Halloween

      All Hallows or All Saints Eve or more commonly known as Halloween, a western Christian feast, with some possible Celtic roots, observed in a number of countries. Activities include "trick or treating" carving pumpkins into "Jack O Lanterns" costume parties, lighting bonfires, even such jolly japes as apple-bobbing and playing pranks.
      I can recall once in my childhood, going out upon such an eve with a couple of friends and taking our "Jacks" which in those days were carved from turnips, with a lighted candle inside, there was little or no dressing up. I think the dressing up part was for children of a few richer families! Then we would tour the streets of Ambleside, knocking at doors, to show our lanterns and receiving some sweets or a few coppers as a reward. Of course there were quite a number of children also taking part in this activity and I'm quite sure some of the people in the houses, must have been tired of us.
      These days this tradition continues, but seemingly upon a smaller scale, it seems children no longer tour around the streets and a lot of the local properties in Ambleside are no longer occupied by families, instead they have been turned over to holiday-lets, student accommodation and small guest houses and are sometimes even left empty.  

Queen Anne "Vigo"

      An exceedingly rare Queen Anne Gold coin has recently been discovered in a child's money box by a man living in Hertfordshire. The coin, was thought to be something of a copy, and was merely regarded as a token of play for various "pirate" games by the owner who received it from his grandfather and later gave it to his own son. Only as an afterthought did he have it checked by an auctioneer for any possible value.

      As it turns out the coin is of real gold, part of a 7.5lb catch of gold, seized from Spanish Treasure Ships, at the Battle of Vigo Bay, in Spain, also known as Battle of Rande, 23 October 1702. There are as few as twenty coins which were struck the following year, as part of a propaganda campaign, to draw attention away from the British failure at Cadiz. The "Vigo" is a Five Guinea coin, struck to the same pattern as the silver Half-Crown and at the time of their production Sir Issac Newton was Master of the Royal Mint. He is known to have been present upon the arrival of the treasure from the French and Spanish fleets and may well have handled some of the coins on their production.
      The coin will go to auction next month and is expected to sell in the region of £250-300k.  

The London Stock Exchange and me

      I've always had some interest in Stocks and Shares, probably inherited from my Father and my Grandfather, who were both keen buyers and sellers. For my part I can quite happily read a financial journal and then at some point, probably fall asleep! But there was a point, sometime in the early nineties, when I was looking at various investments and considered some shares to be a possibility. In those days I was really interested and reading up upon various aspects and watching the flow of prices and finding out how things worked, there's always loads of free advice and tips, if this is good, bad or just downright useless.
      Finally, after some considerable length of time and various false starts, I found a well known and up to then, successful high street retailer, who were in serious trouble, with their share price, being as low as one penny. But even in this state I personally still had great belief in them as I was and still am, a customer of theirs.

  
      So I decided this was the one for me, even though it was a complete gamble, but first I talked to one or two friends about this potential investment and one even wanted to match my stake and invest with me. But, one of these friends also suggested that first I speak to a couple of financial advisers, with whom he was familiar and so I agreed. I visited their office and told them of my plans, which they immediately pointed out to me were completely wrong and doomed to almost certain failure from day one, they also suggested a couple of "more suitable" alternatives. So I took their advise and they happily took a percentage of my cash and everyone was happy.

 
      Now the end result is all rather predictable, the shares I was persuaded to buy, one company crashed within a fortnight, the other lingered on for a year or two and I was lucky to get a little of my money back. And the shares I had wanted to buy, well naturally they eventually went ballistic, at my worst estimate I would now be worth in the region of well over a billion pounds, that's a simple matter of £1000,000,000. And the rest! If anything came out of all this, well I do know one, if not both advisers has done time and for myself I will never again take advise upon the stock market, from any so-called adviser.

