Youtube comments of Rikki Harcourt (@rikkiharcourt3868).

  1. I love people watching and I think I can see two things. 1. Megan, in spite of her Bambi looks, is beginning to resemble her mother. She is not going to like that….especially the body shape. 2. There are times even in this age of equality when one has to follow animal instincts. Harry was the prime guest, there to do a job. Sometimes it is right for the woman to follow and let the male figure around take the lead. This was one of them. Harry was born and trained to take the lead in introductory line-ups and he was doing his job. Megan manipulated herself to get ahead and was surprised to find she had no one to talk to and nowhere to proceed. Had she stayed behind Harry she would have been part of the action, but was a bit too clever by half. I have a feeling she often is.
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  2. I was a child in the UK during the Second World War. We were in peril then and every adult had to be grown up, responsible ready to assist whatever danger occurred from the skies, our surrounding peoples and what we saw, heard and understood. Manhood then was palpable, you could see it, experience it and benefit from it. It carried a great deal of respect. It was a beautiful thing. It is very rare now although we do still have plenty of men but they are mostly elderly. Now they are boys and their women are shallow and obsessed with self aggrandising. Society needs tightening and reminding of a few hard fact basics.
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  3. You don’t waste a moment of opportunity to build on your travels to increase interest and enjoyment. We love that. Just delightful today. Thank you a thousand times.
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  4. Send the army up there and show some manliness to protect our girls, our children.
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  5. Many women don’t trust men to see the project through and might end up being both mother and father will all that implies. It’s very frightening.
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  6. So you have children and you put your heart and soul into rearing them. Years later some power hungry man or men wants more power and creates a war and you lose one or more of these precious people. Children watch……children learn, some people don’t want to join the system.
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  7. It is a lovely gift from The Fates to have a friend from your childhood. So very special. I have a few from my student days and here we are now with grey hair, we have lost three or four and they are missed, but at least we had each other in our golden years. Lovely vlog this week. Thank you.
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  8. This is an extra special edition of your adventures and I have added my tick to many appreciate comments because you have packed in so much interest. I am such a devoted Zeph fan, the cleverest dog companion ever. It’s all a total delight. Thank you.
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  9. Do you ever say to yourself “0h no, not another bloody lock”! I think I would. They must really interrupt your flow. My central heating had to be updated this week and I am just thawing out. 5 days of penetrating cold has wiped me out and it takes three weeks for my 17” thick solid walls to recover. I don’t envy you if you become surrounded by ice. You are very brave, I envy your fortitude too!
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  10. What a stunning robin. He had plenty to say about your predicament. I do hope you get sorted without too much trouble and expense. I tip my hat to you, still making a vlog with such difficulties. A true professional.
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  11. OMG you are made of strong stuff. Congrats to have got through it all intact. Respect. Cheers
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  12. I went out today without a coat and it felt like spring. Lovely fresh cool air in bright sunshine. We are on our way, the best time of the year with the summer before us and possible adventures to enjoy. I love your travels, go with you every week. I can’t get out much these days and you go where I would like to go and travel the way I would love. Thank you so SO much for brightening my life along with showing me the creatures on the way that is just the best way of enjoying where one is!
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  13. Totally enjoyable, gentle and full of delightful detail. Zephyr earned her ball. Whoever said animals don’t have any reasoning capacity. They should watch zephyr!
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  14. Regardless of JRM’s politics he really has the look and bearing of a prime minister. If he were I don’t thick, for one moment, he would break the bond with our pensioners that they would allow the government use their pension money without interest in exchange for cash at the end of our working lives for however long needed. He is no lily livered PM like our prescient guy who appears highly suspect. I like him.
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  15. Happy Christmas Vanessa…….it has been a great year getting to know you and following your adventurous travels. I am pretty sure very few boaters know as much about the birds, animals and plants as you do. You are a diamond canal traveller.
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  16. Most of us are born into a situation we wouldn’t want all the time. Harry is a poor specimen of manhood and his wife is no friend to womankind. Titles are a vanity project to them both. A means to make money and achieve social advantage. They do not command my respect. I know people who have overcome greater obstacles in their lives.
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  17. You are tough. All that drama and you filmed your way through. Got guts Girl!!! You deserve a gold medal.
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  18. It is a dream come true to live near to nature but the episodes when nature is red in tooth, claw and force 9 are hard to endure. Thanks for the reminder, we sitting on our cushioned sofas are, and the dream reminds us, so safe and cosseted by and large. Thank you for another fascinating real life adventure.
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  19. I think if they do take away the titles many many people will use that as a stick to beat the monarchy with. I too feel they should lose the titles which, because of their derision of the RF , are debased by their vulgarity and constant pester power. However, the top squad showing the world that this appalling couple are shunned by royalty itself will send a message. (who would want their name linked with H&M). Persona non grata might well work wonders and they have no talents of their own. The only fly in the ointment with that concept is their relentless digs at what they appear to have willingly lost.
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  20. There are some men it is impossible to respect and think well of.
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  21. Everything you would want from a country walk and explore, utterly lovely especially the owl. Thank you for letting me tag along. PS. You do have the best behaved dog ever.
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  22. Just as we thought. It was pretty obvious.
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  23. I think serious women might be able to make use of a serious dress and jacket. Skirt not above knee level, jacket sleeve length elbow to wrist length. Nota suit but not far off and sexual references neatly tidied away.
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  24. You really are an admirable goer Vanessa. You pack more into a day than I could have managed and still have time for your journal. Respect!!!!!
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  25. I’ve been around since the end of the last war, oh there were such admirable men then, not only had they done their bit but they could put up shelves, imparted wisdom to their families and as we all got more prosperous gathered in good natured gangs on Sunday mornings to mend their cars. Then came the sixties and the world started to belong to the young and males stayed young till their forties. Few embraced masculinity, most wanted to be playboys forever with fun, sex and freedom, at least that’s what magazines and the media said. We can see the results in the people who run our country now. The old order which lasted for thousands of years has been kicked out of the window and older people a senile liability where once they were respected for their wisdom. Not advocating putting the clock back but education could do with a make over because it appears to be very difficult to become sensible well rounded people.
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  26. Not telling us why????
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  27. What a lovely place to be on your birthday…..puts a new meaning on flashing………..back to the old ways.
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  28. I have lived in my house between two villages for a long long time. When we first moved here the wildlife was abundant. Gradually the few house’s occupants changed from elderly married couples to families. Only 11 houses in all but the big house became a commercial property with lots of modernisation. Over the years we have lost upward of 28 types of birds, animals and pond life. Just due to more active people and traffic around. We tried to be responsible but wildlife doesn’t like activity from noisy people. I really miss the swallows and the owls and the glow worms.
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  29. Envious. How very special to have your cosy happy home with you as you gather adventures. Absolutely the best of both worlds
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  30. I find these days that many people over talk about themselves and won’t let anyone else talk about themselves. You learn a great deal about other people if you just listen. Often very helpful.
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  31. So you are being priced out of the market. What a terrible shame when you have contributed so much to the life you and many others have chosen. It is such a tragedy because I am sure I am not the only person who has learnt and experienced so much about our beautiful kingdom. It is a great pity that the CRT have big problems……..you show us things nobody else does and big the canals up in consequence. They should pay you for the publicity and may well lose as much as they gain. I wish I were a millionaire. I am glad you have decided to carry on.
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  32. Well it didn’t take long for my weakness to dictate its power over me. When I first came across your vlogs I said to myself I could watch one a day, but they are so good and enjoyable on every level that I pounce of any that come up in me at once. I hope I am not through them all too soon, even if I am I will be watching for a second time. Gold cups, stars, medals and ribbons for a wonderful array of talents and communications that provide so much interest and joy.
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  33. I was thinking that you would make a stupendous addition to Winterwatch on the BBC. You are so professional…….i hope they make you an offer, Soring, Summer and Autumn too.
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  34. Lovely glimpse of Mr and Mrs Peregrines three scruffy little kids. They will be magnificent when grown. That was very special. Thank you.
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  35. Sensational. So much high quality stuff in one vlog. Your eye is something special…….as well as your drawing hand. Thank you yet again.
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  36. It is levelling down, believe me people are operating at a lower frame of reference and knowledge than in my early years. The more experts there are the more confused we all become. Simple peasant wisdom knew right from wrong and mostly it worked and there was a push from all to be better. Now we expect The State to sort us all out.
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  37. Watching this vid made me remember from my childhood when people lived in cottages by level crossings, canal locks, and various other spots that needed reliable care. Those people were not paid much (could get the living now though in exchange with low rent where they could take other work) but they took pride in their surroundings, knew the area and kept everything shipshape. I saw so many of those places I would have liked to live. Todays vid brought it all back.
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  38. SECOND HOME, pensioners are fiddled out of help for their only home. Ordinary people who are not earning are unable to respond to market forces……bad government. Hopeless monitoring of state of country through hopeless assessment of marketing dominance.
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  39. Just words. Meaningless, not a shred of practical joined up thinking behind them. A slogan alone will not do the trick.
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  40. Being old is a very expensive undertaking. Ok if one is healthy but once we need any kind of medicine and healthcare the costs simply pile up. I do get cross at the idea all older people can spend on annual holidays abroad, often more than once a year. Lovely if one can but most can’t do that and have to scrape around. I am dreading this winters coming fuel and electricity charges. We can’t go out and get extra jobs to make ends meet as we could when younger.
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  41. I don’t want to listen to this smiling self satisfied woman joyfully telling us we are facing disaster. Not the way to hear of our impending disaster. Heartless and valueless ignorance.
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  42. That was amazing. You must have felt like you were exploring up the Amazon. So lovely to have a big slice of land all to yourself with no human disturbance. Very special indeed. You now know more than most inhabitants of our land. That heron was a star!
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  43. It is wonderful how our restored canals are providing a hugely valuable site for wildlife. People nice contained on narrow boats are not such a threat as those tramping the undergrowth down and wandering all over the place. You have got the best of both worlds and I greatly appreciate that you are kind enough to share it with us. A big thanks.
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  44. Everyday a delight Vanessa, maybe not all day but at least part or parts of it. That’s happiness. Not everyone can find it but those that do are blessed and their outlook pleases all they encounter. I have found that to be true in a harsh world. Golden moments to treasure and this video is very treasurable. Thank you.
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  45. I do pay for a licence, BBC is the only platform that delivers much in the way of non fictional information. But their programming schedule needs a jolly good overhaul. Same old same stuff predictable every day every week, every year. The only exceptions is when one or more of reasonably watchable programmes are shoved out of the way. A pay for sports channel would be bliss then the BBC could save millions to spend on proper wide issue entertainment. I remember when the BBC was still Reithian and served it’s public splendidly. BBC is central though, where else would we go in times of trouble and the nation needs information badly.
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  46. Do hope you didn’t get turned inside out with the wind. Really enjoyable……I love lime trees and the bees go crazy for their flowers.
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  47. Kinder is quite magical. I never heard of it and yet it is SO old. Thanks for the look round it. If only it had central heating!
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  48. If I felt I could trust people I might be in favour of not having a monarchy. So far monarchy worked for me because of high minded restrictions which, in my youth, I expected them to adhere to. If, however, other people too have a volte face, the bad behaviour of a few could finish the lot of them. That would be a pity because, nowadays there is so much corruption on every level that abolishing the monarchy would, not at all, be an improvement.
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  49. I just love your gentle canal adventures, they suit my pace. I never did like rushing around. Oh what we miss, when we get greedy for input. I love to move as though I have all the time in the world, I don’t get so much done but I do enjoy the world so much more.
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  50. A very thinking video. I am not having a binge watch but YouTube’s bot has twigged my interest and I am bombarded now by past items. My treat is one a day ( more or less). YT has your interests at heart…….I should be happy for the next month or so.
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  51. I don’t know how people can carelessly let go of their plastic to go travelling. My upbringing does not allow me to even throw away a sweet wrapper! I would gets the guilts big time. But you left your mooring as you would have wished to find it which is a whole line of gold stars. What a role model.
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  52. I cannot relax and feel comfortable listening to a man appearing before the public in their own homes who keeps his hat on!
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  53. I shall enjoy the Coronation much more because of this enthralling talk. I think I may be watching it on my own so will be able to concentrate for which I am grateful. I just don’t fancy living in a republic, too many bad leaders getting away with stuff that their citizens don’t benefit from. Thank you.
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  54. I tried to seriously consider Woke but it didn’t take long before I woke up to its deficiencies …..it didn’t take long. It doesn’t beat good old homey common sense. I am so glad to hear that you think it has peaked and thinking will return to being mindful without being state commanded thinking.
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  55. I love that women are speaking first about the weaknesses of feminiity. We do know best as we are more inclined to study the minute day to day differences. It certainly isn’t the nirvana perfection we hoped for and in its present form is hugely expensive for the country and demanded a high price to be paid by many families. I am glad we are on the move for some improvements.
