Violets and a snowdrop seen on walk

The weather being reasonably settled and my needing both vegetables and eggs, obtainable from a roadside stall, led a friend and myself to go on a four to five mile walk this morning. We had another motive as this particular route would take us past a favoured spot for violets near Calstock Church and also by a garden where we normally see quite a profusion of snowdrops at the edge of the lawn. I'm pleased to say that we weren't disappointed there being several violets out but with many more to come. As to the garden with the snowdrops there were plenty of bulbs showing above ground with one of them actually in flower! Not too bad for the end of December.

Instead of coming straight home from Calstock we made a slight diversion to see how well the daffodils were coming on in the Danescombe Valley. Much too early for those to be out but we were gladdened to see many clumps of these magical flowers well above the surface. Hogweed and red campion were two species that we noticed in flower. We also had an excellent sighting of a favourite bird - the nuthatch, and heard a number of birds singing.

It's great to see signs of Spring so soon after the shortest day.

The weather forecast for Christmas

Exactly three weeks ago I penned a piece under the title "Differing weather forecasts for Christmas". I wrote this because I was aware of two very different expectations on the weather the country would experience at this time. So on one side we had the BBC weather centre represented by John Hammond who, using conventional forecasting techniques, used the phrase "More settled conditions develop" in reference to the second half of the month. Against him was Piers Corbyn whose firm 'Weatheraction' forecasts over a much longer time span and insists that it is the activity of the sun that drives our weather.

Time then for a reality check - how did they do? Both pretty badly I would say. So far as I can see it was a typical Christmas for weather, a mix of some rain with drier spells between, windy at times but not the severe storm predicted by Piers with attendant problems of travellers having massive disruptions. Regarding John Hammond, if he had applied the "settled conditions" to the middle two weeks there would have been little cause for complaint. In other words he was about a week out.

Once again it's the weather itself having the last laugh. Clever we may be but not that clever in getting medium to long term forecasts correct.

An enjoyable Christmas

Having survived another Christmas blogging can start again in earnest! This year I and other members of the family had been invited by my youngest brother and his wife to share Christmas with them at their new home in south east Dorset. In 2006 I stayed in my own village over the yuletide and back then wrote "travelling over the holiday is for me the stuff of nightmares!". There were really two options for me: to drive up to Wimborne Minster from Cornwall or to pay a little more and let the train take the strain. I opted for the latter having looked at the practicalities of the journey on the internet.

I am an enthusiast for rail travel but the thought of late and overcrowded trains filled me with dread! However I needn't have worried. The particular service I got from Gunnislake goes on east part way up the main line and I changed at Newton Abbot to get on the Waterloo train that took me without any other changes to Salisbury. At this point I met my eldest brother who had come down the line from Herefordshire and from Salisbury we were picked up by yet another brother whose normal route passed within a mile or so of Salisbury station. Each of these trains was reasonably empty and ran close to time. Similarly on the way home, with just one change at Exeter St Davids, the journey was uneventful. Although there were more people on the return trip there were still more than enough seats to accommodate everyone. I had used part of this Exeter to Waterloo line before and never had problems with it to be honest.

Scenically though I have to say that once east of Exeter there is a certain lack of drama in what you see out of the window and that the view is much of a muchness all the way to Salisbury. In fact this lack of drama and lack of variety in 'Middle England' is one of the downsides to this part of the country for me. I don't doubt that there are subtleties between the various counties that make up this part of England but they can't compare with the glories and individuality of Devon and Cornwall. You can see I'm not at all biased!

One of the things that happen when my family gets together is that we have lively discussions about all subjects under the sun. There is often a divergence of opinion but my views are always the best ones of course!! I'm glad to say that none of us are slaves to the TV and that the weather on boxing day morning was good enough for a 5 to 6 mile walk. We drove out to 'Win Green', a National Trust spot just over the border in Wiltshire and from there had a downland walk taking in typical scenery of Cranborne Chase. Win Green itself is high up with really extensive views and, although only approachable by a rough track, seems to be popular with visitors. Little did we know at the time but this walk took us very close to the country estate owned by Madonna and her husband!

I had toyed with the idea of bringing walking boots with me but instead wore a trusty pair of Dr Martens shoes with a pair of lighter footwear for indoors. Just as well I did have spare shoes as my docs got plastered with mud from the walk! I remember from a Christmas stay at Lewes in East Sussex a few years ago how messy paths on the chalk downland can get - I think boots on any Christmas visit will be the order of the day from now on. Although on chalk there doesn't seem to be the very deep mud that I'm used to back home it does seem to take an age to get one's footwear clean again after a cross country walk.

All in all a very enjoyable and relaxing Christmas. A great chance to meet the family and to see our hosts in their new home in Wimborne - many thanks to them for their hospitality.

Princess Diana, Dr Kelly, and their inquests

I am writing this piece to compare two very different inquests, the first spread over many months and costing many millions of pounds whilst the other was completed very quickly and was totally unsatisfactory.

So, the Diana inquest first of all. This is about half way through at the moment. Although the inquest is I think specifically in relation to the late Princess its conclusions would presumably apply to Dodi Fayed as well. There was some talk about the process costing about £10 million, even if that figure is incorrect it will doubtless be a heck of a lot of money. Although it is early days to make a prophecy as to what reason the jury will give as to her death I would be incredibly surprised if it is anything other than the most obvious one. The main thing here is that whatever the expense the due process is being followed.

Now let us compare and contrast her inquest with one completed some little time ago: I talk of that of weapons inspector Dr David Kelly. Just to remind ourselves of some of the known facts - Dr Kelly set off for a walk from his home in Southmoor in Oxfordshire at about 3 pm on Thursday 17 June 2003. He failed to come home. He was found dead in a wood at Harrowdown Hill, which lies to the north of the village, at about 8.30 the following morning by volunteer searcher Louise Holmes. Of course the police were quickly appraised of the discovery and the coroner, Nicholas Gardiner, informed. Pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt subsequently arrived to make a detailed examination of the body but we are led to believe didn't take Dr Kelly's rectal temperature until four minutes before he left the scene! Taking this temperature can be a very good indicator as to when death took place, information that the police would want to know as soon as possible. If he hadn't checked this temperature at an earlier opportunity then it would constitute in my opinion a 'schoolboy' error and betray a lack of competence. I have to say here that I'm taking this information from 'The Strange Death of David Kelly' by Norman Baker.

An inquest was opened and adjourned. The British government were very fast off the mark and appointed Lord Hutton to conduct a public enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly. Amazingly the option was taken of making this enquiry one of an informal nature so that witnesses didn't have to attend if they didn't want to and even if they did appear they didn't have to say anything under oath! Lord Hutton decided that Dr Kelly had committed suicide without seemingly tested the evidence. If that wasn't enough the proper inquest was reconvened at very short notice whilst the Hutton enquiry was proceeding, took evidence from just two witnesses, pathologist Dr Hunt and toxicologist Alex Allan and issued a full death certificate, the cause of death 'Suicide'. This mockery of an inquest was completed without the knowledge of Hutton.

Space doesn't permit me to go into all the conflicts of evidence surrounding Dr Kelly's death, you need to read Norman Baker's 399 page book for that. Suffice to say that even if Baker was wrong in some of his conjectures there is more than enough evidence that Dr Kelly did not kill himself. Apart from the book mentioned it is worth reading Rowena Thursby's blog here.

At the start of the third paragraph above I said "compare and contrast" when considering both inquests. I shall say no more now other than Dr Kelly's death and its aftermath is a real stain on the reputation of this country.

MSC Napoli enquiry still on track

I have stated in previous blog entries that Devon County Council, to their credit, had decided that they would hold a public enquiry into the loss of the MSC Napoli and, as I had anticipated, they are waiting until the final removal of the stern section off Branscombe before doing this. You can get confirmation of this fact plus a situation update on the wreck by going here.

There has been a multi-agency de-brief concerning emergency response and recovery issues during the early months of the Napoli saga and the report including several recommendations is here in a pdf file. So if you are desperate for some Christmas reading look no further!

It looks as if we will have to wait to the summer at least to get our public enquiry; as soon as I know more I shall flag it up.

Blair - much ado about not much

Just when you thought that the name 'Tony Blair' had passed into history up he pops as the lead item on the BBC TV news. For a long time now it's been known that he would as likely as not join his wife as a member of the Roman Catholic Church. If he was still prime minister then I can understand that his becoming a RC could have been a piece of news of some consequence bearing in mind that his government have been passing legislation of considerable concern to Catholics. But in his present role as a peace envoy for the Middle East is his 'conversion' of such importance that it should be the lead item on the national news? Hardly, I would have thought. The announcement of holiday company 'Travelscope' going into administration causing more than 10,000 people to rethink their holiday plans this Christmas was surely a much bigger story.

I do appreciate how difficult it can be when the BBC's editorial panel discuss the order of news items to go out in a bulletin. They will seldom get it right for all viewers or listeners. But to make Blair's new religious allegiance, something that was expected, the big story of the day just seems barmy to me.

Nick Clegg is new LibDem leader

So now we know. Nick Clegg is the new party leader for the Liberal Democrats having beaten Chris Huhne by a few hundred votes when the result was announced yesterday. Some are thinking that Clegg is a bit of a Cameron clone and it will be fascinating to see how he makes his party distinctive to the electorate.

Clegg was asked today whether he believed in God and with a slight hesitation he said "No". However he is married to a Spanish lady who, surprise surprise, is a Roman Catholic! I think that their children are being brought up in that faith. So the multilingual Mr Clegg has been quite candid about this slightly taboo subject. I am someone who respects those with religious beliefs even though I'm not a practising churchgoer and have no problem with a party leader who doesn't believe in God. Incidentally like many I love the words and music of Christmas carols and of hymns generally come to that. In fact some religious music and hymn tunes played on a church organ can be incredibly special.

It looks as if it could be some time before the next General Election and people's intentions can change before then but Devon and Cornwall could be a right royal battleground between Tories and LibDems. When the time comes we can expect a lot more attention from parties and pundits than is usually the case as our results could be really crucial to the outcome.

Ryanair expands Newquay services

I've written before about Newquay Airport and how these days things seem to be on the up there - no pun intended. The latest news is that low cost giant Ryanair is to expand their services at Newquay. This might come as a surprise because airline and airport had a spat not so long ago because of the £5 levy on passengers flying out of the airport. Evidently they have now kissed and made up because the five times a week service to Stansted is being increased to two flights a day plus there will be new routes to Spanish destinations, Girona and Alicante, three times a week.

It's difficult to make a balanced judgment on this business of more flying I find. As a basic principle we should curtail the amount of flying that goes on but it's not that simple. I've had one overseas holiday, to the island of La Palma in the Canaries, which I thoroughly enjoyed but, for various reasons, don't have any imminent plans to take to the air again. However I fully appreciate just how much some folk want their two weeks in the sun and also how much business has a global dimension these days so that there is a (questionable) need for more business travel. And of course many families now live in different countries, on different continents even, and would like to meet up occasionally. Now add to that potent mix the increasing size of the World's population and it can be seen just how difficult it is to restrict the growth of aviation.

My hope would be that people from Cornwall currently using Gatwick as their departure point for Spain might now consider Newquay. If those taking advantage of Ryanair's new services are the same as those who would have used another airport anyway then I wouldn't be too upset because Newquay has plenty of spare capacity and would become a more viable operation but more likely the upshot would just be more flights such is our insatiable appetite to take to the skies.

Interestingly some of the most environmentally aware people I know, with for most of the year a very light carbon footprint, are happy to go on a long haul flight. They are not package holiday junkies but have good valid reasons for doing this. And as I think I've stated before if there is a disaster in another part of the world then we need successful airlines to transit men and equipment as quickly as possible.

The whole debate about the growth of aviation is sure to hot up in the months and years to come.

Boscastle's new bridge progresses

It was way back on the 12th of May I wrote a piece about the proposal to replace the old stone arched bridge in Boscastle's harbour area. The plans submitted at that time for an elegant steel structure provoked outrage in the community. Although I love Boscastle with a passion I blogged that trying to replicate the style of the old bridge but with a significantly greater span just wasn't on, the only solution being to construct something of a more contemporary appearance.

Now I must admit I hadn't been following the story since that time and was caught slightly on the hop when I saw television footage yesterday of the two precast concrete spans being lowered into position, the original design having been modified somewhat. Evidently the location of the new bridge is not quite where the old one is as we are told that the original structure is still there at the moment but will be demolished. From the pictures I've seen the new construction is quite a slender affair - I must make a visit in the Spring to see for myself.

There are places where you can look down on Boscastle's harbour area and I have a feeling that the new bridge will look far less offensive than the massive car park nearby full of shiny metal. But I don't really expect Boscastle's residents and visitors to see it that way!

Chris Venmore tears CFP to pieces

Last week I read a very interesting article by South Devon fisherman Chris Venmore. Chris and I went to the same school in the South Hams rather longer ago than I care to remember and he is very much the voice of Devon's shell fishermen but he wrote the aforementioned article in a personal capacity.

It's no surprise that Chris isn't exactly a cheerleader for the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). As he states in the first paragraph "British and other EU fishermen are being forced to throw away an estimated two million tonnes (yes, two million tonnes) of fish every year." Bearing in mind the hunger in this world, not to mention the need to make fishing a viable industry this discarding of prime edible fish is totally, utterly obscene. Unfortunately fishing as an occupation, like farming, is something the great majority of us never think about but of course we should. As long as we can still get cod and chips at the local takeaway then everything is OK it seems.

Following the observation about the dead fish being thrown back into the sea to rot and to pollute our waters with the threat to fishermen of a £50,000 fine if they fail to do so Chris then goes on to remind us of the sorry history of the CFP from when we joined the then EEC right up to the present day. He points out just how galling it is for our local fishermen having reached their quota to see French and Belgian vessels as close as six miles from our shores taking what we would regard as our fish.

Chris discusses "Quota Hoppers", boats from other EU states that register as British and then go ahead to fish against our quota. Another point raised is that of the EU making third party agreements with certain African countries to allow mainly Spanish boats to fish in their waters. The trouble that results is that those particular states find they are unable to stop the vessels from plundering the stocks of fish to deprive the local fishermen of both their income and their main source of protein.

Whatever one's views of the EU (and I find fishing aside that there is much that is wrong) there is no doubt that something drastic has to be done - killing off the CFP wouldn't be a bad idea.

Thanks Chris for your thought provoking article; every MP and MEP should read it.

Honesty in flower in December, honestly.

The very likable flower 'Honesty' can be seen in various hedgebanks in the Tamar Valley. But in December? Well not usually I would have thought. But whilst out walking yesterday we saw one fully in flower near Albaston. There's also a good place for them at Calstock - perhaps I had better check that location in case they are in flower there as well.

Residents don't want Weir Quay changes

Weir Quay is one of those very serene spots to be found on the banks of our wonderful Westcountry estuaries. In this particular instance we are talking about the eastern shore of the relatively wide Tamar to the north of Plymouth. Existing as it does in the deep Bere Peninsula formed by the confluence of the Rivers Tamar and Tavy it is one of those places slightly off the beaten track and, as a consequence, seldom gets overcrowded and to me always appeals as it has a timeless air about it. We are blessed in Devon and Cornwall with our peninsulas which have somehow halted the onward march of development.

The lack of formal development and the informal parking facilities at Weir Quay, where there is a sailing club and a scattering of houses and a minor road fronting the estuary, is evidently to the liking of those familiar with the area. I say this because the Tamar Valley AONB service had floated some alternatives to the status quo which involved what appeared to me to be quite modest changes. These were on display at Bere Ferrers Parish Hall recently and the public had a chance to vote on what future alternative would be best. About 90% said they didn't want any change thanks very much. Now I didn't get round to seeing the exhibition myself but did see the alternatives on the internet (I think this was from the Tamar Valley AONB website if I remember correctly). So it looks now as if the AONB will have to go along with the majority; there could be some very minor tidying up such as filling in potholes where cars presently stop just off the road. But no new parking facilities as the other alternatives had envisaged.

On balance I shall be pleased to see Weir Quay left much as it is.

American interest in Sat-Nav problems

Wedmore, a village not in my two counties but in neighbouring Somerset, lies not far west of Wells and where two 'B' roads cross. In the normal course of events it wouldn't show on my radar but a story concerning it in the 'Western Morning News' is the reason for this entry. Like many other villages and small towns it has fallen prey to the Sat-Nav problem. Once again local homeowners are subjected to noise, pollution and property damage as Sat-Navs direct lorries through a rural settlement. But what makes this WMN piece particularly interesting is that reporters from American(!) newspapers have picked up on Wedmore's difficulties and are running the SatNav story.

I've expressed my irritation before about the lack of progress in resolving the Sat-Nav trouble with respect to commercial traffic. On a radio phone-in one gentleman had suggested that his by no means top of the range Sat-Nav could be tuned for the benefit of lorries so that they weren't sent down country lanes and I've seen models specifically designed for lorries on the internet so the problem is solvable.

Meanwhile what happens insurance wise regarding homes and shops that get damaged by the juggernauts? No property owner should have to pay a penny towards repairs or have any loading applied to his cover. Government, councils and transport operators - just get the problem sorted.

Cornish nurse Barbara Ryder donates kidney

This must be the most heartwarming story of the month if not the year. Barbara Ryder who is 59 and comes from Launceston is a nurse at Derriford Hospital. It is now possible for someone to make an altruistic donation of a kidney and Barbara is one of four people in this country who have done this. The rules are such that she had no input as to who would receive the organ and of course a deciding factor was in finding someone with a good match.

Retired carpenter Andy Loudon, 68 from Bedfordshire was the lucky person to receive Barbara's gift and yesterday saw them meet up in London for the first time. Recorded by the cameras the moment had to be a wonderfully emotional and happy experience for both of them. With constant stories in the media about selfishness and money grabbing what a lovely contrast this has proved to be. I've always believed in the better aspects of human nature and applaud Barbara for her selfless act.

A final thought: it fascinates me that the human body has evolved in such a way that this particular organ, the kidney, seems to have duplicated itself for no obvious reason as we can get by with just one. Regardless of this I don't think many of us would contemplate giving our 'spare' kidney to a stranger!

Eden loses out as Sustrans get the votes

Up for grabs was a single chunk of lottery money, no less than £50 million! But unusually the population at large had the chance to decide which good cause should be the recipient of all at that dosh by voting on the phone or on the internet. This week saw the announcement of the eventual winner, the number of contenders having been reduced to a final four. Much local interest had centred on the Eden Project in mid Cornwall where they were looking to add to their existing iconic structures with what would be called 'The Edge'. This would have been a state-of-the-art building to demonstrate the impact of climate change. Now I have to admit that the publicity surrounding the build up to the final voting and any comparison between 'The Edge' and its three competitors had passed me by; not that I wasn't interested it's just the clock ticking too fast - if only one had more time to follow such things! Another finalist, a project called Connect2, was submitted by the charity Sustrans. So far as their overall mission is concerned I can't do better than quote from their website - "Sustrans is the UK's leading sustainable transport charity. Our vision is a world in which people can choose to travel in ways that benefit their health and the environment. Every day we are working on practical, innovative ways of dealing with the transport challenges that affect us all."

"Connect2 will transform local travel within 79 communities UK-wide. New bridges and crossings over busy roads, railways and rivers will link into newly created networks of paths, giving many more millions of people direct and continuous access by foot and bike to the places they want to get to every day" say Sustrans. An astonishing 42% of voters went with the transport charity to the bitter disappointment of the Eden team. I am a great admirer of Tim Smit and his team and am constantly amazed at what they have achieved in that former clay pit but I have to say that I'm not disappointed that Sustrans have landed this prize. The fact that this money will be spread over the whole country but in relatively small dollops appeals to me (who said I was too parochial!) and it means that these lottery millions will for years to come benefit local communities.

Sustrans win has a good knock on for Devon as well. Out of the 79 individual schemes two are earmarked for us. The first of these is a cycle route between the well populated centres of Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton in the heart of the county. This will incorporate a now redundant railway bridge; there had been a danger of this project being left out in the cold such was its cost. Moving to East Devon the second scheme is for a bridge over the River Otter at Ottery St Mary.

What was so sad for me was all that money squandered on the Millennium Dome at Greenwich could have been given to Sustrans. But that's what happens when things are left to the politicians!

Offshore windfarms drawback

We have now had a government announcement about their plans to massively increase the number of offshore windfarms in their bid to raise the percentage of renewables for our energy supplies. In fact it is reckoned that a wind turbine could be in view from almost every clifftop in Britain. Not surprisingly environmental organisations are well pleased with what they are hearing so why is this environmentalist not opening the champagne right now?

Superficially it all looks very good. But of course it will come at a high cost financially, although in fairness the better alternatives of tidal and current power would also be phenomenally expensive in their early days at least. As I have stated before the unreliability of wind strength is my overriding concern. You only have to look at the past few days to get a sense of this - last Sunday off the south west coast the winds were storm force 10 gusting to violent storm 11 yet on hearing the weather reports on Tuesday morning's shipping forecast what did I hear: "Scilly automatic, wind calm ... " In less than 48 hours the wind in that area had gone from one absolute extreme to the other, both situations being unsuitable for wind generation.

When government minister John Hutton talks about this new generation of wind farms being sufficient to supply all the electricity needed by domestic customers I start thinking that is typical political sleight of hand. It is possible that all these wind farms working at their absolute optimum just might supply all of our domestic needs although I'm sceptical of even this. But to imply as Hutton seems to be doing that they would be adequate 365 days a year is plain wrong. We really do need some sort of independent audit as to the degree to which they could supply our power needs over the course of a typical year rather than having to rely on the spin from the government and the wind turbine companies.

For the sake of balance I have to state that wind farms all round the coast (assuming they are working that is) would assist in reducing power losses because with the present situation in which a lot of the power generation is 'up North' the amount of power lost through the long transmission lines is colossal. But this doesn't invalidate my basic argument.

Calstock concert pleases

Last Saturday evening saw a pause in what was otherwise a very stormy weekend. Three friends and yours truly went off to a pre-booked concert at the old chapel in Calstock, the home of 'Peterloo Poets'. 'The Calstock Singers' and 'Under the Fingers' presented a programme described as "Mulled Music for a Winter's Evening". A very pleasant evening's entertainment it turned out to be. There were no less than 14 items in each half of the concert with it's fair to say something to please everyone. As happened in a similar event much earlier this year there was a very varied menu of music, song and poetry.

One of the busiest performers was Pauline who not only is the Musical Director for the Calstock Singers but plays Cello for 'Under the Fingers'. The other members of the group were Rosie (recorders and guitar - I swear she can pick up any instrument and play it), Liz (guitar) and Jenny (harp). Another instrumentalist taking part was Nicola who I was pleased to see playing 'Tamar Broom Dance' on her xylophone. This is a wonderfully simple uncluttered tune composed by Rosie that one never tires of hearing. Excellent though the Calstock Singers are I do have a slight leaning toward purely instrumental music, a bias inherited from my late father I think. The playing of Beethoven's Minuet in G was a special highlight.

The repertoire of The Calstock Singers is nothing if not varied and in truth one or two of their songs did absolutely nothing for me - no reflection on the quality of the singing I hasten to add, it was just the songs I didn't like. On the plus side there were a number of old favourites to enjoy: 'My Grandfather's Clock' and 'Little Brown Jug' were just two examples. And although I've heard 'Silent Night' so often before I don't think I've ever appreciated it so much as on this occasion.

There was a chance afterwards to thank one or two of the performers and what really came over in their replies was just how much they really really enjoyed what they did. And if all this wasn't enough the £4 ticket included a generous glass of mulled wine and a mince pie. I should have mentioned too that almost every seat was taken.

