Month: August 2018

  So I am a member of our local garden society here in Midsomer Norton and we meet in each other's houses to gossip, share garden experiences and generally have a good time. This time we met in the house of Jill, who has lived in the same house for 45 years. Everyone had to bring a selection of flowers which was judged by a professional writer and horticulturalist who by happy coincidence...

How many of us can find the time or the inclination to write about what we have done. It may well be of interest to those we know, so I regard this as part of being a friend - even though the communication has not been asked for. Michael Tellinger, a South African author and archaeological researcher  started the Ubuntu contibutionist movement about 12 years ago. No, Ubuntu is not a software...

We did a job today consisting of trimming a very tall hedge. It is a variety that is very difficult to cut even with an electric hedge trimmer. The hedge was also on a slope which makes ladder placement a challenging task. We greeted the lady - I would say she is about 75 - and she responded in a flat voice before returning indoors to her house.  We worked away for 2.5 hours and did not stop....

Teaching nudge: At the beginning and end of each lecture I ask students "What questions do you have?" rather than "Do you have any questions?" The former elicits significantly more questions than the latter. I love the way that little gems pop up  when you are not looking for them. This one I noticed in Twitter. How much better is the former because it is more encouraging, assuming that 'of...

We started a promising day with a particularly blatant display of chem-trails. Cynics please note. The particles remain for up to 20 minutes unlike water vapour trails which disappear almost instantaneously. I use flightradar24.com to see what aircraft are flying over and the planes that produced the chem trails did not show. It has been going on for years. Check this video made 11 years ago and...

Autumn is in the air. A certain damp smell. I think we have had our summer. We are so glad we did not go abroad as the weather would have been too hot. 30 degrees was enough for us here (did it rise to 33 degrees at one point?). Today is Friday - off to see a new gardening client (or is it customer) The property was in Timsbury. The mother had passed last May and the family were experiencing the...