14th September 2026 - Monday and Toby goes to the Vet

Thought for the day :"Who ever said, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," never had a snake disappear in the bedroom."

Wet

So Toby had an early trip to the Vet this morning and was really good on the lead going in.

All finished by 1pm, and  spent the rest of the day sleeping and not really wanting any food or anything.

Tilly was a little confused, but glad to see him back. Difficult keeping her from being too active.. hard but managing.

In other news, decided to stop the Limited Company for the Crimson Moon. It is getting more expensive to keep and more administrative  and harder to comply with - as it turned out, it was very easy as we had never used the company, never  did any accounts or records, and only cost £13 to strike off.

Also fighting City Hall on another field.

Susie had a phone call from the Council today, stating that as we served alcohol - it was classed as food and that we would have to register as a food business. Spent the day looking up the legislation and though I may be wrong, I cannot see how it can be relavent to us.

Had the details - sent the following in response

Thank you for the attached email following your phone call with my wife this morning.

I have examined the documentation and cannot see its relevance for our situation.

We are not a business.

We are a domestic household, Ffynnon Wen, Rhydlewis SA44 5QY, and have developed our gardens into ornamental walkways which on occasion in the summer months we open to the public free of charge in order to raise money for a charity chosen for that particular weekend or day.

As ancillary to the Gardens, we provide refreshment in the form of beer, cider, country wine and meads, and soft drinks, and on occasion some live music entertainment.

We do not provide any food, and have no means of preparation. This was a specific decision as though we have put a makeshift bar in the rear gardens, and small stage area, there are no facilities for food, and as a retired couple we have no wish to be involved in the complexities of food.

We raise funds for a specifically chosen charity when open through a charity pot upon the bar, and proceeds from any sales are calculated and proceeds after costs are donated to the charity of choice. There is no financial gain, and we remain non-profit.

As alcohol is sold, we comply with licensing though purchase of a TEN on each occasion and my wife is a personal licensee and responsible party for licensing laws.

Our situation may best be described as an occasional garden party where funds are raised for charity.

The “Pop Up” tavern is named Crimson Moon in nostalgic memory  of a mobile re-enactment bar that we used to run before retirement, and is decorated accordingly. I understand that this may have implied a business interest which does not exist.

The relevant information sent to me relates to food, food production, health and safety, staff issues etc. which I cannot see applies in these circumstances.

I am happy to discuss further and am happy to receive your guidance, as I have spent the entire day reading the relevant licensing documents from your website, and from the office GOV.UK sites which seem to imply that Food and Alcohol are separate issues, as they have separate licensing restrictions and separate licensing regulations. I believe that we have complied with all the licensing requirements under the Licensing Act, and that the Food regulations do not apply to our situation. 

While I understand that registration is free and automatic, since we have no facilities or intention to provide food, we would be unable to comply with any regulation if registered.

Yours faithfully

Iain Sewell

We shall see what happens 

Still waiting on the Environmental Health regarding commercial waste..

Cheers 

13th September 2026 - Sunday

Thought for the day :"Just so everybody's clear. I'm going to put my glasses on

Wet 

Catch up day with the computer getting birthday cards sorted and stuff.

Walked the dogs in the rain - they seemed to enjoy.

Cheers 

12th September 2026 - Provincial Athelstan

Thought for the day :"Thinking of changing My Energy Provider from Red Bull to Lucozade."

Wet

But a good weekend in Chester / Connah's Quay for the meeting of Idwal Foel Court and the Provincial Grand Court. Much was eaten and drunken !

And had a lift which was so much better as well.

But ...  Nancy posted this from the Brandywine LARP at Weston Park, and I am assured that it was not started by anyone form the bar - or known culprits, but by one of the Musicians there.

Seems that this is to be my legacy - ho hum

Cheers 

11th September 2026 - Peacocks make ultra low sounds

Thought for the day :"Watching a great documentary on repairing tennis courts, It’s on Netfix"

Wet

SCIENCE NEWS
ALBUQUERQUE — Unbeknownst to humans, peacocks may be having infrasonic conversations. New recordings reveal that males showing off their feathers make deep rumbling sounds that are too low pitched for humans to hear.

Other peacocks hear it though, Angela Freeman reported June 13 at the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society. When she played recordings of the newly discovered sound to peafowl, females looked alert and males were likely to shriek out a (human-audible) call. Peacocks are thus the first birds known to make and perceive noises below human hearing, Freeman said.

”Really exciting,” said Roslyn Dakin of Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, who studies the visual allure of peacock courtship. If peacocks can rumble, she suspects that other birds may be able to, too. “I don’t think this is a weird case,” she said.

