Some Inadequate Words on Grief

I am not able to write with any authority on grief as I have never experienced it. But others have and do. Instead, I often give friends who have lost loved ones Joan Didion's book: 'The Year of Magical Thinking', which seem to capture the condition most truly.

This also seems to be a fine piece

See also Dirge Without Music

Do You Understand Climate Change?

Katrin Juliane Meissner

27 September at 21:49

With so many people hitting the streets for climate strike and all the recent attacks on Greta Thunberg, I would like to make a statement. I am a Professor in Climate Sciences, I have been working in this field for over 20 years.

1. Climate change is a fact, based on data and equations. It’s science (not politics).

2. Humans are causing climate change.

3. CO2 concentrations are rising at a rate that is 10 to 100 times faster than any other time in the past (and we are talking millions of years back).

4. CO2 concentrations are now at levels Earth has not seen since 3 Million years. That’s when Lucy was roaming in Africa.

5. Both speed of change and magnitude of change will have catastrophic consequences for the world we know and rely on.

6. Ecosystems will have (and are already having) a hard time to adapt with these fast changes. Current extinction rates are far above the normal background extinction rates.

7. We rely on ecosystems for our survival. We are part of ecosystems.

8. For example, speed of change is important for ocean acidification. With slower rates of CO2 rise there are geochemical feedbacks that kick in and mitigate acidification. This is not the case now. It is also important for adaptation to new living conditions. Coral reefs for example are our canaries in a coal mine.

9. The climate system is mainly water and therefore has a large heat capacity and is slow to react. The climate is not in equilibrium right now, it is still catching up to current CO2 concentrations. Last time the climate was in equilibrium with today’s CO2 concentrations, sea levels were much higher (order of magnitude of 10 meters), temperatures were well beyond the Paris Agreement. This is what the world will look like if we keep CO2 concentrations constant. If we continue to emit at current rates, then:

10. We will end up in a climate last seen 50 Million years ago. No ice, completely different ecosystems. The transition will be fast and deadly.

11. Climate change is the largest threat humanity has ever faced.

12. We need to act now. 

13. The question is not “do you believe in climate change?”. The question is “do you understand climate change?”. Greta is just a messenger. Don’t shoot the messenger. It does not matter what you or I think about her. What matters is that we stop wasting time. We need to act now.

For the Love of Dogs

I have long been troubled by our attitude to dogs, but it's heresy to question extreme dog-centric behaviour and I content myself with not having one, even though it would seem natural to do so.

Herry and Danny at Stocks c.1953

I had dogs from an early age. The first was Danny, a cocker spaniel that to begin with, I looked after, but when I went to school, of course, he was looked after by my parents, principally my father, who always had dogs, usually several and generally labradors. I remember Fuff coming back from Scotland with Caron (named after Loch Caron where he had found her), and there was Flax, Bonnie and Bosun, Charlie and others that I can't now remember. And we had a sheepdog (a border collie) for as long as we had sheep (ie not in later years) that was actually used to round up the sheep. 

All our dogs lived outside, first in the stables and later in a purpose-built shed with an outside 'run' full of straw. It was next to the farmyard so they could watch all the comings and goings - though in the daytime they were almost always free to run around as they wished.  The first thing my father did when he came down to talk to the men in the morning was to let the dogs out - and they stayed with him as he went around the farm - on horseback, on foot or in a van - all day. If he drove up to the cottages on the down, they would run after the van in both directions. They accompanied my father when shooting and picked up when he shot with others.

The dogs did come in and out of the house, but never went upstairs and weren't allowed on the furniture. Feeding them from the table during meals was discouraged. And at teatime - an unvarying ritual with my mother behind the teapot -  they were given a ginger biscuit. At about 6pm they were fed a simple and unvarying diet of meat from the local butcher, with a handful of dry biscuits with an egg mixed in. Tinned food wasn't used. Bones were always available to gnaw on the lawn and in their shed.

Our dogs were supremely healthy and happy and I don't remember them ever needing the vet - nor did they have fleas (though sometimes they had to have ticks removed). They were perfectly matched to their environment. Few people, of course, have farms and a lifestyle where they are outside all day and their dogs can accompany their master everywhere, and therein lies the problem. People don't always choose dogs for their environment and instead chose them for spurious reasons such as the way they look, or the impression their owners want to portray to others. Highly intelligent breeds like sheepdogs are used as pets when they have been bred for centuries to work, and they suffer if they can't. Gundogs have likewise been bred to pick up birds but few are given the chance and become fat and lazy unless given frequent long walks. As for the many breeds that have been disfigured to create a particular look favoured by their owners, like pugs, their lives have been shortened and their breathing made more difficult. Why this isn't regarded as cruelty, I can't imagine.

