28/08/2011 by admin.

Today hurricane Irene has been working its way up the North-East coast of America causing billions of dollars of destruction and claiming lives. It follows swiftly on from the Earthquake that hit the region a couple of weeks ago.  Thankfully the evacuation plans and a weakening of the hurricane as it hit land has limited the loss of life. The event has attracted massive media coverage.

Our interest in the storm is two-fold. As they say in the US “Listen up!” An intense hurricane also struck New England in 1821 making landfall in New York city on September 3 1821. In those days the area had a far smaller population, but there was still loss of life, severe flooding and damage to buildings. As recorded in our novel this was the same time that Charles Lamb wrote his, “Little Journal of My Foolish Passions” about his love for Mother Nature. Within the journal Charles tells of the importance of New England in helping to care for this planet, the trip Captain Richard Lewin made across the Atlantic and the transcendental influence on the Blakesware Set of the New England naturalists David Thoreau and Ralph Emerson.

Taking all this into account do we have another poignant reminder from Mother Nature that the Earth’s eco-systems are at risk?

Posted in Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

02/02/2011 by admin.

“Let me pass, I am your Queen”, are words allegedly spoken in 1821 by Caroline of Brunswick as she attempted to enter Westminster Hall at the coronation of her estranged husband King George IV.  They’re captured in our novel during Ben Whittenbury’s errie ghostly encounter with Charles Lamb.  We’ve often speculated on the relevance of the ill-fated Queen in our story and previous posts on the site have commented on the ’delicate investigation’ and Blackheath.  We view her exclusion as an allegory of how humanity behaves towards Mother Nature.

Well, at a time when Queen Caroline’s portrait features in an exhibition at the National Gallery, London we find that Queensland, Australia is experiencing the worst cyclone in recorded history. Cyclone Yasi is a category five with winds of 186mph. The storm follows quickly on the heels of the recent record floods.  The storm hit the shore at Cardland. Queensland’s president is warning of devestation on an unprecedented scale. It presents an extremely serious threat to life and property.  A tidal surge of some 30ft is expected in some areas.

Were we warned in advance about this through The Haymakers Survey? There have been seven tropical cyclones in the vicinity of Australia, Figi and New Zealand in the past 3 weeks. Is this confirmation that there’s worse to come as Gaia takes her revenge on humanity for our neglect and abuse of this planet?

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q38 Have you built a house of cards?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst? | No Comments »

17/01/2011 by admin.

As foretold by Malachi the messenger in our story, we have another bold example of a rodent making a guest appearance before the media at the HQ of one of the world leaders.  Last year we reported how a rodent was caught on camera scurring outside the Whitehoue beneath the feet of the USA president.  Now during a live coverage by the BBC a large rat was caught on camera scurring across the steps of No 10, the famous home of the UK Prime Minister.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9ID0awW3jU&feature=related

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

Is this more than a mere coincidence? Our novel warns that when we are on the tipping point of an unsustainable lifestyle we will experience, “The cat, the rat, and Lovell the dog, rule all England under a hog.”  It comes at a time when the Government is about to launch a highly controversial consultation document to sell off large swathes of Britain’s forests. Oh the perils of the rat race.  Need we say more?

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

Posted in Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q57 Have you ever spied on anyone?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

03/09/2010 by admin.

A unique Roman lantern made of bronze has been discovered in a field in Sudbury, Suffolk by Danny Mills - a young metal detector enthusiast. The lantern’s believed to be the only one of its kind in Britain. Dating from around the 3rd century AD the object’s been restored to its former glory by Emma Hogarth, Conservator at Colchester and Ipswich museums. Emma was amazed that the chains that suspend the lantern showed no sign of corrosion and move like any modern chain.

Coincidentally, our novel reveals how a metal detector leads to the discovery of buried treasure. More exciting perhaps is how Charles Lamb’s journal tells how they use a lantern when first entering mystical Royston cave. Here’s the extract from page 397

“Stukeley hung his perforaed lantern on a swivelling hook. Before it settled its light settled like a pendulum casting shadows that danced about the cave. As the carvings flickered in the unnatural light I wondered about the invisible people from days gone by whose feet had traversed the floor of the cave, whose hands had carved the figures into the stone. What would they make of us?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZhY7fD1d4c&feature=related

Posted in Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Q80 Have you ever searched for buried treasure?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q32 Are you afraid of the dark?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

05/05/2010 by admin.

A horse named Chase has become the first ‘animal ambulance’ in Britain.  Chase will be kitted up with a medical kit and will work with his paramedic owner Mark Bennett who patrols Cannock Chase Country Park in Staffordshire. Chase will be galloping to the aid of people across a 3,000 acre country park.  The seven year old steed starts work with the West Midlands Ambulance Service in June and Mark says, “it might sound crazy but this horse really could save lives. He’s very switched on and fast which is what you need in an emergency.”

We agree but for different reasons. The opening scenes in our novel (see online sample) includes the appearance of a steed galloping to the aid of Mother Nature… with a message from a mysterious Lady in Grey (she symbolises the industrial world) that its not too late to save her Mother Nature. There’s an uncanny resemblance between Chase and the horse recorded in our novel. It’s a nine neigh nine call!

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

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 »