We diverted from part of the north coast to visit some inland places; it was a day of valleys, woodland, mountains, lochs and narrow, winding roads.
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Donna and I had an amazing trip around the north coast, mostly following the North Coast 500 route. We flew into Inverness and made our way north, then west and eventually south again, finally heading back to Inverness for the flight home.
If you live in or near Cirencester, or are visiting, I recommend this little gem of a place.
A new food outlet opened recently in Cirencester; we hadn’t had a chance to try it – until now. Burrito Mama is small, but very, very good.
Donna and I popped in at lunch time today to see what it was like. What we found was friendly, prompt service, lovely Mexicanesque decor, good coffee, tables inside and out, and an interesting menu. And when the food arrived it was nicely served and absolutely delicious. I chose their Ancho chilli asada mushrooms, and Donna went for the Honey chipotle chicken bowl. Both were great.
If you live in or near Cirencester, or are visiting, I recommend this little gem of a place. Check out their website online. Scroll down and take a look around. Book online or just pop in if they have space available. Locals will know where the Swan Yard is, very central, just beyond the west end of the Market Place.
Overall assessment… We’ll be back as soon as we have another opportunity!
Theorists can move forward again – and the picture seems a little more complicated than we thought.
Where did we come from, and how? We’ve long thought in terms of an evolutionary ‘tree’, but our origins in Africa are more like a braided channel. This idea provides a better fit to the data.
Based on fossil evidence alone, studies of human evolution have long agreed that modern humans evolved in east Africa and radiated out from there. But with the development of cheap, fast and reliable DNA evidence from modern populations, and DNA from fossil teeth and bone samples, it’s becoming clear that theorists can move forward again – and the picture seems a little more complicated than we thought.
On 17th May, Ragsdale and others published a research paper in Nature; ‘A weakly structured stem for human origins in Africa’; their evidence suggests evolutionary connections in populations that were separated for a while before recombining. So instead of an evolutionary tree (which most people were expecting) it seems that our human past is more like a set of braided channels.
Previous views on human evolution proposed a tree structure (branching but not recombining). However, the new ‘weakly structured stem’ model fits the data better than a tree model. It also explains the diversity of genetic forms in modern human populations, and shows that there is no single place in Africa where humans ‘originated’. After this process within Africa, humans spread out as show in the map.
In March 1998, Donna and I were married!
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Notes from bygone years – March after March after March
There were no posts in March 2021, but I walked a long section of the old Thames and Severn Canal. The photo shows the towpath on the left and the bed of the canal on the right. The canal is being restored, but it will be a long time before this section can carry barges again.
In March 2018 I posted about moving into our new house and adding an extension (‘Our new home in the Cotswolds‘). The building work was disruptive in the extreme, of course. We had to move out for four weeks, and make do with just part of the original space for much longer than that. But it was worth it.
In March 2013 I wrote about a TED interview with Elon Musk. Perhaps you haven’t heard of the TED talks, but everybody has heard of Elon. The post is interesting: Musk was already experimentally landing rockets ten years ago, and TED continues to be a great ideas platform. Take a look and explore the links in the original post.
I reported on a meeting at home in March 2008.
Rachael also shared a picture of an old-fashioned plough making furrows. The soil needs to be churned up and overturned before something new can be grown. There is a necessary process of breaking before the land can be used.
We thought about how Father releases us from ourselves. At the beginning he said, ‘Let there be light’; he still speaks those words into his people today and pours light into the darkest places in our hearts.
March 2003, another early blog post about a meeting at home. This time there were only two of us, but we heard such a lot! For example, that the tiny stonecrop, the great cedar, and the mighty oak tree were all planted by Father’s hand. The important thing is not to be big or strong, but to be planted by the master.
And in March 1998, Donna and I were married!
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The sun came out and brightened everything up, even the puddles seemed more cheerful
I spend quite a bit of time in Cirencester so sometimes there are short stories to tell (tales), and I walk a lot in and around the local area (trails). Some of these might be interesting, fun, or even useful.
Today the weather has been quite mixed, a sort of shall I/shan’t I go out. There was a good deal of rain in the morning, but it cleared a bit by mid morning and I decided to dodge the showers and walk down from Stratton where I live; I got a bit damp on the way, but not really wet. I had a couple of items of food shopping to do, so visited Tesco for those, then it began to rain again and I popped into Fora for coffee and to stay dry.
Walking home afterwards, the sun came out and brightened everything up, even the puddles seemed more cheerful. The Dexter cattle in the field west of the Gloucester Road didn’t apparently care about the weather, they didn’t even mind the fact that parts of their field have now become ponds, or even small lakes!
Journeys of Heart and Mind 