Who should you be afraid of?

Friends have just taken over a large farm which has not had the hunt on for over 40yrs. The family decided that they would have the local hunt over. Interestingly the son farms the land these days and I asked him about the controversy of having the hunt on the land. His response? "I shoot more foxes in a year than they catch". Seems the hunt throughout the season get about 3 foxes a year. He gets over 30 with his shotgun as the foxes attack his animals and do considerable damage around the farm.

Did the hunt catch anything? Did they heck! Most people came out to dress up, drink a bit of port/whisky and then get to ride over countryside that they would never normally be allowed to ride on (under the pretence of hunting the fox!)

Back in the Good olde UK

Back from a week in California. 10hr flight yesterday. Time to get out in the fresh air today for a walk! Last week was between 18-21C (65-70F), today back to 0-6 C(32-42F) this morning. Sure as heck woke me up!

Photo from walk up winchester hill. In distance is the Isle of Wight in background

Considerate car thieves?

In the borders of scotland, a quiet rural community, a spate of car thefts have taken place. Why write about this? Well the theives break-in, take keys, drive away, come back, break in again, replace keys and leave the car outside house before anyones noticed! Full story here.

Sounds to me like "Yoofs" who can't afford insurance, want to kill the boredem, and fancy a wee joy ride!

Part of me is concerned by the breaking in and stealing but you have to admit there is a bit of "style" about returning the property before the theft has been noticed. Reminds you of those ealing studio black and white films where the bad guys are viewed as the "loveable rogues". Ah - thieving the "old way"