HOLY MOLEY

Posted on February 22, 2017 by fordhollow74

What Underground organization  is at work beneath the fields? At a rough count there must be fifty molehills in this picture, and that is only part of it; there are at least five times as many overall – two hundred and fifty over the whole smallholding.

An approximate calculation suggest the molehills average 0.025 of a cubic meter, or some 6.25 cubic metres spread around the fields. 20170203_081343That is over six tonnes of good soil above ground.

What is happening down there, how many moles are busy breeding away at this time of year, will they rise up and… who knows

In many places the turf sinks down as one walks across it. We need to get a harrow out and at least spread the molehills over the turf.

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2016

Posted on December 31, 2016 by fordhollow74

2016 pass quietly into this dark night, albeit there is a second to add to your number. The world is a different place for your passing. Things have happened and we are set on a different course.

Who is the winner of 2016? No doubt, it is Putin whose finger prints are writ large on all events. European destabilisation, what tide of refugees has flowed to Russia? – None. Europe has, in the main, showed great acceptance of those disposed by war in their homelands, but it has unsettled the home populations.

America has set a new course – and Putin’s mark is on those happenings. The Middle East is changed and he is there. Syria’s “peace” hovers on the horizon, but it is achieved through merciless bombing and destruction.

It has been a terrible year for so many. What can 2017 bring? Let us see.

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SUNRISE

Posted on December 12, 2016 by fordhollow74

20161209_081650This was the sunrise a few mornings ago. The photo would have been more splendid five minutes earlier, there was a magnificent pink tinge lighting all the clouds.

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QUICK SAND… in truth, MUD

Posted on December 12, 2016 by fordhollow74

After the overflowing streams and mud cascading off the road two weeks ago it was time to clear out the drain into the ‘top’ pond. 20161212_141423-001Both ponds, top and bottom, were refurbished, dug out and rebuilt, twenty years ago, but time and storms have taken their toll and the top pond is now no more than a silted drain off the road.

First stage went well, using the rods, I was able to clear the pipe that runs to the pond from the road, but the problem remained, to clear what was now a clogged ditch so that there was some drainage away to the bottom pond.

That is where I became too ambitious. The only standing as I cleared the ditch into the pond was the grassed over mud bank in what twenty years ago was cleared pond. At first, there was not too much difficulty, but then one wellington boot started to sink deeper despite the grass layer under my sole. It was time to move away,20161212_141230-001 but I lingered too long. Suction built under my foot, then the mud was deeper than the wellie’s length and cold pond water flooded in. At least it was only one foot – I was able to keep the other moving a fraction, but it seemed I was going to have to abandon one wellie to the pond. Even that wasn’t simple. The mud gripped the frail boot and the foot inside, and no hard grounding to the pond was to be found.

Meantime my dog, Canna, was happily ‘four legged walking’ over the pond. I thought Canna might come to my assistance – she’s a Labrador, weren’t her ancestors meant to haul in fishing boats on the north-eastern Canadian coast? She thought my antics, now spread-eagled in the mud trying to spread my weight as I levered at the sunken leg and boot, was a splendid game, she licked my face hovering only inches above the muddy turf, almost the only part of me not covered in mud, and ran off round the pond.

Luckily I was still grasping my long-handled spade. I laid it flat on the mud and grass surface, and inspired by our gold medal gymnasts, pressed up on the bar. Slow, but sure, my sunken leg, with its wellie attached, surfaced and I was able to crawl to safe ground.

Lesson learned, it is time for a cunning plan to dredge the top pond and redesign the road drain so that the run-off no longer silts the pond.

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PUFFBALL PROJECT

Posted on December 2, 2016 by fordhollow74

At last, I have traction on my Puffball Project. Weeks, even months, have passed, not so much stalled, more a series of false starts. Whether it is best the tale is told in the first person or third person, as a dialogue rich narrative, or as a journal? Many questions to answer.

Yes. I am now embarked on a journal, a two part journal, wrapped around with a prologue and epilogue to deliver this Puffball tale.

After personal difficulties in his seemingly settled London life, Franklyn Thomalin is tasked with looking after a dilapidated Exmoor cottage, an unexpected inheritance of a brother and sister from an elderly aunt. The dog, Angus, comes with the cottage. After a hesitant start, Franklyn revels in his new life as a West Somerset woodsman, building an understanding with Angus as they explore the woodlands, the moors and the vestiges of Exmoor’s industrial past, the Victorian iron mine remains, that lie near the cottage. And who was the previous cottage owner who lived her eight decades in the cottage where she was born?

Then Franklyn discovers the puffball, not any old puffball; it spooks Angus and displays disturbing characteristics that lead Franklyn to Kyoto in Japan and in to nightmare.

Watch this space, sometime in 2017, for THE EXMOOR PUFFBALL JOURNAL.

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REMARKABLE YOUNG PEOPLE

Posted on November 30, 2016 by fordhollow74

Nicola Adams was on Desert Island Discs last week, a remarkable young lady brought up in Leeds. Whether you follow boxing or not, her achievement is tremendous, now twice an Olympic Gold medallist; she won her first bout aged thirteen.

Another young person from Leeds, one hundred years ago, was Horace Iiles. Aged thirteen he was a trainee blacksmith, at fourteen, strong and big for his age, he volunteered for the Army joining the Leeds Pals. In May 1916, he was wounded, had brief time in hospital and a week’s leave in Yorkshire before returning to active duty. On 1st July 1916 he advanced with the Leeds Pals toward the village of Serre and struck down by machine gun fire. He died aged sixteen.

On our televisions and radios we witness daily the awful existence of people of all ages, children from toddlers to teenagers among them, in the embattled country of Syria suffering gunfire, bombing and starvation, the inevitable outcome of warfare by deliberate siege.

The young people who survive such horrendous circumstance, in Syria and elsewhere in the world, deserve the support of all nations to lead the best life they can find in future years.

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WILLIAM TREVOR

Posted on November 23, 2016 by fordhollow74

The Irish and British nations have lost a wonderful novelist, playwright and short story teller with the passing of William Trevor. He has won prizes including the Hawthornden Prize, he was a multi winner with Whitbread, was a frequent short listed writer for the Booker Prize, was a Companion of Literature and, as an Irish citizen, an honorary knighthood.

His writing was seeded by his experiences of his childhood in rural Ireland and his deep insight into the mind and ambitions, good and bad, of ordinary people. His novel ‘Love and Summer’ is a prime example of a tale told with deep understanding of the lives and loves of country people and where their emotions may lead.

William Trevor’s passing leaves a void in the literary scene.

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YEOVIL LITERARY FESTIVAL

Posted on October 24, 2016 by fordhollow74

A hectic four days at the Yeovil Literary Festival, last Thursday through Sunday, moving from one venue to another. I clocked in to nine sessions in all, stayed one night in Yeovil, made three one-hundred-mile round trips between home and the Festival, meeting with friends well known and authors unknown, to me.

First, and foremost for myself, I launched with some success my book of short stories – PEBBLES – (don’t let the waves reclaim them), a collection of twenty-three stories some of which have won prizes. Every session visited around the venues brought the temptation to purchase a book, sometimes the first and the second in a series. I’m pleased to say I managed to sell more books than I bought.

The events that stood out for me were Kirsty Wark’s interview with Victoria Hislop and the hour spent listening to Vaseem Khan, East London born of parents from the Sub Continent, a frequent visitor to and sometime resident in, India, introducing his Inspector Chopra series. It starts with the Inspector’s retirement from a career with the Mumbai police and his inheritance of a baby elephant, Ganesh, bringing into existence The Baby Ganesh Agency investigations.

This has been the fourth Yeovil Literary Festival; it has exceeded previous events in terms of both tickets sold and the wealth of literary talent to be seen.

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PEBBLES

Posted on October 10, 2016 by fordhollow74

PEBBLES, a collection of short stories, will be launched at the Yeovil Literary Festival in October 2016, and will be available to order through bookshops later in November.

cover

Pebbles lie on the sea shore in their multitudes waiting to be found. Sometimes one or two are picked up, maybe even taken home to be looked at from time to time. More often after a cursory glance, they are cast out to sea, perhaps bouncing and making a splash before they disappear.

The stories in this collection lie waiting to give the reader hours of enjoyment. Don’t let the waves reclaim them.

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FILM SCRIPT, update

Posted on September 22, 2016 by fordhollow74

Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to sit-in on the post-production edit of the script I wrote – “Sandscape Artist”, filmed in July on Burnham on Sea beach and now being edited by Somerset Film.

I have written a few scripts, some very short others longer, even had one or two long listed in competitions, but this is a first for me. The script won Somerset Film’s 2014/15 script writing competition and is now going the whole way. It is a privilege to sit-in on the various stages to get from the page to the screen.

Somerset Film have announced their next competition. This time looking for short, two minute, scripts on the theme “Getting to Glastonbury”. Without commitment, if they get suitable scripts they might make a film combining three or four scripts to make a short film.

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