In Limbo

Last week my mum found my Kindle. I was genuinely surprised since I thought my insomnia and carelessness had burned me on the train to Porta Garibaldi last year, where, lacking the energy and resolve of a general, only Dante's long trek and the sweet tones of the late night ticket inspector kept me from succumbing to the calm of the empty carriage.

Not wishing to play along with my contorted metaphors, the great traveller has decided to mock my lockdown lethargy by plunging me into the circle of those being purged for their rage and rid me of  the urge to log onto my bovine job by blinding my eyes with alpine fog.

Copy, paste, record and crash.

Hearing my voice played back in steely breathy tones makes me want for waxy ears; unfortunately my attempt at distance teaching is unlikely to bring my pupils to lyrical heights.

On my break today I walked up to the thick charred branch which marks the boundary between cultivation and a million brown leaves.
Hearing the crack of dull, vegan foliage whipped some life back into my creaking hands.
Layla, our resident primadonna, once a true night owl, has faithfully followed the zeitgeist by sneezing under her cover - a dusty Italian flag on my bed - staying in after dusk and totally disregarding the ceramic border placed upon the flowerbed.

Latoya, meanwhile, could truly be from New York. She has perfected people watching and extended it to fly-from-box-on-wardrobe gazing, although I suspect that if she ever saw a purple sky she would flip, making claw graffiti all over the curtains.

Banned from Quora

Those of you familiar with my content will be aware that I mostly posted on Quora - over 2,000 times - to pass time, which helped me get through my long commutes (three hours a day in 2018 and 2019) and which was has recently helped me forget that I was stuck in this house in Monza because of the coronavirus.

I was also a part of the Quora Partner Programme. Hang me if you must.
Up til yesterday I had written around 800 questions and earned $10. Today I was bored and started translating questions from English to Italian. Once I reached my goal of 100 questions today, I sighed in relief, only to discover that I had been banned for writing low quality questions.
I'm not sure whether I made too many grammatical mistakes (I'm only aware of one of my questions being corrected) or whether the fact that nearly all of the questions pertained to goat, sheep and wolves was the crux of the issue.

But anyway, now my Quora adventure has ended.

It was nice knowing all of you!

Blackberry Picking in Victoria Park

Waking up to a blue sky, my family and I decided to go blackberry picking in Victoria park. Although clouds had covered the sky by the time we got out, the park, characterised by its fabulous orange fountain and plenty of wildlife, did not disappoint.

We began by the bridge and picked the fruits furthest away from the ground.  We looked in several locations and found lots of juicy berries in lots of places.Eventually, we came back near the bridge and I sat on the railings to reach the best, almost unattainable fruits. Luckily I didn't fall off!

Syria and Social Justice in Britain

Whilst the elites of the West suddenly decided that Bashar Al Assad has gone too far by using chemical weapons, (despite the fact that Britain sold them to Syria )  people are still  attempting and committing suicide out of fear of the bedroom tax.

The disastrous policies of austerity suck the hope out of ordinary people, as the Tory dementors who thought them up most likely intended.

I haven't done much. I haven't done enough to oppose the demons of austerity, but tomorrow I shall be protesting in Ashford town centre against the proliferation of pay day loans, financial traps traded by money predators who prey on those in need.

Let's follow the lead of Yorkshire and ban the loan shark lenders!

Hi everyone!
I know I haven't written on this blog post for a while, but after catching the twitter bug again, I thought I might make a quick post.
Basically, I have spent the last month at home, to relax and revise. I have been fairly focused but have also had nice days out with family in London and Brockhill Park.
Going back to Durham on Monday, to give myself a week to write a lit essay in German (uh oh). Then I will have my final exams. Four years have gone quickly!
If I was on facebook with you, you will have noticed that I've given it up until I finish my exams.
I hope you are all well!
Jake

The farmer and the cunning fox

Once upon a time when animals could speak, there was a cunning fox who was killing chickens every week because he was a sly, sadistic fox. The helpless chickens called out to the farmer's little daughter, asking for help. So the farmer's daughter said to her daddy, "Daddy, can you save the poor chickens from the nasty fox, pwease pwetty pwease". So Mr Farmer went out with his flame thrower and razed the farm to the ground, killing most of the chickens but accidentally missing the cunning fox. So for the next seven years the farmer took his flamethrower across Europe, causing collateral damage to chickens between Devon and Madrid and always missing the sly fox, who was actually sent by the Devil himself to cause mayhem across Christendom.
On an unrelated point the farmer had a constant supply of eggs and fried chicken, which he sold in his inns which could be found across Christendom.

