Was I Really In Poland?

Okay so I'm back in Birmingham now but thought I'd continue the blog anyway for the time being, seeing as it's acting as a fantastic procrastination device.

After deciding sorting out my entire room was a valuable use of my time yesterday, I cracked on with some actual work today. First and foremost, I wanted to see if the numerous co-ordinates I had spent the last 9 weeks collecting actually amounted to anything. Unfortunately, this has meant me teaching myself how to use DIVA-GIS, a free online geographic mapping tool. I've realised I am incredibly lazy when attempting to read tutorials, choosing to simply scan for key words as opposed to reading the whole thing. This meant I got nothing done for a good hour, and my first attempt ended up with all my co-ordinates appearing at various places around mainland Europe. Thankfully, I was being a moron, and had in fact mixed up my longitudes and latitudes. Half an hour of cutting and pasting later...the maps still don't look right. This could mean one of two things. Firstly, my co-ordinates are all off, and I've just needlessly subjected myself to 9 weeks in a damp caravan, or the more hopeful second option, the software I'm using is a bit crap because it's free. So tomorrow I'll begrudgingly pay the train fare and head into uni to use the posh mapping software.

I'm also applying for jobs at the minute, which I hate doing. I'm only looking for money currently and not a career job, just whilst I finish the course. I'm so lazy when it comes to this though, and most applications end up with me cutting and pasting my somewhat lacklustre CV onto various forms in the hope that the sheer quantity of jobs I apply for means one of them has to give me a go. We'll see...

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Now playing: Cymbals Eat Guitars – Like Blood Does
via FoxyTunes

The End of This Crazy Trip...

Today marks the final day of my stint down here in Cornwall; as we speak my dad is heading south to pick me up. I'll actually be leaving tomorrow as travelling from the midlands to Cornwall and back again in a day involves about thirteen hours of driving, and so I'll be sharing my final night in the caravan with my pa.

Yesterday I decided to have a final walk along the coast to take it all in before I leave. I chose to set off late, but on my way back received a phone call from Claire seeing if I still wanted to go over to hers that night. I felt bad because I had remembered making this arrangement but assumed she's forgotten so took my time spectacularly on my stroll. Anyway, I was still back in time to take her up on her offer, and we ended up having a barbecue on the beach, joined by her partner Ben. I must say I'm glad I went along as I finally got to see the sun setting over the sea, but unfortunately I have packed my camera so won't be able to post any pictures. I also enjoyed the best burger I've ever had, no cheese, a tiny bit of salad, but the tastiest burger of my life. I felt like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction... I was also treated to a hot shower and a real bed, all in all a fine way to spend my penultimate night.

This morning I was greeted by Jeremy, the owner of the caravan, who informed me that word of my project had been spreading around the company, and in fact to the local press. This has concerned me somewhat, as I'm beginning to worry that the project might not be up to scratch. This is not technically my fault, the blame lies partly in the hands of time. If I can contextualise my work into the grander scope of food security and the importance of crop wild relatives however, then hopefully it will have all been worth it. I may have my work cut out for me when I get back, but I have around a month to write up which should be more than enough time to create a project which can be referenced by anyone doing similar work.

Today I am mainly waiting around. Uncharacteristically, I have packed almost everything and so just have my iPod and the laptop for company whilst I await my dads arrival. I'm hoping we'll head out for a steak later so I'm passing the time by warming my stomach up.

It's been an adventure down here in Cornwall. I can't claim to have enjoyed every minute of it, but I think overall I'm glad I came down here to do the work, and I hope it will have use and significance to anyone wishing to continue what I have started.

Life Is A Roller Coaster, Wise Words Ronan...

Today was full of ups and downs. I managed to bag a lift over to the east coast to continue where I'd left off several weeks earlier. On my walk down to my starting point in the drizzle, a dense Cornish mist descended on the cliff tops and surrounded me, making me feel like the only man in the world. At the same time I was listening to some fairly bad eighties albums in order to give them a star rating, after a bright idea last night to come up with a top five album list from every year since I was born. Together, these two things made me feel very sorry for myself, and I spent the majority of the morning angrily moping around, watching the clock. The rain got worse and my work became harder, until eventually I gave up and decided to indulge in one of my favourite daily pursuits: scrambling over rocks. I decided I'd give up on the music and instead re-listen to some old Adam and Joe podcasts, and just as I was slipping around amongst the rocks the sun came out and the day improved no end. After a good half and hour of what can only be described as "dicking about", I continued with my work, resembling a damp, sweaty maniac as I walked around laughing heartily to myself.

I got to my final destination earlier than expected, so partook in another of my hobbies here and followed a random footpath to see where it would go. Nowhere particularly interesting it turned out, although I did see a woman and her daughter blatantly collecting poppy seeds which I thought was a bit suspicious. It got to about half three and I headed up to where I knew the volunteers were working today to get a lift back to base. As I approached I saw one of Natural England's tractors leaving site, so I assumed I was just in time. I was not. I walked around the entire site, and realising no one was there rang headquarters. I was helpfully informed everyone was back at base except Steve, who might be able to pick me up if he was still around. I rang Steve, but his phone was off. Perfect. Seven miles from the caravan the anger began to rise again and I set off along the main road for the long journey back. After about two miles Steve rack however, and was good enough to come out and pick me up, which was much appreciated. Things were looking up again, and when I got I had an email waiting for me informing me I'd be receiving a pay cheque for my time here. Hurrah!

To confirm, a day of ups and downs. One of my more boring posts I'm afraid, but what do you expect, I'm almost done!

Nervous on Night Drives

Before I start, just a few of my favourite signs from the last few days:
Today the weather was glorious so I headed out and about to try and get as much done before my return back to Birmingham at the end of the week. Unfortunately, the weather brings out my least favourite breed of people: the tourists. Just look at this beach, this really is a hell on Earth to me:
There's probably a hint of jealousy in my vitriol as these people can lounge around all day frolicking in the sun, whereas I am still unenthusiastically counting carrots every few steps. Not for much longer though! This almost wasn't the case however, as I had a phone call from my lecturer today trying to convince me to stay here for an additional week so I could meet up with a Natural England employee who has done previous work similar to my project. What annoyed me is that he dropped this bombshell on me three days before I'm due to leave and expects me to dotingly go along with it. No dice. I basically explained that my dad has had to rearrange his whole week in order to come and collect me, and I am quite literally down to my last scraps of cash. If he'd offered me some funding, or even informed me of this a few weeks ago I could have made arrangements and possibly would have stayed for an additional week. I was seconds away from telling him I needed to come home for my own sanity more than anything else, but bit my tongue and kept it professional. We both stood our ground amicably and so I am still due home this week, much to his disgust. There's just been too many last minute decisions already on this course, and with the end in sight I think one more may have been the straw that broke the camels back. I think had I agreed, a scene similar to the ending of "Falling Down" may have ensued...

I Can't Think Of A Cryptic Or Clever Title

Just a very brief update as I haven't got a lot to report I'm afraid.

Yesterday I surveyed the last area I needed to in order to have a continuous stretch of the coast mapped, so anything else I do now is just a bonus really. I seem to have gotten into the habit of wandering off along footpaths to "see where they go", which isn't always ideal when you have things to do and are scared of cows.

Today I headed north of Mullion which made a nice change from simply going to Mullion. The sun broke through after a very threatening looking morning though, so I headed back as I'd forgotten my suncream, and I'm incredibly lazy. I took a random footpath to spice my journey back up a bit and after an hour genuinely ended up back where I started. It was like a bad comedy. When I got back I took in some of the air show going on a couple of miles away, but after the fourth loop-the-loop and almost blinding myself I retired to the comfort of the caravan and got up to date with my work.

I'm growing sick of these "bitey" flies. I swatted one away today when I felt it bite my arm, and then I saw a load of what looked like maggots all over my arm. I'm pretty fearful it was trying to lay something inside me but I think I nipped it in the bud before the fly could get too into it. Needless to say I had a long, cold shower on my return, and am now maggot free (externally at least). Maybe the fly was exacting revenge for my graveyard of fly death which I call a window.

Crap, it's started raining, I've gotta go.

Judecca

I don't mean to complain (although I frequently do), but if anything it's too hot down here at the minute. This has brought the tourists out of hibernation in droves, meaning the once quiet cliff tops are now littered with overweight men wearing only their Speedo's. I also had to queue to get onto the beach at Kynance Cove today, which annoyed me so much I went home...

This weekend my folks were down in Cornwall for a weekend break, and were kind enough to get me a room at the Bed and Breakfast they were staying at. This place was an absolute luxury, possibly too good for little old me but I'm not complaining, look at my room!
Saturday was overcast so we headed over to the Eden Project which was fantastic, the biomes they've created are incredible and the whole place keeps pushing the importance of biodiversity in an interactive and accessible way. It was also a photographer's dream, I took over a hundred pictures, but I'll share only this one with you which I was particularly pleased with:
The mist descended as the day progressed and we ended up watching a band over in Porthleven which was rather a pleasant place:
Sunday was glorious so we drove to Cadgwith and picked up the coastal path to see the sights now they were visible. It was also my dad's birthday, so happy birthday again!

They left this morning, after a trip to Tesco for food and beer, and now I'm back into the swing of works for the last stretch, less than two weeks and I'll be back!

