Cast in Feathers Buzzard

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Rosemary was doing an ad hoc check of the field, when she spied some odd activity and so got the binoculars out.    It looked like a large bird of prey was eating a late breakfast.

A few minutes later, large bird had gone but something remained….. the breakfast?  Surely not a lamb?  Rosemary went out to investigate and found, amidst some feathers, a buzzard, lying on his back, looking near death but with his stomach still going up & down.  His eyes were open but his head looked at an odd angle and a bit bloody.  He didn’t respond to her shadow over him.  Fearing the worst, she went back to phone the RSPCA for advice.  Several phone calls later, she awaited a call from them and went to check up  on the patient.  This time he looked brighter and moved his head and opened his beak.  She assured him help was on its way and went back to the house wondering how to pick him up (to take him to the vet) without hurting him and without making contact with his beak.

But wait, Miles & his mum were in  the pick-up in the field checking on their sheep.  They paused by the bird.  Rosemary shot out.  “I dispatched him,” said Miles.  Oh goodness, thought R.  “He’d got himself cast, so we righted him with my stick,” said his mum, Annie. Ah! breathed R with relief.  “I didn’t realize that could happen to a large bird,” she babbled to Miles.  “Well how do you get up if you’re stuck on your back?” asked Miles.  He had a very good point.  Everyone decided the buzzard probably flew into a nearby powerline and stunned himself on impact.  

R phoned the RSPCA to tell them to cancel the call and the lady on their helpline was also surprised to hear buzzards can get themselves cast. 

So now we all know it’s not just sheep that need righting, keep your eyes open and binoculars & stick handy.

Indian takeaway from Chadnis

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The other day we had been out for a drink in Quainton with our friends.  Alas we have to travel now that the local pub is closed, and the next in walking distance, the Crooked Billet, serves a not very good pint of real ale.  Anyway I digress, we decided to have an Indian takeaway for supper.  Quick phone call to order our food from my mobile phone (yes, I have the local Indian takeaway phone number in my mobile, along with lots of other useful numbers).  Stopped off at the said local, Chadnis in Waddesdon, on the way home and picked up Rosemary’s Chicken Byriani and my Chicken Vindaloo.

Back home I started to eat my Vindaloo, normally I am disapointed by these curries.  They are meant to be hot, and generally I can’t taste any heat in them, and don’t break out in a sweat. Yes I like hot, hot food. Chadnis Vindaloo is a different kettle of curry.  It was hot, very very hot. I sweated,  and I had chilli burn, I was almost defeated, but not quite.

So if you want a good hot Vindaloo, you should not be at all disapointed by our local Waddesdon offering.

Easter

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Easter started off with a BBQ on Friday evening. How hard is it to buy charcoal at this time of year? Tesco was saying there will be none in stock for another 2 weeks.

Slow roasted English lamb shoulder was cooked for almost 8 hours on the BBQ, then shredded and mixed with pomegranate seeds and mint leaves and served with a salad of skinned peppers and feta cheese. We had some friends around, who all stayed the night, and again it seems we and our friends drank rather too much alcohol. Gordon Brown would not be at all pleased with us. Some wag on the radio said there would be two types of activities in the future, mandatory and banned.

Flower bed in WarkwickshireFlower bed in WarwickshireSunday had a meal with my Aunt and Uncle in Warwickshire, yes again it was lamb, but this time English leg of lamb, and slow roasted.  Their garden was beginning to look lovely with lots of blooms.

There was also a lot of food walking around on two and four legs, the four legged varieties which have to be fenced out of the vegetable patch, but seem to find a way in.

The two legged variety were seeking refuge from the woods on the other side of the field.  M said how the shooters who stood in the field, fired at the pheasants as they were driven out of the wood.  When they missed, they turned and fired at the birds towards M&D’s house, often with shot hitting their windows.  Not dangerous, but an annoyance non the less.

Pheasants

Monday was a lovely day, Rosemary spent most of the day at Ludgershall village auction. This is an auction held once a year, and is used to raise money for the village hall. It though is a proper auction with proper items, some selling for several hundreds of pounds, not any old junk. She came away with another rug for the house.

Newcastle and Gateshead

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A visit to the office in Gateshead for the start of year meetings.  Anouncements on the new bonus plans and targets.

Main event though was the evening meal in Newcastle.  Have to admit to feeling slightly hung-over the next day.

One Stop

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Travelled to Birmingham a couple of times this week.  Monday and Tuesday I was installing some new software at the offices of One Stop.  They are a small supermarket chain.

