Day 1 - The Journey

It was an early start for us from deepest darkest Dorset, and we were on the road by 8:00 am. Well early for a holiday anyway. Bella our campervan was packed and ready to go and we pulled pulled out onto the main road and immediately went right instead of left, doh! So with the first error of the day done we turned around and carried on in the right direction.

The journey was mostly uneventful, we sailed past Gloucester Services much sooner than expected and rather than stopping we decided to continue the run north. A bit of a shame as these are the best services in the UK. When you visit these services its and enjoyable experience, and when you leave you don't feel unclean and violated unlike the other service stations.

There were some minor hold ups just north of Birmingham and then we were off again. Whizzing past Manchester and Liverpool at the heady speed of 55mph. Blackpool and Preston were next to cross off the list and both of us were into virgin territory as I had not driven this far north and Tracy has not been further than Lymm.

The dogs were starting to moan a bit and as it was about 14:00 we thought we should stop at the next services. Tracy looked up on 'Google' to see what was coming and to our surprise 'Tebay' came up as the next available one. Reading more about the services it turns out this this the ancestor of Gloucester Services. What a result, there are only 2 quality service stations in the country and we go past them both.

As expected the food and services were lovely and we were soon refreshed and ready to leave. In the car park there were two minibuses with two separate hen parties inside. Both coincidentally on their way to Newcastle for a hen weekend. The first party had opted for matching t-shirts and the second had gone for French Maid outfits. Both groups were pre-loading in their minibuses and I hope Newcastle was ready for them.

Driving through Cumbria was spectacular especially leading up to Carlisle, (We can see what you mean Angie and Mike, it's beautiful). Before you know it we were north of the wall and we were on the lookout for Wildlings. Another brief stop for the dogs to have dinner and a quick walk and we were off into Glasgow.

By now the rain had given way to bright warm sunshine and the countryside we drove through was even more spectacular than Cumbria. Long sweeping roads with little traffic, mountains on all sides covered in brown heather. Every now and then farms were dropped into the landscape with no apparent way to get to or from them. The further we drove the closer the mountains got and I was half expecting to reach a dead end with a sign telling us to return the way we had come. I’ve watched many travel programs from Scotland and none of the video footage gets close to the scenery before me, and we haven’t even got to the highlands yet. I was thinking to myself about all those Scottish people I’ve met in my life and this secret they keep from the rest of us. Even the mundane, commuter roads are ten times more stunning than anything in Dorset.

The sunglasses were out and Glasgow was bathed in golden light which made the red brick buildings glow. The satnav continued to direct us through the rush hour traffic flawlessly, and in no time we were out of the city and almost immediately on a narrow Scottish road. Another 50 minutes driving and we would arrive at the campsite. I was keeping my eyes open for a village shop as I needed to stock up on a celebratory beer, but as the miles ticked by I began to realise I should have stopped in Lidl in Glasgow.

I temporarily forgot the impending drama of no beer as we rounded a corner and saw for the first time Loch Lomond. It appeared out of the hazy sunshine like the mythical Brigadoon. High mountains sloped into the dark flat water and in the foreground clumps of trees framed the view. It looked like a movie set with every object in view placed for maximum effect. Another two miles to go and the campsite appeared on the left. We pulled in and my heart skipped as I saw the shop. Sadly they don’t sell beer so the celebrating would have to be done with a cup of tea instead.

We checked in and quickly found a pitch. The dogs were whining now and were desperate to stretch their legs, so we went for a walk in the late evening along to shores of Loch Lomond. Dottie did her best to drain the lake in one go whilst Elsie sipped at the water like a small bird.

Blood Sports in the 21st Century

Yesterday, Teresa May officially confirmed to the press that she supported Fox hunting and would seek to lift the ban that was currently in place if they are returned to power. 

To be honest I think the above paragraph should be enough for anybody to realize the Conservatives should never be returned to power, ever. 

