Passing clouds of inconsequential observations
This morning saw the return of a Heron to the local pond. A couple of years ago there was a heron nesting in a tree overlooking the pond. Time will tell if this one decides to stay.
This afternoon saw the return of an Osprey to the nest at Loch Arkaig in Scotland. The nests are monitored by The Woodland Trusts‘s Osprey Cams so the hatching of chicks can be followed through the summer.
It looks like the blue tits have returned to the hole in the wall at the rear of my home to build a nest.
Presumably for the benefit of motorists who do not understand what double yellow lines mean or that you must not park within 10m (32 feet) of a road junction. How did they get a driving licence?
Although lacking links Heather Burns‘ enthusiasm for Station Eleven piqued my interest enough to search it out. The Wikipedia page for the TV series provides a link to the “Official Website” which reads
https://www.hbomax.com/station-eleven
alas clicking this link bounced me to
https://www.hbomax.com/geo-availability
Why are you telling me this? Was I interested in HBO Max? Did I ask when it would be available in my region? Could you just tell me about Station Eleven?
Station Eleven is available to buy in my region from Apple TV or Amazon.
I suppose the HBO message was more informative than the usual blanket:
I am puzzled by the terms ‘social housing’ and ‘affordable housing’ which are increasingly used as shorthand to refer to, I assume, housing which is neither anti-social nor unaffordable. And don’t get me started on the ‘cost of living’ nonsense.
A New Statesman article refers to a survey (pdf) which addressed the stigma attached to living in such housing. Unlike the drug crazed criminals presented in TV dramas it is (surprise!) mostly occupied by regular people doing, or having retired from, a regular job. All positively contributing to ‘the economy’ (whatever that is).
After a lifetime of avoiding the collective criminality that is ‘private property’ I look forward to the day when all housing is declared ‘social housing’ and ‘affordable housing’.
Watching the David Byrne dance routine in today’s Open Culture post reminded me that what he describes as Puppet Leg, where an imagined puppet string is pulled to raise the leg,
was part of a ‘dance‘ (I use the word in its loosest interpretation) routine known as the Spotty Dog that we did in the 1960s resulting in much merriment.
Upon a search for a Spotty Dog clip I discovered that it is, bizarrely, an actual exercise these days. But as Miss Cox confesses she, and I suspect many others, has no idea why it is called the Spotty Dog.
Well let me enlighten you.