Cow News, Just In...

How frustrating, I just set out for the day and half way into my journey a heavy rain set in and soaked me to the bone. Sulking, I headed back and low and behold, by the time I was back at the workshop it was brilliant sunshine. I'll try again this afternoon.

Yesterday I went down to Kynance Cliffs and filled in my penultimate gap in the coastline. One more day's work and I finally have a continuous stretch of the coast that I've surveyed and the rest of my time can be spent heading as far north as time will permit. However, what you really want is the cow news, I can just tell.

You may remember from an earlier post a sign warning walkers about the dangers of grazing cattle. Well, today I was surveying their home. At first I couldn't see them, and assumed they were far back in the fields. Then I saw them, a 60 strong herd of black, angry beasts nonchalantly occupying the cliff edge.
My first reaction was to head onto the rocks and scramble my way past them in an area I knew would be inaccessible to them. Of course, this is ridiculous and I probably put myself in more danger rock climbing, although I did happen across several of the species I'm looking for. So I headed back up to the top, and emerged about 10 metres away from the wretched beasts. I froze, but then spied a couple having a lunchtime stroll, so I decided to tag along. I figured if they get brutally attacked, at least I'd be able to make a dash for it... I followed a few paces behind them, being sure never to get in the way of a mother and her calf (the cows I'm talking about now, not the couple). I managed to get through the herd unscathed, and although visibly shaking, I was pleased with myself. On the walk back I braved them alone, which I instantly regretted as soon as I encountered the first cow. They were now spread across the entire field, meaning I had to be "amongst them" for a good 10 minutes. They all have horns as well. Needless to say I survived, and feel I've overcome my bovinophobia to a certain degree. However, on the way back a horse threw itself at a gate designed to keep it enclosed as I passed by, so I might just start being scared of them again...

Incidentally this rock outcrop is called The Horse, and I'm still yet to figure out why.

The Trial

I was out on the hunt for wild asparagus again yesterday, but we were visiting much more accessible populations so no adventures to report I'm afraid. I did see a snake though, and when I attempted to take a picture of it it shot off into the grass. I was later informed that this was an adder, which, although not deadly, if I was bitten by one I would require anti-venom. I should probably be more careful when manipulating the local fauna.

Today I have holed myself up in the caravan to partake in some computer based work. My actual project is getting increasingly harder in the field as the flowering season is ending, or has in fact ended, for many of the species I'm surveying. I'm also starting to fear for my mental health as these long nights and weekends alone have seen me talking to all manner of inanimate objects, although I have manged to re-watch a lot of films which I had trouble recollecting from the first time I'd seen them. But tomorrow I'm back in Birmingham for the weekend, and I can't wait. What a rare treat it will be to be around people! Apart from the obvious, here are the things I am looking forward to most:
1. Using a flushing toilet.
2. Having a hot shower in a space that allows me to move my arms.
3. Sleeping in a double bed which I don't have to construct before I sleep on it.
4. Using more than one saucepan.
5. Simply turning on a tap when I want water, as opposed to having to run outside, whatever the weather, and then inevitably have to run outside again when the hose attachment falls out, whilst simultaneously listening to see if yet another pipe has exploded dramatically.
6. Dry carpets.
7. More than one room.
8. Having an unlimited drinking water supply that doesn't come from a 5 litre bottle.
9. Not seeing any wild carrots anywhere.
10. In fact, not doing any work. As there's little else to do here, I'm frequently immersed in work to pass the time, so a few days off will be welcomed.
11. All my music at my fingertips, as opposed to on a temperamental iPod, through real speakers.
12. Being able to walk less than a mile when I want a pint of milk or some Polos.
13. Not smelling. On a side note here, I walked into the office the other morning, and Claire just looked at me with pity, sighed, and said "Look at you". My dishevelled look has scored me a home cooked meal at her gaff tonight though, but hasn't entirely stopped me from feeling quite pathetic.
14. Being able to wash my clothes! I have attempted sink washing underwear, but the humiliation of hanging all of my smalls outside the caravan for all to see often outweighs the benefits of having fresh undergarments.

I won't go into the people I'm looking forward to seeing the most as that's far too sentimental and slushy for the public domain. Just 24 more hours to get through and then I'll be on the train home, hurrah! Can you tell I'm, quite looking forward to it?

We Are The Robots (Plink Plonky Plink)

I bounded into the workshop this morning, unsure of what my plan for the day was, to find the place deserted. After further investigation I found one person had bothered to show up: Steve. Steve is probably my favourite member of staff here, he is so full of energy that he cycles the fourteen miles to work every day just so he can face a few hours in front of a computer. It puts my lack of enthusiasm on the two-wheeler to shame. Anyway, he informed me that most people had cleverly wangled the day off, much to my utter disgust. I decided to hang around the workshop for an hour as I'd arranged to meet a National Trust warden last week but couldn't remember which day she'd said, so thought it best that I was at least around in case she did turn up. She didn't. It got to 10am so I told Steve I was going to head out. "If you wait ten minutes I'll give you a lift" he generously chirped, and as it was raining I couldn't refuse. After ten minutes he grabbed the keys and said "You've got a driving license right?", which I confirmed. "You can drive then!" This to me was great news. I haven't driven in months, and the only vehicles here are Land Rovers. My first task was to reverse it out of the garage, and I was helpfully reminded to avoid the walls, which I did, and proceeded to precariously creep along the winding country roads that litter the landscape here. It was nice to be driving again, especially in such a dominating beast of a machine, I felt like I owned the road. All too quickly we arrived at my destination and Steve took his "wheels" back, shame.

As usual, after about two hours of surveying I became fairly distracted, and spied this curiosity in the distance, which I felt was my duty to pursue.
As I got closer I realised it belonged to the local RAF base, and so wouldn't be able to sit in it and pretend to fend of the "Gerries", as I'd assumed I'd be able to. I did, however, find myself in a field of cows. Now, my bovinophobia appears to be spiralling out of control, which isn't particularly useful when they're bloody everywhere.
I don't mind him actually, he has good hair. Or is that a female? If it's a cow I assume the latter. Incidentally this picture was snapped from the other side of an electric fence. I was over there for sampling purposes, not to avoid the cow before you laugh too hard. Anyway, I spent a lot of the rest of the day avoiding other cows and trying to dodge this cloud:
I thought I was being fairly pathetic and was about to embrace a field of cows when I saw this helpful sign:
So my fear doesn't seem quite so irrational now, but it is still something I'll have to face eventually. They're just so big and seemingly aggressive in this neck of the woods! I couldn't get phone reception to ring for a lift back so ended up walking it and getting absolutely soaked. I did manage to finally take a picture of this monstrosity though:
This is the "sculpture" they put outside the local art gallery to tell the public they are open, and is the sole reason I haven't ventured in yet. I've spent the evening constantly eating to replenish the numerous reserves I must have used up on my mammoth trek back.

Wind Moves The Can

Hurrah! I've been searching for a Broken Social Scene track all day and literally just found it (Bandwitch since you ask).

I managed to get out and about today over to Mullion (makes a nice change) to finish a bit of work I was unable to last week due to battery issues. I also ran out of bottled water today and so went against all the advice given to me by the staff here and tried the tap water. Just popped a couple of Imodium's straight after, lovely stuff.

I once again got slightly preoccupied with taking pictures of nature and that, so here's a few snaps, one of which is a toad, amazing!
I found my old LiveJournal account last night and my angsty scribblings have been keeping me amused today, I definitely needed a kick up the arse at the age of about 20. Fun times though. I've been reading an article about Stanley Kubrick on and off today. A book has just been published detailing a film about Napolean that he never made. It's in 10 volumes, weighs 10kg and costs £900. Surely there can't be that much to be written about an unmade movie?

This is getting a bit scattershot, so I will leave now and settle down to a movie, perhaps another Hitchcock to continue my "Hitchcock in the Caravan" season.

Interior Decorating

I was in the middle of a film yesterday evening (The 39 Steps if you're asking) and ventured out of the caravan mid-way to turn the water on. I noticed someone was still here, and as this was about 7:00pm I thought this unusual so went investigate. It was in fact Ray, my supervisor here, who proceeded to tell me his life story whilst sorting the entire office out. About 45 minutes later, I felt we'd bonded and as I left he promised me that tomorrow I could interview him about site management, as had been promised for many weeks. Great stuff.

So today I awoke and was happy in the knowledge that today I wouldn't have to brave the outside world as it was raining and generally just a miserable day. I entered the office a little after 9:00am, and entered Ray's office:
Me: Morning Ray! Are we still okay to talk about management today?
Ray: Yeah no problem, I just have some finance stuff to get out of the way and then we'll do it. Shall we say 11?
Me: Sounds good, I'll get on with some paperwork.
Ray: Hmmm, have I got a teleconference at 11? No, that must be at 10, although...[trails off].
Great stuff, I could get on with my write up and properly wake up with a few more cups of tea and some music.

Anyway, 11:00am rolls around and I entered the office to find it completely deserted. I searched the workshop, the garage, but couldn't locate anyone. Then I heard voices and saw that yes, the teleconference was in fact at 11:00am. No problem, I thought, I'll merely give it 20 minutes and come back in. 20 minutes later...still teleconferencing. 20 minutes later than that...still teleconferencing. I was left twiddling my thumbs a bit...

