Queen Mary’s Gardens can be found at the eastern end of Regents Park, London. It is a world-famous horticultural site with a great variety of plants including 12,000 roses and 9,000 begonias. There will be more views later. In the meantime, a little colour photographed in July, to brighten up the day.
This time I took some food. I put down the carrier bag to take out my camera and ~
“Right, I’ll do the old squirrel up the leg routine”.
“You do the blag”
“I’ll do the snatch. I’m so cute the rozzers will never suspect”
“Oh my, Oh my, Oh my. I’m rich I tell you, rich”
“Well now that’s all sorted out, a nice little sit down on this handy leggy thing”
“Cor blimey governor, it ain’t ‘alf a good bit of cashew this.”
“A nice piece of walnut for me. I say, any chance of liqueur”.
“Look it’s the great Squirreldini”
“Blasted squirrels. Any of us could do that if we wanted too”
“What, with these feet”
We don’t have much and life can be hard, but:-
Sittin’ in the morning sun
I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch them roll away again, yeah
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time
Otis Redding Listen on Youtube
There are more squirrels at Squirrels in the Park and Squirrels Up My Leg
Due to unexpected technical difficulties and the after effects of abduction by Yuletide aliens, we will be temporarily off-line. I hope you all enjoy your holidays. 😀
Images temporarily abducted from the interweb.
🙂 It’s like this, when every new day is a gift, then every day is as joyful as Xmas.
And now 4 galleries of Christmas 2016. We hope you enjoy as many kinds of Xmas as you like and you can click on any picture to expand it.
Lights at Oxford St, Regents St, Hamleys Toy Store and Covent Garden
This is at the south east entrance to Hyde Park. Entrance to the fair is free but the rides are paid for in tokens that are purchased at kiosks. Special attractions can be booked online or paid for at the venue (but you may have to queue). More information here. Food and drink are expensive (£5 for a Hot Dog).
This is free.
Now that’s been taken taken care of, how about a game ? – So,
What have we got in our pocketses then ?
More squirrels up legs ⇐.
I thought I would just quickly publish a little colour for those who may be caught in winters gloom. This beauty is from a collection taken at the Horniman Museum’s gardens. There will be more later in the year, or next.
For those of you who were kind enough to enjoy the squirrels climbing up my leg; I went back with food and got mugged by the squirrels. So there will be more of that later and some Xmas lights. In the meantime I hope this brightens your day.
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Some Plain facts
Tiger Global are investment speculators. Prior to September 2013 they held a $50 million stake in Automaticc Inc (that’s WP).
Approximately September 2013 they acquired another $60 million of private equity in Automaticc Inc. The article, which makes interesting reading, is here:-
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/09/17/tiger-global-ups-investment-in-creator-of-wordpress/
Tiger Global have increasing investment in mobile, messaging and e-commerce companies, especially in places where landlines are not always available. Here is one of several articles on the subject:-
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/17/quikr-tigerglobal-idUSL3N0RI4B920140917
Conjecture
If there is any connection between these items and recent changes that are intended to be more mobile friendly, then the alleged improvements have been handled so badly as to become a poison chalice.
Options
If this issue makes you annoyed, then the best approach is to ensure the unity of a collective voice in one place. May I suggest that; bloggers create a post upon this subject with a link to the forum thread.
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/massive-changes-to-the-wp-interface/page/11?replies=307
WP closed that thread, it now continues on:-
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/upgraded-stats-and-changes-to-wp-interface?replies=2
and
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/stats-classics-how-to-set/page/6?replies=155
Alternatively, re-blog the first post which includes the link:-
https://freedfromtime.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/recent-changes-to-wordpress-user-interface/
Further, you might announce your posts on the forum so that others can re-blog them.
… and may I wish a Very Merry Christmas to all bloggers.
more later.
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How to get involved – Why I Post on the subject –
Why there is a need to be involved – What is being said
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In reference to the hosted service.
There was a WordPress Forum Topic on this subject, which is worth reading, here:-
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/massive-changes-to-the-wp-interface?replies=456
WP closed that topic, it now continues on
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/upgraded-stats-and-changes-to-wp-interface?replies=2
and
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/stats-classics-how-to-set/page/6?replies=155
and about the notifications on
All WordPress users have access to the forum and a right to use it.
To add your comments, use the link and go to the bottom of the last page. Many specific complaints have been given, so you do not need to do more than state whether you do or do not like the changes, unless you wish to comment further.
There is also an option to subscribe to the thread by email notification and be kept up to date with developments.
– – Update: Investment influences, please click here.
On the forum, in response to the question “When will we start seeing information from the survey ?” the response (Dec 11, 2014, 6:14 PM) from staff was:-
“The survey results will probably be reviewed internally and used as one part of the decision-making process there”.
