NO ROTTING CAVE

The second walk of the year was from Garve to Contin.

There were a number of absentees including myself, so I have had to make all of this up.

However, I can say with some certainty that the walk did take place and that it was on February the 19th

February.

You will be overjoyed to know that I took the step of looking February up on the internet.

What a fascinating little month it is!

We all know that it is the shortest month and that it sometimes has an extra day added to it.

That is the least of it.

I shall give you little nuggets about February throughout the rest of the blog, just to maintain your interest.

Anyway, February is the second month of the year, but the third month of the winter in the Northern Hemisphere, which is roughly where we live. Basically Spring is just around the corner, so we should all be gambolling about like little lambs.

Instead, we have Robin doing an impression of Ross Draper....

....even in the team photo.

For those of you who do not know the real anguish of being a Caley fan, Ross Draper is a professional footballer blessed with knees through which you could drive the team bus.

This is the Primary school at Garve. I don't know why I was sent this photo to include in the blog, but I will do my best to make a link to February.

The new school year always starts in August. August is the equivalent of February in the Southern Hemisphere.

A bridge without a proper bridge photo.

Could this be what the bridge was crossing?

Perhaps this is also what the bridge was crossing, but in the other direction.

Certainly there seems to be no ice in the water, which is good, because in Czech, February is known as unor, which means the month of submerging of river ice.

The group trying to leave Jimmy behind, but they should know that there is no escape.

Dave is even further behind.

Are the rest of them trying to tell them something?

Surely they realise that Dave and Jimmy are keen outdoorsmen and, although they have received little formal education, they are possessed of considerable erudition.

They have wandered long over the hills and forests, hardening themselves and acquiring first hand knowledge of the land.

In fact, they sound just like the Indian warrior king Shivanji Bhonsle, whose day is, coincidentally celebrated on the 19th of February!

Did they take the agricultural or the masonic route?

Masonic, I think.

I do hope not. Can you imagine poring over the CCTV pictures of this lot?

A big house behind a big gate.

Come the revolution, it is easy to think that some might endorse theft from the rich for pragmatic revolutionary purposes - a bit like Vasil Levski, Bulgaria's National Hero, who sought to free the country from Ottoman rule.

Bulgaria celebrates his day on - yes, you've guessed it - the 19th of February.

This looks like a Gulag from one of Alexander Solzhenitsyin's novels.

There are no signs to help me determine where it is or what it was.

As Solzhenitsyin said once - " Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words."

So I'll leave it there then.

Of course, Alexander Solzhenitsyin did not live in Turkmenistan, which as we all know, celebrates Flag Day on the 19th February.

I bet that's not all they celebrate, Everyone living there gets free electricity, water and gas from the government. Any party that offers that here will get my vote.

 Salmon poaching. In the Highlands. Really?

Then again, the cost of food is ever rising. Indeed, it is thought that in Canada the average family in Ontario has to work from 1st January until the - no not the 19th, but the 8th of February - to earn enough money to pay for just their food bills for the entire year.

A tree stump, which is really appropriate because in Macedonia, February is known as sechko, the month of cutting wood.

Man helps wife walk on water.

Robin tries curling, without realising the fundamental need for ice. Or, perhaps it is because he is a secret admirer of the Slovene Society of Ljubljiana which wished to have February named talnik, which relates to ice melting.

 I suppose this counts as a proper bridge photo. 

Talking of proper bridges, it is actually National Engineers (sic and pace Janet) Week in America. I don't want to comment on Dave's impression of a colossus straddling two continents, or is it in continents?

Pam, looks decidedly unsure of the prospects of turning this tree trunk into a canoe to get them all to the other side, especially as Yukon Heritage day was two days ago, on the 17th of February.

 Eventually, they decide against the Yukon canoe idea and sit down for lunch instead.

This leads Jimmy and Jacque to ponder the many edible things that are celebrated with a day, week or month in February. there are a few and most of them are a big thing in America - need I say more. Well yes. here are the foodstuffs and their dates.

National Tator Tot Day  - 2nd

Ice Cream for Breakfast Day - 4th.

National Frozen Yoghurt Day - 6th

National Pizza Day - 9th

Meal Monday - 13th

National I Want Butterscotch Day - 15th

National Margarita Day - 22nd

Fat Thursday - 23rd

National Banana Bread Day - 23rd

My favourite and not really food, but close - Open That Bottle Night - 25th

Pancake Tuesday - 28th

National Frog Legs Day - 29th.

And you wonder how they managed to elect Donald Trump.

An interesting pose from Dave. Does he look a little like James Bond in a fleece? He might well do, but he is a little behind the times, because National Doppelganger Week was from the 6th to the 12th of February

 Dave features a lot in these photos.

I don't know who threw Dave's shoe away, but they should have realised that it will be National Stand Up to Bullying Day on the 24th of February.

Dave will have his revenge. 

Jacque and Sandra, kindly offer a helping hand to poor old Pam. They were two days late for Random Acts of Kindness Day.

 Even Pam is OK with horses behind a fence. 

 Dave, again, this time with a pile of wood. He is going to use that to build a platform from where he can celebrate Northern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day - and why wouldn't you?

After all someone has to shout Hoodie Hoo to scare away winter and call to Spring, but you are supposed to do it on the 20th of February. 

 Some people on a bridge far away. One of them is wearing red, which is designed to show your awareness of heart disease on the 26th of the month in the UK.

 Low level signs probably put there in direct contravention of Global Information Governance Day on the 16th of February.

All very relaxed and hitting the hay.

A sign written in English to warn walkers of the Snowman Rally, which was the day before - coincidentally,  Dialect Day in Japan - Subaru, Nissan, etc,.

Time for tea and cakes at the Coul House Hotel. All very demure.

We have been here before, but I don't think it was on the 2nd February which actually is Groundhog Day.

Jimmy looks a s if he is about to address the Nation - a bit like Ronald Reagan, whose day is on the 6th of February.

A dead frog - just missed National Frog Legs Day on the 29th.

A toad in the mud. That is apposite - the Old English name for February was Solmonath, meaning mud month.

A beady eyed bird. Probably looking for food and it should be lucky because February is National Bird Feeding Month.

There are no stone building days that I can find in February, which is just as well because Jimmy builds them all the time and is not confined to a day or a week or a month or a year or a decade, or probably even a century.

 Something on the ground catches the ladies' eyes. I wasn't there so I can't say what it was.

However, Sandra is there and may be telling them what it was - after all it is Teacher's Day in the Arab States on the 28th.

I realise that the photos are a bit out of order, but I hardly know what month it was never mind the time of day.

The photos were kindly sent to me by Hugh and Jim and Jacque, so it is all their faults.

Finally, I feel the need to tell you the most amazing fact about February.

February is the only month that has four full 7 day weeks once every 6 years and twice every 11 years consecutively either back into the past and forward into the future. That is when, in a non-leap year, Monday is the first and the year will end on Friday the 28th.

This happened last in 2010 and then 11 years previously in 1999, 6 years earlier in 1993, 11 years before in 1982 etc. It will next happen in 2021.

Now, you don't get that with any old month.

Let's hear it for February!