Questions

Two magpies

It seems that on our journeys through life, we are forever trying to make sense of things. Questions shuffle across our mindscreens about big and little things. From fairly insignificant personal stuff to enormous questions about the nature of the universe.

For the past forty years I have been a regular feeder of birds in every season and this extended experience has thrown up a whole bunch of questions...

• Why don't magpies whistle  - instead of cackling like the three witches in "Macbeth"?
• Can different species of bird communicate with each other?
• Why do pigeons seem so stupid when their navigation skills are so brilliant?
• How exactly do swallows make their way to Yorkshire from Africa each year?
• Having never seen goldfinches in our garden how come two arrived on the very morning I put up a new feeder containing niger seeds?
• Why do many gun crazy men in Malta and some other Mediterranean islands think it is okay to shoot birds, helping to drive them to extinction?
• Where do birds go when it is raining?
• How do all the other birds know to disappear when there's a sparrowhawk in our garden?
• Why are rooks such nervous birds when they are on the ground?
• Why have robins got red breasts?

I have asked God Google all of these questions but the answers have characteristically been unsatisfactory or inconclusive. Besides, even though the questions have arisen,  there is a sense in which I do not really want to know most of the answers.  The mystery of what is unknown can be very appealing.

Robin - I took this picture in the wintertime

Switchover

For those who do not dwell on this sceptred isle, I feel I should explain this blogpost before I write it. Throughout the pandemic Britain's Health Secretary has been a cod-faced fellow called Matthew Hancock or "Matt" as he prefers to be addressed. His reign, like his marriage, came to a shuddering halt after he was photographed in a steamy clench with his political aide - Gina Coladangelo.

Then a former Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer - Sajid Javid was asked to take over Hancock's role. He has been in the job for less than two weeks now.

Hancock always said he was "following the Science" as the pandemic progressed but Sajid Javid is following something else - perhaps the Economy or possibly his own unscientific instincts. "The Science" has now been side-lined and asked to shut up as Britain approaches "Freedom Day" on July 19th. What ever happened to caution?

A Tale of Two Health Secretaries

March 2020

HANCOCK: We're following the Science.

June 2020

HANCOCK: We're following the Science.

October 2020

HANCOCK: We're following the Science.

January 2021

HANCOCK: We're following the Science.

May 2021

HANCOCK: We're following the Science.

July 2021

SAJID JAVID We're not following the Science.

Onward

Harry Maguire celebrates his goal in Rome

"Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that." - Bill Shankly (legendary Liverpool F.C. Manager)

Today , Sunday July 4th, every English Sunday newspaper leads with last night's football result: England 4 Ukraine 0.  It was the last match  at the quarter final stage of the Euros - the European nations football championships which are normally held every four years. This game happened at The Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy.

Ukraine seemed quite pedestrian and did not have an answer for the zippiness of England's attacks. Once again our lads played like a proper  team - working for each other. I was so pleased to see our captain Harry Kane score two but even happier to see ex-Hull City player Harry Maguire score a thunderous header. Same for  Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson who notched his first ever  goal for his nation. It was a moment he will always remember.

Here in Sheffield, your amiable host had his feet up  on our  reclining La-Z-Boy sofa with a cold bottle of India Pale Ale on the side table. I twitched and jerked, living each kick and tackle as my blood pressure rose and fell. This is how I feel when watching my club team - Hull City and only England can make me feel the same way.

What a brilliant performance and now we will meet Denmark in next Wednesday's semi-final.  One thing is for sure, Denmark will be nervous about playing England. Fingers crossed we will beat them and then go on to meet either Italy or Spain in the final next Sunday. For England fans like me, this is pure dreamland. COME ON ENGLAND!

Hollingworth

Horse at Flaxfield Farm

For one reason or another, I had not been able to take a long walk in the countryside since last week but that changed today (Friday). I steered Clint over the hills to Hollingworth near  Glossop. On the way, rather than listening to BBC Radio 4  as usual, I decided to play  an album called "The Very Best of  Jackson Browne". I bought it in 2004 but had not listened to it in ages. These years we are living in they just flick by don't they? Before you know it another decade has gone.

I parked on a particular street in Hollingworth having previously checked it out courtesy of Google Streetview.. Then with boots on I said farewell to Clint and headed north, through woods up onto treeless moorland.

The day was dry and rather sultry but did not provide the best conditions for photography. There was a constant haze and colours were muted. I plodded constantly for three hours - passing four reservoirs  - before taking a rest on a stile south of Flaxfield Farm.

Lane north of Hollingworth

I drank my water and ate my apple and then Geoffrey appeared. He was seventy six years old and could talk the hind legs off a donkey. He was wearing navy blue shorts with a navy blue T Shirt and scarlet braces (American: suspenders). When he came close to me to look at my map, I realised that he was wearing make-up. Not the kind of OTT make-up that drag queens might wear but a light foundation cream with ruby lipstick and a little light blue eye shadow behind his silver-rimmed spectacles.

As luck would have it, he decided to walk with me for half a mile or so. I  much prefer walking on my own but it was hard to refuse him. At a path junction we separated. He was heading up to a remote triangulation pillar and I was returning to Hollingworth. Geoffrey was a nice man with a zest for life but when we parted I realised that he knew nothing about me, apart from the fact that I had driven over from Sheffield. In contrast, I knew a great deal about him - including the names of his late parents, his sister, his best friends, where he had played in a band, his pension arrangements, how he had acquired his camera etcetera. This is by no means the first time that I have had a meeting with a stranger like that. They pour stuff out and seem disinterested in anything that I might have to say.

