Cumbria

Honister slate mine

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Honister slate mine, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

I’d have taken more pictures up and down the pass, but it started pouring down. Unsurprisingly, there’s no reception at the top, and the gps on my phone still doesn’t work.

Timber

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Timber, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

The Forestry Commission plantations above my parents’ house, which have been a feature as long as I can remember, are being felled. This is one of many big wood piles.

Lake District Gothic

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This piece by Martin Wainwright is as much about the error of putting too much faith in statistics as the deceptive calm of the Lake District, but it also told me about some Cumbrian crimes and I’d never heard of or forgotten.

Lake District Gothic/Noir was the sort of genre I was trying to write in my teens and every so often I think of going back to it. Plus there’s the good old Frightened to Death by Fairies stuff to finish as well.

Frightened to Death by John Humphries

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The Today programme comes from the Royal Society today, discussing science and its future (move to India, they still understand its importance). One of their teaser comments for an upcoming item was “Were hundreds of Cumbrians really scared to death by fairies?” I think I missed it, so I may have to listen again to hear just that bit and see if it’s related to my own Frightened to Death by Fairies images.

Update I just caught it, and it’s the same document, from Lamplugh parish, as I based my Fairies pictures on.

And here’s the news item at BBC Cumbria- Dead funny: Archives Service digs up bizarre burial records

PS I apologise for the comment spam on some of the pictures. I try to weed it out, but I haven’t caught all of them.

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Lost Cat

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I had to rescue a cat from a tree yesterday. Technically, I had to hold the ladder whilst Penny rescued the cat from the tree, but I was involved. We had to do it ourselves because firemen won’t do that sort of thing any more.

Tony Stoddart, Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service’s area manager for Carlisle and Eden, said: “Firefighters from the UK have been paralysed trying to rescue cats.

“We don’t find many skeletons of cats up trees, so the risks far outweighed the benefits in this case.”

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The Marra Khans

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Descendents of Genghis Khan may be living in Cumbria.

DNA testing has revealed that Tom Robinson, of the University of Miami, shares a key chromosome with the leader renowned for his ruthlessness and savagery.

….

“I obviously haven’t conquered any countries and, though I’ve headed up accounting groups, I’ve done nothing as big as Genghis Khan,” Prof Robinson said.

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Pride of Cumbria

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I never even knew Cumbria had an air ambulance, let alone that it had been grounded in March after funding dried up. The “Pride of Cumbria” is operational again as of today after a TV campaign and fund drive raised the required funds. Good news for anyone planning to have a car crash on Shap, I guess.

The “Pride of Cumbria” still requires ongoing funding to continue this life saving service. If you would like to support the charity by making a small regular donation, of 50p a week, this will further ensure the future of the helicopter and will give the charity the opportunity to improve the service it offers. There are also sponsorship opportunities for businesses. Please contact us today on 01325 487263 or write to GNAAS, The Imperial Centre, Grange Road, Darlington, DL1 5NQ.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service is a registered Charity, No. 1092204 and receives no Government funding, or lottery funding; the entire operation depends on public donations to raise the necessary funds to keep the helicopters flying.

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