Shopping and Spiders

Today I had to go into Consett for the greengrocers and the butchers. In the greengrocers I reinforced my reputation as being distinctly odd as when I was paying for my purchases I spotted a rather attractive spider that fell out of the fresh rosemary that I had bought. It was not that I spotted it, nor that I commented on it, but that I took out a collecting pot from my pocket and was able to secure the critter. Even though I explained that I intended to film and identify it, I got some distinctly odd looks from other customers. I think the shops owners were just amused and bemused by me.

Well they will remember me as just before that, I had made sure they were charging me the correct price for the celeriac that I had bought. The woman serving me was not sure of the price and was going to charge me 75p for it, when I thought it was £1.20. I was correct and they were genuinely shocked at my honesty. But as I explained if that happened too often, they would go out of business. Then where would I get my fresh Vegetables from?

As I left I heard someone say that I was a bloody fool, I think it was another customer. I don’t know if it was because of me hurting my pocket or collecting the spider, but that’s me, the eccentric mouse.

I also went to the Butchers, as I said in yesterdays posting I wanted so stewing or braising steak for a casserole, and I was correct it was about a third cheaper and the quality excellent. As I type here, I can smell the Beef Bourgeoning cooking slowly on the stove.

Also I bought a half shoulder of pork. That is in the freezer and I will cook that in the next week or so. It is one of the cheaper cuts and I will buy these cuts out of choice. Not only are they cheaper, but I am also aware that it is often these cheaper cuts that go to waste. Just last night was another programme in the British food season that has been running on television, looking at Pork. This was in part the inspiration for buying this joint. By buying these cheaper cuts can make all the difference to the farmers and to the small local retailers, as there is no point just eating half of an animal that has been slaughtered for our plates.

Also as I was posting just yesterday, in Britain we do have some of the highest welfare standards in Europe, and by supporting those farmers, I am supporting animal welfare. When I got home, on the radio while I was putting my shopping away was a piece about deceptive labelling on meat.

As had been shown on television last night the majority of consumers cannot tell that packs of meat is reared on the continent, and to lower welfare standards. Even when trying to choose British Pork, the majority were deceived.

For years the major retailers have argued that the British public don’t want to pay for higher welfare standards. But these major retailers are misleading us all, as by deceiving the public into thinking they are buying British, the reality is that people are trying to support the higher welfare standards of British Farming. The only winner out of this is the retailers with increased profits.

In the last ten years the national pig heard has halved. That is thousands of farmers that have been put out of business by the major retailers.

I wonder if any of the shareholders in these major companies would have owned up to paying more for an item that someone was going to undercharge for. Not many I suspect. I have often gone on about Fair trade; fair trade is about honesty, integrity and morality. It is clear that the major retailers fail on all counts.

On the edge of extinction

There were two items of news that I heard recently relating to conservation. The first was the News that in Rwanda and DR Congo, there has been ten newly born Mountain Gorillas. While on the face of it that sounds like good news, I know that in many natural systems that is unusual. Also having been a big fan of the work that Dian Fossy did, and the project, I also knew that in Gorilla troops such a spike in numbers of births seems to be triggered by a fall in numbers. As the Mountain Gorilla is limited to the territory of the mountain, a greater abundance of food could not be the reason.

So I looked a little deeper. While the war(s) have prevented some of the poaching, the troops or fighters have been killing gorillas for bush meat. So while this boost in numbers is welcome news, the boost to the numbers may just be to raise the numbers to previous levels.

The other item of news was regarding the Emperor Penguin. This was rather an alarmist piece as it was reporting that the Emperor Penguin could be extinct by the end of this century. This is based upon the fact that breeding numbers at the main breeding site has fallen from three thousand pairs to four hundred pairs. However while that sound really bad, it appears that at least some of the birds may have relocated as a result of the melting ice shelves. The picture is not as clear as the reports would have us believe.

Both are endangered, but looking beyond the reports the picture is much more complex. It is the way the media seems to think that everything has to be reported in simplistic terms. That may be the lack of understanding by the reporter, but often it seems that the media just want to cut complex stories or issues down, to make them not simple but simplistic. However what is significant about both species is that they are endangered and are further endangered by Climate Change.

As I was writing this last night I had to stop as a thought crossed my mind regarding climate change, and it struck me that it has been the medias attempt to over simplify the issue of Climate Change. Even today, the papers are full of the news that in Britain we are due to have a cold snap that makes this the coldest winter for thirteen years. While they were not explicitly saying so, there was the implication that it proves that Climate Change is not happening.

Even with a stable climate there would be variations in the weather from one year to another. Therefore, having one cold spell does not mean that CC is a myth. What makes this so dangerous is that people are influenced by these press reports, and unless everyone is willing to help solve the problem then tackling the dangerous climate change that is happening will be even more difficult than it needs to be.

I wish I knew the solution to all this, but I do not. I am most sorry for the future generations that will not see the many species that will be lost in the coming century.

Deceptive Food Labels

As I posted previously, the supermarket Tesco, received some criticism via a television documentary about the poor standards welfare standards of the poultry it sells. Because of my village location, I have very little choice about which supermarkets I shop at, thus I do used Tesco myself.

When I went into the store today I noticed their new public relations campaign called nurture. This is an attempt to add spin to their food sales, claiming to support animal welfare and support British farmers. While this campaign may fool some people, as the retailer has not changed its standards at all, the majority of customers will see it for what it is, that of a PR stunt.

Then whilst going around the store, I started looking carefully at the labels on the meat. Partly this was because I was interesting in purchasing some for a dish that I was going to cook. Because I had learnt how to spot the meat that is produced overseas and legally sold as British produce, I looked carefully beyond the labels that said it was British. The difficulty that the public have is that these packs carry a union flag (the correct name for the British Flag, the Union Jack is only its name when flown from a Royal Navy ship) and look as though they are British produce. This deception is the result of a loophole in the law that was intended to enable manufacturers to label their product with the country of origin. Meat packers discovered that by slaughtering livestock and brought in from overseas, and then cut in the carcase up there would then be classed as produced in a country where this slaughtering took place.

So while the supermarkets are not to blame for this practice, the supermarkets take full advantage of it. Nor is Tesco the only retailer to do this, all of them do. If this meat was marked by the country that the animal was raised in than I am sure that the majority of the public The Consumer would reject buying these products, as the British consumer knows that in the UK we have higher welfare standards than occur on continental Europe. In fact some of the pork meat sold here as British is raised in a way that is illegal for British farmers.

This deception also means that consumers do not know that they have potentially contaminated meat. When there was a scare in the Irish pork, I myself was fooled into believing that the metre I had in my freezer was a safe. It was only later that I discovered that the British labelled Pork had originated in the Irish Republic. While the danger in that instance was very small, only by honest labelling can the Consumer be sure that their food is safe.

