Our bin lorry went jostling along a very uneven lane the other day. We were working in a small village called Doddington. As we came out of the village we had to go up a lot of rough and uneven muddy drives towards farms etc.
Sometimes one might drive a good distance to collect a bin from a farm sitting isolated in the Fens. Its all good fun and part of the job we all like. I'm always looking for birds of prey and along this route, I've seen a Little Owl perched upon the cable. I was hoping to catch it on my mobile camera, but it was not there.
We stopped at one very rural location along the drive when all of these, weird, hairy, over grown dysfunctional looking sheep came bounding up to the fence. I think they were hoping we had food for them. They seemed most interested in us and not of sheeply nature. They took me a little by surprise, but I did realise that I had seen such things on TV. I'm told they are called Llamas and come from South America.
"There are some rather strange farms around here," I said to Dave and Alex.
They agreed and laughed with me as I got out my mobile phone and photographed the llamas by the fence.
Some farms have alpacas roaming about and I have even seen deer farms, plus ostrich farms too. The UK's agriculture is becoming a little more adventurous of late.
How long ago was it built? Who placed the first building brick? When was it finished? How many people did it employ?
Can you imagine going back in time to one of the great Chinese dynasties and walking along this wall from one tower to another. From one end to another. Seeing all the various guards along the way. The sentinels of the day that guarded the snake like edifice that can still be seen in this day and age.
How long did this grand undertaking take to complete? It was obviously done in stages and perhaps over centuries. Just looking at the image above takes my breath away. China's civilisation has metamorphosed through many stages of development, yet still the Great Wall remains.
I wonder what ghosts one might see if all the ages could be picked randomly to view? Say 300 BC. Who would be patrolling this walkway? I think the bushes would be gone, but there might be a soldier or two pacing along this battlement. What dynasty would he be of? How old would the Great Wall have been then?
Who was the individual that dreamed of such a monument? Why was it built? Surely not to keep Mongel tribesmen at bay?
"Non-stop action and engaging dialogue. Certainly one of the best reads out there! Both kids and adults will love it."
The Bully Boys were the largest, toughest gang in the city, the undisputed champions of the street. That was until a rival group called the Marauders, led by the evil Nicodemus, stole their turf. Now they are despised and hunted by every cat in Tangy Town. Their only hope is a newcomer from the suburbs with a bizarre talent, a talent that could put them back on top. But can it? This is a story for both children and and adults, a rip-roaring fantasy that you will not soon forget.
Great fun with engaging characters. Highly creative with cats being the centre of the action. Can the unlikely newcomer save the Bully Boys or will it be then end of them all? Follow the cats through their hi-jinx towards a new future.
Today, Carole and I went for a walk along Shepard's Bridge. I took the camera with me and there were a few things worth photographing though many did not come out too well. Still with today's photo tech one just scrubs the shot off of the memory card and starts again. I managed to get a cormorant on the cable line and then flying off.
Also, I saw a bird of prey (Common Buzzard) being harassed by crows and seagulls. I'm fast learning that when I see a group of carrion squawking excitedly; it is usually because a bird of prey is within the territory. They gang up and try to hustle the raptor away.
It usually works, but I think they have to be a little careful when doing this. They seem more manoeuvrable then raptors but they only need to get swiped once by the talons and the particular carrion bird will be heading downwards and endgame.
My pictures of the buzzard, hiding in the tree, were not worthy of putting on the blog. The distance needed better patience and each shot looked blurred due to the lens wobble. I got a couple of the buzzard flying off with carrion in pursuit, but again at distance.
After a while we got to Shepard's Bridge and had a look about. Nothing much was happening and although the day was bright, the winter had a chill bite. Not great for January, but just enough to let us know we were in winter.
Having just got over the Christmas Bank Holidays, our bin collection dates are all out of sequence. We are collecting Monday's on a Wednesday etc.When this happens we do something called 'catch up.' This means we come in on Saturdays to catch up for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. This involves three following Saturdays on Overtime to make the days go back in order of rotation.
This Saturday 9th January 2016, the alarm went off and I thought, "Errrrrrr - Saturday and getting up for work." Our job always gives us Saturday and Sunday off and we do a rotating rest day between Monday to Friday. A four day week. We do long days when in work, but it is all out door in the countryside most of the time or in pleasant country hamlets. Its a very agreeable job and with great work mates. It's just these odd Saturdays when one is a little spoilt to not working weekends. When that alarm call comes in the winter, one doesn't always get up with great aplomb if you get my meaning.
Still - get up - I did. The shower soon washed the cobwebs away and into to work I went. We were scheduled to do a small village called 'Friday Bridge.' in the Fenland. The approach has open fields. Our driver Alex commented on one shinning star up in the morning darkness. We reasoned it was probably a planet. Using his phone app he was able to point the screen towards the one shinning tiny orb and his screen lit up with stars that would be there if all was clearer. What an amazing app. We were able to learn instantly that it was Saturn.