A lost art.

In the end I had my lunch and went back in at about 12:20pm to find Ray sprawled out on the floor slicing up carpet:
Ray: Oh hi Joe, I've been meaning to do this for ages!
Me: ...What are you doing?
Ray: I'm just creating a bit of protective carpet for around the wood chip burner.
Me: Oh...cool. Nice job.
Ray: I thought so, when I retire here I think I'll take up carpet fitting.
Me: [Thinks] Lovely stuff.
Ray: Don't let me forget to throw away the excess...unless you want it for the caravan?
Me: Actually I will take it, it'll cover up all the damp spots.
Ray: [Laughs]
Me: [Laughs begrudgingly, takes new rug]

Nice huh?

Me: So...can we do that interview now?
Ray: Sure, I've just got to pop into Mullion for 10 minutes to get the papers, you can come along if you like?
Me: Actually I will do, I need some milk anyway.
So off we went into Mullion to quickly drop off some Natural England leaflets at the cove and pop to the shop.

Two hours later we got back to the workshop, after speaking to the majority of the village, standing on the cliff tops and, eventually, buying milk. We're sitting in the car...
Me: Thanks for that, I'll just put this in the fridge.
Ray: Okay, I'll be in shortly, I'm just going to sit in here and read the paper.
Fair enough, I thought. Technically he hasn't had a lunch break.

I sat in the office chatting with the other staff and Ray waltzed in about 20 minutes later and proceeded to log into his computer with such painstaking care that it took a good 10 minutes. He was then informed that someone had rang for him, so naturally he called them back. This turned into a 30 minute phone call so I went and sat outside. When I got back in he was still on the phone, so I just sat next to him and stared. Eventually he finished bantering with whoever he was speaking to, and then, after this long wait, we were finally ready to go! We made it about five steps out of the office when Ray said "Do you want a drink? I could do with a tea." Me bloody too. So, as always seems to happen to me in these situations, I made the tea and then we sat down in the meeting room for the all important management talk. Well, it lasted about 10 minutes and resulted in this much information:

Yep, that's all.

It took me about 30 minutes to write up, and that's because the computer crashed. To conclude, today was an annoying day, but a great lesson in the art of procrastinating.

Indiana Joe and the Recorders of the Lost Asparagus

I awoke today wanting to do anything but go out into the field. I think the post holiday blues had set in, plus it was raining outside and I'd left my walking boots out in the rain resulting in me being forced to wear a pair of wellies at least two sizes too big. However, I knew I'd have to brave the rain as I'd arranged to go out and about with a National Trust warden in search of wild asparagus. So I pulled my boots up (literally), and we set off just after 9:00am.

We arrived at the first site and headed to the coast. The first thing Rachel said was "Are you up for scrambling over some rocks?". Sure, why not. Well, lucky I didn't back out, as it turned out to be the best day in the field yet! We started by very carefully hopping over an electric fence into a fairly unexplored region of the coastline, armed only with our wits and coordinates that should take us to this very rare plant. Within about ten minutes and with a small amount of downward climbing done, we located a known population of wild asparagus. After that we decided we wanted to find an undiscovered population, so split up and headed along the very rocky coastline. We took it in turns to either take the high road (fairly easy grassland), or the low road (surprisingly dangerous cliffs and sheer drops). This took me right back to my youth when me and my brother would spend summer days climbing rocks at Beacon Hill, often pretending we were in Jurassic Park, but that's another story. Eventually we struck gold and found a lone plant which hadn't been discovered before. Success!

After a brief lunch break we headed to a second site. I was still buzzing from the morning's climbing, but this site was more than I could have hoped for. In order to access any wild asparagus here, we had to climb the unclimbable. On several occasions I was thinking to myself "Is this worth it?!", but as this was the most excitement I'd had out in the field, I decided that yes, it was. Particular dangerous highlights included attempting to cross a small valley with a sheer drop below and no footing. I had to put all of my faith into the plants and simply grip them and hope for the best. I also kept choosing particularly awkward routes back up to the top, ideally ones that involved more climbing and less walking. I had quite literally a cliffhanger moment at one point where I was pulling myself up with a rock crack and the rock I'd grabbed broke off. If I hadn't had decent footing I'd have been a goner. All very exhilarating stuff, and I think when I return to Birmingham and have some money I'd like to take up rock climbing as a hobby. Unfortunately the pictures I took don't do the sheer drops and tricky climbs justice, they just look like nice coastline, so you'll have to take my word for it, but here's a couple of slopes I conquered anyway:
We're heading out again next week for more death defying acts, all in the name of conservation.

