Fox and Angel, Creative Partnership
BANKERS & BONUSES
December 9th, 2009
Sir: Could the bankers who seem determined to hang on to their huge bonuses do us a favour this Christmas…….re-inflate the economy by spending the lot?
Tags: BANKERS & BONUSES
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FEMINISM & FAMILY
December 9th, 2009
Sir: I must take issue with Angela Elliott re “feminism & child rearing”. As a 70’s feminist I worked both before and after having a family but I was lucky to be able to stay home with my children when they were young and never thought this was incompatible with my feminist beliefs. Like many women of my generation I have always viewed feminism as a simple, (or not so simple) matter of “Liberty, Equality & Fraternity”. The struggle must still go on; (witness the reportage this week of an honour killing and blatant city misogyny); it is important as ever, but we do not hate men and these days not many of us wear dungarees.
Tags: FEMINISM & FAMILY
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PLUMS, BADGERS & SWINE FLU
September 2nd, 2009
I have a Victoria plum tree which was laden with fruit. I think to myself I will pick those plums tomorrow before the wasps get them so at first light I go out with my baskets…..
But wait… Read the rest of this entry »
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MY NEW CAR
July 13th, 2009
I have a new car in all senses of the word. It is brand new and straight from the showroom as well as new to me. I was told it had come from Germany although a man who helps in the garden told me it was made in Brazil which he deemed to be “a very bad thing”.
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COMMONSENSE NOT ALLOWED
July 8th, 2009
As featured in The Independent, July 2009
Sir: Deborah Orr’s account of her day on South West Trains (June 27) rang a number of bells. I have had the same kind of experience dealing with railway officials, banks, shops and call centres. It seems in many organisations the “nyet” factor, (anyone visiting the USSR before 1989 will remember the frustrations), is positively fostered thus enabling small people hiding behind the rules to feel a misguided sense of importance. However the real culprits are the managers who set up the kind of directives that make no allowance for common sense. It is in fact an insult to their employees tantamount to saying they are incapable of exercising judgement, and the opposite of empowering.
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RESPONSE TO DAVID GREEN (Letters May 25th)
July 2nd, 2009
As featured in The Times, May 2009
Sir: In response to David Green (Letters: May 25th) may I say that I believe lawyers and solicitors very much over value their services. My own experience of this profession is that they muddy clear waters, spin things out by making simple things complicated, cover ineptitude with jargon and expect you to do most of the donkey work yourself, yet still send out a huge bill. They almost always demand money up-front so by the time you realize their incompetence you are locked in. The average person has no means of knowing who is capable and who isn’t. Trial and error in this case is not only an expensive business but can have catastrophic consequences. Furthermore when recourse to the law is needed it is often when you are at your most vulnerable and it is all too easy to have the wool pulled over your eyes. There are no guarantees that by paying more you get a better service. Legal costs already make the law out of reach of the majority.
In addition this cartel has lead to a fear of litigation that has affected every section of society; over zealous health & safety procedures are not usually about risk management but the possibility of bankruptcy. This state of affairs is one of our least attractive American imports and has been enthusiastically waved in under the radar by the British justice system. Any measure that shakes up this self-satisfied and complacent group is to be encouraged.
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Winter is over, spring has sprung, summer is on its way………
May 26th, 2009
It was a hard winter here in Sussex but the wild orchids, like so much else, seem to have come through. Every spring I check my known locations of early purple orchid; this year they are all present and correct and in about the same numbers. No decline; on one roadside they even seem to have increased. Read the rest of this entry »
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Goodbye Cuckoo, Hello Badger
May 12th, 2009
It is April 24th and I have still not heard a cuckoo in my garden. They are elsewhere in Sussex but not here in this valley. They were calling the day my daughter was born in 1992 but now she is revising for A Levels they are gone. Read the rest of this entry »
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NATURE NOTES
April 20th, 2009
Something wonderful has happened on the Uckfield line!! Some amazing person or persons has planted daffodils in the cutting just before you arrive at East Croydon. As the train roars into the station you see a flash of yellow light, and then a host of golden daffodils. It is enough to restore your faith in humanity. Praise be and halleluiah to those people. Read the rest of this entry »
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a true story
March 27th, 2009
It was Hazel who said we needed real stuffed foxes. Of course we did. “We stop at nothing to get a good photo”, she said. Right. Absolutely. (O.K. it was she who found the hire place but somehow it was me who pulled the short straw re picking them up).
One hot sunny day, (almost the only such last year) I set off to Islington from Sussex. Yes, a bit of a hike but we couldn’t find foxes in Sussex so off I go.
It was very relaxing on the train; all the rubbish on the track was temporarily covered by brambles and bluebells; the train seemed to meander like a river, a lazy day lost in time.
I cross London and tramp past the Angel, (note Angel that’s us) up the Essex Road, which hasn’t changed at all since I worked in North London, you need to watch out for yourself as well as hang on to your bag.
Not that easy when you are carrying two stuffed foxes, as I soon discovered.
The hire shop was on a corner. Entry was via a couple of metal grids and very rusty giant padlocks. Inside there were all sorts of animals waiting to be borrowed; lions, tigers, poor moggys, parrots; it was a veritable cornucopia of dead and stuffed creatures. I decided not to hang about. There was no entry system; you had to hammer and wave and basically look pretty stupid.
Not as stupid as you do carrying the foxes though. I stood on the street corner trying to hail a taxi, holding one fox by the scruff and awkwardly hefting the other over my shoulder. The foxes had been handed to me in what can only be described as bits of black bags, so they were scantily clad and barely disguised; in fact not.
I did get a cab although the driver didn’t like the look of me at all and particularly not my cargo, but what did he expect on the Essex Road? Surely London taxi drivers have seen dead foxes before? What do they do The Knowledge for, if it is not to prepare them for this? There was no need for him to be quite so squeamish; after all I hadn’t murdered them myself. Still, I know he was glad to see the back of me, (he made this very plain), as I stumbled out at London Bridge.
On the train it got worse. I sat in the suitcase area so the foxes didn’t get squashed or damaged; (they had to be returned in perfect condition and I wasn’t about to argue on this point with medallion man the Islington dealer). Still I caused a bit of a fracas. Teenage girls saw the dead foxes and screamed, middle-aged ladies asked if I was part of a hunt and a bevy of nuns came to take a closer look, peering and chortling ho ho ho.
I was very glad to get home.
You might not know this but stuffed foxes are in great demand and expensive to hire. We had to crack on straight away with our film; to take these foxes back late would be a lot worse financially than an overdue library book.
So it was a case of film, camera, shoot. Our, (we felt they were “ours”), foxes came everywhere with us; in and out of the landrover, in and out of our office, in and out the hire shop, on location in gardens, fields and hedgerows, up stairs and up ladders, up up up…….culminating in our great finale on the roof of The Old Fox House. (Of course).
We and they were non-stop for two days before they had to go back to town.
The funny thing was I drew the short straw for the return journey back to the Angel. Yes Hazel, “we” will do anything to get a good shot.
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