After 30 years in Shetland I've drifted back to #Cumbria. Interested in beer, cycling, climate change, walking, cooking, knitting, sewing, guitar noodling, PC gaming, gardening & grand children; in no particular order. Oh and #COYS.
In the worst 'Ghost Enclaves' over 50% of local homes are owned by investors for short-term holiday lets (or as seldom used second homes).
This, of course, has knock-on effects for locals trying to stay in the area for work or family reasons - the housing crisis is driven by inequality & them compounds that inequality.
The Q. is will the next government have the political will to expand social housing & clamp down on non-residential uses of homes?
@ChrisMayLA6
It also hollows out communities for those who still live there. No schools, no shops, no pubs, no public transport, no doctors surgeries or dentists because second home owners don't need it use them.
Bayer a byword for reckless, dangerous, environmentally destructive chemicals is going to all out to have glycophosphates declare ‘safe’. To the detriment of all but their shareholders.
@Wen
Did you know (you probably didn't want to) that farmers spray cereal crops with glycophosphates a couple of weeks before harvest to help the grain "dry". There is very likely significant residue after such a short time. Another reason, if you can afford it, to buy organic oats and wheat.
Red squirrels in the Queen Elizabeth forest in the Trossachs.
LOOK AT THEIR TUFTY FLUFFINESS!
Taken with a hand held camera because I wasn't expecting to video, I was there to get snaps of the birds from the bird hide, but they were were just so cute.
@eclectech
15 years ago we watched scenes like that from our living room window, then the first grey squirrel appeared and within 5 years the reds were all dead. Despite the best efforts of the Cumbria Red Squirrel society there is still a large grey population. Apparently their next trick is to reintroduce pine martens which would be rather exciting.
Good knitwear, great accents and a stoic detective: Shetland is peak ‘dad television’ – and I love it
This BBC Scottish crime series gives a lot, very quietly. A decade late, I have happily jumped on the bandwagon/slow-moving local ferry
Shetland is a mild, full-hearted police procedural – “like a cross between Wallander and Midsomer Murders”, Sarah Dempster wrote in the Guardian in 2013 – and set mainly on that Scottish archipelago –
Some of the link scenes are a bit disconcerting, i watched some episodes twice, first to get over recognising people and places second to enjoy the drama.
For the last several years. a song thrush near us at this time of the year has put down the same riff, a very recognisable, whistle-able tune. I filmed and posted this last year, though I can't find the clip at the mo.
This year, a song thrush near us has a completely different tune. But when I took the bird food out this morning, happily I heard that familiar riff coming from the other side of the burn.
I don't know if they have the same tunes, or if they learn their songbooks #Birds
@withaveeay
I don't have any academic backing for my views but I'm convinced that thrushes and blackbirds have "accents". Shetland blackbirds sound different to Aberdeen ones and definitely North differ from North of England ones. Thrushes aren't particularly common on the North isles but Scottish ones in my experience have a different vocabulary to English ones. This doesn't explain your local divergence though, unless you have an interloper.
If you want a follow back or even a follow first I am much more likely to do so if you've provided some information in your profile.
Non choice info is nice but positions you have chosen like: political persuasion, religion or lack thereof, dog or cat, etc. let me know whether I should lean towards trusting your judgment or not.
@Ivor@sarahdalgulls@thebaywindowgirl
The other give away is that swaledales have all four legs in a line perpendicular to their direction of travel unlike herdwicks which all wear their Ugg boots inside out.
On a positive note, as a teenager I'd help out on a local hill farm at shearing time, catching in the sheep from the pen and dragging them to the shearers. Hard work but my hands were as soft as butter from all the lanolin.....
Having now watched all 3 episodes of #Breathtaking on real-time TV, the Q. that keeps coming to mind, is how did they cope?
the patients, the #nurses, the #doctors and (yes, even) the managers?
made to deal with a situation made worse by a Govt. making it up as it went along, often making it worse due to a lack of concerted leadership, we sacrificed #healthcare professionals to #PTSD, ending over 400 of their lives...
a truly harrowing three hours TV which summed up our own shortcomings
@ChrisMayLA6
I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to watch it. My daughter was an FY2 (24 year old doctor in training, second year out of university) at the start of COVID and spent many, many shifts doing nothing except ringing families to tell them their loved one was dying or dead. While she still loves her job there is a hardness of maybe brittleness in her that wasn't there before.
Most of his treatment will be the same for an NHS patient.
But not all. He’ll get timely treatment and he’ll be given the expensive options. If he needs palliative care and pain relief this will be 24/7. Most of us won’t get that unless a charity can provide it.
Now is the time to boost the #palliativeCare of UK charities like Macmillan Cancer Support and of local hospices -who are struggling for funding.
I firmly believe that once an individuals income from sport passes a certain point they become media entertainment, not sports people.
I wouldn't watch a movie that uncritically supported a regime that oppressed significant sections of its people, I didn't watch South African sports during the apartheid era so why should I watch Saudi football/boxing/snooker or the cycling Tour of Oman to name but a few?
@pejacoby@beersofmastodon
That's interesting, a beer with a hint of peppermint. Many years ago I had a green beer in Copenhagen which, while it tasted like a perfectly good Danish lager, scroodled my brain because of the colour I expected it to taste of peppermint.
For once in a while the weather forecast for South Cumbria was right. Snowed all day, beautiful but a pain in the neck of you want to actually do anything. Fortunately i didn't.
Going to try and squeeze in a walk through the woods today. These woods, for my Daily #Wales. Not sure whether I want to calm down or get more angry, but I am sure that the latter will achieve sweet FA…
I think I'm getting grouchy in my old age. I've just got back from walking Arthur on our local patch. I go there daily rain or shine, have done for 23 years. It's not the most exciting of places but it's a little haven for wildlife.
Unusually today there are lots of people there stripping the ripe blackberry bushes. During the winter I rarely see anyone there at all but it's alive with migratory birds.
I wanted to tell them all to leave the berries for the birds, foxes, badgers etc!
@sharongascoigne
Tricky one this. I forage for food, not because I can't afford it but because I enjoy the activity, the results generally taste better than bought and involve no food miles, I'd never drive to a foraging trip.
I harvest blackberries leaving the low and high fruit, crab apples that I can reach, wild damsons and sloes too. At this time of year I see very few birds on blackberries, crabs or fandoms as there are more nutritious things out there.
Good performances across the board (apart from a confidence short Richarlison). I really liked the subs. Hobjerg and Perisic exude class. VDV is growing and growing. Vicario looks to have settled. Lovely goal for Deki. Good, solid, progressive game. Hope Udogie is ok.