Well done one and all for yet another sparkling evening.

Royal Mail gets some flak

The Royal Mail is a great British institution that I happen to like. At the moment though in the lead up to Christmas it's under fire from some quarters. The problem is all down to the present pricing policy for letter post that takes into account not only the weight of item but the dimensions of the envelope or package as well. Last Christmas they were quite lenient not worrying if the size of letter was just in the next price bracket but this year they are applying the rules rigidly. It is not only in the matter of length and width that you can fall foul of the pricing regime but thickness is also taken into account. I am making an assumption here but imagine that their automatic sorting equipment tells the operator when there is a mismatch between the price of the stamp and the size of package and its weight as well of course.

From what I hear those Christmas and other celebratory cards with a degree of embossment on them tend to be just over the maximum permissible thickness for the lowest postage rate. Now I don't particularly like that type of card but certainly there are many who do. Should the stamps be of insufficient value then to receive the card the recipient is not only expected to cough up the cost of the additional postage but pay Royal Mail a £1 handling charge as well!

So here is the situation as I perceive it. The clever all singing all dancing sorting equipment used by the Royal Mail could have been designed, graduated or whatever to include the very slightly thicker cards that are embossed in part in the lowest postage rate. Senders of such cards would genuinely have thought that normal stamps would be OK. Even if they had thought about it would they have joined the very long queues so prevalent at post office counters to check? Most likely not. We have typically finished up with the worst of all worlds: Royal Mail under attack from their customers, senders of the cards embarrassed by the fact that the recipient has to find some money to pay the post office to receive the card not to mention that the recipients themselves having to pay up a sizable sum. We seem to be so good at messing things up in this country!

One person who has put his oar in is Anthony Steen, the somewhat eccentric Tory MP for Totnes. This matter of envelope sizes featured on the 'south west' bit of BBC1's Politics Show the other day. Mr Steen, a bit fed up with the way Royal Mail runs its business, was on the programme to say he thought that the Mail needed competition, that we should have a choice in this matter. I have to say that one of the best aspects of Royal Mail is the fact that post is actually delivered to your door not to some anonymous post box in the nearest town and that the cost of postage is universal: the person sending a letter from the Isles of Scilly to the Isle of Lewes is not disadvantaged compared with me writing to someone in the next parish. For competition to be fair any other company would have to replicate what Royal Mail do - they would have their own post boxes, sorting offices and delivery personnel and would have to have the same style of universal delivery. In a small island like ours can this work? Of course not! Royal Mail is far from perfect I know but Mr Steen shouldn't be spouting such nonsense.

Differing weather forecasts for Christmas

Unusually for me I'm planning to be away from home, visiting Dorset in fact, over the Christmas period. One of those rare occasions I forsake my two counties! So what sort of weather will occur over the festive season? In the blue corner we have genial John Hammond on the BBC Weather website here making his predictions for the whole of December. For the second half of the month it's a case of "More settled conditions develop" according to John. Now it has to be said that a fortnight is a very long time in terms of UK weather so that it would be possible to have a big storm over say three days of the holiday period with the rest of the period dominated by anticyclonic weather. If that happened he could possibly claim success looking at the two weeks as a whole. In other words a long range forecast from the Met Office can be what you decide to make it!

In the red corner we have Piers Corbyn and his company 'Weatheraction'. Piers puts his neck on the line with his very specific forecast as to when severe weather events will occur. See here for his ideas about December (incidentally you can see why I say "In the red corner", his pages on the internet just scream at you although some of them are far worse than this - it puts my back up!). He is quite correct about the stormy weather we are enduring this weekend; however I don't know whether that was in his long range forecast from many months ago or just in his update at the start of December. I'm more interested in his anticipations for the 23rd to the 26th. All being well I shall return home on the 27th of the month by which time I shall be able to make a judgement on the accuracy of his prophecy.

I have been critical of Piers Corbyn in the past (scroll down the right hand side of this blog page and click on his name to read everything I've written about him so far) so this Christmas will be a chance for him to redeem himself.

Crediton church clock keeps chiming

Crediton with its lovely red sandstone church and surrounding fertile farmland doesn't feature in the news that often. But new residents Claire Robinson and her partner have caused a bit of a stir recently. It's all down to the chiming of the church clock! Since the installation of the clock in the mid nineteenth century it's been possible to hear the chimes every quarter of an hour and the aforementioned couple although living some distance from the church (half a mile I believe) aver that the chimes are noisy and disturbing their sleep.

They collected a few names on a petition which was sent to Mid Devon District Council. Apparently Ms Robinson, who moved to Crediton last year, wants the chimes silenced between 7 pm and 9 am, no less than 14 hours of the day! The sound has been monitored from her house by officials from the council who have declared that it does not constitute a noise nuisance.

