My background and why its necessary to see things from another’s perspective.

My background and why its necessary to see things from another’s perspective.

I was brought up on a council estate in North London and went to school in Hackney. My dad was a labourer, my mum a cleaner.
Kids from my working class background weren’t expected to aim too high. A few GCEs would have been an achievement but I left school at fifteen so left qualification free, to work full time, encouraged by my mother who thought school was a waste of time.
We moved to a Paddington estate, where I met my husband to be who along with me wanted to get off the estate and travel, much to our parents bemusement and concern.

We, me and my husband, were lucky. We were inquisitive, determined, intelligent and different.
But I know I left behind people who didn’t have that determination. Who were told to ‘not get above themselves’ and to ‘know your place’ something I heard a lot, even from my own mother.

Few people I knew were on benefits, certainly not my family. It was a time when people could walk into a job in the morning, know that it wasn’t right for them, leave and go into another job that afternoon…I’ve done that. People were rarely unemployed for long periods.
However we knew that should we fall on hard times..sickness, unemployment, disability, old age, we would be protected.

I feel fortunate to have lived through those times. We were not rich, we owned nothing, our possessions were few, but there was a feeling of optimism and excitement.
Today is so different. People are afraid of losing their jobs so put up with zero hours contracts, unpaid internships, poor wages, rudeness from superiors, and jobs they hate.
People these days see the rich making massive profits and getting huge bonuses, while they are struggling to feed their families on a pittance, while being told that the rich are the wealth creators despite knowing that much of their wealth leaves the country without being taxed.

In my eyes the wealth creators include those people who get up at dawn and spend hours of the day getting into work often for minimum wage. They keep shops, restaurants, factories, banks and offices going. Take away these workers and there is no business, the wealth created would be zilch.

When I ask you to see life through a different perspective, I mean to imagine not having the advantages of a stable family background, a good education, good physical and mental health and hope for the future…many people don’t have that.
They begin with huge disadvantages and have to find the strength to overcome them and many can’t. They shouldn’t be blamed but helped, not punished. There is no such thing as the undeserving poor….everyone of them will have a story of deprivation and disadvantage .

Does parents’ income affect the development of a child’s brain? http://ind.pn/1HX5liZ
Recent studies on a thousand children have concluded that lack of a healthy diet and good health care and lack of a good education has an effect on the structure of the brain, with the poorest children being the most disadvantaged.
The study’s lead author was Kimberley Noble, assistant professor of paediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center.

Speakers Corner, Torquay, Devon, UK

Speakers Corner, Torquay, Devon.

While I was walking along the harbour in Torquay, close to Princess Gardens, I was approached by a foreign student and asked where Speakers Corner was. I, and every other person I asked, including one of the road train guides, was at a loss. Nobody had ever heard of it.
I was shown by the student a questionnaire with information on the page suggesting it must be close by, so I investigated, walking around the fountain area and finally noticed a small stone.

The small stone had been placed beside the Pavilion near Princess Gardens in 2005 and marked with a plaque stating ‘Speakers Corner.’ It was the idea of former Torbay councillor Peter Rabbich.
I suppose it was meant to be Torquay’s version of Hyde Parks famous Speakers Corner near Marble Arch, London.
Over the past couple of years a few marches of protest and meetings have gathered and left from the stone, but as far as I can tell the area is not used on a regular basis.

The Robins Song….ode to the little Robin that wakes me & keeps me company all day.

The Robins Song.

On the tip, of the top branch of a tree,
The Robin sings just for me.
He opens up his little bill,
And serenades me with a trill.

From dawn until the setting sun,
He perches there on his own.
Leaving only to patrol the lawn,
And trees and flowers of his home.

He really needs a Robin mate, a female friend,
So that his solitary perch can end.
I’ll wake to silence when their gone,
And wait until next spring for his song.

A walk in Stover Country Park near Torquay, Devon.

A walk in Stover Country Park near Torquay, Devon..

I took a long walk around the lake of Stover.

The first birds I saw were the duck…Mallards and Coots.
Male Mallards seem to spend a lot of time at this time of year chasing off younger male ducks trying to make off with their females and they did so with a great deal of splashing and quaking. All the females had paired off and went about feeding while their mate of choice followed them everywhere.

The all black Coots with a white beak are more solitary. I was surprised how loud the Coot call was, coming from such a small bird. It echoes across the lake.

There were a large variety of song birds. Here photos of Nuthatch, Chaffinches, Robins, Blue Tits and also a Great Spotted Woodpecker on a bird feeder attached to a tree along the aerial walkway in the forest. There were also Bullfinch, Coal Tits, Great Tits, Wrens, Jays, Blackbirds, Wood Pigeons and Crows.

A young boy sat on the wooden planks of the walkway, bird book in hand, identifying the many different kinds of birds that could be seen in the trees and bushes.
A birdwatcher/photographer stood for some time taking photos.
It was quiet and peaceful with only the whistling and chirping of birds and the soft sound of the breeze brushing the leaves, to be heard.

Then some children came hurtling along, screaming and shouting and running on the boards. They disturbed the birds and squirrels who immediately disappeared. Not that the children noticed, they were more interested in pushing and shoving each other. They and their families left without seeing the wildlife, which ventured back after they had gone.
The small boy and the photographer sighed, shrugged shoulders and returned quietly to their occupations.
How I wish people that came to places like Stover took a few minutes to explain to their children that the area is a wildlife park. That if they want to see the wildlife, be it birds, squirrels, roe deer or foxes, than they must walk along quietly.
(It drove my guiding friend in the Amazon Rainforest crazy when he would take people into the forest telling them first to speak quietly or preferably not to speak at all if they wanted to see wildlife, only for some tourist to shout, ‘Oh, Look,’ at the top of their voices and with noisy gestures frighten off the creature that they had had the good fortune to catch a glimpse of..)

Every now and then a poem by Ted Hughes can be seen posted next to a wooden seat. The poetry covers all areas of the forest, its wildlife, trees, lakes and the weather. Sometimes serious, sometimes amusing, always clever the poetry gives a different insight..a poets view of the familiar. Here a poem about the Cormorant.

Below the tree that held the bird feeder five, six or so grey squirrels jumped about. Sometimes running up the trees or chasing each other into the bushes. Vermin they may be considered to be by some, but such cute creatures. Their antics enjoyed by young and old.

Stover nature reserve is a joy in chilly early spring and I can’t wait until April/May and summer when butterflies and dragonflies are apparently in abundance.

Torquay Harbour…last chance to see it before builders move in

Torquay Harbour, Devon last chance to see it before the builders move in.

Took a walk along the harbour on a bright, sunny spring day. The sea glistened and sparkled. White bodied yachts bobbed in the waters.
The wide expanse of blue sky and quiet movement of the boats in the harbour made me take a deep breath of fresh air and feel a sense of peace.

Unfortunately our local council has decided to ignore the protests of the locals and build a massive fourteen floor hotel/apartment building with restaurants bang in the middle of this scene.
The fact that it will be way taller than any other building in the immediate area seems to not bother the councillors at all. The buildings close to the harbour are just a couple of storeys high..they do not obstruct the view, or cast long dark shadows. The new building would do both and most probably affect low rise cafes and bars lining the smaller harbour…no one wants to sit outside in shade on a sunny day.
The councils of yesteryear allowed the building of tall apartment blocks on the hills behind the harbour which dwarf the attractive older houses and dominate the area and now the Council of today is allowing the ruin of the harbour.

To the left of this photo, where the building with green roofs stands, the new complex will be built.
Tourists I’ve spoken to have been horrified in the idea of the building. They say without exemption, looking towards the harbour and sea, ‘Thats why we come here. Torquay is different from any other seaside town. Its beautiful and unspoilt.’

