamed, marshy tracks, where the weeds often reach up to my knees and beyond. My boots are worn [almost] every single day of the year. So I am lucky to get a couple of years out of a pair of boots.

Most boots are only exercised at weekends. Or much less often if the owner likes the distant mountains. Better to ask those who literally work in their boots. Rather than the once a year, signposted, gravel trail walker. The same goes for clothing. Nobody willingly works all day in a tailored, bin bag. Which is what many man-made waterproof jackets and trousers represent. Proofed cotton breathes out your sweat even when wet on the outside. It also survives being dragged through scratchy forests and brambles.



~~