Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

Lesser redpoll news please, Tom.

Really intrigued.

You know how your childhood and trains and memories of your dad are all entwined? Well it's kind of like that for me and my dad and birds. Especially British finches, and especially goldfinches, bullfinches and redpolls.

My dad and I spent hours together buying, selling, catching, breeding and showing them. Every time I hear a goldfinch call I think of him.

Amateurish as they are, how he would have enjoyed these photographs.

He once won first prize at the National Bird Show with a redpoll that he bred. It was one of his proudest moments.

Redpolls are not very common in the Midlands. I'm very privileged they come to visit me.

   

[Kev B]

From a fishes point of view it's better to look at a heron from the outside than the inside

WP.

As a kid like most I suppose I used to go nesting, and a bunch of us had an egg collection. I though I hear of most birds from our Island but never heard of the Redpoll. What a beauty he is too, fantastic pic Tom.

[RED-DOG]

This clip is billed as a goldfinch singing but it's not, it's a goldfinch calling.

Actually, it's not that exactly. It's a goldfinch answering the call of another.

[tikay]

Not at all the answer I was expecting, Tom, but far better.

And yeah, you nailed the "Dad" connection with me, and trains. Exactly.

Nobody will ever know how much these things mean, until they lose their Dad.

[mondatoo]

Mine and my Dads is drink, 

[Kev B]

Heard an interesting fact last week from Chris Packham of Spring/Autumn watch. We are a cat loving nation with 9 million of them. The problem is they kill 60 million song birds each year.

[RED-DOG]

This is a goldfinch singing. During the song he calls three times in earnest, probably to a passing female. You will hear it if you listen, (it's at 59 - 103 and 107 seconds in). Notice how goldfinches always swivel their bodies from right to left when they call. 

[RED-DOG]

Heard an interesting fact last week from Chris Packham of Spring/Autumn watch. We are a cat loving nation with 9 million of them. The problem is they kill 60 million song birds each year.

I've heard similar Kev. Staggering numbers, but nature has a way of balancing things out.

[RED-DOG]

Mine and my Dads is drink, 

Whatever it is Ray, enjoy it while you can.   

[Rod Paradise]

From a fishes point of view it's better to look at a heron from the outside than the inside

WP.

As a kid like most I suppose I used to go nesting, and a bunch of us had an egg collection. I though I hear of most birds from our Island but never heard of the Redpoll. What a beauty he is too, fantastic pic Tom.

Me too, although as far as I know mine was the last generation where the boys birdnested, no bad thing as far as protection of wildlife goes, but not good as far as general knowledge about the countryside/wildlife.

[RED-DOG]

Don't ask me how I got here, but I've just stumbled upon a pair of "Red bottom double zipper snake veins suede booties" (in  black).

Surely there has never been a more creatively named product.  I'm fighting the urge to order a pair.

[Laxie]

Not so sure the name is creative.  More like 'long winded'.

[RED-DOG]

Not so sure the name is creative.  More like 'long winded'.

Oh come on. Red Bottom? Snake veins? You could only be describing a great pair of shoes.  (Or tikay after an all nighter).

[RED-DOG]

Anyway, never mind all that. Have you rotovated, and has anything got laid in your yard?

[RED-DOG]

 


So the Costa Concordia is a write off. It's been declared a total loss by the Carnival Corporation.

The company directors are expecting an insurance payout of $515 million. (I bet they're staring out of the front room window, waiting for the postman).

I wonder if the money will actually compensate for the loss. (People's lives excluded obviously) How much did she cost to build and how much potential revenue has gone forever?

What will actually happen to the ship herself? Surely it can't all just go for scrap. Thousands of tons of good steel plate, all those fixtures and fittings? 

I wonder if they have removed the chassis numbers and the vin tags? It would be a bit of a bugger if she ended up as a cut & shut in Bawtry auction.