Belper in Amber Valley, a beautiful if relatively isolated part of the southern north of England have begun to emulate Doddie Smith’s idea in 101 Dalmatians – the Twilight Bark only with a twist…
Yep they’re mooing. When I first read this I thought it said mooning but fortunately, given the average age there easily exceeds the expected life of most galaxies the images don’t need a health warning.
What farm animal noise is most likely to be chorused in your neck of the woods? Given I live in metropolitan lilley-livered woolly minded liberal south London it’s a toss up between sheep – given our tendency to follow the latest fashions – or chickens – given our inclination is to run a mile from anything that doesn’t come with smashed avocado and a side of egregious handwringing…
My name is Geoff Le Pard. Once I was a lawyer; now I am a writer. I've published several books: a four book series following Harry Spittle as he grows from hapless student to hapless partner in a London law firm; four others in different genres; a book of poetry; four anthologies of short fiction; and a memoir of my mother. I have several more in the pipeline.
I have been blogging regularly since 2014, on topic as diverse as: poetry based on famous poems; memories from my life; my garden; my dog; a whole variety of short fiction; my attempts at baking and food; travel and the consequent disasters; theatre, film and book reviews; and the occasional thought piece. Mostly it is whatever takes my fancy.
I avoid politics, mostly, and religion, always. I don't mean to upset anyone but if I do, well, sorry and I suggest you go elsewhere.
These are my thoughts and no one else is to blame. If you want to nab anything I post, please acknowledge where it came from.
Ha! I love that image, Geoff. It’s fabulous and I think it does a great impersonation of what we’re going to look like when we finally bust out again. At our place, we’re definitely of the barking variety but truth be told, down at the beach we’d have to be squawking seagulls.
BTW I got rather stuck writing up about London in my travel series. Some of the photos are missing and others weren’t that great or i was photographed with friends who aren’t on FB so probably don’t want to be online. So, I actually decided to write about what London meant as a cultural centre for Australians wanting to hit the big time and as you may recall, my grandmother was studying piano and violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London and I touched on her experience. I used and credited some of those photos you took for me a few years ago and thought we should revisit that project soon. BTW since we’ve been in touch and I’ve been reading your posts, you’ve come to mean London to me. Here’s the link: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2020/04/14/l-london-a-z-challenge/
Hope you and the family are staying well and safe.
Best wishes,
Ro
Oh dear, the bloody man. Did you know, though that the next two biggest donors to the WHO after The US are Bill Gates and another charitable foundation followed by the UK. So while I abhor him, where are Germany, France, China, India and other rich nations.
`I thought France wouldn’t be on the same level as Germany. Yes, people are disliking the Lockdown and I hear today that the UK has another month. This I feel is the easy part, the aftermath is when the tough get going. The ramifications for charity organisations in the rush to the get their share of the almighty dollar will be horrendous. The Waipuna Hospice Charity that I am involved with were gearing up for a year like no other as the demand had increased dramatically. No Govt funding so it will an hard road back to “normality”. I keep thinking how did your ancestors get going after the war, totally different though I often think they were amazing people. Less naval gazing and more “we have got this” attitude.
I don’t think we will be much different from what my parents went through. We’ll look at the mess that’s left and just get on with it. My sense is then as now people will accept we needed to do what we did, it’s caused a right old mess and a lot of damage and we just need to try and make the best of it. What I do hope is that the political classes will recalibrate, especially looking at how our society is set up. A better appreciation of who really provides a fundamental service – bus drivers and shop assistants rather than sportspeople and tv presenters – and also we here need to be less generous to my generation in terms of pensions and help the youngsters and not totally burden them with debt. But hey, who knows. We’ve still get Brexit to happen and that, at least in the UK will divide us again I’ve no doubt.
Funny that you should mention the emphasis that has gone to sportsperson etc than the people who keep the clogs of our society the real workers. That issue has been on many peoples thoughts.
Let’s hope it goes more smoothly in reality than in our imaginations. Kia Kaha.
Let’s hope. One highly appealing benefit here is the very direct evidence of greening our cities on our health through cleaner air. If there’s a lesson here beyond preparing better for a pandemic it’s we need to go greener faster.
TanGental 
Oh my!
I’m flummoxed…
Possibly barking… Given the amount of ‘dogs’ we have around here?? 🤣
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I thin youd do barking v well
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🤣🤣🤣
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Just don’t look in the mirror
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Arrrrrrrrrgh! Bloody foxes their at it again!
