And then back up north to the lakes

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Cheers to Rich up in the Lake District for sending us a couple of pictures of his back garden. “The fox and cubs have taken over but look quite nice.” He was saying there is a theory that the Romans originally brought them over which makes interesting reading.

“There used to be a Roman road crossing right past the village. Historically the road we live in was called Watery lane though not anymore. That was because of all the natural springs (that are still bubbling out of our front gardens now). It would’ve been a good place for Roman soldiers to water horses. As these flowers are all over the hillside along with fig trees, they may have been brought here 2000 years ago by the Romans as flowers and figs are native to southern Europe”. Interesting idea Rich and ta for getting in touch.

By the way what are the figs like Rich? We are still not sure if you can grow ones that are edible and a decent amount of them as we’ve heard conflicting reports. We love a fig here and even have a soft spot for a fig roll with a cup of tea. Answers on a postcard please gardening friends if you’ve heard otherwise too.

From the south coast to the south of France

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Thanks to Debby H who’s away on holiday at the moment in the south of France, near Frejus. She said it’s still hot out there with temperatures around 30 degrees C!

“Attached is a photo showing that the cactus are still thriving here. Lots of prickly pears on them, which will turn red later.” Brillliant pictures Debby, we do like a cactus!

On a south coast tip

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We’re away at the moment down at the south coast. We only bumped into (at a bus stop, no less) the friendly older chap with the Captain Bird’s Eye beard with a tooth missing again who we met on Beachy Head when we were last in these parts (here).

We’d see him on various occasions throughout that holiday, sitting having a roll up or just walking, and he’d pass on some obscure nuggets of information about the vicinity, a lot more of an “out there” nature then the official tourist walks we went on.

He sat behind us on the bus trip into town the other day and told us the next morning he was going to put some tide tables up around Beachy Head. Trying to suss out who he worked for or was he a park ranger, we asked him was he employed by the local council to which he replied “There are ladies present so I cannot tell you what I honestly think of the local authority”.

He told us after he retired, he took it upon himself to make sure the walkers around the coastline at Beachy Head were safe and not cut off by tides which happens a lot as the lifeboats were always coming out to rescue people around there. He knew the area around there like the back of his hand what with serving on the lifeboats for some years.

Towards the end of the bus trip we asked him where he lived and he said “The other side of the lighthouse, where I was a keeper for a few years”. We then exchanged our goodbyes and he got off the bus with a friendly wave.

Then it struck us. Were the stories works of an over-active imagination? We sincerely hope not.

Pirate radio connects us all

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We’ve just finished a new mix for an up-and-coming Imaginary Stations related project and found this lovely bit of Electronica from Classical Mechanics called Porphyry off the “Sealand” LP on Bandcamp and you know we anything Guy Maunsell related! More on Sealand (AKA Fort Roughs or Rough Towers) here and here.

 

And one that got away. Thanks to DJ Frederick for spotting this cracking version of The Horse on the GRC site after we chose another classic from a collection on there. Drum solo!

 

And as Fred pointed out, The Horse by Cliff Nobles & Co was an important tune on Radio Veronica (we just read it was the signature tune for their popular travelling mobile disco, the Veronica Drive-In Show). There’s always a radio connection and it certainly connects us all! Have a good Sunday all.

It’s a bit short notice but…

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Unfortunately, we will be down the south coast later this evening but earlier this week noticed this poster up all around the Farringdon locality. The day features an appearance of the great Swell Maps!

Also, an appearance of a typo (we do loads so we can’t talk). Free random pack of seeds to the winner who spots it within a couple of minutes.

On a worldwide tip

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Here’s the latest Lingua Franca (Episode number 10!) with “Songs sung in different languages” from Will Jeff on Love Will Save The Day FM.

If you want a nice worldwide mix up journey of a radio show, you can’t get better than this. Cheers Will!

Straight to bindweed’s head

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Some people get fed up with bindweed and let it get them down. Kit G5KIT in Bristol on the other hand, let said weed influence a 15 minute mix.
We wonder if you place a speaker near said the offending bindweed and have this on a continual loop that the problem will go away. Very doubtful, but a cracking mix all the same. Cheers Kit.
Tracklistings:
Brian Cant – One Potato, Two Potato
Junior Byles – Cally Weed
King Tubby – Dub from the Roots
Lee Perry & the Upsetters – Bush Weed
Sly & Robbie – Dub Glory

On a harvest festival vibe

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We’ve had quite a few emails of late with pictures of harvests attached that got us thinking, is it that time of the year again or is it a bit earlier (we saw that blackberries were ready a few weeks before they usually are).

The first is from Rich in the Lake District of his damsons in the garden (above). We’ve never grew Damsons before and don’t know that much about them apart from seeing a jar of the jam once on a Women’s Institute stall at a church fete. Just seen a few other recipes for them here. Cheers Rich!

Ta to Debby H in north London who sent us the above. “Here’s our second crop of pears, and there’s still more to come! All from a tiny tree! Also in the picture is our latest crop of cherry tomatoes. So much garden produce this year.” You’re right there Debby!

Great to hear from Justin Patrick Moore in in Cincinnati who sent us a snap of his carrot harvest this year. We love those red coloured ones.

It’s funny with odd coloured varieties, we imagine the different coloured carrots are just like the orange ones but once we grew white beetroot as we love beetroot here. It did taste like beetroot but it just wasn’t the same without the red juice staining the bread in the cheese sandwich it was in!

Finally some tomato pictures from Spike from Morschen43 in Le Puy-en-Velay. Top picture are a few varieties he has grown including Beefheart black, Crimea, grape and Russian. The above two are Russian beefsteak. Great stuff Spike!

Thanks to everyone for sending in those harvest pictures and keep sending them in!

Don’t try this at home

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Seen at Herne Hill Market the other week, a great one from the artist called Julie Lomoe from 1969! Great graphics with a wonderful sense of humour about Hip Ski Tripping. Far out! That’s a cool jumper the skier is wearing and also some nice ski kecks.

Polytunnel business

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The polytunnel is now up and we are in business! There’s nowt much in there now apart from some assorted chillies, a few different types of tomatoes and some freshly sown spinach but we’re sure that’ll change in a week or so.

It took us a good morning and a bit of “That isn’t the right piece, where’s 5B?”, the thing falling apart and it looking like a skeleton of a whale on the lawn, and parts moving when they weren’t supposed to but we got there in the end. After a good tighten up, the frame was put into place (above). Thanks to Alan C for lots of tips, especially this great one: “I put a layer of woodchip under mine but some use wood strips or gravel/stones. This gives a nice evenly flat base and slows the frame rusting – the woodchip quickly dries out and separates the poles from the soil.”

As soon as we put the cover on we dug a little trench and tucked the excess of the cover into the ground and put broken concrete slabs, bricks and whathaveyou to weigh it down and then backfilled with soil and more woodchip so it is hopefully stays put in the wind.

As we said there’s not much in there at the moment but we’ll update you. Cheers to Alan C again for his tips and advice. Big up all Polytunnel crew!