Tickleford Gully (8) flora & fauna

a congregation of plover, a desert of lapwing, a deceit of peewits

first signs of spring

there's 

bearberry

snowdrops 

 pasque willow

caribou saxifrage

diamond leaf moss 

reconciliation flower

tufted bird's foot moss

although

they're 

quite hard

to spot

Tickleford Gully (8) Now I'm a farmer

Strawberries are very big in the Gully, growing conditions are just right for a healthy and early crop.  The locals carry out the appropriate rituals to ensure this continues.  The most popular type of horse locally is, of course, the Strawberry Roan.

Tickleford Gully (7) Art of the wood

Even Tickleford Gully is not immune to the scourge of graffiti.

20th January 2017. A day that will live in infamy.



signpost

Tickleford Gully (6) Developments

Change comes to Tickleford Gully, the butcher and baker are still there but the candlestick maker went some years ago.  The latest casualty of consumerism is the blind makers, the villagers now preferring to go out to the out of town DIY stores alongside the motorway for their blind needs.

Tickleford Gully (5) From Countryside to Coast

Tickleford Gully (4) the History Boys

The original curfew bell dates from 1620. Due to widespread ignoring of the bell during the 1700s several more bells were added.  There are currently eight bells.

Don't stay out too late.

Tickleford Gully (3) Meet the residents

Tickleford Gully is home to about five hundred people. They live, work, shop, listen to music, watch Game of Thrones, celebrate birthdays, drink coffee.  Join them some day.

See you around.

The Olde Logge Cabin, Rainbow Road, Tickleford Gully

Meet Robert S. Hedley:

I was born a dirt poor man.  All my life I've had hard working hands but I sang my song as I carried my load 'cause I had a dream about Rainbow Road.  Then one day a man came along, heard me playing and singing my songs.  He bought me clothes and paid up every debt I owed, sent me on my way down Rainbow Road.

Then one night a man with a knife pushed me 'til I had to take his life. Fast as falling all my friends were gone. That old judge traded me a sentence for a song.  Now I'm living with this ball and chain. I had to wear a number before they ever heard my name.  And like the dream I'm growing old, but we still sing about Rainbow Road.

Rainbow Road, Dan Penn

Meet Richard Baker of Barbe St, Tickleford Gully.  Known locally as the Man of the Trees, he prefers the more down to earth Tree Feller.

Meet Syd & Murray. You'll find them down the park most days.   One used to be in a band, the other in the army, although neither of them can remember which.  All they remember is drinking, getting high and being led by the nose. When the band split and the army gig ran out neither had the life skills to fall back on.  Without someone to lead they just carried on drinking and getting high.  

One of them kept you safe from IRA bombers and the other played that guitar solo on that car ad that you keep humming.  

say hello to the freedom fighters

the day a mysterious stranger sailed up the river

On the 29th January the lives of the Pinto family of Tickleford Gully were turned upside down when Dad Pinto received this email:

Mr Pinto phoned his boss, told him where to shove his job.  

His wife went off and bought a horse.  

The kids went and alienated all of their friends.  

I'll let you know how things go.

Tickleford Gully's ferryman, Ferryboat Bill, is quite a philosophical fellow.  He used to be a drinker.

  "I thought when everything is wrong and nothing is right and the day is dark as the darkest night a pint of scotch was your only friend.  I got quite poorly with the drinking.  If I didn't go to jail I think it would have killed me.  But I learned, beyond the fog lies clarity,  daylight has a way of arriving at just the right time."

 

Milo,

had nine lives,

left one by the river

spent one stuck up a tree

another stuck down a drain

lost one fighting the good fight

lost another fighting one good night

shared one with Old Tom the old tom,

another with a cute kitty from up the Gully

lost another while riding a threshing machine

and is riding this one for as long as he possibly can

the youth of Tickleford Gully

up to no good, I'll warrant

No good boyos

Daphne and Lavinia

Nice as pie

Love dogs and family

No interest in politics

Voted for Brexit

Would like fox hunting to return

Petr and Svetlana met at the University of Belgrade before migrating to the UK.  Svetlana's medical qualifications may not be being used to their full potential but working as a carer is still a noble profession.  Petr is philosophical about his role at the hand car wash .   His degree in andragogy helps him to teach new recruits the finer points of car valeting.

I have a feeling in my bones there are skeletons in their closet.

Tickleford Gully (2) home from home