Bantam Eggs

When I was very little we kept hens for many years. I am very pleased that one of our grandsons looks after the nine bantam hens at his school. Today his family all came to stay for a few days.

Our grandson brought 4 eggs so we can share these for breakfast. They are smaller than normal "shop" free-range eggs but I expect they will taste delicious.

He has even decorated the egg box, which I expect he will take home.

Lovely autumn day

This end of October in East Anglia has been beautiful. The trees are changing colour, the leaves are falling, clocks have changed and the nights are drawing in, but today we had beautiful sunshine and temperatures in the high teens Centigrade (high sixties Fahrenheit).  Tomorrow also promises to be a glorious day.

Not all parts of the UK have been so lucky.   North West Scotland has had about 8 inches of rain in just a few days.

Blog visits

For no good reason, this blog had had more visitors by breakfast time than it usually gets in a whole day.  We are on course to have far more visits than ever before. I don't think it can be the content. Perhaps this blog was featured somewhere?

Anyway, if this is your first time here, please pop back again soon. I try to add content most days and the subjects covered are usually varied. Feel free to add comments relevant to the posts.

SPAM will be deleted as soon as I spot it, so keep comments relevant please.

Immigration (yet again)

The news is full of this here in the UK.  The main issue is that we are powerless to stop mass immigration into the UK mainly from Eastern Europe because we are in the EC and must abide by its rules on free passage of people within the EC.  It is a fact that many Eastern Europeans make first class workers.

I don't have the answers, but feel each and every European country should be able to say who comes and who goes. Some people we need but there are already too many people on our small island. Our population is exploding yet we are powerless. Should we try to get the rules changed? Are we really powerless? Why exactly do so many want to move to the UK?

As climate change kicks in,we are likely to see lots more people from Southern Europe wishing to come here. The current influx is just the start. The way things are going, I suspect we'll be leaving the EC sooner than later. Instead, I hope a solution can be found with the UK still in the EC.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29776970 .

Dark nights

Last night we put the clocks back in the UK to GMT. There is something nice about cosy evenings in during the winter but I always look forward to the clocks going forward again at the end of March, the promise of light evenings, spring birds and flowers.

It amazes me how short the winter usually is: we are only 7 weeks away from the shortest day and even by the end of January the evenings are starting to get lighter later.  By mid-February there is usually more than a hint of a new spring in the air.

Luckily in the UK every season has something good to enjoy.  I'd hate to live in a place where seasons and evening times barely change.

Afghanistan - an enigma

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan#mediaviewer/File:Afghanistan_%28orthographic_projection%29.svg

On and off, Britain has fought wars in land-locked Afghanistan since the early 1800s. Lots of UK lives have been lost over the years, and to what good? Sadly, all our efforts there seem to fail and it is high time we stopped meddling where we do not belong.  Yes, the excuse was the Taliban this time, but have we improved world security? No.

Our motives are always good ones, I do not deny. But we are rarely wanted and, more to the point, we rarely do any lasting good. What's the betting that Afghanistan will revert to tribal barbarity not many years after we leave?  Today marks the end of UK combat activities in Afghanistan .... until the next time! Sorry, but I find most wars are pointless. Wars rarely achieve what they set out to achieve. Talking is always better.  Jaw, jaw, not war, war.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29776544 .

Last lawn cut this season?

This morning I cut both our front and rear lawns. It exhausts me but I am glad I did them. This is possibly the last cut before March. The problem now is it is often too wet to cut. Also, as the temperature drops, the grass stops growing. I am always glad to cut the lawn again after the winter: it is a sign of a return to longer days after the long winter nights. Still, in the meantime, I have to get fit again after my brain bleed last year. Although I still tire easily, my stamina must be improving as there was now way I could have cut both lawns in quick succession even 6 months ago.