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I started writing a big post on the small/Indie web and its limitations, but decided that wasn't worth the drama. So in the spirit of writing about what you’d like to read, I decided to write about boxing. I’ve never seen anyone else do this on the Small/Indie web so here's my effort. This Saturday on Netflix (so I don’t even need to get a dodgy stream) the heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury faces the big scary Russian, Arslanbek Makhmudov (here on referred to as Mak). Now first off, I’m really not a fan of Fury. I will acknowledge he has some skill as a boxer as well as a bullshit artist but generally I’d be hoping he’d lose. I have no real thoughts on Makhmudov but in both cases I’ll try to be objective. Mak is coming off a win against the British fighter Dave Allen, where he took and gave a fair amount of punishment. Both men have the gas tank of a Harley Davidson and had run out by the later rounds, but both showed a lot of heart, despite, (Mak especially) leaning all over each other. His record is 21:2 against fairly ropey opposition. His skills are not top level, he’s slow with the Russian ‘tick tock tick’ style, like a wind-up toy without great foot movement. All of that taken into account, he does punch like a horse and takes shots that would floor basically anyone. He’s a scary looking guy as well and certainly in the Allen fight showed he would keep coming forward and keep swinging as long as his gas tank allowed. ...

My first blog outlined in brief the various ‘stop lines’ created on the orders of General Ironside in 1940 based on the assumption of German invasion (later shown as Operation Sea Lion). Had the invading forces been able to move away from the coast and continue inland, they’d have been met with resistance from the famous Home Guard units, secret auxiliaries and a hostile population. All this combined with the logistics of navigating small country lanes with removed road signs or choosing the major roads which were defended. As the forces would have been aiming for the industrial heartland of the West Midlands, the Black Country1 and Birmingham foundries and factories in addition to the GHQ line there were smaller regional stop lines created around natural features on the landscape as well as existing man made features like canals. These lines were designed to slow the advance into the area producing hardware for defence. ...

As I continue to seek to wean myself off Meta owned social media, but also continue in my desire to share my interests with an indifferent internet, I bring another interest to my blog here on Bear. Growing orchids. I grow lots of different types in various conditions, but my largest collection are Masdevallia/Pleurothallids cloud forest orchids from Colombia,Ecuador and such places. Orchid growers in the UK are generally 90 years old at the youngest and grow in greenhouses they can afford to heat thanks to the fact the government gives them £300 of my tax money each winter to assist with their bills. I can’t afford that method, so I’ve developed alternatives. Thankfully the UK also has plenty of people wishing to grow another very different type of plant inside (one that has big leaves and smelly flowers) and they have lots of kit I can purchase to help. ...

My very first post was on hunting the remains of World War two defences in Worcestershire. I’ve now started treating this sort of like a treasure hunt or geocaching, but instead of a prize or a sodden container, its 85 year old concrete with bits sticking out of it. Google Earth is proving very useful in doing simple investigation into sites, but today I found another small puzzling question. I found a record of a anti-tank cylinder that shows it as literally in someone’s suburban garden so went to Google Maps and took a look. Most recent images show a paved driveway, looking very nice and probably recently pressure washed, but no anti-tank cylinder. Going back to the first Street View image however, shows the cylinder literally inside a flower bed in between two bushes… so the question in my mind now is, where did it end up? Its a bloody big lump of concrete, was it put in a skip? Was it broken up into rubble and removed so the homeowner could extend the drive? I can’t check the HER record as obviously that’s still not working - https://yunzi.co.uk/why-do-those-responsible-for-our-heritage-seem-to-hate-it-and-us/ - and to be honest I’d have happily had got it and put it in my garden. As ever, small questions surrounding our forgotten history and quite possibly one less item linking us to our past, all for a nice driveway.

I’m feeling a bit ‘punchy’ which usually gets me into trouble - but here goes… Today alone I have three distinct things annoying the hell out of me when it comes to being interested in local (or national) history, all very different, all involving different groups and all showing a distinct lack of giving a s**t about historic sites, data or the people who choose to come and see them. ...

English myths and legends leave breadcrumbs throughout history. Little references in popular culture. When it comes to things 1200+ years ago, even some of those references can be pretty damn ancient. This one is even referenced by the great Middle English writer Chaucer; In ‘The Nuns Priests Tale’ by Chaucer. Lo, in the lyf of Seint Kenelm I rede, Lo, I read in the life of Saint Kenelm, That was Kenulphus sone, the noble kyng That was son of Kenulphus, the noble king Of Mercenrike, how Kenelm mette a thyng. Of Mercia, how Kenelm dreamed a thing. A lite er he was mordred, on a day, A little before he was murdered, on a day, His mordre in his avysioun he say. He saw his murder in his vision. His norice hym expowned every deel His nurse completely explained to him His sweven, and bad hym for to kepe hym weel His dream, and ordered him to guard himself well For traisoun; but he nas but seven yeer oold, From treason; but he was only seven years old, ...

This short article is something I’ve been meaning to write for quite some time and never got around to. My interest in Russia diminished somewhat by the appalling war in Ukraine (a place I have visited) and the general geopolitical situation. I still own and wear a number of Russian/Soviet watches and my interest in cold war history still means there is a fascination with tools and items from that era. During the years of the cold war, items manufactured in the Soviet Union did cross from East to West, largely demonstrating the engineering or manufacturing of the block as well as ensuring a flow of western currency back to the USSR. ...

Whilst out gathering pictures for a bigger up-coming blog post, I got to play explorer in one of those small ways that makes my walks even more worthwhile. I’m not going to give exact location details although they’re not hard to find, but deep in a lush woodland this weekend, I was able to find the ruins of a Roman villa. Now the spot even 2000 years later is still a very lovely example of the English countryside and it’s understandable why a presumably wealthy family built their home there. It’s also surrounded by water from springs and small brooks which presumably would have been present in some form. The surrounding land is rich and still largely farm land and nearby is a road that still bears the name ‘Saltway’. This straight road would almost certainly have been Roman and heading up to the salt town of Droitwich. Known as Salinae to the Romans, the town has its own Roman ruins (now largely under an industrial estate) and would have been a major salt producing town hence the name. I suppose that after nearly 2 millennia it’s surprising that any remains still stand, never mind visible short walls and a Victorian preserved, but still Roman mosaic left covered over and sheltered from the elements. ...

Almost titled this blog ‘what I did on my holidays’ - a recent weekend away with Mrs Yunzi took us to the Danish capital city, Copenhagen. On the Saturday we walked ourselves to exhaustion trying to see a number of tourist sites across the city. First off was the statue of the little mermaid which was entirely underwhelming, but second we decided to stop (we means I in this instance) off at the Museum of Danish Resistance nearby and on our walking route to the rather more picturesque Nyhaven. ...

Lets be clear, if the ramblers association had a militant wing, I’d most probably join up. I’m a keen walker of Worcestershire’s footpaths and frequently have to contend with barbed wire, electric fences, damaged stiles and curiously holly bushes that only grow next to and over access gates. This is before we mention the missing signposts, overgrown footpaths, violent cows and on one occasion, an actual farmer with an actual shotgun (I’m not kidding). ...