Time Gentlemen Please

These are for Jaime, Steam Punk Barman at Ferments, Xabia, Spain. 

High House Edge, Stubbin & Holthead

A couple of gates, with a couple of stones for variety

Hidden Honley

Cycling into work, deserted roads, outdoor sketching with pupils during the Lockdown, discovering hidden paths........

Captain Tom

Congratulations to the intrepid Captain Tom on completing his 100 laps and he's now raised over £20 million for the NHS. Outstanding effort. Inspiring stuff. Oh and he's opening the new Nightingale Field Hospital in Harrogate...not bad for a 100 year old!

When Ants Attack

My Gardening Misadventure recreates 1970s B Movie  (Empire of the Ants).

 No prizes for guessing where they stung me!

Fornicating Toads

Nature red in tooth and claw..... toads on Sunny Bank crossing to the pond, squashed on the way to spawn. The hares I saw at last (put my glasses on in bed during morning cuppa), curlews too, plus a wonderful grey over-coated heron also looking for toads.....

Even More Gates

Even more gates, mainly contemporary with the building of the reservoir at Blackmoorfoot (1870 ish) 

Gate Spotting

 Tracking down more old gates...some in a sorry state, but all blacksmith made...

Furlough

Some Corona info

24 Hour Party People

More doodlings from Lockdown Easter....

Corona Trash

Old School cut 'n' paste

Gates

This week I have been mostly drawing gates.....

Trash Mag

 With love to Lock down Nathan

A Letter from No. 10 and a whole bag of worms

The strangest combination in the post, brought by our brilliant postie Daz. A letter from 10 Downing Street.....and I kid you not, a bag of live worms. For Robin's worm composter. 

Boris and the Queen (5th April 2020)

5th April 2020: A surreal day. 

The Prime Minister in hospital and the Queen's Speech is televised to the nation.......

Super Scary

This was 2 weeks ago. And no it wasn't the virus!

Early Birds and Conspiracy Theories

Here's the first birds I saw every day in March. The winning bird was wood pigeon, followed by crows and magpies. The oyster catcher was in a field up by Blackmoorfoot reservoir. No oysters there last time I looked!

Meanwhile, the strangeness ramps up each day......

Snow on the anniversary of the Battle of Towton (March 29th 1461)

Social Distancing

Elbow bumping....remember that? 

Nature Carries on Regardless

As Lockdown started, nature just kept on going, with a spell of beautiful weather...

Eurovision Decision

Things moved very fast as Corona virus swept across Europe....

Time, Gentlemen, Please

Lockdown : 

And I couldn’t escape the waking dream 

of infected fleas

in the warp and weft of soggy cloth

 by the tailor’s hearth in ye olde Eyam. 

Then couldn’t un-see the Boundary Stone, 

that cock-eyed dice with its six dark holes, 

thimbles brimming with vinegar wine

 purging the plagued coins.

Which brought to mind 

the sorry story of Emmott Syddall and Rowland Torre, 

star-crossed lovers

on either side of the quarantine line

whose wordless courtship spanned the river 

till she came no longer.

Simon Armitage

The Plague Stone

I'm reposting these sketches from my walk round the Peak District in May 2018. I stayed at Eyam, famous for self isolation back in 1666 and walked past the Plague Stone between the villages of Eyam and Stony Middleton. Villagers left food on the stone and the 6 holes drilled in the top were for vinegar to disinfect coins left in payment......

The Plague doctor. A whole different kind of face mask.....

Corona Virus Diary

 I hesitated before starting this......things are moving so fast , it's hardly something to make light of.

But then, in the spirit of New of the Stews, I thought, I'll start it whilst I can. 

Those headlines from a week ago already look dated......