20/11/2009 by admin.

The Environmental Agency has reported record rainfall for England for a 24hr period with 12.3 inches of rain falling in the Lake District,  Cumbria.  The torrential rain has brought unprecedented flooding to the North-West and Scotland, including at Workington, Keswick and Cockermouth. Sadly, a police officer has lost his life, many are sheltering in temporary accommodation and hundreds of homes are without power. The downpour has been described as a ‘Once in a Thousand Year’ incident of Biblical proportions.  

We’re intrigued that the deluge should occur at a place so beloved to William Wordsworth especially as we’ve put together a short video entry for a COP15 competition adapting his poem, ‘I wandered lonely..’.  William features in our story and in Charles Lamb’s journal. One of his closest friends was Samuel Tayler Coleridge whose Rime of the Ancient Mariner includes the lines ‘Water water everywhere, nor any drop to drink’. The poem is discussed in Charles Lamb’s journal and the ‘water water’, line is rehearsed by Malachi - our messenger.   in the run up to COP15 world leaders take heed.

Here’s the link to our video. If you like it please vote for us! The video is called ‘Don’t Throw Away This Chance’.

http://www.youtube.com/cop15

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q30 Did you ever watch the rain on your window?, Q26 Do you take poetry seriously? | No Comments »

31/10/2009 by admin.

Spider webs encassed in amber discovered in East Sussex by fossil hunters have been confirmed by scientists as being the oldest on record. They date back 140 million years to the Cretaceous period.  Professor Brazier said “the fossil is very rare and is right at the base of the Cretaceous layer.” His studies revealed that the web was created by a spider similar to the modern day orb or web spider.

So, we have a second example in just a few days of a major discovery relating to a web - as if to reaffirm our view that Mother Nature is warning us of the need to preserve the ‘web of life’ in the run up to Copenhagen.  The web of life features distinctly in our novel.

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q46 Do you value a good education? | No Comments »

06/04/2009 by admin.

Tate Britain is rereating an interative exhibition from nearly 40 years ago. When it first showed in 1971 US artist Robert Morris’s ‘Bodyspacemotionthings’ featured cylinders, ramps and weights on chains.  The exhibit closed after just 4 days when audiences went wild, including ‘going wild’ on seesaws.  However, the relaunched exhibits will be much safer as they will have to conform with current health and safety rules.

So, how does all this relate to ‘The Haymakers Survey’? Well, Tate Britain is home to the ‘Haymakers’ painting by George Stubbs which triggered Ben Whittenbury’s pursuit as Nature’s Champion as recorded in our novel.  A novel which includes a scene where Julia and Sarah use a discarded cart as a make-shift seesaw.  On it they discuss the appearance of the ‘Lady in Grey’ who represents the spread of the industrial world over the natural world.  As they swing to and fro Malachi climbs aboard to keep everything in balance - which is what humanity needs to do much better. 

Posted in Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

03/03/2009 by admin.

Today’s the 3rd of the 3rd so we anticipated some magic from Mother Nature. She hasn’t disappointed sending shockwaves, another albino creature and a close encounter with an asteroid.

Let’s begin by recalling how the 2007 Watch examples in our Novel record an earthquake near Folkstone in Kent and reports of an offshore dolphin which behaved in a way that suggested he was conscious of the impending tremor. How curious then that a second earthquake has hit the coastal town. The tremor was around a 3.0 magnitude and occured some 3 miles beneath Folkstone.

The sense of deja vu has been endorsed by news of the amazing appearance of the world’s only pink bottlenose dolphin in a lake in Louisiana, USA.  Charterboat Captain Erik Rue photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, amongst a pod of dolphins. He described it as “quite beautiful and absolutely stunning”.  The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and surprisingly unaffected by its environment or sunlight given its condition.  Was this a demonstration of the majestic of creation? Here’s the amazing albino:

As if to impress home the risks we are taking with our planet an asteroid about the size of one that hit Siberia a cenutry ago just buzzed the Earth.   The asteroid named 2009 DD45 was a mere 48,000 miles away - less than one fifth of the distance to the moon.  It was a close call as the 1907 asteriod levelled 800 square miles of forest with the force of a thousand atomic bombs.

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

23/01/2009 by admin.

Barrack Obama has been sworn in as President of America for the second time in as many days because one word - faithfully - was spoken out of place during Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony.  The Chief Justice at the US Supreme Courts, Jonathan Roberts, administered the oath at the White House. 

The decision to repeat the oath was taken out of caution, but President Obama joked, “We decided it was such fun.”  Given the new President’s Green credentials, maybe the erroneous first oath was somehow meant to be.

Meanwhile, hundreds of tonnes of wood are beginning to wash ashore off the coast of Kent and Sussex in England. 

The load fell from the Sinegorsk cargo ship in the English Channel on Monday. The vessel is now berched at Southampton.   The incident follows a similar event last year when the Ice Prince shed at 2,000 tonne-load off the Sussex coast.  We see this as another timely reminder of the tragic deforestation taking place across the globe and the extent to which much of it is wasted needlessly.

Finally, we return to Mayfair, recent host of the Rose Cloud experience. 

On this occassion we report on a £22m property which has been taken over by a group of young ‘posh-squat artists’.  The group are occupying a house in Clargy’s Mews is owned by TimeKeeper Ltd who discovered the occupation last month when they spotted a Christmas tree inside.  As the group face immediate eviction they have been holding open days under the theme of an ‘Open School of Thought’.   Our curiosity is the link between the May Fair which featured at the beginning of Charles Lamb’s journal; Art, a central theme in our project; and TimeKeeper.  As the artists suggest, it makes you think!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QWKdokcvM7A

Posted in Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q.2 Are you an art lover?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

16/01/2008 by admin.

In a near repeat of the summer floods of 2007,  Britain is enduring heavy rain and hurricane-force winds once more.  Interestingly, the media are again quoting from Samuel Coleridge’s poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner.    

One of the Fab Four, Sir Paul McCartney, is launching an exhibition of photographs by his late wife Linda to mark the tenth anniversary of her death.   They include a picture of Sir Paul in reflective mood - just like the Thinker. The photos will be exhibited at the Hyman Gallery in London.

Climate change is having a major impact on Britain’s coast, the seas around the coast, and the life in those seas.  The Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership says seas are becoming more violent, causing coastal erosion and a higher risk of flooding.  Higher CO2 levels in the atmosphere are making oceans warmer and more acidic, affecting plankton, fish and birds.  2006 was the second warmest year in coastal waters since records began.  Our wildlife is suffering and the trends are set to increase.

The ‘darkest ever’ matter known to science has been made in a US laboratory.  The material was created from carbon nanotubes.  Researchers say it is the closest thing yet to the ideal black material, which abosrbs light from all angles and over all wavelengths.

Posted in Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q30 Did you ever watch the rain on your window?, Q32 Are you afraid of the dark?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

15/12/2007 by admin.

The surprise winner from this year’s X Factor was 18 year-old, Leon Jackson.  It was a remarkable victory, beating the hot favourite, Rhydian Roberts.  A bookmaker described his win as, “The biggest shock in the history of reality TV betting!” Leon only started singing in January - when we started our Watch - after his mum bought him an ipod. He entered the competition on a whim and often appeared nervous on stage. In fact, Simon Callow told him, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”  In a later show, Sharon Osborne reassured him saying, “You’ve got heart in your eyes”.  This all sounds very familiar?

‘When You Believe,’ the song released to mark his success, is certain to be the Christmas Number One.  In describing his horoscope, the X Factor website says, “Leon has a far-sighted earthliness that is likely to take him far!” Odd that, as the chorus to his first single could have been written to promote, ‘The Haymakers Survey’:

“Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will
You will when you believe.”

What’s more, there’s a strong sense of deja vu about the winner’s name - last year it was Leona, and this year it’s Leon! Oh, we almost forgot - Leon loves contemporary jazz too - now that’s a jamboree!

Posted in Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

23/11/2007 by admin.

Is it just coincidence that on a day when plans to build a further runway at Heathrow Airport were announced, a cruise ship, the MS Explorer, struck an iceberg in the Antarctica?  The incident was a chilling reminder of the fate of the Titanic nearly 100 years ago, although this time all the passengers and crew, including 24 Britons, were rescued.  Another curiosity was that the liner hit the ice off King George Island - and a certain King George features in Charles Lamb’s journal! What’s more, the survivors were rescued by the Nord Norge, a Scandinavian liner.  Funny that, given  Charles’ account of where the Goblin Tree came from!  

Posted in Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q.5 Do you believe in fate? | No Comments »

27/08/2007 by admin.

Today, Julia looked afresh at the crop circles. She found to her great surprise and delight that a circle in Wiltshire had been designed to spell out her birthday – August 18. Most strange as no other circle this year has specified an exact date! There are 8 and 8 circles with one small circle in reverse = 818!  Even more curious was that NASA Space Weather watch reported a series of x-ray flares emitted from the sun every 3 hours on 18 August. Though not especially strong flares, some unknown force caused our sun to oscillate every three hours! We know how significant three is for the Haymakers Survey – and the part the sun played on the equinox.  Question 39

http://cropcircleconnector.com/2007/northdown/northdown2007.html 

Oh, for those with a deep curiosity, the report on the crop circle connector website about the 18 August circle links to the strongest evidence ever about crop circle formation. It’s from a Norwegian film maker called Terje Toftenes who witnessed a circle formation on 7 July – Live earth day! Do you still doubt us?  See Question 74 on our You Tube site.  

All the while, forest fires have been raging in Greece – the worst in living memory – taking over 60 lives. Strong winds and a parched landscape have fuelled the flames, which some say were started by arsonists as a way of getting round laws preventing development on forest land! Question 76 

Whilst in Britain some 18 million cars were predicted to be on the country’s roads as summer paid a fleeting visit for the last Bank Holiday of the season. That’s 1 million cars for every letter in the survey. Question 60

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q74 Do you like puzzles?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q39 Do you believe in magic? | No Comments »