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  56. How lovely to visit The Tailor of Gloucester shop. My husband’s uncle worked and was friends with Leslie Linder when they were both at The National Physics Laboratory in the days of the Comet investigation and who wrote the preface to Leslie’s biography of BP. Such a special treat and just as it ought to be.
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  57. Good to see a muntjac again. They used to come into my garden every evening at dusk to eat ivy. They had beautiful manners and left my roses alone, wasn’t as delicious as ivy. The laboratory that took over the Manor House put a a deer proof fence up and I never got deer in my garden again. I miss them. That was a lovely episode of your life, I loved the flints, the walls of my house are flint. It is very special…..the flint I mean.
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  58. Poppies need ironing, but even a few creases cannot take away from their glamour. My big ones came out this week but, sadly, they don’t last long. This episode is a beauty. Thanks.
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  59. Corruption style congress wont be stamped out no matter what it is called. Get even two men…people…in conversation together and “what can you do for me, or, “what can I get out of this one” will ensue. It’s the way of the world.
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  60. So is it ok to contact again with common sense and become Unwoke. I can’t make it Woke work for me so life would be greatly simplified.
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  61. Those that can do…….those that can’t g Woke!
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  62. That was just lovely. It had everything from cheeky cute humour to serious appreciation of the importance of fungi to the world as we know it. Who ever knew that crusts of our sandwiches can give birds wingdrop. I feel very guilty because I have in my time found an appeal from a feathered beauty irresistible . Never again.
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  63. I heard from somewhere else years ago that Edward Heath and his yacht were in the same entertainment circle.
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  64. Very interesting and I have just bought your book. I am very old but am interested in modern culture and have experienced a great deal from childhood till now. I find that although I can’t make my mind accept the idea of a God up in the heavens and don’t attend a church I nonetheless have lived my life strictly within all the “thou shalt nots”. I wonder how many others do the same. We hear about smart today people who spend their lives having high end fun, and there are still millions of us who live life the old way with smalltime pleasures and fun. I wish I could live forever and how it is all going to work out.
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  65. I love it when you take us exploring. It’s a real pleasure to any of us who are housebound, although most of us will never get to see all the places we would like to. You are a very interesting tour guide…and so is zeph. Loved every minute.
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  66. I am beginning to feel very puny, ill used and wilfully kept in a state of ignorance. Quite the opposite of educated.
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  67.  @kitchfacepalm  indeed she is but for a woman who appears to be rather vain, comfy, cuddly and a little on the large side, is not in tune with the fashionable glamorous look that Megan likes to adopt.
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  68. Watched this tucked up in a warm bed so so admire you way you tackle ice and winter head on. Got rewarded for your trouble by that lovely man and his family of birds. Must have made your stay in Leamington Spar. Beautiful town.
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  69. PS. I obviously can’t type.
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  70. And it is all at once in the very beginning of labour parliament. God knows what the future will be.
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  71. Even if we are aware that cheap clothing is undesirable we may not have money resources to acquire stuff we need without using cheap options. The results of a low wage economy. Our media grooms us to admire people with billions of pounds in the bank. We are all at their mercy though and they got rich off all our backs one way or another.
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  72. In many cases that’s the reality. The more a selfish person has the more that person demands. There has to be a better way.
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  73. I don’t like this woman. She doesn’t think clearly. I am out NOW!
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  74. 2. No great heroes now. Shame really.
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  75. Do clerics all over the world abuse little boys or is it only in Britain. How utterly abhorrent…….there are no words. He should be made to endure all the law can throw at him. This should be cleared up once and for all.
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  76. We took an empty grade 3 slum way back in 1970 and by doing the work ourselves bit by bit turned it into a modest dwelling. My husband died and I have carried on living here not lavishly but responsibility and carefully. Now, if the single council tax is abolished, I will have improved the nation’s housing stock in spite of personal privation and could be forced out of my home which is not in the least bit fair. I person to pay as much as an earning family is just nasty, unjust and grubby.
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  77. He is an escaped museum piece.
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  78. If I were writing a novel quite a lot of Megan and Harry’s ‘adventures’ would look a bit like over dramatised plot lines. Harry is not the only son who, after a few generations in the family business, turned tail and ran. It’s normal. Megan threatens suicide, who knows if that is true. If parents suspect that their child is being over dramatic, they don’t always rush about when when blackmailed into a child’s threats. They know their child. I could make the king and queen of the story wise and able to see through the tricks of people who are little more than cheap con artists. Oh I could have a lot of fun with a plot like that, after all it would be pure fiction.
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  79. A sapphire and aquamarine little gem of a kingfisher then the naughty horse nibbling away at the fence post. Another set of adventures to admire and appreciate. Loved it.
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  80. I am a senior senior and hate my phone. It orders me about……answer this, reply to that, order now, did you know, Jane smith says, answer me, even if you are in the loo, reply at once or you will not qualify. Oh I remember the peace of an old telephone that didn’t require my return reaction. Just gav me a message and I owed it nothing.
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  81. I can’t bear her smirk. We see nothing to laugh about.
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  82. Do you think there is any connection in things MM might know about PA and that very quick wedding to Harry? What possible hold could MM have over TRF to speed things up as they did. Just a thought.
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  83. Lovely action pics of birds in the snow. And wonderful zeph. We put the turkey carcass out for the birds and for the first time the birds are not gobbling it up. Other people must be doing the same thing and our birds are as sick of it as we are. Christmas is barbaric. Happy January.
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  84. It’s something todo with an inner compulsion todo the right thing, to hold and revere high values, to do no harm and to have pride in being here, where you come from, whatever layer of society and not to let yourself or others down no matter what the situation. In a nutshell,that it!
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  85. I try to be accepting of who and what people want to be and one of the friends I have that I love the most is very obese. I hate myself because inside I recoil at the sight of a an overly large person. Why I wonder, what is it that overcomes my well thought out acceptance and fondness for someone well endowed with flab. Is it primeval, is it socialisation or is it some weird kind of snobbery or even a cold dose of common sense?
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  86. I do hope that Mr Rishi remembers that not all Conservative voters have private medicine and that private medicine does not accept or provide cover for anything they count as ‘chronic’. He could be in for a big shock and only a brief turn in the limelight. I do hope so.
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  87. Puts a new light on “Suffer Little Children”…………
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  88. Simply idyllic!
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  89. I love the way that there is not a moment wasted on your journeying. Some people might zoom by and not notice a thing but nothing gets overlooked by you. The stable we bought had been neglected for years and years so the wildlife was abundant, not so now. Other people have moved nearby and have other ideas so we had lost a lot, screech owls, toads as big as our fists, numerous birds and butterflies. But I can catch up with my nature fix through you and it is a great comfort. Thank you.
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  90. Parents of those girls will have paid their taxes and are not receiving the protection they have paid for. Shame on you government……you are one big scam.
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  91. And you are happy to promote bedlinen. It isn’t only women who are targeted. The people targeting all of us to sell their products have a lot to answer for. No wonder life is changing and in every area there is distrust and disillusionment.
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  92. I love when you combine the denseness of the city, cinemas, sins of earthly delight and noise then into rural pleasures of tiny creatures and natures fashionable clothing of insects in and on both hedgerow and meadow. You have the best of both worlds. I do know it takes a lot of effort and planning and am grateful you share it all with us. Thank you.
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  93. PS. I only follow three or four Canal travellers and you are the only one that demonstrates a 100% appreciation of the whole in the round experience of canal life. Naturally that is the one I would have aspired to and I understand what a lot of work goes into making your vlogs look easy. From lockdown onwards I popped in and out canal wanderings to get a breath of fresh air. I am so glad I came across you. Thank you for a truly enjoyable experience. I still have some more to catch up on. Lucky me!!!
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  94. Just the job to watch today surrounded as I am by a thick, hoary white frost, so thick it looks like snow. I have hoinked out my sheepskin slippers as I need every bit of warmth I can get. It is very cold, a warm cosy narrowboat looks just the job.
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  95.  @berylanjous6932  George is still all together in one piece……I am a product of my age I am afraid. Men used to remove their hats in the company of women. Chivalry had something to do with it I think.
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  96. Best birdsong ever. Lovely indeed.
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  97. Isn’t a male sex doll only one stop up from a vibrator. Forgive me, I have lived sheltered life, but wouldn’t you have to keep stopping to reprogrammed a robot and wash it down afterwards. Surely doing the necessary to blend with the man who loves you ( not just says he does!) is the better option. It all takes time. It isn’t all roses and happy ever after but my goodness being able to look back and say you were loved by a nice kind man who wouldn’t get a gold cup in the sex Olympics can have its benefits. I can promise you it does. Not all men can be great hero’s with women or world class lotharios but they can be loving, kind, dependable and with you all the way. There is an old saying that works both ways, “catch ‘em young and train them”! I wonder if those old wives saying were all rubbish.
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  98. I really hate the cold so rather you than me but it is lovely to see the icy winter wonders. Do you know what that round jelly thing is……I have never seen one before. Quite exotic. I am sure you will stay cosy and popping out now and again and have a 10 minute pop your head out for a quick peep at the countryside beauty. Thank you…….said she from lying on my warm bed ready to watch Kirstie and her craftspeople.
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  99. It’s all getting too clever by half. Everything appears far more complicated than we thought.
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  100. Remember when KC3 was mad about alternative medicine. Has he got his knickers in a wrist again. We are subjects not disciples……..he would be going against a constitutional edict if he went waist Christianity.
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  101. Every day a new adventure………keeps you young though! Loved it.
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  102. Inflation may have made their houses more valuable but its only on paper, doesn’t put food on the table nor coal on the fire.
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  103. I find her very boring. There is no meat in what she says.
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  104. Egrets shaking their feet like ballet dancers to the music was delightful. Of course that it what they are doing, why didn’t see it myself. Then a chorus line of seagulls, what an entertainment. Thank you for being a vegan, saving the world so I don’t have to. Body problems means I can’t eat leaves and fibrous vegetables so I have to have to existing problem food, luckily I eat very little. The planet is safe for a little while longer. Hope you Christmas was everything you hoped.
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  105. 20 million ( or thereabouts) cant be wrong! But Harry thinks we are.
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  106. Lovely drawing especially the raven. I also loved the yellow wagtail, a favourite bird. I liked to see them on the grey tiles of my roof…..before they moved elsewhere I am afraid.
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  107. Do you think that the balcony H&M will be on will be swathed with bunting with NETFLIX printed over it. Their view of new royalty?
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  108. So so right……why have so few people not been able to see the obvious. It is a great skill.
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  109. That heron was something really special, along with the glass factory. I love those elegant bulbous cones, they are really a sculpture I think. Thanks for the ride.
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  110. The story of flint for me was SO interesting. I live in a flint old stable and always imagined a lot of gnarled elderly men sitting around knapping the stones for my dwelling. Now I wonder if my stones were sold off being too big to grind down for Mr Wedgewood. Whither thou goest this summer I will follow……wouldn’t miss an adventure with you for anything.
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  111. I once had two Red Kites fighting over half a string of sausages in my back garden, their size was enormous and I could hear a huge noise from their wings as they thrashed about. That was about 10 years ago…..never seen them so close since, they have moved to a more promising area I suppose. We still have buzzards though and a sparrow hawk that sits on top of the bird feeder at sunrise waiting for breakfast to fly in. Lovely video, zephyr gets more and more impressive. She is much admired. Thanks again.
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  112. @ congratulations. I expect many people envy you and it takes only a little effort. We are here only once, we should make the best of ourselves for ourselves. I wouldn’t want to look back and wish I had done better for myself.
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  113. A lovely start to my weekend……yours are all quite different and this one was spectacular. Bats and snails……you will have to get yourself a pith helmet soon if you carry on like this!
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  114. When I was a child during WW2 I asked my father how people could follow a dreadful man like Hitler. He said that politicians on Hitler’s side were more powerful than ordinary people……….I think we are seeing that same scenario in embryo here in the UK. Time for us all to claw our way back to the sane ad sensible Great Britain that we seem to be loosing. Been there, done the other.
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  115. People with a puritanical outlook are dreadfully boring. Won’t be long before they ban Christmas.
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  116. How lovely to see lapwings again, way back in 1970 they were numerous. Had a delightful adventure this morning, woke to find my tuxedo cat Charlie pulling my bedroom to pieces, later saw a tiny wren flying out. Later later , found a tiny tiny wren trying to escape out of the kitchen window, scooped him up and freed him from the stable door. I would have loved to have looked at it closely but he it had had enough trauma so it needed its freedom. Charlie was still trying to find it and gave me a black look for ages. Thank you for your delightful vlog, I know all that area well. So good to see it again.
