First up some sad news, looks like the only decent news channel has gone HD only which means no more SD France 24 or France van cat as its known on pain of death. Wiki reckons its up in the high 800s now along with all the Asian networks so will have a look. If not it looks like I'm going to have to default to the terrible Russia Toady or TFTWorld.
Feature Presentation. Haiti:
We attended a talk on the Cacti of Haiti on Wednesday in the welcoming dank basement of Keston Community centre, its been hot as hell here, so it being in the cool is the one benefit of the heat. Our guest speaker was Paul Hoxey who undertook the trip along with some people from the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens (which I've been to).
Something of an unknown quotient, Haiti is the perpetually disaster prone, french half of Hispaniola along with the Dominican Republic its Spanish counterpart and Cuba, they are some of the oldest and largest bits of the Caribbean.
Thanks to many problems such as natural disasters and poverty / aid cycle, Haiti can be thought of as an African nation in the heart of the Caribbean.
Most of the trees have been cut down for charcoal production leaving the cacti behind in big stands across the island. Thanks to aid most people live on a subsistence level, leaving Haiti as a gibocracy if you will not growing stuff if you give it for free. There is litter and pigs roaming free in the major cities and yet it can be stunning with plenty of beaches. The upside to this is its poorly explored with only Charles Plumier visiting in 1700's and Ekman in the 1920's contributing a lot to their flora.
Its a stunning talk with a focus on cacti, there's a new Cereus that Plumier found and has only been described now, along with a few Melocacti and Pilosocereus. There is some ruined forts that were built to fight the french and the spot where Columbus landed in 1492. It has great potential, stunning beaches and the people seem resourceful, its just a shame that its held back by aid culture and handouts.
The online home of Bear or Bust.
Sunday, 29 July 2018
Sunday, 22 July 2018
Riverbank Matters
Decided to take a trip down the river path by the Thames today. Woolwich to Thamesmead about 2 miles or so and its a nice trip out. Here are some notes on what I saw.
Today we saw a load of swans swimming along by the main wall. Further along were ducks including off season Mallards with chicks and an Egyptian Goose on the wall.
I note that their blackberries are more like the wild varieties than the bigger cultivar versions on the wasteland at work.
People running, cycling and even some gymnastics (mainly stretching) which is new for me.
A lot of butterflies, more than I've seen in ages. This includes mainly Large (Cabbage) Whites, Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, a Jersey Tiger moth and a blue possibly either Common or Holly.
Edit its a female Holly Blue
A guy on a bike reckoned he saw a snake, it could be a Slow Worm which is local here or it could really be a snake. (I've never actually seen a wild British snake, hopefully one of these days.)
Today we saw a load of swans swimming along by the main wall. Further along were ducks including off season Mallards with chicks and an Egyptian Goose on the wall.
I note that their blackberries are more like the wild varieties than the bigger cultivar versions on the wasteland at work.
People running, cycling and even some gymnastics (mainly stretching) which is new for me.
A lot of butterflies, more than I've seen in ages. This includes mainly Large (Cabbage) Whites, Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, a Jersey Tiger moth and a blue possibly either Common or Holly.
Edit its a female Holly Blue
A guy on a bike reckoned he saw a snake, it could be a Slow Worm which is local here or it could really be a snake. (I've never actually seen a wild British snake, hopefully one of these days.)
Sunday, 15 July 2018
Police, beauty and K9
Fans of strange TV rejoice, as Propeller tv have picked up Police Beauty and K9 for showing. Saw this while having nothing to watch on a Thursday and periodically come back to it as its mesmerisingly awful.
Reminiscent of NHKWorld a news channel that was a weird mix of News and safe space, this evokes the same feeling as bugger all really happens. Set in Beijing its an all female dog patrol unit that never fights any crime. There is You You who is pretty and I think owns the big Lab Cherry there is also Ni Na who owns a Springer Spaniel (a Howl) but in English her name is the sound of a police siren makes (we don't have much onomatopoeia but we are proud of this). Oh and did we say that nothing happens.
Tuesday after world cup is case in point, a woman threatens to kill herself because her cat Little Emperor has gone missing after her derpy boyfriend let it out after a row they had. (and they are all its here all critters seem to be genderless but I digress) The team are mobilised and You You says that her dog can sniff it out, cue brave doggo sniffing out embarrassed kitteh hiding out in a stairwell. The woman does not kill herself and a lecture is given to them about considering Little Emperors feelings when next they have a barney.
Oh and the voice acting in this is wonderful the boyfriend comes across as retarded and the girlfriend haughty. If you've ever seen telenovela dubbed you'll know the level of voice acting here.
Back to the show and our girls stop to pick up a run over mutt they spot on the ring road out of town and take it back to their local neighbourhood vets. In the only piece of drama, their superiour and the vet decide on a name for our injured pupper.
How about Wonder squeaks one guy. no it was found on the fifth ring road out of town so why don't we call it fifth ring. I'm guessing its better in Chinese but our hapless doggo is named fifth ring and the rest of the show is his battle to regain the use of his back legs.
The ending theme is the sort of thing that would grace a romance anime and fits in with the strange incidental music as a whole.