There appear to have been far more residents supporting the status quo than siding with Ms Robinson. I have to say I don't have any problems with clock chimes but there is one particular sound I really don't like: peacocks calling. I think that horrible noise is only in the mating season. Although as a rule I'm very fond of our feathered friends exotic birds like peacocks do absolutely nothing for me. Fortunately I don't have neighbours with peafowl but if I did I would just live with that ear jarring sound I guess.

Back to the church clock, I remember a similar complaint arising in Totnes not so long ago. Again it was an incomer who complained and again I believe that person was given short shrift by the locals. It looks at the moment that Crediton's church clock will go on chiming - three cheers for that!

Book now for Calstock concert

On the 31st May I recorded how much a friend and I had enjoyed a concert at Calstock. This was an amalgam of items from 'The Calstock Rubber Band', 'The Calstock Singers' and 'Under the Fingers' together with a few poetry readings. So it's good news to hear that there will be another concert at the same former Methodist Church, now the home of 'Peterloo Poets', on this coming Saturday evening.

Evidently the programme will be relatively genteel as 'The Rubber Band' with their very vibrant music won't be participating. 'Under the Fingers' are technically part of the rubber band but they play the notably quieter stuff using recorder, harp, cello and guitar. I believe that they will be joined by Nicola (Xylophone).

I and three friends have booked our seats. This Christmas Concert is called 'Mulled Music', it starts at 7.30 pm this Saturday the 8th and the price of £4 includes a glass of wine and a mince pie - can't be bad! More information and to book please phone 01822 835833.

Tin mining to restart in Devon and Cornwall

I have to say it's unusual for Cornwall to get a mention on both Radio 4's 'Today' programme and BBC1's 'Six o'clock News' but a few days ago just such an event occurred. The reason: the closed South Crofty tin mine down in the Camborne/Redruth area has been woken from its slumber and will be mining tin again.

Then today we hear that it is intended to reopen the Hemerdon Mine for tin and tungsten. Hemerdon village is tucked away to the north east of Plympton in Devon. It sounds as if a new access road would be built which would keep lorries out of the village itself. Tin and tungsten are much in demand at the moment particularly with the fast developing economies such as those of China and Brazil. The Australian company developing Hemerdon are talking about reserves for 20 years mining and a direct and indirect workforce numbering about 500.

With the scaling back of the china clay business together with associated redundancies in Devon and Cornwall this shot in the arm for the metal extraction industries will be welcomed by many.

Piers Corbyn still getting it wrong

We certainly had rain and strong winds on Sunday morning but, as explained in a recent post, the full force of the storm was never going to be felt in my part of the village because of the combination of wind direction and local topography. However one or two places in the peninsula did see a maximum gust of 75 mph.

A couple of weather related incidents in Devon that occurred on that day are worth recording. A young lad from Barbrook in North Devon fell into the swollen West Lyn River where it tumbles down on its final mile to Lynmouth. His father just wearing coat and pyjamas rushed to the scene and waded into the river; such was the force of the current they were both carried several hundred yards downstream until the son was able to grab hold of a rock. It was about an hour before a rescue could be completed and miraculously they both survived.

Further south in the county a lady living at Starcross on the west side of the Exe estuary was the recipient of a small tornado. The whirlwind picked up a trampoline that normally would take several people to lift and waltzed it down to the end of the road bumping in to several cars on its journey! Happily there were no injuries as a result of that event. It's a fact as I understand it that this country is very prone to tornado formation but usually they don't become newsworthy items.

From the foregoing it can be seen that it had been a blustery few hours and in fact had been well forecast by the met office for a few days. Windy though it was it certainly wasn't remarkable in the sense that a storm of that magnitude could be expected any year.

Now Piers Corbyn who insists that such weather is driven by sunspots and other solar activity and has nothing to do with 'Global Warming' reckons to have predicted this storm for a long time. He had gone public on this but his prediction was that it would be between November 24 and 28 and that we should expect gusts from 90 to 100mph! In other words comparable with the nighttime storm of 1987 (the Michael Fish Hurricane) or the daytime storm of January 1990 when for a time all of Cornwall lost its power from the National Grid. Shortly before last Sunday's gales he had come out with some reason I didn't really comprehend as to why this weather event had slowed down and was a few days late in arriving. So concerned had he been about the strength of the impending storm that he had been flashing warnings to the government about it. A personal thing but I find the way he words his press releases very irritating.

Piers Corbyn certainly polarises opinion; I would say that his detractors feel happier at the moment than his disciples.

Lights switched on

The rough weather relented somewhat yesterday evening. This was just as well because it was the night of the Christmas lights switch on in Gunnislake with associated street entertainment. As happened last year the marching band (bagpipes and drums) from Plymouth did their stuff and the Hele School steel band demonstrated their prowess this time in 'The Buccaneer' - last year they were in the dance studio. The Morris Dancers were the side based at Horrabridge (Dartmoor Border Morris?). There was a short firework display with very quiet bangs showing that they really don't need to be noisy. As usual Steve at the Post Office had sensibly utilised the afternoon in making mulled wine. Well up to standard Steve!