Recently, breeding dogs to match modern lifestyles has improved and dogs such as the poodle/spaniel crosses successfully match equable temperament and sociability with ease of looking after, but almost all dogs need two good walks a day and they should never be left alone for long. as they suffer greatly. If owners can't meet their dogs' needs, they shouldn't have them.








  

Favourite Paintings - The Parisian Apartment

“The dark second-floor apartment of the house in Market Square was shot through each day by the naked heat of summer: the silence of the shimmering streaks of air, the squares of brightness dreaming their intense dreams on the floor.” - Bruno Schultz

Luleen Wanklyn nee Handcock - 1946 - 2019

Lu at Nick and Jay Jay's wedding 1975

http://lawfordherry.blogspot.com/2019/07/obituary-lu-wanklyn-1945-2019.html?m=1

Favourite Churches - Sherborne Abbey

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Sherborne Abbey twice and marvel at its beauty while staying with Charlie Skipwith at Chetnole. We had both been there before - for the funeral of Rosie Jenks in 2005.

It is probably the most beautiful church in England. There are a few photos here

UK Club's 150th Anniversary Dinner July 2019

The UK Club's 150th Anniversary Dinner

UK Club 150th Anniversary Dinner. Photo by Kumar

The UK Club held a 150th Anniversary dinner at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, on 4th July 2019 to which Members, Directors, past Chairmen, correspondents, brokers, lawyers and others came - about 180 people in all. The dinner was attended by five past chairmen of the Club - Nils Palmgren, Aleco Kairis, Tullio Biggi and Dino Caroussis and hosted by the present chairman, Nicholas Inglessis.

Grace was given in a poem by Revd Canon Andrew Wright, Secretary General of the Missions to Seafarers. 

The main focus of the evening was the Investing in a Safer Tomorrow competition that attracted over 200 entries and was won by a seaman from India for his wireless engine-room awareness device.   

Herry was lucky enough to be placed on a table with some of the Club's Chinese Members including Sun Jia Kang, the Club Director from COSCO who Herry knew from many years ago, and next to the table of Japenese Members.

Herry and Dughall Aitken

R to L: Cao Shufeng (CPI), Dr Wu Chao, Sun Jia Kang and Wang Gang

Colleagues, correspondents and others were seen after many years (I retired in 2006) and friendships renewed.

Stephen James and Sue Jamieson

UK Club Chronology 

For more photos, click here 
For London and the river photos, click here 

See The UK Club's 125th Anniversary Dinner at the Guildhall, January 1995
Return to Journal Index

Litchfield Flower Festival 2019

Over the weekend of 28th - 30th June 2019 a remarkable Flower Festival was held at St James the Less, Litchfield that included tableaux of the history of the church and its congregation. On entering the porch one saw that it had been filled with small displays showing the church's links with the surrounding estate while the cool inside had been beautifully decorated with flowers by members of the congregation, and looked and smelled wonderful. Sylvia Haymes, who was the prime mover of the Festival, has written a guide to the church and the floral displays as one walked arond the church.

The principal decoration was of the Saxon font, while below were photographs of various people known to have been baptized in it including members of the Wills family, and Herry shortly after his birth in Litchfield in 1945.

The Saxon font decorated by Katie Wills. 

In addition to the floral decorations, there was a tableau of historical photographs and cuttings and displays of photographs of the estate from the air as well as of the railway station when it was still in use, as well as its later restoration.

The photo tableau

The altar and chancel were given over to a display of photos of weddings known to have taken place at the church, including Herry's mother's wedding to her first husband, Arthur Luxmoore in 1935 and Hazel and John Kay's wedding in 2018. Sylvia Haymes's wedding dress was also on display.

A further tableau and an explanatory monograph were given over to the Book of Common Prayer, as all services at St James the Less are taken from it.

The Book of Common Prater

Mark Christian, the vicar, wrote a brief history of the church, drawing on the work of Hamilton Lloyd, the previous vicar, who had organised a Flower Festival in 1991 and had published a short monograph to go with it. Sylvia also drew on her musical connections to organise short concerts in the church on Saturday and Sunday afternoons as well as gathering the choir for Sunday's Evensong.

Outside the churchyard had been close-cropped under its sheltering trees.

The Festival closed on Sunday evening with a beautiful Evensong taken by the vicar, Mark Christian, before a full congregation.

Flower arranging credits: Liz Lyne (porch)  Katie Wills (font) Joyce Mills (Cottage Garden) Jenny Lister (lectern) Jane Woolnough (altar pedestal, windowsills and screen,) Jean Sharpe (War Memorial plaque and pew ends). The Book of Common Prayer window, hanging wreaths and Advent Crowns (and anything else) - Sylvia Haymes, (the crowns with help from Sarah Acworth). 

For more photos, click here

For the family's links with Litchfield, click here 

The Mystery of Crop Circles

Crop circle that appeared opposite Longwood, Owlesbury on 11th June 2019

This crop circle appeared in a field at Owlesbury near Winchester in 11th June 2019 and its photo was shared on Facebook, causing me to look again at a phenomenon that I had long wondered about. Indeed I remember being greatly intrigued when a crop circle appeared on a field at Stocks Farm in the 1980s but I didn't follow it up.

Crop circle, Littleton, Winchester 3rd June 2019

Unfortunately, when talking to people about crop circles, most reach for their mental 'David Icke' button and after an initial lukewarm expression of interest, switch off. However, I happened to mention the most recent one to a friend in Lincolnshire who had a deeper interest and he kindly sent me a book written by Lucy Pringle that goes into considerable scientific detail and conclusively rules out the possibility that the majority are man-made (though a few undoubtedly are).

There is added fascination for me in that the area where I live in Hampshire appears to be the epicentre of crop circle activity. Lucy Pringle's book pictures them in Chilbolton (next to the radio telescope), and many nearby in Wiltshire.  In fact, one of her observations is that they appear in places of known power and significance, which encourages those who believe that their origin must be extra-terrestrial.

The 'Stonehenge Fractal' (1996) - one of the very few formations to have appeared during daylight hours.

A crop circle known as 'Ribbons' appeared opposite Stonehenge on 4th July 2002

The astonishing complexity of most of the crop circles coupled with perfect geometric and mathematical accuracy make it impossible for these structures to have been created by pranksters or even by some peculiar human agency in a few hours of darkness.

Crop circle in Froxfield, Wiltshire (22nd July 2003). This herringbone lay of the wheat is most unusual. No seed heads have been damaged in the process, a feature of all genuine crop circles. 

The extraordinary formation at the Chilbolton Observatory (14th August 2001) is apparently in the form of a computer chip. 

Crop circle at Hackpen Hill, Wiltshire (4th July 1999). The farmer reported that when he sprayed the field the day before, there was no formation. (The blurred area at the top right is caused by me removing some writing from photo). 

The most recent crop circle was found at Danebury in 1st July 2019 and appeared overnight, with the characteristics typical of all genuine ones.  

Some crop circles exhibit such unbelievable complexity that it would be difficult to achieve their design on paper using laser-printer technology, let alone in a field at night under the cover of darkness.

Crop circle near Avebury, Wiltshire (29th July 1996) 

This formation consists of 189 circles and shows incredible mathematical precision. A series of perfect equilateral triangles extend to the perimeter.

A crop circle appeared on the 1st of June in 2008 in a barley field near Barbury Castle in Wiltshire, England, measuring 150 feet in diameter and correctly representing the first 10 digits of the irrational constant pi. If you look at figure 1, you will notice that the grooves in the circle spiral outwards with steps at various points along the way. Taking a look now at figure 2, you will see that these steps occur at particular angles — the circle is divided into 10 equal segments of 36 degrees each. Starting at the centre, you can see that the first section is 3 segments wide. Then there is a step and underneath this step is a small circle. This is the decimal point. The next section is 1 segment wide and then there is another step. The following section is 4 segments wide, and so on until the final number encoded is 3.141592654. Michael Reed, the astrophysicist who first decoded the image, is quoted on earthfiles.com as saying:

"The fact that the Pi decimal point is included and there is rounding up to 10 decimal places is to me a little mind boggling!"

Since the beginning of July 2019, many more crop circles have been reported in this immediate area, but I have not reproduced their photos as they all share the same characteristics namely: 

1. They are geometrically perfect. 

2. The stalks have not been bent by mechanical means but heated from within and laid. 

3. There are no broken heads of grain to be found, meaning that no one has trampled them. 

It would be best if every each crop circle report to be accompanied by an analysis of these factors before we get too excited and are disappointed by another seeming hoax.

Old Swan House Garden Open for the NGS June and July 2019