Caption Competition...

It's occurred to us that we've not had one of our caption competitions for quite a while.

Also, since we've lately been enjoying some amazingly, unseasonably hot April weather around here, we've been out & about a bit with our battered old "Brownie Box".

OK, so we've fibbed a bit about the Brownie, but when did we ever pass up absolutely any chance to mega-milk almost any kind of elongated/extended "alliteration" opportunity -- at all?

Anyway, coupling those first few sentences with our (so often, so obviously), shameless personal narcissusism, we've decided to display one of our own photos this time.

Over to you.

(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Special Parson's Egg Edition ~ Good in parts

As is always our habit whenever we're away from home for a while, we steadfastly stick to our self imposed, semi-sacred rule : strictly no newspapers, no television, no radio, no phones, no magazines, nor even any online news sources.

That's why it came as such a shock to learn that a lot of Australia is apparently ablaze. And while we wish nothing but well to all our antipodean friends, acquaintances and their families - especially, we sincerely hope 'our Old Brit own' considerable sized Aussie contingent are safe & sound.

Incidentally, even as we sit and type we see the death toll is now at least 108.

And all this as the United Kingdom has shivered, frozen and been blanketed by as much as as 8/10 inches of snow even inside large cities like Birmingham. Brrrrr.

Whilst away, we learned first hand exactly how totally 'topsy-turvey' certain 'mother nature' related things increasingly appear to be becoming 'the norm'.

We travelled all the way from the West coast to the East coast of England, last Monday. We left home pretty early and found the first fall of the white stuff had already carpeted our own locality.

Yuk, we thought.

We were setting out to cross both Lancashire's and Yorkshire's wild, windswept, and notoriously bleak 'moors' - and obviously, the Pennines too.

The first thing our coach driver told his passengers was that we may well find ourselves, at best, taking some unusual detours and at worst, well ... it could only be a case of "wait and see".

Amazingly, and thanks to all those numerous county council areas, and their heroic workers, the fleets of gritters and sanders had, and continued to do so, and indeed still continue to - work virtual miracles on all our major motorways.

For the entire (lots longer than usual) journey, as far as the eye could see was a completely snow covered country. The worst winter weather, snow storms and snowfalls, so our met-office experts say, for 20 years.

As you can no doubt imagine, the scenery was far more spectacularly beautiful than we'd ever witnessed it before - coast to coast - before then, heading North.

However, having made a single phone call to the local police as we neared our destination, and wisely heeding their advice to take a detour around one particular town (on the normal route), we all arrived safe and sound. Not even all that late.

The most amazing thing of all though, was that just about half a dozen or so miles from our destination we ran out of a semi-whiteout, and right into crystal clear, dry though cold and windy weather. Unbelievable? Yep, we thought so to.

For two of our five days away, the sun actually shone in a completely cloudless beautiful blue sky - none stop. Hand on heart, it truly did.

During the other three days, as we visited some nearby places of special interest to us, on each occasion we ran right back into what was by now a veritable 'Winter-wonder-land' - as soon as we'd gotten five or six miles out.

We'll tell you what though, we would NOT have missed this marvelous trip for the world. Talk about picture post card pretty. Talk about gorgeous, glittery Christmas cards - huh! The spectacularly super-serene scenery we travelled through beat 'em all - by miles. Believe us.



And now we're told, by the Beeb, that we certainly haven't see the last of this sort of stuff.

But enough of all that for now.

We thought it might be rather novel to end this post with a sorta quiz-like question.

Clue(s)?

Okay.

Novel. Storm. Horror. Harbour.

And of course, those already strongly hinted at, in our preceding 'travel itinerary'.

Answer?

Well, we honestly hope you haven't cheated by clicking here before you should have.



*(Cross posted across at 'appletree'

Shocking, Scary, Special Saturday Supplement: Dangerous Dogs, Bulls and Sharks ...

*

We love animals as much as (if not more than), anyone else does ... but boy, oh boy!

What a bloody, wacky, weirdo week it's been.



Shark kills swimmer off US coast. (USA)



Social worker bitten by rabid dog. (UK)



Man is 'killed by bull' in field. (UK)

Incidentally, to see some other 'bad' luck catching up with some more shameless, saddistic toro-tormentors when certain poor persecuted bulls succeed in striking back - big time - hit this link.

*(Cross posted at appletree)

Britain's Wind Power Plans For The War On Global Warming

Britain's wind power revolution

Hip, hip, hip .... it's good great news Sunday today, as we learn that the UK's all set to show the world the sensible way of solving the planet's most serious problem.

Britain is to embark on a wind power revolution that will produce enough electricity to power every home in the country, ministers will reveal tomorrow.

The Independent on Sunday has learnt that, in an astonishing U-turn, the Secretary of State for Business, John Hutton, will announce that he is opening up the seas around Britain to wind farms in the biggest ever renewable energy initiative.

(snip)

Yesterday hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in 86 countries across the globe to demand urgent action from the Bali meeting. Several thousand campaigners marched in torrential rain through London to rally at the US embassy. Some posters carried a picture of President George Bush and the words "Wanted for crimes against the planet".

(snip)

... announcement, which will be made at a conference in Berlin tomorrow, will identify sites in British waters for enough wind farms to produce 25 gigawatts (GW) of electricity by 2020, in addition to the 8GW already planned – enough to meet the needs of all the country's homes.

It means that within only eight years, Britain's offshore wind industry will be twice the size of that of any other nation in the world.

As an old Brit bulldog, Sir Winston Spencer Churchill once so famously said:"This England. This sceptered isle. This green and pleasant land."

But what about what the old boy didn't say?

Possibly, something such as .... set full square in the centre of a veritable surfeit of sustainable natural resources:sea and wind.

Yet it's taken until now for any of our leaders to latch on. Still, better late than never we suppose.

Read the rest of this environmental revolution report.

We wonder whether the wasters squatting in the White House are watching?

*(Cross posted at Appletree)