It's not glamorous and it's brutally hard work, but clearing out drainage channels is the kind of fun that childhood me dreamt of - mud, water, wellies and you can make as much mess as you like..
What can I say? The world is a varied and very, very interesting place :-) The amount of things I know absolutely nothing about is ... overwhelming?
"... colonised by saprophytic fungi" I have no idea what that is but it sounds disgusting! (but also deliciously lesbian -- very confusing) Poor birch trees ...
" ... clicks through to the actual map" -- I clicked through, because I love maps. I don't have pictures but maps and sea-charts on my walls. I travel on Google Earth. I'm getting to know Newcastle and the Tyne because of you and David McGrogan who I also follow on Substack
Strangely, I already knew a mattock from a pickaxe, but not a shovel from a spade. I read and learn. But thanks to the Shell Book of Country Crafts I can tell a coppice from a pollard at a glance. If that doesn't impress the girls, I don't know what will.
"... almost certainly a spring from an old mine shaft (there is a tell tale iron oxide in it)" Wha? Mine shaft under your woods? There's a brilliant Australian guy who's working hard on leveling up from the stone age to the iron age in real life, using iron oxide slimy mud from a creek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhW4XFGQB4o
Those pork pies look delicious -- a gem of a video!
"... drain into the burn" -- that's the same word for 'small river' (brook?) they use in Scotland?
"... prying out all of the large rocks (precious resource)" *muffled giggling in Norwegian* The forests I'm used to are different from the ones you have on your island. I remember your post about Ecological Succession; some of the earlier stages reminded me of home :-) Or, as I overheard an American tourist exclaim once: "It's all fuckin' rocks!" He wasn't onto nothing ... among ourselves, when no one is listening, we call our country 'the scree', the rock-slide. 2,2% arable land, the rest barren wilderness, fit only for goats and reindeer. But I digress ...
I'd love to come over and help you dig your ditches, but I've done my back in and the Guild would kick me out for doing agricultural work. Sorry!
I actually grew up in South Shields and stayed there for thirty years, whilst I went through my period as a drummer. Many of the people in that world (especially the owners of practice rooms) were veterans of that period and played in and amongst many of those punk bands from North East of England. If you can ever find it, checkout a "rockumentary" by Gary Wilkinson (a Film Maker from South Shields), he was always around "the scene". I keep meaning to go and find him as he is a wealth of local history.
Agricultural work!, I can only dream of such elevation. In this country woodland and forestry are the poor, dirty peasant cousins of the well to-do agriculturalists.
If your back ever does recover, you're more than welcome to come and play in the woodland. I'm not sure I'd have you digging though – with your skills you can help me with the timber framing of the oak shed building (once planning permission has gone through...)
Another fun few days playing in the clarts…you must be in your element Jamie, keep it up…
100% Joyce, all mess and no cleanup. It's a dream situation!
I dig what you're doing with your forest and I really enjoyed reading this post -- it's an education in itself!
Strange thing is, I watched a video about drainage channels on YouTube just the other day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpxE1iPg_p8
Then again, I'm the sort of guy who watches videos of giant tunafish getting expertly butchered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpxE1iPg_p8
What can I say? The world is a varied and very, very interesting place :-) The amount of things I know absolutely nothing about is ... overwhelming?
"... colonised by saprophytic fungi" I have no idea what that is but it sounds disgusting! (but also deliciously lesbian -- very confusing) Poor birch trees ...
" ... clicks through to the actual map" -- I clicked through, because I love maps. I don't have pictures but maps and sea-charts on my walls. I travel on Google Earth. I'm getting to know Newcastle and the Tyne because of you and David McGrogan who I also follow on Substack
https://newsfromuncibal.substack.com/p/state-of-contempt
Also: I recently found out that the Toy Dolls that we used to listen to when we were teenagers are from South Shields :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SDvb3cjPQg
Strangely, I already knew a mattock from a pickaxe, but not a shovel from a spade. I read and learn. But thanks to the Shell Book of Country Crafts I can tell a coppice from a pollard at a glance. If that doesn't impress the girls, I don't know what will.
"... almost certainly a spring from an old mine shaft (there is a tell tale iron oxide in it)" Wha? Mine shaft under your woods? There's a brilliant Australian guy who's working hard on leveling up from the stone age to the iron age in real life, using iron oxide slimy mud from a creek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhW4XFGQB4o
Those pork pies look delicious -- a gem of a video!
"... drain into the burn" -- that's the same word for 'small river' (brook?) they use in Scotland?
"... prying out all of the large rocks (precious resource)" *muffled giggling in Norwegian* The forests I'm used to are different from the ones you have on your island. I remember your post about Ecological Succession; some of the earlier stages reminded me of home :-) Or, as I overheard an American tourist exclaim once: "It's all fuckin' rocks!" He wasn't onto nothing ... among ourselves, when no one is listening, we call our country 'the scree', the rock-slide. 2,2% arable land, the rest barren wilderness, fit only for goats and reindeer. But I digress ...
I'd love to come over and help you dig your ditches, but I've done my back in and the Guild would kick me out for doing agricultural work. Sorry!
I actually grew up in South Shields and stayed there for thirty years, whilst I went through my period as a drummer. Many of the people in that world (especially the owners of practice rooms) were veterans of that period and played in and amongst many of those punk bands from North East of England. If you can ever find it, checkout a "rockumentary" by Gary Wilkinson (a Film Maker from South Shields), he was always around "the scene". I keep meaning to go and find him as he is a wealth of local history.
Agricultural work!, I can only dream of such elevation. In this country woodland and forestry are the poor, dirty peasant cousins of the well to-do agriculturalists.
If your back ever does recover, you're more than welcome to come and play in the woodland. I'm not sure I'd have you digging though – with your skills you can help me with the timber framing of the oak shed building (once planning permission has gone through...)
Great post mate. Enjoyed that one
Good, you can come help me dig out a section.