10/01/2012 by admin.

As the New year begins to unfold its of interest to us that two movies have been grabbing the headlines - War Horse and the Iron Lady.

We’re amused since our environmental project is all about finding the right balance between industrial growth (otherwise known as Gross Domestic Product) and defending Mother Nature. This is symbolised in the opening scene of our novel when an unknown figure is galloping on a horse to save Mother Nature from unbridled exploitation and destruction by humanity with a ghostly Lady in Grey (who represents industry - an Iron Lady) mournful at setting humanity on a precarious path. Its a struggle that continues today and everyday, perhaps these movies are a timely reminder of the need for humanity to progress ethically and morally? Here’s the trailers…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lf9HgFAwQ 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDiCFY2zsfc

Posted in Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q10 Have you ever seen a ghost?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q13 Have you ever been mistaken for someone else?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

21/12/2011 by admin.

This year’s most popular video on You Tube features a talking dog - some 79 million hits and counting. Curious as I’m sure Malachi our very own messenger and speaking dog in The Haymakers Survey would be a number one fan. It’s jolly good fun.

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

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q17 Can you speak another language? | No Comments »

19/12/2011 by admin.

At picturesque Carmarthenshire, ‘The Garden of Wales’ bundles of hay lay strew across raliway tracks after a commuter train struck a lorry carrying a hay trailer. 

Fortunately only a few passengers experienced minor injuries on the crossing at Whitland.  Seeing all that hay on the tracks makes for quite a sight and its interesting to us that Whitland translates to ‘The Old Whitehouse’, which is curious as in our novel Charles Lamb takes a serious fall adjacent to an old white house and claims that ‘it is all over.’  His journal also records how ‘The Blakesware Set’ speculated on the impact of the railways as the industrial revolution began to take a grip. Is Mother Nature telling us to derail the runaway train that is human exploitation of planet Earth?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFJ3KayeUTc

Posted in Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »

29/10/2011 by admin.

This year’s X Factor talent contest apears cursed. 

The calamaties have come thick and fast:

• Claims by contestants that the X-Factor mansion is haunted.
• Goldie, one of the final 16 contestants, pulled out prior to the first show and had to be replaced by Sami Brooks
• In a sing-off, Sami’s mentor Louis Walsh decided to keep Kitty and Sami should leave the show. Sami then suggested Louis should be pensioned off!
• Complaints from viewers about the unreasonable number of adverts between performances
• Ratings have crashed - 2 million less than in 2010 
• Accusations and rumours of bulling amongst some contestants
• The girls’ band Rythmics had to change their name because it clashed with a children’s charity - they’re now called Little Mix
• Due to his faith Ashley Baptiste, member of The Risk, decided being in a boy band wasn’t for him and choose to leave the show. He’s been replaced by Ashford Campbell one of the members of NuVibe, with some arguing about the legality of this as NuVibe were voted off a couple of weeks ago.  
• The ‘Hex’ has even spread to the judging panel - with arguments breaking out with Kelly Rowland missing this weekend’s show due a ‘throat infection.’

Perhaps the Hex Factor is because humanity is falling to demonstrate to the Earth’s creator that we have what it takes to be its guardian. Our novel anticipated this - see the free opening sequel. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YPdeFknh34

Posted in Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life?, Q10 Have you ever seen a ghost?, Q18 Do you let your heart rule your head?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

14/10/2011 by admin.

The fabulously talented Lady GaGa has appeared on the Jonathan Ross show with a sheep. She turned up with Kevin the Ram and took a seat on a sofa made of bales of hay. The pop artist wore a jade suit for her chat with Wossy - an outfit that has an uncanny resemblance to that worn by Mother Nature in The Haymakers Survey. The pastoral set was inspired by scenes from the video promoting her latest single “You and I”.

Our diarist Charles Lamb would be delighted by the sheep connection and the haybales speak for themselves. It really is about “You and I” as each and every one of us has a clear responsibility to care for our planet, rather than behave like sheep. We’d be GaGa not too.  This is the clip from the show…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw9vkW4YevM

And here’s the brilliant video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9YMU0WeBwU

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q61 Have you ever worn fancy dress?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q22 Do you love our Earth? | No Comments »

10/10/2011 by admin.

Big Ben, the most iconic and famous clock tower in the world, is falling down. It has begun to tilt to one side - just like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Surveyers have found the tower is leaning almost half a metre to one side, as it is sinking into the River Thames.  The tilt might now just be visible to the naked eye.

However, our very own Keeper of the Great Clock - Ben Whittenbury - needn’t worry as the decline is thankfully a slow one. Nonetheless it’s a reminder to us all that time may be slipping away to preserve the natural world.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaXw5tweb48&feature=related

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q69 Do you put off to tomorrow what you could do today?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

23/08/2011 by admin.

Earthquakes are rare in the Eastern part of the United States. How interesting then that a 5.8 magnitude quake has struck the US state of Virginia. The epicentre was in Louisa County close to Richmond. The quake was felt in about 12 US states and damaged national monuments in Washington DC. Thankfully though the quake caused more alarm than damage or serious injury.

The Eastern states of America play a very significant part in our novel and in Charles Lamb’s journal. We’re especially struck that the quke occured close to Richmond because of the part played by Bill Richmond - uncrowned boxing champion from the 1820s - in the compiling of The Haymaker’s Survey by the Blakesware Set. Charles Lamb’s journal tellls how Bill was dubbed the Haymaker by the Duke of Wellington.

Marvellous - what will Mother Nature do next to show the deep magic of The Haymaker’s Survey?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZxNkS0w5g8&feature=related

Posted in Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

18/08/2011 by admin.

A British teenager, Horatio Chapple, has been killed by a raging polar bear on the island of Spitsbergen in the Norwegian Arctic. The animal also injured four other explorers in an attack on their campsite before being shot dead by the expedition’s team leader.  It was a horrific incident and we are deeply sorry to hear of the loss of a promising Eton student.

Horatio Chapple’s parents have paid tribute to their “fearless” son and have compared him to his namesake Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson who fought of a polar bear on the same island. In a remarkable and strange quirk of fate our novel includes a postcard image of the painting ‘Nelson and the Bear’ by Richard Westall.  The painting captured a young Horatio Nelson engaging a huge polar bear off an ice floe in Spitsbergen! The image was included by a mystery doner to illustrate the conflict between humanity’s pursuit of progress and growth against the need to care for our planet and Mother Nature’s creatures.  

It’s also curious that a post-mortem has revealed that the bear may have been suffering from severe toothache - several of its teeth were very badly damaged which means the bear would have been in serious pain and changed the behaviour of the bear. Why is this curious? Well in our novel having speculated on the plight of the polar bear, Sarah loses a tooth and Ben Whittenbury anticipates the arrival of the tooth fairy. Art imitating life!

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.2 Are you an art lover?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

15/08/2011 by admin.

New Zealand is under its heaviest snow in living memory. The once in a life time event saw Wellington experience heavy snow and blizzards with electricity cut and schools closed due to the disruption. Residents took to the streets with cameras to enjoy the snow and keepers at Wellington Zoo gave Happy Feet the lost emperor penguin found sick and starving on the west coast the chance to enjoy the conditions.

In our novel Malachi our messenger warns us - “Snow, did someone say snow?” Well, well,well. Is this the wake up call for humanity about what we’re doing to the planet that the Duke of Wellington warned us about in Charles Lamb’s journal? Coincidental too that the Emperor should have a say - as predicted by Charles. What’s Mother Nature up to?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsQSRy85xBw

Posted in Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

24/06/2011 by admin.

The suitably titled furniture and retail company Habitat has entered administration, falling fowl of the troubled economic times.

Formed in the 1960s the company’s vision was to challenge the way we think about our living space. They created what we now call ‘Lifestyle’ offering contemporary design at affordable prices.

We find the company’s demise as ironic given its title and branding - its logo is of a house with a heart inside. Habitat destruction in the natural world is currently the prime cause of species extinction worldwide. Clearing habitat for agriculture is the main cause, but others are mining, logging, trawling and urban sprawl. The rapid expansion of the world’s human population is increasing the food requirement substantially.  The outlook’s bleak but, in common with the retail outlet, there’s a rescue plan:

1. Considering the many irreplaceable ecosystem services provided by natural habitats,
2. Protecting remaining intact sections of natural habitat,
3. Educating the public about the importance of natural habitat and biodiversity,
4. Developing family planning programs in areas of rapid population growth,
5. Finding ways to increase agricultural output than simply increasing the total land in production,
6. Preserving habitat corridors to minimize prior damage from fragmented habitats

Posted in Q51a How many people does it take to fill up the Earth?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q34 Have you ever restored something? | No Comments »