What always amazes me about these practices is that the owners of the businesses failed to think the consequences of this deception. All it will take is something beyond the control of the supermarkets, or the meat processing companies, which causes a major food scare. Where the supermarket is forced to own up to this deception and the public, their customers will leave them in droves. No matter how good the PR machine is within the business, any business had been forced to own up to deception, will be damaged. Therefore I would have thought it best business practice not to deceive the consumer, the customer in the first place.

In the end I decided not to buy any meat there and will support my local butcher instead where for the same price Tesco was charging for Stewing Steak, I will get a third more and better quality too.

BBC Refuse to show Humanitarian Appeal

Occasionally when we hear something on the news our instinctive reaction is that this is wrong. That knee jerk reaction was my feeling towards the news that the BBC, were not going to show an appeal by the disasters emergency committee DEC on behalf of the people of Gaza.

However, they tried to look at the situation objectively so that I could understand why the BBC had taken this decision. The BBC as a news service is highly respected around the world therefore I could see some merit in this decision taken by the BBC. But their merits was only skin deep, as the objections to showing the film and the appeal on behalf of the DEC, was not consistent. In the past the BBC have shown appeals for the conflict in Darfur and for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both politically contentious conflicts, yet these appeals were for humanitarian reasons, not for political ones.

Therefore, the decision not to show the appeal, started to look political. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the conflict in Gaza, no one can ignore the suffering of the people living there. This Appeal was for a humanitarian aid, the only justification for not showing the appeal was a political one that tarred all Palestinians with the same terrorist brush.

Part of the justification that the BBC gave for not showing at the appeal, was that their news service was seeing all had across the Middle East. Personally, I think of the BBC has shot itself in the foot well and truly, as this decision will only go to reinforce the perception that the west is pro Israel and anti Arab. By not airing this humanitarian appeal on behalf of suffering people, particularly Muslims, only adds to this perception.

I'm really disappointed by the BBC taking this action, not least because it undervalues the intelligence of its viewers and listeners. The organisation seems to think that the public cannot distinguish between journalism and an appeal made on behalf of thirteen major charities, for humanitarian aid that it’s intended to relieve the suffering of women and children there were caught up in a conflict not of them making.

Had there been such an appeal system in place at the beginning of the Second World War, and the BBC had failed to air an appeal on behalf of the Jewish people that were suffering, the BBC would have been accused of anti Semitism. While I do not believe that the BBC is being anti Muslim, this is the way it will seem across the Middle East. One of the most important ways of dealing with terrorism is to win hearts and minds and to change the attitudes of people who believe that the west is against their people, their way of life and their religion.

The problem now is, even if the BBC were to show the film, the damage has already been done to its reputation across the world and particularly within Muslim nations.

Nature Painting the Landscape

I have seen a couple of extraordinary natural events. On either Saturday or Sunday, I saw a group, a flock of gulls circling. It was not the behaviour that caught my attention but the numbers, there were at least three hundred Lesser Black Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls, they were circling in a way that mirrored a bait ball. I have seen similar behaviour when over a food source. Therefore, I can only presume that on the field was something that was a food for them. I was too far away to see also my vision of the field was obscured by obstacles. I went back and was trying to get the camera set up, I had it on charge, when I saw a raptor swoop in and take one of the gulls. I could not identify the bird as I was too distant and when I looked through the binoculars all I could be sure of was that it was a large raptor.

I also missed filming the bait ball of Gulls as that rapidly dispersed. Away today I was just going to sit down with a cup of tea when I saw a large Bird sitting atop the Chestnut Tree that I can see from my front window. Regularly Jackdaws perch there between foraging flights and I could have dismissed it as one in the tree, but the size was too large. I picked up the Binoculars and was able to see a Buzzard take to the Air from its perch. It had a bird in its talons but I could not see what its lunch was.

Was it the same bird that had taken the gull? I lack the observation evidence to say for sure, but I would guess that it was. So I will keep my eyes open as this Young Male Common Buzzard seems to be operating in the same general area.

The second observation was seeing a weather event occurring. I was waiting for a bus to travel into Newcastle and from the villages elevated position I could see fog rolling in across the bottom of the river valley. Had I not had an appointment to keep I would have gone home grabbed the camera and filmed it. Had I done so I would have missed the other aspect of this event, as on the bus I was able to observe the fog rolling across the fields to the north, the river valley was to the south of my position.

Seeing the leading edge of weather as it coats the land is something remarkable to observe.

Chicken Welfare, Supermarkets and Food security.

Last year I posted regarding a television campaign by a “Celebrity” chef regarding the poor welfare standards of the standard chicken.

I became a vegetarian back in the late 1970s as a direct response to the fact that with the poor welfare standards of industrialised factory farming along with the hidden practices that looked dumb. By dumb I mean feeding cattle animal protein from dead diseased sheep. While hindsight is a wonderful thing and we now all know that caused “Mad Cow Disease”, but then no one believed me when I spoke of it. I had one memorable conversation where I was having the urine extracted from me without the use of a catheter, I was told that I knew nothing and that Cows were only fed on Grass.

It shows how little people really know about our food and where it comes from. I remained a Vegetarian for twenty five years, but as the situation changed and there were farmers that were avoiding these nasty practices, the only way that they can be supported is via buying meat from these businesses. After all unless these farmers get sales for these quality products, they will not be able to maintain these standards. Even now, l still personally choose a diet that is strongly a vegetarian one. When I buy a chicken it is free range as I do with my eggs. I used to keep chickens myself and there is a real difference in taste from an intensively reared bird to one that is free range.

Anyway, last night was a follow up programme on that campaign and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall attempted to get the largest supermarket, Tesco, to commit to improving the welfare standards for intensively reared birds. Almost all the other major food retailers have already made that commitment, and some have already stopped selling chickens that are reared to the minimum legal standard. The higher welfare standard is based upon standards set by the RSPCA, an Animal welfare Charity, freedom foods. These are still intensively reared birds but are a marked improvement on the basic standard. There is an extra cost and this improved system ads less than one pound to the retail cost in the supermarket.

While I personally would prefer that all chickens were free range, I am also realistic and understand that some people are so poor that they cannot afford free range. But I would argue that paying an extra pound, making the cost four pounds for a chicken instead of three, a price worth paying.

This is simply because the supermarkets have used their power to force farmers in the UK to produce food at the price that it can be produced in the developing world. When farmers are told that if they cannot produce a chicken that sells for three pounds, it was a penny under two pounds for a while, they will buy them from China or other parts of Asia. The farmer, who has all of their business riding on these contracts, is forced to drop the standards to the lowest legal minimum. I strongly suspect that when farmers have been found to be breaking the law and keeping their livestock below the legal minimum, it has been where the farmer has been forced to cut costs via this pressure. After all, the farmer only makes one penny per bird in this Faustian deal.

