Artimis Mission

The first sign that the baby human race was about to take a step away from its birth planet occurred on 12 September 1962.  The President of the United States of America set his country the target of putting a foot on the moon and returning home.  I was almost 8½, and largely unaware of what was happening.

The program did not go well.  I remember being shocked and saddened by the disaster of Apollo 1.  Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee died in a fire in the command module, although I couldn't have named them at the time.  There was a short pause in the program.  

On 21 December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first spacecraft to leave earth orbit. The first tiny step had been taken.  My excitement at the whole program and the optimism it generated were enormous.  Apollo 11 put 2 men on the moon, as did 12, 14, 15, 16 and finally 17 in December 1972.

Next stop Mars, or so I thought.  But NO!

I've had to wait over 60 years before someone was prepared to try again.  The Artemis program has less hype, and has generated less excitement that Apollo.  My two eldest grandsons are a similar age now, to me at the Apollo launches. I watched the Artemis 2 launch with them, by the wonders of the internet, which certainly made it more exciting and interesting. 

The development has also been much faster, Artemis 2 is the equivalent of Apollo 8 - doing a loop around the moon.  Now they are safely back home.  I have to say that my excitement at this mission, though great, is nothing like my excitement in the '60s and '70s.  There is more awareness of the dangers, and the way corporate America works - including the shortcuts it takes.  But all credit to the to all the scientists and engineers involved in the mission for getting something so complex and leading edge, working so quickly.  I don't want there to be another disaster.  I'm looking forward to Artemis 4 and another landing and return.  I'm excited for that.

I'm looking forward to the baby human race taking its second tiny step. 

The Hornchurch Passion Play

The Hornchurch Passion Play takes place on the green, next to the Queen's Theatre.  There is free parking in the next door Sainsbury's Car Park.  We left home in time to arrive a little after 6pm.  We got there and found that was a little too early.  That gave us the opportunity to get some chips at the local Fish and Chips shop - just six minutes walk away.

When we arrived it was still daylight, we could see all the sets scattered around the edge of the green.  I took a 360º video of the scene from roughly the centre of the green.  You can see that below.

The performance starts with a greeting to the Passover festival by the Priests - emphasising the need for security and the good behaviour of the attendees.    

The scenes are a mixture of the up to date and the first century - but mostly the first century.  The dialogue is taken from the biblical accounts with a lot of additional imagined material to explain what is going on to an uninitiated audience.

I described the dialogue as "The Passion meets Peckam". (A reference to Only fools and Horses).  That is not a negative criticism, it is the feeling I get from the dialogue, simple, familiar and easy to access.  The drama that results is powerful and made me think about who Jesus is as a person, and obviously why He would go through such a situation.

A brilliant addition to our usual Easter activities. 

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.