Life Observed

The Planet Snaar is a truly strange place and it m oves in eccentric circles,   . The sky is always blue and the black and highly magnetic soil is tortured on a daily basis by the coriolis force. This results in an ever changing landscape of unstable ground. As a result the Snaarites haven't invented the wheel or mastered the art of building with stone. They do have twenty four words for "black" and seventeen for "curve". They have yet to discover the shortest distance between two points.

Sometimes you get wonderful patterns from natural things . Here's a lovely rainbow made of nothing more than diesel on wet tarmac. I notice these things, see: That's what you get for working in the countryside.

Apologies: No posts recently, dear reader. I have been kept busy with the new motor... This is t he interior view of my three year old Subaru Legacy 3.0R Spec B (yes, that is what they are called).   I am happy with it mechanically, but the electrics have a couple of gremlins that need sorting, so it has to go back to the dealer for 48 hours. They say that every second hand car has something wrong with it. That's why the previous owner finally sold it. Tediously, the sat nav reverts to it's default settings including Km and European time overnight, and the reversing sensors barely work. I would have a go at both of these but it has a warranty and I'd hate to break something.

Ever feel we are adrift in the empty wilderness of space?  Brrr...

The bright and low winter sun revealed that a certain John Cavery left his mark on the village church. Judging by the poor attempt at serifs on the script (and please note that modern scratchers don't bother with serifs..) I would say this was scratched in the 18th century. What was John doing in the churchyard? Was he hiding from the Vicar during the service? Perhaps he was waiting for his true love by moonlight? Alas we shall never know.

Silent and green, yet strong enough to fell a tree. The Ivy of life will make fools of us all if we are not careful. Oh dear. That was deep. Normal flippancy will be resumed shortly.

I thought I would Focus on this Leaf today. It's a Leaf on a Focus BTW.

A quick contre-jour shot down the high street from the weekend as folks leave the annual Remembrance ceremony.

Bosham is a place under threat. Twice a day the sea tries to get into the village, and most of the houses near the water's edge have their own mini flood barriers at the bottom of their gardens. It is an ancient port and has connections with king Harold and king Canute.  We were fortunate to be there at low tide and could walk across the inlet to get a view from the other side. (Click for the full width version). Speaking as someone who lives well inland, there is something quite odd about living this close to the sea, and this low...

A view of a church window. A Victorian window in a Saxon church in fact.  These are the only shape that church windows can be, it seems.  Why are they always the same? Why are they always pointy? Why do I keep asking these questions?

It was one of those crisp bright blue sky mornings. As I drove to work I saw rolls of mist curling over the Hampshire Downs. It was no surprise to arrive at work up on the hill in fog and low cloud and see the attenuated Sun low over the leafless tree. It was just a matter of timing, waiting for the right cloud to pass across the Sun. It's a scary thing, the Sun.  Here we have a huge gravity stabilised and unshielded nuclear fusion reactor right on our doorstop. It's so close we can see that it's a sphere not a dot. Just be thankful mother Earth has a magnetic field, eh? 

A visitor at work arrived in this. Now that's a no compromise car, next only to the Aerial Atom I guess, and it made an interesting counterpoint to our 18th century barn and Saxon church opposite. One thing though: You will never lose it in a car park - unless it gets hidden between two vans.

Well one of these two is keeping the game... This is one of those are occasions where I feel a square crop works best for the picture. 

Newbury is particularly well blessed with almshouses for some reason. Maybe the prosperity and the inequalities that came with the cloth trade stirred the conscience of the wealthy. Some are dour and rectangular, while some are rather more adventurous.. Here (click for larger image) is one of them. The large building hides rather small rooms. The parish poor were supposed to be of good character and have fallen on hard times. Now I think the main rule is that two cars per household is discouraged.

Down among the ivy, something stirs.  This strange inside out mushroom decorates the hedge next to the village sports field. Once again the low shot is courtesy of the fold out rear screen on the E-M5 camera. It may be poisonous. Fear not. The village children are in no danger: They never use the playground or the football pitches, I imagine they are all indoors with their tablets and iphones, protected from life's dangers. Apparently fungus is the hidden network infecting the ground. What we call mushrooms and toadstools are just the fruiting bodies of this unseen fungus.

Plenty of moss on this stone. Well, it isn't rolling is it? Actually it is the well cover on the village green and this odd angle was taken with the camera held high overhead using the rear screen to frame the shot. Another trick the E-M5 offers that would have been near impossible in the old film days. November sun provides the low angle lighting that emphasises the shapes and textures.

"I really wish I had asked for an en-suite room now..."