Feeling pleased with ourselves we got out and began to load the bins of Friday Bridge. We had a helper from another department called Lloyd (Loading bins in picture) and all three of us were marvelling at how great the sky looked in the dawn. The clouds seemed to be of many colours and to the north we could see the sky looked tempest as though rain might come. However, where we were, the climate was agreeable. Especially for January in winter.
I commented on how I did not fancy getting up on a Saturday morning but seeing the sky was all worth it as Alex and I were clicking our mobile phone cameras. Lloyd was laughing at us and our uplifting view on the wonderful morning. In the Fens you can see for miles across the flat drained marshlands that are rich in agriculture. Everywhere are farms and neat lines of distant trees running along the dike networks. All bare and bleak looking. We know that spring is not far off and in a few weeks this will all change.
Alex laughed and said. "See! If you get up early enough - Mother Nature Will Blow You a Kiss."
We all laughed and set about our task of clearing the inhabitants of Friday Bridge's bin garbage.
Just another day in the Fenland, but when one looks up into the sky and out across all the surrounding fields; I realise my lot in the world is a rather fortunate one.
Some of these old seventies rock bands really flick an old nostalgia switch. They seemed so modern - an open door to a new world that was waiting with open arms, where personified dreams beckoned. Now even the old dreams seem tainted and sad. The world has changed so much since this time in the early seventies and I never noticed it along the way.
When I look back, I can see the change, but did not notice as the days and months rolled by. Only when looking back, across the years, I realise changes were happening and these caused consequences and so on. However, I'm not complaining that the changes are disappointing. They are just different from what I think I expected. I think songs like this, when I was young, presented a horizon of opportunity - a view of a green meadow with a clean sun shinning just above the lush green wheat. It seemed very inviting. My life before me.
I think I walked to that hill and passed that beckoning sun but never noticed it because there were so many things that I was attending to upon the way. I was young when I heard the upbeat and very pleasant song and the dream was a wonderful indulgence. The romantic journey towards the future was about to begin, then it did and I never bothered to notice the optimism along the way.
Then, I hear this song again and watch the band as they were back then. The echo of that hopeful time brushes me and I remember how jolly it was to be a youth again with naive and grand ideas. Its all part of growing up and now we can go back and touch those memories as an indulgence.
Germany had made some splendid ships by the time WWII broke out. In a short space of time, they won great reputation, but most were lost early in the war or were confined to ports and fjords etc. Those that did try to make an impact did, but at cost. There just was not enough of these grand vessels to do too much damage. Not like the submarine Wolf packs did. However, the design of Germany's WWII ships remains compelling to history fans and many people marvel at the wonderful ability of such Battleships. The German pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, which fought an epic sea battle with the British Cruisers Exeter, Ajax and Achilles, at the mouth of the River Plate
Taken from the Belfast telegraph
12 APRIL 2014
A lasting memorial has been unveiled to the sailors on all sides who fought and died in the Battle of the River Plate during the Second World War 75 years ago.On the landmark anniversary of what was the war's first major naval engagement, a handful of the battle's surviving veterans gathered to see a plaque unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, today.
The event was made famous by the 1956 Hollywood movie The Battle of the River Plate.
The engagement was triggered after three Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, Achilles and Ajax, crewed by British and New Zealand sailors, began hunting the much larger pocket battleship the Admiral Graf Spee, after the German surface raider had successfully destroyed several Allied merchant ships.
Among the surviving veterans attending today was 91-year-old John Garrard, who said: "Of course, if the Graf Spee had done its job, we wouldn't be here having this conversation. She'd have sunk us."
The memorial, costing about £14,000, was paid for by donations and commissioned by the HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association - it is the 300th memorial to be unveiled at the arboretum.
Among those attending the unveiling today were the family of the man who commanded the Royal Navy's attack squadron, Commodore Henry Harwood, who was later knighted and promoted admiral for his part in the action.
His youngest son, Stephen Harwood said: "The fact this event has been attended as it has been today, with more than 250 people here, is a very good thing."
He added: "It is actually the first memorial in this country to the battle - there's one in Montevideo and one in Ajax in Ontario in Canada, so it's a very good thing we've got this one at the arboretum."
In the opening months of the war the German pocket battleship, under the command of Captain Hans Langsdorff, had been a scourge of the southern Atlantic sea lanes sinking or capturing supply vessels vital to the Allies' war effort.
It was just after dawn on the morning of December 13, 1939, that the Royal Navy attack squadron commanded by Commodore Harwood first got to grips with Graf Spee near the River Plate estuary between Uruguay and Argentina, in South America.
Engaging the ship, Harwood had correctly predicted the German vessel's westward move across the south Atlantic to secure fresh provisions.
