13/10/2011 by admin.

David ‘The Hayemaker’ Haye has announced his retirement from professional boxing. The former heavyweight and cruiserweight champion has decided to call it quits on his 31st birthday.  We’ve featured his brilliant successes on this Watch and are really sad to see him go. Bill Richmond, the uncrowned ‘Haymaker’ boxer to feature in Charles Lamb’s journal would have been so proud of your achievements. We also respect his decision to leave when still in perfect physical and mental health. He had always planned to go on his 31st birthday. A great time keeper as well as a brilliant boxer.

The boxer’s authorised biography, ‘Making Haye’ will be published on 27 October. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO8tfsVy-mY

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q13 Have you ever been mistaken for someone else?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | 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 »

28/08/2011 by admin.

Yohan Blake has unexpectedly won the 100m final at the 2011 World Athletics Championship.  The Jamacian raced to victory after the defending champion Bolt caused a real shock after being disqualified after an obvious false start.  The triple world record holder and Olympic champion clearly jumped the gun to everyone’s surprise.  

We’ve run several features about the magnificent Usain Bolt and his record breaking exploits because we viewed these as a clear indication of the need for humanity to act with all speed to protect the natural world.  We were sorry to see him disqualified. However, let’s take a closer look at YOHAN BLAKE. 

An anagram is HAY ON BLAKE!  Which is very curious as the mystical artist William Blake had so much to say about the spiritual nature behind The Haymakers Survey.  It was revealed in Charles Lamb’s journal. Is this a game player?

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q16 Have you ever had a psychic experience?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | 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 »

16/03/2010 by admin.

‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ are the opening words from arguably one of the most popular poems in the world.  Commonly known as ‘Daffodils’ or ‘The Daffodils’ the poem is usually considered William Wordsworth’s most famous work.  William is one of the romantic writers to feature in our novel and such is our admiration for his work that we chose to adapt his poem as our entry for the Copehagen climate change conference video competition (see end).  Perhaps it was aired at some point during the proceedings but there is a subsequent curiosity of which we wish to tell.

The inconclusive outcomes from the conference were a disappointment to many whilst the subsequent coldest winter in 30 years coupled with the debate on the validity of climate change data has left the issue side-lined in many people’s mind.  But we wonder - here we are in mid-March and the question is ‘Where are all the daffodils?’ 

In recent years warmer winters have meant that the much loved flower has been in bloom in January or early February. Not this year and at the same time snowdrops can still be seen at an incredibly late date.

In response visitors to the Lake District in Cumbria, which inspired William’s poem, have been urged to report the appearance of daffodils on Twitter.  Cumbrian tourist expert Eric Robson said ‘its almost unheard of to have no daffodils in the Lake District by mid-March.  The project’s been called ‘Daff Watch’ and is perhaps an inspired attempt to encourage visitors to an area usually playing host to golden daffodils.

We think there’s a subtle message here - the daffodils are very late and the snowdrops linger well passed their usual end!  Given the significance of Mr Wordsworth in our story is this Mother Nature’s way of protesting to humanity in stark terms that the hour is late for action to preserve the natural world? Indeed the late presence of the Snowdrops appears to reaffirm this as in our novel they feature strongly as Yggdrasil’s friend - a sign that there is still hope to turn things around at this late hour. 

We do not mean to preach but there’s no need to apologise for being passionate about something. There are also many that expect us to fail but we believe it is our common duty to act today to save our tomorrow.  Industry continues to expand apace to feed a seemingly ceaseless hunger for economic growth as the human population soars ever upwards - this as the natural world is stripped away and many species are on the edge of extinction.  Time to revisit our video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRF8EAgIgK8

Posted in Q66 Do you have a favourite flower?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q26 Do you take poetry seriously? | No Comments »

05/03/2010 by admin.

Today is World Book Day and as if by magic a few people have asked me when the sequel might be ready - which is nice and reassuring. If I’m honest it’s a little way off just yet but in the meantime I’ve been prompted by several subscribers to honour the day in some way as the book’s all about helping to preserve our fragile world.

Well I put my thinking cap on and realised that in Charles Lamb’s journal Lucy Ebbs (Mother Nature personified) refers to the Earth moving (page number to follow) which is odd as the recent Earthquake’s we’ve seen all seem linked to The Haymakers Survey.  Elsewhere on our Watch we’ve already mentioned the devastating Haiti quake (sounds like Hayti).  Whilst the quake in Chile on 27 February was so powerful at 8.8 on the Richter scale that a NASA scientist has reported that the quake has literally knocked the Earth’s axis and shortened the length of each Earth day by 1.26 microseconds - uncanny that it should happen in Chile given the references to the Arctic in the novel, but more significantly we have two references in the book to the Axis Mundi - on which all things turn! (page refs to follow).

