A modern take on my mythology

The Storm of Harry-ca-Nab by Uffmoor Woods Music Club

Hope they don't mind....





Heres looking at you kids.....

Glad to see the back of 2013.....

What a year - illness and separation but light at the end of the tunnel and wishing I'd been a tougher, more insightful and less sympathetic person 20 years ago.

Thats Life.

And it goes on....

So, Carpe Diem and 2014 is going to be better.

So mote it be!

The weather here has been pretty bad - not dangerous, just wet, windy and miserable. Christmas though - Yule if you like - has it's purpose and the warmth of a fire, friends and family and seasonal food and drink brightens it as it has for generations before.

The Boxing Day Hunt went well at Hagley Hall - more popular than for a long time.

..and these beauties broke some hearts!

A revelation - so glad I got it

Just tracked one down - they are like hens teeth - a Swiss Ranger Volcano Stove for backpacking.

I was tempted by the Kelly Kettle but at the high price PLUS accessories it can run out to £60-£70.

I have bought the Swiss stove for £11.50 new and in its original packing,

Result..

It takes twigs, pine cones almost anything. Plus a gel burner, hexamine blocks or trangia spirit burner. Very versatile and light.

Now I just need to get out and use it. May spend a night at the Dodford Inn for a "not so dry" run. Camping, booze and entertainment.

Have already got a Trangia which is just superb but relies upon meths which leaves you with the problem of running out - meths is not as easy to get hold of as it used to be. H&S mania no doubt.

Prepping - my thoughts since my last post

As I said before, I thought US Preppers was something to laugh at. Just paranoid people.

But the UK riots, terrorism, environmental issues and particularly the threatened Syria war (and its ramifications~) have made me think afresh.

Firstly I should say that I have always been a prepper - I just didn't know it!

But lets consider what it is.

It's simply insurance and who doesn't take that out?

Example:- You insure your home. That covers such things as floods, earthquake, fire, theft etc etc.

But what if there was a serious flood - we have had a few over the last few years. Yes, you can get the damage repaired, eventually, by the insurance company. But before then you could be stranded with no electricity, clean water or ability to get food and cook it. That is a very real possibility. Think of all the floods in the UK, Australia and New Orleans.

It is sensible insurance to have a supply of food, water, fuel and a means to keep warm etc.

Thats prepping!

Now for me.

Ever since childhood I have loved the outdoors and wandered miles through the woods and farmland. I became a very competent fisherman - winning good money in competitions from the age of 12.

I was always "Army Barmy". Loved my guns and knives from age 5.

I joined the Territorial Army, kept fit, learnt hill climbing, camping, orienteering and survival/evasion skills.

I am a pretty sharp sporting shot at both moving and static targets and have accumulated shotguns, rifle, air rifles etc.

I am an accomplished, if reluctant, DIYer.

I always carried a small GOOD* bag, just never thought of it that way - it was just a bag of "essentials".

I have studied self sufficiency and have a farm in France that could easily become a smallholding should I need to go down that road.

I can cook, prepare/preserve food, understand nutrition.

So, I only need to have a focus for those skills and BINGO I'm a prepper! I even have all the gear...

I just woke up and realised that over the years I have unconsciously acquired all the skills and kit required.

AND WHAT'S MORE - IT'S FUN

~ Ramifications = Distrust in our politicians, potential for war, home grown terror and consequent civil unrest

* GOOD = Get Out Of Dodge

Is this real? Could we be on the brink of war?

This is not going to be an in depth, considered, piece - its just my fun blog - but we seem to be going full on for an intervention in Syria.

The British, American and European people don't want it, the Syrians don't want it - hey, even Israel is getting the shits over the consequences of Obama launching a "surgical strike".

Who does want it? Our Governments, the Sunnis, Al Qaeda, Turkey..

Russia seems to be the most principled actor in this whole thing.

Whoda thought that?

Financial collapse, mass unemployment, mass migration, failing services, Islamic terrorism ON OUR STREETS, rape gangs known about for decades and silence from the Establishment, police state behaviour from our own police, criminalisation of freedom of speech or even belief, corrupt politicians... I could go on.

I don't think I have ever seen such a toxic mix in my lifetime.

And now, after years of a failed multiculturalist project - as if the British people were just Lab Rats - we will face an emergency not with the stoicism and social cohesion of our forbears but by turning upon each other by race, religion, culture and loss of community spirit.

Just think of the riots of two years ago and multiply it by 100. Or a 1000..

Crikey - as I write this down it gets worse:-

We have a population of undereducated people
Many cannot stand deprivation - do not know what it is
They have no self discipline
They are selfish
People who cannot cook or fend for themselves
Have no practical skills
No means of self defence

A nation infantilised and disarmed...

A Government that will be killing YOU in order to protect ITSELF

I used to laugh at American Preppers. Now I think a British variety is called for. As, I now find, do others

Think 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks later

No food, no clean water, no security.

We will be eating each other !
  

Mercians parade with veterans at the unveiling of new memorial

After many years of planning and fund rasing Bromsgrove got its own memorial on June 29th.

Mercian soldiers attended as well as veterans and representatives of the Legion and other groups.

Mercian Volunteers

Its steaming out there.

We wait for the rain to stop (since last October !) and now when it does it's steaming hot.

It can best be illustrated this way :-