The fourteen floor hotel complex will stand near where the temporary wheel is in the photo.

A short walk in Torquay….Babbacombe Beach….and the man who wouldn’t die.

A short walk in Torquay….Babbacombe Beach.

Today we went to Babbacombe beach for a short stroll and some fresh air on a lovely, warmish, springlike day. Babbacombe beach is a quiet, attractive little cove with a small beach of sand and rocks.

A cottage had once stood on the spot where we parked. A man called John Lee lived there in 1884. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hung. Three times efforts to carry out this sentence were made, but failed. He was given a life sentence and eventually released.

For perhaps five centuries local fishermen had made a living from catching herring and pilchards as well as smuggling. But today just two fishermen hung their rods over the piers walls hoping for a bite. Being fishermen they waited patiently, but unsuccessfully on this occasion for quite some time.

They perhaps didn’t notice the lad wrapped around the stair rod below the wall or the boy dipping his foot in the sea on the slippery steps…children on half term holiday…..or the two boys on the edge of the cliff behind them….so near the edge, and pushing each other, that they made my hair stand on end.

I looked away and noticed a little stone tablet set against the wall by my feet stating that a Leveson Vernon Harcourt, an engineer, built the stone pier for ‘the benefit of the fishermen and boatmen of the beach’ in 1889.

Here a little grove in a wall was home to a few wild plants and a bright yellow lichen… Xanthoria parietina or golden shield lichen.

During the time that I watched the sea changed from a deep sapphire blue to a soft eau de nil green as the suns rays swept across the surface.

A walk can be taken from Babbacombe beach along a wooden walkway, rocks and earth path to Oddicombe beach. If on foot, the funicular railway, built in 1923/6, can be taken up from Oddicombe beach to Babbacombe Downs in season, otherwise it’s quite a steep walk.

Worth it though for one of the most beautiful views of the Devon coast you will ever hope to see. On a sunny day I’ve seen people turn from the road leading up to the view and gasp with surprise.

It was here while looking across at the view a buzzard flew past almost within arms reach…I love the unexpected.

Wood duck (Aix sponsa), and the Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata).

Wood duck (Aix sponsa), and the Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata).

I saw this beautiful duck in Paignton Zoo this week. I assumed it was a Mandarin Duck. It certainly looks like one though with a different colouring to most of the Mandarin ducks at the zoo.

I’ve since learned that it is a Wood Duck from North America. It is closely related to the Mandarin Duck from Asia…China and Japan. They both belong to the genus Aix. The Mandarin ducks in the zoo live on the streams meandering through the zoo quite happily.

Wood Duck

Mandarin Duck
Both male ducks from this species are exquisite birds. The males have an extraordinary colouring seemingly taking in all the colours of the rainbow. The Wood duck has a rich, dark colouring while the Mandarin is exotic and bright and quite stunning.
The females of both species are much duller than the male and difficult to tell apart. As ducklings the Wood and Mandarin ducks are almost identical.

Mandarin Ducks are mainly vegetarian but do eat insects, crustaceans and seeds. Wood Ducks too eat insects, crustaceans and vegetation.

Wood Duck pair showing the duller colouring of the female.

The Robins song…trills and warbles for hours…..(erithacus rubecula)

The Robins song…trills and warbles for hours…..(erithacus rubecula)

Every morning we are awoken by a Robin. Perched on the top branch of a skeletal tree he sings his heart out. He trills and warbles for hours like a melodic alarm clock.

The view from his branch overlooking Torquay’s harbour is a fine one and he is often found looking in the direction of the bay, but occasionally he’ll turn around and I’ll catch him and if I’m lucky,as with this photo, I’ll catch a couple of BlueTits too.

When I’m digging in the garden in spring a robin, maybe ‘the’ robin, turns up to pick at the worms and insects in the earth that I’ve disturbed. He’ll turn his head this way and that listening as I speak quietly to him. British robins generally have no fear of people, European robins are much more cautious as they get hunted and can you believe eaten in some countries.

