'From contented cows....'THURSDAY 14 FEBRUARY
A COW AND SOME TOFFEE
I might have known....
Firstly, credit where it’s due. Sid (aka ‘Pickler’) has already identified himself as the photographer of the handsome creature who heads up yesterday’s posting. It’s a shame the herd has wandered off, Sid; it would have been good to have more pictures on here. They’re SUCH goodlooking ‘gentle giants’, aren’t they? Have you visited the Highland Cattle Centre at Whittonstall? I once did a pre-recorded chat there in the bad old days and it’s a lovely spot set in a gently sloping valley. The beasts are pampered like poodles; they even get shampoo and blow-dry treatment which visiting kids can help with AND there are pigs, goats, hens and geese to get up close and personal with too. Honestly, if I had kids I would be there all the time. And NO, I’m NOT on commission. That’s just the way it is there!
Secondly, thankyou to Lawrence and Gilly for putting me right on the link between the cattle and toffee. Lawrence sent me visual proof of it - see above!
THE GINKGO TREE
Thanks - again - to Gilly for noticing the picture change to ‘green stuff’! Kev is right, of course, in every detail he gives about this amazing tree but I feel I have earned the right to wax lyrical about what is, after all, one of my favourite things in the whole world, Durham Cathedral and Sir David Attenborough notwithstanding.
The ginkgo is thought by many botanists and naturalists to be the oldest living thing on the planet. Fossils of exactly the shape of the leaves in the picture have been found all over the world; indeed, one of the ginkgo’s nicknames is ‘Fossil Tree’. It is so old that it has outlived all the other species in its class and is now thus the sole member in a class of its own. It is a non-cone-bearing deciduous conifer! Classification just doesn’t work with a ginkgo.
My only long-haul holiday ever was to Kyoto in Japan, where ginkgos are sacred trees. Every temple has a ‘grandfather’ ginkgo tree in the garden, many of them several centuries old. Its holiness increased as a result of its survival of the Hiroshima bomb described by Kev in yesterday’s blog. Many Japanese people came to regard this as something of a ‘natural miracle’ - and you can see why. Truly awesome.
Ginkgos are used as street trees in Japan, Australia, the US and elsewhere. The leaves turn lighter green then bright yellow before they fall; an avenue of autumnal ginkgos is a breathtaking sight.
I haven’t finished yet.
The finest examples I’ve seen in England are in Kew Gardens and - oddly - in Keswick (by the bridge over the stream on the right as you approach the Town Centre). Apart from the saplings I have distributed to ALL my friends and relatives, ginkgos are rare in the north-east. In fact, I know of only two - a youngster in Saltwell Park (Gateshead) and in the Botanical Gardens in Durham City. I once offered to pay for one to be planted in Newcastle but the Council turned me down. Typical.
There. I think I’ve finished. In future, Gilly, you’d better be careful what you say!
KEV
I hope he won’t mind me telling you this but right now Kev isn’t too well. Please spare him as many of your good thoughts as you can. Take care and tread softly, Kev. (And if I HAVE spoken out of turn, forgive me.)
COMMENTS ON THE BLOG
If you make a comment on one of my postings, please make sure to look back. I may have been unable to resist the temptation to add one of my own - as I did yesterday!
BOB’S YER UNCLE, FANNY’S YER AUNT
The eighth question in this set of nine is......Which County Durham village is nicknamed ‘Doggy’? (You should know what the anagrammed word is by now.)
CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
ianstuartrobinson@googlemail.com
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN
NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.
A COW AND SOME TOFFEE
I might have known....
Firstly, credit where it’s due. Sid (aka ‘Pickler’) has already identified himself as the photographer of the handsome creature who heads up yesterday’s posting. It’s a shame the herd has wandered off, Sid; it would have been good to have more pictures on here. They’re SUCH goodlooking ‘gentle giants’, aren’t they? Have you visited the Highland Cattle Centre at Whittonstall? I once did a pre-recorded chat there in the bad old days and it’s a lovely spot set in a gently sloping valley. The beasts are pampered like poodles; they even get shampoo and blow-dry treatment which visiting kids can help with AND there are pigs, goats, hens and geese to get up close and personal with too. Honestly, if I had kids I would be there all the time. And NO, I’m NOT on commission. That’s just the way it is there!
Secondly, thankyou to Lawrence and Gilly for putting me right on the link between the cattle and toffee. Lawrence sent me visual proof of it - see above!
