The last few days have been so exciting as the season has finally turned to flow blown autumn and the colours and scenery is second to none in the world of Peter Hulbert as colour is everything in the lens of a camera and the eyes of the admirer and as autumn brings colour in abundance, the opportunity to capiltalise is something that was unthinkable.
To the right is a view from the wonderful Cannon Hall of which is just 20 minuets for me to travel but provides a whole spender of beauty to which it's grounds have an abundance of both trees and flowers but my focus is on the trees as they provide the most variety of both natural colour and changes of both shape and size and I find this particularly of interest as it provides such diversity. The grounds at Cannon Hall are a very relaxing place to see and the Hall it'self is used as a museum to show of an extensive range of Edwardian military as well as architectural features.
The advantage of visiting such a place as Cannon Hall or similar, is that you can condense much of the work of finding good images into a smaller location and any of the Ex-stately or Royal Households are usually good hunting grounds for photographers with an eye for something different. I have to confess at this point to reverting to being a 9 year old child for a while as I stumbled upon a conker tree which brought me back to my childhood and sent me foraging like a squirrel looking for nuts, only in this case I was not seeking food but the beautiful chestnut colours of the conker tree and as many kids in the UK will confirm, there is no fun like being a conker champion which sadly today has been slightly swept under the carpet for the latest play station or nintendo but getting out and back to nature is so much more healthier than video games and much more exciting. To the right, is a conker to which has left it's shell and is waiting to sprout routs and bury into the ground in which to start a whole new era of trees for the next generation to appreciate and enjoy. I always feel slightly dissapointed that the children of today have no understanding of these things and just how interesting and how much fun it can be searching for things like conkers. In my youth and at this time or year, we used to search out and collect hazelnuts, blackberries, raspberries, wild apples, elderberries and if we were really lucky and patient, bilberries but they were hard work as you got covered in flies in the process of picking them.
The last few days of my life have been so stressful and filed with both fear and anticipation as my partner who is a Doctor was across at the other side of the world in the south seas and working in Manila when the Super Typhoon hit and whilst we had a few days notification of it's path, they took the advice given and headed north on the Island of Manila and this turned out to be a big mistake as the Typhoon also turned north on a direct path to where they were with the eye of the storm passing directly overhead before heading out over the south china sea for it's next stop of Hang Kong. It was like a living hell waiting for news but to which in the end turned out to be good news and the relief was amazing and as such, I took some time out to have some moment of thought with my camera and I am now sharing that moment with you all in my blog. I never want to experience a moment like that again, the worry and fear is something just too much to comprehend and my thoughts go out to those who lost their lives and their families who are left behind in the storm to try and rebuild and start over after such a tragedy struck the whole community with such devastation and life threatening impact to which you have no power to control such events.
21st September 2018
Wow, when the weather office said a hurricane was on the way with rain, I never expected 3 feet deep waters and cars stuck with people seeking to be rescued but the excitement was amazing if you were safe but not much fun if your car was floating down the street. I have to say that the rain was needed but I never expected so much in such a short period of time. Apparently we got a whole months rain in 12 hours but looking on the positive side, I can at least take a bath without feeling guilty. So, on the latest news front of which this blog is based upon was something quite dear to my heart as I was driving along the country roads on a return journey from Cannon Hall, I found laying at the side of the road a dead badger to which was a stark reminder to myself and I wish to extend this message to others, that slowing down has many advantages, not least of which is one that can help to save lives. Animals have little road sense if any at all but as humans, we are supposed to be intelligent and see the dangers before they come and as such, slowing down allows a little more time to allow for anything unexpected and our brains to kick in and react accordingly. 
Whilst I was wondering around the gardens of Cannon Hall, I discovered a section where they grow there own vegetables and I was amazed at the quality and quantity that they produce. I found marrow, squash, beans and a variety of cabbage but as I turned the corner, I noticed some bright orange footballs to which turned out to be pumpkin and it then made me realise that Halloween is just around the corner and a special time for the kids to dress up and enjoy some fun. One thing that did impress me was a tree full of apples to which the gardener was kind enough to tell me I could collect some if I wished. He told me they were unusual as they were red apples which in itself is not unusual but red all the way through which I discovered was truly unusual and they were very sweet to eat. I have never seen an apple that has red flesh as well as outer skin. They were very nice and being a Yorkshire man, they taste even nicer when they are free.
26th September 2018
We have well and truly passed the half way point of September and whilst the nights are certainly drawing in and much colder, the days are still mostly sunny and that's a bonus for what we call an Indian summer, which in short means and extended summer period. I have to confess at this point to being a fan of September as generally the heat has dropped off and the days are normally still quite warm and provides us with little to complain about, but we are British and complaining about the weather is what we do best.
We are fast heading toward the 11.00 am on the 11th Day of the 11th month in which the UK and many of it's crown dependencies, overseas dependencies and commonwealth colleagues stop what they are doing and stand in silence for 1 minuets silence in which to show respect toward those who lost their lives in wars and laid down their lives to provide myself and others with the freedoms that we now have in our lives and we symbolise this with the wearing of a poppy. Below is a typical tribute to that moment as shown across the vast majority of the civilised world. My Grandfather served in the First World War and survived and to that end I am very proud of the medal to which he left me with his name engraved. His name was "Harry Love" from Belfast Northern Ireland & United Kingdom and I (Peter Hulbert) treasure that medal to this very day. I see no winner in war, I only ever see loss to both or all sides and my version of war is that all wars start out as an economic war that get's beyond the negotiation stage and as such, those who created the war tell the innocent to fight and lay down their lives for the ones who are ultimately protected from the line of fire by those who had nothing to do with the creation of such madness but whom are now being told to join in the fight. Crazy does not begin to describe what I think about the whole thing but God forbid I hope it never happens again. I have lived through several, including the Suez Crisis, Falkland Islands & Gulf War and I have never had reason to either agree or disagree with any of them. Let's end this update with a picture of something a little more up-lifting and taken today with my phone that shows an old "Victorian Band Stand" which was a typical scene about 200 years ago where the people of the local town or village used to come out to watch the Church band play for the public to enjoy, often the stand was placed in a park as was this one.
4th October 2018
Wow, has it been a wild week or what. Have you ever had one of those weeks where you never have enough hours in the day to get everything done but with a burst of extra energy, you somehow find a way and yet despite every day being almost like "Ground Hog Day" and repeating it'self over and over, you look back and realise you achieved nothing and might just as well not bothered even starting. Yup, I hear you say..........well that was my week and looking forward to the coming week, it looks like it might just repeat itself all over again.
Im told that when life seems to just go round and round like a Ferris wheel at the local fair ground, it's not that you can't handle life or there is too much to grasp but more a case of your are letting the tail wag the dog and it's all about control. Life will always get the better of you if you allow it to but when you control your life you have the power and confidence in what you are doing and the result is a much better outcome and the stress levels drop while your satisfaction level rises and when you allow life to control you, it truly becomes very stressful and hard to pull it back but the opposite happens when you take control and by definition, you become far less stressed. To the right is an image I took a while ago at a Fair Ground and my lesson to you all is that I lost control of my life this last few days and right now I could just curl up and sleep as I am exhausted after the turmoil it created. Catch up is always hard and more energy than control. The only consolation is that I "Peter Hulbert" have learned my own lesson and don't want to repeat the lesson again.I am not quite sure what is the fascination with my history as it was quite a normal one in many respects but periodically I am asked to provide a copy of my old school letter that confirms a very eventful day in my life when I parted company with my school without even saying goodbye for some reason. It was a case of please leave and don't return to which satisfied myself but obviously not my family. All I can ever say is I frankly didn't give a sh_t about any school report. I had already secured an apprenticeship and had no need for anything that school had to offer. What I would summerise is all as was a waste of many years listening to a bunch of crap that served no purpose what so ever in my life except to educate me in subjects and knowledge that was never checked or tested, just handed down from moron to moron that history has always managed to do. The leftie education system really based upon brainwashing minds into believing what you hear is true but without question, evidence or substance. The result being.........well, take a look below and work out for yourself what I thought about it all......!!
23rd October 2018
Here we are again, heading quickly toward the end of October and for some weird reason I hear your voices in the background saying "why a gap in the updates and silence for the last few weeks". Firstly, an apology. I had a major fault with my mobile phone of which I use on a daily basis to take snaps along my travels as a daily memory in which to refer to when I update my "Peter Hulbert" blog page and use them as a point of reference and the delay in getting any help and in the end a new phone was something I simply didn't envisage in any way and as such I was silent for the last 20 day's, some might say that was a bonus. So, here we are back on track again and updating as we go along. I was in my local supermarket the other day and as always, I often buy some bottled water to which after checking the label, I noted it said "Low Calorie" and not being an expert I started to question just how many calories one get's in a bottle of water and in my world it is zero if any at all and all I would ask is how come this says "Low calorie" when water has zero calories........!!
Is this one of those marketing tricks to make the fatties buy water or is there something more sinister lurking under the story that I am being pumped full of sugar in water to which I had no idea about and if it is the latter, I would take reference to that as it is wrong in my world. This also opens the debate for what are manufacturers & retailers putting into our food that we are totally ignorant of and we place our faith in their hands and yet we may be being misled in so many ways without any realisation of what is going on and what if anything the harm it is creating to our daily lives. It certainly opens the mind of debate for those who care.
I thought I would share this simply brilliant idea to which I stumbled upon over the last few days and one to which I feel we should all consider adopting as a small project to encourage a better environment for us all to enjoy and as I understand it, this is an insect hibernation system and a safe place for bugs and beetles to hide away in safety through the winter where they are away from the frost and snow and can live safely through to the spring time and as our country is now covered in pesticide and sprays, I thought this was a great idea and one that has registered in my head for when I finally move away from where I live. If you look carefully, you will see that it is divided into a variety of different sections all of different sizes and the idea is to encourage small invertebrates to find there way here and stay in relative safety through the hashes of winter and allow to leave in the spring to start and do what they do best. I often think it is the simple things that we can all do to encourage nature and work together to provide some kind of future for not only our children but for natures children too and without all the insects doing there work, our world would be a very miserable place to be. At this point, I also wish to pay tribute to the people who made this possible and below and to the left, you will see a marker post to which was placed by them to mark the spot and I truly thank them for both giving up their time and energy and also for caring enough to do this kind gesture for us all to see.