A word of warning there seems to be no English subs up on Youtube at the moment though Propeller are showing it with English Subs and dubs. Which is how I've been shitposting about it here.
Yesasia have Mandarin TV Box sets for sale if you speak chinese though as noted the whole series seems to be up on Youtube.
Anyway UK viewers its on Sky 185 at 8:45 PM weeknights.
Sunday, 8 July 2018
Local Museum and River news.
This is kinda tangentially related to my holidays as I looked this up whilst abroad, but I've often wondered if the small river at the top of Wickham Lane had a name.
Apparently called the river Wogebourne or the Plumstead river, its source is in Shooters Hill and ends up somewhere in Thamesmead. A few things intrigued me about this as a kid that I couldn't quite shake,
Firstly, there is something like a sewer line running under Gatling road about halfway down and always assumed it was exactly this. (more on this see point 3)
Secondly an old neighbour long since passed once told me that there was a river running at the back of Wickham Lane, He basically lived and died in the house a few doors down and had a lot of local knowledge. Also one of the people to get me interested in cacti.
Thirdly and this backs up point one, we were hanging around waiting for the van to pick us up in Blithdale Road garage area and had Thames water show up to check on what we thought was a sewer line. They told us, as we were bored and asked what they were doing, that it was actually an underground river and showed us it flowing quite heavily down toward the railway lines.
Putting this together we now can guess that it carries on, across Bracondale / Brinkburn and cut across Mottisfont road on the other side of the railway down toward Thamesmead. I hope this is of use to someone.
Sad museum news.
It looks like our borough museum will be closing soon, its not a patch on what it was when it was upstairs in Plumstead library. I guess the closing of the firepower exhibit hit it hard.
Catering to war and arsenal stuff (think munitions not the football club though they were local back then) its got a few cannon and uniforms and an array of shells (no really, still think munitions) and some borough archives. Did a visit Saturday and they were some really nice people there, its got a few things about making cannon and such but isn't what I came for.
What I came for was something like the old Plumstead museum the one I always had a look round when going to the library. The one with bits of roman pot, and a stuffed fox and a whole display case of fossils from Abbeywood. They had a humming bird whose feathers would turn from dull brown to a brilliant green when the light caught it. Also there was a display case dedicated to bobs (an odd snooker variant) and other things from the thirties. Where all this is now I don't know but I hope its not lost.
Edit 2021. I've added a picture of the river, when out for a walk today. Its only above ground point is on Woodbrook Road / Wickham Lane, before it cuts into the woods and carries on as an underground river.
Apparently called the river Wogebourne or the Plumstead river, its source is in Shooters Hill and ends up somewhere in Thamesmead. A few things intrigued me about this as a kid that I couldn't quite shake,
Firstly, there is something like a sewer line running under Gatling road about halfway down and always assumed it was exactly this. (more on this see point 3)
Secondly an old neighbour long since passed once told me that there was a river running at the back of Wickham Lane, He basically lived and died in the house a few doors down and had a lot of local knowledge. Also one of the people to get me interested in cacti.
Thirdly and this backs up point one, we were hanging around waiting for the van to pick us up in Blithdale Road garage area and had Thames water show up to check on what we thought was a sewer line. They told us, as we were bored and asked what they were doing, that it was actually an underground river and showed us it flowing quite heavily down toward the railway lines.
Putting this together we now can guess that it carries on, across Bracondale / Brinkburn and cut across Mottisfont road on the other side of the railway down toward Thamesmead. I hope this is of use to someone.
Sad museum news.
It looks like our borough museum will be closing soon, its not a patch on what it was when it was upstairs in Plumstead library. I guess the closing of the firepower exhibit hit it hard.
Catering to war and arsenal stuff (think munitions not the football club though they were local back then) its got a few cannon and uniforms and an array of shells (no really, still think munitions) and some borough archives. Did a visit Saturday and they were some really nice people there, its got a few things about making cannon and such but isn't what I came for.
What I came for was something like the old Plumstead museum the one I always had a look round when going to the library. The one with bits of roman pot, and a stuffed fox and a whole display case of fossils from Abbeywood. They had a humming bird whose feathers would turn from dull brown to a brilliant green when the light caught it. Also there was a display case dedicated to bobs (an odd snooker variant) and other things from the thirties. Where all this is now I don't know but I hope its not lost.
Sunday, 1 July 2018
Pinya De Rosa review.
This is a small botanic garden dedicated to cactus situated outside of Lloret de mar up in the hills, you can drive there or get the garden bus from either Lloret Bus Station or Blanes. If you are into gardens, gardening or plants in general, its worth paying 10 euro for essentially a two for one entry and a daily garden bus pass.
For your delectation I've laid out in my ape level Spanish, a translation of their site introduction in
English below.
Pinya de Rosa Tropical botanical garden
The tropical botanical garden, Pinya de Rosa, is located in Costa Brava region between the towns of Lloret de Mar and Blanes. Set in 50 hectares, Pinya De Rosa covers all areas of the arts and the sciences.
