Bobby’s Rant
Bobby’s Rant.
The Surrey Hills at Denbies Hillside.
“Cor blimey! I dunno! Poor old Bobby’s in a right old two and eight. I think lockdown is getting to him. He sent this message to his friends in London early morning and no one replied. Probably thinking ‘silly old sod!’. He also sent it to a very respectable lady of the cloth and apologised for swearing. And she replied agreeing with him! How she felt old and irrelevant. I tried to cheer him up by reminding him of the brilliant things he had done during the lockdown. But he insisted on publishing his rant, swearing an’ all. And the Rev lady’s reply. Sorry.” (more…)
Bobby’s April Breakfast Birdwatch.
Breakfast Birdwatch.
Looking out the window for one month.
Each year, the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) organise a Big Garden Birdwatch. Taking place over the last weekend in January, we are asked to spend an hour watching birds in our gardens and recording what we see. And then entering those results on the RSPB website. If you haven’t got a garden, a balcony or just a window is fine. The results website asks what the environment is where the survey took place. (more…)
The Spotted Flycatcher.
The Spotted Flycatcher.
Each morning we read the Skokholm Island blog.
Written by wardens Richard and Giselle it is, of course, largely bird or natural history focussed. After all it is, in company with its equally illustrious neighbour Skomer Island, world famous for its seabird colonies. Both have been featured regularly in Mindfully Bertie. On Skokholm, the migration seasons are particularly exciting and the Island now provides valuable records for birds seen or more importantly caught, ringed and released. 2020 will be unforgettable for all of us. For Richard and Giselle in particular living in the lighthouse on the island with no visitors at all. We are booked for August, but “old plus underlying” will almost certainly rule that out. So we read the daily news. Wallow in nostalgia. And, now and again, an item catches the imagination. One such item was the Spotted Flycatcher. Photographed beautifully by Richard.
Spotted Flycatcher. Richard Brown, Skokholm Island.
The Chief Scout
The Chief Scout.
In the early part of the twentieth century, a movement for young people was started that quickly swept the world. The Boy Scouts. In time, this also included the Girl Guides and the Wolf Cubs for younger boys. Millions of people today have fond memories of their young days in this organisation. Many more continued into adulthood to be part of the movement whose ideals were to prepare young people for adulthood. To give them strong principles. While all the time ensuring that they had fun doing it. Bobby has fond memories of his own time as a Wolf Cub. A Boy Scout. And later a Scout Leader. A brief memoir is attached to the end of this story.
Today the scout movement thrives in over 200 countries with a global membership of over 31 million. Male and female. Two thirds of the international membership are in developing countries.
One man was responsible for starting this movement. Lord Robert Baden-Powell. Based upon his ideas and his book “Scouting for Boys”. He eventually held the title The Chief Scout of the World. Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell. And remained that until his death in 1941. A memorial issue of “The Scouter”, the magazine of the Scout Association, was produced at the time and Bobby has a copy.
Angels Wings
Angels Wings
As the years went by, we got used to Diddley’s idiosyncrasies. When her mother, the lovely Sarah, died, she developed a new one. If she found a single white feather in front of her she would say… “That’s my Mum, telling me she is alright.” We thought it a nice sentiment. She told us she believed in angels. (more…)
Charles Rolls – Aviation Pioneer
Charles Rolls. Aviation Pioneer.
Back in 2007, Bobby took part in a walking holiday with his office friends. It was the heyday of the Adventure Club he had helped to form that has been featured in these stories before. They stayed in Ross on Wye and one day walked a length of the River Wye into Monmouth. In the town centre, to his surprise at the time, was a striking statue of a man holding a model of a very early aeroplane. It was Charles Rolls. Now every schoolboy of Bobby’s disposition knew about the legendary partnership between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce that led to what it still known today as the finest motor car in the world. And one of the world’s most famous names Rolls-Royce. By this time his son Andrew was working for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and he sent him a picture of the statue and thought little more about it. The holiday was fun and the statue never really thought about again…
…Until now, when the firm remembers the 110th anniversary of a massive achievement by one of its founders. Charles Rolls had become a legend in early aviation.
The two pictures sent by Bobby to Andrew in November 2007:
The Beautiful Adonis Blue Butterfly
The Adonis Blue
Bertie: “Cor. I dunno. First of all, Bobby says he wants to tell the story of a beautiful butterfly. Then he asks bleedin Trevor to write it! I mean!”
Trevor: “Look, Bertie. Let’s be perfectly honest. You do write most of the stories.”
Bertie: “It’s my bleedin blog!” (more…)
Covid-19 Guided Walk for One. Number 4: West Park, Wolverhampton
Bertie: “‘ere, Bobby. Tim, our Technical Director, says we can have this weekend off. He says he wants to show you that you are not the only one who can go out for a walk and take lots of photographs! Apparently there are green spaces even in somewhere they call the Black Country.”
Number 4: West Park, Wolverhampton.
For those who are not aware, my wife (Tracey) and I live a nomadic life on a narrow boat. Well, almost. The nomadic life has been temporarily suspended due to Coronavirus, so the last 9 weeks have been spent in Wolverhampton. We do like it here. We are especially grateful to Aldi as, since we were last here, they have built a new store 5 minutes down the road from where we are moored (sorry, Bobby, no Waitrose round here!). However, we are beginning to get itchy feet now – normally we only stay in one place for up to a fortnight and then move on to explore somewhere else. (more…)
We Saved the Moondaisies!
We Saved the Moondaisies.
“We” being all those people who contacted Surrey County Council Highways to express their dismay at the destruction of the wildflower verges on main roads last year. Individuals, local council officers and not forgetting Plantlife UK, whose roadside verge campaign has created a national impetus to stop needless mowing in May. A few weeks ago, we were further encouraged by national headlines that the sound of council mowers would be replaced by birdsong. Local authorities would be so distracted by Covid-19 that mowing was off the agenda. (more…)
The Story of Eamonn’s New Scarf
Eamonn’s New Scarf
Oh how we miss the Priory Road café, North Cheam, before Sutton United home games.
Bertie: “Bobby. We have been stuck at home for weeks now, but you seem quite happy. If someone asked you ‘where would you rather be today, anywhere in the world’, what would you say?” (more…)