Guided by the words of Mother Nature in our novel Albinos are a common theme in our watch as they illustrate the diversity of the natural world. Curious then that an adult white Killer Whale or Orca has been spotted for the first time in the wild.  Scientists have nicknamed the whale ‘Iceberg’ after it was caught on camera off the coast of Kamchatka in eastern Russia. The whale was sighted by a research cruise led by Erich Hoyt a senior fellow from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. 

We ask, “Has humanity lost its soul?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7dSTdHziMs

Malachi’s comments are few and far between so we should take heed as a chick has been born withou an egg!!! It happened on a farm in Sri Lanka, where the chick was incubated inside mother hen for 21 days before hatching.  PR Yapa a vet in Welimada withnessed the event and confirmed that the chick survived and is said to be healthy but the mother died of internal wounds.

Curiously if we look further into the chicken and egg dilemma we found many strange chicken egg examples in recent months - a bowling pin shaped egg, world record sized eggs (largest and smallest), a round egg, and a record breaking 14 eggs laid in two hours. The link below looks at these in more detail. What does it all mean? Certainly Mother Nature is trying to tell us something?

Let’s examine further. More than 50 billion chickens are raised annually as a source of food, for both their meat and their eggs. According to the Worldwatch Institute 74% of the world’s poultry meat comes from intensive farming techniques, so there’s a huge debate about the ethics.  Chickens are also significant in religion and mythology as a signal of vigilance and betrayal. The Romans used chickens as oracles and Jesus said (Matthew 23:37), “I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing, but you were not willing.”

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/896744-chicken-without-an-egg-born-in-sri-lanka

For us, the timing of the sale is symbolic - as though Mother Nature herself is up for sale! And, in our novel our soothsayer,  Julia Whittenbury, endures a nightmare where The Scream comes to life beneath the foot of Yggdrasil, the mystical Norwegian Tree of Life. As the world’s fragile eco-systems and bio-diversity are at the mercy of humanity The Scream says it all!

As Charlie says, ‘It’s dangerous to play with fire.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-F5Q10QT3Y

Our readers will know The Great Bed of Ware is mentioned by Charles Lamb in his 1821 journal. So we’re especially interested in the bed’s return home and also to learn that in the process of dismantling the bed Kate Hay a curator in the V&As furniture department discovered previously unknown graffiti from the 18th and 19th century - 20 scrawled names and initials - were these left by the famous members of the Blakesware Set as suggested in our novel? And remember the bed is thought to have been made by Jonas Fosbrooke, whose namesake is one of the creators of The Haymakers Survey.

Fabulous coincidence or something deeper?  

Learn more about the Great Bed of Ware…  http://www.greatbedofware.org.uk/index.html 

Given the significance of Billie Shears and the LHCB in our novel we’re amused at the redesign, especially the Bo-Peep like figure on the right of the new design. She resembles Mother Nature at the heart of The Haymakers Survey picture. There are also 80 questions in our Survey and the Blakesware Set are influential.

Perhaps Sir Peter Blake was having a little fun with us? We do hope so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOO8-Jp-xsg

We like the impossible. Our readers will know that The Beatles had a strong influence on the content and it’s striking that when the anagram at the heart of the story is revealed it falls under a star and begins with a Key and a message to Rush Save Our World! Well what are we waiting for?

It’s also curious that the Hollywood star has Sir Paul’s name spelt as PAUL MC CARTNEY so we explored this a bit further. A NEY is an ancient woodwind instrument similar to a fife used by the Haymakers’ in our novel to lead the procession to PULL the CART loaded with the magical Yggdrasil tree. It’s the same cart to feature in The Haymakers’ painting by George Stubbs.  Whilst MC is an acronym for Master of Ceremonies… the host or compere of an event.

We love this concidence!

Snowy owls have been in the limelight for a number of years due to Harry Potter’s pet Hedwig, but we think this is real magic. The opening scene of our novel includes a white owl flying over the head of Ben Whittenbury as a prelude to all that follows, empowering him with the support of a hidden force - the Earth spirit or a divine creator - to serve as Nature’s Champion. This is deep magic and humanity neglects this sign at its peril.  Time for Bob Marley..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWw_gP0vDfE 

Five years ago the hedgehog was voted the favourite UK animal and we share that love. From our perspective, the study’s symbolic given the hedgehog question in our survey. It’s a question that stems from Hertfordshire folk being historically and fondly known as hedgehogs due to their supposed slow and prickly manner. 

We wish the survey every success. Here’s a delightful video of a hedgehog waking up… enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99peshpBzTU&feature=related

The decision has not been without its critics with the Chairman of the Apostrophe Society calling the decision, ‘plain wrong’. Others have tweeted voicing their disquiet.

None of this surprises us since we had a huge debate about the appropriateness or otherwise of an apostrophe in ‘The Haymakers Survey’. The point is to illustrate how modern society is too focused on detail and triviality and has lost perspective and a sense of proportion on a whole range of issues.

Maybe the distractions are deliberate - to take our minds away from the bigger picture - maintain the status quo and defer action needed to protect the natural world and bring about a more just world.

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