HAVE YOUR SAY ON RURAL ISSUES
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LETTER OF THE MONTH
FROG SONG
I love your Plodcast! I listen every day on my morning walks in York, Maine, USA, on the north-east coast. It relaxes me immensely and I learn so much. I tell everyone about the Plodcast and, of course, have given it a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts!
I’ve been an Anglophile since I was very young. I backpacked around England and Scotland back in 1983 when I was 19 years old, staying in hostels, hitchhiking and using my BritRail pass. I fell in love with your country. I’m planning to return for my 60th birthday, in about a year’s time, and your Plodcast is helping me with ideas of where to visit, especially places I missed during my stay in ’83!
I thought you might like to hear a couple of recordings I managed to catch during one of my walks. One is of the haunting call of a loon and the other is of the spring peepers, the small chorus frogs (officially known as Pseudacris crucifer) that are commonly found throughout the eastern United States and Canada. They often pipe up during the evening to attract a mate.
Editor Fergus Collins replies: Marci, thank you for the kind words, the five-star rating and especially the recordings, which you will be able to hear in episode two of season 15 of the Plodcast. I’m going to use this opportunity to appeal for more readers and listeners to send in sounds of wildlife or landscapes that they have recorded. The very best recordings will be played on the Plodcast as our ‘Sound of the Week’ and the winner will receive a prize from the Plodcast library. So congratulations, Marci – you’ve doubled up as letter of the month and inaugural winner of Sound of the Week!
THE PRIZE:
This month’s star letter wins a Rumpl Original Puffy Blanket, Sunset Fade worth £90. Machine washable and made from 100% recycled ripstop fabric, with insulation made from recycled materials, the Original Puffy Blanket is a cosy outdoor portable blanket that comes with its own stuff sack. Wear it hands-free, courtesy of the handy Cape Clip. rumpl.co.uk
MISSED THE TRAIN
I noted with interest the article “Top five Santa trains” in your December issue. As a volunteer on the Severn Valley Railway, I wonder what criteria you used to determine the “top five”.
The Severn Valley Railway, which operates between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth, has an extensive festive programme, including Santa Trains with a steam-train journey and a station pantomime; the Enchanted Express with pantomime characters on the train; carol trains; and Festive Dining while travelling along the beautiful Severn Valley.
The Severn Valley Railway should surely have been included in your top five, because of its popularity and wide choice of festive journeys.
ELF AND SAFETY
With regard to the story on elves/ fairies in the December issue, how could you miss the Fairy Bridge on the magic Isle of Man?
On all of my visits, the first stop was always the Fairy Bridge to say hello to the little people and put a letter in the wall asking for good luck. It’s important to be extra polite and say hello to them, as there are cautionary tales of what happens if you don’t. Many TT Race riders make a point of paying the bridge a visit in the hope of ensuring a safe ride in the motorcycle races that the island is famous for.
NOT SO ELFY
I enjoy your magazine very much but was surprised to see an article about elves in the December issue.
I’ve always assumed elves to be folklore, so I was left completely baffled by the article that not only gives a physical description of elves but ends by telling readers where to spot them!
I wasn’t the only one who found it far-fetched. I realise that it is Christmas and elves feature in stories, but an article inviting readers to spot them in woods is plain silly.
Editor Fergus Collins replies: We thought it might be a little bit of fun, especially in this dark winter, to publish an impish guide to elves. I hope it didn’t spoil your enjoyment of the issue.
NO CAUSE FOR CHEER
I’d like to take issue with Ellie Harrison’s column in your January issue. Ellie [above] cites as a cheer the fact that the percentage of income spent on food has dropped, from about a third in the 1950s to 14% now. Does Ellie realise that cheap food comes at an enormous cost to farmers in the UK? The cheap food policy has opened the floodgates to cheaper imports, regardless of the working conditions, environmental impact, animal welfare and nutrition standards of the source. Air miles are also high. The loss of the UK farm and horticultural businesses has had a huge impact on rural life and economies.
Most UK citizens no longer know what local food is because we have been fed the mantra that cheap food is good and something to cheer about. How wrong Ellie is!
TIES TO THE LAND
Landscape shapes us and helps define a sense of place. The geography of where we feel we belong can provide us with an identity that lasts a lifetime. As an Anglican priest who is also a writer, I am only too aware of the illustrious writers in Holy Orders, such as John Donne, who have felt drawn to nature and discovered the natural world’s power to lift the soul. This prayer called ‘Landscape’ is from my book Life’s Complicated – Pray Simply. Its inspiration is the countryside near Chipping Sodbury, where I grew up. The rolling fields of the Cotswold plateau have left an indelible mark on me and it is a place to which I return time and again for inspiration.
Whether you’re a person of faith or not, I hope this prayer paints a picture of the landscape that means so much to me.
Creator God, Your presence pervades my senses.
Stretching before me is a landscape of arid beauty, framed by drystone walls. Birdsong echoes from a distant copse, carried on a languid wind. Ever-present God, in this moment, I praise You for all that lies before me. Amen.
POETRY CORNER
Welcome rain
I thought you and your readers may appreciate this nature-inspired poem. I wrote it 25 years ago and it was inspired by walking in Pishiobury Park in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
Rain-Scented Meadows
Times before she walked in sunshine,
To ease away the pain
Stood below the tree to shelter from the rain.
And looked for the rainbow,
A sign to keep her sane.
Through rain-scented meadows
She searched to make sense of all things
Passing clouds changed shape above
Then, heavy with droplets spread themselves
Below to nurture and create
The darkest cloud will nourish all that will grow
And so sense of all things prevail.