Tropical diseases? Not your problem? Oh yes they are and not just because of the need for anti-malarials when you go on holiday.
I heard about some of the problems and successes at the first International Meeting on Tropical Medicine to be held in the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. I went along and learned a few thing of general interest. [Read more…] about Tropical Diseases – What You Need to Know
This is a great time to plan what you would like to do in the garden for the rest of the year, take a note book and walk around the garden.
Look at seed catalogues for ideas of what to sow.
Midwinter can be a tough time for wildlife in the garden. Make sure there is a continuous supply of food and fresh water. [Read more…] about Gardening Tips for January from Wellie
(Editor’s note: For new readers to Chandler’s Ford Today, just to say that once in a while this site has kind of become Sri Lanka Today, while our well-loved writer from Chandler’s Ford travelled to Sri Lanka as analysing snake poisons seems to be a fun hobby when you retire.
A few more interesting stories from Sri Lanka will soon appear in the next few days. Happy reading!)
To get to our house in Kandy we have to go through a tunnel. The alternative is a 3 km detour. The other day we had the Granddaddy of Tropical Storms with torrential rain from 3.00 pm until about 3.00 am. In the morning the tunnel was blocked and we had to get to work via another route. [Read more…] about Dispatches from Sri Lanka – The Tunnel in Kandy
Two or three times a year, the coconut boy comes around to harvest the coconuts. This year he was delayed as there has been so much rain it has left the palm trunks slippery.
There are six coconut palms (Cocos nucifera) in our garden here and they all have a ‘loverly bunch’ on them. Two of the trees are King Coconut, a variety of large yellow nut found in Sri Lanka. [Read more…] about Dispatches from Sri Lanka: a Loverly Bunch of Coconuts
Did you know that every bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin is made in Hampshire?
Laverstoke, between Whitchurch and Overton, is the home to the Bombay Sapphire Distillery. [Read more…] about Days Out: Spirits from a Hampshire Village
Keep raking up those leaves from the lawn and borders.
From now until the end of March is the time to plant any bare rooted trees, shrubs and roses.
Check stored fruit, throw out any that are rotten.
Reduce watering on houseplants. [Read more…] about Gardening Tips for December from Wellie
(Editor’s note: Welcome to our new gardening series written by Wellie. Her gardening tips will appear monthly on Chandler’s Ford Today.)
Jobs to do as winter approaches and the garden quietens. [Read more…] about Gardening Tips for November from Wellie
Having a quiet evening and sitting with the door and windows open listening to the rain hammer down and waiting for the next flash of lightning. In flew a bat, large, about 40cm wingspan.
It did half a dozen circuits of the room and then found its way out. It reminded us that it is Hallowe’en back home. [Read more…] about Bats and Hallowe’en
Some of the fringe benefits of owning and walking a dog include getting to discover some beautiful areas of Hampshire. Some of these are on our doorstep in Chandler’s Ford. One of those is The Monarch’s Way, which is a short drive away, and takes you into some glorious countryside.
This post shares some of my thoughts on the walking and wildlife found in and around The Monarch’s Way. [Read more…] about Hidden Hampshire: The Monarch’s Way
After two days driving through France we arrived at our gîte in Provence for a holiday.
It is a delightful place in a 40 acre estate of olive trees and a lavender field. There were no guests in the other gîtes so we had the whole place, including 3 swimming pools to ourselves. One border of the estate was a river and half a mile upriver was a waterfall or cascade as the French call them. [Read more…] about The Waterfall
Excitement for the grandchildren on the day of a visit to Marwell Zoo. Parents primed, grandparents had the tickets but it was raining stair rods. So we went to the Pub for lunch. As the bill was paid, the air cleared and the sun came out.
Many people have mixed feelings about zoos and I am one of them. There is nothing to beat the thrill of seeing a wild animal in its natural surroundings even if it is only a glimpse. [Read more…] about Visit to Marwell Zoo and Animal Conservation
Hut Wood is one of those delightful bits of countryside that is just on our doorstep, yet few people seem to know about.
Well, there is an excuse – it’s managed by the Forestry Commission, but even their website doesn’t admit to its existence.
The wood lies to the west of the road from Asda in Eastleigh to Chilworth, just before the bridge over the M27 link road. [Read more…] about Delightful Hut Wood – Have You Been Yet?
Our gliding flights in the Pyrenees were going well. A friendly rivalry arose with the two pilots of another glider and we were determined to outdo one another.
Today was my turn as pilot in command of our 2 seater, Whisky Bravo. The tug plane took us from Santa Cilia airfield on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees towards the local hill where there was some rising air. [Read more…] about Forced Landing
One hundred years ago, on the battlefields of Flanders, lay a young officer of the Royal Horse Artillery. He was wounded, presumed dead.
Twice more during WWI he was wounded and recovered. He was awarded the Military Cross.
After the war he was able to pursue his dream and study forestry at Cambridge. [Read more…] about A Hero of Trees – Richard St. Barbe Baker
Did you know that Eastleigh held its 250th parkrun last weekend?
We’re a quarter of the way through the year. How are you getting on with that New Year resolution to take more exercise? You didn’t make such a resolution? No, neither did I, but let’s just pretend that we did.
If, like me, you are not a runner, [Read more…] about Eastleigh: 250th parkrun
Just after recent solar eclipse was over, the first verse of an Easter hymn by Charles Wesley came into my mind:
Love’s redeeming work is done;
Fought the fight, the battle won:
Lo, our Sun’s eclipse is o’er!
Lo, he sets in blood no more.
It was a crazy idea from the start. A mixture of the imagery of Vita Sackville West’s White Garden at Sissinghurst and watching Jurassic Park just once too often. Could I have a pre-historic garden like the ones where dinosaurs must have browsed?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger found a lost world, I would create my own lost world.
[Read more…] about A Dinosaurs’ Garden
Butterflies in February? Poor things will be caught in the next frost. But not if they are in a hothouse.
For the next week or so there is a magnificent display of butterflies in the Glasshouse at the Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens at Wisley.
[Read more…] about Butterflies in February
How many lives do you have? One? Two (the one at work, the one at home for example)? Three (work, home, involvement in amateur dramatics or the church, say)?
I have had multiple lives in Chandler’s Ford but will focus on two: before becoming a dog owner and since then and before becoming a writer and since. Chandler’s Ford has influenced both. [Read more…] about What Has Chandler’s Ford Done for Me?
For my latest suggestion of places to go for a day out I’m going to turn to what I call the New Forest’s best kept secret – mainly because I’d never heard of it until a couple of years ago.
Blashford Lakes, near Ringwood, is a set of former gravel quarries that have been flooded and turned into a nature reserve. It is run by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. [Read more…] about Days Out: Blashford Lakes