THE GINKGO TREE
Thanks - again - to Gilly for noticing the picture change to ‘green stuff’! Kev is right, of course, in every detail he gives about this amazing tree but I feel I have earned the right to wax lyrical about what is, after all, one of my favourite things in the whole world, Durham Cathedral and Sir David Attenborough notwithstanding.
The ginkgo is thought by many botanists and naturalists to be the oldest living thing on the planet. Fossils of exactly the shape of the leaves in the picture have been found all over the world; indeed, one of the ginkgo’s nicknames is ‘Fossil Tree’. It is so old that it has outlived all the other species in its class and is now thus the sole member in a class of its own. It is a non-cone-bearing deciduous conifer! Classification just doesn’t work with a ginkgo.
My only long-haul holiday ever was to Kyoto in Japan, where ginkgos are sacred trees. Every temple has a ‘grandfather’ ginkgo tree in the garden, many of them several centuries old. Its holiness increased as a result of its survival of the Hiroshima bomb described by Kev in yesterday’s blog. Many Japanese people came to regard this as something of a ‘natural miracle’ - and you can see why. Truly awesome.
Ginkgos are used as street trees in Japan, Australia, the US and elsewhere. The leaves turn lighter green then bright yellow before they fall; an avenue of autumnal ginkgos is a breathtaking sight.
I haven’t finished yet.
The finest examples I’ve seen in England are in Kew Gardens and - oddly - in Keswick (by the bridge over the stream on the right as you approach the Town Centre). Apart from the saplings I have distributed to ALL my friends and relatives, ginkgos are rare in the north-east. In fact, I know of only two - a youngster in Saltwell Park (Gateshead) and in the Botanical Gardens in Durham City. I once offered to pay for one to be planted in Newcastle but the Council turned me down. Typical.
There. I think I’ve finished. In future, Gilly, you’d better be careful what you say!
KEV
I hope he won’t mind me telling you this but right now Kev isn’t too well. Please spare him as many of your good thoughts as you can. Take care and tread softly, Kev. (And if I HAVE spoken out of turn, forgive me.)
COMMENTS ON THE BLOG
If you make a comment on one of my postings, please make sure to look back. I may have been unable to resist the temptation to add one of my own - as I did yesterday!
BOB’S YER UNCLE, FANNY’S YER AUNT
The eighth question in this set of nine is......Which County Durham village is nicknamed ‘Doggy’? (You should know what the anagrammed word is by now.)
CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
ianstuartrobinson@googlemail.com
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN
NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.
9 comments:
ian.... highland cattle?
ive got a photo of the little,.. was it a bull? you visited while it was having a shampoo and set.
its a lovely picture.
Ian What is there to forgive? You have been all too kind in bringing the matter to other truckshunters notice. Have an awesome break Kev
ian have a nice holiday,
and kev, get well soon..
one t,s to another, listening to ian laughing at himself is a tonic in itself...
well its just about the tigers...
really im trying to redeem myself. if you study the pic you can see they have,nt moved as there are no water ripples and they just look so relaxed, comfortable, zonked out really.
maybe its just me...
ian....? whenever i read your posts no matter how i feel i laugh my self silly much to the horror of the family,
i cant explain to them why cos im laughing so much.
so ian ?.... i think you should write a book,
listening to you on t.s. and reading your posts are a tonic, much better than any pills from the doctor....
Ive looked again at the pic,
yes there are ripples..
i,m quitting while i,m ahead cos the words digging and hole are flashing by me...
I think i need to clarify something,
Ian has goofed off a bit -
"Firstly, credit where it’s due. Sid (aka ‘Pickler’) has already identified himself as the photographer of the handsome creature who heads up yesterday’s posting. It’s a shame the herd has wandered off, Sid; it would have been good to have more pictures"
so on behalf of Ian, sorry sid.
sid is of course not the pickler, that dubious honor is all mine.
for those people wanting to know more about me please see
http://www.hind-marsh.co.uk
but i must admit i need a better voice for the audio file , who knows Mr Robinson might just fit the bill !
ps If you do a search on the internet for "G8XGS" you will find all sorts of info .
Ian i will do my best to find the location of the "Highland cattle"
and take some more photos for the truckshunters blog etc.
Hi pickler, I assumed your name was Sid as well. So glad you realised what had happened and decided to straighten things out for when Ian returns.Cheers, Sid.
Hi Sid , its not a problem ,i just thought it needed to be straightend out,
I e.mailed Ian this morning and he fell off his seat when he knew what he had done.
i think he had enterd vacation mode and was not thinking as well as could be expected.
alls well that ends well
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