Even though there was a brief weather window before the heavy rain later in the night it seemed to me that there just weren't the number of people attending that we have had in the past. It was the same in August with the Saturday of our village festival. At the moment there looks to be some apathy setting in when it comes to community events and it's difficult to overcome it.

Windfarm developer's website misleads

Since writing my last piece I thought that really I should see if the developer for the proposed 'Davidstow Community Windfarm' had a website as I am keen to be fair in my argument. Like most I have my prejudices but do have some ability to look at matters very objectively and also I can be very forensic in my analysis.

So if you click here you can see what this scheme is all about from the developers point of view. Now the saying is that a picture is worth a thousand words and I would suggest that with a critical eye a map can also be worth a thousand words. So looking down the links on the left hand side of the page my eyes lit up when I saw the words 'Interactive Map' and I quickly went to it. Very interesting it turns out to be! On clicking to launch the map you are first presented with four locations outside the delineated area of development on which you can click to see how the windfarm would look after erection compared with the same view now. You might think these would be labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4. Wrong! They are shown as Viewpoints 3, 4, 8 and 13. H'm, no indication where there may be other viewpoints. Strange that! Number 13 at Showery Tor is the nearest of these 4 viewpoints and looking over Crowdy Reservoir it's not surprising that the windfarm is very visible. Very honest these windfarm people! Or are they. My eyesight might not be the best but I can't see the blades in the 'predicted view'. Perhaps they are turning too fast! They will add considerably to the height of the structures of course. And Showery Tor is very close indeed to the National Trust owned Rough Tor, Cornwall's second highest hill. It's worth mentioning at this point that Davidstow is not far from the Delabole Windfarm (Britain's first) where plans are afoot to upgrade to much larger turbines and so there would be a sort of cumulative affect to one's view, particularly from the 'Westdowns' area I would have thought (Viewpoint 8).

From this page one can now click on a close up view of the site plan where you can note exactly how the layout for the 20 turbines appears. But it's when you go to 'Show Zone of Visual Influence' that the developer's case can be really shot to pieces. Using four different colours on this very small scale map they show the following - 1 to 5 turbines fully visible, 6 to 10 turbines fully visible, 11 to 15 turbines fully visible, 16 to 20 turbines fully visible (my emphasis throughout). I never knew how important a little word 'fully' was! A cursory glance at the map might make you wonder just what the fuss is about. I wouldn't argue that the number of locations at which you can see the full height from base to tip of blade might be limited but what about the top 70% or 50% of the structure? You have to be absolutely forensic when looking at any developer's evidence I find.

I don't live many miles from the granite mound of Kit Hill, a Country Park, from which a great swathe of East Cornwall and West Devon is visible. As existing windfarms are visible from there then I have to suspect that much of the Davidstow scheme could also be seen. It is said that the very top of the new turbines will be pretty well level with 'Brown Willy' and I'm sure that eminence can be seen from far more places than the four colours on the map.

If I lived near Davidstow I would go through this website with a magnifying glass and read every word. Alas time is too short for me but I've seen enough to convince me that this scheme should be turned down.

Davidstow residents unhappy about windfarm

Residents at Davidstow on the north flank of Bodmin Moor are very unhappy about the latest wind farm proposal for Cornwall. When it comes to windswept acres North Cornwall has more than most areas I guess so naturally wind turbine companies look on it very favourably. Now there is a plan for another windfarm this time at the woodland location near the old airfield.

I've blogged in the past about my reservations concerning onshore wind farms (See here). This suggestion for Davidstow is for the new generation of tall turbines (to put this in perspective 3 times the height of Exeter Cathedral!) whereas up until now the much smaller first generation turbines have been built in Cornwall. The company behind this latest scheme have cheekily called their proposal "Davidstow Community Windfarm" I believe thus suggesting that the local residents are enthusiasts for it! And because that part of Bodmin Moor is a mix of disused airfield and forestry they consider it to be a brownfield site! Now in all honesty this isn't the most stunningly beautiful part of the county but its proximity to Brown Willy, Cornwall's highest peak, and that it's not that far from the wild North Cornwall coast means that the wind farm will be dominating the views from some of the most special parts of Cornwall.

Another factor regarding the proposed site is that it is a very significant winter roost for starlings - I must go and witness this myself one of these days. Local authorities are in a bind in Devon and Cornwall: I could advance arguments against the location of any new proposals in the two counties but it's obvious that if a developer goes to appeal some will get through as happened at Fullabrook Down near Ilfracombe.

This government will push through more and more windfarms and they will increasingly be of the much larger turbines.