Wash Out

No pictures today I'm afraid folks, due to the rain most of today has been spent cooped up in my caravan. I started out in the field with the volunteer who carts me around of a Thursday, but I think even she was finding the work tedious, once again I was stopping every few minutes to take a reading. When the first drop of rain hit her head she called it a day, much to my delight. Neither of us wanted to get drenched, and trying to write information on a recording form in the rain is neither easy nor pleasurable. This gave me an opportunity to get up to date with my work, as well as crack on with my write up. So for once at the end of the working day, 5:00pm, I'm actually finished and have a sweet four days off now. The rain does mean I can't take my usual jaunt over to Mullion for biscuits, but I'm sure I'll survive this once. The weather's meant to improve tomorrow, but even if it doesn't the prospect of a few days away from the caravan (with rather good company) is certainly an exciting one. I've even blagged a lift to the bus stop tomorrow so I'm cruising down Easy Street.

Now, what to do with the evening?

Blister in the Sun

Ho ho, I'd like to meet the genius who created this classic edit.

Another long day today. Not to be a curmudgeoning old man or anything, but despite the spectacular scenery...
...the work is starting to get slightly monotonous. I seem to only be able to walk a few metres before I have to stop, unpack all my equipment and battle with my recording sheets in the wind. I think it would just be more enjoyable, and in fact easier, if I had someone to help me. Unfortunately the guy who was supposed to be coming down in July to assist has had to cancel, unsurprisingly due to a lack of funding. I'll stop moaning though.

I had done everything I could by 3:30pm today, and rang my lift to see how they were getting on. They informed me that they'd be a good hour yet, and as I'm not the best at just hanging around, I decided I'd attempt the 5 mile journey back on foot. It was actually very enjoyable (and I never turn down an excuse to try and build up my chicken legs), although when I was about a mile away one of the staff drove passed and offered me a lift, and it would have been rude to refuse. I was making good time though, I'd only been walking for an hour. There are no pavements on the roads here though so the walk did have its hairy moments, mostly involving stubborn lorry drivers. It did give me a chance to get reacquainted with Why?, specifically their album Elephant Eyelash, which is fast becoming my favourite release of theirs. If you've never heard them you're really missing out.

There were loads of artists out today which was nice to see:
This was a slightly awkward picture to take, as the woman on the left is painting in her bra, so it basically looked like I was just taking a picture of her. I wasn't, for the record.

I better get back to the books, I'm a day behind on writing up my field work, but it's taking me hours. I'm desperate to get it all out of the way by the weekend though for a well earned few days off in Falmouth, happy days!

Box of Rain

First off, apologies for the lack of updates over the last couple of days. I've received all of your angry letters and attempted to respond to as many as possible, but I'm only one man with one pen. The truth of the matter is I've been suffering from quite severe headaches, which is quite a new experience for me. I think it has something to do with the intense humidity, and from constant temperature changes thanks to only having cold water. I'm sure staring at a computer screen can't help much either. Anyway, I'm all better now, and some how soldiered on, I really deserve some sort of gold plated medal (preferably one where once I remove the gold plating, there's some sweet sweet chocolate inside).

I had my first unexpected visitors the other night in the form of the local youth. They were after firewood from the enormous pile of wood that resides behind my caravan. I flat out refused, and realised afterwards this was possibly a bad idea as I have no lock on the caravan. They've not returned though and I have gained the occassional nickname of Nightwatchman amongst the staff, much to my delight. I think it also highlighted the fact that it's not the safest situation they've put me in here, although in fairness Cornwall has the lowest crime rate in Britain (I think), but on exiting the building yesterday Ray shouted "be safe!", which was followed by several cries of "yes, be safe!". No offers of a house yet though.

Today I've been out and about on the east side of the Lizard peninsula, and managed to bag a lift there and back which is always a bonus. Below is the Devil's Frying Pan, which I looked out over whilst stuffing my face with sandwiches. The place names around here do make me laugh, they're trying so hard to be cool and different, but often are not successful. Impressive though.
I also tried my first batch of Cornish fudge today. My word, it was an explosion all over my unprepared tastebuds. I will try to bring a stack home for everyone if I have any money left, it really is incredible stuff.

Whilst wandering today I decided to just listen to bands beginning with "M", after being heavily influenced by Sam's word association game in iTunes, although I won't steal her thunder and describe that here! This made me want to listen to all of the albums on my iPod and attempt to rate them all. However, the first band on my iPod is A. I put their album on, enjoyed "Foghorn", and then realised how awful they were, and realised there was no way I could sit through two full length albums by them and so gave up almost instantly. My brother warned me this would happen but I thought I was made of stronger stuff than that. It did prompt me to listen to ABC though, and that was bloody great!

