02/12/2008 by admin.

Happy 27th Birthday Britney Spears. Let’s celebrate - in the last year, Britney Spears was the most searched for term on Yahoo.com.  There are billions of searches each year and the troubled pop artist drew more hits than Barack Obama.  He was third on the list, behind Britney and ‘World Wrestling Entertainment’. 

This is all very interesting as some recent buyers of our novel initially mistook it to be by Britney Spears, not Billie Shears.  This was simply an ‘at a glance’ problem, but their names are very similar and rhyme.

Then we realise that Britney’s breakthrough song was, ‘Baby one more time’ with the lyrics, ‘Give me a sign, hit me…” She still believes. Do you? Here’s the video, complete with the clock ringing at 3.00.

 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_bsniYwSaWg

Curious as a definition of ‘Haymaker’ includes one able to deliver a good punch. Which leads us on to the ‘World Wrestling Entertainment’. Interesting as ‘throwing a haymaker’ is a wrestling move.

Perhaps this all explains why Britney Spears made an appearance on the show, ‘The X Factor’?  Does not our novel ask whether we - the human race - have the X factor? Are we equipped to care for our planet and its eco-systems? Why Britney even chose to wear a top hat, just like the mysterious man in the shadows - the character orchastraing our story is clearly making a big impression.

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q62a Is life logical?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q.9 Do you feel in control of your life?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | 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 »

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 »

14/08/2008 by admin.

Another relevant annivesary - this time it’s 100 years since Mills and Boon published their first novel. 

Famed for romantic fiction, their books are sold in 106 countries and translated into 26 languages.  They have over 3 million readers in the UK annually. Their exoctic escapist stories typically feature a tall, dark and handsome type who sweeps a cream-and roses heroine off her feet.   The stories inevitably have happy endings!  Charles Lamb would surely salute them as they celebrate their centenary, given his passion for love, art and nature.  Celebrate if you will…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SELp8xfbzJQ

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q18 Do you let your heart rule your head?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »

24/07/2008 by admin.

A woman from West Yorkshire has revealed how her £1.2million Lotto win followed a good omen from her deceased father involving mysterious white bird feathers.  Mrs Crossland found a white feather on her doorstep after his death two years ago and saw it as a gift from him.  Just days before her emotional jackpot win, showers of them began appearing in her garden.  The origin of the feathers is a mystery. “My win must have been fate,” added Mrs Crossland, who won with her father’s cherished number line a day after her 44th birthday.   

This is most curious given the role played by a white feather in our story! Has ‘The Haymakers Survey’ hit the jackpot - an ecological message for all humankind?

Meanwhile in Japan, Ichero a 42 year old chimpanzee, climbed on to the roof of his enclosure to cool down during a heatwave.  Zoo staff tried to coax him down and at one point he grabbed a tranquilizer gun.  Following on the heels of the Trafalgar Square sleep-in, was the chimp trying to issue a wake-up call to humanity? After all, we share 95% of our genes with a chimpanzee. Here’s the video…

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f9e_1216810602

Posted in Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q68 Does the Earth have a spirit?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q.5 Do you believe in fate? | No Comments »

05/07/2008 by admin.

Adam Warwick, a biologist from Florida, USA, has saved a 375lb bear from drowning.  The bear had wandered into a residential area in Tallahassee prompting wildlife officers to shoot the animal with a tranquiliser dart.  It panicked and raced toward water. 25 yards in and the animal became drowsy.  The animal started to lose the use of his limbs and without Adam’s intervention would surely have drowned.  Adam acted instinctively - taking to the water and managing to keep the bear’s head above water as he dragged the animal back to shore.

The whole experience is curious given Sarah’s comments in ‘The Haymakers Survey’ about her sadness due to a documentary which featured a polar bear which drowned seeking sea ice. 

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q18 Do you let your heart rule your head? | No Comments »

10/06/2008 by admin.

Hot on the heels of the Paddington Bear celebrations is a story about another animal that has a fondness for wellington boots.  Bizarrely, a North Yorkshire piglet called Cinders has an aversion to mud.  In desperation, her owners provided her with some specially made wellies. She loves them and now happily walks in the mire. Bless her!

Now, if our memory serves us well, this is the same breed of pig that had a lovely heart shaped marking on it last year.  Curious all this given Ben’s wish to restore the pig sties at Noblin Green farm to their former glory.  

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q.6 Do you believe in fairy tales? | No Comments »

30/05/2008 by admin.

Paddington Bear is celebrating his 50th anniversary today.  Here’s a picture of the famed stowaway bear from Peru discovered by the Brown’s at a railway station in West London.  They found him craving a better life at platform 8 and had the good heart to take him in and ‘look after the bear’.

As you can discover from the video below, Paddington emigrated on the advice of his dear old Aunt Lucy!

 http://www.truveo.com/Paddington-Bear-Please-look-after-this-bear/id/1035976138

As our story explains, Malachi was pleased he wasn’t called Paddington as he felt he’d have to wear Wellingon boots, but he secretly has much love for the mischevious bear!

How curious then that the Brazilian national Indian Foundation today released amazing picture of an uncontacted tribe on its border with Peru.  The Brazilian government says it wants to help protect the tribe’s land from illegal logging.  They are designed to prove those who doubted the tribe’s existence wrong.  More than half the world’s uncontacted 100 tribes live in Brazil and Peru.  Take a look at these warriors reacting to the plane… didn’t cupid draw back his bow in our story? Does this mean humanity should live in better harmony with nature?

Let’s ask Amy Winehouse. Does she think that’s right? Here’s a video aired on BBC Three

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymcPoYo8S20

Oh… an anagram of AMY WINEHOUSE is  HAY IN ME HOUSE.  In April, Amy won 5 Grammy awards at the biggest night in the rock and pop calendar.  The star celebrated by visiting her husband, Blake Civil-Fielder, in Pentonville Prison.  She dedicated her awards to her imprisoned husband and London’s blaze hit Camden Market, expressing sadness as the fire destroyed her favourite pub amongst other buildings.

Posted in Q31 Are you a charitable neighbour?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q22 Do you love our Earth? FREE CHRISTMAS PRIZE DRAW!, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q11 Do you believe in justice?, Q18 Do you let your heart rule your head?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life? | No Comments »

23/05/2008 by admin.

Dramatic evidence of the break-up of the Arctic ice-cap has emerged.  Scientists have found major new fractures during an assessment of the state of giant ice shelves in Canada’s far north. They found a network of cracks that stretched for more than 10 miles on Ward Hunt, the area’s largest shelf.  The scientists were astonished to see these new cracks, saying: “It means the ice shelf is disintegrating, the pieces are pinned together like a jigsaw but could float away. We’re seeing very dramatic changes; from the retreat of the glaciers, to the melting of the sea ice.  What’s happening to the ice shelves is part of that picture.” 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7417123.stm

After the record Arctic melting last year, all eyes are now on what happens to the sea ice this summer.

Perhaps this explains why Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ has been put back on display in a Norwegian museum, having been largely restored after it was damaged during a heist in 2004.  The painting is not quite its former self, carrying a humidity stain in the bottom left-hand corner. The painting, of course, features within our story to represent nature’s torment at our destuctive hands. We see its restoration as a message of hope for the future.

Let’s celebrate with this version of Norwegian Wood, by The Beatles.  Look out for the man in the shadows!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG0xiweOaMw

Posted in Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

20/05/2008 by admin.

A flying fish has set a new world record, travelling through the air for 45 seconds - breaking the previous record by 3 seconds.  The fish was caught on camera by a ferry doing about 30 kilometres per hour.  Here’s the amazing video…

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io3u7diLCfU&feature=related

Odd how Bill Richmond mentioned how he’d seen ‘fish fall from the sky’ during the Blakesware Set’s debate about the potential value of The Haymakers Survey. 

Meanwhile, a park ranger at Central Park, Peterborough, has been adopted by a baby grey squirrel.  The animal has been named Oakley Junior. It formed a bond with Mr Swift after it was abandoned by its family.  Mr Swift said, “I put out my hand and he jumped on. He looked adoringly at me then clamoured all over me.”  Oakley has won the hearts of local staff. Mr Swift joked that he plans to train him to pick up litter, claiming Oakley would e happy with the wages, as they get peanuts!”

Posted in Q65 Have you ever wished you could fly?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »