Day to day life and muse postings and anything else I would like to share my world with you.
General anything that equals forty-two or majorly upsets my state of equilibrium e.g. less than or greater than forty-two.
But have they really? The Island cannot boost any Blue Flags for its beaches this year and we only managed to get four beaches past theSeaside Awards inspection. Blue Flag submissions apparently dropped due to budget restrictions. You too, can register to support and raise awareness of the dangers of balloon releases for as little as £3.50 per month. Do it here
Isle of Wight Council Leader Dave Stewart has confirmed that a full review of all the events surrounding the purchase and provision of the new floating bridge will be undertaken by the Isle of Wight Council.
This follows a meeting with the Chief Executive of the council when they discussed what had taken place over recent weeks and how they would work together to address issues that have arisen.
In the meantime, the council has announced it is to suspend its charges for the use of the floating bridge and offer free travel for vehicles and passengers until Sunday 2 July. This is in recognition of the impact of the problems the introduction of the new floating bridge has had on the lives of its regular users and the local community. It will also give those people who would not normally consider using the facility an opportunity to use it and judge for themselves whether it is something they could factor into their daily travel plans and provide feedback to the council about the facility. Full information from IWCC
A video inside of a tunnel on the outskirts on Shanklin. This hidden tunnel is linked to the tunnel previously visited in Shanklin last year, it contains two deep wells and these appear to collect water from the Victorian borehole above.
Travel on Sunday 18th June for just £5 pp with the promo code HTBLUESUN
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The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) surveyed the floating bridge on Friday, confirming that it is now able to re-enter service. The floating bridge will return to service on Wednesday 7 June, from 5am.
The MCA said: “Maritime and Coastguard Agency surveyors attended the Cowes Floating Bridge on Friday morning (2 June 2017). The outstanding corrective action has been completed to the satisfaction of the surveyors and the vessel’s certificate has been reinstated.”
Over the past couple of weeks, while the vessel has been out of service, further extensive staff training and additional practice has been undertaken.
On Thursday evening, further vehicle testing was undertaken to ensure that the modeling that took place during the design of the floating bridge, was practicable with the actual bridge and following the teething issues experienced when the new bridge began its live testing period.
The Svalbard ‘doomsday’ seed vault was built to protect millions of food crops from climate change, wars and natural disasters. Photograph: John Mcconnico/AP
But all is well no seeds were lost. It was designed as an impregnable deep-freeze to protect the world’s most precious seeds from any global disaster and ensure humanity’s food supply forever. But the Global Seed Vault, buried in a mountain deep inside the Arctic circle, has been breached after global warming produced extraordinary temperatures over the winter, sending melt water gushing into the entrance tunnel. A view inside the seed store.
Plastic boxes containing plant seeds inside the international Svalbard Global Seed Vault on Spitsbergen, Norway. Photograph: Jens Buttner/dpa/Alamy
Probably my favorite Supremes track, Stoned Love, not because of the controversial as many people saw the song as a coded reference to drug use. ThBackstoryry
A plea for love and peace similar to those recorded by Sly & the Family Stone in the late 1960s, the lyrics of "Stoned Love" were a plea for the people of the world to end conflict and animosity between each other, specifically the Vietnam War. Writer Kenny Thomas chose the term "stone love" to define the concept of an unchanging bond between one another. A slight variant of that phrase appeared two years later in The Stylistics' title "I'm Stone in Love with You".
Thomas was a Detroit teenager who had entered some of his songs into a local radio talent show, which record producer Frank Wilson happened to tune into. Wilson arranged a meeting with the young musician at Thomas' house, where he proceeded to play a number of songs on a guitar that only had two strings. One of the songs he played was an unfinished version of "Stoned Love." Wilson was very much impressed with the song and came back to Thomas' house a few days later with, to Thomas' delight and surprise, Supremes member Mary Wilson (no relation to Frank).
After a few lines of the song were revised by the producer, "Stoned Love" was recorded during the spring of 1970. The instrumental track was recorded with The Funk Brothers and at least 30 other session musicians in Detroit at Motown Studio B (the former Golden World studio), while Jean Terrell, Mary Wilson, and Cindy Birdsong recorded their vocals in New York. The song was originally written and recorded as "Stone Love," but during the process of mixing and releasing, it was mislabeled as "Stoned Love."
Every year in early summer, the stag beetles emerge to find mates. They have spent the first five to seven years of their life underground as larvae and now have just a few short weeks to live as adults.
Every year I'm shocked by how many people fail to recognise these icons of British wildlife, and am saddened by how many beetles end their lives crushed underfoot. Stag beetles have been around virtually unchanged for millions of years, and are not equipped to survive in an urban environment. Their numbers have declined drastically over the past few decades and the species is seriously endangered.
If you see one on a pavement, please move it out of harm's way. Despite being large (the male can be up to three inches long), they are placid and harmless provided you don't stick a finger between the male's large 'antlers', which can inflict quite a strong pinch. Pick them up gently with finger and thumb on either side of the thorax (the middle part of the body, behind the head) and move them into a garden or similar. If you're not sure how, here's a video of us rescuing a male from a path:https://youtu.be/3vflpPExBuU
Please keep an eye open for them. In flight in the early evening they are phenomenal, flying in an upright and rather ungainly style, making a noise like a small fighter plane. They tend to make a pretty uncontrolled landing, often ending up on pavements, which is where you’re most likely to see them and where they need your help to get to safety. The recent high winds are probably giving them trouble, meaning that they could end up in particularly tricky situations.
If you have children, it would be a big help if you could make sure they know about stag beetles too. Kids probably come across them more frequently than their parents. If they know what they are and what to do, the beetles are more likely to survive the encounter!
These are spectacular animals. We really have nothing else like them. It would be a shame if we lost them forever.
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Cambridge’s housing crisis stretches across the income scale. The Conservative candidate here says he can’t afford to live in the city; the Green party candidate is worried about the cost of his rented flat; the new editor of the Cambridge News lives outside the centre, where prices are less insane.
In the past fortnight I’ve heard from a teacher who quit her job and moved 150 miles away to Shropshire because she couldn’t afford the rent, an NHS auditor who often spends two hours getting into work in the morning because her salary doesn’t allow her to live anywhere near the city’s hospital, a care worker living with her parents in Suffolk (at 30) and doing a long daily commute to do vital work with adolescents with eating disorders, and a university administrator unhappily stuck in cramped houseshares.
This is pretty frightening, not the first video report on Tick Paralysis, the are reports two, four and five years ago. If the tick is left the paralysis will eventually cause death to the host.
Image:Copenhagen now plays host to more bikes than cars, with 265,700 cycles entering each day – compared with 252,600 cars. Photograph: Leo Patrizi/Getty/iStockphoto
Danish capital last year saw more bicycles enter city than cars, with almost half of residents cycling to work or school. Copenhagen now has so many cyclists that the city is installing electronic information panels along its bike lanes to help prevent two-wheeled traffic jams.
Another classic from the Supremes, the Motown machine continued with sounds written by and produced by Smokey Robinson, instrumentals by the Funk Brothers on this occasion feat Marv Tarplin of the Miricales.
