"Mulberries, Beef and Conkers"

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When shall I see the Thames again?

The prow-promoted gems again....

.....John Betjeman

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Well yesterday actually.

It was a much more comfortable day unlike those of the previous week.

I had been meaning to nip down there and check out this Mulberry tree.

It is alongside the river and because it has its roots in the river, it produces the largest and juiciest mulberries I have ever come across.

Not so this year....hardly any at all. A late frost? Lack of bees? Who knows?

So I carried on my walk.

The river is quite wide here, wide enough for sailing and hence we have here in Bourne End the Upper Thames Sailing Club. Their little patch is gated off but there is 'Right of Way' as this is all part of the 'Thames Walk'.

Further on we get out into the countryside opposite Cock Marsh and Winter Hill ......but what is this on the next gate?

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Me thinks this is a 'con' to put people off. The farmer would not be allowed to put a bull on the Thames Path. He obviously doesn't want people with dogs upsetting his animals, so a little discouragement is called for.

I have no desire to tangle with a bull.....unlike these idiots in Pamplona in Spain!

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"A man was gored to death during Spain’s most famous Running of the Bulls festival last week.

He was the first person to die from horn wounds at Pamplona in nearly 15 years, after being pierced through the neck and lungs by a 1,130lb beast called Capuchino.

Three other runners were gored on the most bloody day of the festival so far this year, after the rogue bull Capuchino - the Spanish spelling of Italian coffee, capuccino - separated from the pack.

One of the victims was a 20-year-old from London, who was skewered in his left thigh. Doctors said that he was responding favourably to treatment."

Quite how traditions like these are allowed to survive in the modern 'ec' mystifies me!

Ritualistic cruelty such as the bull run followed by the savagery and brutality of the bull ring have no place in modern society. The misguided individuals who get hurt have no one to blame but their own stupidity and cruelty in being involved. How can people forget so easily the pain and misery caused to animals like this?

And how come this is allowed to go on with all this eu 'elf 'n safety rubbish?.... and what about all these 'Risk Assessments' then?

All this goes on unchallenged whilst here in England........

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.......this dangerous sort of thing is being banned!!!!!

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