If that’s not sufficient to feed our curiousity - we have the Eureka moment. On January 9 2010 there was a quake of 6.5m in the Pacific ocean with an epicentre 33 miles west of the nearest major city of Eureka. No significant damage was reported but the amusing thing is that when the Blakesware Set gathered and thought up the Haymakers Survey questions when Malthus cried ‘Eureka’ in celebration (page 345 and on the Journal sample on the main site).

We speculate -is planet Earth protecsting against our behaviour? Our live to work, work to earn, earn to consume life style that is so stressful to many, futile and belittling to our species and threatens to destory the delicate eco-system of life on Earth. Behaviour which some argue undermines what humanity is really about. Mmm it make me wonder… let’s show our true colours… they are beautiful like the rainbow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbZDjnWtK1A

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

09/11/2009 by admin.

Our readers may recall several mentions in our story to ‘five minutes to twelve’ and the significance of the albatross as a symbolic reminder of hope in a time of environmental challenges.  The 5 to 12 references highlight the Doomsday Clock being moved forward in 2007 by two minutes from 7 to 12 because of the threat posed by climate change.  The clock measures the degree of nuclear, environmental and technological threats to mankind. The closer to midnight the closer to a global disaster.

With all this in mind we have another timely reminder on the need for action as the world awaits the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December. Put bluntly, Dr Cleo Small, an albatross expert speaking on behalf of the RSPB and Birdlife International has warned that an albatross is killed every FIVE minutes by the fishing industry.  The number of albatrosses on South Georgia has slumped by 50% since the 1960s due to fishing habits yet simple solutions are at hand which reduce the risks of the birds becoming tangled in nets. 

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

09/09/2009 by admin.

Usain Bolt recently set a new sprint record for the 100 and 200 metres, but Sarah the Cheetah has knocked spots of his time. She ran the 100m in 6.13 seconds, breaking the previous record set by a captive mammal in 2001 - and a good 3 seconds faster than the world’s fastest man.  Chasing a toy the cheetah hit 60mph. Cathryn Hilker, set up the trial at Cincinnati Zoo in the US said, “She made three attempts and smashed the record on the second run, so there’s one big cat we should be proud of.” 

Cathryn believes that Sarah’s feat has helped draw attention to the species’ endangered numbers, with the population falling from 100,000 in 1900 to one-tenth that number today, due to lack of habitat.  What can we say: Sarah was fascinated by the recordbreaking cheetah, especially as when playing Solitaire the challenging way - by suit and turning ever third card, but try as she might she couldn’t win.  Still she perserved (page 104) since Julia preached, ”If you succeed against the odds its much more fun.” So, Sarah refused to CHEAT! She believed in herself that she would win. 

May we politely suggest that united we hold the Ace - as Sarah the Cheetah demonstrated - against the odds we need to Rush Save Her Earth!

This is a must Watch…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-za0uk158FE

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q48 Have you ever played solitaire?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

21/06/2009 by admin.

Novel Spoiler 

Our tale concludes with the unmasking of the role of ‘The Emperor’ in overseeing all the activity and, presumably, the events unfolding on our Watch.  The Emperor’s main goal is to encourage us into urgent action to address the pressing environmental challenges - speed is of the essence!

How curious then that the BBC car programme Top Gear has ‘revealed’ the identity of the Stig, the mystery driver who tests high-performance vehicles against the clock. 

The Stig removed his helmet for the first time in a moment that shocked and surprised the audience.  The person behind the white mask was the seven times Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.  Its unclear whether he’s the real Stig but all the same the coincidence is uncanny given society’s ongoing love affair with the car and the implications for the environment at a time of looming climate chaos.

So, on the Summer Solstice, let’s celebrate the work of The Emperor….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJZh7oKD08A&feature=related

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q29 Could you live without machines?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

31/05/2009 by admin.

Today we celebrate the 150th anniversary since the Great Clock itself began ticking on 31 May 1859. The name Big Ben applies to the famous bell itself, whose chimes were heard for the first time on 11 July in 1859.  Another significant anniversary - this one linked to time.  Our readers will recall how the bell tolls at the start of our novel to indicate that time is running out to save Mother Nature from the unfortunate repentant Lady in Grey.

Turn the volume down…

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

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »