Witchford walk

This morning the sun shone.

As I write this, we have hail again!

On the walk we saw baby moorhens, swallows, house martins, a blackcap, a chiffchaff and a buzzard among the many. It was a shortish walk but tired me out. It is years since I was last in this village near Ely.

The name "Witchford" comes from witches. Not far away is the village of "Coveney", which must also have past connections with witchcraft centuries back.

Hail

We had a very mild and wet winter followed by a cold spell in February and March. Here we are at the end of April with a wind from the north 7 deg C, hail, and now thunder! We have had daffodils in flower since the end of November. The weather is crazy! Because of the storm risks, I have disconnected all my amateur radio gear.  There has just been another hail storm and the grass is now white!

Alibris UK "bargain"

Well, this must be a bargain - NOT!  Yet again, they are offering "up to £20 off". I must get at least 3 a week from them. Never, EVER pay the full price as there is always a "never to be repeated" special deal.

Yes, this IS the place to go for secondhand books, but why treat us as idiots?

See http://www.alibris.co.uk/ .

Police and Crime Commissioner Elections

On May 5th we have elections locally for a new Police and Crime Commissioner. I have received no postal correspondence, haven't a clue who holds the post currently, and frankly don't care. I shall not vote as I feel I have no data on which to base my choice. What a shambles! The sad thing is this probably cost us all millions.

President Obama and the EU referendum

In the UK referendum I am likely to vote "IN" to remain in the EU but I get saddened by all the negativity and "spin" on both sides in this debate. The intervention by the current US president Obama does little good.

We have not had a trade deal with the US before and who is likely to benefit? Well, the USA of course.

Mr Obama, your intervention, although possibly well meant, is probably going to encourage people to vote "OUT".

It is fine to have an opinion (like I am amazed by the support in the USA for Mr Trump) but if you were in the EU Mr President you would not want the centralism in Brussels.  The EU needs to change and the UK is better in there shaping it in my view.

Your intervention is likely to backfire Mr Obama and is not helpful I am afraid.

UPDATE 2200z:  President Obama is quoted as having said that a trade deal with the USA could take "up to 10 years if we left the EU". Should we be voting to leave then?

Britain and the EU

Just watched the second Nick Robinson BBC2 programme about Britain and the EU. Some decent information in this series. If you are looking for real information,and NOT spin, I suggest you watch this on iPlayer or Catch-up if you can.

Trains talk

Just been to an excellent talk at Burwell Museum on "Railways in Burwell" by Steve Crane. It was well attended.

More talks - see the Museum's website at http://www.burwellmuseum.org.uk/ .