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  117. And the USA is so proud of their ‘Democracy’…………….my foot!
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  118. It is beginning to look as though KC3 is going to fall at the first fence. It is all looking as though he has some very high fences that need attention and he is not facing up to them. Oh dear!!!
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  119. NEAR MISS is not a fact……can’t be proved. It is an embroidered opinion. If something doesn’t actually happen it is not a fact.
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  120. I am getting uncomfortable with “she is 83 for god’s sake”. 83 does not mean one is Gaga. Highly intelligent, hugely experienced and bright as a button would not be inappropriate. Maybe Lady S saw something that alerted her to wanting to let QC know before a meet and greet. There is more to this than immediately apparent. Take your time everyone and calm down.
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  121. It defies all reason that nobody ever said “How is it that all these post office people, who don’t know each other, have suddenly decided to try and defraud the Royal Mail”? That is the elephant in the room!!!!
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  122. Maybe they should stop employing Sunshine Sachs and all their lawyers! Must be costing them a fortune. Worse to come in costs as they may well want Daddies money to help pay to sue the RF. just a thought
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  123. Just lovely…..and Zeph is one very happy dog.
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  124. Don’t worship labels……..don’t buy labels. If there is no market sales will dwindle. Who cares about a label anyway? Oh how the mighty have fallen.
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  125. It’s a long while since we have had peewits living in the field next to us. A real joy to see them again. I thought you must be sailing over a supermarket trolley when you encountered metal in the shallow water…..you do see life don’t you?
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  126. A demonstration that when one is caught up in the action, the excitement is the spur. But when one steps back out of it one can see it for what it is. The onlooker sees most of the game, and how!
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  127. It’s been my experience that forgiving people only leads to further atrocities. Hold hard folks, it will be worth it in the end
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  128. We all married early when I was young. I was one of a close group of students. A boy I met when we were both 19 married at 22. At 25 and you were on the shelf. Many of that gang of students only two broke up, the seven of us left all finished growing up together, holidayed together from time to time and remained happy in our slow move to maturity, middle age then retirement. They were innocent days compared with today. I am not saying put the clock back at all but I am saying that maybe our rush to mature might not be the best for everybody.
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  129.  @leejareno1  moreover the eldest among us were children during the war, dangers, being bombed, privations of rationing and austerity, we had to work bloody hard to get somewhere to live let alone our own house and as we began, we are going to relive the miseries of poverty, cold and loneliness in our last years. The British are heartless!!!!!
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  130. Surely it is all about getting us to obey. Easier to control, easier to dominate and get us to come to order. Don’t fancy it myself.
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  131. I read that Whitney Webb has died. I have only read one of her YT pieces. This is interesting.
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  132. The sun is over the yardarm so I poured a G&T to watch you tackle all that engineering with the lengthy locks….what a great treat at the end, scenery as good as Britain at its best. Edith Wharton would have loved to have met you I am sure. Great vlog as ever, if not better.
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  133. People anywhere could, I suppose, say something unpopular. Thousands upon thousands could. There would not be enough room in prisons, would there, just imagine. Unenforceable laws might become unpopular.
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  134. Lovely. Lovely indeed.
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  135.  @karenkershaw6324  it’s only about a £1 per head per anumm anyway. Not exactly going to break the bank.
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  136.  @themindfulnarrowboat  I am afraid the problem is far beyond green verges, we are surrounded my miles of fields. It has to be down to too much activity from people, vehicles, noise and all the rest of the things WE need to survive. It is all too complicated for quick fix answers.
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  137. I read The Edwardian Lady book years ago in my younger days. It’s a real classic and was total romance to a young girl brought up in London. I had the Thames and Kew Gardens so hankered for green fields everywhere. I have got them now but the swap was actually quite painfull. Perhaps it always is?
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  138. Why, if it’s not broke why change ? What is Starmer’s motive and why. I find it terrifying
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  139. Me too please. I would love to buy your book.
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  140. The Spare is a total failure in everything he says and does. There is no way I would become a fan in his faction to overthrow the Royal Family. He is pathetic, infantile and in the unlikely event that he managed to win in this debacle he wouldn’t have any idea how to proceed. He would sit in a corner and coddle his todger.
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  141. I never knew herons socialised in a cluster, maybe this is one family. All facing the same way. Siege of herons…I like that.
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  142. Strength of character here…..how rare ad wonderful.
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  143. I love that heron bridge, what a lovely thing to do to a road and water. Just a thought…do you think that winding (round and round) in the past was pronounced winding (moving air )? Coventry is such a surprise, I have got a soft spot for street art, maybe not so much just words but colours and imagination can be very exciting. Enjoying your Coventry trip.
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  144. Why are they doing this test…..do they know something we don’t know. Is Putins hint of nuclear action more than just an idle threat. It is all very scary.
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  145.  @robbiet8583  Hi. I don’t know the exact details but it is somewhere around £1 per year. Not a lot when you consider we get something near a soap opera thrown in for good measure. Every ten or so years we get some kind of family crisis we can think about to make us feel they are just like some of us. Quite good value I think and they stop power hungry oddballs trying to take over our poor old country.
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  146. I have watched him act. He is always very good!!!!
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  147. You must be so well organised. You fill your day with interest then come home to an immaculate galley for tea. Never a dirty pan or plate anywhere. Envious.
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  148. I am a little old lady and ever since JFK was assassinated in very peculiar circumstances I have been curious about the whys and wherefore. I guess I have felt “there is more to this and meets the eye” on several happenings in this crazy world. I will buy one of Whitney’s books. I am too old to be a danger to anyone but not too old to appreciate some of the questions that can occur to thinking people in the natural course of events. The future looks very grim to me. When I tell my family about the freedoms we had in England post WWII they look at me in disbelief. Nonetheless!!!!
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  149. This is good news. I hear that sir Keir Cromwell is waiting to meddle into pensioners private bank accounts. Considering our pensions are only about subsistence level this is a terrible thing to contemplate. The myth is that we pensioners spend our lives having foreign holidays, maybe one or two do but not on their pensions. They may have saved resources they can use for a treat it two among house repairs, getting up to date on heating options due to government dictates, dentistry and I could go on. This is an iniquitous move. Those of who can save for our old age do, others cannot do that. It is none of the governments business. We should get what we pay for, the government should attend to inflation and running a competent country. I am glad the far western world has not now fallen to left wing dictatorship.
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  150. Why should we be interested and like PH. He brings nothing to the table, without the background of his family he is a talentless nonentity! He is a Great Big Grump and living in the USA with his talentless wife, is the best he can do. he is so disappointing
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  151. Me again. I have come to think that Woke is becoming a soft path to anarchy. At the end nobody will ever come to a conclusion of any subject. Too many facets will appear, nobody will be able to see the wood from the trees. Impasse.
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  152. Labour are taking the Great out of Britain in double quick time. Spiteful, petty jealousy, not reasoned paths to prosperous reasoned growth.
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  153. I am watching this with one eye and KC3 Trooping of the Colour with the other. Not a greater contrast possible. You are winning so far ! Brass bands and otters…….no contest.
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  154. Does this mean that ‘woke’ is a womanising of politics. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were and would welcome some kind of evening up.
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  155. Winter in the country might lead one to the conclusion that it would be, because of leafless trees, like living in a black and white print. Not at all, you found an amazing amount of colour and it is lovely. Really lovely. I will ignore the damp, the cold and the noisy ice, perhaps we can think of it as like labour pains and forget the hardship when we are back to the good times. Summer is just heavenly I think.
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  156. Second and finding the idea very interesting. I am all agog!
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  157. While you are giving us your wise words a spider is happily making a web at your left elbow. That’s life isn’t it?
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  158. Andrew has an old fashioned despots mentality……..his ‘sins’ demonstrate that. Doesn’t wash in today’s world where people with great advantages throw their weight into encouraging good causes to assist people whose birth missed any of the privileges of Royalty or riches.
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  159. Megan puts a new light on a wolf in sheep’s clothing. A warm smile, a charming tilt of the head and pure venom from her mouth and her heart. When is Harry going to acknowledge it. You can see by his face that he feels something is wrong but is he fully complicit?
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  160. Oh I do miss the thrushes. I could never work out which was more spectacular, a singing thrush or a singing blackbird.
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  161. I wonder if exclusivity is a gift that might be appreciated these days. I think there is something special about it. Imagine being compared with a fast food joint. Anyone, anytime, anywhere……not very romantic is it. How else can you keep sex special.
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  162. Why can’t the two exist together? All the richer overall.
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  163. It is so hard to listen to the Delusional Duke of HAZard. He is no longer personable. He has nothing to say about our world, no gloss to temp us to listen long enough to benefit from his internal view of the world. We all have that, we like ours and everyday people’s better.
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  164. I have got to grips with ‘woke’. I was never a disciple so it was not a problem to become ‘woken up’. I always thought it was a trick. It is and very very subservive,. We should stick to our guns and have in good old fashioned right and wrong as we used to. It worked then and can work now but needs time.
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  165. If they can afford it.
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  166. I have a feeling that “we have been here before”. Getting to be a habit.
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  167. Goodness, what a hardy soul you have. Ice for a whole week and you turned it into an adventure. Genius. I would have wrapped myself up in twenty two blankets and not moved a muscle. You are one very special person. Thank you for all the fun and nature events and updates.
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  168. I think it is the apathy of the candidates. We saw nobody at all in the run up, we all felt simply isolated, no contact with parliament at all, no doorstep questions, we all hate canvassing but it does have its values. I guess we feel politicians hate and look down on us. We get pushed around and have to pay up and quietly suffer their bad decisions. I am old enough to remember when politics involved us all, now it is fame makers and the media. And it shows!!!
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  169. I am inspired to clear my sewing room. When in mid project and I start looking for something I go into Disney cartoon mode and am surrounded with things that won’t do at all in seconds whilst I continue to work with that very last thing that will do. It doesn’t happen only once! I won’t bore you with a photo. Am delighted to have come across you. I just love seeing how things are made and what goes into making them. I knew the Goldhawk Road years ago when there wasn’t one single fabric shop, now I live about 2hrs away, am older and am in lockdown so I don’t think I will ever get to enter the Aladinns Caves but it is thrilling to know they are there.
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  170. Being at the Coronation for this evil couple is absolutely vital for them. They are not far from the skids, unpopular, caught out, not as rich as they expected to be, not held in high regard by most people on both sides of the Atlantic. They are desperate to be seen as part of the family. For once KC3 holds all the cards…….will he blow it? If he gives way, he will be taken down with the both of them. Nobody will win. I have my doubts that KC3 will go in for the kill.
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  171. How lovely, after all these years, to connect again with Circe. I played a maidservant in the play Circe at college. Most enjoyable…..how we got through it without knowing any of this scholarly background I don’t know but as our audience was pretty young and unformed I guess we got away with it.
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  172. You will appreciate I am sure how I enjoy travelling along with you and experiencing the nature and wildlife things that you and your camera see. I had an infection that knocked out my balance soI can no longer tramp over rough ground. It is so lovely to revisit one of my many favourite pastimes. A million thanks. You are special indeed.
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  173. I wonder if that rabbit was dropped by a large predatory bird…..it would have to be a pretty big one. I hope rabbits are brave enough to jump and escape …… it would be so vulnerable up there.
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  174. Now those little spiders are lovely. They don’t have long hairy legs and make me shudder at all. I wonder why.
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  175. Hi. I am brain. I live in an elderly lady who leads a quiet life but she is very good to me and lets me go where I like and even buys books and opens her IPad to call up things I am interested in. I am bemused by this Epstein thing….it is another world, very exotic and strange to me. I am thankful for your analysis of Bill Gates and Prince Andrew’s body language and responses. I suspect huge goings on which we don’t know the half of and how would we ever understand it all without assistance I do know. Many many thanks for that. My little lady says she can tell when people are lying, they do something with their eyebrows to make themselves look sincere and concerned. Puts her hackles up!
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  176. Birmingham to me in my younger days meant exhibiting, and exhibitions balti suppers and wanting to look inside the bullring, all many years ago. I ate by the water but I don’t know where and have so enjoyed another view of the city. I like your view better, I love how wildlife just carries on alongside us all demonstrating their right to territory is as valid as ours.
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  177. OK I am a bit long in the tooth and I agree that the RF had had a lot of overkill lately….due in large part by H&M. I will watch the Coronation, didn’t see much of the last one, but if the cameras hover overlong on Harry, I will turn it off. Royalty exists to stop people like Harry to occupy The Top Job. Or any others that might consider themselves more important than the law, the army etcetera. And, hopefully, the WEF!
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  178. Ooh! Saying what we wish our own voted in politicians would say. Craven lot!
