Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers: Out Like a Ram!

Shropshire Weather

After a week of beautiful un-March-like weather yesterday turned to a more seasonal temperature. Frosty starts have been a prelude to warm sunny cheerful days. It did seem too good to be true. Days licking the garden into shape have been a pleasure. Fewer birds are now coming to feed, although I still have my squabble of assorted sparrows frequenting the porridge oats!!

April (or All) Fool’s Day

Today is the end of the month and tomorrow is April Fool’s Day! Get your practical joke in by noon or the joke’s on you! The origins of this rather odd morning appear unclear, although the idea seems to have been common in European countries for centuries, without anybody providing the explanation as to its roots. Talking of roots, a tree which grew spaghetti which was shown on the BBC in 1957 is a good example of this weird custom. Practical joking was carried out as far back as in Ancient Roman times, not that I can remember!!

In Like a Lion

March ‘came in like a lamb’ and therefore, by tradition, needs to ‘go out like a lion’! At the moment the weather is very calm, but things can and often do change. I’m sure sometimes there are lambs or lions at both ends of the month. Some say it’s to do with Leo (lion) being on the eastern horizon at sunset at the beginning of the month and Aries (ram) being on the western horizon at the end, but that doesn’t make any sense making the saying ‘in like a lion’ and ‘out like a ram’, which would make both ends of the month pretty damn fierce!!

Weasel on the Lawn

On going to hang the washing out a couple of days ago I came across an unfortunate little corpse on the lawn. Even though I have resided in rural surroundings all of my life I still wasn’t sure whether it was a stoat or a weasel. On researching the find I discovered it was a weasel. My source informed me that a stoat is longer than a weasel (Mustela nivalis), but unless you have one of each to compare that’s not a lot of use! But, easier by far, was the fact that a stoat has a black tip to its tail. This poor creature did not.

Weasels are small active predators; they have a sleek, slim body and short legs. They are strictly carnivorous and can tackle prey as large as rabbits and hares in spite of the bigger males only being up to 28cms in length and the smaller females only weighing up to 59gs. A quick bite to the back of the neck and that’s dinner sorted!! (That’s the weasel not me!) Apart from being a bit on the chewed side the weasel on the lawn was straight out of Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. A case of the biter being bit! (I guess by the cat!)

Well I think that’s enough rambling for today! Thanks for your time!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx

Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers: Spring into Summer!

Vernal Equinox

March 20^th saw the Vernal or Spring Equinox and the beginning of Spring! I didn’t check to see if we did actually get 12 hours of daylight and 12 of darkness, but I’m sure the experts are correct in their thinking! We have had some beautiful spring days this week. The sort of weather to start jobs in the garden like mowing the lawn and getting ahead of the weeds, which always grow no matter what the conditions! And after all, what is a weed but a plant growing in the wrong place!

8^oWarmer

The sunny weather (as much as 8^o warmer than the average for the time of year) is supposed to last over the weekend, and perusing the local weather site there looks like there’s no rain in prospect for the next ten days at least! Things are certainly getting serious! The ditches along the roadside have been dry for months.

Near Miss Day

I was a bit perturbed to see that yesterday was Near Miss Day! I had pottered about all day and not realised that I should have been celebrating still being ‘here’! Apparently in 1989 an asteroid the ‘size of a mountain’ narrowly missed Earth by a mere 500.000 miles, which in ‘space’ terms is equivalent to me passing someone on the street! Six hours earlier and we would have been the new ‘dinosaurs! A sobering thought indeed!

British Summer Time (BST)

This weekend brings the beginning of British Summer Time, when the powers that be decree that we must all put our clocks forward by one hour! All together, or it doesn't work!!! (One less hour of sleep!!) ‘Altering the clocks’ was the idea of a builder called William Willett in 1907 (the year my dear old dad was born!)! Mr Willett wanted to promote health and happiness (not sure how that works, just makes people more miserable losing an hour’s sleep!) and save the nation money on fuel bills! (Much like today really!) He wanted to move the time forward by 20 minutes on four consecutive Sundays in April and back again in September! Good grief, it’s bad enough doing it once! Anyway poor old Mr Willett didn’t live long enough to see his plans through to fruition as he died of the ‘flu’ in 1915 a year before the first British Summer Time (BST) was experienced! (Maybe if the Act had been established sooner it might have prolonged William’s life!!) During the Second World War Britain was on British Double Summer Time! (BDST) But, don’t ask me to explain that one!!

Thanks for your time!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx

Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers: Spring!

Weather

Weather-wise we’ve had a mixed bag over the last week or so. The end of February brought mild days with the sun excelling itself. I spotted the first primrose of the year, on the 28^th February, nestled at the bottom of the hedge bank opposite the church at the end of the lane. A real promise of spring.

Snow

On the 4^th March after the month had ‘come in like a lamb’ we awoke to a snow. Big floppy flakes flobbled down to make quite a covering. The surrounding hills were topped with a pristine white icing. It disappeared as quickly as it came. The right sort of snow to have! Since then we have enjoyed a mixture of sunshine, frosty mornings and dull, grey, damp days.

Spring

The daffodils are coming out a treat and the birds are providing a wakeup call to gladden the heart. And, officially, Spring begins on the 20^th of this month! Hooray!!

Water Shortage

Parts of the country are experiencing a worrying time at the moment due to the lack of rainfall over the last months, even years! Reservoirs which should be full at this time of year are worryingly low. A ban on the use of hosepipes in some areas will soon be a reality, and there is talk of piping water from areas of plenty to places of drought. Meanwhile, the water authorities have numerous ‘leaks’ wasting millions of litres of precious Adam’s Ale! A few years ago most of the local ‘bore holes’ were condemned by the water authorities, who were intent on taking over the world of water, for a huge fee! All the sweet local water was replaced by fluoride, yukky flavoured liquid, from which a decent cup of tea has yet to be made!

When I Was Young (many years ago!!)

When I was young our water came from a local reservoir situated at the top the bank just outside the village in a farmer’s field! It tasted like nectar from the water gods, which of course it was! Then the village had to convert to Severn Trent water, a generic liquid which provided a strange waft of weirdness when sipping a cup of Typhoo! Same with the milk! There was nothing like fetching a can of fresh milk delivered straight from the cow as nature intended! Dad always worked on the local farms and fresh daily milk was often part of his ‘wage’! We supped this delicious creamy liquid for years and came to no harm, in fact probably benefitted from its naturalness! Then it all changed, milk had to be pasteurised! Now milk comes in a plastic container, has a strange ‘blue’ look about it and is devoid of all its cream, which languishes in little expensive pots all of its own! Farm milk arrived home visibly divided into layers of milk and cream!

Teeth on a ‘Plate’

Well, that’s my gripe for today. Plus I’ve been to the dentist this week and that looks like being a pricey business too! Years ago they just whipped out all your teeth at one swoop and gave you a set of non-decaying gnashers on a ‘plate’!! Good Idea?

Thanks for your time!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx