Wood Anenomies

Sunday afternoon is a good time to visit Norsey Wood. It's a little too early for bluebells, but I'm here for the carpet of white, the wood anenomies. A couple of years ago I walked these woods almost every day.  Now, not so much, but the paths remain familiar - most of the time.

The first few are near the start of the trail - out of the car park toward the exit and second left.  They are such delicate flowers, so I tried to get closer in.

This is about as good as it gets with the current lens.  Following round the trail, the wood changes, there is a 'dead area' where there are many fallen trees.  This is not so managed as the rest of the wood.  I wonder, would primaeval forest look like this? 

Of course, humans get involved, so it cannot be entirely primeval.

At this time of year, the wood is waking after its winter sleep.  The large trees have, no doubt, started, but are not showing leaf yet.  The younger once get a head start. 

There is new (to me) coppicing on the easy access path, at the end of the trail.  While I had been walking around, I had been thinking that not much had changed in the last 45 years or so that I have been visiting the wood.  One thing that most definitely has is the dead hedging.

Recent path through coppiced area blocked by dead hedging.

Much older dead hedging protecting what may once have been coppiced.

 

Giving Up

There comes a time, and for me, it is now, when there is giving up to do.  We live in an ageist society.  At a certain age, arbitrarily, we are forced to re-apply for things, such as a driving licence.  We are also given things, such as a bus pass.  There are other things that we also have to re-apply for, in my case that's my licence to preach and lead services.  That is harder, and will likely be the subject of another post.  For now, I'm concentrating on the things I can no longer do on the roads.  I could keep, or reacquire that, but I would need to get medical approval.

Gone are:

C1	Medium Vehicles	Between 3,500kg and 7,500kg MAM.
C1E	Medium Vehicles	As C1 and tow a trailer over 750kg, as long as the combined weight of the vehicle and trailer does not exceed 12,000kg
D1	Minibuses	9 to 16 passenger seats.
D1E	Minibuses	As D1 and tow a trailer over 750kg

I'm not in favour of age limits at the older end of life.  Licences should be renewed every few years, and I may concede that after a certain age the frequency should increase.  People do not grow old at the same rate, some show signs of age before others.  I'm not in favour of concessions for pensioners either.  Pensioners should have enough money to pay the full price.

When is a transaction not a transaction, but is a transaction?

 I have to pay the government money.  This particular bill allows me to drive my car on their poorly maintained roads.  So I use the 16 digit id and up come the charges.  I fill in my payment details, and the bank (the one with a blue logo) wants to be sure I am who I am.  The pop-up is blocked by my ever vigilant browser (FF), and a long and detailed error message appears on the web page.  Something about the transaction cannot be completed due to an error.  It went too quickly to save, although that may have been my fault, I'm not sure.

Still the transaction is not a transaction any longer.

I try again.  It says try in 5 days.  My confirmation email comes through, saying my vehicle is taxed.  I check the gov web site using my registration number - no, it's not.  It still expires at the end of the month.

 I log on to my bank, and there is the pending transaction.   Will it go through, or not?

Five days later. I try to give them money again, but they say it's already gone through. Checking my bank, I see the charge is on my account.

 The transaction that is not a transaction is now a transaction.

Conclusion - Bank security is rubbish. DVLA error processing is suspect.

Green Island Gardens

The gardens are in Ardleigh, near Colchester, it's about an hour away, mostly on the A12.  The journey was comfortable in both directions, probably because of the time of day.   The site is a huge triangle, the entrance is located between two large gardens.  We parked near a bonfire, burning quite intensely, and generating lots of smoke because green waste had been put on top.  The smell of burning wood reminds me of my childhood, and I love it. We paid our entrance fee and wandered around the more cultivated of the gardens.  A better name might be Camellia City, as they were the most common plant.  They are beautiful, of course.  The large red or white flowers providing colour, that would otherwise be limited to the yellow of the daffodils. Most of the paths are covered in moss, especially through the wooded area.  even in the cultivated garden, the grass paths have quite a lot of moss.

This is Camellia japonica 'Rudolph', one of the deepest reds in the gardens.

The magnificent display growing up the side of the entrance, from the inside.

From a distance this looked like Forsythia.  It is "Hamamelis intermedia 'Evi'".  I cannot recall seeing anything like it.

I spoke to one of the ladies who were trimming shrubs, she said they were trying to grow a more yellow, more upright hibiscus.  I think this might be it.

There are hundreds of regular daffodils, these, though, are bizarre.  They don't appear to have trumpets at all.

These small blue flowers had attracted a bee.  I had one chance to capture the picture, but, unsurprisingly, the bee moved on. So here is my picture of the blurry bee. It left me with a question.  How good are all these plants for wild life?  We did not see a single squirrel, and only the one bee.  A large part, of the more cultivated garden was roped off, but even with that it was still worth a visit.  There are also various little buildings, mostly made with materials from the estate, I imagine.  Some could have done with repairs.

Warley Place

Warley Place is an Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) 'garden' between Warley and the M25.  We went because the EWT website talked about the bulbs in bloom.   They are spectacular - especially the daffodils.  One of the wardens commented how early they are this year, because we almost skipped winter.

The garden created by Ellen Willmot over a century ago is now in ruins, but some of the trees she planted are still growing or coming near to the end of their lives.

The site is carefully marked out, with plenty of 'keep to the path'  signs.  That ensures the bulbs will grow next year and for years to come.

Here are a few of the pictures I took.   

Crocus

The daffodils cover the hill side.

In the kitchen garden, I haven't identified these yet.

A lily amongst the snow drops, similar to those in our garden that will bloom in a month or so.

Snow drops, daffodils and unidentified lilies

A field with clumps of daffodils

A patch of snowdrops, still surviving, while most are coming to their end for this year.

 

After our walk around the site, where we were in competition for a while with Havering U3A and two wardens, we had lunch at the Thatchers Arms next door.  The pub was full, we only got a table because someone had booked and not turned up.  Those who came in after us were turned away.  The food was good, the staff friendly, but the wait was a bit long.

Ameryllis (Hippeastrum) 2026 - Blooms begin

 

On 8th January 2026, these were potted up and put on the window sill.  Now, just 36 days later, we already three flowers.  Our newest, a Christmas gift, has 2 scapes (flower stalks).  So do some of the others that I have mis-treated badly during their last growth season.

Bye, bye, LEAF. Hello Inster

Today we said goodbye to our LEAF after a little over eight years.  Originally purchased for my commute to Chelmsford, it has served us well for all that time, despite a slightly dodgy start.  The wing mirrors closed and stayed closed.  They were replaced under guarantee.  The firmware required some work to get the reversing guide lines on the camera.  Apart from that and a hiccup, a couple of years ago, that meant we couldn't drive it for about 40 minutes, it has been a good car.  I got use to the quirky design, and came to quite like it.

It was replaced with an Hyundai Inster.

Canon CanoScan D2400UF

Canon CanoScan D2400UF

I have an ancient scanner, a Canon CanoScan D2400UF. I bought it to allow me to scan 35mm slides. I think I had Windows 95 the last time I tried to use it. Being old, I thought I'd try it in Linux first. It's not even mentioned on http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html#SCANNERS. So, no luck there.
However, the Canon website has drivers for it, for 

• Windows Vista (32-bit)
• Windows XP (32-bit)
• Windows Me (32-bit)
• Windows 2000 (32-bit)

now where can I get a 32-bit Windows/XP from?  Because I'm not going near the others. 

 

The options are:

• Acquire and build a Windows/XP (virtual) machine
• Purchase a 35mm slide scanner that will work on modern systems. 

The Chalkwell Park Gorilla

Before we moved, so before I started school, we used to go for walks in Chalkwell Park.  There was recently an incident there, where a child was killed by a tree branch falling.  That is very sad, as the park had many lovely big trees.  I hope they can be managed better and are not simply cut down.

I also remember that the park had a little zoo, only maybe 10 cages - all way too small for the animals in them, but I didn't know that at the time.  I used to love walking by the fence, that separated people from the cages - just far enough so that we couldn't reach in, and they couldn't reach out.

