14/09/2008 by admin.

Noel’s HQ is an inspirational show where ordinary people do extraordinary things.  It’s just the kind of thing our very own local champion, Ben Whittenbury would do. The magic of The Haymakers Survey is spreading! Our project about the power of art, love and nature is designed to help change the world - encouraging local champions and a new way of living, that sees a world beyond the grey, money and needless regulation.  Three cheers for Noel…

Well, the funds raised from our ‘not for profit’ scheme, in partnership with the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust is currently supporting the campaign to save Balls Wood Nature Reserve.  Together we can!

http://www.harlowstar.co.uk/hertfordshiremercury-news/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=332073

We’ve given many examples on this blog about the syncronicity of our tale and world events, well we now have a very local and in many ways most extraordinary experience to tell you about.  Our story reveals how it seems that long ago a man called Ben Whittenbury was once involved in a confrontation with the Murderous Pie Man of Ware!  Well, at a fair at Castle Hall in Hertford today some distant relatives of the orginal Benjamin Whittenbury came to our book stall.  The odds against the union must be very high. It was a most remarkable and humbling experience.

Posted in Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life?, Q.5 Do you believe in fate?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

13/09/2008 by admin.

Sir Cliff Richard has celebrated 50 years in showbusiness by publishing an auto-biography. Sir Cliff used to live in a council house at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. The house was tiny and he had to share a room with one of his sisters. It was in 1958 that he burst on to the music scene with the song, ‘Move It’ with a style initially based on Elvis.  Sir Cliff has has number one’s in each of the four previous decades. The relevance of the anniversary to to our story is simple - for early in our tale Sarah asks Julia about Peter Pan and Netherland! Sir Cliff seems to defy his years, so was fondly dubbed, the Peter Pan of Pop!  He was also the front singer of ‘Cliff Richard and the Shadows!’

A devout Christian, Sir Cliff has remained a Bacholor Boy throughout his career. What can we say, other than Congratulations!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iArJm9gBvg

Posted in Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Q80a Do you keep a diary?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q62 Have you ever helped the poor?, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q31 Are you a charitable neighbour? | No Comments »

12/09/2008 by admin.

A study by York University’s Centre for Sustainability has found that residents in East Hertfordshire have the largest carbon footprint out of all regions in the UK! The study claims that those living in the district are responsible for 14.68 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.  The Chair of the local environmental scrutiny committee, said, “It doesn’t surprise me. We’re a very large, rural district.  A lot of people need cars and a lot of people have very large houses, which would also contribute to the carbon footprint.” The data was collected in 2001, yet has taken a long time to analyse. Here’s a map of the area…

The findings are really curious given our story takes place in the area! Was this deliberate? Did some unseen force have an insight to the challenges which led them to reveal the magic of ‘The Haymakers Survey’ to us? Even the name of the study - Censa - is linked to our survey since Charles Lamb’s journal includes a lenghty debate on the role of the Census.  Can you keep an open mind? Are there extraordinary things inside ourselves?

Maybe its also due to 10,000 years of local history…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOp8FMrRGhQ

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q62a Is life logical?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q46 Do you value a good education? | No Comments »

11/09/2008 by admin.

Sgt Mark Baxter has told how swift action led to the rescue of his three year old daughter, Leona, after she was sucked into a storm drain and swept 200 feet along a drainpipe and into the River Wear.  Leona was playing in what appeared to be a large puddle before she disappeared into what appeared to be like a whirlpool in the middle of the puddle.  Her father quickly realised that she’d fallen into a drain that led to the river and dashed to save her.  Leona is barely 3 feet tall and weighs just 3 stone.  Leona’s mother said, “We are the luckiest parents alive, someone must have been watching over us.”

A whirlpool features more than once in our story. Here’s one in action…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw7YGnL137E

A miracle of another kind has taken place involving an animal called Dixie.   A family in Birmingham were delighted when an RSPCA officer turned up with their cat missing for nearly a decade!  The owners were overjoyed at the micro-chipped cat’s return, and amazed that Dixie seems to have retained all her personality and mannerisms. The owner, Mrs Delaney, says the cat has hardly stopped purring since her return.  Sarah’s told her pet Dixie all about the happy ending!

In a miraculous set of events, a historic watch belonging to a champion has been reunited with its Hertfordshire owner.  The 100 year old watch awarded to James Douglas Edgar to honour his victory in the Canadian Golf Open in 1919 was stolen from Wheathampstead Golf Club in February 2008.  Yet last week James’ grandson, Douglas, received a phone call from a jewellery collector who bought the watch at a car boot sale in Surrey.   The woman, Mandy, showed the watch to her parents - who live in Harpenden in Hertfordshire - and they instantly recognised it as the missing watch.  The circumstances are a little different but its curious that a Hertfordshire champion’s watch was lost then miraculous found again, something Ben Whittenbury and Malachi know all about - an event that triggered our Watch!

What we take from these 3 stories is that it’s not too late for humanity to change our relationship with the Earth -we can still secure the miracle needed to preserve the natural world on this planet blue in a sea of black.

Posted in Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q.5 Do you believe in fate?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

10/09/2008 by admin.

Scientists have switched on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland in the hope of shedding light on one of the fundamental questions in physics, ‘What is mass?’ 

The current favoured model involves a particle dubbed as ‘The God Particle’.  The enormous experiment is designed to throw light on this - to understand how Nature works - and on the mysterious ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ that makes up the large majority of the Universe.

The LHC is the biggest and most complex machine in history, taking 13 years to construct at a cost of 5bn.  The experiment involves sending two beams in opposite directions  - revolving about a huge circle of magnetic tubes. Dr Shears a particle physicist from the University of Liverpool said, “We will be looking at what the Universe was made of billionths of a second after the Big Bang.”

