The Sunday Ramble: from rivers to runner beans

Today’s photo is of the River Tame. It’s the subject of some research now into it’s industrial history. Here you can see it running through Sandwell Valley Country Park towards Forge Mill Lake. There’s a bridleway to the left where you can ride your horse , cycle or walk.

The river runs all through the Black Country and is lined with flowers now. I’ve photographed it at Bentley Mill, around Walsall, at Bescot,  Tame Bridge, Wednesbury, Sandwell Valley and around Sheepwash in Tipton. We even looked for the source of the river at Willenhall. They were advertising for someone to show people the river at £200 a day not long ago. It was only for 42 days through the summer. The lottery was funding the project. I have just found a photo of Elwells pool which was fed by the river in the 19th century. This is the sort of stuff they might research…

Voluntary work?

I wanted to do something in the community not long ago. I looked to see if I could volunteer for something suitable. There were opportunities working 9 to 5 in an office, but who wants to do that! Then there were opportunities that meant ‘training’ and a criminal records check or something. I thought I might be able to turn up and help people with something I know about, like writing or photography. I don’t want to make a career of it. It’s a shame that I don’t know much about the history of the River Tame…

The Guardian

I read some interesting stuff on the Guardian website this morning.

‘Some arresting statistics have emerged in the last few days. Can it really be true that one in every five people who have been to university is a millionaire, and that – even more astounding – almost one in 10 of all adults is a millionaire? Can it really be true that 11% of households have a second property, which they either let or use as a second home? And can it really be true that the Conservatives are ahead in the opinion polls? In the light of these revelations about personal wealth, brought to you by the Office for National Statistics, no less, voting intentions suddenly seem pretty easy to understand.’

When you look at property prices down south there should be more millionaires than that. I wonder if they are just taking into account the value of their homes or are they deducting all their debts too? These statistics do seem to highlight the divisions in society, the aspiring haves and the perspiring  have-nots. It seems unfair when people can make more wealth just buying a house and watching it go up in value, than actually doing any work. The traders on 100K a year in the city of London move money around and whether they do a good job or not expect another 100K bonus and 100K in free shares in the company. No wonder they can afford million quid mortgages and buy up properties to rent to make even more money. Compare that to the guy making 25K a year building engines for Jaguars. He makes real things for real people and will struggle to buy a 2 bedroom terrace in Wolverhampton.

Virtually all the shareholders in Lloyds Banking Group voted this week to allow them to have bonuses of 200% of pay. The shareholders effectively being the Tory Government. We really need every shareholder to have a vote, even the small shareholder with shares in nominee accounts. Many people are shareholders via ISA’s and pensions and their interests are represented by parasites on similar bonuses.

Wenches…

Yes, I had another email from a wench again this week.

This one’s seen me on Facebook and has just split with her boyfriend. Her name is Felisha. I still haven’t seen Stephany from last week, despite driving through Darlo a couple of times. Anyway, I don’t recognise either of them…

Cleggy

I don’t quite understand this latest controversy involving Nick Clegg. Apparently when they were discussing this daft free school meals idea, he classified the discussions top secret and some nasty Tory leaked the information. That’s treason isn’t it? We used to shoot traitors, didn’t we? What’s the latest thinking on treachery? A 200% bonus, share options, extra expenses and a free holiday?

Meanwhile

Meanwhile… The slugs and snails have eaten all my runner bean plants and I had a terrible week on the stock market; again. I did get a new camera bag for less than a tenner at Aldi though. Every cloud has a silver lining. The sun’s shining a bit in the Black Country too, so I might manage to take a few photos this afternoon. There are storms forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday, so I don’t know whether to plant out my second wave of runner bean plants or not. I suppose I could and then plant some more seeds. Life is all decisions…

Do you have any thoughts? Why not use the comments box to share them? You can also follow me on Twitter.

Advertisement