The Big Cheese

The rat is back! At least we think he is; although it could be a different he or she. We think it’s because next door has put a bird feeder up after their bare basic garden renovation and he’s come into our garden afterwards for a bit more of the natural life. He’ll have a wander around and he’ll go for a dip in the pond until we tap the windows to scare him off. But we don’t want him here spreading his germs in the first place. In come the poison rocks. They’re easy to install; though they’re more like pods rather than the blocks that we usually get which don’t seem to be available any more. The whole box comes with a pair of disposable plastic gloves but I’m not sure if you’re supposed to pierce the pouch, though it’s the only way to mount it in the trap.

Hold on Tight #habberley 23

Get your leg over! That’s what we want to shout. It’s probably not appropriate for someone her age; but then again it is literal and practical advice. The little one is waiting patiently but it would be so easy to give her a little push and she’ll slide off onto the floor. She might be on the way out anyway. A little hand might be coming out to help her by grabbing to steady her fall. The trouble is that she might be blamed for pushing her if she’s even touched as it’s unexpected. She could also be accused of being unsisterly by not helping out. She could cheer her or taunt her but then she could be accused of putting her off. She could also  try to get revenge by doing the same to her and recreate what she thinks might be the same conditions. It’s all part of spending too much time together and they need to learn boundaries.

CAMRA has revealed new data which shows that dozens of much loved pubs have burned down in the past 10 years. CAMRA believes destroying a pub should be a criminal offence, and we want to see councils produce local enforcement plans to set out clear deterrents.

Wouldn’t burning a building down count as arson which would be a crime anyway? I suppose it wouldn’t count if you deliberately burnt your own property and just want to dispose of it to sell the land or rebuild something on it without declaring it a crime afterwards for insurance purposes. It’s all a matter of cost; though it may be a terrible waste of resources and the rubble wouldn’t do your public image any good. But this law is effectively talking about transfer of ownership. This is why so many owners are willing to market their premises as a restaurant so it seems that there’s a change of use before it’s disposed of. It’s a difficult decision as you could be seen to stand in the way of progress and it must be something that would benefit everybody. No-one wants to be left with an eyesore. So, will councils end up buying these to create community projects? It’s going to be a difficult one to solve.

The Tube #habberley 22

Who needs YouTube when you’re on the tube? Although I suppose that you could end up on YouTube after an attempt on this tube as your fail is recorded. As well as climbing over it, you could also attempt to crawl through it or even beneath it for a full commando challenge. Of course, someone will want to attempt it while someone else is on top of them which should cause them to lose their balance. Someone could also become stuck underneath They might need some help to pull them out. Pushing will only make it worse and more painful but it might be the only solution. And that’s after the fact that you could be boxed in from either side. It’s going to get hot very quickly in there, and you could start to lose oxygen too. At least there’s no sharp bits; although you could get grazed as you come out over the edges.

Sing Me a Song

It’s going to be a bit boring with no backing music. She might try and seek some out though. But I think I’d have preferred it if she played a song at random. I hope that there’s a large database. She might even ask me questions on what I want the song to be about. The first song is about dogs, and there’s a military accompanist tune with it. There’s quite a few verses, and it’s very creative. The next song just gets on my nerves but there’s only one verse and no musical accompanist. After that I’m treated to another music less number which has lots of verses. At first I’m thinking it’s just going to be the lyrics to a pop song, but then it’s more of a nursery rhyme. The next one is short and sweet and it’s about friendship, and it’s a proper musical number. I wonder how many of these there are.

'Run you fools, you will die'; Meet the unit of Russian defectors fighting for Ukraine

It sounds like a line out of a movie. But who’s saying it? Is it a threat to kill them if they run away? Is it a group of people volunteering to commit treason against their military? Perhaps they could take control of the military as well if they have enough resources, or fund their own country. But they’ve actually left home. They might not be allowed to return if their identity is discovered, and they’ll have to prove where they’ve been and what they’ve up to during this time. But if they operate from the other side, it makes things easier for them. Some of them have even served on the other side before defecting, recognising the evil that’s occurring. But fighting back this way may not give the home side much persuasion to follow suit. It might be more humane to rescue the injured Ukrainians which will steer you out of trouble.

Dominion #henley 3

Turning left, we continued through the housing estate then turned right onto Riverside Gardens which is a cul-de-sac. We followed the path around the bend until it faced north then on the left-hand side a concrete footpath emerged between the houses and some woodland. This footpath bore southwest to cross a stream to lead to another road, then we turned right to head north onto another footpath. This took us along the river for a short while, then at the junction we turned left to head west back into the car park. We saw quite a few sights on this walk, but this church was the most impressive building. It must have had quite a bit of influence in its day with its long wall built across the field to display its domain. I wonder if these rent agreements still apply, or if the church chose to sell them off for a big lump sum. Bet it wishes it didn’t now.