The project has not been without its critics with some fearing the formation of a black hole that might swallow the Earth!  We’re not merchants of doom but it’s curious that the experiment is taking place within the proximity of Lake Lucerne - the source of inspiration for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstien.

Scientists clearly hope that the LHC experiment will live long in the memory. Perhaps they’ll adopt an iconic song to remind them of the day, for a study using Beatles music has been set up which catologues 3,000 recollections of Beatles related memories.   For a long time people have noticed that music is a great way to remember events from the past.  See www.magicalmemorytour.com for details.

Our Beatles choice to make the launch of the LHC is ‘Revolution’ … It’s going to be alright!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87yq372R4Ts

Posted in Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q29 Could you live without machines?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst? | No Comments »

08/09/2008 by admin.

Artists in Caracas, Venezuela, have used the living human body as a canvas. Amongst the exhibits was Nature Personified, which is very curious given Charles Lamb’s perception of Lucy Ebbs in his journal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7602547.stm

The exhibition coincided with a £3 trillion rescue package by the US Government for the American lending company, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  “What does this have to do with the environment?”, you may well ask.  Well, in our story did not Fanny plead to Ben for help, quote, “Please, I implore you, we have been waiting for so long.”  Is this life imitating art?  In some ways, the company’s logo resembles Keeper’s Cottage.

Posted in Q68 Does the Earth have a spirit?, Q78 Do you want to be part of the picture?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q61 Have you ever worn fancy dress?, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination?, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

07/09/2008 by admin.

At a zoo in Japan, the fur of 3 polar bears have turned green! They changed colour in July, after swimming in a pool with algae.  Masami Kurobe, an official from Higashiyama Zoo, said, ‘High temperatures in July and August and less changing of the pool’s water, because of conservation efforts, caused the algae growth.  The animals are unharmed and should return to their normal colour in November.”

How curious that the three bears should go green - is this a protest? Are they trying to tell the authorities to go green? Oh, there’s the words, BUSH IM A HAYMAKER hidden within MASAMI KUROBE, HIGASHIYAMA as well as a SAMOYED!

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you? | No Comments »

06/09/2008 by admin.

One of the most important parts of our story is a poem called Shadows, which includes the verse:

“Ah, be ours the task to stop it, ours the task this Earth to keep. With imagination blot it, woe decry industrial creep. Woe decry that icy tear, “Forget me Not,” the time is Near.”

In our tale, the poem was passed to Julia by her Grandmother who advised her to, “Look out for the signs. You have the gift…”  Charles Lamb’s journal reveals how the poem came about and who wrote it - that it captures concerns about the impact of machines upon Mother Nature.

Julia wondered if events in the poem were beginning to unfold in the world and at home. Well, Sarah believes the presence of a 50ft mechanical spider creeping about the streets of Liverpool (home of the Beatles) in icy rain represents the line, ‘woe decry industrial creep.’  The creation is by the french company La Machine.  The spider is made out of steel and popular wood and is operated by up to 12 people.

Here’s a video of the spider caught in the snow!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool08/video/08/lamach_lee_snow.shtml

A read of the poem inspired Julia to examine the 12 white stones our dog, Malachi, had helped to discover.  Funny then how a Labrador was discovered with 13 golf balls in its stomach - one of which had turned black and was decomposing.  The dog named Oscar had apparently swallowed the balls when accompanying his owner about a golf course in Fife, which is strange in itself as Malachi passed Ben a fife to help inspire his thoughts and actions on the survey. 

Commenting on the operation, the local vet said he’d never seen anything like it, claiming it was just like a magic trick!

Posted in Q29 Could you live without machines?, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q26 Do you take poetry seriously?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

05/09/2008 by admin.

A parrot named Luna from New Jersey has fooled emergency services into an attempt to rescue a damsel in distress.  Concerned neighbours had called the police after they heard cries of, ‘Help me! Help me!” Police resorted to knocking the front door down, only to find a parrot was reponsible.  The owner wasn’t especially surprised as seven years ago Luna alarmed authorities by mimicking a baby’s cry for hours on end, triggering a visit by child welfare officials fearing an abandoned infant!  This is all very familiar given our story.

Meanwhile, in Kent, England, Leonard an African Grey has been showing off his repetoire of impersonations and moves.  The parrot was missing for about 4 days but has now returned home.  Here he is performing Beethoven’s Fifth and doing Dalek impressions - all features from our story!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7600955.stm

However, Sarah pointed out that this is nothing compared with Einstien’s performance. Now here’s a real superstar…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSDFzg8_Wfg

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q.5 Do you believe in fate? | No Comments »

04/09/2008 by admin.

Our readers will know of the power of peanuts in our tale to stir up a discussion on environmental issues.  Elsewhere on our site you’ll find Sarah’s messages made from peanuts!  It’s therefore with strange co-incidence that we report the death at aged 91 of the animator Bill Melendez, who drew Charlie Brown, Snoopy and other Peanuts characters.  He was the only person given permission by the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, Charles Schulz, to animate his work.  He produced some 70 TV specials, including a Yuletide Charlie Brown Special in 1965.

Good grief! Here’s Sarah’s peanuts tribute to Bill … 

Charlie Brown is a loveable loser, a child possessed of endless hope and determination.  Curiously, one of the key characters is Lucy!  She first appeared on 3 March.  Lucy’s often mean and cynical and is famed for teasing and belittling Charlie Brown with cruel comments and acts. Here’s Lucy famously analysing Charlie Brown…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h38srxvt6qE&feature=related

Charlie was also famed for saying, “Why can’t I have a normal dog like everyone else?” which may amuse Malachi.

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q67 Have you ever decorated a tree?, Q.9 Do you feel in control of your life?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »