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Thursday 30 March 2017

UK Pound and BREXIT

OK it is very early days, but the day after the letter triggering the BREXIT process the UK pound is up against most currencies including the euro and US dollar.

UPDATE 30.3.17 1630z: Still up.

Going Home

After a few days with us, my brother returned home today by train. Here he is with me in our front garden.

The primroses get replaced with begonias in the summer.

Wednesday 29 March 2017

Leaving the EU

Article 50, the trigger to leave the EU, has now been invoked, with 2 years ahead to negotiate our exit from the "club".  Although we have some tough decisions and negotiations ahead, the UK pound has not collapsed. If anything it is a little stronger against the euro.

Although I voted to remain in the EU, I am pretty sure we'll be fine in the UK.  The rest of the EU faces quite difficult times ahead. In truth, Europe needs us as much as we need them.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/currency/default.stm .

Tuesday 28 March 2017

Hacking intent?

Yesterday numbers of visitors were up on a couple of my blogs. Now, I welcome anyone from any part of the planet, but it is strange how numbers seem to double and most of these are from Russia.  This is a pattern I have seen before and I know others have seen similar.

It looks very suspicious to me like they are probing for vulnerable sites to hack with malicious intent. Sorry but I think my content is pretty innocuous! 

Should my blogs suddenly go you will know the reason. If you suddenly get links to porn sites or sites offering you lots of money you'll know I have been "got at". I try to screen and delete dodgy comments that are clearly outright ads or with links to dodgy sites, but please let me know if you find any that I have missed.

Sunday 26 March 2017

Gardening

In the last few weeks with some decent sunshine the garden has "come alive". There is new growth everywhere.

Here I am in the garden earlier. Lis (my wife) has done most of the work.

Today has been good too. I cut the grass.

Saturday 25 March 2017

Cattle Egrets

Before the late 1980s, seeing a little egret in the UK would have been rare. Now they are everywhere. I have even seen these in our village.

Now it is the turn of the cattle egrets, which are becoming increasingly common in Devon. These are slightly smaller than little egrets with a different bill colour. They tend to be near cattle.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/c/cattleegret/

North Norfolk

Yesterday we drove up to North Norfolk. We ate at "The Old Reading Room" in Kelling. This is a simple place run by real locals and serving simple, no nonsense food.

Later we went to the coast for a short walk where we saw these hardy fishermen.