Sad Gits reunion

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Sunday 8th saw me head into London on a train from Bicester.  Normally my mode of transport is through Aylesbury.  Bicester is nearer and has a more frequent service, just that it’s a tad more expensive.  I have to admit the non stop service was nice, though the Victor Meldrew in me took exception to all the loud iPods playing around me in what was meant to be the quiet carriage.

Arrived and headed over to the British Film Institute to meet the other Sad Gits.  A special reunion in honour of Jon Lewis who was passing through from South Africa.

Sad Gits

Sad Gits

A quick drink, and then there was the call for lunch.  One pub ignored because it was totally crowded.  A good call was made not to eat on  the terrace.  Minutes later it started to rain.

Instead we went to the Tate Modern and ate in the downstairs cafe.  Decision making is not a feature of Cambridge graduates, trying to get a decision on the number of bottles of wine was rather painful, Andrea came to the rescue, the only non Cambridge graduate amongst us.

Massive spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois

Massive spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois

A quick tour of the gallery, and a walk across the millenium bridge and then it was goodbye as we wended our way home.

The walk across the bridge is always a spectacular walk, especially with the dramatic skyscapes we had on that Sunday.

I had another appointment in the evening, and went to a GMB union fund raising event at the Poetry Society in Covent Garden.  Here I was entertained to some poetry readings.  Decided to cut this short as Rosemary was due to pick me up from the Station, and I had a 5.00 early morning rise the next day.

The Crack, this is what happened to it.

The Crack, this is what happened to it.

On a final note, I have added an image of The Tate Modern’s crack.  This was a Tate Modern Turbine hall exhibition where a huge crack was created in the floor.  I always wondered what happened to it.

Visting Iran

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I am meant to be going to Iran to do some work for a customer. Presently Visas seem to be an issue. First my 3 month application for a visa was rejected, and now my 3 day visa was rejected. It looks like I will have to wait a few more weeks before reapplying.

This is such a shame, the people I met and worked with in Iran a few years ago were very nice and helpful people. I do hope this can all be sorted out quickley.

Waterperry

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No sooner had the deluge of rain occurred, the cold weather returned.  We have had a couple of weeks with snow and ice, shortages of rock salt, and now huge potholes in the road caused by frost damage.

Today it warmer.

Yesterday we went to see some snowdrops at Waterperry.  Waterperry  is near Oxford and is a garden centre and arty farty type place.  It though has some magnificent gardens, well they might be magnificent,  winter is not the best time to see them.  I went to see the snowdrops, and the crocuses.  Must admit, in past years, we’ve seen more snowdrops at other places .

Navigation to the centre was aided and abetted by my new mobile phone. [More like “hindered”.  Ed]

Wet weather

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The wet warm weather is back.  I drove to Bristol on Monday in the most appalling weather.  Windy and wet.  This was just a day visit to check out the customers user acceptance system, making sure all the modifications had been correctly customised during the copy.

They should be going live in February with their upgraded system.

Arrived back  quite late at 9.45 just to have supper and go to bed.  What a coincidence, cottage pie for lunch in the canteen, and cottage pie back at home for supper.  Ours though was traditional proper cottage pie made up from the left over roast from Sunday.

The cold weather

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Will this cold weather ever stop?  We have had -7C on our thermometer.  The ponds are frozen, and the temperature has failed to rise above zero for days.  Where has this global warming gone, or is it another con by our politicians and the green  groups. If we are cold, then one assumes there must be a balanced hot area in the North.  To me it does not seem  right that all of Europe is cold,  and that Canada is having a cold winter as well.  Sea ice in the arctic was at a high this summer as well.

Typical of Putin to cut off the gas when it is cold. At least we have our wood burner, fed almost exclusively on hard wood. In this cold weather, how have the wind farms been doing.  Oh not a lot, generating nothing.  Cold weather comes with no wind.  Seems to me a rather waste of money.  Time the UK stepped up to the task and built more nuclear reactors.  At least they work, look at France which generates 90% of their electricity with nuclear.   It’s time something is done, even if it’s opening the closed coal mines and building more coal-fired powerstations before our lights start going out.

Talking about lights, we can not buy any more filament lights, at least the type you can see by.  Another green con, and instead all the mercury from the new low energy lights will now go into landfill, polute the ground water and make us all brain dead.  Maybe the EU and our Government want to us to be brain dead, so we just accept their dictacts without argument.