One of the animals I remember most clearly is the gorilla.  The picture is AI generated, but fits pretty well with my memory.  The floor of the cage was covered in discarded orange peel, banana peel, and partially eaten vegetables.  Looking back, I realise what an awful life the poor creature had, but then I was just eager to see him, and the other animals.  I think there was a big cat, a lion or tiger possibly, pacing around and around as captive animals do.  I don't remember the other creatures.

This article https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/lovely-essex-park-once-home-9448938 suggests there was a Himalayan black bear called Lulu, I don't remember that.

Free as a bird?

With the imminent imposition of digital ID and the loss of the right to a jury hearing in some cases, a trend that has been happening all my life seems to be speeding up.  There's also the issue of the police using facial recognition and that fact that the UK is almost a surveillance society (2nd only to China, by some estimates).

So my first question is what freedoms have we lost since WWII?  I asked copilot to tell me.

Here's what it found:

Quick Answer: Since WWII, several rights in the UK have been restricted or removed, often in response to security concerns, industrial relations, or political shifts. Key examples include limits on trade union powers (1970s–1980s), detention without trial under anti-terror laws (2001 onward), curbs on protest rights (2005–2022), and surveillance expansions (2000s–2010s).

📜 Major Rights Removed or Restricted Since WWII

Period	Law/Policy	Rights Affected	Context
1945–1950s	Emergency wartime powers continued briefly	Freedom of movement & association	Post-war rationing and national security concerns
1971	Immigration Act 1971	Right of Commonwealth citizens to settle freely	Ended automatic settlement rights for many Commonwealth migrants
1979–1990s (Thatcher era)	Employment Acts (1980, 1982, 1988, 1990)	Trade union rights, right to strike	Restricted closed shops, secondary picketing, and union political activity
2000	Terrorism Act 2000	Freedom of association & protest	Broadened definition of terrorism, allowed banning of organizations
2001	Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act	Habeas corpus (detention without trial)	Allowed indefinite detention of foreign nationals suspected of terrorism
2005	Prevention of Terrorism Act	Freedom of movement	Introduced “control orders” restricting suspects’ movements without trial
2011	Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act	Right to protest near Parliament	Restricted demonstrations around Westminster
2016	Investigatory Powers Act (“Snooper’s Charter”)	Privacy rights	Legalized bulk surveillance and data retention
2022	Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act	Right to protest	Gave police powers to restrict protests deemed “too noisy” or disruptive

⚖️ Key Themes in Rights Removal

• Trade Union & Labour Rights: The UK moved from strong collective bargaining after WWII to significant restrictions under Thatcher, reshaping industrial relations.
• Immigration & Settlement: Commonwealth citizens lost automatic settlement rights in 1971, marking a major rollback of post-imperial freedoms.
• Anti-Terror Legislation: From 2000 onward, terrorism laws curtailed civil liberties, including detention without trial, control orders, and expanded surveillance.
• Protest & Assembly: Laws in 2005, 2011, and 2022 progressively narrowed the scope of lawful protest, especially near Parliament and in public spaces.
• Privacy & Surveillance: The Investigatory Powers Act entrenched state surveillance, reducing individual privacy protections. 

🧭 Contextual Notes

• Many restrictions were responses to crises: terrorism (IRA, 9/11, London bombings), industrial unrest, or migration pressures.
• Rights were often balanced against security or order, but critics argue these measures eroded fundamental freedoms.
• The UK’s reliance on parliamentary sovereignty (no codified constitution) means rights can be curtailed more easily than in countries with entrenched constitutional protections.

In summary: Since WWII, the UK has removed or restricted rights mainly in four areas—labour rights, immigration, protest, and privacy/security—with landmark changes in the 1970s (union restrictions), 2000s (anti-terror laws), and 2010s–2020s (protest and surveillance powers).

Amarylis 2026

I have re-potted the amaryllises, with very cold, almost frozen bulb fibre that was stored in the shed.  All the bulbs are smaller than I remember from last year. Though, last year there was only a slight refresh of the soil, we got two flowerings from some of the bulbs, so I'm expecting them to be tired.  This year will be mainly leaves.

After re-potting I like to soak them for an hour or two, but as it's so cold (below zero for the daily peak) that will have to be missed out as well.

The very top one is new - a Christmas gift, so I'm expecting flowers from that one.

Let's see how it goes.