Our garden depends on light for growth, for it to be seen at all, and for its colours. We are now converting sunlight energy into electricity with our solar panels. Light is either particles (photons) or a wave. Which is confusing as how can anything take two forms? But this is the realm of the sub atomic and they do …
Our Advent Calendar – 24th December, 2024
On Christmas Eve, we had the celebration of the area’s Advent Street Calendar. Date numbers went up in house windows, one house at a time, from the 1 December to the 25 December (with one exception) in the streets participating: Earlham Grove, Clova Road, and Sprowston Road. The garden was 24, the only one not a house. 21was due to …
What’s the Time? 14th December, 2024
In 1840, Great Western Railways set a standard time on its lines. Over the next seven or so years, this was taken up by other railway companies. London time was used, which was the time at the Greenwich Observatory, already called Greenwich Mean Time. Initially GMT had to be carried by an operative with a clock going on a train. He would stop off at the various stations to correct their clocks. By 1855, the telegraph put him out a job.
There was resistance to London Time. Town Hall clocks and station clocks in some areas gave different times with up to 20 minutes variation. Though, by 1858, 98% of towns had adopted London Time. The final step, which went beyond the railways, was the Definition of Time Act of 1880 which set one time for the whole country.
Coppicing – Sunday 1st December, 2024
It is the first day of meteorological winter. This system simply splits the year into four seasons, each with three calendar months, and so winter runs from 1 December until 28 February, with 1 March being the first day of spring. It sort of works, depending on the year. The leaves are gone from the deciduous trees and we have …
Storm Bert and Climate Change-Sunday 24th Nov, 2024
I am writing this mid afternoon as the high winds are beginning to ease. A little while ago we had sunshine and blue skies but the wind is still strong enough to change the weather every ten minutes, blow it in and blow it out again. When I left the house, I was instantly struck by how warm it was. …
Hygge – Saturday 9th Nov, 2024
Today we are welcoming winter, and have adopted the Danish word ‘hygge’ for the event. It means cosy, comfortable, warm, perhaps with cake and coffee. I have looked up the pronunciation, and without getting into phonetics, the closest I can get is that it rhymes with cougar, the mountain lion, which is definitely not a hygge (hougar) creature, should one …
Witch’s Walk – Saturday 27th Oct,2024
On Sunday, I led the walk to the Witch’s Tree. You never know in advance how many are going to come to such events. My daughter guessed seven, I was more optimistic and reckoned there’d be ten of us. We were both wildly out as 34 showed up, half of them children. The walk started from the garden at 1.10 …
Rose Chafer – Friday 18th Oct, 2024
I have been reading Insect Crisis by Oliver Milman. It’s quite a tough read as there are so many insect species, and we are mostly given species names such as Coccinella septempunctata (the seven-spotted ladybird). Having got this far, and needing to check the zoological name for ladybird, I got waylaid by this site: It begins: The name “ladybird” originated …
Witch’s Tree – Sunday 22nd Sept, 2024
This week, I have been on search for the Witch’s Tree in Bush Wood, woodland at the northern end of Wanstead Flats. I tried to find it nine months ago for my latest crime novel. I couldn’t find it and decided that one of the characters couldn’t find it either. Well, he does in the end and is found murdered under the canopy.
Full Pond – Sunday 29th Sept, 2024
Warm air holds more moisture. But you may have noted, I said it is chilly. Well, moisture in the air is picked up over the sea, mostly the Atlantic and that retains its summer warmth well into late autumn. Warm air also has more energy, which gives us fierce winds and storms. Around the country there has been some very wet weather, with extensive flooding in places like Looe in Cornwall: