Saturday, June 29, 2013

Countryside–a rapidly vanishing “commodity”

Friday, 7th June 2013: Here I am getting later by the day with my posts. All I can do is plead work and a bit of time off. so I will make this a quick post.

Although I can’t avoid mentioning the awful news that “Deaths on the roads drop to a record low but number of cyclists killed goes up 10%”.  Or as reported by the CTC – “Risk of cycling still rising amid slashed policing and inadequate investment”.

We have our Government bleating on about obesity, we have pollution from motor vehicles in London amongst the worst in Europe and Parents are scared to let their kids cycle. So why does the government think that we believe them when they claim to be doing something about it. No that’s wrong, they are doing something – only it is not enough by a long way.

We have initiatives like “Think Cyclist” (£80,000) give advice that seems to be different from the Highway Code.  At the same time £100bn has been allocated to “rebuild Britain”. The substantial part is going to roads. Yet it doesn’t seem to me that motoring is going to get cheaper any time soon. Electric cars don’t seem to be an effective replacement. It seems to me that the Government is paying lip-service to the  future and backing old technology.

Yet at the same time apparently “Electricity might need to be rationed in the future” and the greenbelt built upon. Where is the strategy in all this?  Oh yes tough news for people living near the A14 – the “upgrade” has been given the go-ahead. The “green light” means a Toll Road so predictably people are complaining, about the cost. In my view either this road is important to the economy or it is not. I am personally against tolling roads – it becomes yet another form of taxation – another complication. Mind you I also think that building roads willy-nilly is also wrong. They blight the area around, more vehicles will be be attracted to and through Cambridge, which means more noise, more pollution and more health issues.

So here is a bit of countryside – and the Wicken Fen Vision at the rate the UK is going we will be an urban nation. (The Guardian does have Cambridge to Wicken Fen as one of Britain’s Best Bike Rides).  The more we urbanise the harder it will be to get into any real nature – and will get even more people driving their cars.

Reach Lode

Crop Irrigation

F15s practising the craft of war in the skies above Wicken

More Crop Irrigation

Walking the dogs along Wicken Lode

A Swan and Cygnets on Burwell Lode

Hedgerow Crane's-bill (Geranium pyrenaicum)

A rather imposing premium house for sale in Swaffham Prior, yours for £1,200,000.

Moving away from the rat-race of Cambridgeshire?

And finally stars on bicycles – well AnnaLynne McCord.

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