The Year Dot 2026

Three cornered leek We've just come back from a day of foraging for food, hosted by Jasper from Totally Wild UK which was held at Portwrinkle just a few miles away from where we live. The day was perfect, sunny and warm with no wind. The first part of the course was a short walk down a leafy path to the beach. Our first plant to identify was Sea Spinach, a plant I had always seen but never knew it was edible. The identification was simple as it has a slightly waxy leaf in the shape of a spearhead and you can use it in stir-frys, or as a salad vegetable. You need to pick the newish leaves at the older ones can be quite tough. Always pick above dog-leg height for obvious reasons. Jasper explaining about Sea Spinach Jasper explained that it is illegal to uproot plants but on public land it is fine to take the leaves.  He usually goes by the rule, a third for him, a third for the animals and a third for the plant. Dulse Then we then had a little rock pool ramble and we were taught how...

Mourning your children’s childhood and accepting them as adults. Emma (background) David, Sally & Matthew I found it very hard to say goodbye to our children’s childhood as they grew older.  I mourned for the days when they were small and we were their everything.  Those times when Emma the boys were noisy and play-fought everywhere, when I couldn't even hear myself think.  All those cuddles, snotty noses, tears and laughter.   A mother’s duty is to love your children, nurture them, and protect them from harm, it’s really hard to switch all that off.   When David my firstborn arrived, I spent a lot of time just looking at him sleeping,  staring and thinking, look what we have created. I have a whole blank human here to guide and develop.  The responsibility was overwhelming.  I vowed to be the best mother I could possibly be.   I often would remember my Nana, and thought what would she do, whenever a problem occurred. She looked...

  So, something amazing happened this week.  Four humans were propelled from Earth on a huge firework; they saw the dark side of the moon for the first time, (cue Pink Floyd) and they travelled the furthest any human has ever travelled away from Earth. Then they were safely brought back to Earth, travelling at stupid miles per hour through the earth’s atmosphere and didn’t burn up into one celestial fireball, and landed plop into the ocean gently slowed down by the aid of three flimsy looking parachutes. When you stop and think about it, it is mind-boggling, really.   Now, unless you are a flat-Earth conspiracy theorist, and believe me, they are out there.  How does this work?  I mean. How? With just radio signals, they can talk to Earth and send live photos back.  I still don’t really understand how a TV works.   I wonder what those astronauts thought about when they saw our beautiful Earth getting smaller and smaller.  Do you think they thought...

New Rules: April 2026 As from the first of April this year new recycling rules have come into force across the UK.  All homes will have a food waste bin that will be collected weekly, a general waste bin that is collected every other week and a multi recycling waste bin for cardboard/paper, plastic/metal, and glass which is collected every other week alternating with the general waste. This has been implemented to get the UK rate of recycling up to 65% by the year 2035. At the moment Wales come out on top at 68.4%, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England are lower.  England I am ashamed to say is 44.6%.   Weekly food waste goes to specialised plants where it is turned into renewable energy and fertilizer. Cardboard is recycled into more cardboard, glass is recycled into more glass and what they are now doing with plastic is incredible, new clothing fibres etc. We in Cornwall have been doing this recycling for a while now, in fact according to Cornwall Council our rate...