Despite their cheeky, attractive personalities, Robins are aggressively territorial and not averse to killing off young robins trying to move into their areas, giving the young robins an average life expectancy of a year. If they manage to go beyond this year they could live as long as twelve years.
Juvenile robins lack the red breast of the adults, but are an attractive mottled brown with touches of orange as they mature.

We seem to have here in Britain an innate love for these birds. Whether it’s because of their friendliness, their cheekiness, their shape and colour or their song….they make us smile.

A walk in Cockington Water Meadows to greet first week of Spring & a parking fine..Thank you Torbay Council…

A walk in Cockington Water Meadows to greet first week of Spring & a parking fine..Thank you Torbay Council…

Today took a quiet walk along the water meadows of Cockington. It was very quiet. We passed just a few people on the wooden and earthen paths.
The streams shone in the sun and trees in bud held small songbirds and particularly vocal Robins.

In the lakes of Cockington Court swam a multitude of fat carp…silver, gold, orange and black. They swam leisurely occasionally poking their mouths out of the water.

Above them an elegant Grey Heron watched from high on a tree. I’m sure its bill must have been watering at the sight of the fish below.

Ducks fought…a lone female was eagerly desired by the male ducks. She had chosen a handsome male, but his work was cut out to keep her to himself and he was constantly chasing away the other male ducks in a flurry of splashes.

The day was warm with blue skies and a hot sun.
It turned a bit frosty though when we arrived back at the car, parked where we always park, but with a £70 fine on the window. We had been slapped with a parking fine just a few minutes after leaving the car…the traffic warden must have actually watched us get out the car.
We thought the sign said that we could park in the winter months, but apparently we misinterpreted it and it said we could park free in the summer, but could not park at all in the winter.
Confused…so were we. On the day that Eric Pickles said ‘the war on the motorist must end’ it was particularly galling.

Today 2nd March…first day of Spring. Weekend walk in Torquay, Devon, UK.

Today ……first day of Spring. Weekend walk along Torquays Coastal Path, Torquay, Devon, UK.

Saturday was cold and very windy causing choppy seas. Despite this the bays waters were full of the triangular white sails of tiny boats struggling to keep upright in the blustery conditions.

An angler braved the building waves to catch a fish or two. The rocks he stood on jut out from the cliffs overlooking the sea from Daddyhole plain.
In the summer small groups of anglers enjoy the peace and quiet and camaraderie of this small area. In the winter only the keenest anglers fish from the rocks and often, as this angler was, they are alone with their hobby, the sea and their thoughts.

Yellow gorse covered the sides of the coastal path leading to the Imperial Hotel and a half dozen purple and rich gold crocuses had pushed through the frozen soil to greet walkers, who despite the windy weather had come out in force with sturdy boots and smiles.

Tiny white daisies were already blooming on the grassy plain of Daddyhole in their hundreds as they do every spring.
(Daddy is an old English name for the devil and the plain is named after a rock/cave below the cliffs in which the devil was said to live)

The views from Daddyhole Plain were as always spectacular. The sea changed colour constantly from a milky aqua to an intense blue to a black-blue as the shadows of the clouds above it brushed over the surface and the suns-rays added sharp areas of glowing light.

The large tankers that had come close to the bay and lined the horizon had moved on this Sunday. The BBC one…BBC Anglia is a cargo ship carrying wind turbines from Denmark to Turkey. It looked quite dramatic before the sun lit it and I could see it properly.

The shrubbery along the pathway and railings has been cut right down this winter.
Most of the rubbish left by visitors…cans, bottles, plastic bags, newspaper, etc has been cleared, but on a windy day a paper bag or carton is as likely to be seen floating past as a seagull or kestrel.
Please visitors… You are most welcome to enjoy the beauty of our coast but take your rubbish home.