William Rufus aka William ll of England Ruthless and Violent

      The great William Rufus or William ll of England, famous for his ruddy complexion and flame red hair. Although I've heard it said he was something of a wastrel, a passion for drinking and hunting and generally squabbling with his brothers and even the fact he was openly gay, a practitioner of Sodomy, not sure of the term in Norman speak? Henry and Robert. Not to mention those Barons and Earls and even the church and living in the shadow of his father, the Conqueror! He did however have some success in winning control of Normandy, from brother Robert and having the Scots pay homage to him after various disagreements.  
      In 1032 most of Cumbria was under the rule of the Scottish King Malcolm ll ceded by treaty with King Canute, but South Lakeland or Wesmorland, was a no man's land a baronial wild west, fought and counter fought over by a number of disgruntled tribes and clans. Kirkby Lonsdale was controlled by a Viking and Kendal by a Celt, Kentdale being surrounded by Scots, Vikings, Celts and the expectant arrival of the Normans, bent upon shaking things up.
      As much as twenty years after Hastings, Norman Rule fell short of Westmorland and it wasn't until 1092 AD When William Rufus and his armies marched North to finally bring Cumberland and Westmorland into England and under Norman Rule.  

A Torch to Light the Way

      Those dark nights are drawing in once again and already I seem to be getting blinded by other people with torches, cycle lights, and car head lamps, and they all seem reluctant, to dip their lights, if they think you are without some form of light yourself, with which to respond. Until now, I've always been able to just get by, with a small maglite torch, ideal to keep in your pocket, for those times when you need a small useful light, like when you are fumbling with car and house keys, etc.
      I live in a rural area in South Lakeland and decided I might need something a little more substantial, oh sure I've tried all the Maglite range, but they are on the larger side and to be honest, I've got quite a collection of torches, even a couple of those million plus candle lamps, which are very large, and far to bulky to carry about.
      Recently I came across this very compact and powerful "Night Light Torch," with a few extra features. the one I've got is made by a company called "Xtralight" and I paid about fifteen pounds, although it seems to be available in different designs at various prices. But the point is, the basic concept is a winner and for me at least, it appears to be head and shoulders over it's rivals.
      First off it's a LED Nightlight and I keep mine in a upstairs hallway, where it's permanently on a minimal charge, LED's use about 85% less electricity than an ordinary bulb, but a strong light, on at night and automatically off when it's daylight. There's another interesting feature, if you stand the light up, as in the picture, it operates as a reading light holding a three hour charge.

   
      Now this is the good bit, I frequently walk in the early evening or at night, in the back-end of the year and I like to carry this torch with me, it slips easily into my jacket pocket and is very light weight and now when I meet other people at night who are carrying a bright light and for whatever reason, like to shine their lights in my general direction, I now just switch on the xtralight for a few seconds and assure them of my presence. I've had a few cyclists gasp, at the strength of the beam and any car user will quickly "dip" their headlights in response. If you are walking down any dark road or in an unfamiliar area, the torch is quite capable of giving you a colossal expanse of light. 
      The photograph above doesn't do the torch any real justice, the beam is much better.

Hard Days At The Mill

      The Face Looks Familiar - Not Sure About The Name by Kirk W Smith.

      This is my first attempt at a written work and it's been a labour of love and sometimes a bit of a slog as well, I've been back over it a number of times through the last couple of years, re-written sections added new chapters, substantial editing, for better or worse. Even had it lying on the shelf for a number of years before I could make up my mind exactly what I should do with it. Finally I was persuaded to put it out on Amazon as a Kindle book which seems the obvious choice, yet you get onto Amazon and suddenly it's a whole new ball game, There are just so many unscrupulous persons trying to make a fast-buck out of you, with just too much of their "attract more views, customers, sales, etc. Just send us $20! for Marketing and then sign up, to make regular payments." It isn't exactly quite what you could best describe as walk in the park, but you've got to keep trying!

   
      At least I've not been put off, I will keep trying, I've been working towards this end since I was five years old, I've got another one coming out and at least I've got someone to help me with the editing. Yes I've got a presence upon Facebook, Twitter and even a couple of websites, by two different designers, interestingly, they are still friends of mine!

Also, take a look at my webpage; kirkwsmith.com
And                                         wwwkirkwsmith.weebly.com   

      Revised and re-edited and a new chapter, with a new cover, am at last managing to get it into one or two bookshops. Having said that, to me the most difficult thing is getting people merely to read the free kindle pages upon Amazon!  

Arachnid Invasion UK

      Just of late, I've been looking over my shoulder a little more, searching behind pictures and peering into one or two dark corners. And it's all because of the warmer than usual month of September, Indian Summer, as some might choose to say. With legions of the arachnid, False Black Widows on the march, Britain's most venomous spiders are swarming over the UK.
      Well perhaps not quite in those numbers, but their species is on the rise and most particularly along Britain's south coast, where they've always been prolific in numbers. Although there have been confirmed sightings as far north as Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.
      The bite of the spider, is said to be no worse than a wasp or bee sting (which is something of a relief) although they can cause an allergic reaction to some people.
      This is the time of year when males are fully grown and start looking for a female, also the weather starts getting cooler and they will search for a potential place to build a nest, preferably indoors and close to humans, where they will find flies and various insects, providing food. Garages, outbuildings and the porch, provide lots of corners and clefts and places with good camouflage to see out the winter.

William Wordsworth, take my name in vain.

      The Conservative MP for Lichfield, in Staffordshire, Michael Louis David Fabricant, at his party's conference in Birmingham, reports a young girl of about sixteen approached him and said; "Get out of Brum, you Tory scum!" To which he said; "you have all the eloquence of  a young William Wordsworth." To which she replied, "Who?"

Premium Bonds

      From an early age I've always had a certain fascination with Premium Bonds and this all came about when my Father won £250, upon "Ernie" and he generously gave me a share of £25 £25 for my Sister and £100 for my Mother and himself this quite rightly seemed like a lot of money at the time. And so, as soon as I was able, I began building my own pile of National Insurance and Savings Bonds, or Premium Bonds, with the £25 and a couple twenty-first birthday presents, of twenty-five and fifty pounds, which gave me an initial stake of £100, though to be honest this has only won me one small prize in a great many years.
     Still no matter, I still held this one hundred pound bond and a good many years later, I was able to purchase a serious stake of £20k trough the sale of a house. These were the good times, when interest rates were somewhat more substantial than of late and I can happily recall twice winning 5 x £50 on two separate months! Over the years with the maximum holding rising first to £30k and then more recently £50k I've been fortunate to be able to keep adding to my pot. 
      Of course matters are different in these days of austerity, low interest rates, reduced and less frequent wins, mostly £25 a time, all seem to add up to a less promising future. And with all this in mind it's easy to come across lots of newspaper articles and expert opinions from people only to happy to have you believe  Premium Bonds, are a poor investment, offering feeble and less than competitive returns. And it's a simple fact, for everyone who wins a million pounds, thousands more must win nothing at all. The odds are heavily stacked against you, almost impossible to accurately forecast just how severe these odds against you can be.
      One of the allures to draw people into the system is that a Premium Bond Cheque, is known as "Winnings" and not simply as the more ordinary and less exciting "Interest!" At least everything you do win is classed Tax-Free and this can be very useful to the high tax payer.
      On a personal note, I've noticed in the past twenty-five years, there as been only one South Lakeland winner of one of the one million pound jackpot prizes. But this isn't like a Lottery, you're not having to pay more stake money every week, every pound you save, will still be there for the next month's draw and still yours when you want to draw it out again. I always find it best to try and put them out of your thoughts and then it's a pleasant surprise when a cheque drops through your letterbox, or directly into your bank account! 
  

Catherine (Middleton) Duchess of Cambridge

      I must admit, we don't see very much of her in South Lakeland, that's not to say she doesn't visit upon a regular basis, if she does, then she isn't so much in the public eye.
      I've learned she is 5ft 9ins tall, weighs around 8.5 stone and is a size six. Also she no longer favours all those blow up and away skirts and breezy outfits, which have always drawn so much, dare I say awkward photographic moments.

         
      Of course she's transformed herself from those early days in the spotlight, not least of all having two children and five years of marriage. She is something of a fitness fanatic and is said to work-out, and work out hard upon a regular basis and enjoys a certain level of competitiveness with her family.
There is a long list of her sporting activities, which seems to be just about everything, apart from matters of an equestrian nature.
      On a dietary level, she is a dedicated drinker of smoothies, and eats lots of salads, berries, fruits and drinks almond milk, not a great wine drinker, but will allow herself the odd glass of a good chardonnay. Which all seems to go a long way to building that calm and confident complexion and nature.