24th January 2021

 

Dear All,

Both Kate and I have had our first Covid jabs this week in Over Community Centre, which started as the main hub for vaccinations between Cambridge and St Ives on Wednesday. It was a very efficient operation with volunteers sorting car parking, hand sterilisation and queuing and 6 injection stations – they inoculated over 1100 in the first two days.

 

 

Vaccination Team

 

We had a short violent snow flurry yesterday and are still fairly white over after a decent frost last night.

 

Saturday Lunchtime

 

I have tuned into two on-line lectures this week, on Monday there was a Kew Gardens lecture on “No Dig Gardening” by Charles Dowding with 380 in virtual attendance. He is a passionate advocate of this method of growing and has undoubtedly made it work on his holding but it needs vast inputs of compost, horse manure, mushroom compost and any other organic material that can be sourced.

On Wednesday we both joined a U3A talk on “Lichens” which was also very interesting: there are 20,000 worldwide and 1,900 in the British Isles. Once you are tuned in you can see them everywhere!

 

 

One of Many

 

I have spent some time this week digging out photos for RHS who are revising their “Grow Your Own” app. As I have photographed every trial I have attended since I joined the Trials Forum in 2003, I have quite a few.

I have been asked to talk to Hitchin Probus group on ZOOM on the subject of “The Wildlife of Costa Rica” except the booker put “Costa Rice” which sounds like an exotic Caribbean recipe! You might know that Probus stands for” Professional and Retired Businessmen” but to members it is referred to as “Prostrate removed other bits under observation!”

We braved the river and circumnavigated Barleycroft Lake in Bluntisham on Thursday. It is becoming difficult to find paths which are not knee deep in mud due to a combination of the weather and the amount of traffic. This was not too bad until we came across a lake across the path which meant trespassing close to the gravel conveyer belt. Unfortunately, Kate found a hidden trip wire and did a complete full frontal 9.5! We saw a Marsh Harrier and large flocks of Lapwings and Geese.

 

 

Brownshill Staunch

 

 

River Ouse

 

 

 

Barleycroft Lake

 

 

After the fall

 

 

Early Catkins

“Biographies” topic this week was “Kathleen Mansfield” a NZ born writer of short stories and poems who was very unconventional and a member of the Bloomsbury Set and friend on D.H. Lawrence who was thought to have based “Women in Love” on her.

 

 

Kathleen Mansfield

 

I hope you have all received and read the latest CEEM Newsletter this week? The guy in charge of the repairs to the flood damaged church in Leova is incredible. He is in his early 20s and works a full day then puts in a 5 to 10 pm shift at the church. He has just got married and the weather in Moldova is rather cold at present.

“Green fingered Kate” has just persuaded this orchid to bloom for about the 10th time and is still busily working her way through the dining room chairs.

 

 

With love

Mike & Kate