There's a storm coming.

 

There's a storm coming

Over the marsh from the sea

There's a change coming

It's  coming for you and me.

There's a storm coming

Lightning with rolling thunder

There's a change coming 

Tearing air and lives asunder.

There's a storm coming 

Stock the pantry store

There's a change coming

Close and lock the door.

There's a storm coming

Be measured and prepared

There's a change coming 

Be counted in those who cared

There's a change coming

It's coming for you and me

There's a storm coming

Over the marsh and next the sea.

There's a storm coming!

George Roberts - August Bank Holiday Weekend 2026

Dolly RIP.

 

Sad to hear of the death of this remarkable woman. 

In every area of life she performed effectively and above and beyond the rest of us.

She was extremely talented, intelligent, kind and compassionate.  Above all else she was a decent human being, who used her skills and earned wealth to help those and particularly children in need.

What an incredible life and legacy!

The scale of Damien Hirst in the Morning

 

Love a bit of sculpture in the landscape love a bit of Hirst!

A tree on edge.

 

There's a tree on the edge

Ledged 

Between land and sky

Wedged

A marker between near and far

Drawn

Long after the landscape was

Formed

Silent  in the grip of deep time

Held

A feature in the landscape

Unfelled 

Planted by purpose or accident 

Seeded

A lesson in short sharp seasons

Heeded

A memorial to life's brevity

Fleeting

In time with my heavy heart 

Beating.

George Roberts August 2026.

Matlock Railway Station

 

In current times and small communities, it is so very easy to lose perspective and go off track!

"Mind the gap"

"Nowt messed about wi'"

 

" The 25th highest tower in the world and one foot higher than the Eiffel Tower and it's in 'God's own Country ' Yorkshire. From its top you can see the 'sophistication' rising like a cultural heat haze over Leeds. When I were a lad we would come oop here and stuff our faces with Hovis and 'cow heel'. Ah those were the days when; you could enjoy indigestion, call anyone from south of Sheffield French and regard women as unrecognisable outside the kitchen or when vertical " 

Thirty percent of the population admires nice views!🫣🤣 I also know how to spell 'sarcasm'. I should have been a politician and then I could have been sponsored in my immoderate behaviour and language.😱

Sunrise and sunset

 

I am feeling more cheerful this morning and decided to give the doom scrolling 'poetry' at least one day off.

"You cannot teach an old doggerel new tricks" East Anglian traditional homily.

It rained last night but the sun rose in the sky this morning and everything is a little greener and fresher for it all. 

I guess the sun didn't rise but instead the Earth rotated about its axis and through the wonder of relativity and Einstein's 'Frames of Reference', it appears to rise in the East and set in the West.

I can also spell 'pedantic'🤣

Influencer and Influenza

 

Like the faux science of global 'economics',
 some of my images have an air of reality but are just 'made up'.

Whilst having a shower this morning, I realised that 'influencer' and ''influenza' were similar words. As an occasional writer of doggerel, I thought to myself  they have 'assonance', a word, which I particularly like along with 'apposite'. 

An influencer gets into your mind and corrupts it, a virus gets into biological cells and corrupts them. Both vectors of infection are random in their transmission and opportunistic. Although not immediately obvious, the outcome is for the benefit of the transmitter and not the recipient - always!." Be prepared is my motto" -The Last Boy Scout.

Influencer and Influenza

Society is disrupted 

When words are corrupted 

And it happens blatantly all the time.

Communities are disrupted 

When politicians are corrupted 

And it happens everyday in plain sight.

The environment is disrupted 

When science is corrupted 

And it happens in the pursuit of gross profit.

Information is disrupted

When the media is corrupted

And it happens when both are owned by an elite. 

Our hearts are disrupted 

When our minds are corrupted

And it happens when emotion overwhelms intelligence. 

Peace is disrupted

When 'the flag' is corrupted

And it happens because their power is valued above our lives.

Spirituality is disrupted

When religion is corrupted

And it happens because of sects, sex and supremacy.

Our lives are disrupted.

When our health is corrupted

And it happens silently off balance sheet.

This all 'jogs along', whilst us plebs work and pay taxes to underwrite their exponential and insatiable greed. Extraordinary  master!

George Roberts. August 2026

Wind turbines a blot on the landscape?

 

It's  a  great pity

The oil lobby gets so shitty

About wind turbines 

And green energy

 

The Press and old people both join in

"Consign wind turbines to the bin"

Myopically denying global scorching 

Using Nelson's blind eye

They bullshit, whilst they fry

"It's not happening or temporary or both"

No one gets the hump

About a windmill or windpump

"Like rain they are traditional and British" 

Not wishing to be blunt

You cannot convince a fool

Who chooses to ignore

Science and his or her senses.

George Roberts August 2026

I'm partial to a solar eclipse it is a beautiful thing to witness

 

We enjoyed viewing the partial solar eclipse from Southwold marshes. The above image is a composite of the actual  eclipse captured with a Seestar S30 'smart-scope' and a photo taken with a Google Pixel8a phone the preceding night at dusk. This is of course a 'cheat' to those 'purists' out there but I believe it gives a 'feel for' the wonder of the moment. I am after all an artist rather than scientist!

The following image is the real thing captured on the day as the Moon moved from more or less maximum towards minimum coverage of the solar disk. If you look carefully at the right hand image you can see a sunspot group.

Ichthyosaur? Try E45 cream or Savlon.

Pretty sure

This is is the jaw

Of an ichthyosaur

I think I see teeth 

That gave ammonites grief

When looking for tea

In a warm blue sea

An apex predator 

Amongst marine Jurassic traffic.

George Roberts August 2026

Kirkley the Seagull

 

Technically there is no such bird as a seagull

But this one named Kirkley being  unaware 

Walked on the 'brise soleil' above us

 Just for an ornithological dare.

Underneath, we were looking up fearful 

Strong drink and seafood moist on lips

Praying Kirkley the seagull 

Wouldn't crap on our chips.

George Roberts August 2026.

All along the water tower.

 

There must be someway out of here

Said the golfer to the chef

There must be some brain contusion 

Which made me go quite deaf

But I can see the water tower

With my unblind eye

Taste buds are returning 

The breeze begins to cry

George Roberts August 2026

 

Feathers at night an ornithologist's delight

 

Riding thermals

Last flight 

Fading light

Final hunt

End of day

Last prey

Marsh Harrier

No regret

At sunset

Strange clouds

Worn and

Torn

Awesome 

Dusk to

Dawn

George Roberts August 2026

Wind shear and Vincent painting the Sky

 

Fantastic clouds over Lowestoft this evening. Almost looks like Van Gogh painted it just for us to enjoy. 

Chilli hot!

 

Because of the exceptionally hot weather we are experiencing in the UK this summer, we have taken to eating dinner in the garden.

The vegetarian chilli was so very hot

It really was a top culinary hotpot 

The chef was so very proud

When it created a localised cloud

Which floated over bean and cheese

Driven by a gentle offshore breeze.

George Roberts August 2026

Greater Anglia - The Hare

'Greater Anglia the Hare'  - Willow artist -Anita (Toot) Roberts - Summer 2026.

 

On a cast concrete pillow

Bent and twisted willow 

Opus caementicium

Willow (Salix viminalis) 

 Hare (Lepus europaeus)

Hare stares at us with amber eyes

Shining glass bright at sunrise 

Twisting 'willow' 

 ' will - lilo - wow' 

Vegetable manipulated

To create Animal

A miraculous transform in part

Occasioned by serendipity, craft and art

'Toot' tied rod to osier

Under and over, over and under.

Intertwining willow warp and weft

The weaver's touch both light and deft

 Hare held secure in a matrix of crafted copper wire

Fabulous and fantastic with flame fused eyes of fire.

 'Greater Anglia  - Garden Hare'

George Roberts August 2026 

in the garden after breakfast 

Swiss Autumnal Bircher Meusli

 

Have you any idea as to how hard it is to find a word that rhymes with Meusli 

I did try to incorporate the pasta variant, fusilli

But eventually, I discounted it as being far too twisty and twirly 

Swiss, much like rock, works exceptionally well with roll

But doggerel, much like a road bridge, does take its toll

In retrospect, I had more success and poetic joy with 'Bircher'

Which  at least shares assonance, if not rhyme, with a hairy canine 'lurcher'

 

Hot water

 

Partial water change days in the tropical aquarium come and go but today was the first time Syd hasn't added boiling water to the tap water to bring it above the minimum required 23 degrees C. 

Syd Carp, leading British aquarist and tropical 'fish fancier', was astounded😱

The filter was pretty badly clogged up but after a thorough clean is now running fast and clear.

The Rainbow fish from the Amazon Basin are growing and colouring up nicely. They seem to thrive in the hotter ambient temperatures we are experiencing in the UK at the moment. My last Corydoras catfish is hanging in there even though it is happier at lower water temperatures.