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  179. There is no necessity to take the world’s troubles on your back. Enjoy your own life first, it cannot be replicated. The world’s woes do not have to be born on your shoulders. Give yourself a month off and just enjoy yourself. You are unique. Give yourself a gift and don’t give up till you have to……and don’t spread your despair………we have enough of our own. Try it!!!!
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  180. We now live ina country where pretty near all of the population are well educated one way or another. The poor are no longer voiceless. We can wreak havoc with their PR if they Come across as The Big Bad Wolf. Mr Starmer, it has started…..you are going to find this hard to live down.
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  181. Trump coming in must be painful for Sir Keir Cromwell………….he hasn’t got a crony to assist him and his acolytes to take over the western world now.
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  182. I think that beautiful seed wants to be near you and deserves to find a bit of earth…….maybe in one of your pots. I think any day with nothing awful happening is a great gift, some may call it boring, I don’t! The quiet days when we can listen to ourselves are a blessing………..there are many who would like the chance.
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  183. I understand that veterans met and competed in America. Harry came across this and one of the BP team heard about it and thought it was a good thing for Harry to get going here. Until this last year it was a very successful undertaking.
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  184. That was lovely all through. When I saw the man in the water so matter of fact and calmly doing a nasty job I couldn’t help thinking how our view of men has changed. We couldn’t do without them. There are machines to do stuff but they don’t cheer us up as much as a big grin from a man who knows his worth and who knows that nobody does it better. That scenario really cheered me up.
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  185. Are ‘they’ trying to prove that putting the clock back will benefit each of us and every country. If so, lazy will win the day. Nothing will happen, no progress will be made and we will all lose in the long run.
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  186. Fens are fabulous .l really enjoyed this exploration, best done from a boat. Thank you.
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  187. Our Royal are normal grown ups.
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  188. I have not watched nor will I buy the book. I don’t want royal trailer trash in my head. They are a right royal fxxx up! What can I admire, what can I respect? I have got people next door who command my better feelings than The Whelp and his Harpy. I think they are on the slippery slope down now, so greedy they have overdone it .
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  189. I had two red kites in my garden about 8 or 9 yrs ago. I was leaning on my kitchen stable door only about 10 feet away as they squabbled over raw sausages. They are huge and very beautiful with a massive wingspan. They no longer hunt in my neck of the woods though.
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  190. Jeremy C is a two feet on the ground, good old fashioned right from wrong gent. So funny, so funny that he makes it obvious you needn’t believe a word he says. No wonder he is popular.
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  191. Just what I want from a canal programme, from dandelions to cuckoo and lots of birdsong. I am going to ride along with you….it will be lovely. Thanks.
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  192. I feel like I am going to be a stowaway with you all this summer. That was so beautiful.
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  193. My teenage terrorist kittens occasionally bring home a little land shrew….I have been able to save a few but my goodness they have got a bite on them. Hurts for hours afterwards. What lovely scenic pics, beautiful dark and light water and stunning skeleton trees. Oh, the visual pleasure. Can you hear my sigh of gratitude?
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  194. Complaining of your miserable life whilst living in the lap of luxury doesn’t really wring tears of sympathy from most people whose daily suffering one way and another can top or, at least equal, anything Harry has endured. None of us is far from some kind of misery. He is living in Tom Tiddlerland with his bad taste million’s and emotional blackmail publicity. Show some strength of character, dear boy, and demonstrate how we mere mortals can rise above it. Almost all of us do.....every day!
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  195. Quite puts one off voting for the foreseeable future, if we are given the chance.
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  196. The meanness of H&M is just staggering. Sly, underhand and vindictive. Who would want to even know this couple let alone buy their sponsored products to make them rich.
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  197. Swooping past lovely landscape in a narrow boat is such a different experience. A motor on a road is far too fast but doing the same on water allows time for reflection (ha!) and mental growth. Bit like walking. Loving riding along with you.
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  198. Old Labour helped stamp out extreme poverty among the elderly, this Newer Labour is reinventing it. Despicable.
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  199. Our oldies were children in WW2 so have a beginning of real privation and dangers and it looks as though our end will be just like our beginning! Hitler and ………..
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  200. A new kind of slavery….to commerce. When will we wake up.
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  201.  @HarshDude126 unhappily, too true!!!
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  202. So curious Do you make your garments for theatres, museums or yourself. Are you intending to write a book. Your projects are so interesting they raise lots of question for behind the scenes. You have influenced me already and my stitches have improved.
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  203. The simple is going through our culture like a hot knife in hot butter. It is on every level. When I was a child after the 2nd WW I thought everything would get better, I had classical music, great literature, etc you get the message. Everything is so slick now and quick, cool, polished and meaningless. We are not encouraged or given the opportunity to ponder on anything, it is not smart. (Cool)! Language has altered, have about 20 short cliche sayings and you can get by on any level with no trouble at all. Nothing will stick, originality is not tolerated, we must conform to the crowd. Heigh Ho, rant over.
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  204. I have found that sometimes men want us to let them have their own way and then/allow let them boss us around. I find men very complicated, they can be nice and they can be utterly, utterly foul. Often in the same body.
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  205. If the BBC changed their viewing programme they might get a nice surprise. Rubbish programming. Lucky to see one thing watchable any one evening. Saturdays deadly, kitchen for women with silly talking PR guests, sport of some kind sometimes all day. Sunday even worse. Might get something watchable on Sunday evening among the repeats. Monday to Friday pretty much the same, the odd programme here and there but nothing to prick our ears up. Evenings, lucky to get a good film or a series without some poor soul being killed and impossibly clever, quite unlike the real thing, detectives and police solving the crime and being heroic. BBC needs a big feather duster and programmers that can think beyond stereotypes and start a channel to deliver sport 24\7 And stop pinching viewing time off expected hours when those of us who don’t run around chasing a ball etc, have an evening ahead of us. I have spoken. PS I very rarely watch other paid for channels so there!!!
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  206. Neil the seal is a wonder. How self possessed and independent he is. Found a lovely spot to call his own. I wonder if he feels he is a famous seal.
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  207. It is comforting to we lesser mortals that the RF can be scammed by a determined ‘baddie’. Not only has this baddie created havoc but she has got herself a disciple too. What a lesson for us all………what a weasel to plan to hurt the RF along with the marauding baddie and make it a double bind.
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  208. Meghan gives her game away on two points. 1. Constant grooming, there is never a moment when she isn’t ready to move her hair, she puts one foot in front of the other and pushes non apparent hair off her face. 2. She cannot appear in public without showing SKIN…….what is she advertising. We suspect her past when she was very much on show for selection for something or another. Royals don’t ever do either of those things. They are what they are, well prepared and groomed and their position is not up for grabs. Vive la difference!
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  209. You won’t ever be mouldering and boringly old will you? Not with narrow boat adventures everyday. Many many people must envy you even though there must be a few hard moments. I am one of them.
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  210. Philanthropy in the grand style of Cadbury set the standard. Not anymore though, though the whole system is handled by the anonymous powers that be now and there are homgreat heroes who
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  211. Many years ago when we moved into our old stable we found there were a few glow worms in the drive beyond our house. The Old Retainer told that they had once been there in droves. As time went by we saw fewer and asked the concern that moved into the big house if they would change from mowing the grass in July when the Lady Glows climbed the grass stalks to attract a mate. Sadly they took no notice and now there are glow worms no more.
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  212. @ I am an onlooker. My life, after a bad start, has been lucky and lovely. I hate to see people who encounter distress. The world can be cruel to some people.
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  213. It won’t be all that long before people will call for the old world to come back. People won’t want to loose the chance to be famous in their own right. They will want to be better than what they are getting. They will want to reinvent to tell others how to live. They will want fame for themselves. People are like that……some of them anyway!
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  214. A lovely reminder for me of my childhood sailing with my father on the Thames, Teddington, Strand On The Green, Putney etc. happy happy days.
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  215. Labour come across to my mind as a bunch of 3rd rate thinkers. Not capable of holding a testing job in the big wide world. Lacklustre. Not one of them could stand up to Nigel Farage or a Winston Churchill or boris Johnstone. No fire, no pizazz , no humour. I am a floating voter so none of the usual remarks to put me down will apply.
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  216. I have broken my plan by having 2 vids today……irresistible and quite lovely. You are a talented film maker and lady. Cheers.
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  217. @ don’t blame you one bit ……….if it were me it wouldn’t have been a little cry!!!
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  218. That was lovely and you land up in many beautiful places. If ever you became a landlubber would you settle in a favourite village…..you see so many beauties I am sure it would be hard. I would be quite tempted by today’s! Happy Friday.
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  219. You were well and truly weathered with this trip……this one I started in order to calm down ready for sleep! It must have been really exciting on the edge of danger and a shocking change to all the duckweed on the last blog I watched. I am falling in love with herons, such a sculptural bird. Another great vlog……you are top notch indeed.
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  220. Believe me, the kite story is an unusual high spot. Most days it is a couple of blue tits and very little else. Oh maybe a pigeon or two.
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  221.  @Nyet-Zdyes  Indeed. War and treachery take a lot of prisoners.
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  222. Starmer the Harmer or Starmer the Charmer………we wait to see, my hopes are not high I fear.
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  223. Could it be that the more technical aids and amusements that are developed the less experience we gather in our growing years. I am not sure other people\parents are wholly to blame. Our own world has a lot to answer for. Just think of what we are fed for entertainment…….could be rich and powerful celebs, rapists, murderers, corrupt politicians, unfaithful spouses, pop stars….all in one evenings viewing. ,
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  224. This younger men have no idea f the privations older pensioners who were children during the way endured. Now in the declining months/years they are faced with further privations. They have paid their dues (and their taxes) so should be ahead of the list for aid. Loss of relatives through fighting or bombing, rationing, austerity, no Health and Safety in the workplace, no clean air act and so on. I am appalled, should young men and women ever be required to give their lives again to save their freedoms I hope the political cruelty of today will be remembered. I was there, I know!!!
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  225. Maybe a buttercup to partner your lovely daisy?
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  226. Could it be that old fashioned ordinary women are sensible and not crackpot attention seekers who want advantages both ways?
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  227. Not Labour surely………don’t tell me they are no different from nest feathering while the rest of us make do with far far less. Pure Dickensian obnoxious cringe making behaviour. Are you sure it wasn’t the Tories!!!!!!!!
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  228. I can’t help loving starlings. We used to have them all the time, they lived with us and the next door neighbours and “Me, the Missus and the Boys” would forage the lawn for leatherjackets.
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  229. These big big communist blocks, Russia and China have both having widespread famines in their time, one way or another. Whoever thinks that way of running a country is desirable hasn’t a single brain cell.
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  230. I am curious and excited by all the amazing architectural insects……except spiders, those great big summer and autumn hairy things. I am rigid with fear and don’t know how to cope. But the rest are welcome, maybe not fleas or mossies though.
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  231. “Nobody loves me and I’m only little”. We can all speak chick. Other chicks chuck their siblings out if the nest themselves so who can tell. So interesting.
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  232. Sounds like you have travelled from the ridiculous to the sublime!
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  233. I have a jealous half sister who exists in the middle of a maelstrom of her own making. Many many years ago I said no to her after 5years of being given virtually two fingers. I am so much happier now. Life is in balance, good and peaceful. No is such a tiny word to be the answer to all those hideous problems and assaults on my peace of mind. Just say NO
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  234. I think I have fallen in love with terns too, so graceful and have tails like swallows. Your search for shade reminded me that in theUSA people build their houses absolutely right under the trees because then the bugs don’t bite. They bite anywhere here. I remember when some local town wanted to build houses and factories on some deserted chalky land at the edge of the chilterns overlooking an old car dump. I went for a walk there, it was quite isolated except for what looked like thousands of butterflies of all sorts all flying around me. It was just wonderful, now only see them in twos and threes where I live .
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  235. I have bats in my roof, but I never hear their sounds as they are far away in a hayloft. If I try to see them in the evening I get eaten by midges. Nothing is perfect!
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  236.  @onearmeverything6000  Personally, I like a man who can put up a shelf………..I say it often when women complain that men are not fulfilling this, that or the other desirable trait. When I was younger, the men informally gathered around each other on Sunday mornings to see that their motor cars were running smoothly, it was a real ritual and gave the men real pleasure. You press a button these days or call in an expensive specialist. Men have lost out on the opportunities to just hang out together. It is a pity, I think you have to join a gym now and that costs a lot of money. We have lost a lot of simple pleasures.
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  237. Why are Labour unwrapping all the improvements on lives of poverty that were brought in to wipe such penury from our lives in this country. What ever are they on about? What are they hoping to prove? What do they know of history……..beats me!
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  238. It is startlingly evident that there is a lot of mixed messages spinning about. Something is pretty wrong and will continue until some questions are answered. Sooner rather than later.
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