The Goyt on a Sunday Evening

Late on Sunday afternoon, as the black dog settled on my shoulders and I realised that yet again I had not done all the things I had put off during the week to do on Sunday, I knew I had to escape for an hour or so to the Goyt. Mrs BW suggested that we went almost at the same time as I thought it. I guess that's married life for you. Neither of the teenagers wanted to come so we left them focused on some trivia on the tele and drove the couple of miles to Goyt Lane car park. It was empty, which surprised me but I was not going to complain. The pond was still. No movement not even a ripple.

We walked a little way along the railway track. Mrs BW had expressed a desire to sit on the bench that over looks Wildmoorstone. It is one of the best benches in the Peak District.

I have have posted the view many times before, but it never gets dull or fails to clear away all the accumulated rubbish that builds up in my head. Sadly the feeling of peace and calm that comes over me is lost as I drive away. It is a magic place but its magic does not travel.

So we just sat and listened to the Grouse grumbling in the long dying grass.

Walking back to the car we watched the light fade and felt a slight autumnal chill. I love the way that the seasons drift in. Already despite the "Indian Summer" the light has changed and some of the trees are begining to drop their leaves. I can smell the wood smoke from the first fires of autumn.

Still Here

So the earth survived and life goes on as normal. I liked the scrolling comment on BBC news 24 yesterday morning. "Scientists are not expecting any adverse reaction when the LHC is switched on." Adverse reaction! What like a black hole opening up and swallowing the earth?

Anyway it seems to have been a outstanding success, even if it took the beam over an hour to make it all the way round the first time.

Perhaps they were using the wrong sort of Proton?

Anyway looks like there should be lots of exciting results over the next couple of years. If nothing else it's raised the profile of science and in particular physics. Even the Weasel and the Munch were interested in what was going on, and rapidly exhausted my very limited knowledge of particle physics during tea. I think I'll stick to birdwatching.

The end of the World as we know it?

"The LHC will enable us to study in detail what nature is doing all around us,” said CERN Director General Robert Aymar. “The LHC is safe, and any suggestion that it might present a risk is pure fiction.”

So that's all right then. No chance of us disappearing into a black hole at around 8.30am tomorrow. Apparently the grand opening or turning on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being broadcast live on the today programme. So if the world does come to a sudden end then John Humphries will get the last word. Should be fascinating.

Anyway just in case, so long and thanks for all the comments.

Cats and Lawns and Things

Next doors cat creeps through the long grass of our back garden and makes its way to one of the large bushes. There it settles down to stare at me. I stare back it. Its a strange cat, a throw back to the days when wildcats roamed freely through the ancient woodland that used to cover the hillsides. It has the markings of a wildcat and the facial features to go with them. Not ugly, but not very cuddly either. So it sits beneath our foliage, a sleek muscular moggy, menacing the innocent. The innocent being of course our two cats. Since next doors sabre tooth tiger has taken to coming in to occupy part of our garden our two have taken to spending more time in doors. It doesn't attack them, it doesn't have to, its mere presence is enough.
It seems to like our garden. Now next doors garden is no good for cats. The grass is too short and the bushes are too neat and tidy and offer little in the way of foliage to lie up in and ambush unsuspecting pets. In fact their lawn resembles a bowling green. To keep it so it requires three cuts a week, regardless of the weather and whether it needs it or not.
So our garden is more attractive to cats. Both Mrs BW and I are firmly in the “Gardens should look natural” school, though I lean more to the wild and unkempt look than she does. Of course as she does most of the gardening she gets to make the structural decisions and I am left to agree with her. The neighbours may not be happy, but at least their cats are. Perhaps they won't shit on our lawn! I mean the cats of course.

Just another working day

The bottom of the car scraps along the rough and uneven track, and I curse and then feel thankful that I did not take Mrs BW's car. The potholes on the farm track seem to get deeper and more difficult to negotiate every time I come here. But its worth the exhaust scraping if nothing else for the spectacular view as you round the bend and drop down behind the hill. The valley opens out, the farm sitting as it does perched on a little flat piece of ground, sheltered from the winds by trees and because it has been built into the hillside, belongs to the landscape. It has been there for centuries, sheltering generations of farmers as they eke out a meagre living from the barren land.

A couple of hours later my meeting concluded I set off back up the track. A kestrel hunts above the long grass, dodging sheep as she swoops on the small furry animal unlucky enough to be spotted. I stop the car before turning onto the road and take it all in. Not for the first time I feel lucky to live and work here.