Such infrasound, or noise below 20 hertz, extends below the limit of human hearing. Biologists watched creatures such as elephants for centuries before recording technology uncovered the infrasound side of those animal conversations. But making infrasound doesn’t always mean communicating with it. Recordings have picked up infrasound from another bird, the capercaillie, but playing back the sounds to those birds has so far revealed no sign that they hear or care about their own infrasound.

As peacocks shake or shudder while opening their tail feathers,
the birds make a low-pitched sound that fellow peafowl — but not humans — can hear.

Freeman, an animal behaviorist at the University of Manitoba, was inspired to make detailed recordings of male peacocks by her coauthor’s impression that their fanned-out feather display curved slightly forward like a shallow satellite dish. She found no evidence that the extended train gives any dishlike help in perceiving sounds, but her recordings did reveal throbs of sound below 20 Hz. Males were most likely to make them during two common gestures. After spreading open the glory of his train feathers, a male shakes them, which can create a ripple moving down the sides of the array, or else it can send a shudder radiating outward from the base. During both these classic moves, all a person hears is a leaflike rustling, Freeman said. But infrasound thrums can carry for meters to birds out of sight in shrubbery.

Researchers, and anybody else who has heard the piercing shrieks of peacocks, certainly recognize that the birds communicate with sound in the human-audible range. At the same conference, Dakin presented evidence that certain males fake the hoot they give during sex even when they’re alone, possibly a deception that increases the chances that a female will visit. Yet the news that there’s more to peacock communication than biologists had imagined doesn’t particularly surprise Dakin. Familiar as the bird is, she said, “it’s been talked about to a far greater proportion than it’s been studied.”

Cheers

10th September 2026 - Lazy Day

Thought for the day :"Favourite books : 'Running to the Outhouse' by Willy Makit. Illustrated by Betty Wont."

Wet

Susie back to (almost)normal ... a day resting in bed but the vertigo is less and fingers crossed is on the mend 

Didn't do much myself to be honest,  but managed to take the fairy lights down from along the riverside 

ready to remove some of the laurel trees to get some fencing in to keep the dogs in the homestead

No pictures today ..

Cheers 

9th September 2026 - Hospital .. and clear

Thought for the day :"When rowing a boat, I don’t think left paddle or right paddle; I just use either oar."

Wet

Well yesterday started well but ended up a bit of a drama.

Susie was well looked after in the Day Urgent Unit, a cat scan, bloods, and all tests ...
Sadly the scan was at .30pm and then the unit closed for the day and she had to go to wait in A & E.

There they gave her blood pressure tests every hour or so - but no indication of when she would speak to the Doctor to get her results, and be allowed home and decision regarding an MRI as the metal in her arm meant that she was worried as to whether she could get a scan

I popped back to see how things were going at about 8pm in case she could get released but no news so came back home at 10pm.

Seems that the A & E unit was not functioning as well as it should. By 3am - she managed to find out that the results would have been available about an hour after her  test - ie 7pm at the latest... and no-one had though to tell her that they would not be doing any more for her that night and she could have gone home !!

So 3am I head back to pick her up and she was able to get a couple of hours sleep.

Back to the Day unit today and once again they were great and tried to speed up all of the waiting.

So the MRI and Cat Scan show that she did not in fact have a minor stroke and the best option is that she had some viral infection of the inner ear causing the vertigo. So that is good news.

But she has some tablets to take when the world starts turning  and hopefully it should settle down in the next few days.   We shall see what progress we can get.

SO very tired tonight but good to have her home.

Fish and Chips for dinner.

(Fish is now £12 for Cod!!!    Went for Chicken at £4.50, Jumbo Sausage for £2.80 and large chips at £4.50)

Used to be a cheap take away - nothing seems cheap any more 

But back to normal life tomorrow I hope. 

In the meantime, Dennis Mejsade from the Kettles Group in Mythodea pt together some lyrics and used an AI suno to develop - I added some pictures and we have "Old Vollsanger"

Cheers 

8th September 2026 - And Hospital again...

Thought for the day :"An Indian pharmaceutical company has invented an injection that makes you tell hilarious jokes. It's called the Punjab"

Wet

Well, another day with a hospital run.

After weeks of  good health Susie had a giddy spell last night and this morning was very unsteady on her feet. Eyes were not able to focus properly and very giddy...

NHS in this country is amazing - got a doctor appointment within the hour, and he arranged a visit to the urgent day centre at Carmarthen Glangwili Hospital so we would not have to wait through A & E.

Sitting here waiting for a call back to the hospital - looking after the dogs.

Quick walk before getting called back 

Update to follow 

Cheers