Tall Ships and Ukuleles

Photo: Andria Hill / Janice Lightly

Have two years really passed since the Tall Ships last came to Gloucester Docks and I joined Friends Ukenited to play my ukulele? Yes, they have... and here we are again, belting out 'City of New Orleans', 'On the road again', 'Valerie' and more to an appreciative audience who rewarded our efforts with a heart-warming £100 for local charities.  And what fun we are having!  Can you see me? I'm behind Janice - the lady with the red trousers and red hat.  Centre-stage is Terry, in his bright yellow Hawaiian shirt, who has the amazing gift of welding this disparate band of players into a group that sings, plays and (more or less) keeps time together, and all without any practice beforehand.

Joining Friends Ukenited does have another great benefit; free entry to the event. So, as soon as our performance had ended, my friend Bridget and I joined the lesser souls who had paid £10 a head to get in, and set off to look at the Tall Ships.

On the way we met Gloucester's town crier. "O yea, O yea. At 4.15, come and see men defy gravity!"  Umm... I wonder what that could be.

Disappointingly, there were only four Tall Ships in the dock. This is the Grayhound. (Shouldn't it be Greyhound?) We could have gone aboard but I had my eyes set on a ship on the other side of the dock.

Here's a rather poor shot of her. Perhaps overawed at the sight, I forgot to set the camera to 'high res' before zooming in from the opposite quay.

Here she is as we approached her from the blunt end. She's the Matthew, a replica of the ship that John Cabot sailed across the Atlantic in 1497 when he discovered Newfoundland. We could hear harmonious singing coming from the poop deck, so eagerly went aboard to investigate.

These fine-looking nautical gentlemen call themselves Short Drag Roger and, by their own admission, hail from that famous maritime city of Oxford.  We stayed on board to hear them sing several rousing sea shanties, including one in which the guy third from the left gave me a wink, held an outstretched arm in my direction and sang that he would whisk me away for a life of bliss in some far-away port. I don't get offers like that every day, really I don't!

I blew him back a kiss but felt compelled to decline his offer. Then, as I turned to descend to the lower deck, a deafening roar that sounded like a low-flying jet fighter emanated from the quayside.

Ah, so here was that gravity-defying act that we'd been promised. Unfortunately, they were having technical problems and, despite the ear-splitting noise, this was a high as the poor guy went. Serves him right, I say, for trying to get airborne at a nautical event. Neptune's revenge!

My verdict on Tall Ships 2019? Well, I saw a lot of people wandering around, often rather aimlessly. Thankfully, lots of them stopped to hear us sing and play but I think I might have been rather disappointed if I'd paid £10 to see a few fairground rides, dozens of food and craft stalls, lots of narrowboats and just four tall ships.

The Matthew in 2017

There were also noticeably fewer people there than in 2017, though admittedly this was Sunday and my last visit had been on a Saturday.  But for free admission in return for an hour's "work" with my ukulele, it was a great and memorable day out with lovely friends.  Thank you, Gloucester!

Blaize Bailey and Lower Soudley

The first time I saw the stone platform of Blaize Bailey I thought it must be one of those viewpoints beloved of Victorian and Edwardian travellers – you know, the sort of place where servants were left to tend the carriages and prepare a picnic while the gentry ambled down to admire the view. I was wrong.  It was actually constructed with stone from an old bridge on the Parkend - Coleford railway, and that didn't close until 1967.

The view over a great meander of the River Severn is impressive, though perhaps not as much as it once was. According to a couple of websites, on a fine day it's supposed to be possible to see Newnham on Severn (at the centre of the meander, nearest the camera) and Gloucester Cathedral (off to the left) but that must have been before the trees were so tall.

Blaize Bailey was the first stop on a pleasant 4 mile stroll that I completed earlier this week. From there I followed a broad forest track before dropping down into the lovely valley of Soudley Brook.

At one point the footpath runs between two halves of a garden.  The owner has constructed this little bridge between them.

I'm approaching Lower Soudley now.  I know that horse!... but that's a story for another day.

This view from my friend Bridget's driveway has changed enormously over the years. These days it is lush and green.  Back in the 1880's it looked like this...

The left-hand map shows the Great Western Iron Works in 1881. By 1901 (the right-hand map) it has all but disappeared.

A few stone walls; almost the only remains of the great Iron Works

The old railway tunnel under Fernbrake Hill (on the right of the maps).

For the next part of the walk I had a 'free' look into the Dean Heritage Centre. I've included this photo to show my friend Lucy that we too have gruffalos!

I'm almost back to my starting point now. This is one of the Soudley Ponds, where I often come with Bridget to walk her dog and admire the wildlife.

 To end, here's a photo of some mandarin ducks on the pond, from an earlier visit.

Lies, damn lies and Conservative leaflets

Leaflets have started to arrive for the election we were not supposed to have. The Conservatives are blaming Labour for the impasse; the Brexit Party are blaming everyone; Labour are sitting on the fence.  Inexactitudes, half-truths and empty promises are all a familiar part of electioneering.  The Conservative leaflet has, however, angered me for its blatant misuse of statistics.

When I worked in research & development, statistics were very important and manipulating them to suit ones preferred outcome was inexcusable. So how about this for a bit of statistical balderdash?

• First of all, notice that 21% of Conservative MPs do not appear on the Who's blocking it? side, even though the 2% of supportive Labour MPs are correctly shown on the left.  
• Moreover, the DUP, without whose support the government would have fallen in its first week, have been surreptitiously lumped with Change UK, whereas they should surely be grouped with the rebellious Conservatives. 
• But what's this... 100% of Green MPs?  There is only one Green MP! And 100% of Lib Dems is only 11.

So let's redraw the right hand side, adding a scale and using the truthful proportions.

Sorry, Mrs May, but you really can't blame the Greens for your humiliating defeats in the House of Commons. After Labour who are, after all, the official opposition, the second-biggest culprits – if culprits they be (which I rather doubt) – are your own party and those who have kept you in power.

Having got this far, I suppose I ought to declare my hand and say who I'll be voting for. My logic doubtless runs counter to most people's but I reason that there's no point in voting for anyone who wants us to leave the EU, irrespective of whether one supports Brexit or not, as they don't want the UK represented there anyway. And lets face it; there's little any of them could do from Brussels or Strasbourg to influence the machinations of the House of Commons. Their presence would merely be symbolic – a final "up yours!" to the EU. However, in the increasingly unlikely event that we don't leave, we'll surely need MEPs who are sympathetic to the EU's ambitions.  So I'll be voting Lib Dem. If they win, I'll truly be gobsmacked.