I'll leave you with a picture of Foxglove, a flower I'm quite obsessed with photographing, and in fact it still makes me laugh when I think about foxes actually using the flowers as gloves. Simple things.

Am I Pleased To See You Or Have I Just Stuck A Canoe In My Pocket?!

Don't be alarmed readers, I've just been enjoying a bit too much Blackadder.

Today I was back in the field after almost a week off, armed with the seemingly dozens of extra tools I was gifted back in Birmingham. The day began relatively badly, as when I arrived at the first site I realised I had no idea how to use any of the said equipment, but I soldiered on and got some good, if slightly inaccurate data. I also ran out of batteries in both my camera and GPS device, so had to keep swapping a spare set between the two which got fairly annoying. I'm now taking samples from each site though, and for once felt like a proper scientist; putting leaves into bags pre-filled with unusual looking globules to the curious glances of onlookers.

I made my usual treck over to Mullion this evening for some groceries, but for once it was a real joy! I had my iPod blaring for the first time in the wild since I've been here, and the sun was beating down on my back. I'd forgotten how good it feels to soundtrack a walk using the Shuffle function. A lot of the time it's bang on the money, and today served up some sweet reggae courtesy of The Congos, forgotten classics from Sneaker Pimps, elecro-pop from XTC, and rather fittingly some cheese metal from Dio (RIP). It was perhaps due to the fact that I've been without my whole music collection for some time, but I simply couldn't get enough! I kept coming up with dream playlists in my head, but am holding off currently as the iPod is still not working at full speed. It seems some albums it simply can't play, but as of yet nothing major has been lost in the ether.

I'll stop gushing about music now anyway, as I should be doing some work. It's nice to be able to listen to music whilst I do it though! The next few days will be filled with desk based work unfortunately, although I'm hoping this will help to pass the weekend; I think I got a little too used to being back at home...

Last Time...On Lost

Yesterday I spent most of the day at the sea looking for my various target species. Beyond the flora though, the absolute highlight for me was seeing a Basking Shark:
Granted, you can't see a lot here, but I was very excited. I love sharks, nature's perfect animal in my eyes. At one point a guy ran down the beach and in true Jaws style started shouting: "Shark! Shark!" I was sampling with a botanist yeasterday, and to me botany is like learning a different language. In fact it is a different language because everything is in Latin. I'm starting to get the hang of it now though, and as with anything, the best way to learn is to keep doing it.

In evening I thought I'd go for a walk as it was such nice weather still. This turned out to be a mistake as I got horribly, horribly lost. This all came about because, having now overcome my horse fear...
...I now have bovine fear. I think anyone would have in this situation though, because the gate I needed to get through was suddenly occupied by around 60 bolting cows. They must have been being herded by the farmer for some reason so I thought I'd find an alternative route to the nearest town. It was times like these that I wished I'd listened more in Scouts, as I ended up in a field with no landmarks anywhere around me:
After a mere hour and a half aimlessly wandering around, I finally found Mullion and treated myself to a few beers. Unfortunately the journey had taken it out of me so much that I woke up in the middle of the night, beer still in hand and just had to go to bed. Ah well, it should all be aiding the removal of my chicken legs.

Today I went out sampling early and managed to tear my legs to shreds in thick spikey heath. I was heading for a rocky outcrop where I was assured I'd find Wild Chives. I didn't, so defeated I returned to the caravan and got myself ready for the big trip back to Brummington.

One Half of a Whole

I had my first hot shower in over a week last night, and boy was it good. Rather kindly, Claire, one of the staff here, invited me over to her and her partner's gaff for a hot shower, a home cooked meal and a proper bed. It was a more than generous offer I couldn't refuse and it was probably the best shower of my life. The only one that has possibly topped it was the one after climbing Scarfell Pike a couple of years ago. Now that was a well earned shower. Anyway, I had a shower, she cooked us up some wholesome grub and then we went to the pub for a few jars. It was great to actually be interacting with people of an evening, and certainly beat drinking alone. Both her and her boyfriend, Ben, are very laid back and easy to chat to so it was a great evening all in all, and hopefully will become a bit of a regular fixture. I got to see my first World Cup game as well, Brazil vs. North Korea, which was quite an interesting match. North Koreans are unable to leave their country due to the regime operating there (not sure how the team swung it), so apparently all of their supporters were hired actors, madness!

Erstwhile, I've been out in the field all week which has been a treat as the weather here is unbelievable. It's so hot and I'm scanning the coastline all day so I really have nothing to complain about. I think the stink has started to set in though, as when my lift arrived this morning the first thing she said was "you smell clean!" with an air of surprise. Oh dear, I must be used to my own stench.

