Hungerford Marsh -> Hungerford

Not much of a move.

Had to go and get water, turn the boat around.

Marsh is about a mile or so out of town.

Now I’m moored right outside St. Lawrence church, by the swing bridge.

[map][/map]

Shrimps

Had a guy come past last night, wanted to catch fresh water shrimps under the boat.

I wonder if these may make a tasty meal….

Post Restanté

There aren’t any post offices around that do this service, I cycled to Kintbury yesterday to find that my mail had been returned to sender.

No post office in Hungerford. No post office in Kintbury. Makes it a logistical nightmare. Continue reading “Hungerford Marsh -> Hungerford”

Froxfield -> Hungerford Marsh

Tried to moor in-between but there were 2 problems:

  1. The railway track: Not more than 20 yards from the canal bank. Great news if you like to be waking up with a train going past your head at 3 o’clock in the morning. Otherwise, not a good spot for mooring.
  2. Heavy growth of giant hogweed; and other plantlife dipping quite heavily into the canal on a cambered bank. Making it quite hard for mooring.

Didn’t bother, after spending and hour or so wondering round seeing if I could find a suitable spot.

This is where I’m moored now. You can see it has the additional texture of raindrops…. Continue reading “Froxfield -> Hungerford Marsh”

To Ham

Felt a bit bored. Took a walk to Ham and Ham Spray.

Again, walked up through the estates of Little Bedwyn, with the ‘beware u will be shot’ signs, on to somewhere called ‘Prospero’ estates, again with little ‘u will be shot’ signs, but better hidden.

Saw lots of little birds and beasties along the way, including a weasel and about 5 hares.

Savernake forest

The woods are near Savernake forest which is owned by the Earl of Cardigan and is some 4.500 acres. I visited Savernake forest on Sunday, it’s possible to drive through from to Marlborough almost.

A short-cut except that the road is not made up. Continue reading “To Ham”

World Press Freedom Index

May 3rd marks the global survey on press freedom, something that I picked up on a couple of years ago.

They’ve produced this rather nice map.

Press Freedom Map
Press Freedom Map – 2016

Here’s the map as it stands last year.

You can read more about press freedom on their website.

[su_pullquote align=”right”]Global press freedom declined to its lowest point in 13 years in 2016 amid unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies and new moves by authoritarian states to control the media, including beyond their borders.[/su_pullquote]

Censorship is another indicator of declining press freedom, and governments and other actors are finding new ways to promote repression, many of which compromise the necessity of an open internet. The CPJ analyzes countries to determine their status using a series of benchmarks, including:

  • the absence of privately owned or independent media,
  • blocking of websites,
  • restrictions on electronic recording and dissemination,
  • license requirements to conduct journalism,
  • restrictions on journalists’ movements,
  • monitoring of journalists by authorities,
  • jamming of foreign broadcasts, and
  • blocking of foreign correspondents.

The resulting list of the 10 Most Censored Countries includes Eritrea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Iran, China, Myanmar, and Cuba.