Tag Archives: tree

Der Mäusebunker

Friday 20th September 2024, 4.40pm (day 4,775)

Formally this used to be the “Research Institute for Experimental Medicine”, which I am sure is quite as sinister as it sounds, so its being more popularly known as “The Mouse Bunker” does show that Germans indeed possess a sense of irony. It’s a masterpiece of brutalism, anyway, of which no one picture can do justice but you’ll get a better impression looking it up online. It’d be nice if the white ball of the street lamp wasn’t there, but otherwise, the light will certainly do.

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Christmas — in September?

Saturday 14th September 2024, 2.05pm (day 4,769)

Christmas in September, 14/9/24

It is still September. It is still the first half of September. But the Gospel Oak pub, in Tipton, West Midlands, cares nothing for such pedantries. Here, it is Christmas already, so they can advertise their seasonal ‘wear a shite jumper’ dinners (starting November 11th, if you’re interested). There is something deeply depressing about this.

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Catching the light

Sunday 11th August 2024, 2.00pm (day 4,735)

New sprig, 11/8/24

This little new sprig, coming out from what I think is an oak tree (those do look like oak leaves), is catching the light in a figurative sense — but surely a literal one, too. I imagine that it’s exactly because that little patch of trunk achieves direct line of sight to that ball of helium 93 million miles away that the sprig has been encouraged out into the world. Life’s like that.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Squirrel memorial

Saturday 27th July 2024, 1.45pm (day 4,720)

I’m sure there are worse things to be remembered for, and less appropriate ways of memorialising a loved one. Those whom Barbara left behind are hopefully gratified to see this being properly used. (That is an actual squirrel, in case you were wondering.)

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

The avocado tree

Saturday 4th May 2024, 11.55am (day 4,636)

Avocados, 4/5/24

For various reasons St Helena is no agricultural paradise. Some types of fresh fruit and veg can be picked up fairly easily (tomatoes are currently easy to find, for example) but others are never seen. Potatoes, particularly. Ask for potatoes in a shop and you will either be laughed at or, as happened to me once, the shopkeeper will mutter, under his breath, “try me on Monday”, with a wink, as if you’ve asked for cocaine.

However, these beauties are currently growing happily on the tree in the courtyard outside my apartment. The landlord told me not to pick them off the tree, and I honestly haven’t. But they will, at some point, fall to the ground…. and at that point I consider them fair game.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Jamestown banyan tree

Tuesday 30th April 2024, 10.50am (day 4,632)

Banyan tree, 30/4/24

I’m no botanist but banyan trees aren’t difficult to identify, with their multiple trunks and more on the way. This is the blog’s second, after the one seen in Brisbane (with the wife) back in 2013.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Plum blossom

Tuesday 2nd April 2024, 2.00pm (day 4,604)

Plum blossom, 2/4/24

I forget exactly how much our plum tree produced last year but it was at least 20kg (or more than 44 pounds): its all-time record for a single harvest. It won’t do this again in 2024, simply because it never does have two glut years in a row. But the blossom’s out, at least.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Moon over Eiffel Buildings

Monday 19th February 2024, 6.20pm (day 4,561)

Moon over Eiffel Buildings, 19/2/24

Hardly the most sumptuous shot. photographically, but it suffices to represent a day spent entirely in the local vicinity. It’s getting lighter in the evenings, as it always will at this time of year, but not yet past 6pm.

Tagged , , , , , ,

The first blossom (and Turing)

Wednesday 14th February 2024, 3.25pm (day 4,556)

Turing and blossom, 14/2/24

Definitely the first full cherry blossom sighting of the year, sprouting in the nicely sheltered urban heat reservoir that is Sackville Gardens, Manchester. Dr. Turing’s statue looks rather content to be there, as it usually does.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fungus settlement

Sunday 5th November 2023, 1.15pm (day 4,455)

Fungus settlement, 5/11/23

When I captured this clutch of fungi engaged in consuming this old tree down by the river, I had a feeling that I’d been here before. And so I had — getting on for seven years ago; it was 7/1/2017 when this symbiosis was seen from another angle. They’re taking their time, as the tree carcass doesn’t seem any smaller than it did back then. But if you are a fungus, I guess you see time differently.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,