Here is part of my reply to an email received in reply to my last post here: "Wearing the Red Coat." By the way for a reason I know not it is referred to by the hunt as "pink." I understand the meed for culling which is done, as far as I understand, on a pragmatic basis  as humanely as possible and with some debatable justification, but  I still have some bewilderment at my belief that those that perpetrate enjoy the process and do it for entertainment.. What I strongly object to is the traditional hunt where they dress up in fancy clothes, revel in a pathetic social occas ..read more

Friday 3rd May 2024 Re-posted from Bowland Climber's blog. Click to see BC's post. and my comments. This is  unpleasant to watch, I felt physically sick, but it should be widely publicised ..read more

 Sunday 21st. April 2024 At last after months of inactivity a reasonable walk on new territory for me. My breathlessness malady still prevails with little improvement. The last hospital department to take me over was Respiratory. They seem to have run out of ideas; I still have one test in the pipeline for Sleep Apnoea which I'm pretty sure I do not suffer from, and even if the test is positive it can only be a mild version and I have my doubts as to whether it will have anything to do with my problem. I had no intention of trying to score a time for this walk, I just wanted to enjoy. H ..read more

 Easter Monday - 1st April 2024 I am champing (how's that for a classy word?) at the bit to continue my project on the Eden Way but bad weather, especially the cold, which bothers me more than it used to, have intervened. And every time there has been a weather window it has coincided with some appointment or other. I will return! Meanwhile, after being encouraged by the use of an after market masking set for the cockpit windows on the Beaufort, I have embarked on what is probably one of  the most windowed planes ever - the Avro Anson. Having all those windows lends itself to some il ..read more

 Thursday 14th March 2024 I am not keen on circulating supposedly humorous views and clips from Internet sources on my blog or by email. As for any other social media platform I just don’t participate, they have far too much to answer for, and on rare occasions when I have had a look they irritate me when I see an unexplained photograph with no backstory and a string of comments usually saying nothing much more than “good photo.” Another problem is that for any re-posted item the degree of humour is relative to each recipient and what one finds hilarious may not be so much appreciated by ..read more

Tuesday 5th March 2024  AT LAST... ...with with leg wounds not healing and many other factors the last proper walk I did away from home was  on 12th November 2023. Wounds now healed and weather more friendly I was off to continue a vague project to follow the river Eden from its source which I visited on 18th November 2019 https://conradwalks.blogspot.com/search?q=Aisgill+Farm A large lay-by about quarter of a mile south of Aisgill Farm provides parking. From there the road descends to Aisgill Farm quite steeply but provides a sting in the tail at the end of the walk. As one descends ..read more

Monday 19th February 2024  I see the last walk (away from home) I did was on 12th November from Barbon. Since then I have been nursing a wound on the rear of my ankle which ulcerated. I've been having weekly visits to my GP's nurse and at last it is now sorted. Breathlessness continues and more boring medical appointments have been attended and I reckon it is something I am just going to have to live with, so walks I suppose will be be modest, but at my age I can't complain, and I am hoping to get back to more walking on new ground, but I want a reasonably benign return combined with ..read more

Monday 29th January 2024 - thought for the day  MPs are lobbying for the scrapping of Ofsted single word/phrase awards. First of all, along with perhaps the majority of our population, I believe that the whole system needs overhauling and I speak from fairly close contact with much of this, BUT... ...using a phrase or single word description is immediately emotive one way or the other, and despite dictionaries that define,  words and phrases can have different nuances for different people. When anybody makes a statement, however they intended it to sound the result that matters is ho ..read more

Saturday 27th January 2024 It has taken me a lifetime ( even past the Three Score Years and Ten) to take some interest in football. It was kindled by unavoidable watching of the sport sections on TV news and being impressed by Jürgen Klopp who seemed to bring a  new aspect to football management contrasting with the entrenched gum chewing fraternity. Jürgen kicked it off in one of his first interviews when he was asked if he considered himself "special" in comparison with José Mourino, self claimed as The Special One. Jürgen replied, "no, I am normal, I am The Normal One." Having mentione ..read more

 Thursday 17th January 2024 I had the second f/up appointment for my detached retina operation from 3rd. January today. Mrs Linton, the consultant who did the op. was wholly satisfied and all has gone well. I have had a diminishing black shadow on the eye working its way down from top to bottom permitting an increasing amount of vision. That is now reduced to a small strip at the bottom which Mrs. L is confident will disperse completely within a further week. To all intents and purposes I am now seeing as well as I could before. Having had the details of the procedure described to me I am ..read more