…grayblog…

Author: graybo

  • Catch up

    I’ve really been neglecting you readers lately, haven’t I? Umm, well, sorry. But hey, I’ve been somewhat busy lately:

    • Last weekend: up to Stafford with Tom to spend the weekend with Jo and Bob. Excellent time had by all.
    • Last weekend and this week: much concern about SiL, who has been really quite unwell. But she seems to be making a steady recovery, which is good.
    • Tuesday: an all-day meeting with my New Zealand sub-agent, who is in the country at the moment.
    • Wednesday: a day out with H to the Chelsea Flower Show. We dressed in our finest summer clothes and were subjected to repeated heavy showers, with the result that we looked like a pair of muddy drowned rats. But it was worth it. Not sure that it is worth paying £35 a head to get in, though, particularly when you have to sit on the floor to eat your sandwiches and drink your tea because the catering facilities are so inadequate. They were absolutely awful when I last went ten years ago and have only improved marginally.
    • Thursday: catching up in the office.
    • Friday: to Chichester for a haircut and to distribute publicity materials for my event coming up at West Dean at the end of June.
    • Saturday: Charlie and the Peet came for lunch – a thoroughly relaxing and wine-filled event.
    • yesterday: up early to go to Heathrow to meet some American colleagues of their plane, collect plants, deliver them to a nursery near my parents and then join my parents for Sunday lunch and some plant talk.
    • today: dozy sleeping and much talk of "we really should go for a walk" and "the lawn needs mowing" or "I really must start on the front garden", but it’s chucking down with rain (between burst of intense hot sunshine) – that’s my excuse, anyway.

    There are many, many things that I really should find time to write about, but I’m not sure when that will happen. If you’re very lucky, I’ll provide you with some photos, as a picture is worth a thousand words (or several thousand, if your usualy verbage is as poor as that which generally graces these pages).

  • Still alive…

    …just very busy. More soon.

  • Weekend

    Quick post:

    • thanks to Charlie and The Peet for my excellent Neotropic CD.
    • thanks also to the Uborka Two for Winter Chill 2.
    • thanks to family for gifts of cash, clothing and olive oil – all appreciated.
    • thanks to Hels for Gnarls Barkley, clothing and cake.
    • spent Friday at Wakehurst Place – thoroughly enjoyable another opportunity to put the buggy through its paces (it passed with flying colours).
    • Friday evening involved a fantastic meal out – if anyone needs a recommendation for a fabulous meal in East Sussex, drop me a line.
    • Saturday was spent gardening, painting and erecting trellis for the most part.
    • Sunday was spent at Pashley Manor Gardens for the Plant Fair – not one of the best that I’ve had there, but I think some lessons were learned that will lead to changes before August.

  • 35

    As of today, closer to 40 than 30.

    Send money. Or beer.

  • Crabs

    Mmmmmm. Crabs.

  • Pendulumeca

    Pendulumeca. All in Japanese or something, but you’ll figure it out. Quite different from the usual game fodder.

  • Unsubtle

    It will be my birthday on Friday. It says so when you click here, so it must be true.

  • Air-sea rescue in need of rescue?

    I’m not sure that I understand the logic behind the Government’s proposed part-privatisation of the maritime air-sea rescue service.

    Anyone living on the south coast will be familiar with the sight of India Juliet rumbling her way up and down the seafront in the summer, dragging ill-prepared and half-witted individuals from the water. From my parents’ home, she can regularly be seen; when I lived in Chichester, very rarely she would come into the city to drop a “passenger” at St Richard’s Hospital. She makes for a strangely comforting sight.

    The rescue service has been somewhat fractured for years, partly run by the Navy, partly by the Air Force and partly by the Coastguard themselves. I can see good sense in bringing the entire service under one control, probably the Coastguard. What I can’t understand is the minister’s assertion that the proposal will provide good value to the tax payer. Surely, if we must pay a private company for the helicopters and then lease them back, they (the private providers) are making a profit at the tax payer’s expense which, if it was under direct government agency control, we would not have to incur. Compared to some other capital projects where private finance might be involved, the sums here are relatively small.

    Having said that, PPP or PFI has facilitated some capital projects in other areas of government that might never have got off the ground otherwise, so it may work. From my untutored position, I’m just not sure that it is the most effective method in this instance.

  • Rowing

    Man rowing

    We stopped in West Cove, Co. Kerry, because we saw a sign that said there was a bakery selling pastries and ice creams. We never found the bakery – instead we found a small cove with a pretty quay and a handful of houses. It was almost deserted save for a few blokes going off to harvest mussels and this chap, rowing his way across the bay in his yellow boat.

  • Killarney National Park

    Lough Leane

    Lough Leane, viewed from Muckross, in the evening light. Stunning.