Mr Garrard, who at just 17-years-old was part of the forward turret crew on HMS Ajax, said it was the Graf Spee that spotted the Allied ships first, only advertising its presence when it dropped a salvo of shells short of the navy cruisers sending up plumes of water from the ocean.
He added German gunnery was "pretty accurate".
"We started to fire, and we seemed to be firing forever more," said Mr Garrard.
"The actual fighting and manoeuvring lasted about an hour - of course I knew nothing about that because I was manning one of the 6in guns.
"She (the Graf Spee) managed to get into Montevideo harbour and never came out again. She blew herself up - for which we were duly thankful."
While out-numbered, the Graf Spee heavily out-gunned each of the Royal Navy attackers and bearing towards them turned its main armament of six 11in (28cm) guns on HMS Exeter, badly damaging the British cruiser.
HMS Ajax and Achilles then moved in closer in an attempt to draw fire off Exeter and in turn forcing Langsdorff to flee under cover of a smokescreen - but not before it landed gun salvos on all its pursuers, including Exeter which had by then returned to the fight.
While not severely damaged, the Allied ships had mauled the German vessel and destroyed its ship's galley and food provisions, with Langsdorff also left concussed by shellfire.
The Graf Spee steamed for the neutral port of Montevideo and, bottled-up by the Royal Navy and unable to make significant repairs, the ship was later scuttled by its crew on December 18.
Captain Langsdorff, who along with more than 1,000 surviving crew had got off the ship before it was sunk, shot himself a few days later.
During the battle, 36 German sailors and 72 Allied servicemen, the majority from HMS Exeter, were killed.
The result of the battle was the loss of a heavily armed capital ship of which the German surface fleet had precious few, and a morale-boosting victory for Britain.
In a speech to survivors of the Exeter and Ajax at the London Guildhall in February 1940, Winston Churchill, who would later that year become prime minister, described the battle as those "few glittering, deadly hours of action."
He added: "The brilliant sea fight, which Admiral Harwood conceived and which those who are here executed, takes its place in our naval annals, and I might add that in a dark, cold winter it warmed the cockles of the British heart."
Stephen Harwood said it was clear in hindsight that "that battle set a standard for the war" by the manner in which an out-gunned but "fighting" Royal Navy sought and won the engagement with what was on paper, a stronger foe.
"The British ships couldn't believe it - that this powerful ship had run away," he added.
"It wasn't that she was mortally damaged, but she was damaged in her galleys and elsewhere.
"The captain Langsdorff got concussed - it didn't work out."
Mr Garrard said the outcome might have been different had the roles of the battle been reversed. He said "Langsdorff made the excuse that he couldn't feed his men because we'd smashed up his galley. I thought that was a poor excuse, actually."
"If the position had of been reversed, I am sure we'd have come out fighting - probably got sunk anyway. But he decided to save his men and blew the ship up."
The Stealth and Daring of the Admiral Graf Spee (German battlecruiser WWII)
Hans Langdorff was the Captain of the Admiral Graf Spee and within a few short months, at the beginning of World War two, he and his ship would blaze their way into the history books with daring commerce raids on allied shipping.
Below is some information from YouTube by sammarlow77593.
The Admiral Graf Spee was one of the most famous German naval warships of World War II, along with the Bismarck. Her size was limited to that of a cruiser by the Treaty of Versailles, but she was much more heavily armed than a cruiser due to innovative weight-saving techniques employed in her construction.
She was sent to the Atlantic Ocean as a commerce raider in 1939, where she sank nine Allied merchant ships. Numerous British hunting groups were assigned to find her, with three British ships finally tracking her down in December 1939. The Battle of the River Plate ensued, during which the Graf Spee was damaged. She docked for repairs in the neutral port of Montevideo but was forced by international law to leave within 72 hours. Faced with what he believed to be overwhelming odds, the captain scuttled his ship rather than risk the lives of his crew.
Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class cruiser. Launched in 1934, she was named after the World War I Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee who died, along with two of his sons, in the first Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. She was the second vessel to be named after him, the first being the uncompleted World War I German battlecruiser SMS Graf Spee. The launching took place on 30 June 1934 with Admiral Erich Raeder delivering a pre-launch speech, and the christening performed by Gräfin Huberta von Spee, daughter of the late Vice Admiral von Spee.
Before Admiral Graf Spee was given her official name, she was referred to as Panzerschiff C and Ersatz Braunschweig, as she would be replacing the old battleship Braunschweig in the fleet inventory. She cost 82 million Reichsmark to build. After World War I, replacement capital ships for the German Navy were limited by the Treaty of Versailles to 10,000 tonnes and 11 inches (280 mm) guns. Electric arc welding was used in her construction instead of conventional rivets, thereby saving considerable weight by not requiring overlapping steel plates.