I felt pleasantly weary when I got back to Clint - four and a half hours after I had left him  snoozing under a tree. He woke up as though emerging from a dream about Turkey where Hyundais  are manufactured for the European market. "Wh...what? Err...! Oh it's you! Let's be off!"

Bench and signpost at Higher Swineshaw Reservoir

Songs

In the happiness that being a first time grandfather brought, I was doing a lot of singing and two new songs emerged as I swung from well-known traditional ditties into my own wordplay. And there was Phoebe in my arms, feeling the vibrations of my voice, listening to the songs with no idea  what they might mean as she nonetheless continued to learn rapidly about the multi-faceted world into which her mother had pushed her on January 15th.

Making this blogpost has given me an opportunity to write these songs down for the very first time. Just the words. I have my own tunes for them but you are welcome to create your own...

One day

One day you will see the sea
Bursting on the shore
And what is more
One day you might see a starfish
Or perhaps a little crab
And he might pinch your toes
Who knows? Who knows?
One day. One day. One day...

One day you might see the stars
Travel up to Mars
If that's your dream
And up there, up there
You might float around
Never touch the ground

Or even make a sound
Who knows? Who knows?
One day. One day. One day.

One day you might climb a mountain
Right up to the top
Never have to stop
To take a breath
And up there, up there
You might see the world
Its patterns all unfurled
So green. So blue.
One day. One day. One day.

________________________________

Slumberland

Ohhhhhh! We're off to Slumberland!
We're off to Slumberland!
We're feeling very sleepy
So we're off to Slumberland!

All the little girls and all the little boys
With their bouncy balls and their shiny toys
Running to the river as happy as can be
Splashing in the water, merrily!

Ohhhhhh! We're off to Slumberland!
We're off to Slumberland!
We're feeling very sleepy
So we're off to Slumberland!

Woodland

Recognise this guy? He has had an impact on all of our lives. Born in New Jersey in 1921, he died there in 2012 with  Alzheimer's clouding his mind. His name was Norman Joseph Woodland and the one big invention of his life was the barcode.

Thinking about his time as a boy scout when he learnt morse code, he made an ingenious leap of imagination in the late nineteen forties. His barcode idea could revolutionise stock control and be an enormous boon in commercial sales.

However, it took a while for other people and indeed frontline technology to catch up. Though his barcode invention was patented as early as 1952, it took a further twenty two years for it to break through into everyday use. The first item ever sold with the aid of a barcode was a pack of Wrigley's chewing gum in an Ohio supermarket. That was in June 1974. 

Barcodes enable detailed knowledge about sales and allow retailers  to  make accurate decisions about restocking. Just about everything we buy has a barcode on it from newspapers to airline tickets and from loaves of bread to refrigerators. You simply cannot get away from those black and white lines - each set different from the next.

All over the western world there are huge Amazon "fulfilment centres".  Without barcodes and associated scanners connected to computer systems, they simply could not operate in the swift and incredibly efficient manner  that most people now  take for granted.

And all of this has evolved from the inventiveness of a little known mechanical engineer from Atlantic City, New Jersey. You might say that Norman Woodland is an unsung hero. As I suggested  at the beginning of this blogpost, barcodes have affected us all - arguably in a positive, helpful manner.

Report

Grealish and Kane  after the second goal

4.45pm - Just fifteen minutes to kick-off. The teams have been announced. It's amazing that Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish has not made the starting eleven  - nor has Manchester City's Phil Foden but I am pleased to see Arsenal's nineteen year old Bukayo Saka on the team sheet. He played so well against the Czech Republic in the group stage of the tournament. As the day has progressed, I have felt a growing nervous energy while just pottering around in the garden. Last night, as I was drinking beer with the lads up at "The Hammer" I predicted a two-nil victory for England. Hope I am right. Come on England!

4.55pm - The teams are out now. Wembley is noisy though there's only half a crowd there because of COVID restrictions. The teams are lining up. The German team are singing "Das Lied der Deutschen"... there is a lot of unsporting booing... and now "God Save The Queen". All the lads are singing. It's spine-tingling. I will write again at half time.

5.47pm - It's halftime and the score is nil-nil. Quite an even first half but in a few instances England have looked threatening. Saka is playing well but our goalscoring captain Harry Kane continues to have an unremarkable tournament. Germany's Timo Werner probably had the best chance but his attack was snuffed out by our goalkeeper - Sunderland-born Jordan Pickford. Great save! 53% possession to England. Both teams have had three shots. Even stevens but England have some fire in their bellies today. I remain hopeful but a bit worried that Kalvin Phillips might get himself sent off with a second yellow card. That would change everything.

6.50pm - The final whistle has just been blown. We have won! We have won! By two goals to nil. Now who predicted that? Goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane who headed in a cross from our charismatic  substitute - Jack Grealish. As I watch our television, the England fans are singing, "It's Coming Home! Football's Coming Home!" They played like a proper team. Together for England! Onwards to the next game - Sweden or Ukraine. Surely...surely! Come on England!

Prince William. Prince George and the Duchess of Cambridge were in the crowd