SIGNAGE ON TRUCKS

Instead of being irked by traffic build-up along the roads we travel, if I am a passenger I look out for signage on some of the vehicles – most often trucks – that we meet along the journey. Here are a few:

Apart from the safety signs on the left-hand side warning us not to light matches, smoke or even to use cell phones in the vicinity of the truck carrying flammable gas, is the interesting This vehicle is not allowed to stop. Please follow me to the nearest police station. This provides a degree of protection for the driver should someone try to stop the truck for nefarious purposes. It happens.

Time is Money – a clever play on the brand Time-Link Cargo, which provides a not too subtle suggestion that they will deliver your cargo as quickly as possible.

This ruck carries a similar warning as the one in the first picture, but I was attracted by the logo and the words Always Ahead – another way of telling potential customers how efficient this company is. The yellow triangle on a blue background is a requirement for vehicles crossing the border and towing a trailer.

It was rather amusing to find this Toilet Hire trailer stopped in a suburban street with the driver’s door open … did he need to go somewhere in a hurry?

This truck is included to give you an idea of some of the elaborate heraldry employed by our local municipalities.

Speaking of heraldry, there is no mistaking this vehicle for anything but one involved in the wildlife tourist industry!

ADDING FLESH TO THE BONES: WHAT WAR POETRY CAN ADD TO MILITARY HISTORY

If you have about 26 minutes to spare and should you wish to listen to my presentation on the above, you are welcome to find it at

 

 

TIME

Time is an interesting concept. Despite the hours and minutes we have allotted to each day, depending on how we are feeling or what we are doing, it either seems to drag or passes by too quickly for our liking. Think of a quick meeting between two lovers, as described by Carol Ann Duffy:

Love’s time’s beggar, but even a single hour,

bright as a dropped coin, makes love rich.

We find an hour together, spend it not on flowers

or wine, but the whole of the summer sky and a grass ditch.

 Yet, the seconds tick by forming minutes, which form hours that collectively make up days then weeks and even years. This happens relentlessly, no matter what we are doing or how we might feel.

William Shakespeare also understood the changing perceptions of time:

Time is very slow for those who wait;
very fast for those who are scared;
very long for those who lament;
very short for those who celebrate; but for those who love, time is eternal.

I rather enjoy the idea of measuring time from sunrise to the middle of the day to sunset and beyond. There is a feeling of ease in this even though one might be busy. Think of those ancient times now behind us as depicted by William Blake:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green:

For some, time seemed to speed up once digital time-pieces became common: time is measured to the very second! This gives the impression of there being no time to waste for it is now exactly 14:35.21. I regard analogue time as being friendlier: it is nearly twenty to three. Exact seconds and minutes don’t count. I will meet you at around three o’clock. This is why I prefer my current wristwatch to any digital ones I have owned before.

Roman numerals … they are commonly used on public clock faces. Do you know that many young people are unable to read Roman numerals anymore?

Church steeples in this country often have clocks in them – a fine way for townsfolk to tell the time without having to own a watch. The clock in our cathedral use to boom the quarter hours and hours. Then there were complaints about the noise keeping people awake at night, so the chiming stopped at around 6 p.m. Now the clock remains silent.

The clock on our Town Hall hasn’t told the correct time for years.

I have met a number of people who rely on their cell phones when checking the time – there is no longer a greatly felt need to wear a wrist watch. Long before then fob watches were used.

We could even return to a reliance on sundials.

https://www.thehoarde.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-the-garden-sundial

 

ANIMALS IN MY STREET

The street I live in is an elliptical one and we overlook an open lawn that runs along one of the main roads to enter town. Regular readers are familiar with what I call the Urban Herd as well as some of the donkeys that roam through our town at will. I start with a donkey resting on the grassy verge while its companions were grazing on the lush kikuyu grass growing further along the street.

One afternoon I was alerted to the baleful sound of this bull calf bellowing mournfully “where are you? where are you?” outside my front gate, whilst its companion sought comfort from the tree trunk behind it. They had become separated from the rest of their section of the Urban Herd and were feeling lost, lonely and abandoned. I am pleased to report that it wasn’t very long before they were united with their respective mothers as the herd wandered down from grazing a short distance away.

There are many occasions when even adult members of the Urban Herd become separated from the rest because they are concentrating on eating something delicious – as this cow, which is eating fallen jacaranda flowers on my street.

Here is a small portion of the Urban Herd grazing on the open lawn below our home. The housing development and bush in the background is where the wild fires raged not that long ago.

Sometimes the Urban Herd work their way right up to our street. These ones are on the corner. Note the cattle egret on the right of the photograph.

To end this brief look at some of the animals that frequent the street where I live, is a picture of twin calves outside our back gate. Some of you may be aware that if twins are born of the same sex they are likely to be as normal as any other cow or bull. However, if one is a bull and the other is a heifer, they are known as Freemartins. In such a case the bull will grow up to be fine but the chances are stacked against the heifer as she is likely to be sterile.

CAPE VULTURE

Generally speaking, vultures perform an important function in the environment by eating carrion from large mammal carcasses. It is through this scavenging feeding behaviour that they help to reduce the risk of disease outbreaks of pathogens which can be transmitted by decaying or infected carcasses. In this way vultures assist in preventing diseases such as anthrax and plagues of blowfly.

In terms of weight, the Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) is the largest vulture in southern Africa and often dominates other vultures at a feeding site. Like other vultures that feed in large groups, Cape vultures are known to steal food from one another at kills.

Note the strong beak.

Cape vultures are large, bulky, creamy-white birds with long, muscular un-feathered necks. Their bald heads and long necks help them to keep clean while accessing food from right inside the carcass body cavity. It is interesting to note that their tongues are rough and scoop-like which enables them to eat muscle, intestines, organs and even fragments of bone at a rapid rate. Obviously the food cannot be digested as quickly, so it is stored in their crop for later digestion.

One can find these birds in open grassland, savanna and shrub land. They tend to nest on suitable ledges on the rock-face of cliffs, where there is a degree of safety from being attacked by leopards and jackals. Cape vultures are known to fly over vast areas searching for animal carcasses. An accumulation of white streaks often stain the cliff faces where Cape vultures breed.

It is sad to note that the Cape vultures are a globally threatened species. Their numbers are declining as a result of poisoning and electrocutions, as well as collisions with electricity pylons. I only recently found out that a group of vultures is known as a ‘venue’ and when the group is seen in the air, circling together; it is called a ‘kettle’.