Virtual Booing in Hong Kong & pond plant removal

What's the old saying ? "you wouldnt get me on one of those!" The latest flight of the Amazon Entrepreneur Jeff Bezoz's spaecraft looks slightly alarming in the articles video  especially the returning to earth shots.  The story hints at manned flights next year - - i don't think I'll be in the queue  - - - 

I've heard of GM crops but a GM fruit fly is a new one to me.  A British company , Oxitec, have re-engineered the Mediterranean fruit fly to help the Australians combat its own fly problem which causes millions of dollars worth of damage to fruit crops every year .  Once the GM fly mates with its wild members the females dont reach the adult stage and die before they can damage crops - - - The Australians are conducting indoor assessments before venturing out into their coutryside! - - - 

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I suppose you could call this Virtual Booing! Hong Kong residents who still dont see themselves as part of China register their disdain at the Chinese National Anthem before a football game in Hong Kong - - -
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the http://www.xcweather.co.uk/ chart for today shows the West coast still having the strong winds of late while in our area it will still be breezy but settling down by the end of the day
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The Weather Channel fronts their prediction with this delightful pic and is saying that the mild weather will only last until the weekend when its expected to be cold again. 

there is even a story from New South Wales showing people on Freshwater Beach basking in what is described as a Heatwave.  The 35c temps for this Springtime are being fired by a large high pressure system moving across from Western Australia 

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 It was time to clear out the dead foliage from the pond plants and yesterday with its 7c temp seemed a good time to do it.  Normally we would have done it in October but with the mild weather we left it a little longer.  The water lilly was pulled out and its long stems and pads clipped before it was lowered back into the water

 next year we are only having the Arum Lilly in the pond tight up against the bridge.  Amongst this lot its the green leaved bit in the middle.

 the individual plants are in plastic shopping baskets and here i have managed to pull one out onto the side to let it drain.  A number of frogs were hiding in the plant and jumped back into the pond

 some time later after much heaving and straining i finally cleared the plants and the lilly can be seen by the bridge.  The fine filament net we originally had wouldn't cover the whole area so i replaced it with the one in the pic.  We'll leave this one on until spring when hopefully we will get another fine one.

having sorted the pond we lunched at The Grouse later than usual so it was packed.  Looking outside the weather just got worse and worse so by the time we emerged the wind and rain were really coming down as we made our way home 

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 mild this morning and the breeze is up and down the single figure speeds at the moment

the weathercam is dry and cloudy just now. forecasters are confident the Tep will reach 10c this afternoon but the breezy conditions will remain with us.  

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Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders