Author Topic: my patch

sam

  • Guest
my patch
« on: April 30, 2005 »
I don't cycle offroad much, but have taken to bumping along the meadows which surround my house. It's good fun, though the sheep aren't amused.


sam

  • Guest
fleeced
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2006 »
There's a free sweater out there for the taking. All I need is a loom.



Now for sale at £3.50 per (small) box at National Trust shops. I kid you not.

sam

  • Guest
putting the wash in Burwash
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2006 »
This is the Mighty River Dudwell, a natural southern boundary of my patch kingdom. 'Mighty' is a joke, as you can almost jump across it in normal weathers.


sam

  • Guest
choose your ride
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2006 »
Continuing the tour, here's a scary farming implement spotted in the vicinity



A more reassuring looking piece of equipment, which transports me across the fields


Click on pic to zoom out. I had to look up 'enzootic'.


Four hooves good


sam

  • Guest
which gear?
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2007 »

sam

  •  
Class of 2008
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2008 »

No need for CCTV


The hills are alive with the sound of bleating


What yearbook wouldn't be complete without amateur photoshopping?

sam

  •  
Her patch
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2008 »
Listen, if you were surrounded by sheep, and had a camera, you'd take lots of pictures of them too.



Here's one up Brightling way. She's what Jack Fuller will have to settle for instead of a sphinx.

Speaking of cloven-hoofed animals, if you ever get a chance to watch



pass.

sam

  •  
stiling with style
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2008 »
The walk to the village can be done on ruminant-strewn meadows rather than SUV-strewn roads, unharrassed by anything other than the occasional territorial dog, thanks to this:



Once upon a time an anonymous benefactor took the trouble to modify this section of fence and augment the base of the tree with a step. It's perfectly crafted, situated to be of use chiefly to me and random ramblers; if it wasn't here, few would miss it and there would be no public inquiry.

To all those who do good works for whomever may pass by to enjoy them, I salute you.



Later in the year:

The climbing aids have disappeared! Save the corners chopped into the crosspost. Am considering chaining myself to the fence as long as it doesn't get too damp.


sam

  •  
Counting sheep
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2008 »
It's easier when they're right outside your window. Looks like they're counting a few of their own.


sam

  •  
country life
« Reply #9 on: April 10, 2009 »

sam

  •  
Class of 2009
« Reply #10 on: April 10, 2009 »

Sautéed in blood, like all newborns


Iodine on the umbilical cord


Hey you


Into the great wide open


The pleasures of a good scratch


The pleasures of a good nap


sam

  •  
another year, another flood
« Reply #11 on: December 02, 2009 »
This is the pedestrian footbridge visible in post #2. Too deep for wellies?


click to zoom out

sam

  •  
oh deer
« Reply #12 on: December 02, 2009 »



sam

  •  
the white album
« Reply #13 on: January 09, 2010 »











sam

  •  
bullish on stoats
« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2010 »
Visited my old patch last night, the City of London, where I lived before settling south. The occasion was historian Niall Ferguson's talk in St Paul's Cathedral about Siegmund Warburg [1902-1982], founder of the bank of the same name (surely you've heard of Siegmund's?). Ferguson offered a brief overview of banking then and now. It seems that maximizing shareholder value wasn't at the top of Warburg's agenda. There was a large audience, some of whom may have been attracted by the prospect of banker bonus bashing.

The queue to get into the cathedral was a strange double ringed affair, almost like water circling a drain. It was very difficult to locate the end of it; confused people struggled to find meaning.

You may recall that last year a Goldman Sachs executive offered the following sermon from the same pulpit: "The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is a recognition of self-interest.... We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all." As Goldman's Lloyd Blankfeind later put it, supposedly in Lennonesque irony, they are doing God's work.

Moving to his creatures great and small division, below is a hurried snap of an unidentified visitor in our garden. My wife submitted it to her city mice coworkers, who take a wary interest in the mysterious far off countryside she escapes to every night. Current opinion is that it's a stoat.



In other rural news, a squirrel dives for a juicy berry before an interloper - perhaps a stoat? - can get to it



and farmers harvest Weetabix


sam

  •  
the swimming hole
« Reply #15 on: July 08, 2010 »


Neighbour with pool: priceless.