30/10/2008 by admin.

We thought the game was over, but seemingly not! Just days after the ‘rose over Mayfair’ a freak hailstorm has hit the town of Ottery St Mary in Devon.  One feet of hail (o.3m) fell in just 2 hours between 1.00 and 3.00 leading emergency services to describe the scene as ‘absolute chaos’.  The storm was hugely localised and centred on the town, causing the worst flooding seen in 25 years.   What’s curious is that Ottery St Mary was the birthplace of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - who features strongly in Charles Lamb’s journal - and the ‘rose cloud over Mayfair’ incident occured on the eve of his birthday. 

“Okay!” We hear you cry, but readers of The Haymakers Survey may remember that, in his journal, no sooner do Charles Lamb and Lucy Ebbs witness the rose cloud does a severe storm of hail and thunder sweep in to catch them unawares! Charles regrets his complacency before trying his best to protect his beloved from the worst of the storm!   Poetry in motion…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPM5khluZWE

Samuel Coleridge is famed for ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, which featured the verse about the cracking ice, as featured in Chalres Lamb’s journal. Hardly surprising then that the ‘Freak’ storm at the birth place of the poet should also coincide with a report by the WWF highlighting that our planet is on the verge of an ‘Eco Crunch’ due to the unsustainable rate at which people are using up the world’s limited resources.  Perhaps this explains the heavy October snow in London and the South East of England too? Sarah was amazed to find the snow had frozen overnight for the first time in 70 years- to resemble mini-ice sheets.  In these challenging economic times is ‘Mother Nature’ alerting us to a more serious threat to our well-being - afterall, the House of Commons was discussing Global Warming at the time! 

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q26 Do you take poetry seriously?, Q22 Do you love our Earth? FREE CHRISTMAS PRIZE DRAW!, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst? | No Comments »

21/10/2008 by admin.

We have an encore! A mysterious luminous fushia cloud appeared in the sky above London last night, turning the heads of amazed commuters.  Metrologists suggest that the pink cloud is simply a reflection of city lights on a low cloud against the background of a low sun.  Others suggest it’s the work of Breast Cancer Awareness - pink is their adopted colour and October is devoted to their campaign.  The proposal is they simply sent a beam of pink light into the sky.

None of these explanations are especially convincing.  We judge this the most amazing of all the signs from Mother Nature or a divine force of the need to change our behaviour. Why? In our story Charles Lamb’s journal opens in May with he and Lucy - Nature personified - sat upon Philosopher’s Point when he witnesses a rose cloud in the zenith. He tells Lucy it represents his undying love for her.  Prior to this he had speculated about adorning her way with petals from the Mayfair celebrations from the day before.  So, on the eve of the birthday of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, we have the spectacle of ‘The Rose Cloud over Mayfair’.     

For the benefit of the doubters, here’s the text verbatim (from page 227)! Remember - we published the book in May!  In the journal Charles wrote:

‘To convince her of my devotion, I searched the heavens for inspiration. Clouds drifted serenely from west to east, from whence it came; and ambassador of love.  “Lucy, open your eyes,” I enthused. “Look, directly above us - in the zenith.  There, the cloud, do you see it?” I asked.  In the heavens was an ancient symbol of love  - a rose in the shape of a cloud, as though sent to us as a gift from the Greek goddess, Aphrodite herself. “Mother Nature speaks,” she said. “Why it is the rose I vowed to thee, to honour our eternal love,” I claimed.  Lucy smiled. I kissed her. “hark, they call in celebration,” I cried, as a peel of bells rang out from the distant St John’s Church, Widford. “May this rose endure?” I called, with my arms outstretched.  “Do you wish it so, Charles?” she said, as I watched the rose travel across the sky. “I do.” Two little words that rang in my heart. “Then it shall be,” she claimed, but the shape of the cloud was soon lost.”

Surely, this is beyond coincidence? What’s more, the cloud appeared at 08:30pm for an hour or so before fading away, which is also very strange as there are 83 questions in ‘The Haymakers Survey.’  As the magician in our tale says, “I save the best ’till last”.

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

20/10/2008 by admin.

Today, St Paul’s Cathedral celebrates 300 hundred years since its completion.  One of the most beautiful and iconic symbols of London, was completed on its designers 76th birthday.  The magnificent building has stood proudly for 3 centuries.  Amongst the cathedral’s memorials are special monuments to Admiral Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, in the South transept and the North aisle.  Both are buried in the cathedral.

However, the significance for us is that in our story, Malachi recites the lampooning poem, “The cat, the rat and Lovell the dog, rule all England under a hog,” once affixed above the entrance to St Paul’s as satirical criticism of the leaders of the day.

Here’s a famous image of the Cathedral surviving the Blitz during World War II.

As if to celebrate, Mother Nature has put on a show this autumn in the parks and woodland of England. The combination of a wet summer, a mild frost and some warm September days has led to some spectacular autumn leaf colour - and we all know the significance of the autumn equinox in our story and talk of the golden hues of autumn.

Here’s a song called Autumn Leaves which seems to capture Charles Lamb’s feelings about Lucy Ebbs.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K7-haKkFnT8

Finally, we have a word from one of the two surviving Beatles members - Ringo Starr!

Ringo officially became a Beatle on 18 August 1962. In a ‘Peace and Love’ video message to fans, the Beatle - real name Richard STARKEY - said that from 20 October he would no longer be responding to requests from fans for autograph signings as he was too busy.  

 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mdyBzgSpYbc&feature=related

Some have reacted critically to this, but we understand and given the pivotal role of The Beatles in our project, we do wonder if this is a coded message that the end of the series of coincidences relevant to The Haymakers Survey has arrived? Only time will tell! If so, it’s been a real pleasure to reveal everything and we hope you have enjoyed the show! Maybe the time has come to focus on the sequel!  In the meantime, let’s follow his advice and “Act Naturally”

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9heOFFlAcFY&feature=related

Love,

Billie Shears

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q26 Do you take poetry seriously?, Q24 Do you get enough time to yourself?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

12/10/2008 by admin.

As the world’s governments seek solutions to the global credit crunch and rescue the fragile financial services we’ve noticed that the Disney Movie, Mary Poppins, has appeared on television a lot recently, including today.  The story revolves around the Banks’ family:

Here we marvel at the Fidelity Fiducia Bank Sing Along, with Mr Banks at the heart of everthing! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt9JpYRulSk

In our tale, we found some old pennies embedded in rocks in our garden; coins dated from the Maundy Ceremony. Did we unwittingly foresee this financial crisis emerging?  Is the real solution a global culture change - a world built around love and respect for Mother Nature as our tale suggests, rather than growth, profit and greed.

Let another Banksy give us a steer - this time the artist and his bizarre fake ’Pet-Shop’ which aims to encourage people to think about the way we treat animals.  Why not take a look…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1laBLYjuqM&feature=related

The set includes a proverbial white rabbit, mentioned by Malachi in our story!

Meanwhile, an EU commissioned study has put the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 and $5 trillion dollars.  the figures come from the various services that forests perform, such as providing water and cleansing carbon.  The study leader believes the rate of loss dwarfs that currently being experienced by the financial markets.  It’s not only continuous, it’s happening year after year, after year.  For us, the greatest risk we run is not valuing nature as much as we should!  Here’s a supporting video from IUCN:

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

Posted in Q38 Have you built a house of cards?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

11/10/2008 by admin.

Chrissie Wellington, the British Triathlete, has retained her Ironman World Championship title, setting a new Hawaii marathon course record of 2:57:44. Despite losing around 10 minutes because of a flat tyre—a delay which would have been greater if another constestant hadn’t stopped to give her a spare CO₂ cartridge—she finished some 15 minutes ahead of the second-placed runner.  The race is made famous by the gruelling length and weather conditions, involving a 2.4 mile ocean swim, 112 mile bike ride and a marathon.

Chrissie first one the World Championship less than a year after turning professional, an achievement which was described as a ‘remarkable feat, deemed to be a near impossible task.’   We’re interested for a number of reasons: Chrissie’s first name is the same as our hosts; Chrissie shares her surname with Wellington, the Duke who chaired the gathering of the Blakesware Set as they came together to leave us a ’secret inheritance’; and the title she holds is the Ironman, similarly held by the Duke and somehow representative of the industrial revolution, which triggered the path taken by humanity over the last 200 years or so. 

There is something very, very special to ‘The Haymakers Survey’; there will be many doubters out there, given the author is unknown and the book isn’t available in high street stores or backed by a major publisher, but in many ways this is part of the wonder; the only way for those who have chosen to shy away from buying the book is to have a bit of faith - we cannot succeed alone! 

There are two types of people, those who say ‘I can’t’ and those who say ‘I can’.  Be inspired by this video…

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

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

07/10/2008 by admin.

The newly launched WATCH TV aired the first episode of ‘Richard and Judy’s New Position’ to be shown weekdays from 8pm.  The husband and wife couple have moved across to the rebranded channel, formerly known as UKTV, from Channel 4.   The pair were renowned for their Book Club and in helping to promote up-and-coming writers. 

 How curious that they should move to the new channel: WATCH! Here’s the series trailer:

http://uktv.co.uk/watch/item/aid/607791/displayVideo/Hi

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason? | No Comments »

04/10/2008 by admin.

Barbara Maggs and James McLoud, a couple of toastmasters who have helped 500 weddings to run smoothly, have married each other.  The couple met four years ago and chose to tie the knot today in Thornbury.  Barbara is one of only 12 professionally-trained women toastmasters in the whole of the country.  Her role includes announcing the cutting of the cake and the after-dinner speeches.  They are understood to be the only married toastmasters in the UK.   All very interesting given the importance of love in our story and how much toast figured as Ben, Julia and Sarah first tried to make sense of the 12 ’sacred’ stones used by Sarah in an innocent game of marbles!

Meanwhile, a Torquay couple, have become the first to marry in what’s believed to be Britain’s oldest human-inhabited prehistoric cave system - Kent’s Cavern in Devon.  Axes found in the cave have been dated at 450,000 years ago.  The temperature inside the cave is a constant 14c.  Ms Woodland and Mr Duckworth offered the guests a cake with figurines of a cave man and cave woman on top!  Most curious given the talk in our tale of  ‘not going back to living in a cave!’ and the role of the Royston Cave.

Time to celebrate love in nature …

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

Posted in Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q45 Are you good at marbles?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings? | No Comments »

01/10/2008 by admin.

One of the greatest names in boxing, Mohammed Ali, has been cut into a cornfield in Arizona, USA.  When they heard of the news, Ali, and his wife  flew over the site in their helicopter to check out the artwork from the air and could not believe their eyes.   Here’s the video…

http://multimedia.boston.com/pub/m/21065701/muhammad_ali_s_likeness_carved_into_corn_field.htm?pageid=14155

This is strange given the role of crop circles in our story and the presence of the famous black boxer, and proclaimed Haymaker, Bill Richmond.  Let’s compare the two…

Three times world heavyweight champion, Ali was famed for saying, ‘I am the greatest’.  A poet and prophet, his real name was Cassius Clay ‘oh those treasures in jars of clay!’  He certainly knew how to deliver the knockout punch!

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »