We were not asked...........

Its a mad world....

Off to Brittany shortly but not happy with the state of the UK I will be leaving behind.

Found out today that only Spain has national debts rising as fast as the UK - so much for the fantasy cuts in Public Spending. How long will be before the markets wake up, see past the Iron Chancellor hype, and punish us? Badly...

We have an unsustainable Public Sector & welfare system, a population explosion, community breakdown, environmental degradation, unrest. It will not take much for a breakdown in law and order if the wheel comes off.

For a long time I avoided the rush into gold but, rather than a profit making move, it is a definite hedge at present.

And the Arab Spring ? - more like Islamic Winter ! Our politicians have really f*cked up that one. Now we have Iran on the brink of a nervous breakdown, Pakistan a pariah, Afghanistan a lost cause and North Africans pouring across the Med.

As for me I think a nice bit of shooting and fishing over Christmas as well as a trad Christmas with tree, wood-burner and food.

Lots of food.

As an aside - here's a heart-warming, yet heart-breaking, video of some Beagles rescued from a laboratory for testing that absolute necessity - womens make-up... !

Vanity - thy name is woman.

Autumn again - favourite time of year

Nothing much to say this time - just enjoying the autumn mists today, the smell of the earth and call of the wild.

Big news is that British, and world, population is soaring - perhaps a mass extinction isn't beyond the realms of possibility. Overproduction, environmental degradation, community unrest and a corrupt political "elite".

The coming years should be interesting.

Looking forward to Bonfire Night -

The video is V for Vendetta - set in a corrupt Right Wing fascist state where people are surveilled, politically incorrect views are criminalised, terror plots are hatched, wars are fought - just like under Socialist LABOUR actually! The author, Alan Moore accurately predicted the kind of nation we would become but was 180 degrees wrong in predicting what kind of politics would lead to it.

And, to be sure, it is only National, International and Soviet Socialists who wear jackboots! Remember Oswald Mosley and Hugh Macdiarmid. Socialists AND Fascists.

Man of the woods

Nice video called Man of the Woods. Get the message?

Back in Blighty

Just returned from a few weeks in Brittany.

Thank God for that place - its like breathing fresh air. Well, in fact, it IS breathing fresh air.

Knackered after the journey back on my flying steed but got myself back together with a nice walk in the Lickeys with Talbot....just to keep my hand in as an ancient Brythonic demi-god.

After all, who would haunt those woods if not me?

Visited a few of my old oaken friends in Broceliande Forest and my little Feys.

The year is turning once more and the suns gift has filled the roots in readiness for the long slumber and days of mist, fruitfulness and the peace of the frozen world....

Schuberts "Erlkonig"

I have my own symphony by Schubert. Sung by Bryn Terfel. I feel all warm and proud.

Harry ca Nab - Erlkonig - Elder king.

Isn't our culture wonderful - the links to the past.

The Lords Prayer in the Mercian dialect.

Isn't Youtube wonderful. You can hear the midlands accent coming through - a 1000 years or more ago.

And once again the cricket season is upon us.............

Ah for the crack of leather on Willow.....but its all Dutch to me!

On any Sunday

Looking forward to a great day.

We visited the Armed Forces Day celebrations in Brum yesterday. Great time, great music but I am sorry for the young Cadet who fainted. To stand to attention when you feel crap shows a good heart.

The music was especially good - two women sang old war songs - Vera Lynn etc - and had us all in tears.

So many people attended - good, real, Brummies. It was like a flash from the past. The Government and Establishment may like to ignore our existence but we still keep the wheels of this country turning. God help this country when we have all gone and Birmingham resembles Basra.

Today the weather is set, the entertainment planned and all is well with the world.

How can I improve things?

A BBQ - thats how!!!!

But not before a little trip out for some cider.....

Sunday lunch?

Now that is what I call a Sunday Lunch ! A bottle of Muscadet, some french bread and a coffee & Calvados to wash it down....

Brittany - oh how I've missed it

Brittany is lovely at this time of year and I can share it thanks to our marvellous village libary and IT suite.

Interestingly the librarians husband has the same Christian name AND surname as me  - French versions of course. What are the chances eh?

Having a wonderful time, working hard, seeing friends and "catching some rays".

What a contrast to the UK - polite people, low crime levels, nature as it should be, great food and wine/cidre ...as well as a sense of freedom that has been lost in Britains Police State.

Such a contrast - and a reminder of what we have lost and, I guess, will never get back.

BBQ tonight..... sur la terrace!

Conservatives defy gravity

So, after a spiteful and negative campaign from Labour, lies about the cuts THEY would have made (£7 of every £8 the coalition is making) and the entire shadow cabinet supporting AV we have the result.

Ugly bugger isn't he.

2/3 of the electorate rejected AV.

Scotland rejected the Labour Party and overwhelmingly voted SNP - despite Labour having "designed" the Scottish electoral system so that the SNP would NEVER get a majority (so much for Labours democratic "credentials").

More people voted Conservative than Labour. The Conservatives INCREASED the number of councils they control.

The only reason Labour had any gains were due to disaffected LibDems switching votes - surely not "bankers" for a General Election - easy come - easy go !

And where were the gains made? In Northern/Midland cities - full of Labours underclass, Labours public sector workers and Labours tame ethnic "communities". - imported into the UK for just that purpose.

BUT now Labour councils will have to bear the consequences of power - take responsibility for how they handle the cuts, how they innovate and how they treat the people who voted for them.

Now, roll on the referendum for Scottish independence and/or a denial of the rights of Scots and Welsh MP's to vote on English only matters in Parliament.

Roll on the equalisation of constituency sizes.

Roll on the mass inflow of Tory peers to counter Labours gerrymandering of the Lords.

Roll on extensive investigations of Labour voting fraud.

Roll on the new controls on strikes not supported by more than 50% union members.

Roll on Third World immigration controls.




 

Sir Edward Elgar

Why on earth is this guy on my blog? He's from Worcester ooooh thats about 12 miles away!

Well he had a sister live in Bromsgrove and he spent a lot of time here for one particular reason, apart from the sister he loved of course - I suppose thats two reasons.

Elgar was Catholic - a difficult thing to be for an Englishman after the Reformation and the Penal Years when fear and suspicion was directed towards Catholics despite, as St Edmund Campion said prior to his execution, having refused to convert to protestantism :-

"  "In condemning us, you condemn all your own ancestors, all our ancient bishops and kings, all that was once the glory of England -- the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter."

The English had, through the long years, after being initially forced to alter their religion, come to view the beliefs of  their ancestors to be somehow foreign.

That changed. After the Relief Acts Catholics were able to enter the professions, military and so on. Many small communities of Catholics who had remained faithful (such as my fathers forbears in deepest Warwickshire) could "come out" and Catholic landed gentry would fund the building of churches again.

One such is St Peters in Bromsgrove.

Hence Elgars visits - he worshipped there.

He also became known as one of Englands, and the worlds, greatest composers.

He also wrote a special piece of music for the church - this would be extremely valuable by now - but some fool of an organist gave it away and it has disappeared without trace !!!

Anyway, here is a little of what he wrote for all of us:-

Royal wedding - over and out. Now for the beer festival.....

I succumbed to the wedding enthusiasm and no bad thing in the end.

On Monday, the beat goes on and we are off to a Beer Festival and Pig Roast at a local pub - a perfect country pub that brews its own beers and features guest ales from all around. Dog Friendly, which is a bonus.

It's hardly changed a bit in the last 50 years.

Concerning Hobbits

At the head of this blog I promised to talk about J R R Tolkien and his association with this area and here are some extracts from Tolkien's life and works as well as some interesting co-incidences with my life

Tolkien was born on 3rd January (same date as me - though not the year!) 1892, in Bloemfontein, SA. and when visiting England for a holiday his father, who had stayed behind, died young leaving Tolkien and his siblings in the care of his mother who remained in England.

First they lived in Wake Green Road, Moseley (where I was born) and he was educated and looked after by the priests at the Birmingham Oratory (where I was married) when his mother died. His mother was buried at St Peters church, Bromsgrove (where my fathers funeral was held).

Tolkien also spent much of his childhood with aunt in Rednal, across the road from Cofton Park, where the Pope beatified Cardinal Newman (another famous resident) in 2010. I lived a few hundred yards away from the age of 3 to 21 and played in the Park and adjacent Lickey Hills as a child. Now I am back after years away in the West Country, London and France.

He based much of the characters in the LotR upon Bromsgrove and Birmingham people. One major character was Sam Gamgee - based upon Joseph Sampson Gamgee, the Birmingham inventor of Cotton Wool. Sam's wife to be in the book was, of course, Rosie COTTON.

He also stayed at his other relatives near to Evesham (my great grandmother is from Evesham) at a farm called Bag End - to become the address of Bilbo Baggins.

He first published the LotR in 1954 though 1955 - the year of my birth. The Tolkien Society is a great resource for further study.

Today you can still see the beauty of the Lickey Hills (Anglo-Saxon, meaning the leak-hay - the watershed from which the rivers Rea and Arrow flow to feed the Trent and Warwickshire Avon respectively).

Finally, a view looking from the southern side of the hills towards my house and the Malvern Hills that Edward Elgar so loved - but more of him later.

Royal Wedding

I'm something of a agnostic on the Royal Family, not too keen on privilege but fearful of the alternative (Blair/Brown for President?)

Wish the couple well - but having to avoid the wall-to-wall coverage which is driving me MAD...

Will, however, be breaking out the BBQ on Friday.

PS Do you know that BBQ comes from the old French? Barbe et Cul - refers to sticking the rod throough the Barbe (mouth) to arse (cul). Or so I am told by a Frenchman. Seems logical.

The alignment of the pig v the clefts of the stakes in the picture has a certain Escher-like quality don't you think?

St Georges Day

Beautiful weather and much going on - our national Saints Day day is picking up in peoples consciousness.

Seems the day has been relocated to Monday May 2nd by both the CofE and Catholic Church - thereby giving St George a national holiday.

Great I can celebrate on the 23rd and again in May.

Street celebrations in Bromsgrove, entertainment at the club, a Cider and Sausage Festival (New Inn), Beer Festival (Nailers) and Folk dancing at the Dodford Inn.

Its all going on and the atmosphere is truly friendly. Just great to see many of our people getting into the "spirit".

The bluebells are out and the fragrance is intoxicating. The dawn chorus for the past week has also been deafening.

--------------------------------- ----------------------------------

Oh, to be in England

Now that April's there,

And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough

In England - now!

And after April, when May follows,

And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows

Hark! where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge

That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,

Lest you should think he never could recapture

The first fine careless rapture!

And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,

All will be gay when noontide wakes anew

The buttercups, the little children's dower, -

Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

--------------------------------- ----------------------------------

Deer sighted.........no mind altering substances found.

Well what a surprise.

At 6:15 am on the 15th of this month when I was enjoying a slice of toast - a movement outside my front window and guess what - a male Roe deer strolling past.

It was a moment that makes you look back to the night before to be sure you didn't take anything mind altering. But no, it was for real. Now I know I live by the Lickey Hills and, yes, there are deer but I never imagined they would regard a residential street as just another thoroughfare

Ah, the Night Garden.

Add that to the mass of dandelions, local buzzard being mobbed by crows, every day, surge in rabbit numbers, masses of frog and toad spwn (now taddies) and some signs of insect life about (though still not enough) and it seems like a wonderful spring is in the offing.

Bromsgrove top the league.

Bromsgrove 43

Malvern 10

Great result and still topping the league - although the accompanying photo is disturbing!!!

Last hunt of the season

There it was, the last of the season but the first for us.

What a lovely sight - over 50 riders by my count - and generous hospitality from the owners of the farm.

Obviously just a drag hunt but we hope that during this parliament Labours vile, illogical and oppressive anti-hunting legislation will be wiped from the statute books.

All people here - from the wealthy to the poorest - all in support of a truly English cultural sporting event.

Meanwhile......whilst foxhunting is banned (and shooting, poisoning, gassing and snaring encouraged) our government has sent in jets to bomb Libya, killing hundreds. O.K. they may be Gaddafi's troops but they will mostly be ordinary people doing what they are told - sons, brothers, husbands and fathers. And don't say that no civilians will die - they will.

Funny how ordinary people can be snuffed out with impunity whilst Gaddafi's life is being cherished.

But then again - you can't go around killing heads of state and politicians now can you - we might just get a taste for some of that in the UK.

......and be all the better for it.

Here we go again..

Lets invade another Muslim country and create a wave of crazy asylum seekers who, of course, we have to let in, house, feed, "educate" and care for.

In return we will increase the number of insane Islamist terrorists and sympathisers inside our own borders and further inflams anti-Western sentiments.

The Daily Mash has it just right here:-

http://bit.ly/hpMuyV

They say ""We got rid of Saddam not realising that, as well as being a prick, he was also keeping the lid on a big basket full of fucknuts."

How true.


How come a spoof newspaper can get it right so often when the BBC, Times, Grauniad (sic) and Sky News cannot?

This WILL not end well.

What a grey day.....

Talbot and Monty regard a wet day in 2009 and wonder when the rain will stop.

Funny, but when we first had the fowl Talbot regarded them as quarry, after just a couple of days and some gentle explanation she "got it" and thereafter regarded them as her responsibility - rounds them up and looks after them.

And who says dogs aren't intelligent?

However - if its not one of the flock - its still prey as rabbits, hares, birds and foxes soon find out.

The end approacheth....

End of the hunting season soon and not been out once.

New Years resolution - a bit late - to get out and get stuck in! Too much crap and nonsense over the last year, mainly courtesy of a deranged kleptomaniac. All sorted now though - hey ho, onwards and upwards. 

The Albrighton Woodland Hunt has it's new website. well done guys - terrific job.

http://www.albrightonwoodlandhunt.co.uk/

A new interest

For nearly all of my life I have never gambled. I remember being in a car with my father and uncle as a child and they were talking about money and the subject turned to accountants.

I, a 6 or 7 year old, said from the back seat of the car - "look there's one!"

My uncle said "That's a Turf Accountant - you only see one of them if you want to lose your shirt!"

I didn't understand....

Fast fwd to 2002 and I was invited by UBS to their box at Goodwood for a business treat. I went down to the bookies and was fascinated. I budgeted £20 (hey big spender!) and was ahead until the last race when I decided to go for broke and put everything on it.

Loser!

Next I visited the Point to Point at Chaddesley Corbett on Jan 3rd 2011. I won one race of four and my wife won all four!

Now, this week I visited the club for a a Cheltenham Gold Cup day - Bathams bitter and a seafood buffet - yum!

After taking an age to set up a Ladbrokes account - the site was under sever strain on Friday - I placed 4 bets and also doubles and trebles from them - £30 in all.

Well, what a day. The seafood was fresh that morning from Birmingham fish market - an enormous dressed crab, butterfly prawns, french bread and salads.

Result! Two wins and one double - £140.

Next day - Six Nations.

Two bets - contrarian - I bet AGAINST England and FOR Wales plus the double.

Didn't quite get there - Ireland won which gave me back my stake whilst Wales lost and I didn't get the win or double. Never mind - because England won the championship.

That's what I call a win-win situation. I can learn from that.

We all can.

Its dark outside.........

Dark at 7 p.m. and later time to go out.

Remarkably easy for Talbot to catch rabbits - she's a hunter but not a lurcher/greyhound.

