Bird watching in the garden

It has become a routine in the mornings. The birds come for breakfast, and after I have fed the cats, I then feed the birds. There is the left over cat food which the fussy cats leave in the bowl. I top that up with a handful of dry cat food, some wild bird seed, sometimes a chopped up apple, and/or some grapes. I might break up a slice of bread or some biscuits as well. That gets thrown on the lawn. I don't have a bird table. Then down they come.  

The cats don't seem interested. I am watching in case one of them shows signs of stalking or pouncing. They never do. I am ready to bang on the window just in case. Mayze always watches from the window sill inside. 

I wonder if any hedgehogs will make an appearance this year. I hope so. There are plenty of places at the bottom of the garden under the hedges where they might have been hibernating. 

Wet and windy today. I am making some flowers with plastic and knitting needles. 

Catch ya tomorrow. Toodle pip.  ilona

Thank you Noel

In my eyes, Noel Fitzpatrick is a hero. On the telly he is the Supervet. I can't watch that programme because I find it too upsetting. I follow him on Twitter and just get the updates on his veterinary practice, his own pets, (sadly Kiera passed away now he has two pussycats), his live shows, and his books. His mammy often popped up on his twittter feed. Sadly she has gone now, but at least she got to see his dedication for the animals he cares for. 

In the latest TV series he uses his knowledge to help wild animals. The rhino has a damaged foot and Noel wants to fit a boot onto it to make it easier to walk. 

Here is a clip from the documentary. 

It's raining. Lets hope it stops this afternoon when I do a billy dog walk. All is well here. Enjoying my new found freedom. Do not fret if you can't comment. I know that the freedom seekers are still there. Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip.   ilona

Christine and Mark

Good evening. I have just spent almost an hour listening to a conversation between Mark Steyn and Christine Anderson. I choose to follow anyone who is a freedom fighter. I don't follow anyone who has been hoodwinked into becoming a puppet of the WEF, Big Pharma, and Big Tech. 

Christine has come to the end of her Canadian tour and is now moving on to Washington. 

If you want to watch the interview, here is a link to Mark's show. 

It's been a funny old day weatherwise. Intermittent showers and sunshine. I almost gave up the idea of going out, then I thought a better idea was to do some litter picking so I could stay around the village and go home if it got too cold and wet. I managed just over an hour and filled a bag with rubbish picked up from the roadside. 

Almost bedtime so I'll sign off for the night. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip.  ilona

Flower Power

Good morning. Dropping my bag of dog poo in the wheelie bin at the church gate the other day I spotted a couple of Christmas wreaths that had been thrown away. That's a shame I thought. So I rescued them and took them apart. 

I thought the wire circles could have been used again, my friend makes wreaths with fabric scraps. Sadly they weren't suitable for her because they were rusty. Not to worry. I planted the plastic flowers, with some of the greenery, into this pot to fill it out a bit. There is a plant in there which has lost it's leaves. I don't know if it will thrive and sprout some more leaves as the weather warms up. I will give it a chance before I declare it dead. 

Someone else's rubbish has added a bit of colour to my garden. 

It's going to be a mishmash weather day today. A bit of everything. I will get my house jobs done first, then maybe go out later. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona
 

The growing process begins.

A lovely afternoon for a walk, even though it was a tad chilly. A big jacket with a furry hood was needed. Nice to see the tractors out preparing the ground and planting the next crop. Three of them working together in sync with each other. They were communicating by radio. If this could be filmed with a drone, speeded up slightly, and set to a piece of classical music it would a joy to watch. 

The further away they get, the more I zoomed in. 

Always something interesting to see in the countryside. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Views

Good morning. What a nice start to the day. The view from my front window. A natural rainbow across the sky is a beautiful thing. It conveys a message of hope. 

The view from my back window shows a new day dawning. The sun comes up behind the stark bare branches of the Silver Birch trees.  

All is good. Catch ya later. Toodle pip.   ilona

More freedom

 Good morning. Something has to change here. Every morning, and sometimes during the day, I open up the Comments for Moderation box and wonder what rude and insulting words I am going to find there. Who is going to have a go at me now? Anonymous people who are afraid to add their name, are they scared to be found out? When a nasty comment comes in less that an hour after I have published a post, I know that these vultures are waiting for the next opportunity to attack me. 

Some ask why I don't publish comments with opinions that differ from my own. As I have said before, this is my personal diary, I am not here to provide a platform for debate. Anyone can start their own blog if they wish to voice their own thoughts. Or they can visit another blog which is happy to discuss, or a forum for the particular subject they are interested in. I don't have time to get involved with lengthy discussions. 

The world is divided. Those who were born into a free society, and those whose freedoms have been limited by a dictatorship. The internet has opened up the world to everyone who has access to a computer. I am all for free speech but I can see the value of having some kind of censorship. There are a lot of evil people out there who's toxic ideas will bring about the destruction of our old and stable life as we know it. A war of cultures is happening. 

I have never understood the 'far right' and the 'far left' labels. I sit in the middle. Common sense is my religion. There will always be a clash of personalities and ideas in communities, whether small and local, or national, or large international institutions. To put everyone into a big melting pot and expecting peace and harmony, isn't going to work. 

Anyway. I wake up each morning with a fresh mind and look forward to each day as it happens. I will not be bogged down with all the negativity flying around. There will be times when I block all comments. That gives me a little bit more freedom to do and say exactly what I like. 

There are some lovely people who visit my blog, and I thank you for your friendship. You know who you are. 

Here is a picture of a firm I used to work for. They recently moved an Electric Bus from Portsmouth Docks to London. It's good to see the company is still going strong. Yes, I had a licence to drive that. My experience over three years went up to 80 tonnes. This is heavier. 

Enjoy your weekend. Toodle pip.   ilona 

The English Countryside on a bike

I did an Aldi shop this morning. I went to the bigger store, more room to move about. We have a smaller shop but it gets a bit busy close to the weekend. I bought four bags of wild bird seed. They are loving it. They are waiting for me to appear in the morning. After lunch, a jacket potato and spaghetti hoops, I did my normal five mile walk this afternoon. Although it has been sunny, it's chuffing cold. Now I am feeling a bit weary. 

Here are a couple more shots from the bike ride yesterday. 

Here is one of the three videos I made. The other two are not good enough to put on here. 

Now I am going to watch a few videos, so I'll cut you loose. We will catch up soon. Toodle pip.  ilona

Another bike ride today.

More biking practice this afternoon. The sun was shining, but boy was it cold. I did 10.5 miles around country roads. That was enough. It was cold, my hands were freezing. 

I didn't take many pics because the camera was sitting on the handlebars, and it was too much of a faff to keep taking it off. I made three videos and have checked them, and will upload one of them onto yoootooob tomorrow. 

Now it's late, I will sleep well tonight. See ya tomorrow. Toodle pip.   ilona

My reflections

 I was listening to the radio on Tuesday in the car and a news item came up. Apparently the UK is short of workers, so there is a campaign to get retirees to come back into the workforce. Many people who haven't reached the official retirement age, whatever that might be, have looked at their finances and elected to take early retirement. Who can blame them. I retired at 60, my friend Carol who is two months older than me went on to work another five years. It was her choice. It all depends on the type of work you are doing, whether you are fit and able to do it, and whether you still enjoy it. I don't think many people who have made a new life for themselves will be persuaded to go backwards and start work again. Maybe some will, but I doubt it. 

On the other hand our oversees guests continue to arrive on our shores, so maybe there will be enough there to fill the vacancies. The only problem is that they all have to be registered and processed, and the authorities are way behind. There is a massive backlog. In the meantime our guests languish in hotels with nothing to do except hang around waiting. 

This situation is turning into a plan to replace our homegrown workforce into a multicultural one. To get this ball rolling Tony Blair has stepped in and said we must give everyone a digital identity. Those of us who are already residential here will be the first to have this foisted upon us. We are sitting ducks, most of us have records of who we are in many places, and we can be easily tracked. 

Many of our guests from other countries come with no paperwork. Some of them have been seen tossing their personal belongings into the sea before they step on our beaches. They don't want to be identified. Don't you think they are the ones who should be checked out and given digital identities first. I pick out a few snippets of news on my screen this morning. Copy and paste because I need to get some breakfast.

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 Asylum seekers will be fast tracked to get refugee status using only questionnaires in plans to clear the asylum backlog. Immigration lawyer Harjap Singh Bhangal: “This is an admission from Rishi Sunak that the system is broken and he hasn't got any solutions.”

IMMIGRATION APPLICATIONS TO BE FAST-TRACKED. The new scheme applies to Libyans, Syrians, Afghans, Eritreans & Yemenis. The system will see migrants granted refugee status just by filling out a 10-PAGE QUESTIONNAIRE. NO FACE 2 FACE INTERVIEW

TONY BLAIR - meddling in government and pushing the UN Agenda 30 policy for every citizen to be forced to carry digital ID in order to live their lives. Tracked, monitored & controlled from cradle to grave, granted permissions based on your status. You didn’t vote for this.

Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague have called for everyone in the UK to get digital ID cards as part of a "technological revolution." 'It really puts people at risk of identity theft, hacking and changes the relationship between the city & the state.

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In a nutshell, we are being pushed into digital currency, digital identity, and digital health passports. You can see it happening from the way everyone is addicted to their mobile devices. They are using climate emergency, the war, cost of living crisis, food shortages, the decimation of the NHS, net zero emissions, etc etc, to manipulate each and every one of us. It has always been about control. 

If anyone has questions/ comments about this topic please go to Cro's blog as he is covering something similar. You may not get published here. 

It's a sunny start to the day. The outside is calling me. Thanks for popping in. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

Bike riding practice at Cleethorpes

Did you guess where I was yesterday?  🙋 🙋 🙋

After the bike ride I put it back in the car and had a walk along the Promenade to take some photos. The train now standing at platform 2 is gorgeous. Lovely colours. Very sleek very sexy. I like trains. 

There are plenty of these shelters along the Promenade. It's a pity that most of them had some damage. Broken windows and graffiti. I think there will be a lot of repairs to do before the season starts. 

I thought that this was a good idea. A gigantic mesh fish basket to collect the recyclable drinks cans and plastic bottles. 

This was my first bike riding practice with the camera attached to the handle bars. I think it went quite well, apart from the wobbling. I should have chosen a long straight stretch of tarmac, instead of the narrow twisty track around the boating lake. Did I fall off, you have to watch it to find out. 

The sun is going down and the geese are settling down for the night.

 

Time for me to go home. 

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip.   ilona

At the Seaside.

I've been to the seaside today. Took my bike in the car, for a ride along the Promenade. It was glorious, the sun was shining. 

This boat never moved. 

The tide was in. When I have been here before the tide was so far out I couldn't see the sea. 

Eating my sandwich on the Sandhills. 

They are building a new Lifeboat Station here. Looking at the artists impression picture, it's going to be a big one. 

There were a few people about. In the summer this pier is buzzing. 

The fairground people were busy getting their equipment ready for the new season. 

Fish chips and peas and bread and butter for ten quid. I didn't partake, I took my own food. 

I had a smashing chat with a couple who were about my age. They were out on their bikes and had stopped to sit on a bench. I told them a few funny stories, things that had happened to me in my life, and they both laughed out loud. It was most enjoyable. I think I'm going to make it my role in life to make people laugh. I am good at that. 

I made a video, attached the camera to my handlebars and filmed while I was riding along. I think you will laugh when you see it. I will upload it tomorrow. 

Catch ya tomorrow. Toodle pip.   ilona 

Go Christine.

 What a great start to the day. Checking around the internet while drinking my first coffee. Things are looking good.

Years ago when joining the EU was a big thing, new rules and regulations were coming in from Brussels. I knew at the time that this was the beginning of the end of the freedom of the road for truckers. One of the reasons for me doing the job was that I could be left to my own devices to get the job done. Here is your lorry, here is the paperwork for the load, off you go. Yes, I was trusted to work out the best route to reach the delivery point on time. When there was a return load I was given the address of the collection point, and left to find my way there, and instruct the fork lift driver how to load the trailer. It was my responsibility to load it legally, with the correct weight distribution throughout the axles, spreading it across the length of the trailer. It was my responsibility to make sure that the load was delivered safely. 

Then the new legislation was drip fed to us, we are doing things differently now. Log books changed to tacho discs, then to plastic digi cards. With phones in the cabs we were nothing more than robots to point it in the right direction, according to the route we were given from the transport office. Now the vehicles have trackers. Then I had to sit in a classroom watching a training video on how to couple and uncouple a trailer. Something I had done a million times before. It was time for me to give up. In my mid fifties the job was changing. I didn't want to become a robot. 

So what is making me happy today? Christine Anderson, the MEP for Germany is in Canada supporting the Truckers Family Day. They haven't gone away, they fight on for freedom. You can see her speech here. If you listen to the end you will hear about what motivates her. 

Here is Christine's Tweeeeeter feed. If you scroll through the comments you will find a video of her in full flight as she rips Truuudoh to shreds in the European Parliament. She doesn't hold back. 

I see also in the news that a group of well known doctors are in Australia at the moment, giving speeches to sell out audiences. The truth is coming out. 

Breakfast time for me. Looking good outside. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona 

Answers

I have just paid my horrendously high utilities bill 😜 at the Post Office, with cash. While I was in there, I browsed the book shelves, and the books laid out on the table. Mostly they are fiction, which I don't normally read. But this one jumped out at me, well it would wouldn't it. 

I studied the blurb on the back and flicked through a few pages. It might be a bit heavy going for me, but I thought what the heck. This might have all the answers we need on the current situation. 😆 Wouldn't it be amazing if the writer knew exactly what was in store for us, and crafted the story into a self help book so we could make our plans for the future. Perhaps he had an awakening and decided to share his knowledge with the rest of the world. 😵

The lady in the Post Office recommended this author. She is currently reading another book written by  him. Scott Mariani has written 27 books since 2007. Here is his web site if you want to check him out. 

Maybe finding this book when I wasn't looking for anything in particular, was an omen. I will give it a go. 

It's blowing a hoooolie outside. After lunch I will get wrapped up and go for a walk. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona 

On yer bike

Now that I have all the gear, helmet, padded pants, jazzy leggings, and yellow vest, I thought I had better make a start on the cycling practice. 

Oh boy am I wobbly. I am not very good at steering when going slow. I think I need some mirrors because when I look over my shoulder I wobble all over the place. I need a bit more practice with changing gears. The helmet is not very comfortable on top of my sun visor, but it has to be like that. I need the visor to keep the sun out of my eyes. I might lower the saddle an inch or two because I can't put both feet on the ground when stationary. 

I did a few miles this afternoon and I am so not fit. Puffing up the hills. Sore bum, and aching legs. People tell me I have to keep doing it and the bum gets used to it. I have two pairs of padded pants on, and a gel seat. 

I might need to do a short ride every day to see if there is any improvements. I will let you know if it gets any easier. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

I am buzzzzzzing.

Hiya Happy Sunday People. We are not going to be sad, not worried, not scared, not going to hide away. We are going to laugh in the face of bullies. We all need a Roseanne Barr in our lives. A woman with balls, what a sassy woman. She is great. Welcome back. 

Check out some more of her new stand up comedy clips. Hilarious. Even better than our dear Katie Hopkins. 

Now I'm off to the park to stand with my mates.

Enjoy your Sunday. Toodle pip.   ilona 

A tour of Lotherton Hall

Lotherton is a wonderful Edwardian Country Estate. It's just off the junction where the M1 and theA1M meet, a few miles from Sherburn in Elmet. I remember the old A1 which now runs alongside the motorway, so I take that instead. 

The Hall first came into possession of the Gascoigne family in 1825. In 1968 the Hall was presented to Leeds City Council. There is a lot more information about the history on this Wiki page. 

Can you see me mother. 🙋 

The blinds are all down. I presume it's to protect the furniture from the sun. 

Look at this gorgeous sitting room. I can picture myself sitting there in all my finery, tinkling the little bell to summon the butler to bring me coffee and cakes. Thank you Jeeves. 

Can anyone play the harp? 

Oh what a gorgeous desk. My computer would fit perfectly on there. 

The family portrait has pride of place in the reception. 

I have nine guests arriving for dinner, Jeeves. Please send in the chef so we can discuss the menu. 

Sadly the upper floor was closed to visitors. They are getting it ready for the new spring and summer season. 

All we need now is Terry Miles to give us some boogiewoogie on the piano. 

If you want to know more about Lotherton Hall and what's on in 2023, check out this web page. There are guided tours, arts and crafts collection, and lots more for all the family. Click on one of my pictures to bring them up on full screen as a slide show. Sorry I could not make a video, it wasn't allowed. 

Now, after stuffing my face with a late cooked breakfast I am going to relax in the bath for an hour. Enjoy your weekend. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona