Hinckley-C to the Sea ... and back again.

This is the longest walk I've done in eight months. I am suffering from it a few hours later: Paraesthesia (pins and needles) down the whole of my left leg, stiff as board generally, peripheral neuropathy, lower abdomen, outer thigh, and calf (I will need to stay warm tonight, or I will risk hideous cramps). 

In terms of just work muscle ache ... not yet.

I am glad I took the walk, enjoyed some headspace and challenged myself. The last eight months have been a pig. The last two weeks shambling round fields and increasing my swimming from 400mtrs to a kilometre seems to have made some difference. However, it could just be coincidental, after all, eight months with a severe strain of the lumbar spine is excessive.

I hope I haven't been a twat taking a risk. However, no risk, no rewards. Monday will be here soon enough, and I'll know if I have overegged it.

Hinckley-C to Sea the movie

The end-line, think about it: Energy is not just another product: it’s what makes civilisation possible.

Viscount Matt Ridley's recent article in the Daily Mail linked below, sums up how we have ended up in the current energy crisis pickle.

Link to the article.

It's daft, and to think a dozen Hinckley C's would solve the issue of energy and probably go a long way to meeting UK emissions targets. But as he points out, the use of SMR's (Small Modular Reactors) civilian versions of the types of reactors found on nuclear submarines, would be an even better solution.

From the National Post, Wuhan scientists sought to infect bats with coronavirus 18 months before first case, documents show

 At some point, the smoking gun is going to be visible to all except the emperor and his adherents.

I guess that at some point down the line as people retire or die, the truth will out, but I suspect it will be many years before that happens. And while it is, leaping to a conclusion without all the necessary evidence to support the hypothesis. The rest of the world should frame emergent pandemic awareness going forward in the context of the "Captain Trips" methodology. Rather than looking exclusively for a natural origin from the outset. 

That's a terrible way to operate even if it's necessary, because it casts suspicion, muddies the water and causes tensions. However, in terms of risk management, it's quite clearly sensible.

Nationalpost.com wuhan-scientists-sought-to-infect-bats-with-coronavirus-18-months-before-first-case-documents-show

Steep Holme

In August just gone we took a trip to Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel. I thought -because I hadn’t been told otherwise- that we would be taking the old ferry that beached and then dropped its disembarking ramp onto the beach like a wartime landing craft. However, things have moved on. We would travel to the island by RIB with these guys https://www.bayislandvoyages.co.uk/.

The island has been in use for thousands of years, possibly since Neolithic times, definitely since Roman times (they got everywhere) … more here Steepholm Online and here Wikipedia Steep Holm. We shot some video and edited it together here Grims reality - Steep Holm there are other videos available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkrmaHjGQpc and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHeqDlvIXCs

This is one of those days out that is worth it just for the boat ride. BUT there is so much more. The place has been of strategic importance for the Roman and the Vikings, and of course during the Napoleonic era, the first and the second world wars. In this regard, it’s not much different than Tilbury Fort in Essex, Brean Down across the bay on the mainland or every other small strategic fort or lookout post around our nation. Nowadays it’s a nature reserve and tourist attraction, and that if you like is a great way for an island fortified for war to continue into the future.

The above said, there are a couple of things that demonstrate how little regard we pay to the world live in (get out the environment drum and starts banging it loudly). All over the island, we saw small pieces of plastic, bottle tops, bags, bits of net, bits of ships ropes, balls (tennis mostly, but various others). We also found chicken bones in an unnatural abundance. I puzzled over this for a while. The lighter plastic could have blown in, but what about the big bits and the bones? We found out the source of this material at the scheduled 2pm talk and Q&A. Seagulls.

People moan about gulls. People moan about gulls too much. Think not what gulls do to you in their environment, but what you do them in theirs. Your discarded fried chicken box, your dropped wrapper. Collected innocently by scavenging birds and taken eleven miles out to sea to their reserve, their space to then contaminate their home.

I would recommend this trip to everyone with a love incredible views and the history of Britain.

First-light-of-the-cosmos

 One of those special interest articles that I have to read.

First-light-of-the-cosmos-a-signal-detected-from-epic-turning-point-in-the-universe