I suspect that the main warren has an infection as we have found a few dead rabbits of late - all victims of dogs methinks. I even had to chase one away myself a few days back despite Talbot being within 6 feet of it.

Must watch closely tonight - I hope we don't have a virus or even myxomatosis in the area as we have a very healthy population - or did.

Owls and foxes very vocal at the moment - getting to that time of year. Lots of digging in the field as roots are dug up.

Mercian Regiment

These guys, my old regiment, are a reminder of what real Britons are like.

When this country needs them - they are there. Even when a mendacious Labour Government sent them to fight and die in an illegal war supported by false information.

So very different from the people marching through our streets complaining about the cuts arising from THEIR Labour Governments gross economic incompetency and the greed of Labour supporters/scroungers who continue to bleed this country white with demands for free housing, benefits and gold plated public sector pensions.

When the parasite gets bigger than the host - over 50% of GDP is public sector spending - the outcome is inevitably fatal for both.

The world is changing.....

This morning is bright, frosty and cold and yet you can already feel the warm in the sun.

"Talbot" still after rabbits - no success though - too big to get down the holes so she just sticks her head in and listens. Ah, the simple pleasures of life.

Skylarks present along with a buzzard. Black cat has started to get cheeky - teasing Talbot. I think it wants to be friends but Talbot wants it for dinner.

Good result for Bromsgrove RFC on Saturday - won the match against Longton 23-19 in the dying 3 minutes and so still at the top of the league. Great location... AND you can take the dog in the bar.

Despite shading 6 ft myself I felt like I was standing in a hole when a guy who must have been 6ft 10" stood behind me at the bar. Glad I don't play these days.

Finished up at the New Inn (dog friendly) and Talbot treated to a plate of carvery meat. Its good to spend time with real people - workers, farmers, drivers, builders etc. AND the Thatchers cider is good. Nice open fire, great staff and no trouble (you just wouldn't dare..).

This is the REAL England.

The beat goes on...

The last week has seen an upswing in the activities of grasping, soap-dodging, socio-lists (geddit?).

Whilst the country is heading for £1trillion debt and £1trillion unfunded gold plated public sector pensions, the local scroungers and layabouts have hit the streets, the blogs and Twitter.

All they care about is what they get out - they don't care about the people who put in. They will never have to pay the debts, fund the pensions or live on a basic pension.

All the screams of cuts in jobs, services, budgets etc is down to one thing - naked self interest- greed, selfishness and blackmail.

We cannot allow these violent anarchist scum to destroy the lives of decent people. Most seem to have criminal records, live off the state.............. and would rob their own parents given a chance.

Spring is springing

Long time no blog.

Too busy getting fit, sorting out finances/property....... and following the 6 Nations Rugby.

Life in the Lickey's is good - spring is around the corner and the skylarks are back. "Talbot" caught a rabbit last week - as much to her surprise as mine. Provided a good meal for the local buzzard though.

Cycle of life and all that.

The winter gave us great snow - the Jeep came into it's own. I thought to sell it but have reconsidered. Good for the local hunt & point-to-point as well.......and could mount a bren gun on it should local socialist scumbags riot over the cuts in their jizya (commonly known as welfare benefits).

Down to the Rugby club soon to watch Bromsgrove and later to the unionist club for the England match - and plenty of Bathams Bitter - truly the best beer in the land.....Milk of Amnesia.

Pretty much given up on national politics - what can we do when the British people have been ignored by all shades of government for all of my time on this planet?

Plenty to do locally though...! take them out at the knees!

There is a rise in political activity amongst the working class - that being defined as people who work and pay their way. Bromsgrove is seeing a resurgence in activity amongst previously Labour and Tory voters to redefine local politics and break up the cosy two party system and give TRUE democratic voice to the mainstream rather than small groups of noisy Lefties or complacent self interested Tories.

Bromsgrove is conservative with a small "c". Having had an MP imposed upon us due to the machinations of the local Tory group, we now find ourselves waking up to possibilities.