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Posts Tagged ‘Somerset Levels’

Early last Saturday morning I called the Ambulance and my Mother was taken into Weston Hospital. It was an “odd call” in the sense that there was not any one specific ailment to point to like say a heart attack. Possibly she had Flu, certainly a leg infection that was very painful plus she has the most awful pressure sore on her bottom. In fact it turned out that she had three separate infections but none responded to treatment.

I visited her and spoke to her on Sunday morning when she was a gibberish truth to tell but as I looked at her lying in her bed, I was taken straight back to a Hospital in Wandsworth in the late 1970’s where her Mother was just prior to her death, exact same look. When I visited again later that afternoon, she was very deeply asleep although she was apparently pretty sparky that evening when my eldest Son, his wife and my Granddaughter visited her.

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The film “Groundhog” starring Bill Murray is one of my favourites and in some ways, we all have Groundhog experiences in life, mine and for over a year has been a personal saga of in-growing toenails which hardly sounds that exciting which, it isn’t to an outsider but both painful and crippling to the person living with them.

The truth is, like a latter day Boston Tea Party, my two Big Toes have risen up in rebellion against the rest of my body. They are demanding one to one attention on an unprecedented scale and will brook no negotiations upon the matter, their war of attrition continues unabated as they take it in turns to cause aggravation !

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I should be neither unkind nor unfair but I was not that impressed with an article in the Independent today written by a lady called Yvonne Roberts and entitled; “The age of the aged has at Long Last Arrived.” The link as follows: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yvonne-roberts-the-age-of-the-aged-has-at-long-last-arrived-1855413.html

I thought the article rather lightweight simply because in a style typical of people like her, there is far too much “either/or” rather than  “and”, life is not simple, it is complex and “individual people” based but, read and judge for yourself. To say that the old are wise and the young foolish maybe correct in some cases, the point is, it is not true in all cases and likely, not in most either.

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So here we are again, the end of another year and decade, the start of a new one and what an odd year 2009 has been. At a personal level I am frankly amazed that my Mother is still with us, bits fall off and yet she still struggles on ! My own year has been dogged with repeating ingrowing nail problems and as a consequence, repeating infections and my immense frustration with Doctors ! But having said that, I close 2009 with the best photographic kit I’ve ever had and a very clear mind.

On the political front, Gordon Brown has stumbled from one crisis to another, all Members of Parliament have been bought low by the “Expenses Scandal” which I have always thought rather overblown but the public have used it as a stick to beat with in terms of “payback time” and a General Election must be held within 5 months… good fun all round.

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At the beginning of October I mentioned in another piece that I had picked up a rather nasty bacterial infection called Cellulitus which inflamed one leg to twice the size of the other. I detest being “ill”, have never been the kind of person who described a cold as “Flu” and have a reasonably high pain threshold but I must admit that in the earlier stages, it was very painful.

Still the main problem was that as I have a housebound 89 year old Mother to look after, being “not well” can only be a part time activity at best and so all activities have to be prioritized into essential and non-essential tasks. To me though the biggest loss due to necessity was having to suspend my morning bike rides.

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As this boring “MPs Expenses” saga goes through its death rattle, every idiot and their Mother is trotting out their pet ideas which are motivated by either personal interest or just plain ignorance, in the latter case the National Tooth Fairy would do them just as well, Boogie Woogie have a sixpence Click Clack !

If you are Nick Clegg and a Libdem, the fact that the Liberals lost their “Radical Party Crown” to the Labour Party a hundred years ago and haven’t managed to reclaim it back from them because of the Liberals own lack of imagination and drive, clearly needs Proportional Representation to make up for their past failures under our “first past the post system” – “Change the system to suit us and our total lack of competence is their cry…” Enchanting and I think not !

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A week ago I photographed a family of Canadian Geese in one of the ponds on the flood plain of the River Brue. Goslings like ducklings are very vulnerable and it was quite noticeable just how protective the parents were. Although we have a lot of Canadian Geese around here, they nest elsewhere and normally are found on the lakes in the Apex Park which is beside the River Brue.

This morning riding home I spotted them actually on the River and the parents still had all three, just a little bit bigger and fluffier. Of course I couldn’t get too close and didn’t have a long enough lens but never the less, it was good to see them again.

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As politics is a bit boring currently, I thought a picture entry might be more fun and I like these images which in a couple of cases, via a bit of careful work in the “digital darkroom”, could become very special. The other day I came across my friend the Heron again, he is such a magnificent bird. I suppose if I had more time to sit and wait as the Heron does, plus had a faster and therefore ludicrously expensive telephoto lens, I might be able to do better but I like this sequence although it was a case of a “quick grab”.

Herons are “cool creatures” and don’t panic whereas the majority of the wading birds and Egrets, are highly nervous and take to the wing at the slightest disturbance.

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I normally use the Press and the on-line blogs to provide me with thoughts and inspirations for my own but Lordy, Lordy, right now it is an “Anger Fest” with all rationality gone out of the window so, time for more interesting things and in this case, Canadian Geese. Whereas Ducks are definitely rather “Daffy”, Geese are really cool creatures unlike say, Speaker Mick Martin.

I spotted this pair with their three goslings on one of the shallow crab ponds on the flood plain of the River Brue. I had never seen them with their young before and it was charming, they were very dutiful and protective parents.

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Yesterday on my ride by the River Brue, I took these pictures that I thought I might share. To me the perfect conditions: Big sky, clouds and blue, high tide and still water, a sheer joy to be there and drink it all in.

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