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I’ve managed to dodge that for a while
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🙂
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I looked just now and saw a dried-on rice noodle stuck to my fleece! Been there since last night…
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Should still be edible if you can scrape off the fur
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Always useful for a quick snack
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Herring Gulls are the noisiest things around here now everything else us so quiet – I can’t imagine anyone wanting to imitate them.
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But there’s a new hobby already!
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Ha! I love that image, Geoff. It’s fabulous and I think it does a great impersonation of what we’re going to look like when we finally bust out again. At our place, we’re definitely of the barking variety but truth be told, down at the beach we’d have to be squawking seagulls.
BTW I got rather stuck writing up about London in my travel series. Some of the photos are missing and others weren’t that great or i was photographed with friends who aren’t on FB so probably don’t want to be online. So, I actually decided to write about what London meant as a cultural centre for Australians wanting to hit the big time and as you may recall, my grandmother was studying piano and violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London and I touched on her experience. I used and credited some of those photos you took for me a few years ago and thought we should revisit that project soon. BTW since we’ve been in touch and I’ve been reading your posts, you’ve come to mean London to me. Here’s the link: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2020/04/14/l-london-a-z-challenge/
Hope you and the family are staying well and safe.
Best wishes,
Ro
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Mooing! That is too darn funny. Coming from a ranching background It sure made me laugh. Thanks.
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Hilarious! Bloody hilarious! Haha
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What animal will you chorus?
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The cry of millennials not being able to get a reservation for dinner.
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Ha. Quite.
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Ha-ha! Siddy enjoyed that 😀 I’m ending my third week and feel I’m getting the hang of it now – thinking of becoming a silent hermit.
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Maybe found a religion this week?
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Could be I’m about to start up a new one?
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Very sound. All hail the Great Crochet Hook Of Dunedin
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Hilarious – hadn’t come across the Belper moo!
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But had you visited you wouldn’t have been surprised
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They are world famous around the pastures in kiwiland A reasonable amount of air time was given to the eccentrics of the motherland. Very hilarious.
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It’s turning us all into crazy birds!
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Could be worse for you if you heard Trump’s latest rant regarding the W.H.O.
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Oh dear, the bloody man. Did you know, though that the next two biggest donors to the WHO after The US are Bill Gates and another charitable foundation followed by the UK. So while I abhor him, where are Germany, France, China, India and other rich nations.
LikeLiked by 1 person
`I thought France wouldn’t be on the same level as Germany. Yes, people are disliking the Lockdown and I hear today that the UK has another month. This I feel is the easy part, the aftermath is when the tough get going. The ramifications for charity organisations in the rush to the get their share of the almighty dollar will be horrendous. The Waipuna Hospice Charity that I am involved with were gearing up for a year like no other as the demand had increased dramatically. No Govt funding so it will an hard road back to “normality”. I keep thinking how did your ancestors get going after the war, totally different though I often think they were amazing people. Less naval gazing and more “we have got this” attitude.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t think we will be much different from what my parents went through. We’ll look at the mess that’s left and just get on with it. My sense is then as now people will accept we needed to do what we did, it’s caused a right old mess and a lot of damage and we just need to try and make the best of it. What I do hope is that the political classes will recalibrate, especially looking at how our society is set up. A better appreciation of who really provides a fundamental service – bus drivers and shop assistants rather than sportspeople and tv presenters – and also we here need to be less generous to my generation in terms of pensions and help the youngsters and not totally burden them with debt. But hey, who knows. We’ve still get Brexit to happen and that, at least in the UK will divide us again I’ve no doubt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Funny that you should mention the emphasis that has gone to sportsperson etc than the people who keep the clogs of our society the real workers. That issue has been on many peoples thoughts.
Let’s hope it goes more smoothly in reality than in our imaginations. Kia Kaha.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let’s hope. One highly appealing benefit here is the very direct evidence of greening our cities on our health through cleaner air. If there’s a lesson here beyond preparing better for a pandemic it’s we need to go greener faster.
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Let’s hope that people in the Himalayas get to view their mountains for longer. It’s even noticeable here in NZ! All for going more greener.
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Oh I love that town – wish I was there. We’ve been in quarantine since the beginning of March here in the SF Bay Area,
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And what noises do your average Bay Area residents make?
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Ever heard a sea lion bark?
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Nope. Is it dog like or just rough and dry like a tree?
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I dare not tell my husband about this. He already moos whenever he is near a cow. It embarrassed the kids no end.
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Some information is too important to share, huh
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Absolutely.
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Had not heard about this, thanks! Love the photo. Round here it is the peaceful cooing of wood pigeons
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Love it!
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