Here. Where I am. From when the sun comes up until it descends behind the curve of the hillock to the side of me it has an unobstructed view of the panels.

It’s probably one of two places on the whole network where that happens.

It’s also very quiet. In terms of boaters. Not a lot stop here, if they do, it’s not for much longer than a couple of days.

I like that though. When you’re on a boat, one place is much the same as any other.

Kings Sutton in the Fields

Wetland paradise

Since the heavy rains over the Autumn and winter, the fields adjacent have become waterlogged. Until 3-4 weeks ago, some of them were underwater. 2 Months ago, the whole area surrounding the Cherwell was underwater.

One side effect of this prolonged period of dampness has been the arrival and residency of a number of different bird species.

As I walked up around the fields and took the picture above, these birds were around on the bend of the river, in the sky or on the fields themselves.

There are also birds of prey. Kestrel. Although it’s more difficult to ID these without the binoculars.
Red-kites also Blackbirds/Sparrows/Crows etc.

A fair bit of wildlife within a mile walk.

Because the fields are so waterlogged, it’s put a lot of the walkers off. Without the walkers, and their dogs, the birds have been here and it’s become more popular.

No doubt, back in the day, this whole area was a haven for these different types of wildlife. With the modern irrigation, farming and pollution, they’ve reduced in numbers.

With the onset of spring. Things are starting to dry out now.

These birds will be moving on as the dogs and walkers return and the field reverts to being a public footpath between Kings Sutton and the Oxford canal.

Assaulted at work

Was visiting Milton Keynes a couple of weeks ago for work.

As part of the job, I have to talk to individuals about their random selection to take part in different studies carried out by different government bodies. In this case the ONS. Or Office for National Statistics.

I walked up to this property. Social housing. Had a load of cabinet draws and office furniture strewn around outside and the strong smell of cannabis is I walked up to the door.

When the guy came to the door he was in my face straight away. “Who are you?”, “What do you want?”. I showed him my ID and tried to confirm I was at the right address, something we need to do before we talk to anyone at any given address. As I’d showed him my ID, I showed him this letter with his address on and said, “this is here, xyz, is that right?”, to which he replied “who are you, where are you from“. Maybe the fact that I answered that 4 seconds ago. I held my ID up again, a little closer to his face so he could see it and he started getting all annoyed. “Get off my property“, he said.

I never actually stood on his property, just on the shared communal space, pointed that out to him. He went on to explain how it was all ‘his’ from here to there to there etc. At which point he said, “I want you to leave“, “I’d just like to know if I’m speaking to the right person. Is this your address” I said.

“Fuck off” he said. At this point I let him go. He went inside. I started to fill in a form. Withing a couple of seconds, he’s popped up again.

“I thought I told you to get off my property?“. I said, “I’m not on your property“.

At this point he punched me in the face.

I kind of wondered what it was. As he was withdrawing his fist.

Not really too shocked but a bit surprised, I said “that’s assault“.

I said “you know I’m going to have to tell the police“, at which point he brought his mobile out, and started filming the whole thing.

I proceeded to leave his address.

He proceeded to film me, just to try and get a negative reaction on film.

I’m not going to put his picture on here as these things can affect an ongoing investigation.

Instead, here’s a picture of me and my slightly bloody lip.

Went to the police station in Milton Keynes. Not sure what his deal is, but I think it’s something the Police should know about…

This job

Is finishing soon.

Our whole department. The Research Interviewers, is undergoing consultation for redundancy.

They basically do this when they want to get rid of more than 30 staff at one time.

It’s a process where we, as employees, can submit reasons why we shouldn’t be made redundant and at the end of the ‘consultation period’, a decision is made.

It’s just legal bureaucracy. The hoops they need to jump through.

Very soon next month, I will be redundant and looking for a new job.

Time off

I don’t think I’ll go straight back.

I’d like to consider my options.

I’m pretty sure a holiday is on the cards. The employment, and general environment is shifting on a national, and global basis.

This might be a good time to be looking for a change of career.

I used to be a programmer and developer for many years, working on my website, lonelyplanetexchange, and this blog. With the advent of AI, programming or related, may be a more productive and lucrative option going into the future. We’ll have to see.

Until then. Watch this space.

Here’s a few photo’s from the last few weeks.