Growth

Long time visitors to "Yorkshire Pudding" may recall that last year I drew special attention to our planet's relentless population growth. It was on February 4th of 2020 that I noted the world's population was 7,762,009,632 and increasing day by day.

Since then we have all been cowering in the shadow of COVID19. Death stalks us like an escaped beast, waiting to take us in moments of weakness. Surely with what COVID has done, the planet's population must have been in freefall but that is far from the truth. Today, almost fourteen months after my initial blogpost, Earth's population is 7,854, 418, t43

In fourteen months our population has risen by 92 million. Only 2,755,000 have died from coronavirus in that same period of time. 92 million extra earthlings. That's  a much bigger number of people  than the current population of Great Britain, bigger than Germany or Turkey and  more than the Democratic Republic of Congo, bigger than the populations of California, Texas and Florida put together. It makes you think.

I find this rampant growth extremely concerning. In the last year I have seen miles of TV footage connected with this damned pandemic  and I have read thousands of words about it. I don't know about you but in the main media outlets I have seen and read almost nothing about population growth in the past year. 

Every extra human being puts extra strain on this planet's limited resources. All 92million  need to eat and keep warm when it is cold. I am not offering any solutions - just highlighting the issue.

Surely, if all this attention, this money, this sacrifice, this worry is being devoted to COVID and its effects we should be saving some of that stuff up for population growth. If it goes on this way we will implode as even Prince Philip recognised.

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/3lNeEdo

Bedroom

 With the new bookcase up and running, it’s time to change my bedroom’s colour.

This is where I need some help.

I am working around two very large Art Deco posters which will dominate the room.

It’s taken me an age to pick the ones I want but these are my final choices

I need suggestions of wall colour

I’m thinking chimney breast one colour the rest of the room the other 

I have a vaulted ceiling and a wooden floor of ancient varnished floorboards

The lobster needs a contrasting wall colour 

Ideas anyone ?

from Going Gently https://ift.tt/3rsFadz

Perfection

Rest

In 

Progress

Not a desire 

For unhealthy 

Perfection

from R's rue https://ift.tt/3riYf1t

Chatter

Just for Lizzy here is a photo of my shrimp vase.  

It’s the biggest vase I own and always has pride of place in the kitchen lane window, where it looks at its best. I always have fresh flowers in this window and in the living room window and have kept the tradition of flowers in the house ever since I bought my first home in 1989.

I note here that I’m not the only one that always has flowers in their windows, it’s a tradition Affable Despot Jason’s wife Claire adheres to

Which is nice

Yesterday I cleaned an old shelving unit and spray painted it.

With the addition of some cheap primulas, hyacinth and herbs like sage and parsley it’s brightened up the patio which still needs it’s cottage walls painting. 

I need some consistently dryer weather to do that .

The choir met last night on zoom.

It was a year to the day since we had our first on line meeting and our conductor Jamie and his 1940s moustache ( but with non regulation overlong hair) has kept us going more socially that musically . 

Mary delights to sit on my knee during out chit chat , watching the zoom boxes and activity through one eye, and she remains so still that several of the choristers shout “ she’s a puppet “ when they see her.

Before choir I pottered. The lane was muddy and noisy as ty newydd farm ( New House farm) was transporting turnips in vast containers from the fields down the lane back through the village, and so most of my pottering was inside. 

However, Mrs K did stop to talk. Her husband has been poorly and she has a habit of telling you  of what many would think as too personal information .

I think she’s frightened and needs to share.

Anyway in between her, and the tractor trailers loaded with turnips a sparrow hawk landed in the lane like a spitfire. She had a collared pigeon in her grasp and started to rip at its breast meat before the unfortunate bird was dead. She must have been hungry for a snapped two shots of the drama before another tractor thundered around the corner and she took flight into the churchyard with the pigeon swinging from one talon. 

The crows from the trees by the pond suddenly appeared calling loudly as did a trio of magpies and I watched the sparrow hawk land heavily amid the gravestones as clouds of white feathers burst along the lane like snowflakes.

  

from Going Gently https://ift.tt/3rcOQIJ