Really interesting talk by Dennis vanEngelsdorp who is the Acting State Apiarist for Pennsylvania's Department of Agriculture, mostly about bees, but also touching upon NDD.
In this stunning slideshow, celebrated nature photographer Frans
Lanting presents The LIFE Project, a poetic collection of photographs
that tell the story of our planet, from its eruptive beginnings to its
present diversity. Soundtrack by Philip Glass.
During lunch, it was explained that from hereon it is my responsibility to put the oxygen, spare regulator and mask into the van we are to use (my second tranche of responsibility).
Mala is to the East of the island.
On the way from base at Costa Teguise (a minibus journey of about 30 minutes), the landscape changes and becomes a patchwork of cacti fields mainly (I am told) to feed the cochineal market. North African labour is used to brush the beetles from the cacti.
Mala is also known for its nudist colony.
Don't get me wrong; I live by the principle of 'there by the grace of God', except where it involves large amounts of exposed wrinkled flesh, overtly spreadeagled in all directions. I remember seeing a wildlife programme about elephant seals basking in the sun before re-entering the water…
Back to the point:
The van was parked and after listening to the brief about the dive we were about to do, we took out our boxes of gear before getting changed by the roadside into our dive equipment.
We walked past a bunch of basking nudes and entered the water by way of a giant stride. The dive was good with a range of different sea beds, mostly made up of volcanic rock frozen in time to form long dark fingers reaching out into the deep blue, but interspersed with sand and surge-induced slowly waving weed. Long spine urchins with extreme blue lines lay scattered across all the rocks, moving their spines in reaction to any disturbance in their vicinity.Fish seen:
- Ornate wrasse
- Parrot Fish (male and female)
- Small Flander (below the sand)
- Eagle ray
When the dive ended, the walk from stairs to van was difficult. I was really tired and would happily have gone to sleep there and then.
After returning to base, Patrick offered me a lift home with my new bike, which was gracefully accepted, I went in and cooked some Spaghetti a la Carbonara, before falling into a warm bath.
After a kip in the bath, I decided to go out cycling to explore the town, establish where in relation to other points of reference I am living and to judge whether I can cycle to work. Frankly, I shocked myself how well I did cycling around, up hill. Even if I did go for a tumble trying to cycle down some stairs whilst talking on my mobile phone (some things never change).
I must have cycled, in the end, for about 3 hours. I stopped at the beach bar for a pint of beer, before heading home for the night and a good sleep.
If you have any feedback about my blog and want to give me an idea about what you think I should experience or photograph. If you know about an event which is happening that you think I should attend, or, if you know someone and think it would be good for me to meet them, then tell me.
Have a look at my blog first, and get a feel for the kinds of things you think I will be interested in before you hit “Send”.
Why do I want your ideas? Because I want to be distracted.
I want to look at new things, hear new stories, listen to new music, taste new foods and live!
I need a new purpose to help me survive the wilderness.
I will try to get back to everyone who emails me.
If you think you can help, contact me
Who is Gullbad Nogbee?
I worked in the voluntary sector in London and Kent between 1993-2009 dealing with people who were homeless, suffering addictions or living
with poor mental health. Over the years I was also fortunate to work
with asylum seekers and young people.
I enjoyed my work and hope that
people benefited from what I thought, said and did.
As far as politics is concerned, I am open minded enough to see merit
in a good argument or when evidence is presented notwithstanding what
colour it’s painted. I have had experience participating in the local political landscape and I hope, here too, I made a positive contribution to the planning process amongst other things.
I am interested in faith and enjoy exploring
common truths over difference between different faiths.
Friends and family are pretty spread out and I do not see them as much
as I would like, although I do try to speak, see or spend time with them as often as possible.
I am not too familiar with popular music but, can tell you when I like something I hear. From experience, I know that I like barn dances and live ‘folky’ performance. I steer clear of night clubs.
I would hope that people who know me describe me as decent, funny and
able to treat serious things seriously. One of my top ten worst fears
is to be described as ‘boring’.
I don’t mind someone else having the last
word or having a better story – I think that’s what life is about.
People are my passion though, and I never tire in meeting new or
caching up with old friends.
What made you start a blog?
Well, I had a tough 18 months between March 2008 an the end of 2009. Life as I knew it came to an end.
My father passed away, my career came off its tracks and most devastatingly, I lost my love. Any one of these things force people to rethink their lives, but for me, the loss of my best friend who I had been with through thick and thin for 5 years represented the ‘tipping point’.
I think its true to say that what with everything else that was going on, my head was not in the right place to give her or her son the attention they deserved and so in the end, love and affection were sought elsewhere. The equal and opposite effect of them going from my life was that immediately, my purpose was gone.
I decided to run away. When telling an old pal what I was thinking of doing etc. etc, he told me to write a blog and so, here I am.
Why write a blog?
This web-log will document the methods I hope to initiate for trying to distract myself from the gray dislocated life I now have left. A situation I am very keen to walk away from.
It is entirely self indulgent but like anything else I do from here on, it will at least be authentic, honest, distinctive, hopefully entertaining and engaging.
I suppose the process of laying oneself out in text is quite cathartic. Reminiscing, thinking aloud and sharing those thoughts and even just making observations. No doubt I will get to unpack feelings I have and go over choices I made, whether right or wrong at the time. Maybe even, others might learn from mistakes I made whilst I hope to reflect, learn more and change as events unfold.
With my no-plan plan, who knows where it will end. The journey however
between here and there will, I hope, be of interest to some.
In summary, Rev. Lloyd Hobbard-Mitchell’s deep commitment to his religious vocation, his diverse experiences as an English teacher, artist, entrepreneur, and traveller, as well as his extensive work in the voluntary sector, focusing on homelessness and social welfare all define the man he is.