Pinya de Rosa is the work of Fernando Riviere de Caralt*, Industrial Engineer, who had a great passion for gardening, and spent a great deal of his life (1945-1992) creating this place out of the natural landscape.
This tropical garden is made up of around 7000 species from different genera and is geared to showing particular collections as they live in their natural habitats.
Of particular note are the collections of Aloes, Agaves, Yuccas and members of the Opuntiaceae that are considered among the best in the world.
Thanks to the microclimate here (Median Temperatures 17-29 deg) the Succulents are accompanied by Draceneas, Palms and other wildflowers endemic to the local area. This garden is responsible for increasing the variety of cacti here and upon entry you can see ** Echinocactus Grusonii, Neobuxbaumia Polylopha and Echinopsis Pasacana.
Botanists*** have discovered and subsequently named several plants in honour of Senor Riviere, these include ****Leucostele Rivierei, Opuntia Rivieriana, Echinopsis Riviere de Caratii and Aloe Rivierei.
Its a privilege to know that many people from all over the world come here and we hope to maintain and expand Pinya De Rosa for all our visitors.
*Catalan Source, its all I could find. Though he seemed to be a member of the IOS reading between the lines.
** I've taken the liberty of updating the Carnegiea here to reflect its true name otherwise its correct.
*** Cardenas, Karl Backenberg, John Lavranos, Len Newton.
**** Bad news, all species described here are sunk with the exception of the Aloe. I haven't found the Opuntia, Leucostele is part of Echinopsis now and that species of Echinopsis is better known now as Echinopsis Oxygona.
The truth of the matter is this, it seems to be in decline. In the space of 5 years when we were there last the ponds at the bottom had gone (access was gone and we couldn't see the propagation areas at the base either). They still had a lot of cacti including some quite old stands of Neobuxbaumia and some Cleistocacti along with a lot of opuntias. There is drift planting of Lampranthus and a few varied species of Aloe and Agave as well as a Dasylirion or two.
I guess it was exceptional back in its day but clearly we are looking at the fall of Rome here and whatever splendour it had has long passed by.
I guess art means having your photo taken with a charming parrot as you go in, you can by photos or your face on a bowl as you go out. Apart from that I'll leave you with some photos we took there.
Some are from 5 years back.
Edit. Some crucial info. 4 euros to get in. Parrot pictures / plate tat mandatory but you can decline.
 |
| Garden Bus |
For your delectation I've laid out in my ape level Spanish, a translation of their site introduction in
English below.
Pinya de Rosa Tropical botanical garden
The tropical botanical garden, Pinya de Rosa, is located in Costa Brava region between the towns of Lloret de Mar and Blanes. Set in 50 hectares, Pinya De Rosa covers all areas of the arts and the sciences.
Pinya de Rosa is the work of Fernando Riviere de Caralt*, Industrial Engineer, who had a great passion for gardening, and spent a great deal of his life (1945-1992) creating this place out of the natural landscape.
This tropical garden is made up of around 7000 species from different genera and is geared to showing particular collections as they live in their natural habitats.
Of particular note are the collections of Aloes, Agaves, Yuccas and members of the Opuntiaceae that are considered among the best in the world.
Thanks to the microclimate here (Median Temperatures 17-29 deg) the Succulents are accompanied by Draceneas, Palms and other wildflowers endemic to the local area. This garden is responsible for increasing the variety of cacti here and upon entry you can see ** Echinocactus Grusonii, Neobuxbaumia Polylopha and Echinopsis Pasacana.
Botanists*** have discovered and subsequently named several plants in honour of Senor Riviere, these include ****Leucostele Rivierei, Opuntia Rivieriana, Echinopsis Riviere de Caratii and Aloe Rivierei.
Its a privilege to know that many people from all over the world come here and we hope to maintain and expand Pinya De Rosa for all our visitors.
*Catalan Source, its all I could find. Though he seemed to be a member of the IOS reading between the lines.
** I've taken the liberty of updating the Carnegiea here to reflect its true name otherwise its correct.
*** Cardenas, Karl Backenberg, John Lavranos, Len Newton.
**** Bad news, all species described here are sunk with the exception of the Aloe. I haven't found the Opuntia, Leucostele is part of Echinopsis now and that species of Echinopsis is better known now as Echinopsis Oxygona.
The truth of the matter is this, it seems to be in decline. In the space of 5 years when we were there last the ponds at the bottom had gone (access was gone and we couldn't see the propagation areas at the base either). They still had a lot of cacti including some quite old stands of Neobuxbaumia and some Cleistocacti along with a lot of opuntias. There is drift planting of Lampranthus and a few varied species of Aloe and Agave as well as a Dasylirion or two.
I guess it was exceptional back in its day but clearly we are looking at the fall of Rome here and whatever splendour it had has long passed by.
I guess art means having your photo taken with a charming parrot as you go in, you can by photos or your face on a bowl as you go out. Apart from that I'll leave you with some photos we took there.
Some are from 5 years back.
 |
| Dasylirion |
 |
| Unknown Lampranthus |
 |
| Old Trunks |
 |
| Publicity Shot |
 |
| 13 Pool area. |
 |
| 13 Glass houses |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)