Thursday 28 June 2012

As I walked out one mid-winter morning.

Now it is mid-summer and the early morning walks with Pip the dog are usually pleasurable with the raw winter winds only a memory. Yet earlier I came across the photographs I took on a spectacular mid-winter morning.  The first is a view (enhanced using the snap seed app) looking down High Street from my garden.

The next is from the church-yard looking across to South Street. A Caerwys sky-line.


The final image is looking at the east facing aspect of the church.

Monday 25 June 2012

About the bike.

I am presently reading 'It's All About The Bike:  The Pursuit of Happiness On Two Wheels' by Robert Penn. It tells the tale of his attempt to build the perfect bike by seeking out the best possible parts from around the world: to Italy for a Campagnolo made group-set, to England for a Brooks saddle, and so on. Anyway he ends the first chapter with a wonderful reflection on the positive forces that get unleashed when one cycles. Here it is:

Sunday 17 June 2012

Another 100 mile cycle ride.

This year of cycling continued with another 100 mile ride, this time from Waverton across Cheshire to the foothills of the Peak District. There were some hills but nothing serious, so the pace was reasonably quick. Nevertheless 100 miles is 100 miles and nearly 9 hours on the bike is demanding enough. This was a ride organised by the CTC and therefore involved cake. The company was first class throughout the day. Here are two images from the day. The first is a view of the certificate, the second the team photo.



Thursday 14 June 2012

Where Hyenas roamed.

Tonight in a cave not far from here we were shown some remarkable finds. A team of archaeologists are carrying out a week long excavation. The cave itself was first excavated in the late 19th century, but the records of that dig were inaccurate, to say the least. This dig is of national importance as it provides evidence of the late Neanderthal occupation of the Britain. It certainly shows that humans roamed these parts before that last major ice age of some 20000 years ago. The finds from the dig were significant and included remains of animals either extinct or long since departed from these islands. Lions were not unknown (bigger than the modern ones), woolly mammoths, rhinos, and, as the  photograph below shows, huge hyenas. The other remains were mainly chippings from flint tools that were clearly produced in the area. Archaeology is a complex subject that require multiple skills and all these were in evidence amongst the team carrying out the dig. 

 This photograph shows the huge jaw bone of a huge hyena:



The next, me in the depths of the cave:




Sunday 10 June 2012

A really useful engine.




This week I shall cease being a really useful engine. For many years my son and daughter have studied either history and politics, or both. We have had countless discussions on the latest political happenings and disagreed over historical interpretations. Yet this week they will both cease to study these subjects and I will cease to be a useful engine. You see, I'm not much good at anything else; aside from judging a decent essay, I have virtually no transferable skills. I was not educated to be of any real use to society, apart from teaching history. I now need to enrol in a night class to learn plumbing or something.

Saturday 9 June 2012

The other Caerwys jubilee.

Whilst walking by the church in Caerwys the other day I came across the stone memorial to another royal jubilee. The stone marks the 50th anniversary of Victoria's reign in 1887. It doesn't record what celebrations took place, although a little research would surely unearth whether or not there was a street party in the Oak car park. Or if hundreds of balloons were released. This stone merely records the names of the church wardens; also of note is the Welsh spelling 'jubili', which is rather surprising considering the popular view of  Church of England in Wales at the time. The royal symbol is rather roughly cut into the stone. I have tried to work out what BOC might stand for, but without any real success.

Thursday 7 June 2012

This monsoon summer.

Can anyone remember a cooler or wetter late spring and early summer? If my memory serves me right we have had below average temperatures and above average rainfall since early April. Apart that is from a few hot days a couple of weeks ago when we had a tantalising taste of a real summer. Even so there good things to be taken from this season; everywhere is so green, the water shortages are a thing of the the past, and we get some dramatic sky views when the rain eventually stops. Like this one taken from my front door yesterday when the rain briefly subsided: