Monthly Archives: May 2020

IF ENGLAND WERE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE……..

Posted on by
Reply

Shift Britain down under! WHERE WOULD IT BE?

You may be surprised!

Have you heard of Heard Island? The southern hemisphere, latitude 53 degrees South.       North Wales in Britain is on the same degree of latitude in the northern hemisphere, along with the cities of Derby and Nottingham. 53 degrees North.

SO?

Well, Heard Island is 80% covered in ice, has an active volcano called Big Ben, with a two kilometre lava flow. It’s in the middle of the Southern Ocean, the middle of nowhere, between Australia, South Africa and Antarctica.

If you shifted England to its same latitude down south, say near New Zealand, Where would it be?

Ok, say you are setting-out from the southernmost tip of the South Island of New Zealand, traveling South, you would have to cover over THREE HUNDRED KILOMETRES of ocean to reach Lizard Point in Cornwall. The South Island also has glaciers……..no skinny-dipping advised in the vicinity!

The Lizard, being the southernmost point of Britain, would become its northernmost point in the southern hemisphere. So you’d have to go MUCH further south to reach Scotland!

The North and South hemispheres of our planet are very different places, with very different climates. Tasmania, shifted north, would be in the middle of Spain, but does not have Spain’s climate; there’s very little sunbathing in Tassie, and not much swimming, though I did get into a mountain creek just for the experience……….30 seconds!           Mount Wellington can have snow in the middle of summer……

So; did you know that? I was unsure, and surprised!

The Gardens of Birth and Death

Posted on by
Reply

THE SACRED GROVE

About four hours walk from the village, after the dwellings, gardens, ponds, stream and cultivated plots are left behind, and  land becomes the wild domain of the indigenous creatures, there was once, and is now, a grove of accidental nut trees, self-sown, stately and ancient.

About this grove, which had been, and is yet protected as a reliable and valuable if small food resource, are built small dwellings for the guardians, whose occupations are to protect, nurture and expand the grove and its precious resource.

Over the centuries, the villagers have not only maintained the grove, but have cultivated the seedlings of the original trees in spacious gardens, carefully cleared and protected from the surrounding forest, and constantly maintained.

Interspersed amongst these gardens the villagers have added groves of their own; of fruit and nut trees the seedlings of which have been collected from far afield, paid for by village products to visiting travelers. The news of this trade has spread far, the seeds and nuts arriving regularly, and with anticipation, to fill the nurseries of the village.

Over the years, as their plantings have matured, the villagers have added to the numbers of guardians and increased the comfort and size of their dwellings.

The original grove of ancient trees had been protected and nurtured, treasured as an emergency food-source, and inevitably customs, festivals and calendar events grew as generations of villagers tended the tree-gardens, which became called the Gardens of Birth and Death.

Each birth is celebrated in the very centre of the ancient original grove, the ceremony conducted by the oldest member of the village, who in turn is supported by family and friends.

Each death is commemorated by the family of the youngest member of the village, male or female. There are no rites conducted by one specific sex.

Both birth and death involve young and old, boys and girls, women and men, and new-born babies as participants. The grove and its old trees witness the never-ending passage of time and life of the human animals.

Over the centuries the long four-hour path between the village and the grove has shortened as both have expanded. The grove, which used to be an emergency food source, has now such varied orchards that at no time of year is not some tree bearing ripe produce, and no disease has the ability to seriously affect such differing species. This is no monoculture.

The tenders of the now vast groves of tree-crops have always been selected from the adolescent and young adults of the village, on a rotational system of three months divided and randomly timed amongst six dwelling-types. There are no compounds for three-month stays; the dwellings are interspersed, recognised only by a flag. This gives the young people of the community (no longer a village, but a thriving township) experience of life, death, ritual, husbandry, hard work and maintenance of essential supply. The rotational system gives each person the time to meet others and form friendships and loves, in an environment of great beauty.

Older overseers from the town instruct in orchard maintenance and development, also on a rotational system,  and school-classrooms are duplicated in township and groves. Constant and varying shipments of diverse fruits are sent from the groves to the town market, which has buyers from far afield.

And on, and on. A hopeless dream, one of the many fantasies that would prove unworkable in reality, we humans being such an ornery mob. But pleasant to daydream. There are hints of a kibbutz there, and its strange community of youth. And of course the massive stately stands of bunya pines in Australia, sacred to the wandering tribes.

A parliament of hares

Posted on by
Reply

Has anyone seen the leaping hare                                                                                            Or of it did you hear?                                                                                                                 I was so lucky, I was there                                                                                                        When through the trees did peer                                                                                              To find out what had caught my eye                                                                                          As I drove past whilst on my way                                                                                              To Liverpool from Southport gay.                                                                                               Curious! But what? And why?

It was twenty years ago, at least; I was driving from my sister Doreen’s house in Southport to lodgings in New Brighton, and was on the outskirts of Thornton. You know how hard it is to stop the car mid journey. Remember the kids in the back, desperate to stop for the toilet, or something fascinating they’d seen? And would you stop? No. Not until threatened with instant urine or worse.

So I was well on my journey with no intention of stopping, when out of the corner of my eye, to the right of the road, I caught a glimpse. The most fleeting hundredths-of-a-second subliminal flicker of something ejecting from a field. What could it have been, I considered as I drove past.

A great effort of will stopped the car a mile past. If I don’t go back and look I’ll never know, and for the rest of my life I’ll wonder what it was that I saw. Or might have seen. So I did a Uee and parked by the field.

There was a sandstone wall a yard high with a typical triangular top, beyond which was a small field of say two or three acres: a meadow of overgrown grass bordered by a hawthorn hedge. Houses were nearby, and the traffic pottered past. Nothing to see, but I waited.

Then, Yes! Again, from a different part of the field, a leap! A leap from the covering grass! Into the air the height of a man, a hare! Up, then down and hidden. Then another! From a cricket-pitch away! A wide circle of hares, unseen on the ground, but briefly visible as they took random turns to become skybourne.

Somewhere in that ancient ritual were doe-hares in the centre of the circle; the males (I guessed twenty or so) mysteriously displaying their energy and power. But could the does see anything in the long grass? Who knows what does know, ha, a mystery!

A Parliament of Hares; a once-in-a-lifetime sight that I never thought to witness, and half considered to be a myth. So glad I turned back. I stayed for half an hour as the traffic noise and fume staged an incongruous background to a fabulous, mythical natural event, right there in front of me. And no-one else stopped to look! I felt strangely honoured to have been present at an animal-ceremony that so few have seen, and rather shocked that the hares were there in numbers, performing their ritual virtually right in the suburbs.

The hare is a peculiar, homeless creature, of solitary mysterious ways. How it survives in our unwelcoming environment, and even today stages its parliament despite the confines of urban sprawl, is a wonderful thing. Perennially persecuted, it persists.

INSECTS BROKE YOUR BOSCH? FIX IT!

Posted on by
Reply

INSECT DAMAGE TO BOSCH CONTINUOUS FLOW GAS HOT WATER HEATER HYDROPOWER 10H, 13H & 16H.

NOTE TO PLUMBERS AND PRACTICAL AMATEURS::

FIRST:  You don’t want a flood, fire, or explosion. Turn off the gas: bottled or town. Turn off the water (good if there’s a stop-cock at the unit). Turn on your brain: this operation requires concentration and deftness, but no skill.

SECOND:   The ‘owner’s’ manual is no use whatsoever.

Preamble: The drawback concerning gas hot-water systems is the inevitable invasion of insects, which will cause a total but fixable breakdown. Gas systems must have uninterrupted air supply: so insects also get in. Actually, insects could be screened, but for some reason are not. A design fault. Please explain.

GET STARTED: IF YOU HAVE ANY ABILITY WITH A SCREWDRIVER AND SPANNER, FIX IT YOURSELF; BUT BE GENTLE, ALL PARTS OF YOUR BOSCH ARE FRAGILE AND BEAUTIFULLY MINIMALISTIC, AND WILL LAST FOR A LIFETIME.

1)   Approach your hot-water system. Remove the cover (two knurled nuts, bottom outside left and right).

2)   REMOVE THE BURNER RACKS:                                                                                   1st)  Unscrew the ignition pilot; there are two screws in front of you, don’t lose them. Gently bend the pilot towards you slightly, whilst leaving it connected.                                    2nd)   Unscrew the big brass nut behind the pilot, releasing the burners from the gas supply. Do not lose the plastic washer.                                                                                     3rd)     Gently manoevre the burner racks to the left and remove them.

3)   ACCESS GAS JETS TO BURNER RACKS:                                                                   1st)   Undo the eight black screws at the back of the burners, gently prise off  the jet assembly: it’s a very snug fit.                                                                                               2nd)   Aha! You’ve got at the first half of your problem. Use a pricker to clean all twelve gas jets, though they are probably ok. Insect blockage of the burners? There’s soot everywhere! Hold the burners with the air/gas intakes downwards (so shit falls out, not in!), and with a wire, rake out all insect nests thoroughly. Spray the clean tubes with insect surface killer.                                                                                                                             3rd)   Re-assemble the burners and put safely to one side.

4)   REMOVE THE WATER JACKET:                                                                                     1st)   At the top, remove the retainer with its two screws.                                                        2nd)   Remove the temperature sensor clipped onto the right-hand side.                               3rd)   Under the copper jacket, undo the retaining nuts for the inlet and outlet pipes, holding the unit so that it doesn’t fall. This is the most tricky part: just be slow and gentle. Ease the top of the unit out and down, and the two copper tubes out of their retaining sockets. The one on the right will bend forwards to allow you to release it. Two small tags on the metal frame at the back of the unit may need bending-out a bit to enable you to remove the jacket. It sounds difficult but do it once and it’s a doddle. TREAT THIS WATER-JACKET WITH CARE; IT IS FRAGILE.

5)   CLEANING THE WATER JACKET:                                                                                  This is the second and final job. Due to the insect blockage of the gas jets below, the pipes, vanes, and insides of the jacket may be blocked with an accumulation of soot, due to inadequate gas-burning, and big smokey flames. This is the entire problem.                     This soot is extremely messy, so work in a suitable place. Stand the water-jacket on a slab of wood to keep the two protruding pipes off the ground, and remember how fragile and easily-bent it is.                                                                                                                          Prepare neat washing-up liquid and a soft brush of the dustpan type. Dip the brush in the liquid and work it into all the surfaces of sooty copper, from all sides, top and bottom: very messy. Hose  off and inspect your work; it may take two or three cleanings to expose clean copper. Make sure no dirt gets into the outlet/inlet pipes.                                               THAT’S IT. WHEN YOU’RE HAPPY THE WATER JACKET IS CLEAN, RE-ASSEMBLE  ALL THE PARTS CAUTIOUSLY AND CAREFULLY, AND DON’T FORGET THE INSECT SPRAY AS YOU GO.

Note for the future:  Though this is untried, place mothballs or similar products on the bottom shelf of your unit before you replace the cover, and renew these as they evaporate: you don’t want to go through all this again!