Deer me

Our house looks out over the Fens of Cambridgeshire. The field immediately behind our house is used to grow potatoes or sugar beet or, as this year, corn.

The brilliant yellow display that has been our backdrop on summer evenings for weeks became increasingly shabby and dull-coloured recently, as a result of the heavy rain and wind. A combine harvester appeared yesterday and harvested about half of the field.

Today, a pair of deer appeared in the shaven half and, though not brightly-coloured, stood out as testament to beauty in the face of decay.

White van, man!

I was driving home this evening, the road curving around the riverbank, when I came up behind a white van going more slowly than me. I had to break and slow down to about 50 mph which was quite astonishing. Every morning I seem to be plagued by white vans (and sometimes other colours) trying to overtake me on the same blind bends and at very neck breakable speeds). I rush to get home but rarely to work.

It reminded me of the white van man campaign on television, advertising the Ford Transit, and using Slade's 'Coz I luv you' as a soundtrack. I found myself humming that tune from that moment on; once I'd recovered my composure of course.

Alarming bunnies

I have been awake for much of the night, listening to the wind blowing through the trees and hearing the scuffling noises of rabbits as they became more and more adventurous, almost to the point of knocking on the door for cups of sugar.

The lorries just up the valley have been working in the quarry for most of the night, their distinctive reversing alarms making sure nothing was behind them when they did so. Wouldn't it be great if people could be fitted with their own reversing alarms so that others could hear when they were reflecting or even regressing to happier times? Would we then allow them to continue to reverse or break into their reveries, running the risk of alarming them like bunnies in the headlights?

The mid point of no return

I am on holiday at the moment in the Peak District. It is certainly great to be away with all the family. We have such busy lives that just stepping off the planet for a few days is therapeutic in itself, regardless of where we are or what we do.

However, I remember when reading the Highway Code years ago during my driving lessons (OK just before the test itself) and thinking about stopping distances for vehicles travelling at very different speeds. Our lifestyle is very fast and it takes a correspondingly long time to slow down; the process is also quite unnerving: will I stop feeling tired and edgy before I get to the halfway point in the holiday, or will I just crash into myself coming back in the following direction, on the way back to busy land again?

Coupled with this we are in a quiet, fairly slow-paced area where most people we encounter have already slowed down or even hit reverse. Tomorrow is the point of no return or rather the point of no going back to holiday mode only accelerating away again towards weeks and months of longiong to slow down and unwind.

Lay to rest

I've always found the phrase 'lay to rest' quite peculiar. I realise that it was a phrase used at times of death and then used extensively and out of context by the business community e.g. let's lay this prob lem to rest once and for all.

As a teenager I thought about it as a sign of huge sexual activity with a requirement for deep sleep as a result.

The free web dictionary at http://www.thefreedictionary.com gives us a range of synonym words and phrases such as 'repose' and 'eternal sleep' but tells us it cannot find any references in classic literature. Surely that cannot be true?

Today I found the website of a band called, yes... You can find them at: http://www.laytorest.net There's an mp3 download there called 'Fallen Empire' I liked it a lot but not sure whether the vocalist is really up to the quality of the rest of the band who make a great sound.