This drive by the supermarkets for cheap food at all costs actually endangers our health and will lead to higher food prices and more importantly place at risk our food security. If UK farmers cannot make a living, they will eventually leave farming. Then if we have to rely on produce from overseas, we risk all sorts of poor practice. With domestic production the rules restrict the use of anti biotics. While the rules are different in other countries and controls are outside of our hands, we could find our food has residues that impact on our health. We only need to look at the scandal of the melamine in the milk in China to see that we could end up with a crisis when we rely upon overseas suppliers. Also if we no longer have poultry farming if there were a sudden shortage or a sudden increase in shipping costs, then in Britain we would find that we are paying much more for chicken. While the price of oil has fallen from its high last year, it had the effect of doubling the price of basic foods in various parts of the world.

While I do not want to see a command and control economic model, such as occurred in Communist states like the Soviet Union, it ruins economies you only have to look at North Korea to see that. But unrestrained Free Trade only benefits the largest players and is unfair trade. With food in particular there has to be some degree of national protectionism. Each country needs to have an agricultural industry that feeds its nations people first. It then earns foreign currency by selling it surplice. While I know that in the real world it is more complex than that, but those need to be the basic principles that govern the food trade.

The way that the supermarkets like Tesco, the third largest retailer in the world, are operating is extremely short sighted. While their corporate spin says that they are committed to animal welfare standards, in reality they are committed to the lowest standards that will make them a profit. Nor do they care about the farmers that supply them. Continuing on this track they will find that they are demolishing the farming industries that it relies on. Also, while people are feeling the effect of the economic downturn, when the economy picks up Tesco, in particular, are likely to see people reject them and their claims.

The supermarkets have never been that cheep, a good Greengrocer is normally cheaper, as is a local butcher. I think that one of the effects of this economic down turn will be that people will look at the way they shop. Supermarkets are convenient and often people have gone there because of their location rather than any other reason.

In the years to come there will be a shift towards smaller local suppliers, if the supermarkets don’t start really improving quality and standards then they will never get bailed out the way the banking system has. Government also needs to bare some of the blame as for years Food standards and nutrition has been abdicated to the major retailers, and look what’s happened we have an obesity crisis.

Just like the banks, lending money to people that cannot repay, selling crap food and driving down standards is never a long lasting or good business model. Tesco needs to start trading ethically and fairly. If they don’t they will be left behind as the green economic revolution has already started.

Six Thousand New Green Jobs

There appears to be something in the air as there are two news stories that link across the Atlantic. As I have mentioned in previous postings, here in the North East of England there is a wind energy research facility at a town called Blyth. Significant to me as Father was born near there in a mining village, only a couple of miles away. Further, when the UK government announced that there would be a major expansion in off shore wind farms, I predicted that this would create jobs.

Well the plans are now in place, and if the private investment and orders are found then there will be six thousand jobs created in, what were the former shipyards, building these turbines. When there is so much economic gloom something like this is good news. It is all part of the greening of the Economy that I have spoken about before, Creating real jobs, real wages, and real opportunities.

This is not going to happen overnight, nor has this just happened by chance as the all started ten years ago, with a vision of what wind energy could provide and the engineering skills to develop turbines that will be five times larger than those on the land. The skills were and already here from the Tyne Shipyards building ships then oil platforms and now these turbines.

However the good news doesn’t end there as in the News I also heard that the US President (Plays Hail to the Chief in my head) had sought a review of the blocking of the Californian legislation by the federal authorities. That particular bit of legislation will force the car manufacturers to build cars that emit thirty percent fewer emissions.

Now the contrast here is quite stark. Here in Britain we have developed a technology that we are just on the verge of manufacturing and selling to the rest of the world that will create green jobs. And Industry is backing this, as an old fashioned making thing is commerce that we can all understand. But in America, the car industry has fought tooth and claw to continue doing what it always has. Fighting legislation and refusing to research and develop products that could have stopped them from having to borrow federal funds just to keep afloat. Now I know that there may be a reader or three that cries Credit Crunch, but the reality is the big three did not innovate as they stuck to the same old technologies that drank petrol. Had the automotive industry in the US made that investment instead of paying high dividends to share holders, then the effects of the credit crunch would been greatly lessoned as the US automotive industry gas would have developed Hybrids, or Hydrogen powered or supplemented cars.

In Stanley a town twenty miles from my village, is a manufacturer of Electric vans that is working at full capacity, even with the economic downturn. That could have been parts of the US automotive industry had they looked to the future and not had their collective heads berried in the trough of corporate greed, while ignoring global warming.

The US President always spoke of creating green jobs, as well as doing articulately, he meant it. By forcing manufactures to innovate, new jobs and new industries will be created. If the US and us here in Britain want to break the monopoly hold the oil producers have on our metaphorical balls, it is by developing things that we cannot even guess at.

So the news locally and internationally had a green tinge to its aura. As a footnote though, when I had my Boiler serviced I was talking to my Plumber and he told me of one of his colleagues that had paid to go on a course to learn to fit solar panels. These are Solar Thermal ones that help heat the hot water. Well Last week I spotted him and he was helping this friend as he had such a demand for this skill that he was struggling to meet the demand and orders he is getting. So while green jobs may look like normal jobs they help the environment and the economy.

Water and Pollution

While out for a walk yesterday morning I saw where someone had dumped some rubbish into the river. While on the way back home I saw three Red Kites and that always lifts my mood, I could not get out of my mind that problem of pollution. What I had seen was dumped oil containers, and while unsightly themselves, it will be the residue of oil that will cause the greatest problem.

In Britain the rivers have been transformed and are much cleaner than they ever were. Industry is just not allowed to dump waste into the water courses in the way that used to happen. While there are still industries that are allowed to do this, the most damaging legal examples of pollution are now consigned to history. The greatest risks to water courses are now mainly industrial farming; Effluents, Nitrates and Pesticide run off from this industry. Therefore, much of the pollution that does occur arises from accidents or the deliberate unthinking actions of a few.

Even with the accidents, normally it is a lack of a well thought out environmental protection plan or cutting corners, normally by cost cutting, that lead to these incidents. Therefore accidents are normally the result of carelessness. When it comes to deliberate dumping, well I just cannot understand the mentality. As all forms of rubbish dumping like fly tipping is despoiling the environment for the people dumping the rubbish, as it is for the rest of us.

However, when I started thinking about the problem as well as thinking about posting on the matter, two matters struck me. The first was that while many activities legally require an environmental assessment before they are allowed, I have yet to see or read one that does not accept some measure of environmental degradation. While often these reports are primarily aimed at trying to reduce the environmental impact of human activity, and often they make people adjust or stop the most damaging activities, they hardly ever stop an activity from going ahead.

The other aspect relates to the amount of water that humans use. On Planet Earth only one percent of the water on the globe is available as drinking water. That is why frequently you will hear the prediction that the next wars will be over Water. Also in places like Africa, people only have ten litres of water to use each day. That is for all their needs, washing, cooking and drinking.

When I was at University, I offered accommodation to an African chap as he was caught between having to leave on place and the start of moving into a house share. One aspect that was an eye opener for me was that he used a glass of water to Wash his hands, brush his teeth, and then drank the remaining water. Even with the abundance of water available to him, he was too well schooled in conserving water to waste any.

Yet most normal toilet cisterns will use nine litres of water per flush. So perhaps those predictions will come to fruition. Even now, in Spain last year water had to be shipped in by tankers, billions of litres because of drought there. One of the little understood aspects of the Gaza conflict is that Israel takes disproportionately more water for their settlements and this is an important aspect of why the Palestinian people are so aggrieved. It’s not the whole story but it is a factor that cannot be ignored. So I would argue that this is already happening.

But the real point is water is in fact really precious, yet we fail to understand that at our peril. In Britain while it may seem that we can afford to pollute our water sources, in reality we cannot as we are polluting our own drinking water. Therefore, sooner or later we will have to start looking at ways to seriously stop people fouling our water and that we start regarding water to as precious as oil.

Rivers and Brooks

While I am pleased with my new computer, it has caused me a couple of problems. Not least were details and data on about thirty projects that I was working on when I lost the old one. Also was the replacement cost. While I was already saving for other items, so had the money to replace my computer, I also had to pay for my glasses so it has all made finances tight. Therefore I have had to be very careful about what I could spend. Fortunately I got my calculations correct and just had the money to cover the bills.

Also I had a well stocked larder so I was able to reduce my food bills by relying on my existing stocks. I keep the cupboards well stocked as a buffer against bad weather preventing me from going shopping. Therefore, once I was sure that my rent was paid, I had some spare cash to go shopping today.

On the route to the supermarket there are some road works, repairs to a bridge that spans a brook that tumbles down the hillside. This means that there is a traffic control system in place. Anyway, on the way to the shop the bus was forced to halt at the temporary traffic lights. When the bus moved off it was moving much slower as we crossed this brook and I got the opportunity to see it properly. It is a place of beauty I will have to return to take a better look. Then on the way back I spotted two otters in the river as we crossed the bridge at Blackhall Mill. One had a trout in its paws and mouth, struggling with it swimming for the bank. The fish appeared to be nearly the same size as the Otters body. An all too brief sighting but delightful none the less.

While replacing the computer has created problems, it has also provided benefits. My old one was running XP, while the new one has Vista. While I am no fan of Microsoft, I think I actually like this operating system. It has one major disadvantage though as most of my software will not run on vista, most annoyingly my video editing software. I will have to wait to replace this as I cannot afford to replace this just yet.

Another programme that I was disappointed that will not work is my dictation software. But while I don’t use it all the time, it can be really useful as I am a search and pick typist. I can manage two hundred words per hour. However, I find that vista has this built in. While I am happy about that, I also dislike that, as yet again Microsoft are stamping on competition by including this.

With having to rework various projects, I have been reviewing some of my source material. This includes some of the podcasts that I listen to, and on one from a US radio show, there was an advert aimed at folks that have outstanding taxes. Where these taxes are called delinquent, over here in Britain delinquent is normally used to describe wayward children. I just had this vision of these taxes having to do punishments like community service or being sent to juvenile detention. Does that say something about the way Americans use English, or the way my mind works?

I am also playing catch up on the news. While I was fully aware of the headlines and the substantive detail of many of the main stories, I have often found that by looking and checking detail I can discover more than the headlines say and I can get beyond the bias and prejudice of the mainstream media. By doing this I can often find little gems that are hidden in the news. While the announcement that the third runway at Heathrow has been given approval by the government, was this detail. There were reports that protestors dressed in Edwardian costume to protest about the runway. Personally I don’t think it was a protest at all, it had just taken that long for British Airways to find their baggage. While the government has approved this third runway, I personally do not think it will actually happen. Partly that the decision is based upon old style economic thinking and is flawed as that old system is broken, but also before any construction work ever starts, we will see dramatic effects from our damaging of the climate. This will force changes to be made to the way we treat the environment. My personal expectation is that this will happen by 2012/13 and I still think that it will be the loss of sea Ice and a sudden increase in sea levels that will be central to this. Although, I was looking at data that suggested that it could be a heat wave in 2012 that would be the trigger. But I now lack the data to be sure.

While on serious topics I have been tempted to make some comment on Gaza, but I doubt that I would be saying anything new or insightful. So while the Mouse has not roared on this topic yet, just as I will stand up against all injustice, I will add my voice when I can say something meaningful.

Sasquatch

Because of an incident that has injured a friend’s foot, I am trying to think healing thoughts, and I was trying to think of ways to cheer her up. This has led me to start thinking of her as Big Foot, the mythical Sasquatch.

I genuinely do have an open mind about such matters, but prefer to rely on science to provide evidence than rely purely on folk tales. It is like many of the so called sightings of UFOs, from some points of view in poor light an airliner can look like the classic UFO shape. Equally, a brief glimce of a bear in the woods can transform into something different in the observers eye. I know that occasionally I have seen a bird and have been mistaken about the species until I could see more detail.

Therefore, as most of the sightings of Sasquatch have been by people that are not experienced observers, they may not have recorded, mentally, what they are really seeing. Also an adrenalin rush may add to the distortion of those observations. By that I mean that people unconsciously add detail to what they have seen. In addition people are not that good at estimating size and distance. Therefore it has to be said that the evidence of Bigfoot is far from strong.

Now looking at the other side of this coin, is the legend. It comes from Native American tradition, and with all folk tales there is a grain of truth in the story. But what that is has been lost to the past. It could be that there is a humanoid animal in the woods that is living away and afraid of humans. While rare there are still new discoveries of mammals in isolated locations with a population that is barely sustainable.

So keeping an open mind, if such a population does exist, it could be avoiding human contact perhaps because these creatures have not fared well at previous meetings. In the mad world of conspiracy theories, it is claimed that the US Government does know of and have proof of the existence of Bigfoot. While I seriously doubt that, I do however suspect that the federal authorities would not be keen to go searching to resolve the issue one way or the other. If they found nothing there would be people saying what a waste of tax dollars, and the conspiracy theories would say that it was all a cover up, get Mulder on the case. But equally if the federal authorities were to find Sasquatch, as a rare and endangered species then the law would require that protection was put in place. As I know from talking to people here, even when there is good evidence of a rare bird or amphibian or some other rare and protected creature being in a state, the US Fish and Game service are not keen to acknowledge the fauna’s presence.

I really do not know if Sasquatch exists, or if it ever existed. The romantic it me would like to think so and I love the idea that they are avoiding human contact, but until I see some real and compelling evidence then for me Sasquatch will remain a myth.

People choosing environmentally sustainable farming

Even with all the rather gloomy economic news, I have heard some reassuring news regarding organic and environmentally sustainable farming. In Germany there has been very little fall in the demand for organic food. On the whole it looks as though the demand remains for organic produce.

Also on Farming Today, the BBC were reporting that while they were finding some difficulties for growers and farmers, on the whole, consumers were still buying produce that is produced in an environmentally sustainable way.

When the economic down turn started, the media were quick to start saying that people would abandon buying Organic food. While I know that there would have been some people that would do that, I also believe that the majority of people that decide to opt for quality and sustainability would not abandon principles that quickly.

While I know that the higher food costs that filtered through last year did cause everyone to look at the costs of their shopping basket. However people that understand that environmentally and sustainably produced food is also better quality, will not stop buying quality food. They may buy less, but they will not switch to the low quality that forms the majority of the market. In fact in my supermarket when packets of pasta made from non organic ingredients went to over one pound sterling, the organic alternative remained at less than one pound. I think the reason for that was simply that the organic was bought by the supermarket before the price of wheat shot up, and that people assumed that the organic had to be more expensive. The non organic price has now fallen back now and the organic is only five pence higher, so I will continue to buy the organic.

Now I doubt that I was the only person that spotted that one, and I had many of folks in the village buying organic for the first time just by pointing that anomaly out. However, I know that locally I am very much in the minority of wanting quality food. Often I see people that live off the “supposedly” cheap ready meals. Further, most people will buy on price rather than quality.

That said, there are some good food shops in Consett, the closest town to my village, such as the butchers and the green grocers. But there is not any outlets that sell whole foods so organic requires a lot more effort to find. Thus it is often the extra travel costs and the inconvenience that makes buying sustainably produced items far more difficult and expensive to obtain. I would sign up to an organic box scheme, but none will deliver to my village as I would be the only customer.

In the village the quality of the food available has fallen and the range of items has fallen. Thus, if it were not for the local public transport links I personally would be seriously impaired from getting food of any quality. Additionally, some items are exorbitantly high in price. Bread for a wholemeal loaf is forty percent more expensive, and a French baguette is nearly double the price.

I strongly suspect that many shops are using the economic down turn to push up prices and reduce quality, blaming the economic situation. When in reality it really is just profiteering. After all I am not likely to pay a four pound return fare just to save fifty pence on the price of a loaf. Nor will most people.

Therefore while there are problems for environmentally sustainable food, I am finding and seeing that many of the difficulties are the result of doom layered hype. While the economic climate is difficult and ordinary people can only afford to buy what they can afford, I feel that people will increasingly switch to opting for good quality sustainable food rather than the poor quality expensive rubbish we are so often offered. This can be seen in the latest sales figures for Eggs. The sales for organic eggs remain at six percent of total UK sales, the sales of free range eggs are up by over ten percent. So in this small way, people are choosing to opt for ethical and environmental choices. While one swallow does not make a summer, it is a detail that encourages me that people do care about the planet.

Sparrows

Today in the local area the RSPB opened its newest reserve. While it is not exactly on my doorstep, it is close enough that I should be able to visit it on a regular basis. It is close to the national reserve at Tees Mouth so it will provide an important location for migrating birds. I am looking forward to going for a visit myself.

I had wanted to go and visit one of the local reserves today, but I had other chores to do and had to get them done first. Now it looks as though the weather will be against me for the next few days. So I will have to see if it is just too wet to get out. At the very least I can watch the birds in my back yard.

It was funny but in a street near my hovel, there is an old chap that I frequently talk to. Often about wildlife, and he was asking if I had seen any sparrows. I had as I have them regularly in my yard and they were here today too. But, his asking shows that even ordinary folks are noticing the loss of these once common birds. This is something that the RSPB are investigating and loss of habitat, lack of food because of climate change, are part of the reasons plus there are other as yet undetermined factors.

It is funny but I had someone tell me that I was wasting my time feeding the birds if the majority of my avian visitors were sparrows. But if I had not been feeding them I would not have the delight of seeing them. Nor would I have my regular Blackbird or Robin too. Talking of my Blackbird, the other day I was filming him when a young rival came into his territory. My regular Blackbird saw him off but it was amusing to see the young bird trying to court it mate.

Also talking of the bird visitors, I also have regular visits from a pair of Collard Doves that visit to feed. However, they stopped coming for a while, but have returned. One looks in fine new fresh plumage, but the other looks tatty. At first I thought it had suffered from nearly being caught by a predator. Then by looking carefully I saw that it was just moulting. It seems that one had moulted and re-feathered then the other was going through the moult. Now, I don’t know if this is common but it is amazing that they should re-feather in sequence like this. Perhaps it helps the pair stay feed so that one can feed the other? I just don’t know. It just shows that there is always more to learn.

A New Environmental Order

While setting up my new computer has not been that difficult or time consuming, as I subscribe to a number of podcasts that look at and inform about the environment, this had been the aspect that has taken the most time. That is because while it was easy to re-subscribe to the ones I regularly listen to or watch, but in looking for them I discovered a whole load more that could be interesting and or very informative. Often I find that looking at topics or stories from different perspectives can aid my understanding, so while I don’t always agree with the way stories are covered, having that other point of view aids my thinking.

One of the benefits for me regarding using these podcasts is that I often discover stories or issues that are just not covered in or by the mainstream media. Or when they do finally play catch up, I already have a fairly good understanding of the subject or issue.

Also, by listening to podcasts from around the globe, my perspective is not restricted to my isolation on a small island. As while I do think, that many environmental solutions can be found locally to meet local needs, I also feel that we are a global community, thus we also need to find solutions that aid the globe too.

While I personally find many aspects of the way that global trade has been implemented, I also feel that finding a way to trade in a fair way will provide solutions to many political, social and environmental problems that the world faces. The collapse of the “Greed is Good” capitalism that prevailed previously, while painful for many, could actually provide the opportunity to find other ways of carrying out commerce that is fairer and really sustainable.

Part of the obstruction to that happening is that of political leadership. Here in Britain we have our government providing further financial support to the banks, with the aim of trying to get the banks lending again. Now while I agree that it would be economic suicide to allow the banks and the banking system to collapse, I find it highly distasteful that the tax payer should support the idiots that made these stupid decisions in the first place. But most of all is that the solution that our leadership is offering is more of the same. The same borrowing and spending that caused the problems in the first place. To give an example, what perplexed me regarding the way that the media kept of talking about the problems people were having remortgaging? To keep on boosting the price of housing, the lenders came up with mortgage loans that meant that you only ever paid off a small portion of the interest and none of the capital. These discount mortgages only made sense in a market where property prices are rising. As only by selling the property on in a few years could the mortgage ever be paid off.

I do not blame ordinary people for getting caught up in this, but it has to be said that this was dumb. As would be trying to return to anything similar to support the economy.

However, even with all the problems that there are around the world, there is hope. In America a new president takes office today and while he does face all the usual vested interests trying to block the change that he will bring, this could be the day that the world really does change for the better.

Red Kite Behaviour

Overnight there was a dusting of snow and while it was very windy during the night, the sky this morning was clear blue and bright. I was looking out over the back of the house and just wondering if I would see one of the Red Kites when I spotted one in the distance. So far this year there have only been two days when I have not seen them. It is a real measure of just how successful the reintroduction of these magnificent birds has been that I can expect to see at least one of the Kites every day.

Yesterday, as I am still busy getting the new computer configured, I was in my office (a posh word for my back bedroom), and looked out to see a Kite gliding just over the roof tops. I was so intent on watching this one that I nearly failed to spot the second that was being mobbed by Jackdaws.

As it is at this time of the year that young birds pair up, it is possible that they are or will become a breeding pair. I don’t think that Kites pair for life, but they will stay as a pair if they were successful in previous years. So they are likely to be a pair. This seems to be the case as they showed some remarkable cooperative behaviour.

The first bird I had seen was unaffected by the harrying Jackdaws so was free to hunt. Once it had found food, it flew to the other Kite and allowed the Jackdaws to hassle it, thus allowing the other Red Kite to go off hunting. I cannot report if the second bird was able to find food, as I lost sight of them. But I would guess that it was. The whole piece of behaviour was quite stunning to see.

Missing Girl, Could this have been prevented?

Now I don’t know if the fifteen year old girl that has gone missing was using the same site or group of websites that I contacted the police about, but this news story caught my ear on the radio news.

The News Story

I am not suggesting that had the police reacted intelligently regarding my complaint that her disappearance would have been prevented, but who knows. What I do know is that the group of sites that the company I complained about, were clearly allowing underage children on the site. While I personally made repeated complaints directly to the company they were ignored. Therefore, while the site may try to claim that they tried to keep children off the site, which in reality is BS.

Also because of the way the sites are designed and that membership fees can be paid (I am deliberately not giving details), enabled children to access these sites. In fact I would say that it was designed to enable and encourage children to access them.
While I doubt that even if the police had taken my complaint seriously, that this underage girl would have been stopped from meeting and going off with this forty nine year old man, but who knows? Would the police and social services have been able to discover their plans? How many other children are at risk? My own investigations highlighted thirty or forty, with as many as just over one hundred children at risk on the site.

I just hope that eventually the police officers that I dealt with are made to realise just what a serious mistake they made. I don’t want them sacked, as people may assume, but to learn from this, as their mistakes will have kept children at serious risk, but they should learn from this.

I genuinely hope that this girl is found safe and well. It may well be that she is in love with this man, but his actions are, or appear to be, irresponsible at the least. However, as this man uses other names, I doubt that I would lose any bet that he is just using this child for sex.

When I reported the crimes I had discovered, this was exactly the type of event that I was trying to stop. This has only hit the media because of the search for this girl, and I dare say even the police would prefer to keep this all in the shadows. But with all the failures in child protection that are appearing in the media, societies leaders, the authorities and the government have some hard questions to answer.

Pesticides in Europe

Europe votes to ban pesticides was the headlines, but the reality is actually far more complex. The European Parliment has voted to ban about twenty of the most dangerious agricultural chemicals. These are the ones that are belived to cause cancer and are know to have a serious impact on human health. But the way the media have been reporting this would leave most people thinking that the agricutural industry were being left with no means of controlling pests or desises.

What Europe, and its population, has recognised is that it is no good producing in large volumes of food that is contaminated with these chemicals and are likely to damage peoples health. In one test carried out last year, 2008, over forty percent of the fruit and vegtables on sale to the public were contaminated with these chemicals at leavels that breached the safe legal minimum. Therefore, while farmers and the agricultural industry argue that they only spray these chemicals when they need to, because of the cost implications, the reality is the industry sprays routeenly. Chemical farming, often called conventianal farming, will spray these chemicals as a profolactic. This helps ensure good yields, and increased profit.

The difficulty seems to be that the Agricultural Industry has lost sight of the fact that they are producing food. If chemicals were only used when there was a problem, then most of the problems caused by these pesticides would not occur. No residue contamination on food, less pollution of the environment, better nutritional value from the crops. About ten years ago the UK government had to issue a food safety warning that people had to peel carrots as there was surface chemical residue from the chemicals used. Now as most of the vitamins are in the surface area of the root, pealing them instead of scrubbing them, means that the consumer is not gaining the full nutritional value from the carrot. This is just one example where for the sake of financial gain, the farmers, the agricultural chemical industry, the supermarkets needs have produced an illogical response. As at the same time, the British government are spending millions trying to promote people to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day.

Also staying with the Carrot example, all this extra peel adds to domestic waste just when the government and local authorities are trying to get people to reduce waste. The logical way of dealing with the problem of pesticide residues in food is to reduce or stop using the chemicals, not telling people to peel their vegetables.

The real problem for the chemical farmers is that they have structured the way they farm. In the past fields were smaller, bounded by hedges and these hosted the beneficial insects that would eat many of the pests that affect crops. By ripping out these hedges, while making it easier to get larger and larger machinery in to the vast fields, the farmers (although in reality we are talking about industrial growers) lost the beneficial impacts from wildlife.

I am not trying to paint a completely rose tinted picture, as there will be an impact on yields, but this will not stop Europe from feeding its people, as is being claimed. Nor will we see massive price rises, and what increases there will be will more than be offset by lower health care costs.

One of the other aspects of the changes in pesticide regulations that were being lost in the noise of protests from vested interests is that spraying of these chemicals will be banned around places like hospitals and schools.

On the whole, this will have a great impact on health, nutritional standards and the environment.

Oh the delights of computing

Well it should teach me a lesson and not by second hand computers at ARC Boot Sales. Although that Mrs Noah was very nice, and she has had a lot to put up with. Her husband insisted on having a boating holiday, and insisted on brining his animal collection along too. It was probably the animals that damaged the old computer.

Anyway, I now have an all lights flashing new machine. I must admit that I don’t understand why there is this trend for filling computers with neon lights. I am just glad that I had been saving up for a washing machine, so I had some cash to spare, well I did have. Well who needs to eat, I was thinking of going on a diet anyway! I suppose I could pretend I’m on a hunger strike.

Even this was not without its problems, as the heat sink had become detached, so it was switching off as soon as I loaded up windows. Well in my hovel, Bill Gates is a swear word. To solve the problem I had to get a spare part, but it did resolve the issue. But it was like having a self assembly computer.

With half a terabyte of hard drive, I really hope that I won’t find myself crashing the computer when uploading my video now. I still have to load all my software, and as have several programmes that I use, this may take some time. Oh the delights of computing!

Northumbria Police Farce

Hard News Exclusive

Here in Britain there is a satirical television programme that looks at events and pokes fun at the idiocies of establishment. In the opening cartoon credits, it shows a litter lout being arrested while in the background a terrorist escapes with radiological material. Well life does imitate art, sometimes in the most frightening way.

While investigating a dating site that appeared to be a clever fraud, I discovered evidence of a very serious crime. I called the police, showed them the evidence and they arrested me.

I will now warn my reader, that this posting is disturbing and upsetting, but the crimes that I discovered were Child Prostitution, Paedophilia and the active abuse of children.

The fraud appeared to be an almost perfect one, after all it would be impossible to prove that someone paying membership of the website was being deliberately defrauded and was not just unlucky in love and unable to get a date. However while investigating what appeared to be this fraud, I started to notice adverts that implied that the person was underage. However in almost all cases another interpretation was possible.

As the website is UK based, I found it hard to believe this was happening, especially as all the adverts are pre approved. Therefore I dug a little deeper. As I did I started to realise that these adverts were genuine and that children were, or were being, offered for sex. However none of the evidence on the site was that clear, nor were the adverts that blatant, if I had called in the police then it could all have been dismissed as misinterpretations.

Therefore the only way of trying to get at the truth was to try and talk to the other parties. Even at this point I was not convinced that these adverts were genuine, and that the website operators were trying to lure men into paying for access to the site by adverts that were misleading and false.

I was getting no where, as I don’t really sit at the computer for hours chatting, and to make contact I needed to be live on line at the same time as the other party. The shocking breakthrough came over the Christmas period, as well as the realisation that if these really were children then of course they would only be on the site when on school holidays and after school.

What also shocked me was the discovery that these children were local. I am not just talking in the same region, but are in the same borough and neighbouring borough respectively. However what these children revealed was sickening, and following one conversation I had to part with my previous meal.

While I will spare you most of the detail, I concentrated on trying to gain information that would enable the police and child protection authorities to identify, rescue and protect these children. And I do mean children, not young women of fifteen, one of these children is ten. This information I was able to get, as well as other detail that would help the police to prosecute at least twelve active paedophiles.

I even typed the information up ready for when the police arrived having called them to report what I had discovered. Including the full address of the company operating the website. But it was not until the following day that the police attended. Then instead of sending a specialist officer or a detective, two wooden tops turned up. While that is a term that I would not normally use, and is a name that is used inside the police force for the beat Bobbies, here it seems totally appropriate.

They were hostile towards me from the moment they arrived. Instead of letting me explain what I had discovered they were firing questions at me and not letting me answer, rather like a dumb cop and dumber cop act. I showed them the evidence and this included an image that appeared to me to be of child pornography, well I never expected this to trigger them arresting me and seizing my computer.

There actions just defy logic. I called them in, and showed them an image that was seriously suspect, that was on a website. Gave them the details of children that are in danger of serious abuse, rape and incest and they arrest the person reporting these crimes.

Now my own situation I will come back to latter, but what alarmed me and has continued to distress me, is that absolutely no action was taken or has been taken to protect these children.

Immediately I was released I wore to my local Member of Parliament, to try and ensure that the police actually dealt with the real crime and that action was taken to protect these children who are not only at risk, but are in danger. Even that has not prompted the police into action. It was the need for the authorities to take action, which prevented me from posting here on these events sooner. But it is clear that the police are ignoring the real crimes that are being committed against children today and tomorrow, shows that we have a Police Farce and not a police force.

Last year there was a frenzy generated by the media over the tragic murder of a child we have come to know as Baby P. In the news this week is another council who has deemed to have failed the children they are responsible for protecting. Again the media are calling for heads to roll, this time in the shape of the Directly Elected Mayor of Doncaster.

Yet the real tragedy is that Child protection services in this country are appalling, and frequently fail children. There are individuals that in spite of the system do more than their best to help protect, nurture and care for children, but on the whole the system does not work nor has it done for years. I know, as I was a victim and survivor of abuse. Yet in spite of well meaning but misguided social workers, child psychologists, and the police, I was kept in the place where I was being abused, physically, sexually and emotionally.

It took me many years to recover from that, and even now I still suffer from debilitating depression as a result of this traumatic loss of childhood. Therefore I am in the unenviable position of understanding just how much damage these children are suffering, and the long-term effects that abuse can cause. When I discovered and promptly reported what I had discovered I never expected praise or reward. The real reward would have been knowing that the children were protected and that a local paedophile ring had been broken.

I am very angry and deeply upset by the events and the way the police have treated this matter. Even my solicitor cannot comprehend the police actions here. I am not talking about my treatment by the police either, bad as that has been. But the fact that the website that is hosting these adverts is still up and running. When the evidence I provided showed they were knowingly hosting these adverts. That no action was taken by the police to protect the children that are being sexually abused. That I had, all be it inadvertently, opened a way into this dirty and depraved world for the police and they ignored that.

While it is not common for hard news to be broken on a Web Log, let alone a story as big as this, the police have destroyed the opportunity to track down and catch hundreds of men that are actively seeking sex with children and to protect forty or fifty children.

This posting should have been about a major success by the police in breaking a local and possibly a national paedophile network. But as so often happens with child protection another example of missed opportunities and failures.

Now I don’t want to trivialise any of the events, but as well as the shear incompetence of the police, there was an incident that just beggars belief. When I was arrested, I told the arresting officer that I had a cat and I was concerned for her welfare. Having never been arrested before, ever, I had no idea how long I was likely to be away. So I made sure there was food and water for her. On my return she was skittish and had obviously been frightened. I left her to herself so that she could regain her confidence. The following day, I saw that the side of her face was swollen and that she had a blood bruise to her right eye. She had been kicked. Now animal cruelty is a crime, and as there had been no one else in the house but the police, well my conclusions were obvious. I will post the pictures of her injury here latter when I am able to do so.

I personally have no confidence left in the local police what so ever. They have misused their powers. One Journalist that I have spoken to says that my arrest was likely to have been for obtaining a DNA sample rather than any suspected offence, that makes it an unlawful arrest, and an abuse of police powers. Further, is the fact that I called them in to report a crime or series of crimes. While I agree that child pornography is a serious crime, and it is right that the police investigated that too, I was not in possession of this. The image was on a web server.

Now if the police arrest everyone that reports these images, I can see that people will not report them from fear of arrest. That will only serve to stop the police dealing with this crime.

I am going to be contacting the mainstream media regarding this matter as all that has happened to me, mirrors the stories that so often emerge after there are headline grabbing incidents regarding Child protection issues. That of failed and missed opportunities, complacency and shear bloody laziness.

I had really hoped that I would be starting this year with hope, but I am forced to start this year with despair.

No Red Kite Today

I know that there will be folks out there that say with Mercury retrograde, appearing to go backwoods, I should not be signing contracts or stuff like that, but I have just bought the new computer I need. In fact I won it a couple of days ago on an auction web site, yes that one, but it was only today that the communication gremlins enabled me to pay for it. So the planet of communication really is mucking things up for me.

I hope to have it by the end of this week, or the beginning of the next. It will be a major relief as this old machine that I am using is really busted. It fries the memory chips (RAM) so is next to useless as this makes it slower than a snail on sleeping tablets.

I am looking forward to this new one, as it should be a vast improvement on my old computer, and much better for video. While I have suffered from more than my fair share of computer problems, with it being the current generation of chips, it really should last.