Seven years later, the farmer's daughter told her daddy that she remembered that the same day a witch gave her a strange looking toadstool to eat which was why the chickens were talking to her, so maybe there wasn't a sly fox after all. But unfortunately for the chickens the big bad wolf came onto the scene and started killing chickens by the hundreds. So the farmer sent his son to Eastern Europe with a second flamethrower. Then, coincidentally a year later, when there weren't enough chickens in Christendom to produce enough eggs to both sustain the chicken population and make omelettes, the farmer's brother managed to shoot the cunning fox dead with his trusty shotgun. But the threat of potential foxes was still there, so he had to continue on his noble mission against the wily coyote, I mean fox, um, wolf, for the sake of chickenkind.

Keep Chilmington Green

On Saturday the 4th of September I joined several others in the town centre to campaign against the proposal to build between 3500 and 7000 dwellings on Chilmington Green. Chilmington Green is a green-belt area which is home to several species, including water voles, great crested newts, hares, snakes, badgers and bats. Destroying the habitat of these species would have a detrimental effect on the biodiversity of Ashford and its surrounding regions, thus contributing to a great loss of natural wealth.
There is more evidence that the proposal would be unsustainable, because: the houses would be built near a flood plain; the council admits that only 35% of the housing would be affordable; only between 600 and 1000 jobs would be provided for perhaps 14000 people; and there could potentially be an extra 10,000 cars on the road.
The council also seem to have no obligation to carry out the plans, since they were the plans of the defeated Labour government and under the coalition, there is no obligation to continue the plans to develop Ashford as a boom town, so the council seems to have little mandate to continue with this project, whilst the government is talking about cuts. Why should it be acceptable to cut frontline services but to go ahead with a billion pound investment which is entirely unsustainable and opposed by the local residents of Chilmington?
It’s a sad fact that neither the Labour, Liberal Democrat or Conservative (or UKIP) parties in Ashford are willing to oppose these plans.
However, Steve Campkin from Ashford Green Party has put his heart and soul into protesting against these plans and was the only person out of the political parties to respond to the requests of Max Frohnsdorff, the instigator of the campaign.
Paul Bartlett, the leader of Ashford Council, said ‘that too much work had been put into the scheme to call if off but he said he was happy to look at the "density, shape and number of houses".
Having taken part in petitioning, it is clear that this is not a clear cut case. A bricklayer, whom I spoke to, asked me whether I knew the real facts of this country, namely that the country needs four million new houses and that last year, only 100,000 were built. So, he is not getting enough work. Clearly, there is a need for better social housing and more widespread employment. However, on the one hand, I do not agree with the construction of the proposed houses for the reasons outlined above, and on the other hand, I oppose the plans because only 35% of the houses are supposed to be affordable and because I believe that such decisions should be made much more democratically, in consideration of those whom the decision will affect the most and within an ecological framework.
For me, this is an example of how working people are forced by those in power to carry out alienating jobs, which destroy the community and the environment, because they can find no other employment. Surely it must be possible to make sure that people have a decent standard of living, have a worthwhile occupation and are contributing through their actions to community building and sustainable development.
So, will the campaign succeed? Well, at the moment we have approximately 1200 signatures and need 10,000 for the council to have to take notice. However, luckily, committed activist Steve Campkin is involved and it looks like Keith Taylor, Green MEP, may be helping out too. At the very least, I hope that the landowner is paid a decent amount of money for his land, considering the amount of money put into the project. However, if all else fails, there is the possibility of direct action, of directly confronting the bulldozers, if they come to destroy the land.
I strongly believe that we must oppose this proposed development. So, if you want to get involved, please sign the petition and perhaps contact me at jake.pentland@gmail.com or Steve Campkin at steve.campkin@greenparty.org.uk at to get actively involved.
Think global act local. Protect the environment from needless development.
Keep Chilmington Green!