I have only just worked out how to focus my camera for close ups after a mere six years, so here's a few snaps utilising this function.

First off we have this chap:
And in case anyone's interested, this is one of the species I'm looking for; wild chives:
And another one, sea beet:
And just for Sam, a dwarf ox-eye daisy:
All this blogging is preventing me from working so I best hit the books.

Tata for now.

In At The Deep End

Despite being a practicing atheist, I'm inclined to agree with the above.

Today was my first proper day in the field. It felt like my first day at a new job because when I started I really didn't know what I was doing. All weekend I had my methodology solidified in my head, but when I went to put it into practice I very quickly realised it didn't work. I found a great spot straight away and got to work, but some of the things I'm expected to do (such as do a sketch of every site, for every species I'm focussing on) are simply unreasonable. So, I stuck to the agreed methods to start with and eventually tailored them to suit me, and as it's my project, I didn't feel to bad about it. I eventually managed to survey everywhere I'd hoped to today, but the data is useless because I'm using ludicrous map coordinates instead of longitudes and latitudes, and I'm going to have to repeat everything anyway next week because I need to take samples but won't get the equipment until next week. Still, I know where everything is for when I return, and I got a lift down from another couple of students doing similar work. They were very accomodating and offered to hook me up with some software and literature I'll need at a later date so all was not lost.

I'm starting to wish I had more time to do this project now, because this week will be fairly useless, and most of next week I'm in Birmingham doing a presentation, leaving me realistically about seven weeks to survey the entire Lizard. However, I don't think I could handle living in a caravan any longer than I have to, and being away from certain people back home is harder than I initially thought it would be. I'm just not convinced my work will be of much use due to the time constraints, but I must stay positive and do the best that I can with the time I have.

So on a more upbeat note, I was enjoying the most southerly point in Britain today, Lizard Point.
This really is one of the most fantastic coastlines I've ever seen, look at this beach!
This was today's lunchtime view:
As you can see, I'm not complaining about the location. I just wish (as always) I'd had more time to properly prepare. I only had one week between starting this project and finishing my last one and am only just realising how much background research should have been done to make this a useful project. But I'm making good connections hopefully, and who else can say they lived in a caravan on the Cornish coast for a whole summer?

On another note, I watched Blade Runner last night for the first time in ages, and as amazing as that film looks, Harrison Ford really can't act. Great story, incredible direction and cinematography, but come on Ford, put a bit of effort in! Actually, maybe he shrewdly played the part woodenly to imply he was in fact a Replicant. Hmm, maybe I'll rewatch...

The Sea Is Wet, Did You Know That?

It's been a weekend of ups and downs. Yesterday was a write off, I waited all day for the reserve manager to turn up and give me a lift into the nearest town for some campling supplies. Frustratingly, he didn't turn up until 4pm, and seemed slightly bemused when I asked if we were still heading into Helston. We didn't in the end, so I was stuck in the caravan all day. I did get some work done, but it was such nice weather that it felt like I'd wasted the day.

Today I decided I'd make my way to the sea. The closest shore to me is Mullion Cove, and I wanted to get there on footpaths as opposed to roads (mostly because the roads have no pavements). The weather was glorious so the walk there was brilliant. I overcame my equine fear, stumbled through a field of cattle, and laughed far too much at some sheep. It took me about an hour to get there, and it was great scrambling about on the rocks. I saw this fellow:
I enjoyed the view of Mullion Island (which I would like like to swim out to at some point):
And I enjoyed a spot of lunch here:...enjoying this view (but not in black and white obviously, I'm not a dog):
So that was all lovely, and I was feeling very alive and full of enthusiasm. However, then the clouds gathered and the day took a wet, wet turn. So here's my 3 point guide to getting ill:

1. You may want to prepare for this by having a few beers the night before, skipping dinner, and having a terrible night's sleep. This will help in the long run. Also you should set off on your travels fairly underprepared, ideally with a Gap waterproof that is not in fact waterproof. You want to start on a sunny day, and get a little sunburned on your way to your destination.
2. When you notice the clouds looking menacing, don't put on a coat. Convince yourself it will pass. Then when it does start raining, make sure you get as wet as physically possible. To ensure this, wear jeans and make your way through fields that consist primarily of long grass. This way everything you're wearing gets well and truly sodden. Make sure you can hear your socks squelching in your shoes, this is a sure sign that you are soaked to the bone.
3. This is the most important one. You must be staying in a caravan with nowhere to dry your clothes, no heating, and no hot water. Remove your clothes, run and turn the water supply on in your pants, and treat yourself to a nice long cold shower. Then sit back, and enjoy the strange burning feeling all over, even though you know you should be freezing.

And it all started so well.