Today I had a hospital appointment at ENT ..
 The doctor was checking my ears  along with my sinus problem..
She was asking me questions whilst wearing a mask ..
Not only that she spoke with a foreign accent..
 She asked me if I had trouble hearing..
I replied 'Only when someone is talking to me whilst wearing a mask'.. 
She saw the funny side of my remark.. She was a lovely person..

What an excellent post Raven ! 
Sadly this is true .
Gardens also are  much smaller especially on new builds with just about enough room for your wheelie bins and a twirly washing line .
No room for wildlife .

Racehorse are increasingly bred for speed with big hearts and lungs and fragile legs .
Even on the flat they break down 
Although steeple chasers ( jump horses ) such race at Cheltenham are generally somewhat  more robust  weight and impact on fine legs is not good .
They can also fall and break their necks 
The strain of being kept racing fit also takes its toll .

I'm not saying that all chasers die young but sadly many do .


Horses in general are quite delicate .
Horses with more bone ( the legs are more sturdy ) tend not to be used for racing 
Racehorses are also raced young , a horse lasts longer if it is not worked too much too young .
Like children their bone plates have to set .
They also live an un natural life being in a box most of the time .
This and the high energy diet they eat is also not natural to horses.
They developed to live lives of constant movement eating little but often mainly grass.

The toughest horses are the native breeds most of which are ponies .
These small horses have plenty of bone and if living  a natural life - outside - can live a long time .
Horses used for pleasure riding with good care do in fact live a long time .

As we see horse racing is supported by the very rich .
Principally among them was the late Queen and the Queen Mother .
It's an elite sport .
And money speaks .

Thirty years ago, the average British garden sheltered hedgehogs crossing the lawn at dusk, swallows nesting under the garage eaves, glow-worms flickering along the hedge in June, common toads patrolling the borders after rain, and house sparrows squabbling over crumbs on the breakfast terrace.
That garden still exists. But it has fallen quiet.
The European hedgehog has declined by 30 to 50 per cent across much of Britain since the 1990s. The cause is not a predator — it is fragmentation. Solid fencing, rendered walls, and unbroken boundary structures have carved the landscape into sealed parcels. A hedgehog needs to travel two to three kilometres each night to feed. A fully enclosed garden is a trap, not a home. Cutting a 13 × 13 cm gap at the base of a fence reconnects an entire neighbourhood.
The barn swallow has lost a significant portion of its UK breeding population since the 1970s. It nests in open barns, garages, and outbuildings — spaces that were routinely left open a generation ago. Today, barns are converted to holiday lets, garage doors are automated, and outbuildings are sealed. The swallow returns each April to last year's nest and finds a closed door. A 10 cm opening left in place from March to September restores the site.
The common glow-worm (Lampyris noctiluca) has disappeared from most suburban gardens. The cause is measurable: artificial light. The female emits a soft green glow at ground level to attract the flying male. A single security light floods that signal with competing photons. The male cannot find the female. Breeding stops. Switching off outdoor lights between 10 pm and 6 am from May to September is enough to restore it.
The common toad (Bufo bufo) returns each spring to the pond where it hatched. If that pond has been filled, paved over, or left to dry out — there is no fallback. A permanent pond of just 2 m², even without fish, re-establishes the breeding cycle within two to three years.
The house sparrow has declined by more than 50 per cent in UK towns and cities since the 1970s according to BTO monitoring. The cause is twofold: loss of nesting cavities as buildings are insulated and sealed, and collapse of the insects that chicks depend on in their first two weeks. A nest box with a 32 mm entrance hole and a patch of unsprayed lawn address both.
The peacock, small tortoiseshell, and red admiral — three butterflies that once visited every British garden — have become scarce in suburban areas. All three breed exclusively on nettles. A garden without nettles is a garden without these butterflies. Leaving one square metre of nettles in a sheltered corner is sufficient.
Solitary bees — mason bees, mining bees, and plasterer bees — need bare, firm soil for their nest tunnels and flowers from March to October. A fully mulched, regularly weeded garden planted with sterile ornamentals provides neither. A south-facing patch of bare earth and three metres of mixed flowering hedge restore both nesting habitat and foraging range.
The violet ground beetle (Carabus violaceus), the large metallic-blue predatory beetle that once patrolled vegetable rows after dark, has been lost from many gardens through slug pellet use and deep digging. Its larvae develop in the top ten centimetres of soil. Ground disturbance destroys them; slug control products harm the beetles that were eating the slugs. A no-dig approach and avoiding all pellets allows the ground beetle to return within two seasons.
The decline is not abstract. Each species that disappeared had an address — your roof, your hedge, your lawn, your pond, your wall. Each cause is identifiable. Each solution is within reach, costs almost nothing, and works within three years.

Eric stopped by the Lake to see
If he could catch a nice Trout for tea
He swung his rod back from the the rear
And squealed because he'd hooked his ear
His wife called buy some sardines for me

Eric cursed and set out for a shop
There must surely be a nice co-op

I've seen some small bits on Gogglebox 

It seems the reigns got caught in the gate
Making Silver Bullet  start the race late 
So he ran extra fast - 
But still came in last 
Fred thought it must be fate.  


Eric stopped by the Lake to see
If he could catch a nice Trout for tea

Quote from: Scrumpy on Today at 09:48:12 AMIt also shows how people can decide in a moment whether or not they are attracted to one another..
It also shows how a person can mistake friendship for love..
 Only the Aussies can do it...
A program that I do find (ugly) is Naked Attraction..
 Where people only show their bits and pieces and are chosen simply on what their bits and pieces
look like..
 Yet there are many who watch it..

I only saw that once,  and that was enough for me.    
Strange kinda  woman who would choose her future man just by his dangly bits only - and vice versa.

Still a cold wind blowing here,  but its drying my washing at least.

Our Michael has been missing for a couple of days.  Hope he's alright, and not had another fall?

Wordle 1,731 4/6

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It seems the reigns got caught in the gate
Making Silver Bullet  start the race late