Snap and Scribble

These days, i seem to spend a fair amount of my time walking for hours along the seawalls on the edges of the various river estuaries around here. There are many dozens of miles of them in this part of Essex – and mostly, they’re out in wild and empty country.

A high proportion of the land in south eastern Essex has been reclaimed from the sea at one time or another over the last couple of thousand years. Pretty much all the reclaimed land was used for farming originally, but there are a few places where there are either houses or caravan parks. Building houses on land that’s below sea level has always seemed a bit silly to me – and i think a few other people are thinking that too now, after the disastrous floods in some parts of this country last year. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
No Comments »

Hearing a series of explosions as i walked along the seawall near Burnham-on-Crouch yesterday, i was reminded of daily life in Kabul.

Hmm…, just like Kabul, i thought, as i looked around at the flat green fields and the wide tidal river. Well, perhaps not. But the sound of the explosions was very similar to the sound made when the de-mining crew detonated land mines in the hills around that city. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
2 Comments »

I need to find a job, but i’m not quite sure where to look. Part of the problem is i’m not quite sure what i want to do. The other part is that there’s not a lot of work around here, and what there is is mostly really badly paid (specially when you compare it to the extortionate cost of living!)

I got my certificate thingo from TAFE the other day, so i’ve now got a Cert III in Horticulture (Arboriculture), and i can call myself a qualified arborist if i want! I wouldn’t mind finding some work in that field, but i don’t really want to work doing tree lopping etc. I enjoy that work (although in this country in winter it might not be much fun!), but it’s not very well paid for the level of danger and the hardness of the work – and i’m a bit old to start a career as a climber, anyway. … Read more »

Tags: Life by will
No Comments »

It’s been a while since i posted a blog last – mainly because there hasn’t been anything particularly exciting to post about, i guess.

Christmas and new year have come and gone in that time and now it seems to be well into January!

Christmas was good. There were only 18 of us at my sister’s place this year though – which is a couple less than last year, as far as i remember. The meal was good – chaotic and crowded, of course, because Lucy’s place isn’t very big – but it was entertaining and the food was good. Later on, though, i got a bit bored of sitting around listening to drunks talking shit, so i went out for a walk. … Read more »

Tags: Life by will
No Comments »