Talking of video, while reviewing the footage I shot the other day, I was really pleased with some film I took of a Grey Squirrel, so while my wildlife watching was disturbed it was not totally fruitless. Or should that be nut-less?

However, I am disappointed to report that today was the first day of the year that I have not seen a Red Kite. Although yesterday I saw three, so I should not be too disappointed.

The Cost of Meat

Several months ago on the radio four programme, Farming Today, there was a brief item that science showed that the Meat and Dairy products from grass fed animals were better for us nutritionally than the products of livestock fed purely on concentrates. These concentrates are made from grains and are the way that big industrial agriculture produces meat and dairy products. Then today on the food programme, same station, was an expansion on that research, that livestock allowed to forage, and feed on grass and herbage are more nutritional than the industrialised meat and dairy we are often forced to consume.

Now at the time of the first mention of this research, it did cross my mind that in the past it we did not seem to have the same health problems with food that are prevalent today. While it is probably true that the link between problems like cholesterol had not been discovered then, the main rise in these foods causing us problems coincides with the rise in industrial agriculture.

While there are people that will argue that intensive farming has given us cheap meat, cheap food, I would say that this has only been possible because the real costs have been hidden.

It was the need to feed a starving Europe following the Second World War that many of the practices that have blighted farming came into being. To induce people to return to the land quite high subsides were paid to farmers, also to ensure that farmers had the income to invest in agriculture; farmers were guaranteed a minimum price. That enabled farmers across Europe to feed a population devastated by war. Also new techniques were used along with new discoveries. Anti-biotic greatly helped by treating disease in livestock, nitrate chemicals boosted yields, and mechanisation reduced the labour costs of farming.

Yet the warnings given by the scientists at the time were ignored. Even the developers of Anti-biotic warned about the over use of this medicine, and that failing to use Anti-biotic with care would produce resistance. Yet they are still routinely given to livestock as it boosts yields, they grow faster. This means that often humans are ingesting medicines without realising it. Also by controlling disease in this way it enabled a much higher stocking rate in enclosed factory systems than could have ever been possible.

Equally, the use of Chemical Nitrates, derived from petroleum, boosted yields, but as nitrates make for a much more leggy crop, they were more prone to fungus infections and insect attack. No problem says the chemical industry use these poisons. Well they were used and still are and we now regularly eat food that has a residue of these poisons in it. While individually each of these toxins may be at safe levels, the accumulative effect is unknown. Further, when the Chemical Nitrates were first used extensively, scientists warned that over use of them would lead to degradation of the soil and loss of fertility. Just as is now happening across Europe and North America.

All this without any mention of the environmental impacts all this cheap food has had.

If the Industrial Agricultural system had to pay the real costs of it practices, our food would not be cheap. If we just take Mad Cow Disease as one example, in Europe it cost billions all paid by the taxpayer. Yet the practice of feeding an herbivore the remains of dead, diseased sheep (infected with Scrape), saved the Industrial Agricultural system thousands and provided millions in extra profit.

The real cost of cheap food is in higher taxes to provide health care and clearing up the environmental mess that Industrial Agricultural systems leave behind.

Disturbed Peace

So far every day of this year I have seen the Red Kites. This morning first sighting was a delight as I was standing at the bus stop when I spotted one soaring high in the sky against the orange glow cast on the sky of the rising sun. Had it not been that the bus was due I would have unpacked the camera to film it. With the way that events panned out I wish I had.

I had promised myself that I would make a special effort to visit the hides and nature reserves in the area, at least once per week. Well events conspired to prevent that happening last week, but I went to one of them this morning. It was freezing and I was surprised to find that there was already some one in the hide. Not normally a problem but this chap was a talker and with filming video, having incessant chat does not help. Also, he was one of these that are intent on showing all the great pictures he has shot, and even had an album of pictures that he was trying to force on me while I was trying to film.

Normally I don’t, but I had to ask him to hush more than once. Finally I gave up as just as I tried to film a Deer that had come into view he started talking again scaring off the Deer. If I had not left I think I would have ended up being very rude to him.

As I left I saw the second of my red kites of the day, as it glided over just at tree top height. While seeing this bird lifted my sprits, I was to wound up to be settling down to wildlife filming so went back home to do the housework I was trying to escape from.

Myopic Mouse

There was a song from the sixties that had a line; “A little Mouse with Clogs On”. While I think it was intended as a comedy song, to me it produced a rather surreal image in my mind. Yesterday, that lyric came back into my head as I had my eyes tested for the first time in more than twenty years. And yes you have guessed it the Wood Mouse needs Glasses! So perhaps the lyric needs rewriting?

I can even remember when I last had my eyes tested as it was just after the Lockerbie booming. Because I had just moved to the North East, I had been looking for work and had contacted all the Photographic Studios and Labs, without much luck I should add. And following hearing of the disaster I was called by one of the press photographers who I had left my CV with and asked if I was prepared to do some work for him. He needed to go to Lockerbie and he wanted to keep his time free to take pictures rather than processing the films. I got to see that event in all its detail.

On returning I had an appointment to see the opticians, and as I had missed the previously booked one being away, I had to keep it. Well I did not need glasses then but this time I discover I do.

I had been thinking that I needed to get my eyes checked for a while, so last week on the spur of the moment I booked a test. Well, that has turned out to be an expensive mistake. One hundred and fifty five pounds lighter, I have discovered a great diet for my wallet, I am soon to be the proud owner of two pairs of glasses.

Well I was beginning to feel like the forger in the film the great escape, and if I need them I need them, but it will be strange having to use glasses. I just hope that I don’t break or loose them. Also it just seems like something else that I have to carry around.

Hibernation

Wood Mouse pokes his head out of the nest and sniffs the air, he asks two questions; is it safe to come out now? Has the Bah Humbug season ended?

While I do wish everyone a happy new year, I personally hate this season of consumerism and excess. While there is a much older pre history winter festival that was a celebration of life, what mainly happens now is a symptom of the greed and excess of modern life.

However while everyone else was in stuffing either the Turkey or their face or both, I took the time to wander in peace and solitude. With only the birds and animals to share my space and time with. While occasionally I would see the odd dog walker in the distance and I was happy to share pleasantries with them, I did not speak to anyone when out.

I did get to chat to Kith and Kin and communications technology really helps here, for the most part I was able to relax and ignore the rest of the world in peace.

Yesterday morning knowing that I had to start getting back to normal (abnormal), I was out early to get the papers and money from the cash point, I was greeted with the sight of a thick blanket of mist laying in the valley bottom. Had I had more time then I would have gone out to film it. But I needed to get some shopping in and that meant going to Consett. But it was a delight to see. Had I taken Pictures or filmed it I could not post it here as I have computer problems. This I am writing on a very old machine and posting even text here is going to be a problem for a while.

Well once I get that sorted though, I could well have some interesting material to post, as while on the bus going over the bridge at Blackhall Mill, I spotted an otter in the water at the banks edge.