The United Kingdom has long been known for the general public’s caring nature for animals. We find Bull Fighting in Spain to be abhorrent, and we look at its supporters as being uncivilized. Dog fighting and Cock fighting have been outlawed since the 19th Century in the UK, and people who are caught running illegal fights can expect a serious fine and or, a possible jail term. 

So, what's the difference between these blood sports and Fox hunting? Well in a bull fight the matadors could get mauled by the bull, but still it's not very fair as they are armed. Dog and Cock fighting are a 1-to-1 fights between the two animals. Fox hunting on the other hand is between a wild animal and a pack of hounds and group of privileged inbreeds on horses. The hounds are 2 to 3 times larger than the average fox and they are fed a regular diet, so arguably they are at peak fitness. The inbreeds are not at peak fitness, but their poor horses have to cart these sacks of blubber around the countryside being forced to jump fences and ditches. All this in the name of 'Sport'! 

But wait, I hear you cry, Foxes are pests and vermin! It depends on your classification of pests and vermin, greenfly are pests and rats are vermin but we don't hunt them for sport. Foxes are scavengers who are opportunistic. If you are a chicken farmer and you have a large flock of free range hens, you build a high fence around you flock to protect them. If a fox gets in then you haven't built a very good fence, so build a better one next time. Human laziness is the reason livestock farmers support hunting, and they have spent many years making up stories to back up their decision. 

I'll give you an example of what Cattistock hunt (the oldest in the UK) did last year. At one of their regular meets at Abbotsbury in Dorset they released a captured fox out of a bag in front of the pack of hounds. The hounds immediately chased the fox and hunted it until they killed it. This happened during the current ban on fox hunting. The incident was reported to the police and no action was taken despite several witness statements being taken. This is one example of many that happen each year throughout the country. Hunting saboteurs are being attacked by hunt supporters, in some cases the attacks are filmed and yet the supporters still evade prosecution. 

The reason they get away with it is because this 'so called' elite of society who hunt the foxes also hold posts such as judges, senior police offices and members of parlement, and they're above the law, and what's more the majority of the population have voted some of them into these positions.

With 84% of the UK Population being opposed to the return of fox hunting I’m hoping Teresa May has just shot herself in the foot. But it seems people glaze over when they enter the polling station and they vote them in for another term.

Anyway, we shall soon see if the 'Sheeple' have been manipulated again once again there will be a return to the dark days of blood sports in the UK.

The first Cuckoo!

I'm having one of those weeks where I'm counting down to a much needed holiday. You know the feeling where if you are trying to complete a task but if it isn't directly to do with the holiday then your hearts not in it. Well that's where my heads at currently.

Mrs Moonplanter and I are off to Scotland for a couple of weeks to walk the West Highland Way with some friends. We have been training for the walk over the past 6 months or so and everyday we walk the dogs about four miles to get them ready for the hike.

We are driving from the Shire to Scotland on Friday in a camper van we have hired from Quirky Campers, and the van is called Bella. Bella is quirky to say the least as you can see from this picture.

 According to the description Bella was possibly made by the gnomes and faeries, which is quite easy to believe with all that funky woodwork. The major selling point for us was the wood burning stove which will keep us warm at night. An absolute must for us as we even have a log burner in our Bell tent. 

Mrs Moonplanter and I have packed everything in readiness, we at least she did all the organizing and packing and I lifted things that were too heavy for her to move. Thursday I'm picking Bella up and then we will have the rest of the day to load here up ready for a crack of dawn departure on Friday.

Google Maps say 8 hours and 12 minutes is what it should take, but factoring in a few stops on the way and its probably going to be closer to 12 hours I would have thought.

With my Blogger app on my phone and a Bluetooth keyboard ready to go I can blog the adventure as it happens.

Oh and about the Cuckoo. I'm always on the lookout for the first cuckoo each year and this year I didn't hear it before I saw it. Sadly it had flown into a window and died before it could utter a peep. So here it is, my first cuckoo of 2017.