The WordPress Daily Post produced an article entitled “Upgraded Stats and Navigation Enhancement”. Comments became complaints and, when I introduced a link to the forum thread, it was closed for further comments and omitted the comment with a link to the forum. The article shows how nice the new stats look on a mobile and is here:-
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/stats-navigation-enhancements/
WordPress closed a Customer Services topic after only 24 minutes.
If views are not made more public, then no one will know the majority opinion.
There are more changes to come and there is a distinct danger that new formats will eventually replace the existing ones. It is already being made difficult to navigate to the preferred screen pages.
I am concerned that bloggers will think that using the survey will be enough for their opinion to count. Considering that, according to WP Staff, the survey results are unlikely to be published, it is unlikely that they will need to pay much attention if it does not suit them.
Therefore it is most important that we make our views more publicly known, whatever they are. Otherwise we could find our needs supplanted by the pursuit of new markets and face increasingly thoughtless nuisance and loss of facilities. It does not have to be an either or situation, both needs can be facilitated. Although, even for mobile use, it has been badly done.
Bloggers can help to secure the future by leaving even a simple comment on the forum and/or re-blogging this so that others have the opportunity of being in the loop.
There are many very specific complaints and a lot of annoyance to be found on the forum, but I will try to fairly summarise the main points:-
The changes were foisted upon us without warning or the opportunity to comment. After all we do pay for this and do make WordPress a financial success by the effort we put into our blogs. The last valuation of WordPress was $1.4 billion.
The User Interface is being made more Mobile friendly at the expense of Desktop users.
Navigation and Sign Out drop down menus are disappearing and it is interrupting work flow.
The New Stats page is only one column showing a graph of 10 days instead of the previous 30, it requires more scrolling to view the entire contents and the summary table icon is missing.
The new editor is missing “Add Poll”, “Add Contact Form” , the Screen Option of One Column (Full Width View). The editor frame is not adjustable, one cannot get directly from a published post to the old editor and there have been numerous complaints about “beep bop boo etc” from when it first appeared.
Many people just don’t like the appearance.
There is only one staff member attending who can only report back to the developers. Although very polite and patient it is, as one member commented, “Like trying to knit fog”.
If I have omitted anything or you have a specific concern, please comment on the forum where it will be seen by other WP members and by staff.
Thank you for taking the time to read and hope that you will take few moments to add your voice.
🙂
I’ve always considered myself to be quite animal friendly, and animals quite friendly to me. Nevertheless, at the south east corner of St James’s Park Lake, I was quite surprised by this.
I discovered why squirrels are so good at climbing trees. Those little claws are sharp.
When he or she looked up and realised that this tree had a face, there was a quick scamper off behind a real tree.
Then, would you ~
it.
There was another one.
At first I thought this must be the same squirrel, but a close examination of the whiskers shows a variation and there is slightly darker patch at the left shoulder. I think they must have been siblings and the little scamps were playing “Anything you can do, I can do better”.
Even the geese were surprised.
Wha’ the ~.
Still, they were only having fun in their own squirrely way. Good on them, they make me laugh and I feel quite privileged to have had squirrels up my leg.
There are more squirrels at the Great Nut Heist.
The Grey Heron is resident in the UK and can be found near rivers and lakes. Although it is a water bird it does not have webbed feet and does not swim. They catch their prey of fish, small birds, frogs and molluscs by standing at the water edge. They will also feed upon rodents in fields. There is a broad variety of Heron species, some of which are called Egrets or Bitterns and some species have been known to use bait.
This one, photographed at the east end of Regents Park, was difficult to get close to. Unlike swans, geese and ducks they don’t feed of human gifts unless you happen to have a live fish about you.
Another shot of a Heron at (click on) Kyoto Gardens in Holland Park
Upon Refection I’m Twice the Bird I Used To Be 🙂
Just outside Kensington Palace and a little to the north, there is an intersection in the path where the squirrels like to play. These cheeky chaps seem particularly interested in people with shopping. They also like to play hide and seek with photographers. The other games are; now I’m in focus and now I’m not and I’ll move just at the moment you press the shutter button. They’re very good at it. I took about 20 snaps, these are the only 4 worth showing. Can’t complain though, they were only having fun and very endearing.
“I say, have you got any linguine and do you know the way to San José.”
Just outside Kensington Palace where you can see this house.
Now you see me, and now ~
“Flash ah ah , the savior of the universe”.
“Alright you got me. Now about my fee”.
I hope you enjoyed that. They always make me laugh.
You might also like Squirrels up my Leg ⇐.
Freed From Time 