Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

Don't forget you have to leave 1.5 meters, funny how this rule doesn't work the other way around!!

 

A couple of yrs ago, they tried to close down huge swathes of West Sussex for a cycle event. There was uproar, but no notice was taken of locals. Then, the weather intervened. Forecasts for 70 mph winds and non-stop torrential rain did what people power failed to and it was called off 24 hrs before the road closures were due to kick in. There has been no suggestion since that the exercise might be repeated. Gotta love the British weather!

 

It raises lots of money for the organisers too. The charity bit is the participants getting sponsored. The organisation of these events is profitable business.

 

@shiney there are many road-closing charitable events around here too. I cannot for the life me figure out why raising money for good causes has to entail shutting down roads. How can you and Mrs. S. quietly donate money to charity by growing and selling plants or having private parties in your garden and yet these people need to put themselves in the spotlight, shut down roads and cause total disruption in order to raise funds?

 

Another pale-skinned user of high-factor sunscreen and DEET here. And I still got an insect bite yesterday, on my face .

 

It's always somewhere visible, @JennyJB . Most recently on the edge of my lip, where of course you can't put insect repellent.

Today's moan is that the blessed magpie chicks found my seedlings & young plants, early this morning, and ripped out half a dozen. I'd just been waiting for the rain to stop so I could plant some of them out... now they're all in "quarantine" under a mesh lid in the cold frame.

We won't be eating many sugar peas this year though, because I can't think of a way of protecting the plants from the vandals.

 

It's T.T. fortnight on the Isle of Man at the moment. Road closures - tell me about it! Also the Motorcycle Grand Prix for another fortnight later in the year. There's also a bicycle race, a running race - top to bottom of the island, and other events that all shut the roads and create chaos every year.

 

I'm a bit of an old sceptic I know, but why do people, very often, raise money by doing something they want to do, rather than something the dont want to do.
I was once cornered by someone who said they were raising money for charity by walking the Inca trail in Peru and would I sponsor them,(0n their holiday).

 

I suppose it all depends on whether they use the money to pay for their holiday, or if it all goes to charity and they pay for the holiday themselves.

 

Well I think it was one of those things where if they got enough sponsorship they got the trip on the cheap.

 

Those 'athons are mostly rich people trying to persuade poorer people to give money to people who are even poorer

 

My second row of sugar peas has had the tops nipped off, or the plants pulled out of the ground. I suspect the magpies like the flavour. BUT... I've made a temporary "cage" using last year's strawberry net (replaced because it wasn't really big enough) over both rows, held taut with bamboos and rocks. Perhaps all is not lost...

 

Hello @Liriodendron , several years ago I bought a fleece 'tunnel' to protect our veg crops, it's only about 10ft long and 3-4ft wide, 3ft high and kind of collapsible to fit your space. It's good to protect also against high winds and heavy rain as well as birds - you peg it down all round. It wasn't very expensive if I recall.