Thought for the day

This morning I was driving along and thinking random thoughts as you do, when I started to wonder how political parties influenced people into voting for them. As you probably already know the media, TV, radio and newspapers are generally aligned with a political stance or in some cases an actual party. So you can pretty much guess that people who read one paper for example will almost certainly vote in a certain way. There are lots of opportunities for newspapers to using graphics and adverts for example to influence their readers. I can see that TV is similar but I was wondering how the radio programs could sway the voters.

After a quick 'Google' I came across post-hypnotic suggestion, which is a way to make people do things when you are no longer around to influence them. Hypnotists have done this for years and I was wondering if they used it in politics, and if so how?

The first thing to know is some words are known as power words, and when used repeatedly they reaffirm a message, thus influencing a persons subconscious. The top power words are 'because', 'and', 'as', 'imagine, and 'which means'. Using these in the right context creates a very powerful tool to make you make a decision. 

So now I know what words to look for I decided to run some word frequency analysis against some campaign speeches from several politicians. I used Google Ngrams to find word frequencies (https://books.google.com/ngrams), and then took an average figure and compaired that with the frequency in the speeches.

Firstly, Donald Trump's campaign speech in Florida:
In total his speech contained 5332 words

This is how many time the following words should have appeared if it were and average document.

Because = 3.6

And = 122

As = 28  

but this is how many times they actually appeared

Because = 14

And = 177

As = 19 

Next Teresa May's Brexit speech:
Total words: 2957

                   should be            actual
Because         1.9                     13
And                 65                     111
As                   15                      25

I repeated this with various speeches and found a similar pattern each time. If you look at speeches which are not focussing on swaying a voters choice the word frequencies are more average. 

So next time you hear a politician speaking look out for these phrases or words. Other words not on the list as Power Words maybe used for example Strong and Safe are used a lot to reassure the public after a terrorist event.

Jobs to do in the garden in May

May is a nervous month for gardeners, with the late frosts punishing the over confident gardener. Some years May offers you early summer weather, with almost mini-heatwaves and drought, other years can give you late frosts and a reminder that winter has only just gone.

Spring

The beginning of May denotes the start of Beltane, which to the Celts denotes the start of Summer. In modern times a May Day festival starts the beginning of Beltane, which celebrates fertility. For the gardener May also denotes the start of a period of fertility, and hopefully the start of summer.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is this month so plenty of excitement to look forward to.

May is a busy month for the gardener, with seeds to be sown, and weeds to be removed, so make sure you keep on top of the jobs that need doing.

Hoe Weeds
Prick out seedlings
Look out for late frosts
Build hanging baskets
Sow vegetables outside
Tie up soft fruit cordons
Sow Beans
Fertilise Roses and Shrubs
Treat wood with a stain
The Vegetable Garden in May

Plant Onion Sets
Protect crops from late frosts with Fleece
Fertilize vegetable beds

The Fruit garden in May

Protect blossoms from frost with Fleece
Water trees
Start thinning grapes as required
Place straw around early strawberries
Keep and eye on the frost and cover blossom if required

Fruit trees positioned against walls will need watering in dry conditions. This year is very dry for most of us so get the watering can out.

Grapes will need thinning to reduce the stress on the vine and allow the remaining grapes to swell. Some wine producers recommend no more than 6 bunches of grapes per vine.

The Flower garden in May

Feed and re-sow Lawns
How weeds
Tidy Bulbs and dead foliage
Divide Primroses for next year
Take cuttings
Leaves

Preparation is the word of the month. Beds and borders should be prepared for biennials and perennials. Bedding plants can be planted out, but keep the fleece handy for late frosts.

Tidy up the lawn, and if required re sow patches that look bare or damaged.

Prune roses

Make sure you have enough fleece insulating your cold frames.

The Greenhouse in May

Time to sow the bedding plantsLeaves

Prick out any seedlings that are ready

Sow seeds in cellular trays

Train and prune bushy Fuchsias